Trade Tales

Latest Episodes:

How Katie Monkhouse rescued herself from burnout Apr 26, 2023

Show notes

Katie Monkhouse’s firm was moving along at a rapid pace—taking on new employees, new clients and new real estate before she even had a chance to envision its future. To keep the situation from spinning out of control, she enlisted the help of a business coach and soon came to a realization: in order to move her firm forward, she’d have to look inward first.

This episode was sponsored by The Shade Store and Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams.

LINKS
Katie Monkhouse
Kaitlin Petersen
Business of Home

Christine Vroom finally started prioritizing her own health—and her business transformed Apr 12, 2023

Show notes

Christine Vroom embarked on her design career at the ripe age of 16, and stuck with it through job detours and personal struggles alike. After recovering from a mental health crisis, she took on her biggest challenge yet: building a healthier design process—without sacrificing her firm’s upward climb.

This episode was sponsored by The Shade Store and Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams.

LINKS
Christine Vroom
Kaitlin Petersen
Business of Home

Byron Risdon on the luxury of slowing down Mar 29, 2023

Show notes

Byron Risdon has always known how to rise to the occasion—whether it was landing his first design job with no prior experience, or launching his business in a week’s time to take on his first solo project. Now, as he grows his firm, he’s letting go of the guilt that comes with no longer working overtime, and is instead learning to embrace the art of slowing down.

This episode was sponsored by Universal Furniture and Savannah College of Art and Design.

LINKS
Byron Risdon
Kaitlin Petersen
Business of Home

Why Sarah Goesling isn’t comfortable with being comfortable Mar 15, 2023

Show notes

When Sarah Goesling entered the design industry, she was intent on learning it all: from plumbing to project management, no aspect of the job was too challenging to take on. After launching her own firm in 2019, she maintained the same ethos. In this episode, she shares why she’s unwilling to settle into a comfortable routine with her business, how she’s creating a company culture that fosters growth and development, and why she recently realized a longtime dream by tapping her sister to launch a brand development and trend forecasting agency within the firm.

This episode was sponsored by Universal Furniture and Savannah College of Art and Design.

LINKS
Sarah Goesling
Kaitlin Petersen
Business of Home

How Pure Salt’s cofounders turned a signature look into a successful brand Mar 01, 2023

Show notes

Pure Salt designers Aly Morford and Leigh Lincoln were always on the same page when it came to interiors. In building out their portfolio and executing early designs, it was smooth sailing. When it came time to confront the bigger decisions necessary to building their business, they started to hit their first roadblocks—overcoming them would not only make their partnership stronger, but unlock new ambitions of taking their firm to the next level.

This episode is sponsored by Universal Furniture and Savannah College of Art and Design.

LINKS
Pure Salt
Kaitlin Petersen
Business of Home

Why Jenny Wolf isn’t afraid of ambitious employees Feb 15, 2023

Show notes

Jenny Wolf spent nearly a decade at her dream job before realizing her true passion was for design—so, she decided to go back to square one and start a new career. Then, years after launching her own firm, she felt the calling to pivot once again. This time, she would have to get strategic about structuring her existing business in order to make way for something new.

This episode is sponsored by High Point Market.

LINKS
Jenny Wolf
Kaitlin Petersen
Business of Home

How Studio Heimat went from a twosome to a team Feb 01, 2023

Show notes

Even though Eva Bradley and Alicia Cheung Lichtenstein grew up halfway across the world (hailing from Switzerland and California, respectively) their first encounters within the walls of a lauded San Francisco design firm made it clear that they were destined to be working partners. After departing to start their own business, their two-person design process proved to be seamless. They’d fallen into a perfect rhythm—and yet, it was completely at odds with their ultimate goals of growing the business with the addition of new team members, all with their own working styles and responsibilities. As they soon discovered, disentangling from each other would be the best path to scaling up.

This episode is sponsored by High Point Market.

LINKS
Studio Heimat
Kaitlin Petersen
Business of Home

Nina Magon on letting go to grow [Rebroadcast] Jan 18, 2023

Show notes

Nina Magon entered the interior design industry with an instinct for the business side of things—whether it was employing her design school professors to pitch in on projects for her just-launched firm, or later using her rooky status on a design TV show to scale up her portfolio. As her firm enters the next phase, she’s focused on finding ways to shape up her team and her business’s back-end to provide the ideal luxury experience to clients.

LINKS
Nina Magon
Kaitlin Petersen
Business of Home

Erin Gates on finding your voice [Rebroadcast] Jan 04, 2023

Show notes

Erin Gates has a special talent for identifying untapped potential: She started her own firm geared toward young professionals in Boston in 2007, finding great success among an underserved clientele; she was also an early design blogger, part of a shift that would transform the design industry (and send her own career skyrocketing). In this episode, the Wellesley, Massachusetts–based designer explains how she stayed authentic amid pressure to bend, how she finds team members that support her vision, and why she’s so excited about the new hire keeping her firm’s operations in check.

LINKS
Erin Gates
Kaitlin Petersen
Business of Home

Why clients are the essential piece in Rachel Halvorson’s creative work Dec 21, 2022

Show notes

Rachel Halvorson started her firm in the wake of the recession, and found sudden success with celebrity clients and magazine covers all in the first years of her business. As she’d come to find out, establishing boundaries would be the only way to keep her fast-growing project pipeline from spilling over into all-out chaos.

This episode is sponsored by Daniel House Club.

LINKS
Rachel Halvorson
Kaitlin Petersen
Business of Home

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