We were lucky to catch up with Shayla Copas recently and have shared our conversation below.
Shayla, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.
Scaling up is a journey and a path. It meanders, and it never ever goes exactly how it was planned. The key to scaling up is to “listen” and to become really in tune with what your customers want while staying very flexible.
As an entrepreneur, I started my first business in the silk plant business back in the 90’s. This was before there was a Hobby Lobby on every street corner. The growth was steady and it went very well because silks were popular back then. As things started to change my path put me in the area of Interior Design and I started ny luxury interior design business.
I LOVE design and adored every aspect of the layers but I realized that I needed to scale the business as I always longed to design products and write books. Over the course of nine years I built my interior design brand and built the foundation for our product design business. During that same time I started writing books on entertaining which placed my business in the spotlight and helped to build my social media following. Our design side of the business has really taken off and we have added e-commerce to our website as well.
A few years later we decided to expand further and open a marketing business that caters to Designers, Builders, and Architects. This decision was made because of my background in marketing and because my busy design firm needed full-time PR and marketing. So, instead of continuing to hire the service out I realized that we needed to take it “in-house”. By bringing these services into our company I am now able to help others through our boutique approach. We vette our clients very carefully and because we keep our client base on more of a boutique basis we are able to focus a lot of time with our clients to help push their brands to the next level. We are currently working with designers, architects, builders, influencers and non profits.
Last but not least I further scaled our lifestyle brand with the addition of Luxury Travel Design in 2022. We design amazing bucket list trips through our travel division. Clients can either travel with us on a group trip to exotic locations or we can book their private travel. Our agency is a Virtuoso agency and provides the highest level of service for clients who want every single detail taken care of. I decided to get into the travel industry because of a couple of things. One – because my followers on social media were reaching out and asking me to help them book their trips. They would follow my trips and want my help curating their own journeys. Two – because I had a not so great trip in 2020 and the agency I had hired at the time did not take care of the details. It was one of those moments where I realized that I really was meant to help others have the best memories ever on their bucket list trips. I spent the rest of that trip planning how I would take that not so fun experience and help others in the long run. We now have a full fledged agency with a robust client list.
It is impossible to scale with a brilliant community. I cannot take credit for our success because it belongs to the entire Shayla Copas Lifestyle Team.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I want readers to know that I have a passion for lifestyle in general that is why I decided to tackle so many areas of the industry. I am most proud of our team. I have a strong group surrounding me in all faucets of my business from interior design, marketing, product design, travel, and construction consulting these peeps are the brand! Nothing could be done without a strong team and I am thankful each day for everyone I work with. I started with absolutely nothing and have built my brand to where it is today with incredible people and I am grateful.
On the design side I have a southern glam type look about my business. I have a very unusual design aesthetic which comes out in my interior design as well as product design jobs. Besides keeping up with a large list of luxury design clients we are now designing for four major product manufacturers. Chelsea House, Prestige Arts, POLYWOOD and another that I am getting ready to announce soon.
On the Travel side we are a Virtuoso agency that sells luxury travel. Designers make incredible travel advisors because we look at details and we project manage well. Travel is a very difficult industry and so I decided to get the proper training before getting into it. I am very proud of the fact that I have spent the last two years working on that education and now am a graduate of a travel program that provided me with the foundation. Because of that education, I expect to expand this division heavily over the next two years. We have a different team for travel than design.
On the Marketing side we are boutique and very curated. I only accept clients that I truly believe in and so that is how I can guarantee that we can improve their brands. Because the marketing division was originally developed to support the Shayla Copas Lifestyle brands we are not about getting a ton of accounts…but more about getting the right accounts that we can make a difference for.
Books – Four Seasons of Entertaining launched in 2019 and we are working on Four Seasons of Celebration now! Both books are about entertaining during all four seasons of the year and about the food, design and small details that are part of hosting those gatherings.
On our e- commerce side we have all of our Shayla Copas Collection products on the website as well as our latest collection: Shayla Copas Beauty.
Last but not least, we are in the process of building the latest addition to our brands: Copas+Co Construction Consulting. My husband, Scott, works on the consulting side and I help with marketing and PR. We take commercial construction companies to the next level and help them to scale. Through our years of experience in the industry and our years of taking a company from 80 million to over 300 million, we are able to help others obtain that.
Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.
I design home products for major manufacturers. My first experience in product design came when I worked for a client who wanted outdoor tables manufactured in Italy. She wanted me to design them so they would be unique. My team sketched the tables and then I flew to Italy to hand-carry the drawings to the factory. I spent two days meeting with the factory to go over the details and that is when I realized that I loved to design products. Two years later, I created custom trims for our first family in Arkansas for the Governor’s Mansion… and Seven years later my first line came out. It feels so cool to see your products in stores, online, and throughout the country, knowing that consumers are enjoying them. We currently design fabric, large furnishings, case goods, lighting, home accessories, and beauty products.
I think the most important lesson I have learned when designing product is that it is not about ego. Product design is simply designing products that will sell. We have to put our egos aside and listen to consumers. We also have to work hard to create things that can be afforded. It is easy to get too carried away with the details, and with every detail, the cost goes up in the manufacturing process. I collaborate with my manufacturing partners to make sure that we develop designs that are not only beautiful but they are also cost-effective and functional.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I had a not-so-great childhood so I did not have the best foundation for success.
I started my first business when I was 20 years old. I was a single mother and struggling to survive. I had been pregnant at a young age and living in my car off and on. I then went to live in a pregnancy home and tried to get child support. My daughter’s father’s parents literally gave me car full of silk plants and told to sell them on the street and that was how I would support my child… and SO I DID! I found a parking lot to sell them in and that was the start of my entrepreneurial journey. I was literally making the plants in my tiny little apartment at night and then during the day packing them up and selling on the side of the road. A few month’s later the apartment manager asked me if I would like to start designing florals for them to give as house warming gifts to new renters and that was the start of my growth. I then started helping them with the design of their apartments. I am often asked if I hold a grudge because of this situation and the truth is that I don’t. I have a good relationship with my daughter’s father as we were both young at the time and I realized it all happened for a reason.
I am thankful for that experience each and every day that I come to work because I know that the struggles are what created my tenacity and my tenacity is what has provided me with the work ethic for success. I do not ever have to worry about being hungry or going without shelter because I went through those hard times and those battles truly did give me the grit it takes to survive. Those hard times also make me very responsible to my team. So, I take my responsibility to those I work with very seriously, as I know that my success creates jobs and opportunities. If I take a day off I really think about it because I know that others are impacted.
I also believe that going through struggles in life makes us more grateful when we succeed. I think that I enjoy each little triumph more because of the struggles early on. So odd but so true. I am a person that has never forgotten where I came from.
Contact Info:
- Website: shaylacopas.com
- Instagram: @shaylacopas
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShaylaCopasInteriors
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shayla-copas-ids-isfd-70a226a/
- Twitter: @shaylacopas
- Youtube: @shaylacopas1544
Image Credits
Jason Masters Nathan Cox Rett Peek Janet Warlick Chelsea House Prestige Arts Marc Gerard