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

Jen, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your business and how did you resolve those issues?

The design industry has faced unprecedented fulfillment and supply chain issues over the last eighteen months and it has been enormously challenging for professionals in our field. Maintaining an open line of communication with clients and industry partners has been vital in keeping projects moving forward in a positive direction and helping clients understand that we cannot control all aspects of delivery.

Offering customers temporary solutions that help fill gaps while we wait for custom pieces always helps and also supporting local businesses that offer more immediate inventory that can be delivered faster helos too.

Being resourceful and accommodating has been necessary and until this situation corrects itself, it appears as is this is the new normal.

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?

Feather & Nest was born out of a desire to offer affordable design to everyone. We wanted to create livable, aesthetically pleasing environments for families with more modest budgets and not only with clients with larger budgets and projects on the table.

And so it began.

We said yes to everyone and undertook each project large or small, building relationships with clients one throw pillow and one powder room remodel at a time. Fast toward 13 years and a lot of sweat & tears and we are now a full service design & build firm that has projects in multiple states. We pride ourselves on having many legacy clients with whom we have designed 2 or 3 homes and often holiday homes too.

Our experience covers a broad range of design and construction services complimented by technical knowledge of the building and design industries.

Empowering other woman in business has always been a vital part of our organization and we wholeheartedly believe in supporting other entrepreneurs.

Our showroom and store is known for being a place for clients and friends to seek out community and like minded individuals that will offer encouragement and an afternoon of good conversation and the best British tea around!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

As an entrepreneur and woman owned business i had prepared for many eventualities and planned for situations that I saw coming but little could prepare me for the shock of Covid and what it meant for us as a business and as an employer in a service driven industry.

After we received the word that we would have to close our showroom and store doors I took 3 days to sit in the office and just think through what we would do.

The responsibility of my staff and their salaries weighed heavily on me, the commitments I had made to clients was a big concern and I didn’t want to let anyone down, I looked around the place I had so painstakingly built and made up my mind then and there that we would pivot in any way possible and that giving up was not an option.

I also decided that in order to succeed in this pivot we would have to find a way to give back and so on that day we committed to also give back a percentage of any sales and proceeds to our community in the form of grocery hampers each week. There were 23 families that had either single or double job loss and we made up our minds that we would deliver groceries to them each week.

We also knew that many of our sales reps that we appreciated and valued would be suffering as much as we were and so we formulated a plan to be able to give them orders that would help sustain them a little too.

And so began our months of becoming the local gift delivery service through the longest days of Covid lockdown.

We prepared and delivered candles, decor; tea towels, picture frames, bath bubbles, vases and more candles all over our suburbs for months as customers strove to connect with much missed friends and family.

We would put on our gloves and masks and wrap up gift bags and often deliver until 9pm in the evening.

We also offered almost no contact custom drapery installs and began helping clients make their homes pretty again.

Friday afternoons were reserved for delivering the grocery hampers we made up for our Sienna families and then we did it all again starting Sunday.

I am so proud of the way we managed to survive the worst months of Covid and I will forever be grateful that I didn’t miss a single payroll period or rent payment during those extremely difficult times.

It made me realize just now resilient and resourceful we can be and that nothing is as important as our well-being and our relationships.

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

Growing a loyal customer base in a social media driven world is not an easy directive.

As someone who has had some clients for over a decade, and also as a business owner who has never really advertised in any mainstream publication, I can honestly say that building a solid professional reputation comes down to communication and trust.

Understanding that clients really want transparency when you’re dealing with their finances made me realize the need for a different way of operating when it comes to pricing projects.

I decided then that I would not follow the industry standards and I would be transparent and open with clients when it comes to pricing and costs involved with major remodeling, design and furnishings on projects.

It was a game changer for my business and has kept us consistently busy ever since.

Treat folks as you yourself would want to be treated and it will not become complicated.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.featherandnestinteriors.com
• Instagram: @feathernesttx
• Facebook: Feather & Nest Interiors

Image Credits
We are having new professional showroom shots and headshots done in the next two weeks which I can send over!