We were lucky to catch up with Casey Mathis recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Casey thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

To be successful, I believe you have to be authentically yourself. It takes grit, but if you can take the good with the bad, you can be successful. It doesn’t happen overnight, but you have to keep going and following your “why,” even if it feels cringy or like no one cares. It’s a slow burn, usually. I also believe being successful takes a village. There is community in every industry, and having integrity will take you far. Never burn bridges and foster your connections. I attribute my success to having wonderful colleagues in an industry that truly supports one another. There is plenty of work for everyone, and it’s more fun if everyone can works together or cheer each other on.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have always had a love for nature and the outdoors, and spent a lot of free time as a child helping my parents in their gardens. I went on to study Horticulture and Business Management in college, and absolutely fell in love with working outside and with the land. I’ve had many different jobs managing greenhouses, organic farms and orchards, working with design firms, and working in plant nurseries. As my knowledge and expertise grew, so did the demand for my design skills, which ultimately led to me starting my own design-build firm. My business partner and husband, Jason, is a welder and builder, and we teamed up to combine our skillsets.
Mathis Designs is a full service outdoor design and build firm that specializes in thoughtfully curated spaces, to be loved and lived in for a lifetime. We can help any space, small or large, reach it’s full potential and we are really good at maximizing every square inch in both a smart and aesthetic way. We take pride in sourcing local and organic materials, and utilizing sustainable methods. What sets us apart from others is our creative design style and our attention to detail. We manage each project every step of the way, from concept to completion, which allows us to have full control of every little detail and maintain a high level of communication throughout.
We are really proud of our work, and we continuously strive to push ourselves with design. We seek to make every space as unique as our clients. Ultimately, our goal is to encourage our clients to spend more time outside and in nature.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

I was working at a plant nursery and my husband was working at a fabrication shop. Almost daily, customers would buy large trees and plants, but mention they needed help planting things. We started out just planting trees for clients after work and on the weekends. Jason and I are very outgoing people, and typically we would end up getting to know our clients. As they got to know us, they would learn about our other skills and passions, such as design and welding, The requests just kept getting larger and larger. From planting trees, to redesigning and planting landscapes, to custom metal work, to full blown remodels. Ultimately the demand became so large that we felt comfortable quitting our jobs to pursue this work full time. We hit the ground running and then Covid hit. For our industry, Covid was actually a really profitable time, because folks were spending more time at home and therefore investing in it.
Because of our former jobs, we’ve been fortunate to have really great colleagues who have offered us great referrals. We have built a reputation as being honest and hardworking, and our work speaks for itself. Today we have 5 full time employees, and we are pushing ourselves further with each project.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Contractors get a bad wrap for being untrustworthy. Because Jason and I are both honest and hardworking, it has taken us very far. We show up when we say we will, and we deliver what we promise. Everyone makes mistakes, and we will always own up to them. We don’t cut corners and we try to work every day with integrity. As small business owners, all we have is our reputation, and we have never forgotten that. Especially in our industry here in Austin, TX, everyone knows each other and we are fortunate to collaborate often. We also love what we do, and therefore work is fun for us. I think our clients pick up on that, and it makes the experience more enjoyable for everyone. We spend so much of our lives working, life’s too short not to enjoy what you do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://MathisLandscapeDesign.com
• Instagram: mathis_designs

Image Credits

Carrin Lewis Photography