The 50 States Project by Business of Home is a series of candid conversations with interior designers across the country about how they’ve built their businesses. This week, Columbus, Ohio–based designer Cheryl Beachy Stauffer of Crimson Design Group tells us about looking for efficiencies, creating a leadership team and letting go of the details in order to focus on the big picture.
1. What is the dividing line between having the vision for your company but not getting pulled into the design details?
Oftentimes, I’ll ask myself, “Can someone else do this?” and if the answer is “Yes,” then I shouldn’t be doing it. When I came back from sabbatical, I put a sticky note on my monitor that says, “The devil is in the details.” That’s where I can get stuck, and it keeps the firm from moving forward. If the visionary is looking down all the time rather than out, we’re never going to move forward. I believe that you hire people to empower them. I have an empowered team who’s really good at their jobs, [so I do my best to] trust them. It’s a constant mental reminder, and you have to be really disciplined with yourself.
2. Can you tell me about your market in Ohio, and Columbus specifically?
Yes, because I’m very excited for Columbus, Ohio. I’ve been on a mission lately to try to get more attention here. Intel recently announced that it’s building its largest U.S. site, [a 1,000-acre megasite with two factories just outside of Columbus,] and it is happening in my backyard. We are like 10,000 homes a year behind schedule to support the need for the growth. It’s a huge opportunity.
I think it’s going to be like Austin, Texas, in five years. A lot of our clients are moving from California and New York and coming in from the coasts.
3. Do clients come to you with a different mindset of what their home should be than what you see from colleagues and peers on the coast?
They do. If they grew up here, their world is much smaller, right? We don’t have design centers here, so they’re only exposed to what they see in retail: Restoration Hardware, Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn. Often, that’s what their comfort zone is. We always tell them, “If you want Restoration Hardware, you’re not going to hire us because you didn’t hire us to get something you can go get on your own.” As a design firm, we want to push them to expand their world and what they’re exposed to. The best compliment someone can give me is “This does not look like Ohio.”
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