We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michelle Miller a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Michelle thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of the toughest parts of scaling a business is maintaining quality as you grow. How have you managed to maintain quality? Any stories or advice?

Owning an interior design/general contracting business, means we are a service based business. The general contracting business is pretty straight forward – we provide services pertaining to the building, updating and/or upgrading of a home. Interior design services cast a far bigger net. There are the obvious scopes of work, such as the remodeling of a kitchen, or a basement, projects of which entail thousands of minute details to build that one perfect space. There are also a robust amount of less obvious, not always smaller projects that too can require the eye of an interior designer. These smaller scopes come with endless punch lists of details required for a successful finish. We have been blessed with work since day one, and as we were starting out, we said “yes” to every request that came our way. After all, we were grateful for the business and thrilled to be working with people who trusted us to make their home beautiful from top to bottom. As we have grown, however, and do more projects and more projects out of state, it has been exponentially harder to do it all, and even harder to do it all well. A few years ago, after being exhausted and knowing we could be doing better work but we were spread too thin, we determined we would no longer be taking on any stand-alone task-type projects under a certain dollar amount. As you could imagine, that is a very difficult line to walk in our business: saying “yes” to a kitchen remodel, but “no thank you” to sourcing new towels, cushions and planters for your pool deck.
Obtaining any sort of quality control really is a two-fold process – internal and external. For us, the internal component was arduous, but not difficult. It was determining the dollar amount or projected hours worked that would make these smaller projects make sense to us both financially and from an overall management perspective. Managing the external component, our client base, proved to be more difficult. It is hard to look at a client and explain why we can’t take on certain pieces of business and why our business model had to change. I find that even after we have conveyed that our decision was made based upon our desire to maintain and provide the best quality of work product, it sometimes falls on deaf ears and all the client hears is “no”. But, as an owner who wants to provide a service that is unique and individually curated for each and every project, it is the ONLY way for long term success. You have to pick and choose what you are willing to do, because no one can do it all perfectly.

Michelle, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I own a boutique interior design and general contracting firm. We specialize in the luxury home market and work throughout the country depending on where our client’s take us. We feel what sets us apart from other designers is that not only are we an interior design firm, but we are a general-contracting firm as well. So, we do the design and the construction, touching every aspect of the project. We find it to be a very streamlined approach and easier for the client to navigate as there is only one point of contact. Often times, the interior designer and the general contractor come from different companies, and they usually have little knowledge of each other. From past experience this leaves a lot to chance – people don’t always communicate effectively and frankly, people don’t always like to work in a ‘team’ environment. In our case, my team has been working together for years, and we have found that client’s really appreciate that tenure together as it eliminates the fear of the perpetually vacant job site as they don’t know what worker is showing up or not showing up that day. We find our structure, our team’s familiarity and continuity, is very well received with our clients.

I cannot tell you the amount of homes we have been in where the client is not happy with the many pricey items they were convinced to purchase from their last designer, because the designer liked it. Or, the amount of design errors that have been made because no one was listening to the client and the layout or design simply does not work with their family. I take great pride in that the work with our clients is a collaboration. Yes, I am going to ask you to think a little out of the box at times. Yes, I am going to bring some pieces in that you might be raising an eyebrow too. At the end of the day however, it is your home, and while it is my job to push your imagination and stretch your comfort zone, in the end your home will still be your home. It is very important to me that it is filled with pieces you love and that work for you and your family. While I will try and expand your creativity and educate you on materials and fixtures that you would not have possibly considered in the past, when we are done it really will be a collaborative effort and you will love what we did together.

I am also a big believer in bringing my own experiences, not only from past jobs, but from how I get my own home to function. I want my client to know I share in their grudges about a home’s space, or lighting or whatever their angst may be, and bring solutions that have worked for me personally, as well as for other clients. We are big entertainers in my home – I am a gourmet cook, I have children, I have a house with crazy, not very well trained dogs. We have a large extended family. We have regular out of state guests. It is not only my 9 years of design experience that makes me a success at my job, but it is also my life experience as well. We LIVE in our home, really live in it; we use the china, we eat in the dining room, we enjoy our space, all of the space. My home has been curated to how we like to enjoy it, how we like to see it, how it works for us. I believe that plays a huge role in how I bring value to my clients. I want my clients to get the same value, the same joy from their homes.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I was in sales for two Fortune-50 companies prior to starting my own business. I still thrive on that high energy, positive ‘we can do it’ attitude that comes from working on a sales team. It is important to me to have people working here that share that same positive viewpoint. Our business is riddled with details, hundreds and sometimes thousands of them in every project. Something is always going to go wrong, or not turn out as we had hoped. It is important to have people working with you that don’t get stymied or disappointed by the distractions and the hurdles. People who roll up their sleeves and figure out a solution to the problem.

I have found success in hiring of like-minded, family oriented people. Everyone who works with us holds their families in the highest regards. Particularly on the general contracting side of the business, my team starts early and often works late. Out of respect for that, I do not schedule any work on the weekends. That translates favorably not only to the team but to our clientele, many who have families of their own.

I expect the highest of output all the time. This is a business of perfection, so the bar is set very high. As such, I pay well. Talented artisans, who are honest and professional, and have the client’s best interests in mind are hard to come by and are worth the money.

I don’t ask anyone to do anything I would not do myself.

And as the boss, I think it’s really important to own my own stuff and most importantly apologize when I am wrong.

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

This is a favorite story of mine, as this pivot led to my interior design business. I was a consultant in the telecommunications industry, and the company that I worked for at the time negotiated contracts with the telecom carriers on behalf of our global client base. My now husband was an executive at one of those telecom carriers and we shared the same global client base, so the two of us pursuing a serious personal relationship was going to be a gross conflict of interest for all parties. My soon to be husband had no desire in leaving his job, he was making more money than me, and frankly, my job was only appealing to me because it allowed for independence and financial freedom as a single mom of two. It was not a job that gave me a great deal of passion, it just served a purpose. So, I left. It was the first time I was unemployed, and honestly, even though my now husband was highly supportive, I was melting down with all of the unstructured, unplanned new found freedom.

Friends of mine had a very large home that was in need of updating. They asked me, since I had all this time on my hands, if I would help with some remodeling efforts. I had always had an interest in interior design and being my fathers ‘son’ I was very handy. Helping them on that project turned out to be my first huge professional pivot. Everything from that little project facilitated where I am with my firm today. One remodeled floor led to one very large remodeled home. That remodeled home led to 2 more clients, one of those clients lead to 5 more clients, which now 9-years later has turned into a very robust interior design – general contracting firm.

For full disclosure, I am a person who loves change; I relish in it. My father was an entrepreneur so it has never been odd to me to put yourself out there and try something new. BUT, like many people, I am also very responsible and practical and making grand changes is not always realistic. Sometimes, however, you are forced, even shoved, into making that pivot. I believe it is in those times that the universe is pushing you to make that change, and that we should embrace those times. Every path we travel on paves the way for the next path and the next role. You just have to have the confidence to venture down those roads, no matter how crazy or farfetched it may seem at the time.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @michellemillerdesign

Image Credits

Jill Tiongco Interiors
@jilltiongco_interiors