Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Liz Toombs. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Liz thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear your thoughts about making remote work effective.
My team has worked remotely on most of our sorority housing projects for the last decade. Not all of our projects are located in the state where we live- which happens to be KY. We have developed a system that works for us when planning a project that is out of town. We follow the system when making site visits, taking measurements, gathering certain information regarding the project, client communication, and planning installation. Our planning and prep systems allow the installation visit we make to go as smoothly as possible.
Additionally, my team members work remotely from each other. We plan monthly co-working days where we all get together to work on our projects, build camaraderie, and potentially have a vendor meet with us for educational purposes. These co-working days are held in my office, which is located in my home’s walk-out basement.
Overall, working remotely has gone smoothly for us. We were fortunate that the pandemic didn’t cause an uproar in our work flow because we have been working this way for years. As a business owner, I appreciate not needing a formal office outside of my home, both from a financial and a commuting standpoint.
Liz, 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?
A combination of learning about real estate from my grandfather, and a love of home design shows through childhood sparked my interest in the industry. I started PDR Interiors at 25 after a few years of working in the home improvement industry for other small business owners. I “fell into” the greek housing niche through my network. It started with a fraternity house project, then they referred me to a women’s organization which led to many other project opportunities. Since 2010, my team and I have worked on over 80 college campuses across 22 states.
Sorority housing projects require a unique combination of commercial and residential needs. The space needs to look and feel like a home while being durable enough to hold up to hundreds of students using the space for 5-10 years. As college students’ needs evolve, the requests we receive for greek housing also evolve. It is a fun challenge to determine how to meet these specific needs on each project.
I am incredibly proud of my small, but mighty team. We each have a specific role in projects, but are small enough that we all know what’s going on in each project. I place a major focus on mentoring college students and offering them internships and job opportunities. This is mutually beneficial in that they receive work experience/portfolio material and I have a talent pool to pull from when hiring. Everyone who works on our team currently has come up through this internship system.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
The first year I did a major Christmas decorating project for a client, my trailer of custom made decor was stolen from outside of my home. For weeks leading up to that theft, I worked on decorating garland for 6 mantles and 2 large staircases then loaded them into the trailer. Building the garlands ahead of time saves time on the installation days. When the trailer was stolen (despite the hitch being locked), I was sick! I had to walk into the first day of the installation and tell the client what happened. She was so kind and understanding. The installation lasted 3 days, and each of those nights my team (which consisted of me, an intern, along my mother and father in law) went home and decorated as many garlands as we could. The client was thrilled with the final result, and we still work with her 12 years later. I felt so defeated when the theft happened but I knew I had to keep going because the client was counting on me to get the job done.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
Networking has been my strategy for growing brand awareness and bringing on new clients. From the start, I reinvested money into membership fees for various local networking organizations and spent my time having coffee or lunch with other business people in the community. My plan was to get out there and meet as many people as possible to make them aware that me and my business existed. That has evolved over time to become more of a national focus with others who serve the greek housing industry. I have found that we have a high rate of return customers and referrals from existing customers, and I attribute that to my decision to “pour into” my business relationships.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://pdr-interiors.com/
- Instagram: @pdrinteriors
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PDRInteriors/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-toombs-c-i-d-68b3176/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx4bxKtztPeywm3cnycebCg?app=desktop&sub_confirmation=1