We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Earnest Little. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Earnest below.

Hi Earnest, thanks for joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I believe that having initiative and being consistent makes for the foundation of success. Most people are fixated with starting out perfect that they never start, while others that start get discouraged and give up when they face problems. In the beginning of our journey my partner and I had “stable” good paying jobs and we made the decision to venture off on our own, not knowing if it would work out. Once we made the jump, there was a lot that we had to figure out on the spot, meanwhile having to deal with different types of people made it that much harder. Once we found our rhythm, we started to take on more ambitious projects which leads to more complex problems. One road bump that always stands out to me is when a client was upset and threatened to sue. There was a discrepancy with property lines on that block where everyone was technically 1ft on their neighbours property and the only way to find out was to get a survey. Since a survey was not required but only recommended, it opened up the chance for errors and that is exactly what happened. At that moment I felt like I wanted to give up and not be in this business, especially hearing threats of being sued is not something to take lightly. Instead we found a surveyor and adjusted the plans to fit the survey then resubmitted to the city for approval. It was really stressful but I learned how to resolve issues and never take shortcuts just to save money. Things like this happen a lot in business but I believe when you push through, you come out with more knowledge and resilience.

Earnest, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Earnest Little, I am co-owner of Midway Concepts along with my business partner Toby Nguyen. We are an architectural design firm based in Huntington Beach that works on various projects from residential to commercial. Toby and I were roommates in college, he was a year ahead of me in school and we joked around about starting a company together but never took it too serious. In my senior year of school I was working at a start up company and shortly after, I got Toby a job there. Because of size of that company we had to learn a lot and quick, but we also met a lot of people in the field which put our names out there. After 3 years Toby and I went our separate ways and worked for different larger companies but always kept in touch and collaborated on smaller side projects while working our 9-5 jobs. Once traction on that end picked up we made the decision to transition and start our own business.

This field is predominately ran by older architects/engineers and contractors, so our work ethic and relationships with clients is what helped people take us seriously. This field is notorious for being stressful and architects tend to be horrible with communication, so we constantly have clients come to us after having bad experiences with other companies. We always strive to change that narrative, we are responsive, flexible and super detailed when it comes to not only our plans but with guiding projects through construction. People know that when they come to Midway Concepts we are hands on until the project is done.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Go after every client. I feel like this was a good way to start because you need to follow leads and get your name out there but once you get to a certain level, you have to find a way to vet out clients before you pursue them. This is something that took me a while to unlearn especially in this “entrepreneurial climate” we live in but not everyone is worth the time. I used to drive an hour to have an hour and a half meeting and give concepts designs just for the potential client to not move forward or even worse, take that design and go with someone else. After about a year and a half I realised how much time was wasted, so I started implementing phone consultations and giving upfront estimates so which filtered a lot of out people.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Referrals. Just about all of clients came to us because of the work we’ve done with other people. Since our work is visual a lot people love to show it when their project is done. If your service and product is of quality people will love sharing their experience.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.midwayconcepts.com
• Instagram: @midwayconcepts

Image Credits
I took the photos.