Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Blake Aaron and Alex Chapman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Blake and Alex, appreciate you both joining us today. Let’s start with something countless entrepreneurs have had to figure out on the fly – how have you dealt with the rise of remote work?

When we started our firm, we agreed time was one of our most valuable assets. Driving to Dallas took approximately 2 hours of our day removed ourselves from family, hobbies and even clients. The amount of time on the road throughout the year was exponential and we decided the time could be associated elsewhere. During COVID, remote work allowed us to spend more time with family and take care of tasks otherwise set aside for the weekend. It gave opportunity to individuals to pursue hobbies and exercise during lunch or right after work instead of pushing it aside due to limited time and effort. In the end, remote work positively impacted the employee, however the employers didn’t feel the same. Prior to opening our own firm, there was pressure on employees to return to the office post-COVID shutdown. Employers wanted employees to return regardless of the sacrifice it was taking on a personal level which was a direct message that employees are just that – employees. Our goal was to create an environment where we could run a business without asking for someone to sacrifice their personal life. If we could run a business while being able to sit down for dinner with our family, we called it a success.

To date, it has been successful, not disrupting our process of design and execution. We use a variety of cloud based collaboration tools which include project management software, design software, and virtual whiteboards. By using these tools, we can collaborate effectively and stay on top of project deadlines, no matter where we are. By leveraging the benefits of remote work, we also access a broader talent pool. We work with other designers/consultants who are remote and the process never changes regardless of who we collaborate. An important aspect to our success of remote work is communication. Communication is the cornerstone of any remote work strategy. We have regular check-ins, virtual team meetings, and a clear channel for feedback and collaboration. It’s also important to set expectations around response times and availability to ensure that we are both on the same page. In addition to maintaining a work/life balance, we also provide clients with a competitive cost due to a lower overhead which is of value at this time with the economy.

By implementing these strategies, we are able to successfully build and manage our company while being fully remote. We also feel we have a competitive advantage in today’s increasingly digital landscape. Although we are small firm and larger firms may not be able to structure the business in the same manner, we hope the values and goals we created when starting our company continue as long as the firm exists.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

We are Parish Line Studio, a full service architecture and interior design firm with projects all over the U.S. We have a diverse portfolio of project types, ranging from single family residential, workplace/office and food/beverage. We are fully remote which gives us an advantage to working where the client’s project may be located and being accessible at all times. We are able to execute our work whenever and wherever with very little disruption. Our current experience is with award winning large firms. We like to describe ourselves as “large firm groomed with a small firm mentality”.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Relationships. We cannot emphasize this enough. When we worked for previous employers, the emphasis was on repeat business and client relationships. Being younger in the profession, we never took that serious until we decided to open our own firm. Our firm is built on the foundation of the assistance from others and we are grateful for it. You should never burn a bridge because you never know when you have to cross it again.

How’d you meet your business partner?

Started in college back in 2008 where we were both majoring in Architecture at Louisiana Tech University. We were enrolled in Physics 102 for the spring quarter and we were introduced through a mutual friend. We had and still have a lot in common which is why our friendship remains strong to this day. During our years in college, we both carried a day job working in the restaurant industry which required us to do a lot of our studio work at night. Knowing what each other were going through, we were able to support and rely on each other. We’d typically partner up on group projects and help each other outside of school hours with classwork. For those who knew us, this was not a surprise for we had established a reputation for always being together, in and outside of school.Fast forward twelve years later to today, the case is the same. Once we graduated, we ended up both moving to Dallas, Texas, working for award winning firms. Starting with Corgan Associates, we both worked on the aviation team, learning the complexities of large, publicly funded projects. Being a very technical and specific project type, our skill sets were quickly developed. However, due to the specificity of the project type and the need for exposure to architectural design, we both transitioned over to Gensler. At the beginning of our time at Gensler, the aviation team in Dallas was a growing practice area and needed assistance so we started where needed. As the practice area grew, Gensler provided us with a channel to other project types and experts in the architectural practice. We were able to work and lead on a variety of project types which included Food/Beverage, Hospitality, Commercial, and Industrial.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.parishlineco.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/parishlinestudio/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/parishlinestudio
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/parish-line-studio/

Image Credits
Sweetbos Photography