We were lucky to catch up with Amy Youngblood recently and have shared our conversation below.

Amy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

After 10 years of collaborating with different firms in both the residential and commercial spheres, I decided to start my firm Amy Youngblood Interiors. Ironically, I started it in the 2009 Recession when the housing market was frankly a mess. I was working for a company that was having big financial problems and could no longer pay me what I was worth. It was strange timing, given the challenging economy, but I knew that I always wanted to own my own firm and why not go for it now when good jobs were already scarce in the Interior Design field?

I started out small, working out of my home while trying to balance life as a young, new mother. From here as my business grew as well as my kids, I no longer had a space and focus to work out of my home. It was in 2012 that I took the leap of a brick-and-mortar space, and things grew exponentially from there. But with growth came challenges, but also and learning experiences. I needed help so I had to hire people for the first time in my life. I also had to design my showroom + office to reflect my own style, as well as to potential clients. Financially, I had to acquire a more formal accounting system to track all of my revenue, expenses, and profit. And obviously with that in order to focus on new client acquisition and actually design work came hiring an office manager and bookkeeper.

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 got into the interior design industry after majoring in Communications at DePauw University. I started off as an Art major as I was a highly skilled artist, but finally discovered that wasn’t the exact creative route I wanted to go, and DePauw didn’t offer an Interior Design program. After college, I did the more “practical” route and worked for a few corporations in marketing and sales. Then, I soon realized I wasn’t happy at in these fields as my creativity wasn’t satisfied. I was living in Chicago at the time and constantly decorating my apartments and pouring through design magazines. It was then that I decided to mend my creative abilities along with my business background and get a degree in interior design. Interior design does take a high level of communication and salesmanship. Once I got my design degree in my late 20’s I was off to the races!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Well, this might seem a bit personal, but when I took the leap of moving my office out of my house, the same year I decided with move forward with a divorce. My days were not only filled with new clients work and hiring, but on a personal level meeting with attorneys and therapists. Everything was hitting me at once. However, after a lot of personal pain, I managed to keep my business afloat especially with the help of an amazing staff and come out more successful than ever before. I am now happily remarried and have no regrets.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

As far as resources, I’ve read a few books that have helped me with business AND my personal life. Profit First by Mike Michalowicz helped me a lot with managing the firms’ financials and The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck helped me to really focus on the things that matter in life and accept the fact that life is not and should not be easy. In other words, strife and pain are a natural part of life and this is how we grow as people. To pretend otherwise only increases your problems. I also highly recommend anyone with goals in life use a coach. My coach of over three years now has been instrumental in helping my increase my revenue as well as managing difficult work, and even personal issues.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.amyyoungblood.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/amyyoungbloodinteriors
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amyyoungbloodinteriors

Image Credits
Courtesy of Amy Youngblood Interiors