Life & Work with Jessica Singer

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Singer.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Getting to where I am today as an interior designer/decorator was a twisty, turny road. My first career (cough… 18 years ago) was actually in event planning and design. It taught me to be nimble, quick on my feet, detail-oriented, organized, and creative.

After graduating from KU with my undergrad in Business Management and a concentration in Entrepreneurship, I went into marketing and advertising where I spent about 12 years. It molded me into a multi-tasking machine, made me client-service driven, a collaborator, a brand expert, a digital guru, and even more creative.

Over the years, I took on personal design, build, and remodeling projects or helped friends and family. I made a lot of mistakes and learned the hard way but I LOVED every minute of it. The stressful days working in the design and remodeling industry weren’t stressful for me the same way my corporate job was and my creative brain was screaming for more.

I made the leap to slowly close my marketing company about two years ago and started J. Design Studio, LLC. I’ve since realized my corporate skills were highly transferable and valuable as a designer. I wouldn’t be the designer I am without that background. So, here I am… I found my full-time, full-on happy place as a designer specializing in remodel/build selections and vacation rental home design.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Starting any business certainly has its ups and downs. Initially, when I started in March 2020, I was happily busy and hit the ground running at 100 mph. Everyone was remodeling or building during Covid. My marketing background had paid off and people were finding me on social or via my website. Inquiries were rolling in.

Then winter came. I was not prepared for the seasonality of this business and my work slowed. Thankfully, I quickly figured it out and pivoted to offering Christmas decorating services (another passion of mine). In addition, I learned to utilize the slow period to just breathe and work on my business – the strategy side of things, continuing education, and all the little things you put off when you’re busy.

Now, I’m grateful for the slow season and look forward to a little calm period!

Day-to-day, my challenges are probably the same as many small businesses. I do everything. I’m the project manager, the client services director, the bookkeeper, the procurement team, the marketing director, and the designer (which sometimes feels like a small part of the job). Every day, I’m learning and improving my process to provide a more exceptional experience for my clients.

It can be overwhelming at times but for me, it’s 100% worth it to do something I love!

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
There are a lot of designers and decorators out there – people have choices! I knew going into this that I needed to differentiate myself and have a defined focus area. So let me back up a bit. In 2019, my husband and I invested in a vacation rental property at The Lake of the Ozarks (www.BambooBungalowMO.com if you’d like to see it).

It had been a long-time dream of mine coming from a hospitality background. We visited the lake many times over the years and knew there was strong rental demand here but, the properties were basic and unexciting to stay in – grandpa’s puffy, worn down recliner does not a vacation make! I ended up moving to the lake for three months to handle the design, oversee the remodel, and get the property set up for guests.

It was a massive, labor-intensive, and time-consuming process. But that process is really what inspired me to start my design business. No one was helping short-term rental owners from start to finish and teaching them how to successfully host.

Fast forward 2+ years and we’ve hosted over 60 families and have 100% five-star reviews. My hospitality, design, and marketing background is what differentiated our property and allowed us to charge a premium nightly rate for a thoughtfully designed, upscale home and extra amenities. Don’t get me wrong, we were on a tight budget for the remodel, design, and furnishing but that investment was paid off after the first two years and we continue to enjoy revenue that’s about 50-60% more than our competitors.

So, I guess you could say my signature service is vacation rental design. I have various service levels from basic refreshes to e-design to full-service (which includes the listing set-up, owner training, a website, and the guestbook). Regardless of the service level, my goal is to make the process as easy as possible for owners, enable them to provide a 5-star guest experience and make premium ROI on their short-term rental investment.

Of course, I still offer residential design services including furnishings and I have a particular knack for remodeling and new build selections (in fact, it’s the majority of my workload). For every project, I strive to truly listen to my clients so I can represent their style and meet their lifestyle needs. I also provide them with an extremely transparent, step-by-step process so they know exactly what is happening when and what’s next.

There is not a project in the world that will go perfectly smoothly when you have hundreds of decisions and details to coordinate but I promise my full commitment to the project, accountability for any mishaps, and professional communication from beginning to end.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
The design side of things has always come easy to me. I can just see things and my brain starts firing. My mom (Diane Boone) is an artist so I guess I get that from her. But, design and creativity can also be learned and I make a commitment to learning something every day. I didn’t go to school for design (by the way, neither did many of the big names you see on HGTV who are famous for their design work) so I push myself to get out of my comfort zone.

More than the creativity side of things, I think what makes me successful is that I’m an entrepreneur at heart – it’s in my blood! It takes a certain type of personality (and maybe a bit of crazy) to run a business successfully because, at the end of the day, I’m entirely and completely accountable for my success and anything that goes wrong. I take that responsibility pretty seriously and it means I look for ways to go above and beyond for my clients.

I’ve always been passionate about my work but now I LOVE what I do. But, passion isn’t enough. This is my full-time job now and I run it in a professional way. I have a letter of agreement with my clients so all the i’s are dotted and t’s crossed from the start. I also developed and follow a structured process for my design projects so clients know exactly what they are going to receive and what to expect.

Over the years, I’ve become very aware that the reason I’m successful isn’t because of one thing. It’s due to a combination of my love for design, my professional career, the skills I developed there, my client-focused approach, and my entrepreneurial mindset.

Pricing:

• Free Discovery Call > Book at JDesign-Studio.com
• Initial In-Home Consultation $300
• Design Services Start at $750+

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.JDesign-Studio.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jess.designstudio/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JessDesignStudio