We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lauren Lerner. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lauren below.
Hi Lauren, thanks for joining us today. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?
I love this question because people always assume that my business was an overnight success and that everything is glamorous and picture-perfect when looking at the world of design. Honestly, this assumption couldn’t be further from the truth. I decided to make a major career change after the birth of my son. Maybe it was sleepless nights, but I decided to quit a successful career in sales to immerse myself full-time in what had been a passion of mine up until this point. I’ve been told I am decisive and headstrong when I put my mind to something, and so began months of checking off the boxes needed to establish Living with Lolo. It took a good year of networking, taking on small jobs, and ordering from retail outlets while trying to build enough volume to open with industry-only vendors. I was a solo show for the first 2 years, progressively becoming busier and busier from referrals and industry recognition. I was thrilled with my success and protective of the business I had built, but I realized that I desperately needed help when I found myself putting in 80-hour weeks consistently. Ironically, I hired a previous client for part-time administrative help. She quickly became a full-time employee, and helped me to recognize I was so busy that I was essentially surviving, but not thriving although I was doing what I loved! Spreadsheets bombarded both myself and my employee, so I decided to incorporate two major additions to my business: 1. I hired a junior designer, and 2. I committed to taking my sanity back by compiling the years of pearls I’d gained along the way (through much trial and error!) to develop a database that helps manage CRM, Procurement, Project Scheduling, Financials, and Follow Up. So here I am 5 years later… with a team of 5, a successful design firm, a program to help other interior designers scale and soar titled Your Interior Design BFF, and most importantly a life!
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?
My name is Lauren Lerner and I am the CEO + Principal Designer of Living with Lolo, a full-service interior design firm. My career path started in business and sales, but I always loved dabbling in design any chance I could get, so I took a leap of faith and switched gears in my thirties. I feel my approach to business and design is unique from other designers because my path was quite different than most- in turn, I don’t follow “typical design textbook rules”. I enjoy nudging my clients out of their comfort zone to help create an ultra-customized end product that is magazine worthy! My style is eclectic, edgy, livable, and timeless. I am incredibly proud of Living with Lolo’s accomplishments, however, I am most proud of the fact that I have managed to raise an amazing little boy, pursued my dreams, and showed others hard work does pay off.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I attribute my reputation and success to many things- hard work, a committed team who helped me become better in multiple ways, awesome clients who shared and referred my design with others, and an innate passion for design.
Any advice for managing a team?
I consider myself to be a part of the team as well and feel communication, collaboration, respect, positivity, celebrating individual strengths, and encouraging work-life balance are all key to maintaining high morale.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://livingwithlolo.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/livingwithloloaz/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/livingwithlolo/
- Other: Pinterest: https://pin.it/1ktfsI4
Image Credits
Life Created