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

Chelsea, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

For me, the idea to execution phase consisted of many years, I believe three to be exact, of grappling with the idea of starting my own business, pushing fear aside, figuring out the right steps and just taking the leap and launching my business.

For the majority of my career, I worked for an amazing commercial architecture firm that specialized in schools, healthcare and offices and I grew and learned tremendously from my mentors and projects there. But, there was always something in me that said this wasn’t my end-all-be-all and I wanted to start my own residential architecture firm where I could get to know clients and projects in more detail and to help homeowners fall in love with their homes.

So, in 2021 I began laying the ground-work for my business. The first step being finding a lawyer who was small-business oriented and could help with the filing of my business and what type of business it should become. Doing everything by the book. Around this same time, I also began seeking help from accountants for the same reasons to help with the financial side.

I then made a list of my potential overhead costs which included software and supplies and next figured what my estimated income would need to be per month to cover these expenses. Luckily, my overhead was very menial because I planned to work out of my home and limit the number of software and supplies so that the majority of the money could be put back into the business to help future-proof.

Once the LLC of my business was setup, the thought then became, “Okay, so I legally have a business, now how do I get the word out?” This was probably the toughest problem to solve because it was a lot of putting myself and my business out there and being vulnerable, also, hyping myself up wasn’t my strong-suit. However, as a business owner, if you want your business to succeed you have to hype yourself up, because no one else will. So, I began telling everyone who would listen about my business, I tried using social media to put the word out there and setup my website to showcase what I could do. As a full disclaimer for my website, before I even had many residential projects completed, I would either showcase very preliminary images of a project on my website, or I would make-up a client and project and design for this hypothetical client and project just to showcase what I could do and have content on my website. Fake it ’til you make it right?

The final step of my execution was really the hardest part for me. See, I was currently working a full-time job at the previously mentioned commercial architecture firm and now was going to make the switch to part-time. This is when everything started to feel very real and very scary. I was losing the security and mentors I had in order to pursue my passion. This took from 2022 to most of 2023 to finally take this leap. It involved lots of therapy sessions to vent out my concerns and fears and lots of conversations with my husband about finances and making sure we had all of our ducks-in-a-row.

November 2023 was when I took the leap of going to part-time with going full-time into my business projected for 2024. The leap was originally terrifying, but the success has been gratifying and I can’t wait to see what the rest of 2024 has in store.

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

I have wanted to be a licensed architect since I knew what an architect was in 7th grade. That was always the focus. Always the goal. The internal pull to start my residential architecture firm only happened much later. I began my residential firm in southeast Austin in late 2021, and the more client projects I worked on, the more I felt like I was doing something I was meant to do, like all the pieces of my life were falling into place. What I love about residential design is how personal it is. One of the most trusted things someone can do is welcome you into their home and to help design it, this takes this trust up to 10 notches. It’s not something I take lightly.

I specialize in any type of residential architecture from interior remodels and additions to new builds. I offer full-service design services where the clients and I figure out the big-picture items such as layout and site planning down to the very gritty details of what profile of baseboards they want. All of these decisions then get summed up into construction drawings and specifications for the contractor to build off of and I work closely with the contractor to clear up any confusion or direction during construction as well.

I truly want my clients to fall in love with their home by the end of the process of working with me. I want their home to meet their needs and to be a place where they love to spend time in.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

The biggest aspect to growing your clientele is treating the clients you currently have well. I’ve found these clients to be your biggest marketers where they spread the word about your work ethic, communication and how well of a job you did for them on their project and they convince others to come to you for your expertise and professionalism.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

Going above and beyond with your clients while also maintaining healthy boundaries. Sometimes, this is a tight-rope walk, but I’ve found that client’s notice the extra effort where you provide a little something extra while also not compromising your beliefs or business ethics.

Another item is reaching out to past clients every couple of months to see how they are doing and if they need help with anything. They personally may not be needing a design, but they may know someone who is revving up on a project. Keeping your business at the front of their minds is key.

Always be up-front with your clients. If they ask for your opinion, constructively and honestly it. Clients aren’t naive and they can tell when you’re being truthful or just telling them what they want to hear.

Contact Info:

• Website: chelseajonesstudio.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chelseajonesstudio/