We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Willie Tarver III. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Willie below.
Alright, Willie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s jump into the story of starting your own firm – what should we know?
When, I established my own firm I had just left a very good firm here in Atlanta. I did and didn’t know what I was getting into. Some of the main steps that I had to take after establishing the business basics were, where is my office going to be, what area of architecture and design am I going to focus on. Some of the key challenges that I ran into was organization through scaling. As the company grew I needed an admin very badly, to keep me organized and efficient. Learning how to scale was a bit difficult as well seeing as though I had never had any prior experience. The advice that I would give a young professional would be two things. Let the Holy Spirt guide you and love what you do. God and your passion will sustain you.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
My name is Willie Tarver III, and I do high end residential design. New Construction custom homes that are 5,000 square feet and up to be specific. I got into the industry through the favor from the Holy Spirit at the age of 18 with a company called Turner Associates owned by a man named Oscar Harris. Oscar is the one who gave me my first shot in the architecture world. Once I got on with them I literally fell in love with the architecture industry. My mom tells this story of when I was five years old and a man asked me what I was going to do or be when I grew up and he presumably answered for me and said a football player. My mother said that I looked at him and said no! I want to be an architect. It’s funny how life comes full circle. So when I started my first job in the profession of architecture and design it felt like I was right were I needed to be.
Once in the profession I was able to move around and see what type of architecture and design I liked. I started off doing commercial and hospitality projects. I then had a chance to do some high end residential design work and fell in love with it. I knew then, that is where I wanted to be in the industry.
Being at other firms allowed me to grow, learn and find my footing with where I wanted to be and what I wanted to do. I was able to see certain issues and problems that clients had and I would formulate ideas in my head on how to solve them. So when I started on my own I was able to help clients in many different ways. One of the biggest ways was to be able to give the clients understanding and advice regarding the design process and construction process. Many times this is a home owners first time going the process of design a new residence and there is a lot of apprehension and questions. I made sure that we are there to facilitate any inquires that the client may have.
By helping the clients through the process we have been able to gain a strong foothold in the industry which leads to longevity. Which is what I would have to say is one thing that I am very happy about. This has made a space for us where clients and referrals continue to come our way. Each design that we do for a client is like a work of art. It is a one of one and clients can be absolutely sure that there house does not exist anywhere else.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A big lesson that I had to unlearn was that as you grow and increase you do not work harder you work higher (Myron Golden) Working hard is low level and working high is high level. Only with the Holy Spirits guidance was I able to do this I had to learn to think beyond the momentary function of that specific task and start to understand the greater scope of growth and building that was in play. Working hard will take care of the problem or issue at the moment but working higher will solve the problem so it does not come back up.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
This is interesting. The best source of clients for me has been word of mouth. The beautiful thing about life is that God gives you a passion and through that passion you find purpose. So when you are operating in you gifting/passion you will continue to function at a high level. The higher the level you and your company functions at the more satisfied the client becomes. Any satisfied client will tell any and everyone about you and your business. Because of the impact that you left in their life.
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Image Credits
Joshua with JE Photography and Design