Dennis Oz: Hello everyone and welcome back to the Remodeler Success podcast, where we share the real only real stories and strategies from the leaders shaping the design and remodeling industry. Today’s guest, well. She has been around running one of the Dallas’s top interior design firms over 20 years. It’s like more than two decades, building a repetition for both creativity and business leadership.

So when I talk about this, I really mean it because she founded her company back in 2004 and since then it’s been named one of the Dallas. Top 10 design firms every year since 2015. Isn’t that interesting? Yes. And along the way, she’s earned nine national awards from the Interior Design Society, becoming a certified living in space professional.

So we have a lot of things to talk about today. She also worked with hundreds of manufacturers, to deliver turnkey design solutions. So that’s why I’m so excited for today’s session. Please welcome, the CEO and Design Director of Design Lifestyles kim Bailey.

Kim, welcome to the show. 

Kim Bailey: Oh, thank you so much, Dennis. I really, uh, counted and honored to be here today. Thank you for asking me. 

Dennis Oz: Well. Kim, before I dive into the questions that I prepared for you, when we look at your background in the industry for many, many years, how would you introduce yourself? 

Kim Bailey: Oh goodness.

Um, I, you know, I grew up very humble beginnings. I’m a small town Texas girl from a rural, uh, rural area outside of Austin. Um, and just had a creativity with inside me. You know, I think some people are just born with an innate creativity. Um, I loved to sow and be domestic and you know, what I wanted to do when I first.

Started out of, um, high school and what I studied in college is not where I am today. I think sometimes it takes us time to find ourselves, but when we find our true passion and what we’re called to do, um, success soon follows, and that’s kind of my story. 

Dennis Oz: This is amazing to have you here. So let me ask you this then.

Well, just like you mentioned, running a really high-end interior design firm for over 20 years takes. More than just creativity. Mm-hmm. I mean, I’m sure there are a lot of creative people, but they don’t have a 20 years old company. So, it’s also because you have to combine leadership consistency and also adaptability.

So what key business decisions have helped you grow and really sustain your company for these two decades? 

Kim Bailey: Really, I think the primary, um, factor that we did was we became very client focused. So really honing in on defining who our client was, knowing that every time the phone rang, um, or we had an interview with somebody as a potential client, they, they nod are always a good match for us, and that’s not, um, looking bad on us or looking bad on them.

It just, sometimes it’s not a good match. It’s a little bit like dating. Great person, but I’m not sure they’re gonna fit well into our, our model and how we work. So we became very client focused, identifying first the right clients, then really addressing their lifestyles and needs and tailoring, custom designing, um, their furnishings or remodels.

Um, for how they live in their home. How are they going to live day to day? How do they live? What do their evenings and weekends look like? What do their holidays look like? Do they have family coming over? Do they have people staying for extended periods of time? Taking all of that information and really customizing, um, a design.

Then building that long-term relationship with those clients. When, when people feel your authenticity and when they really see that you are, um, focused on them, um, there there’s a close relationship and they want you back to do other spaces. They wanna refer you to their friends. And what we found is, um, we do that, um, and, and clients just.

You know, would refer us or become repeat clients. Um, we just made it a priority in our firm to, uh, talk about three things. Quality number one, I never put anything in a client’s home that I wouldn’t put in my own home. I just, if I can’t stand behind it, we don’t sell it. Uh, number two is honesty. I think truth is goes a long way.

And I think there’s a way to tell people what they need to hear. Uh, not just maybe telling them something difficult, but maybe. That followed up with solutions. Uh, but being truly honest and then follow through. If you say you’re gonna do it, do it. If you say you’re gonna be there, be there. Um, but really following through and treating your design or remodeling business like A-A-C-E-O of an executive firm, you know, and people respond to that.

They want that. 

Dennis Oz: You just touched somewhere really important because just like you said, being a designer and being a CEO difference. Mm-hmm. So that’s why my next question is going to be all about this too, because we know that all our designers could be, , anyone who is just tuning in today, maybe they have a.

Small, you know, they’re really good at doing things. Maybe they’re refacing cabinets, kitchen cabinets, we dunno, but they’re on their own and they often really struggle to really move from being the creative and door brain to , becoming the person in the company that who is like looking at the big picture in the company.

Yeah. Teams and the projects scope grow, right? 

Yep. 

So what really shifted your mindset in this process really helped you to step fully into this CEO role while still protecting the creative vision. 

Kim Bailey: That’s a really good question because I did struggle with this a lot and I, what I found was day to day, um, you know, you’re kind of focusing on two different things.

You’re very, very creative, but then you have this business analytical side, and what I really found was where are my strengths? And I found I was. A really strong first thing in the morning for design. So I would start blocks of time to either handle design needs or meet with my staff first thing in the morning.

And I would tell our office manager, unless it’s a 9 1 1, I am not available until one o’clock in the afternoon, and I would do all the designing. And then in the afternoon I would kind of shift my thought process, shift my mind, and go into administrative. CEO role and handle all of those administrative things.

I tried reversing it at one point and doing administrative first. It’s harder for me to jump from administrative to creative, um, than it would be. And the other thing is even better is if you can dedicate a full day, um, if we have a huge project or something, I would just ba block this whole day. I’m not doing anything except working with our design team on this, um, design.

Um, the other thing is. Implementing good processes in our company to free up time. Um, and for me, this was really hard, Dennis, letting go of things that I’ve trained people on and that I know can do their job and trust them, delegate it, and build a strong team and let them do what they need to do so that I could focus on vision and design for the company, um, and not worry about.

All the little details that, that come with running a business. 

Dennis Oz: Very interesting. And, let me ask you this one then, , you talk about this team building is also important. My next question is gonna be actually I was plan to ask you a question about working with the Luxury

Clients, but I just wanna hold onto that question a little. Okay. For a moment and ask you this. How do you then build your team? How is your hiring process, let’s say, when you decide, let me ask you this question in very specific. When did you decide to hire the employee number one?

Mm-hmm. When was that moment? When did you say, oh my God, I need someone? 

Kim Bailey: Mm-hmm. 

Dennis Oz: When was that moment? 

Kim Bailey: Well, this is a kind of a funny story about me. So I was about 10 years in, uh, to my business, and I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t set these aspirations in the beginning to grow, to be this large firm. I was more like a, um, hobbyist whose business just kind of kept growing and growing.

Uh, but one day I remember it very well, in December, my daughter, uh, Lauren came knocking on my door and I opened the door and I had been up. Honestly, since I would start my day about four in the morning and I was juggling 11 clients by myself and trying to run this design firm, and she came in and she said, you know, mom, I have been doing this job that I have for the last four years, and I just.

Got up today and said, I wanna do something different and I wanna work for you. So my first employee was my daughter and that was almost 12 years ago. And I was kind of taken aback ’cause I had really wanted her to come be a part of what I was doing. And in true, you know. Adolescent fashion is kinda like, oh, well mom wants me to be designed.

I will go and do X, Y, Z. You know? So it took her a while to come around. She’d always kind of done part things time, part-time, uh, work for me. But she was my first hire and I, you know, I didn’t pull any punches. I just said, okay, if that’s what you wanna do. ’cause I was a little leery. You gotta start at the bottom like you are.

You know, entry point design assistant, you’re gonna do all the grunt work. And she’s like, okay, that’s what I’ll do. And since then, she’s held every position in our company and she’s now, uh, the director of operations for my design firm, um, and my senior designer. So it kind of fell in my lap. But once I realized.

How freeing that was and how much more I began to love my job again. I think when you get to a point when your job is driving you, instead of you driving your career or you driving your company, that’s the time you need to hire somebody and really. Nine times outta 10, you need to hire somebody before you come to that realization, because it’s usually out of, you know, overwhelmed that you’re like, I needed someone, you know, six months ago.

So really defining that and, and being open to that and not being afraid. Um, we also, sometimes we feel like we need somebody at our design firm now, but we’re not sure we wanna increase head count. We use contract labor. There’s all kinds of people out there that are solo entrepreneurs trying to get their business started, and they’re willing to pick up 10, 15 hours a week or work with us on a single project, and that helps us out without hiring headcount with a, with a long-term obligation for payroll.

Dennis Oz: Of course, it just creates and increases the, headcount also increases all these break even points going higher than that. And, of course when you look at the numbers and at the same time, just by doing this, you are just giving a solo entrepreneur the number. Opportunity.

Right. Maybe they will be the next version of somewhere else. Maybe just like Kim started this one many, many years ago. Mm-hmm. Maybe just like the story that just you explained, maybe they are family members are gonna help them, right. And they’re gonna grow a business. So this is always good for our economy and also our community.

Number one thing. And this is really smart idea to do this. I’m sure that this is giving our listeners a little bit of idea because most of the time when they’re thinking about growing the business and also hiring new people, yes, sometimes they just really stuck on where, how I’m gonna find new people, right Folks, because you can just heard Kim is just not really thinking about, should be really increased the headcount in the company, or should we just go there and find a solo entrepreneur who is just really willing to take the job for maybe 10, 15 hours per week?

So this is an amazing way. Kim, thanks so much for sharing this. Thanks so much. Sure. For sharing this. Well, I would like to jump into the working with this luxury people because It’s not easy. That’s what I think. I’m sure that you have some struggles, but. Most of our, interior design firms could be design and build companies.

Mm-hmm. Could be kitchen showrooms. Mm-hmm. I mean, also, a solo designer, they often struggle to really convert interest into committed projects and mm-hmm. Especially when these budgets and expectations really shift these, mid process. Right? 

Mm-hmm. 

What does your process really look like, from the initial consult?

To project what’s really helped you this increase this, conversation. 

Kim Bailey: Well, I think the first thing is really identifying your client. We kind of talked about that, just really interviewing them and making sure they’re gonna be a really good fit for your business and for the way you work. Um, so we have a really good first phone call and to really identify and make sure that, that there’s some specific things that we feel are gonna be a good match and then that first initial in-person meeting, um, and here’s our rule for that.

All decision makers have to be at that meeting. They don’t have to be at every meeting, but they all have to be at the first meeting. Um, and the reason why I do that is, you know, there’ve been times where, uh, one of the couple, you know, one partner would call me and say, oh, well my partner doesn’t care.

They just told me to make the decisions. And it’s like, you start writing checks, they care. Um, they need to know who we are, how we work, what the vision is, and we wanna hear from them, you know. Dennis, opposites attract in relationships, and so you’re gonna always find one person who’s, I want the best of the best, and I really wanna invest in this project.

And the other one who’s got a very tight reign on the budget and doesn’t know if they really wanna do the project at all. Or you’ve got someone who’s super traditional and loves traditional style and you’ve got someone who likes more modern and clean lines. So you have to hear from everybody. You’re a little bit like a a marriage counselor.

Listening to all of this information and assembling it into a, um, a proposal that you can say, I hear you and what you’re saying. I hear you. Here’s the scope of what I think we can accomplish for the budget that you’re wanting to invest. And here’s how we can blend your design styles. Um, and we always have to talk about the B word is what I call it, the budget.

Um, so many people don’t wanna do that. They’re afraid if they sit, put a number out there, you’re gonna spend every dime and then some. Um, but you have to be really transparent and talk about challenging things. And budget is one of ’em. Investment. How much do you wanna invest in your house? How long do you plan on being here?

Um, you know, do we wanna design it? Very taste. Specific for what you and your partner want, or are you gonna resale in two to three years? And we need to think about more, um, just selections that are gonna be more universally accepted from a potential buyer. Um, educating these clients on what things cost and we’re having to reeducate our existing clients who were pre COVID to today because so much has changed in the last.

Four to five years. Um, given where we’ve been in our economy and the way things go, um, the demands for trades, you know, we’re, we’re running low on, on electricians and plumbers and good GCs, and so all of these things encompass. Where we come up with a number, and I, I feel like so many times, um, clients don’t have any basis for their number.

They just like arbitrarily pick a number out of the sky. I wanna do my kitchen for let’s say $11,000. Well, how did you develop that number? And they can’t tell you. They just picked a number. We go in and we say. List it out. Very visual in a spreadsheet. Here’s what everything is gonna cost. And here’s the bottom line, we’re transparent.

Um, we let our clients see all of the trades invoices. We let them see every, um, vendor that is charging them. So where we have a cost. Plus model. And I feel like that makes people more comfortable that you’re not playing a shell game with their bank account. You know, where you’re just randomly throwing out numbers.

And if they say, well, what happens if we take off the bathroom or if we don’t do the level, you know, eight. Uh, quartzite that we want or whatever. You know, you’re not playing these little number games. They see in a spreadsheet how we got to what that investment is. So I really think educating them and being transparent, builds trust, and really sets the stage for the right clients and your business.

Dennis Oz: Wow, those are really golden nuggets and thank you so much for sharing this, Kim. I’m sure this is really helping and I’m sure our listeners today are really enjoying this conversation as much as I do. And, this session is really going so well. And folks, we are not letting Kim go.

I have more questions for her but Kim, I would love to take the conversation to AI talk. 

Mm-hmm. 

And, yeah, you just made an analogy in the beginning about dating and I always say that we always think like maybe we are dating with AI right now, but mm-hmm. Still there are some tools that we are using in the business.

Mm-hmm. And, they started to make some difference. Mm-hmm. 

Not 

like fully changed everything that we’ve done, but there are some really good additions. 

Mm-hmm. 

Are you using any AI tools in your business right now? 

Kim Bailey: We really have been very slow to adopt ai. I’ll be fully transparent, so not to give away my age, but I grew up in a, in a generation where the phones were attached to the wall, you know, so, so much has.

Changed technology wise in my lifetime and just from phones being attached to the wall to, you know, um, you know, the big large mobile phones to that were in your car and, um, to just even every home having a computer to where we are today with social media and now ai. So for me, we, I’ll be honest, I just probably in the last month started exploring chat GPT, which is.

A real easy, I found it really interesting to kind of use it for research or, um, maybe coming up with wording on a particular way to phrase something or say something. But for me, I am apprehensive because I feel like true luxury has a human element. And I don’t ever want us to become artificial in that I, I don’t wanna speed up my process so much that I lose the heart of design.

Um, I want our company to continue to have that human intuition that comes with the type of services we offer and the personal touch that we give to our clients. Um, but I do. Think as an industry more and more it’s gonna be, um, used, but we are going to, um, proceed cautiously, um, and really not let it take over the core of who we are or what we do.

Dennis Oz: Can we say, well, robots and AI can make great hamburgers, but. When you looking for chef cooked meal. 

Kim Bailey: Mm-hmm. 

Dennis Oz: You have to, can you say something like that? It’s just like a good analogy about it. 

Kim Bailey: Oh, for sure. For sure. And, and we, you kind of use that, um, I use that analogy with my staff all the time, that one of the things I had to really work with my daughter on when she started with me, she would get so excited and, and be in such a, um, a fast pace that she would talk extremely fast to clients and I would have to tell her.

Our process is fine dining, it is not fast food. You know, we are luxury. We want to speak to where people can understand us. We want to process, give them time to process things. So just like you go to a restaurant, I, I love personally fine dining. Um, I find it one of my life’s luxuries with being a service provider and providing services to people every day, all day.

There’s something very relaxing for me to go into a dimly lit room with, with white line and tablecloths and have someone stand there and say, what could I bring you? You know, it’s very nourishing and, um, emotionally to me, other, you know, and physically. Um, so I try to attune that with the way we work is just making it a very luxury, fine dining experience, um, that people do pay more for.

Um, but they have higher. Expectations as well. And so we deliver on that. 

Dennis Oz: Well, one of the moments that I really like in this show is. Like really matching the analogies that we use in the company, just like the way it just created in the show right now. Man. Learning that you’re also using it in the Yes.

Folks. This is just like, we are doing our due diligence really well, so we are trying to Yes. Our speakers when we are handpicking them, just like Kim today is just sharing our golden nuggets here. This is, I’m sure that you’re, , getting the most value out this conversation today. And Kim, thank you so much for explaining this to us and

let’s talk about marketing now and, years and years of years of companies around there will, it’ll create a lot of people that maybe you have your raving fans, community that people are really they’re admiring you and they’re, like, oh my God, you have to find Kim.

But not a lot of people in our communities, even among our listeners, sometimes they’re just starting and mm-hmm. What makes it. You know, a company with legacy, with the difference with the new company. And, just wanna ask you how you play this marketing game and, if you would like, really start from day one.

Mm-hmm. If you don’t have like much of people coming to you, how would you try to strategize your digital marketing or online or offline marketing at the same time? What would you do? 

Kim Bailey: Well, that’s a really good question because I’m not sure, um, Dennis, that you’re aware of this, but I just in the last year started a new company, um, and it’s actually an interior design school here in Dallas.

Um, it’s actually a 30-year-old interior design school called Heritage School of Interior Design. But I obtained the license rights to bring it to the state of Texas. And so, um, I have been heading that up. Um, and we had to start from square one baby business all over again. With marketing. Um, and I have a love hate relationship with marketing and social media.

I’ll be on again, back to the generational thing. Um, I, uh, I like being on social media a little bit, but I find large doses of it doesn’t, um, bode me well. It just isn’t. Um, Theodore Roosevelt, one of my favorite quotes is, you know, comparison is the thief of joy. And when you’re on social media. Especially as a designer, you’re following other designers, you’re following other brands.

It’s very easy to start comparing yourself to other people. And even though your clients love what you’re doing and you’re getting your own, um, accolades and rave reviews, there’s still a part of you that’s like, wow, I should have done this. Or Why am I not doing that? So for me personally, we use social media, which to me is a huge component of marketing.

Um, but what I decided. To hire it out. Um, we found somebody who’s, that’s their talent. That’s what they love. Um, and they do a great job for us, but it’s still our responsibility to bring them authentic, um, content and fresh content. And so that’s always a battle as you’re doing, uh, what you do day to day, um, in, in a design firm, um, or in a school.

Is really trying to think about that in the back of your mind. Um, but I would say I think Google Ads are really good and I do think building your brand online with Google as far as Google reviews, so even people who may before you have. Paying clients. Maybe you have, um, friends or things that you’ve done, uh, work for that could write you a review.

People read reviews and so the more reviews you have, the more current reviews you have. ’cause sometimes we would go through times where we’d. Send out a, an email to all of our clients, could you give us a review? And we get like 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 at a time. And then there’ll be this long span and we don’t have any because it’s that ebb and flow of, oh my gosh, we need to put out some fresh, you know, marketing.

So it’s really good to try different things and kind of try to measure your ROI, what I always do when we meet with anybody. One of the very first questions after those initial introductions, how did you find us? And that’s indicative of letting you know what’s going on in your marketing world. Was it a referral from a client?

Was it, you know, your website, was it a Google search? Was it social media? Um, all of those things you need to write down is the very first thing in their file. And we actually have a spreadsheet and we track those and we see where are we getting our traction from. Um, for my design firm, it’s primarily word of mouth.

We do get occasional. Social media or website, um, but know where your strengths are. And if I know some designers that are amazing at social media, um, and they built an amazing brand that’s not mine. And that’s where I know I need to a lot marketing dollars to hire that out. 

Dennis Oz: Well, exactly. I think here the real, comparison is just maybe comparing yourself to your, .

Previous version and we always try to be our best version, just like you said. 

Mm-hmm. Maybe this 

is not the best way to just look at Instagram posts and everything and just to create everything based on that one. And, I’m sure that the adding one single question, just like Kim said, what’s one single question saying that?

How did you find us? 

Mm-hmm. That’s going to 

give you a lot more insights. Than any other questions , just for marketing standpoint, of course. And because we need marketing to grow our businesses For sure. And, thank you so much Kim, just for, sharing these golden nuggets with us.

Well, before we wrap up, I have one last question for you. 

Kim Bailey: Okay. 

Dennis Oz: Kim, with all these years of experience that you have. What we have seen is most of the, entrepreneurs could be designers or maybe they’re just saying, I’m gonna open up my own showroom and just gonna sell kitchen cabinets, and maybe I’ll just do remodeling or whatever, right?

Mm-hmm. They start with the talent, but not a plan. 

Mm-hmm. And, 

sometimes they know how to do things, but they don’t know how to run this. 

Mm-hmm. 

At this moment, what would be the biggest piece of advice for these new people who want to really build a real career? Mm-hmm. Not just take on occasional projects.

Kim Bailey: You know, I would say educating yourself, um, about, um, maybe a business blueprint of what are some key things that you need to be doing now. And I would always say plan for your growth before you grow, before you get there. Um, when my business was just starting to grow, I started kind of fe you kind of feel the rumbles of like, okay, this is picking up a little bit.

I, I’ve got a feeling here. At that point before it gets out of hand, as far as more growth that you can manage, start really structuring your business. And if you don’t have an innate normal, uh, I say normal, if it doesn’t come naturally to you, to, to kind of have intuition on how to structure business.

There are business coaches out there. There’s so much information on the internet that can help you set some basic principles up for your business. But I think. Things that anybody can do or set goals. You know, how many clients do I wanna see this year? Or how much revenue do I wanna generate? Or how many projects do I wanna have?

And then what is your plan of action to do that? And not just up here, write it down. You know, pull out a binder, this is my project binder, these are my goals. When you write something down, you’re so much more likely to follow it. Um, develop your systems and processes. Um, a big thing that really took my business next level is when I started to network with other designers.

Um, I became active in a local professional organization called the Interior Design Society. I started going to meetings. I started networking. I found people in the industry that wanted good relationships and we began to share nuggets with each other. Uh, we would make, let’s go to lunch, and then we’d talk about what are your pain points right now?

Here’s what’s going on with me. How would you handle this? And I think there’s ways to share information with your competitors. ’cause that’s what you are, you’re all networking together. I think there’s ways to, to be collaborative and to share and to offer guidance without giving away your whole.

Blueprint, but you know, one of my mantras is iron sharpens iron. You can never go wrong with being around other people who are like-minded. Um, and I have some amazing lifelong friends in the industry who we’re on a, a group. Text message together and we share information. You know, hey, my wallpaper installer is, is under the weather this week and I’ve got a 9 1 1 who has a wallpaper installer, or, you know, um, I have a, a project and we’re needing a specific trade and we’ve never done this type of, um, um, application and a remodel before.

Do you have someone or you know, who’s a great vendor for this type of outdoor rated tile? There’s all kinds of things that come across our path that could drain us or take a lot of our time trying to research. But if you’ve already got a network developed where you share and collaborate, that’s huge as you grow.

’cause you’re gonna have questions and you just, um, be willing to give. But to also, uh, receive it has to be a two-way street. Wow. For it to really work. Yeah. 

Dennis Oz: Serious, even when I I just the things that you shared. , I really made sure today’s was a great session for all our listeners and folks.

Wasn’t that an amazing session for today? And even you are just listening or watching. That was really, really, valuable session. I’m sure that you also feel the same way, Kim, before we. Just close the session. Just wanted to ask one last question. Sometimes I know we are all our talk is B2B business to business and answers just leading business owners, right?

Mm-hmm. 

But 

sometimes we Come across with the, prospects, sometimes they just tune in. Like homeowners sometimes just come in and they say, yeah, just tune in and just really watch you, or, 

mm-hmm. 

They catch the content from somewhere. 

If someone really tuned in and if they will, just considering working, with design lifestyles 

mm-hmm.

Let’s say they’re ideal prospect, right? Mm-hmm. But how to make sure, just wanted to hear your business pitch a little bit here, because sometimes, we come across with these other people, right? Mm-hmm.

They’re prospects, they’re homeowners, they’re looking for projects. Sometimes they’re B2B connections that , would like to, create business relationships maybe in local, in Texas, so. What’s your response to that question?

Kim Bailey: You know, I think, um, if I’m understanding your question correctly, like if a client were to just happen to us, what makes your 

Dennis Oz: company special for the homeowners B2C side? 

Kim Bailey: Yes. Well, I think the first thing is really just setting expectations. You know, there’s a lot of misconceptions about design and remodeling from our friends at, at, at television.

Television and they see, you know, amazing things accomplished in 30 minutes or an hour. Um, so I think it’s really. Setting expectations. And when somebody talks about something they wanna embark on, you know, whether a design project or a furnishings project is asking, have you ever done that before? Tell me about that.

How did that go? You know? And if they’ve had a really positive experience, that’s always good, but. It’s kind of like childbirth. You ask somebody about that and they start telling you horror stories, you know, of oh my gosh, you should hear what happened, you know, and how terrible it was. So it’s really setting expectations of how you work and making sure that they, um, understand that, um, we have a well-defined process.

Um, we use visual aids and graphics to really show them what our process is that they can take away and understand, but they have to understand. One thing I tell them is it’s, there’s, there’s always going to be something that happens and goes wrong. There is no perfect project and you have to understand this.

This has happened and, but we’ve never had a project. Issue that we didn’t have a solution for, and we will get through it. So just expect it. It’s gonna happen because we’re human. And what we’re doing, um, is always full of surprises. You open up a wall or, um, you, you embark on any type of large renovation.

You don’t know what you don’t know until you get started sometimes with what’s going on. So be prepared. Hey, Kim mentioned to us there’s gonna be a hiccup. We hit a hiccup, but Kim already has a solution. And that’s what we do with our clients. We try to, when our vendors call us and say, Hey, we opened this up and for instance, we had a gas line running through a, a shower remodel where we were gonna put a big niche.

So we not only, you know, acknowledged that we got the information to find out, okay, how much is it to move the gas line? Or how much would it be if we reconfigured the niche? What are we looking at? Materials and labor so we can call the client and say. Remember when I said we’d have an issue, we found a surprise.

It’s gonna be X amount if we move the gas line, or it can be the same amount, and we’ll just redesign the niche. What would you like to do? You’re in the driver’s seat. You make the decision. So I think just setting expectations on how you work and really educating the clients and making sure you have amazing vendors to back it up.

You know, we’ve had vendors, um, in our, in our Rolodex, if you will, for 10, 10 years or more, and they’re people I kind of have weeded out what I call the riff-raff, the people that just aren’t in it for the right reasons, and aligning ourselves with, with vendors who have the same, uh, goals and the same amount of quality in their vocabulary and in their work ethic as we do.

To where, um, we can be very confident when we’re telling clients how things are gonna go because we’ve got the right people, um, with us and the right processes and the right expectations lined out in the beginning. 

Dennis Oz: Well, thank you so much Kim. I know we make you a little bit tired of talking No, fine.

The last half an hour. But the things that you shared was, like pure. Experience pure, expert level, advice. And again, I’m just always saying this was a really golden nuggets and thanks so much for joining me today on Thank you for having me, Dennis.

Kim Bailey: It was a real pleasure and it was an honor that you would reach out to me. Thank you. 

Dennis Oz: Perfect. Folks, that was another episode of Remodel the Success Podcast. We’re gonna see you next time. Goodbye.