Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jodi Gaines. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Jodi thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

The idea came from a place of need. In October of 2020, I had just purchased a house in Little Forest Hills here in Dallas, then I received my Real Estate license and January of 2021 in case something happened, and then just months later, I was laid off from my job as a Marketing professional for a global tech company. All of the American professional services roles were terminated, but I still felt the sting. I had just moved cities and purchased a house in the middle of a pandemic. I didn’t have time to sulk, feel like a victim, or wait around for a new source of income.

Given the circumstances, I had made improvements to the property and in this particularly desirable neighborhood, appreciate had risen in the 6 months I had been there. I thought, “let’s take the profits and start our own business where we can’t be fired and have both freedom and control. Unlimited potential. Let’s go.”

I went to network and started looking for staging companies to help me prepare my house for market. I wanted to maximize profits and the previous owners struggled to sell and if you saw their staging, you would understand why. I wanted a professional to do the work very quickly for a reasonable price. Every dollar mattered.

I had a few highly recommended stagers come through and tell me their ideas, send me their quotes along with their scope of work and contracts. I was a bit disappointed. They were charging top dollar, but couldn’t pull it together quickly, nor did I like their ideas.

And then I remembered that I studied Interior Design in college and worked in Commercial Interiors for 5 years and was more than qualified to stage my own property. Why did I even look outside of myself to do the exact thing I was most uniquely prepared to do? To figure out that this is exactly where I should be in the market.

Serving people quickly at an affordable rate to help them sell their homes for top dollar. As an agent, I know and understand the different market areas, what drives buyers to write a contract, on top of knowing the difference between mauve and violet. So I combined the two areas of expertise to offer a white glove Real Estate, Interior Design, and Home Staging offering.

I offer a la carte packages so that clients don’t end up frustrated like I was with inflexibility and high prices. I can charge a price that’s both beneficial to myself and to the client, but they are getting a customized service, not a standardized package that doesn’t fully fit their needs.

I sold my house for a large profit, flipped my first property in Dallas, and was able to use the funds to start my new business, Land & Luxury Studio. Now I can’t thank that firm enough for firing me! They set me on my intended path and I am so grateful to no longer be chained to a desk with limited growth potential. Now I’m bringing my client’s dreams to life while living mine.

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?

Ever since I was a kid I was an inventor. I saw a problem and created a product to solve it. I competed in competitions in elementary school called Invention Convention. I won every single year. I even had copy cats steal my ideas and try to claim them as their own. Big corporations came to the state level competition where I almost always won the “Best in Organization” award sponsored by Container Store. I would then go to the Container Store, one of my favorite places as a kid, and find a more refined version of my product on their shelves a year later, like clock work.

I’ve always had very clear visions, for a product or how I wanted a room to look and feel. My uncle used to take me to the design district here in Dallas growing up and encourage me to find fabrics that matched my color palette and design theme. I LOVED redesigning my room every few years. My grandfather showed me how to make custom furniture in his wood shop and created pieces for me. My mom was a teacher and encouraged me to express myself. My dad was a CPA and taught me the value of hard work and money. My grandmother taught me how to sew and create curtains, dresses, blankets, and more.

My favorite game as a kid was to set up stations to go “shopping” in around our playroom. Each of my friends would come through and select the items they liked ranging from shoes, furniture, perfume, jewelry, animals, and whatever they could imagine each item was. I created a receipt of goods and they paid me in monopoly money. Then, we went to the photo booth and they modeled their new products with joy. I was destined to help you design your life and express yourself. It’s in my DNA.

So then I set out to make my education match my unique skills. I struggled to find one major that fit everything I was interested in. so I did both Interior Design and Marketing. I had internships in technology and at major fashion houses. I absolutely loved learning about everything that interested me. I wanted more, so I moved to Oxford to Study Abroad in England. I studied French and Art History before my departure so I could soak up every ounce of culture. I got to see just about every famous art museum, painting, sculpture, and piece of European architecture you can think of. I was filled to the brim with inspiration.

This appreciation for culture, deep desire for adventure and new experiences, as well as my ability to connect with anyone in the world is what sets me up for success in my business now.

I can help you sell your home with both my formal education in Interior Design and Marketing, a rare combination that almost no other Real Estate Agents have in Dallas. I can help you purchase a home and then make it uniquely yours. I can help other agents stage their listings and I can help homeowners dramatically change their existing space into something from their dreams.

What is your problem? What do you want? How do you want to feel? What do you desire out of life?
I take the answer to those questions and design a solution for you. Just like my favorite game since childhood.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I’m a perfectionist, it’s something I am aware of and learning to accept less-than-perfect results, but the desire to do my absolute best at anything I do is always there. When someone isn’t happy with me or my performance, I struggle.

While working on my degree, one of my Interior Design professors gave me my first “B” for a project I spent no less than 48 hours working on. I felt it was just short of a masterpiece for this sort of project. So an 88 was not a score I was happy with. I was tormented even. He then proceeded to tell me I should consider another major and career path at my annual review in front of all of the art department chairs. He said I was too unconventional and there wasn’t a place for me in the field.

Ouch. Double ouch. Should I drop out of school?

I told myself, “If he doesn’t understand it, but my other professors sing my praises, there’s a place for me. I just have to create it in a way that nobody can tell me no. I changed my major to Business Marketing. Four years after graduation, that professor had been fired and was unemployed. He was walking through the largest North American trade show for commercial interiors, NeoCon, and he walked into the showroom I designed. I designed the website, the branding, the furniture, the show room, and coordinated a massive show for my employer at the time.

I got to look him in the face a few short years later and show him how wrong he was. I didn’t have to say, “you were wrong, look at me.” I got to show him how his naysayer perspective and negative commentary lit a fire in me to do exactly whatever I wanted and not take his feedback as fact. Not everyone gets to have that and I am incredibly grateful for that defining moment in life that I will never forget. I can’t wait for him to realize I now have my own design firm. Maybe he will apply one day!

Tell me no, I dare you, see what will happen next.

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

Relationships, relationships, relationships! I treat my clients and their problems like they are my own. I create solutions to relieve them of their pain points. This naturally turns into referrals. I have an online presence and I do marketing and advertising, but by far and away are my relationships and their referrals the number one source of new business for me!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://landandluxurystudio.com/
• Instagram: @landandluxury.studio
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodigaines
• Other: Houzz: https://www.houzz.com/pro/landandluxurystudio/land-and-luxury-studio Real Estate & Lifestyle: @jodigaines_dtx I am also working on a new website that combines the real estate and design businesses. Currently, Land & Luxury Studio only covers design projects.

Image Credits
Robert Rodriguez Chris Bacarella