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Welcome to a Well-Designed Business, it’s Power Talk Friday! Nancy Lane, CEO of Nancy Lane Interiors in Houston, Texas, joins LuAnn today and you’ll be learning all about the Process Leads to Profits course that Nancy took last winter and the tangible benefits she has received from it. You’ll also hear how Nancy utilized Mydoma Studio to define her services for her prospective clients and how she now invoices and receives payments for her services through Mydoma Studio. Join LuAnn and Nancy in this engaging and informational conversation, and to learn more about signing up for the next Process Leads to Profits with Sara Lynn Brennan’s LIVE course, which starts NEXT WEEK! Nancy Lane’s idea of home has been informed by all the places she's lived, and perhaps most of all by the one she lost. As a child, her home burned to the ground, displacing her family in the process. Nancy and her family found themselves building their new home together and establishing the true meaning of that word at the same time.  He

Welcome to A Well-Designed Business, it’s time for an episode of “What Would Lu Do?” where you ask the questions and LuAnn helps out with the answers. Today’s question comes from listener Jane, who would like to know how to handle a client who is refusing to pay a bill. Listen in as LuAnn digs into the details, susses out the situation, and lays out her reasoning on the resolution. If you have a burning issue that you need some insight on, please send your question to LuAnn Nigara! Show Highlights: LuAnn shares Jane’s detailed email. The red-flag phrase in the listener’s email that got LuAnn’s attention: “Even when I could see the project going south.” Why LuAnn thinks that the client somehow feels wronged. LuAnn’s take-action steps: The listener should think back to when she first felt things going south. She needs to identify the event and ask herself these questions: What one thing could you have done at the time to have avoided the project going south? Can you fix the problem even though it

Welcome to A Well-Designed Business! LuAnn gets to chat with Krista Watterworth Alterman, CEO of Krista Home in Palm Beach, Florida, about company mission and vision, how important it is to lift others up, and very timely advice on how to face fear. Krista leads her company with purpose and clarity. She is the kind of CEO that has taken the time to figure these things out for herself and as you listen, you will hear how it guides every decision she makes, from client interaction to creating, training and leading her team. You don’t want to miss this engaging conversation! Krista is the CEO of Krista Home located in Palm Beach Florida. Originally from Connecticut and trained in NY at Parsons School of Interior Design with a masters of Fine Arts from the New School, NYC, Krista is known for her highly acclaimed HGTV shows Save My Bath and Splurge & Save. She's also been featured on The Food Network’s Restaurant Impossible and DIY's The Vanilla Ice Project for seven seasons. Selected as one of the designers f

Welcome to a Well-Designed Business, it’s Power Talk Friday! And today LuAnn will be doing a ‘Where Are They Now’ episode with Wendy Woloshchuk, who last made her appearance on A Well-Designed Business about two years ago.    What a difference those two years have made! Wendy is here to share the invaluable information she has learned from LuAnn Live and The Power Talk Friday Tour, the implementations to her business that resulted from that, and the profound impact it has had on her life.   You don’t want to miss this conversation! Get ready for some takeaways from this!   Wendy Woloshchuk believes that great interior design can change your everyday life. It’s about more than just beauty and function. It’s about creating a home that feels like a warm hug when you walk in after a long day. The details of your home create that feeling of comfort. She believes that interior design should be approachable, not intimidating! Her goal is not to make your house a showpiece, but to create a beautiful, comforting

Welcome to a Well-Designed Business! LuAnn is so excited to finally be able to introduce this new sponsor to the show by chatting with none other than the CEO of Jaipur Living, Asha Chaudhary! In this episode, you’ll be learning about Jaipur’s beauty, value, and social responsibility, as well as their customer-centric trade partner program and their easier-than-ever to browse website with stunning images. Listen in to the conversation and please welcome Jaipur Living to the family! As president and CEO of Jaipur Living, Inc., Asha Chaudhary brings a personal perspective to the rug industry: “I grew up around rugs all my life; it’s a part of me.” From a childhood spent observing weavers and designers, Chaudhary has grown into a powerful design force within the industry. As the rare female CEO, Chaudhary has built a thriving business across rug constructions and textile accessories. Chaudhary’s father NK founded Jaipur Rugs, India’s largest manufacturer of hand-knotted rugs. She watched as he took the compa

Welcome to a Well-Designed Business! Today is a special episode because it features a #smartlady that LuAnn has come to know over the last several months and has been impressed by how thoughtfully and purposefully she runs her interior design firm. Traci Connell joins LuAnn and weaves in info not only about how she designs, but how she delivers the design process to her clients. You’re going to learn how Traci reflected, analyzed, and documented what she did, how she did it, and what worked and what didn’t, all in the face of tremendous anguish and hardship. Traci is the combination of a sweet, southern lady with the grit and fortitude it takes to not only survive but to thrive and to provide for herself, her family and her staff. Traci Connell is an award-winning creative entrepreneur whose business sense and design skills are combined with a passion for delivering interiors that are at the heart of livable style. Her well-edited spaces feature functionality for a distinctive aesthetic she calls Ease of G

Welcome to A Well-Designed Business, it’s Power Talk Friday! Sara Lynn Brennan joins  LuAnn to chat about faith or fear. Earlier this year, Sara wrote a blogpost titled, “Are You Operating Your Design Business Out of Faith or Fear?” and in the midst of the current pandemic, it seems like a great time to re-visit her reflections. Although her original intent had nothing to do with the Corona Virus, there are lessons in the article that are certainly timely and applicable to our current situation. Sara is an entrepreneur, CEO, and Principal Interior Designer at Sara Lynn Brennan Interiors. Sara has become the first and only full-service interior design firm in Waxhaw, North Carolina, who specializes in Transitional Designs, where she and her design-build team take spaces from Bare Bones to Beautiful by utilizing her exclusive, approachable, and stress-free design process, transforming and renovating homes from start to finish. Sara’s design work has been nationally published six times in the last year includi

Welcome to A Well-Designed Business! LuAnn brings you a very special conversation today, one that may hit very close to home for many of us; mental illness. Bearing that in mind, I must also say that this show was recorded months ago before the word COVID 19 was even legitimately on our radar. Even though the topic of mental illness can be sensitive, it’s important to talk about it.  Whether mental illness affects us personally or affects one of our loved ones, you’re not going to want to miss this intimate talk. LuAnn’s guest is Leah M. Meyer Perez, and Leah will be sharing how she overcame her own internal struggles while trying to run a business. She wants to share her story and bring it out in the open so that we as a community don’t have to feel embarrassed about asking for help. She encourages an environment of support and care for each other. Leah M. Meyer Perez is the CEO/Principal Designer of Leah May Interior Design. Like so many of you, from an early age Leah was creative and had a natural talent

Welcome to A Well-Designed Business, it’s Power Talk Friday! Peter Lang joins LuAnn on today’s show to discuss accounting that is specific to design firms. Peter is a CPA that works exclusively with interior designers, and he will be covering the nuances of the industry. He is also a co-author of LuAnn’s latest book, A Well-Designed Business: The Power Talk Friday Experts. If you’re a business owner and concerned about how this current COVID-19 pandemic will impact your taxes, you will not want to miss this episode! Peter Lang is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. He is the founder of The Designer CPA, a CPA firm that works exclusively with business owners in the design industry. He has worked in public accounting since graduating from Providence College in 2002. After working for several larger size firms in Boston and Rhode Island, Peter realized his true passion was to start a firm that specifically focused on designers.   Peter currently resides in Rhode Island with

Welcome to this episode of A Well-Designed Business! Gabriela Gargano joins LuAnn in this episode to caution us as entrepreneurs about being careful not to apply reasons and rationale to decisions that we are facing because we are reluctant to take the risk. Gaby also shares some very specific strategies that she is employing as the CEO of her design firm in light of the Corona Virus, which you will likely find very smart and useful! You are going to love these ideas! After graduating from college with degrees in Art History, Hispanic Studies, and Business Economics, Gaby spent more than a decade at Goldman Sachs, as a sales trader and relationship manager. She simultaneously grew her passion for interior design through real estate investing, renovation, and staging of her properties in Manhattan. In 2016, she decided to leave finance and establish Grisoro Designs, a full-service interior design firm located in New York City. Gaby’s style blends clean lines with rich textures and eclectic pieces, referenci

Welcome to this episode of A Well-Designed Business, it’s Power Talk Friday! LuAnn chats with Sandra Funk about Sandra’s amazing new program for the interior design community. Her program is called “The Interior Design Standard”. Just wait until you hear about it, you’re going to LOVE this! Sandra Funk is the CEO and Principal Designer of House of Funk, a greater New York area design firm working wherever great clients need us. This is interior design with a soul and a sense of place; reflecting your desires, personality, and style. House of Funk creates thoughtful homes with an emphasis on clean lines and soulful touches, all rooted in tradition. Sandra is an Accredited Professional for the Sustainable Furnishings Council. Sandra’s award-winning design work has been featured in publications such as Elle Decor, House Beautiful, The Huffington Post, Apartment Therapy, Aspire Design & Home, and Luxe Interiors + Design. With almost two decades in the interior design industry, Sandra is launching the Inter

Welcome to A Well-Designed Business! LuAnn has been considering adding a Wednesday show answering straight-up questions that you ask her via email and SM, and with everything happening in the world right now, she thought this was the perfect time to debut “What Would Lu Do?” On today’s episode, she will be discussing doing business through a crisis. In the 40 years, she’s been in business, she has had to weather all kinds of crises, such as recessions, acts of terrorism, and viral pandemic scares. Listen in to learn how you can be smart, strategic, and patient to help you get your business to the other side of this! Be sure to join her next Wednesday as she shares some additional tips to help you through this difficult time. Show Highlights: This is critical: 1) Don’t overreact. 2) Don’t NOT act. Cash flow is KING. Everything in your business will depend on your cash flow. The first-level action plan: Focus on sales. Monitor cash flow and keep your vendors paid. Review all money owed to you and col

Welcome to A Well Designed Business! It’s WTF, Window Treatment Friday! In today’s episode, LuAnn and her friend and co-host of WTF, Vita (Vitalia) Vygovska, cover effective communication between the interior designer and the workroom to ensure a successful project. One of the private Facebook groups that Vita belongs to is the “Soft Furnishings & Upholstery” group. Prior to this show, she posted a query asking for their stories on the topic of communication, both good and bad, that members’ workrooms have had with their designers. She received some really good feedback on what worked and what didn’t work, and she and LuAnn will be sharing their collective wisdom with you today. Listen in to take advantage of what others have learned from their experiences, and remember the most important thing of all: communication is key with everything! Vitalia Vygovska (Vita for short!), CWFP, MBA, is an award-winning window treatment specialist, author, speaker, mom, wife, and a ballroom dance enthusiast.  Her compa

Welcome to A Well-Designed Business! LuAnn’s guest today is Melissa Lindsay, Co-Owner of Pimlico Interiors, located in Westport, CT. She will be sharing some of the methods and tactics that she and her partner, Jill Kakaletris, use when dealing with difficult conversations and difficult clients. As #seasoned designers, Melissa and Jill have had their share of difficult conversations with clients and together they have developed a personal philosophy for handling these as well as some actual tips to help you navigate them, too. Whether you are crafting an email or having a hard person-to-person discussion, there are some strategies here that you can most certainly find useful! Melissa brings 20 years of luxury residential design experience and award-winning interiors to the firm. Named at home Magazine’s A-list award winner multiple years over, she has been lauded by industry professionals from Celerie Kemble to Bunny Williams. Show Highlights: Be truthful with kindness and grace! Listen more than talk.

Welcome to A Well-Designed Business. It’s Power Talk Friday! On today’s show, Jude Charles joins LuAnn for a chat about videos, and how important they are to our websites. He is here to explain that compelling video is achieved through storytelling, and how we can’t have video just for video’s sake. It must be compelling and it must do the heavy lifting of attracting our ideal client to us. Jude is talented and clearly passionate about helping business owners tap into their unique value by creating the videos that help your clients feel like they already know you.Don’t miss this insightful and inspiring episode!  Jude Charles is a story-driven filmmaker, brand strategist & speaker. For over 13 years, he has been producing documentaries & videos for purpose-driven entrepreneurs. He lives and breathes YOUR brand. He digs deep to find the compelling stories that no one else knows & then leverages those stories to scale your business. Show Highlights: Jude shares how storytelling is pivotal to captivating v

Welcome to A Well-Designed Business! In this episode, LuAnn chats with Jaclyn Lankiewicz, the woman behind the Instagram handle, Jaclynmari_. She is the principle of Jaclyn Marie Interiors based in Long Island, NY. Her journey into interior design, like many, has not been a direct line. Basically, Jaclyn created an Instagram page that was getting so much attention that it prompted person after person to ask her if she would design their space. As you will hear today, her response was, “I finally said to myself, ok, let me do this”. Jaclyn created an Instagram that has created a design business, and since you already have a design business and want to create more clients through Instagram, perhaps you’ll find her tips to be very helpful. Listen in to see what we can learn about how to attract clients through Instagram! Show Highlights: Keep your feed neutral, bright, and uncluttered. Edit your pictures properly, paying close attention to wood tones. Be strategic about what and where you’re posting. K

Welcome to A Well-Designed Business! In this episode, LuAnn recounts the way that Sara Lynn Brennan, from Sara Lynn Brennan Interiors, went from being a stranger to her, to someone she treasures as a friend, all in less than two years. As an entrepreneur, Sara stands out as one of the most unusual LuAnn has met during her entire business career and her podcast journey. You may have noticed lots of collaboration with Sara over the last few months, and wondered why. There’s a lesson to be learned here, and LuAnn is eager to share it with you! It has to do with investing in your success. One of the ways that LuAnn noticed Sara investing in her success was that she steps outside the box by working on things that may have been intimidating or scary. Another way is that Sara has put in the blood, sweat, and tears. A third way that Sara has brought her business to a place of success so quickly is that she invested her dollar bills. When she made money, she evaluated it, and invested money back into her business.

Welcome to A Well-Designed Business! On this episode, LuAnn sits down for a chat with Denise Wenacur, the principle of DW Design & Décor in Croton on the Hudson, which is a beautiful community just outside of NYC. Design-build is the hot topic of the day, and you’ll learn the importance of having an interior designer as the point person for the client between the architect, the builder and themselves. She discusses the ways having an interior designer on their team from the outset truly benefits the process and the result of the project. If that wasn’t enough, Denise will share tips for connecting with people who can introduce you to the type of projects you are looking for. Tune in to this engaging and informative conversation! Show Highlights: Denise recounts why and how she changed her business model to include the construction part. She is always the first point of contact as the interior designer. She rounds out each team with an architect, contractor, and whichever trades need to be added, as wel

Welcome to A Well Designed Business! It’s WTF, Window Treatment Friday! It’s been a while since LuAnn has had a window treatment episode, so she’s super-excited to have her co-host of WTF, Vita (Vitalia) Vygovska back on the show. Hardware is the subject of today’s show, and if talking about ripple folds, pinch pleats, stationary rods, rod pockets, and rods with c-rings make your heart beat a little faster, then you’ve found your people! Drapery rods can be a super-complicated thing, but LuAnn and Vita have a way of making this a fun conversation. Join them in this educational and insightful journey into the world of window treatment hardware. Vitalia Vygovska (Vita for short), CWFP, MBA, is an award-winning window treatment specialist, author, speaker, mom, wife, and a ballroom dance enthusiast.  Her company, Vitalia, Inc, provides all-encompassing concierge-level, tech-driven fabrication, measurement, installation, and project management services exclusively for interior designers.  Show Highlights:

Welcome to this episode of Power Talk Friday! Join LuAnn and her guest, Victoria Sanchez, in this thought-provoking conversation about changing things up in the way we educate interior designers. Her concern is if we don’t start to make changes in the design curriculum, then we, as an industry, are at risk. At one time, Victoria served as in interior design professor at Marymount University and this is where the conversation begins today. As LuAnn will tell you, this is a totally new idea to her and many of us, and sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know! Just wait until you hear what Victoria proposes! Victoria Sanchez, one of America’s premier design professionals, has been creating one-of-a-kind interiors for hundreds of prominent clients over the past three decades. Dubbed a home décor “style maker” by Luxe magazine, Victoria is an award-winning designer who offers services ranging from project management and space planning to kitchen and bath design and furniture selection. She and her team are b