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

Kelsea , appreciate you joining us today. Looking back, do you think you started your business at the right time? Do you wish you had started sooner or later

My business story is very layered. Myself and my best friend Sarah were living together in our early twenties – always chatting loosely about getting into business one day. After many conversations, we decided to take the plunge while we were young. We had limited responsibilities, flexibility with schedule and the support of family and friends. A few short months after starting our business, my father suffered a major heart attack and I had to take a step back. I am thankful everyday that I was able to take this time off without hesitation. Having the flexibility of my own business allowed me to do so.

Our business was then hit with the pandemic. Luckily for our industry, the Renovation world blossomed. Homeowners were more eager than ever to spend the money inside of their homes due to travel being restricted. For this reason, I would say our timing was perfectly imperfect.

Years later, we reconnected with another fellow Design Studio owner and friend Rachael. We decided to share an office space together and lean into the “collaboration over competition” mantra. We quickly realized that we would be stronger together and decided to dissolve our individual companies and rebrand as Thirteen Design Studio. It was the best decision we ever made. It really is true what they say – there is strength in numbers!

Kelsea , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My journey into the design world took some trial and error. As many do, I left high school with little ideas on what I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing. I was young, naive and confused. I tried a few different programs until finding my landing spot. I completed an Interior Decorating Program and instantly felt like I found my calling.

Our company Thirteen Design Studio is a residential based Decorating and Design firm that focuses on telling our clients stories through curated design. We are heavily influenced by organic materials, natures elements and our clients personalities. Our team is completely female and I think we bring a refreshing take to the Design world. We pride ourselves on being very approachable and easy to communicate with. We also like to have plenty of fun. At any given time, you can find our team laughing, smiling from ear to ear and joking around. If you work with Thirteen you are guaranteed to have a good time and laugh along the way!

I am really proud of who we are as a team. We all have stayed true to who we are at our core and kept our friendship at the forefront of our success. We build each other up any chance we get.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

We are a leadership team of 3 – Myself Kelsea, Sarah and Rachael

How I Met Sarah – I met Sarah when I was 13 years old. We had mutual friends and lived in the same neighbourhood. We went to high school together, lived in residence together and had a townhome together for 3 years. We always joke that we are friend soulmates, but I seriously think its true. To add another layer, I am marrying her brother in October!

How I Met Rachael – I met Rachael when we were both working for other designers in our hometown. We would cross paths quite often and built a very natural friendship. We would chat through design dilemmas, connect over text and stay in touch any chance we got. We acting as sounding boards for one another for years.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

I feel like this is such an important question. Social Media can create this false narrative around success. We can create this image online that does not truly portray our reality.

As a business we have our good days and our bad. For the first 2-3 years of business, we lived in an extreme scarcity mindset. We never knew when they next cheque was coming in and I was constantly biting my nails thinking of how we would hit payroll.
There were so many times we skipped paying ourselves, to ensure our employee and sub-trades were paid on time.
Towards the second year of our business, we went almost 3 months without paying ourselves even 10 dollars just to get by. It was hard – we had to find other jobs to supplement and really reflect on our business model. We have had to change our mindset on money and really try have a positive outlook to create abundance.

Just remember to support your local small business and give them some love. They may look like they are flourishing but you never know. Social media shares, referrals and shopping local can go a long way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thirteendesignstudio.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thirteen.designstudio/

Image Credits
Lauren Weiler Photography (All Interior Photos) Haley Gill Photography (Our Team Photo)