We were lucky to catch up with Haley Serna recently and have shared our conversation below.

Haley, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

A successful company provides a product or service in a way that makes other people’s lives better, and in-turn, your own as well. A very successful company earns the trust of those clients, which leads to repeat business and a relationship that is mutual beneficial. I am in the Architecture and Design industry, so we are a service-oriented business. We provide private developers and consultants with architectural design services, customized to their specific building needs. Many times, our work is repeat business and our clients and consultants team with us to support continual improvement in our projects and processes. Another key component to being successful, is listening to your clients needs. In our world of design, and possibly many other types of business, we ask our clients to prioritize quality, budget and schedule. All are important, yes. However, some clients may want a beautiful new restaurant and can provide more time in the schedule for us to draw a custom bar with lots of color and finishes. Others may have a tight schedule and can increase the budget to pay for more-readily available building materials to avoid delays in construction. When taking these things into consideration; improving people’s lives, earning trust and listening – it really all comes down to understanding people and what they need and caring enough to do your best, which can only improve you as well. I think that’s what they refer to as a win-win/success.

Haley, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I moved around a lot as a child and saw a lot of floor plans as we moved from house to house. A few times, my parents went through the process of building a home. I was amazed, seeing a flat plan evolving into a three-dimensional building. I went to college for architecture and received my Bachelor of Science in Architecture from University of Texas at San Antonio. From there, I interned for a custom home builder then moved to a commercial architecture firm here in San Antonio. I was on a project team for one of our firms most profitable projects. After about one year in, the project manager position became available. This was a unique project, not very glamorous, but it required dedication and discipline. I already understood the process having been on the team and felt confident I could run it and didn’t hesitate to request the position. I was the project manager for 7 years and the program as a whole had an average of 98% customer satisfaction. Ever since, I’ve gone on to manage many different project types, some more glamourous and have had a lot of fun doing it. Earning my stripes, if you will, was tough but it accelerated my growth and showed my employers and clients my dedication to the project and the customer. It is important that my clients feel we will provide them with excellent service, and they can rely on us throughout the design process. I’m grateful to have had opportunities to learn that.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

We have seen growth in our client base from word of mouth referrals in our industry. Those have derived out of many valued relationships we have developed in our industry from other consultants, product representatives, realtors, contractors and developers. It has been a true pleasure getting to know other people in our community on a deeper level. In starting our own firm, my partner and I have the pleasure of saying, we are going to be ourselves and run this firm in an honest and genuine fashion. We want clients to truly know us and trust us, as well as our project consultants and contractors. It is our goal to make every project experience a great one, not just for us, but our client and team!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

The biggest pivot for me was starting our firm Elevate Architecture at the beginning of 2022. 2021 was a year for re-assessing for me (as was for many) I was a single mom of 2 boys and we were just re-adjusting to post-covid life. I was ready for a big change and the economy was really picking up, especially in our field of architecture. For the first time in my career, I saw architects having to refuse work rather than pursue it. My business partner RJ and I had discussed our career paths on a few occasions, and they seemed to be aligned, so we began to conceptualize what this firm could be and made the move. Making the leap from working for a company to starting our own company has been a huge learning experience. You really get to understand what it takes to run a successful business and it gives you an appreciation for your previous employers and fellow business owners. It’s been a gratifying experience seeing the business grow in it’s first year. We have 4 employees and are looking for a 5th. We continue to stay profitable and receive new work. It was a bold move, but we are glad we did it.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.elevate-architecture.com
• Instagram: @elevate_architecture
• Facebook: Elevate Architecture
• Linkedin: Elevate Architecture

Image Credits
All photos are by Elevate Architecture