Trade Tales

Latest Episodes:

Jay Jeffers on protecting your firm from a pipeline in flux Sep 23, 2026

Show notes

Jay Jeffers has never been afraid of chasing his creative ambitions, venturing into retail and hospitality and embracing the risks that come with it. More than two decades into his firm, he’s reflecting on what it takes to build a business that can weather growth spurts and the slower periods that inevitably follow. In this episode, he shares how he’s protecting his firm from pipeline volatility, the value in creating a workplace that attracts senior talent, and what he learned from the process of opening his own hotel.
This episode was sponsored by High Point Market and Minted.
LINKS
Jay Jeffers
Kaitlin Petersen
Business of Home

Ask Us Anything: Dan Rak on improving your profit margins Sep 16, 2026

Show notes

Dan Rak, whose eponymous firm has offices in Chicago and Southwest Florida, answers a question from a designer who is ready to revamp her firm’s finances. Rak offers advice on why the right sourcing strategy is crucial to improving profit margins, levelling up through a designer-friendly accounting software, and the importance of regularly examining your firm’s cost structure.

This episode was sponsored by Four Hands.

LINKS
Dan Rak
Kaitlin Petersen
Business of Home

Ali Faulkner on building a team that’s passionate about the client experience Sep 09, 2026

Show notes

Ali Faulkner’s first career in high-end hospitality has played a crucial role in shaping the firm she leads today—one in which everything from her firm’s back-end operations, to hiring and onboarding are crafted around delivering an ideal client experience. In this episode, she shares how outsourcing social media caused her inbound leads to multiply, how working with a sales coach transformed her calls with prospective clients, and how she’s building a work environment that allows employees to create accountability for themselves.

This episode was sponsored by High Point Market and Minted.

LINKS
Ali Faulkner
Kaitlin Petersen
Business of Home

Ask Us Anything: How Shaun Crha presents product pricing to clients Sep 02, 2026

Show notes

In this episode, interior designer Shaun Crha of Long Beach, California–based firm Wrenstead Interiors answers a question from a designer whose clients want to know exactly what she’s paying for product. Crha jumps in with advice on using a budgeting guide to prepare clients for prospective room costs, an alternative approach to fully itemized pricing, and why some information always remains internal to his firm.

This episode was sponsored by Four Hands.

LINKS
Wrensted Interior
Kaitlin Petersen
Business of Home

How Kelly Finley is building a firm that brings her joy Aug 26, 2026

Show notes

Kelly Finley set out to create her ideal firm—and then, after bringing that vision to life, realized a large staff and juggling tons of projects wasn’t all she’d hoped it would be. Moving forward, she decided to go back to basics—discovering the projects, clients and charitable pursuits that truly bring her joy. In this episode, she shares how she created a custom database for her firm’s backend, using AI to catch ordering mistakes and why she decided to launch a nonprofit that operates alongside her design firm.

LINKS
Kelly Finley
Kaitlin Petersen
Business of Home

Ask Us Anything: Erica Vassalotti’s guide to photo rights Aug 19, 2026

Show notes

In this episode, interior designer Erica Vassalotti of Philadelphia-based design firm Bergman Vass answers a question from a designer who wants to make sure she’s maximizing her investment if she’s spending big on photography. Vass jumps in with advice on the value in teaming up with your photographer to strategize about media coverage, how usage rights are akin to art commissions, and why it's important to also represent clients in a photo shoot.

This episode was sponsored by Four Hands.

LINKS
Erica Vassalotti
Kaitlin Petersen
Business of Home

Why Molly Torres Portnof hands every prospective client an investment guide Aug 12, 2026

Show notes

Molly Torres Portnof keeps her firm’s inner circle small—which means that each person in her orbit, carefully chosen, has an outsize influence on her success. She brings the same intentionality to the clients she works with, thanks to a series of safeguards that ensure it’s always a stellar fit. In this episode, she shares the value of publicity in a changing media landscape, why she sends an investment guide to every prospective client, and the process she swears by to find the most qualified leads.

LINKS
Molly Torres Portnof
Kaitlin Petersen
Business of Home

Ask Us Anything: Tina Ramchandani on attracting your ideal client Aug 05, 2026

Show notes

In this episode, New York-based interior designer Tina Ramchandani answers a question from a designer whose firm is attracting plenty of potential clients—just not the ones she wants in her pipeline. Ramchandani jumps in with advice on finding the messaging that authentically conveys your firm’s value, tactics for filtering out unqualified leads, and the annual reset that helps crystallize her ideal client.

This episode was sponsored by Four Hands.
LINKS
Tina Ramchandani
Kaitlin Petersen
Business of Home

Erica McLain on bridging the gap between science and design Jul 29, 2026

Show notes

Erica McLain has been continuously guided by a fierce drive and curiosity—qualities that propelled her to Stanford, the Olympics, and tech companies like Facebook and Google. Now, she’s combining those strengths to blaze a new trail in the design industry, rooted in a measurable, research-backed understanding of environmental psychology and neuroaesthetics. In this episode, she shares the “design potential report” she prepares for prospective clients, her firm’s unique B2B offering, and the toolkit she is developing to analyze a home’s impact on clients.

This episode was sponsored by Kohler and Vanguard Furniture.

LINKS
Erica McLain
Kaitlin Petersen
Business of Home

Ask Us Anything: Dane Austin on taking design presentations to the next level [Rebroadcast] Jul 22, 2026

Show notes

Boston designer Dane Austin joins the show to answer a question from a fellow designer who knows the basics when it comes to presenting design ideas, and is now looking for advice on how to take her strategy a step further, ultimately selling her vision—and commitment—to her clients. Austin offers advice on bringing a theatrical edge to big-picture design planning, a strategy for physically packaging ideas that invokes the world of luxury shopping, and the value of refining the decision-making process through three levels of presentations.

LINKS
Dane Austin
Kaitlin Petersen
Business of Home