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

Jamie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

When I started my company Bella Traverse Design, it was common to use your own name such as Jamie Klecka Interiors. However at the time I was still in school for design and had started as a home staging company. I wanted something that represented me, that also wouldn’t need to be changed as my business evolved. As feminine as my company name sounds, it is named after my two sons Travis and Trevor. Trevor was a medically fragile, special needs child. He wasn’t able to pronounce many words properly. He couldn’t say Grandma so he called my mother Bella. And Traverse is the combination of both of their names. They are my biggest achievement in life and I wanted my business to represent that. Most potential clients think my name is Bella or that I am located in Traverse City. It’s fun to tell them where the name originates from.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My interior design business officially launched in 2007. It has evolved over time so how/why I got into the industry versus where I am now are quite different. I actually decided to go to school for interior design because of my mother’s suggestion. I didn’t go to college straight out of high school. Instead I took the wife and mother path. As I approached 30 I realized I needed more. When I was trying to decide on a major my mom pointed out my love of design. Decision made!

It took me 8 years to finish my Bachelor Degree as I was still raising children and they came first. I started as a home stager part time and this evolved to design upon graduation. Fast forward several years and my oldest son had grown up, got married and started a family of his own. And my youngest had unfortunately passed away. My second husband and I had owned/designed/hosted an Airbnb and I loved every minute of it. Because of that experience I knew where my passion lies.

I love all things lake. I love to boat, walk on the beach and host vacationers so that they can experience the lake life as well. We live in West Michigan, and when you live in a seasonal area, every day can be seen as a vacation. Not many people are as fortunate to live near Lake Michigan and several inland lakes, so I do my best to provide guests with everything they need so they can soak in every sunset and relaxing moment as possible.

The best way to describe Bella Traverse Design is “Boutique Interior Design firm specializing in lakefront living for residential homes and vacation rentals”. What this means is our firm specializes in the design, set up (i.e. their Airbnb profile, professional photos, backend paperwork, training turnover team, etc) and cohosting of short term rentals. These are three separate services. Clients can choose which ones they need. Most of my clients live out of the area. They purchased a property to use as their own vacation home, but would like to rent it to others so that they have the opportunity to enjoy it as well. As a residential interior design firm, we also work with homeowners that need a renovation. This includes kitchen and bath design, whole home design, or just decor if they need help with those finishing touches.

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

There was a time during my journey that I had to take a step back and accept my failures. In 2019 I had no clients. Zero. I tried everything, at least I thought I had. So I had to swallow my pride and get a 9-5. I was hired in January of 2020. I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this. That’s right, 10 weeks later the world shut down. I was laid off for 6 weeks. At the time I thought I would be let go permanently so I took advantage of this time and really took a hard look at my business. What was I doing wrong? Why wasn’t I attracting clients? And when I did, why weren’t they hiring me? I revamped everything. My website, my processes, etc. And then I got the call that they needed me back. I was shocked. My position was new so I thought for sure I wasn’t needed. Luckily for me it was only part time. New clients were starting to contact me, AND I was getting hired. I kept up both jobs until April of 2021. I was working 60 hour weeks and couldn’t take it any more. My 9-5 said they were finally going back to full time hours for everyone, so that was my official exit. And I’ve never looked back.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Sometimes this word feels overused, but the most effective thing for me was being authentic. I am pretty feisty and sarcastic. I was able to hide my true personality for the first few meeting with new clients, but then my true self would come out. Online I tried to look polished, but that’s not me. When I redesigned my website, I flat out put in my about page, my true personality. And this has drawn my ideal clients right to me! They were tired of dealing with stuffy people. They wanted a professional design for their home, but didn’t want to be stressed while going through it. Almost every single client tells me they contacted me because they knew our personalities would match. I enjoy my job so much more now, because of my amazing clients!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bellatraversedesign.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bellatraversedesign/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BellaTraverseDesign
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/

Image Credits
Ariel Lynn Photography Next Door Photos Katie Skinner