We recently connected with Nate Yrigoyen and have shared our conversation below.

Nate, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How has Covid changed your business model?

Yes, I think it has for everyone actually. In the beginning when Covid19 hit in March it was extremely stressful. Interior Design is what some call a “luxury” service so I for sure thought I was done for.

However, the opposite happened.

People were staying home, they were starting to renovate and tackle projects that have been on their back burner for a while. My phone and email were blowing up from all angles. People wanting design advice, help with renovations, product, finishes, design ideas, pillow selection, fabric, converting bedrooms to offices etc. It was a total shock, and I was grateful for all of it. In the beginning it was fun, there was still a functioning supply chain, and product on the shelves that could easily be purchased. Then, in the blink of an eye it was all either backed up or discontinued. I mean I would get “this product is no longer available ” emails, AFTER the client and I had paid for them. Quickly I had to change the trajectory of my business model and become more accepting of what was available. It presented more of a challenge, and acceptance of that we can’t always get what we want, but we can work with what we have and get real freaking close to what we wanted. Now, when designing for a client I have tons of options, and realise where to invest the clients money in a more useful way.

Nate, 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 name is Nate Yrigoyen, and I am owner and principal of Nate Yrigoyen Interiors based out of San Diego. All my life I have always had an interest in design, architecture, art, and function of a space. I would always walk into a room and ask myself “if I lived here, how would I make it better, more functional, and more representative of myself”.

As a young kid in Elementary school I would sit in class all day, thinking about how to rearrange my bedroom when I got home from school.
As soon as the last bell rang, I would run home close the door and tell my parents “wait, don’t come in”. Hours later, after dragging mattresses around, using the walls as leverage for my legs to push dressers across the carpet, and hammering countless holes in the walls to hang pictures in the “perfect space”, I would run to the living room to my mom and dad and say ” okay are you ready to see my remodel”. EVERY time they came in it was different and EVERY time they told me how amazing it was (even though it clearly was a hot mess, looking back). I was only 7, and didn’t even know this could be a career one day. From then on I always geared my education to design and architecture which led me to SDSU.

But, after College I didn’t go “exactly” into my field. I got snatched up by the retail world working for A&F in the early 2000’s, and ran their West Coast Bay area stores. I learned so much about lighting, marketing, standards, and presentation with that company and am forever grateful. After A&F, I went on to be a merchandiser for Kenneth Cole, then 2008 hit. No one was expanding business, in fact they were doing the opposite and closing them. I thought, there is no way I am losing my Job, I mean, no one can detail a sweater wall like Nate Yrigoyen (lol), but I did. It was a shock and from that moment on, I knew I would never put my happiness, nor financial future in some else’s hands. Not that it is a bad thing to work for a company, but I knew I had to try and do it on my own, So I found a broken desk in the trash at Kenneth Cole, spray painted it black, hired one of my sales associates with a promise to give her July 4th weekend off to take a picture of it with me. And that became my business Facebook profile for Nate Yrigoyen Interiors. I through myself into every situation possible, decorating for parties, designing pet beds for charity and so on. Now 12 or so years later I have built a great business that lets me travel, push myself and meet new amazing people every day, to whom most are now my really good friends.

Some may say i’m very disciplined, but I’d say it’s my creative routine. I wake up every morning at 3:30am, read for about 20 minutes, then hit the gym for about 1hr 20min. It helps me get my creative flow. Its quite, I get to reflect on the good and bad without any interruptions and get a game plan for the day. After the gym I cuddle with my Frenchie Lola, and then make breakfast, then my “todo” list and I am usually on job sites by 7:30am. With that being said, I am in bed my 7:30pm lol I even tell my clients it’s not that I am ignoring you if they text after 7, it’s merely that I am already counting sheep hahah!

I would say that I am most proud of is my support system, my parents, friends, clients and loving partner Cody Montarbo. They constantly fuel me with the motivation and feedback that lets me do what I do.

What I would want potential clients/followers to know about me and my business is that hiring a designer does not have to cost a lot of money and it is extremely Valuable. I meet my clients where they are and gladly work within their budget. I have clients that need help from picking out a few pillows to tearing down walls to remodeling hotels and casinos.

With so much information available online, many people think they do not need a designer, but rather save the money and “google it” themselves. Unfortunately I have seen too many clients take that route and end up doubling their budget due to not being properly informed of what the actual process looks like. I pride myself in being 5-10 steps ahead of the project and always let my clients know the worst possible situation. I don’t like surprises unless it’s a reveal! hahah. I believe in being open and honest for all parties.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I think my resilience story would have to be when my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer in late 2016. I was already several years into having my own business, and it was doing great. Then Oct 3rd, the day after my birthday in 2016 she called me, “Honey, they found a lump, it’s not good”. I was naive, I mean cancer, isn’t there like 10 stages I had thought?? There was 4 and she was at it. She died that spring and we buried her on Mother’s Day weekend. For the next few months, I drank wine every night, ate whatever, gained 40 pounds, started smoking and let me business fall. Fall to the point I did uber for months just to pay the bills, and that wasn’t cutting it. Then one day I woke up that fall and said, this isn’t what she would of wanted, nor what I wanted. I put the wine down, quit smoking (toughest thing EVER) and got back out there. Made calls, connected with old clients, which led me to other clients, their friends and so on. I am thankful for every moment and situation during this time, it let me realize the world is rough, not always fun but their are great people in it who believe in you, you just have to believe yourself too.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Biggest lesson I had to learn is that I can not control everything! I think for any Entrepreneur they start out wanting to please everyone, and make everyone happy. I mean lets be real, when most of us start out we’d do anything to get that $$$! so much so, that we sacrifice our own happiness and health to make everyone around us happy. I would take on so much, and my go to phrase would be ” I’m so sorry, Its my fault, I’ll take care of it”. I used that line so many times that my business was losing money, because I would not push back on vendors and hold people accountable. The anxiety of opening my email or phone was astronomical. My creative light was getting dimmer and dimmer for not speaking up, I still didn’t have that CEO mindset I guess. I mean there is nothing wrong with owning up to a mistake you have done, but I literally cannot control the production company for furniture in Europe, and I was pretending I could.

Well, after many therapy sessions I realized how important it is to be open honest and not afraid to hold people accountable, even myself.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nateyrigoyen.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nate_yrigoyen/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nathan.yriogyen

Image Credits
Images were taken by Jessica Van