We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Danni Harper a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Danni, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

YES! It can be a rollercoaster, but I’m in a great place right now. It took me a few years to get a decent footing, but I’ve found a better groove and more confidence which has made things much easier and more enjoyable. I have a very small but mighty team, incredible clients, contractors and builders that I love to work with, and vendors that I can rely on. I am crazy grateful to get to do this everyday and for all of the people I work with. They let me be the weirdo that I am and live out this dream. Its wild! Do I sometimes miss the days of steady paychecks and not being responsible for EVERYTHING? Hah, oh my gosh, yes. When things go wrong, or it has been an extra long week that does not care if its the weekend because shit needs to be done, yeah, I miss the 9-5 life. BUT I also hated the 9-5 life because it was more like 7-7 and I don’t understand how I ever had time for myself between work, commuting, working out, errands, keeping up with laundry, friends, family, sleep?! So anytime I think it would ‘just be easier’ to work for someone else, I remember the pros of running your own business and that the freedom far outweighs the cons.

Danni, 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?

Danni Harper Design is a full-service residential design firm, which means we can do it all! We focus mostly on large-scale renovations, and definitely favor kitchen and bath remodels. We are conscious of budgets to prove that good design doesn’t have to break the bank. And while we are definitely offering a luxury service and experience, we try to offer our best advice on where to splurge and where to save. Where our true passion lies is working with developers on ground up builds. At one of the first firms I was at, I worked mainly with developers and I fell in love with that push and pull of what I knew was right as a designer and what made sense for the broader market we were trying to appeal to. We know that developers are not going to stop building homes at record speeds because the buyers aren’t going to stop buying them. So we figured, why not shimmy our way in with them and show them that they can have beautiful designs that fit their budget and set them apart from every other spec home going up. Plus, not every buyer in LA wants to go through a renovation but they do want good design. It feels like another way to help people to live in a well-designed home without all the stress. Plus, we absolutely love it!
It’s taken us a few years to find our niche, but turns out, it was what was pulling at our hearts all along!

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Oof, first of all, I love the use of the word pivot because it is so much more realistic and less daunting than ‘starting over’. I have had several smaller pivots throughout my career and MANY throughout my life, hah. One of the first firms I worked for was where I first worked with developers, and I really loved it, but due to life circumstances I had to take a step back for about a year. When I was ready to re-enter I wanted to go back to working with homeowners and doing more furniture design. I loved that too, but after a couple of years I realized that my heart was more on the construction and project management side than the furniture design and I did in fact really want to start my own firm. So, another pivot to go back to real estate development and take my first step to starting my own firm. I worked for a real estate development firm which ultimately fizzled out due to Covid, but gave me the perfect push to start my own firm, and here we are today! Even within my own firm I am constantly making little pivots to sort of shimmy myself into the exact niche that I want to be in. Its like when we hear no, or something flops or fails, it feels like you’ve just run into a wall and it sucks! But you don’t need to slam it into reverse, you just need to take enough steps back to be able to pivot and try a slightly different direction.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

This is a constant battle, and maybe not a ‘lesson’, but unlearning what society defines as success. You get to define what success means to you. Success to me isn’t owning a yacht, or a private jet, or any type of fame. If designer clothes and luxury cars aren’t what you really want, stop comparing yourself to people who do measure their success by those things. You need to be very clear on what your goals are, what success means to you individually, as if there was no social media for everybody else to see what you think they need to see. Success to me is freedom, happiness, comfort, balance, family time, and working with people that I truly respect and enjoy working with. Success isn’t easy and running your own business does take sacrifice, but it doesn’t need to be grueling. What is all that hard work worth if you aren’t ever getting to enjoy it?
I spent too much time early on wondering if people thought I was succeeding or if I was good enough or doing enough or wearing the things to show everybody how well I was doing. Until I realized that I didn’t actually give a shit what other people thought.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.danniharperdesign.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danniharperdesign/
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/business/hub/?d=t&ref=os&t=login

Image Credits
Photo Credits: Anthony Barcelo Jessica Bodas