


Then, it was time for the real world. I decided to move to Memphis because my now-husband was in law school in Oxford, MS which is 45 minutes away and I had several good friends living there. Besides, if it was good enough for Elvis, it was good enough for me!


I knew I wasn't cut out for sales. I knew I didn't want to be at a desk all day, every day. I knew that I had a creative side that I wanted to put to use. I had always loved decorating, even as a little kid. While I was doing this soul searching, I took another job doing marketing at BPI, a flooring distributor.
This was one of those moves in life that you know someone is looking out for you. It was a great job, with a great company, with great people, and I was exposed to several brands and products, all home related. While I knew it wouldn't be permanent, I was sad to leave.

As life goes, things were changing and Patrick (my now husband) took a job in Birmingham, AL so I left Memphis.


That August I started classes at Samford for Interior Design and a few weeks later I went looking for a part time job in the industry. This is the part of the story where my whole life changed. My adviser at school had written down a list of names (from the phone book) of designers I should go talk to. I was on my way to one in particular and suddenly changed course and ended up in a different office first.

My future boss, Jenny, shared an office with the person I went to go see and when I told her why I was there she said, "I don't know if she needs help, but I am hiring an assistant". So I was hired then and there. It was a trial run because as Jenny put it, "you either have it or you don't". Jenny is a decorator, not a designer, and I quickly learned that I wanted to decorate, not necessarily design, so I dropped out of the program to work full time for her. (I would love to be a designer, but 4 more years of school that I was footing from my own pocket was not worth it, and decorating is what I love).

Let's pause to say this, and I am not trying to be cheesy- I truly believe God has a plan for each of us and you go in life where you are supposed to. Finding Jenny was one of those things I know he had planned. That job was the most crucial step in my career to date. Not only is she a great decorator, but she was a great friend in a new city, and she and her sister (our office manager) have a strong faith that made an impact on me. The things I learned there would have taken me years to learn on my own and for that I am grateful.

So after about a year of working for her, different people started asking for help and I started my own company on the side. It started with 2 clients and grew from there. It wasn't easy and there have been many tears along the way. All my business is basically word of mouth. I am very lucky because while growing my business I have been able to continue working for Jenny a little which has made a huge difference.
So, that is how I got here. A few years later, I am still growing my business, which as we all know is not the best timing, but so far so good. I think one thing that has helped me is that since I am young and fairly new to the business I am not as intimidating as decorators can be. I love small and big projects and I understand budgets as well as anyone does.
If you are thinking about starting your own business I say go for it. There has not been an easy moment since I started- I didn't even sleep the first 3 months, seriously- but it is very rewarding. If you currently hate what you are doing, you need to change. I know, it is not that easy, but take one step at a time and it will get easier.
So that is it in a nutshell. Feel free to e-mail more specific questions. Sorry for the mini novel, once I got started I couldn't stop! As for the future, who knows. I love to help people but I hate the business transaction part of it, I would much rather do it for free, but that is not an option. I would love to own a home store (I know this contradicts the last sentence), but that is a big step......
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