Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Cameron Jones. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Cameron, thanks for joining us today. We’ve love to hear an interesting investment story – what was one of the best or worst investments you’ve made? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)
Upon starting out, the single best investment I made in my business was to hire a professional graphic designer to do my logo and website. When I spoke to my husband about my plans to start my business, he was completely supportive but I vividly remember him saying, “If you are going to do this, get your business set up right and look professional.” The initial start- up cost for my business was invested entirely into my logo and website design. I didn’t have a big portfolio at first since obviously I was just starting out so I used pictures of my own home to showcase my aesthetic. I also had a blog that I used as my website homepage to give people a sense of my style, voice and personality. I had actually written my blog for many years but once the graphic designers repackaged it into a nice website with a logo that I felt was really reflective of me, I immediately felt more polished and professional. I think having that website gave me a big leg up to landing my first clients. In fact, one of the best clients I have had to date actually found me in a google search because of a blog post I had written. Just recently, I had the same graphic design company, Prim Marketing, revamp my site with a new landing page and more pictures of my work; it was a really wonderful feeling to see how far I had come.
The second best investment I have made for my business happened after I was a little more established and had a more steady income flow. I rented a separate office space outside of my home for my business. Talk about feeling more professional! Having a space that allows me to meet with clients, house all of my samples and hide from my kids (kidding – kinda!) has been a game changer for my productivity. It was a big decision and investment but one that I am pleased about every day.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am an interior decorator in the Raleigh area. I started my business, Cameron Jones Interiors, approximately 4 years ago and while I have a certificate and some coursework in interior design, I am a self-trained decorator. My personal design aesthetic comes from hand-me-downs and family heirlooms that lean heavy on the traditional that I then modernize through fabrics and accessorizes and pattern-mixing with a healthy dose of color. My past career was in higher education but in my free time I was always obsessing over decorating my own home and helping friends do theirs. While the two career paths seemingly don’t have a lot in common, there are so many valuable business lessons I carry over to my new business today – namely in finances and budgeting but also using my interpersonal skills. After taking a break in my career to focus on my young children, I watched several friends struggle with decorating their own homes. So I began helping people on the side. I realized interior decorating was my true passion and after encouragement from a few people very close to me I decided to give it a go and start my own business. While I certainly love beautiful and expensive things, I also understand real life (young kids and pets, anyone?) as well as budget constraints and enjoy working with clients with all budget sizes to help them see their homes in a new light. Sometimes this can be as simple as rearranging furniture or restyling shelves or even reupholstering grandma’s old chair in a beautiful new fabric. I frequently work with clients over long periods of time tackling various home projects as time and budgets allow. This really allows me to get to know the people that I get to work with and makes it that much more fulfilling to see the changes we are able to accomplish together.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
While there was a period in time that I would have answered this question by saying hands down Instagram is the biggest source of new clients for me, that all seems to be changing. Instagram now doesn’t seem to generate nearly as much of an audience and views on my posts seem to be ever decreasing. That said, I know I do still have a good presence on social media and it is a great way to show real-time projects I am working on. I think it also gives people an idea of the types of projects I work on which can be helpful. For example, I’ll show a picture in my story of a client’s new stair runner and inevitably that will trigger someone to reach out because they have been wanting a new stair runner too. That said, while I do think Instagram still generates a lot of clients for me, now that my business is more established and I have worked with more clients over the years, word of mouth is another big source of leads. Lastly, having a good web presence and updating either my blog or the pictures on my Google My Business site also helps generate new clients. Also, I rent office space in a building that houses two other creative businesses – Rail and Stile and Kenda Kist Jewelry and so new people can find out about me via walk in traffic. So, I am not sure that there is a BEST source rather than a combination of ways for people to find me.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I have a few thoughts on building a social media presence (and goodness knows I am far from an expert) and will share things that I think have helped me. Most importantly, I think having a personal voice is so important – sometimes its funny and its usually upbeat but sometimes I’m feeling down or vulnerable and I let that come out. I think those are often the posts that resonate the most with people. I think having that personal voice is what makes people be able to relate to you and potentially want to work with you. I show a little bit of my personal life so that I am a person and not just a decorating service.
I do believe consistency is key with social media. I try to post multiple times a week to keep whatever the algorithm is as happy as I can although I personally can’t seem to get on board with reels on Instagram – I miss having the still photos to scroll through!
I also believe that it helps to have several other accounts that you interact with and that you can support each other. I was part of a decorataing “pod” of other women for a long time. We supported each other’s posts by commenting and sharing it and that was always a nice morale boost to have those comments especially when a post wasn’t generating too much traffic.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.cameronjonesinteriors.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cameronjonesinteriors/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cameronjonesinteriors
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cameron-jones-04123ba/
Image Credits
Anna Routh Barzin