From DIY Passion to a Multi-Income Design Business

Sometimes the path to success is anything but straight—and that’s exactly where the magic happens. This special guest, Rebekah Higgs, shares her inspiring journey from musician to TV host to founder of the DIY Mom brand. Growing up with the family mantra “Make It Happen,” Rebekah developed a creative drive that fueled her non-linear career path and helped her build a thriving, multi-income design business.

In this episode, we’re diving into how Rebekah turned her creative passions into multiple income streams and built a business that blends DIY projects, TV production, and client work. She opens up about why delegating tasks was a total game changer for her growth, the systems she swears by to keep her business running smoothly, and the real reason letting go of perfectionism is the key to moving faster. Plus, she drops some seriously powerful advice on how to end a project on a high note—you’re going to want to take notes for this one!

episode highlights

  1. How a Family Mantra Shaped a Career:
    Rebekah shares how “Make It Happen” became her guiding force for building a creative, entrepreneurial life.

  2. Turning DIY Passion into a Multi-Income Business:
    Learn how she layered revenue streams—TV production, Airbnb rentals, client renovations, and brand partnerships—into a thriving design brand.

  3. Letting Go of Perfectionism to Scale Faster:
    Rebekah explains how perfectionism is just procrastination in disguise—and why “good enough” is often the secret to moving forward.

  4. Delegation and Systems That Create Freedom:
    Discover the systems and outsourcing strategies that helped Rebekah manage a multifaceted business while avoiding burnout.

  5. Powerful Advice for Ending Projects Strong:
    Rebekah shares her surprising perspective on why how you finish a project matters even more than how you start—and how it fuels future referrals and success.

Episode Resources

Read the Full Transcript ⬇️

00;00;00;00 – 00;00;15;13
Rebekah Higgs
Perfection is the low hanging fruit. It’s the easiest thing to grab at when you don’t want to do something or you want an excuse. And so often times I will have to let go of that and say it’s good enough, right? Because I got to move on to something else. I got to get other things done.

00;00;15;15 – 00;00;47;16
Rebecca Hay
All right. I’m Rebecca Hay, and I’ve built a successful interior design business by trial and error podcasts, online courses, and so many freaking books. Over the last decade, I’ve grown from an insecure student to having false starts to careers. And now I’m finally in the place where I want to be. Throughout my journeys. It’s been pretty obvious that I’m passionate about business and helping other entrepreneurs do the same.

00;00;47;18 – 00;01;17;01
Rebecca Hay
Each week, I’ll share tangible takeaways from my own experience and the experiences of other badass women to help you build your confidence and change your business. Hey hey hey, it’s Rebecca and you are listening to Resilient by Design. Well, today, guys, I’ve got a great guest for you. I am interviewing Rebecca Higgs. She is known as the DIY mom, and she built a life and career on her own terms.

00;01;17;03 – 00;01;45;25
Rebecca Hay
Growing up with parents who flipped houses long before it was trendy. Rebecca developed an early passion for design during her years at Acadia University. She earned the nickname The Trailer Park Martha Stewart for her creative and crafty ingenuity. She was a musician, designer, renovator, a thought leader, TV show host, and entrepreneur. After moving to Toronto to pursue her music career, she spent her days waitressing and her nights performing with her band.

00;01;45;27 – 00;02;13;11
Rebecca Hay
But unexpectedly, she became pregnant at the age of 31 and she returned home to Halifax, Nova Scotia with her little daughter in tow. She was broke and determined to build a better future, and that’s when she reinvented herself. She transformed her life from a struggling single mom into a successful home renovator, designer, influencer, and TV show host. We dive into all the things with Rebecca today.

00;02;13;17 – 00;02;38;16
Rebecca Hay
Stay tuned to the end. We talk about specifically how she’s delegated tasks to help her manage this multifaceted business, what systems that she swears by inside her business, and she shares her story. Her story of really struggling, trying to find her place, doing everything alone as a single mom and how she produced and hosted her very own TV show.

00;02;38;19 – 00;02;49;22
Rebecca Hay
It is really inspirational. I think you’ll enjoy my conversation with Rebecca. Welcome to the podcast, Rebecca. I’m excited to have you here today.

00;02;49;24 – 00;02;52;10
Rebekah Higgs
Great to see you too, Rebecca.

00;02;52;12 – 00;03;12;15
Rebecca Hay
Two Rebecca is amazing and you, you were in Toronto and now you’re in Halifax. Yes. And your story is amazing. And I can’t wait to dive into all the things and to see what you’ve done over this period of time with your career and your business and your life. Before we dive into all the questions I have for you, why don’t you introduce yourself just briefly to my audience?

00;03;12;16 – 00;03;39;15
Rebekah Higgs
So I’m Rebecca Higgs, I am the owner of Matriarch Productions and Design Co. I produced a TV show for five seasons called DIY mom. DIY mom is my personal brand and that’s what most people know me as. But I also do designs and renovations and construction contracting for clients as well as all of my own projects. Over the years, I was the contractor and the designer for.

00;03;39;15 – 00;04;06;08
Rebekah Higgs
So I really built my toolkit and all of my skills just by doing it, by learning through all of my mistakes over the years and successes to basically be where I am today. So I work in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I am Canadian and I’ve traveled all over this country as a musician. Before I was a designer. So yeah, it’s been ten years of DIY mom and I’m excited to share that story with you guys.

00;04;06;10 – 00;04;32;28
Rebecca Hay
I love hearing these stories of transformation. You know, part of why I started this podcast is because I do believe women are extremely resilient. Resilient by design is no accident. And I think you’re a perfect guest to exemplify or be an exemplary example, exemplary guest, an exemplary example. Yeah, something like that. But really, I mean, I think your story, it really resonated with me, a single parent.

00;04;32;29 – 00;04;51;23
Rebecca Hay
I want you to tell your story to our audience. As someone who grew up with a single mom, I can really relate to a lot of what you talk about in your story. And I think there’s something to be said for when you’re on your own, how you really just get shit done right, and it’s like fires under your back.

00;04;51;24 – 00;05;13;19
Rebecca Hay
There’s no one else to rely on but me. Let’s make this work. Let’s make this happen. And we share a bit of that in common. And also when you reached out to me, I love that you talked about how, you know, creating systems has been your lifeline and how has really helped you. So I really want to ensure that we talk about that today is how that has affected running your business.

00;05;13;19 – 00;05;28;29
Rebecca Hay
So often we hear these stories of these entrepreneurs who build this incredible brand and their TV host, and you’re producing a TV show and it’s amazing. But we don’t talk a lot about the little nitty gritty behind the scenes that are making that all possible. So I want to make sure we get there as well. So why don’t we start in the beginning?

00;05;28;29 – 00;05;30;25
Rebecca Hay
Because you were a musician.

00;05;30;27 – 00;05;31;12
Rebekah Higgs
Yeah.

00;05;31;13 – 00;05;38;24
Rebecca Hay
And now you’re doing all the other things. What? Like how did you go from being a musician to running this empire?

00;05;38;27 – 00;05;58;26
Rebekah Higgs
I guess to start off, I was raised by two parents that are very creative and are entrepreneurs. And as a child, I got used to the concept of moving frequently because my parents were always buying fixer uppers and fixing them up and selling them and flipping before flipping really was a thing. So I guess that was a little bit in my DNA.

00;05;58;26 – 00;06;20;02
Rebekah Higgs
In my blood. We were encouraged to take big risks and to think outside the box. I remember my dad dropping me off at school every morning and saying, make it happen. And so it’s really interesting that you lead with Make It Happen in your intro there, because Make It Happen was our family mantra. And I think it’s the mantra that has carried me through to this, this time in my life as well.

00;06;20;04 – 00;06;44;00
Rebekah Higgs
So as a young teenager, I was always working for my dad on various projects that he had painting, pressure washing, whatever small task, menial labor he wanted me to do. So I got used to hard work and rolling up my sleeves and not being afraid to get dirty. I also had a very creative mother that painted and made things beautiful and sewed and made our dresses and made our curtains and till painted our pretty much our entire house.

00;06;44;00 – 00;07;10;13
Rebekah Higgs
So a lot of creativity within the home. And this idea that you can fix things up on a budget or DIY things, and that was very much part of the lifeline and the blood flowing in our family. So as I got into university, I wanted to be an actress. I did a theater school degree. I was very active at school, in my student council and in other things, so I was always throwing parties and doing the decor and the decorations.

00;07;10;13 – 00;07;27;16
Rebekah Higgs
I remember having my dorm room and taking sheets and turning them into curtains. And decorating on a budget was always something that I did even at that age. So after university, I changed directions a bit. I went into music. I had to learn to play the guitar and write my own songs during university. And I started sharing those songs.

00;07;27;16 – 00;07;57;03
Rebekah Higgs
And as I got better at that and recorded my first album, I got signed to a record label. I had an a booking agent, I was touring all over the country and touring all the all over the world, and that phase of my life lasted for about 7 or 8 years. I had moved to Toronto from Halifax and it was a bit of a dark period in my life, sort of feeling a bit lost, and I ended up getting pregnant and having a daughter in Toronto, and that time was really challenging.

00;07;57;03 – 00;08;16;14
Rebekah Higgs
Pregnancy was very difficult for me. I was very lonely. I was the first of all my friends to have a baby. Then I was in a situation that felt dangerous and not safe for the baby. And so sort of a miraculous amount of things that happened in my life, I was able to move back to Halifax with my daughter and really start over.

00;08;16;17 – 00;08;35;17
Rebekah Higgs
So at that point I was like, okay, I need to start over here. I need to think of a new career path. What am I going to do with my life? I have this baby now that I’m responsible for. That was when I got involved in the film industry in Nova Scotia. I started working at Exxon’s and I quickly worked my way up the line at age to become a associate producer.

00;08;35;17 – 00;08;59;01
Rebekah Higgs
And just like following my curiosity and asking lots of questions on set, I was just so curious, what does everybody do? What are the roles here talking to different people in marketing and the scriptwriters? I just became very interested in what’s the next trend in marketing going to be? And that was when I learned about branded content marketing, and that led me down the road of thinking, okay, what’s my brand going to be if I was going to create my own brand?

00;08;59;01 – 00;09;21;17
Rebekah Higgs
This was all before influencer marketing was a thing. And that’s when all of my life experience kind of came together to form DIY mom. So as a musician, DIY was very much something that we used. Like that was a term that we were all familiar with. And I love the symmetry of DIY. And mom put that together, created a little brand and started DIY mom.

00;09;21;17 – 00;09;22;02
Rebecca Hay
I love.

00;09;22;02 – 00;09;24;22
Rebekah Higgs
It and that’s kind of where it all started launching.

00;09;24;22 – 00;09;29;10
Rebecca Hay
So that’s a lot of things. Yeah, let’s just take it back for a second.

00;09;29;12 – 00;09;31;10
Rebekah Higgs
It’s a long story.

00;09;31;13 – 00;09;57;01
Rebecca Hay
But it’s really interesting. And, you know, I always say these stories that we often have are long and convoluted in the sense of they’re not always linear. Right. And I think growing up we’re taught most of us and maybe it’s different nowadays, and I’m trying to do a better job with my kids, but we’re taught, okay, you go to school, then you study the thing you want to do, then you do the thing and you grow and you get promoted, or you stay in that role or that industry and that’s your path.

00;09;57;09 – 00;10;13;17
Rebecca Hay
You’re going to go to school. You could be a doctor, you’re going to go to school, you’re going to be a teacher, you’re going to go to school. You can be a business person like it’s it’s never like that. I mean, okay, some people are like that. But most of the creatives that we have on this podcast that are in my life do not follow a straight and narrow path.

00;10;13;17 – 00;10;39;18
Rebecca Hay
And so I love hearing everyone’s story. And someone listening today could have a similar story to you, or their story could be completely different, but they can see the connections. It’s like your experience performing, creating music, then growing up around the design and DIY aspect. It’s like they’ve all come together to create this perfect marriage of where you’re at today.

00;10;39;19 – 00;11;00;29
Rebecca Hay
Yeah, and I think that’s just such a great reminder for those of us, especially for the listeners who maybe want to take the leap into the interior design world. Maybe they’re in marketing, maybe they’re in corporate and they’re afraid this your story is such a great example. Like try something new, learn about it, and then you can pull what you’ve learned from all these different areas together.

00;11;01;01 – 00;11;03;15
Rebecca Hay
How young were you when you had your daughter?

00;11;03;21 – 00;11;22;22
Rebekah Higgs
I was 31, so I wasn’t too young. I was old enough to know better, but I think I had a late maturing process, you know, because I was living a really wild life, a very self-centered life. And so having a baby really changed everything because all of a sudden, I wasn’t the most important person in the room, and I had this little baby that was relying on me.

00;11;22;24 – 00;11;41;09
Rebekah Higgs
So, you know, that was like another aspect of why the DIY mom part was so important to me, because I was doing it myself. And so from every aspect of it, from the fact that I am doing these renovations on a single mom budget, that they’re DIY projects that I’m producing my own TV show, that I’m making my own content like I’m learning how to edit.

00;11;41;09 – 00;12;03;07
Rebekah Higgs
I’m learning how to videotape myself. I’m learning how to put it all out there on the internet. So everything in my whole process was really DIY. And so I thought that that really just was exactly the correct wording for what I was doing in my life. So it is interesting, and I would say to the folks out there that are listening that everything that has happened in your life up to this point is not wasted education.

00;12;03;07 – 00;12;27;05
Rebekah Higgs
They’re all very valuable tools that you are, that you are learning and building. And all of these tools that I learned and developed over the years I’ve kept in my toolbox, and I’ve been able to pull out when I needed them for survival or for skills, or to communicate a vision, or to work with a collaboratively with a team or the the folks that are on my construction crews or, you know, even in those brand partnerships that I do.

00;12;27;05 – 00;12;51;24
Rebekah Higgs
So yeah, it’s all been a very valuable education. And these things just take time. It’s not something that’s easily taught in school. Even when I look at architecture students or design students and they come in, they intern for me. They don’t have a lot of practical knowledge. And that’s not the point of school or school is to get you to think for yourself, to, you know, to be a creative thinker and to do ideas and be creative.

00;12;51;24 – 00;13;04;24
Rebekah Higgs
And the practical skills really come from life experience. So, yeah, I all those years that I had before my design career started, they were not wasted. They were very useful in what I’m doing today.

00;13;04;27 – 00;13;26;07
Rebecca Hay
I love that, I love how you say they’re not wasted. It is just a stepping stone. I’m so curious. You start working in TV land. How did you then start doing the design? Were you doing DIY just for yourself? And you thought, okay, I’m going to start documenting what I’m doing or did you jump right into helping other people, having clients?

00;13;26;08 – 00;13;35;14
Rebecca Hay
What was that transition like from working in television as a producer to then being in front of the camera and serving design projects and clients?

00;13;35;14 – 00;13;50;20
Rebekah Higgs
So one of my skills that I had that was unique to me when I was working in the film industry is that I had this creative ability. I did a little bit of wardrobe for some of the smaller commercial shoots that we were doing. Then they kind of found out, oh, you can do hair and makeup too. And so I was doing my hair.

00;13;50;24 – 00;14;16;12
Rebekah Higgs
I was doing their hair and makeup and their wardrobe, and then I was working on the set design team. So like hanging the curtains, fixing up the room, buying the furniture, decorating the spaces. And so that was also a job that I could do very well. And I could bounce these four things for smaller productions. I kind of ended up moving from a producer role more into the behind the scenes creative department in the smaller commercial shoots.

00;14;16;15 – 00;14;42;24
Rebekah Higgs
That experience, as well as the fact that I had had a little bit of experience in theater school and in my late 20s, working on film productions for friends of mine that were were are film makers just doing their set decorating. I had a little knack for that. And then in terms of when I shifted into DIY mom, really, the projects were based on my own needs, so just doing things around my own house and filming that and sharing that.

00;14;42;26 – 00;15;02;16
Rebekah Higgs
And so it wasn’t until a lot later that I started to take on other people’s work and clients, because I really wanted to showcase my creativity and what I could do through my own projects at my home. And working with a client, as you know, is a little bit limiting because you are beholden to them and what they want and their tastes and their style.

00;15;02;16 – 00;15;20;05
Rebekah Higgs
So at the start of my whole process of DIY, mom was really about making a name for myself in terms of my particular design style. And then as I did get clients, they would either say, oh, I really like your design style, I want that, or they would say, can you do less whimsical designs? And I would say, yes, I can do that.

00;15;20;05 – 00;15;20;23
Rebekah Higgs
Do.

00;15;20;25 – 00;15;24;08
Rebecca Hay
So I don’t want to, but I guess so.

00;15;24;11 – 00;15;27;12
Rebekah Higgs
If I must, if I must, I will.

00;15;27;14 – 00;15;33;05
Rebecca Hay
So what do you prefer? Do you prefer doing projects for clients, or would you prefer just to do it for yourself?

00;15;33;09 – 00;16;07;02
Rebekah Higgs
I really enjoy doing the projects for myself, because I get to try to do something that has never been seen or done before. But I do love the challenge of of working with a client. And of course, I like spending other people’s money. That’s more fun than spending my own money. So I remember when I finished my last big renovation project, my dad said to me, Rebecca, you got to start spending other people’s money like you know, put yourself out there to do other people’s work because the well is going to dry up for all of my personal design projects.

00;16;07;02 – 00;16;28;04
Rebekah Higgs
But I have been able to bring in more opportunities to do my own designs through the brand deals that I do, which they often want those designs to be incorporated into my own home. So that is that is a way that I am still able to do my own personal work. And as well, I’m just starting a new a new, brand new home built for this year, which will be for my personal home as well.

00;16;28;11 – 00;16;29;19
Rebekah Higgs
So what about you?

00;16;29;24 – 00;16;50;03
Rebecca Hay
I think most designers prefer to do design for themselves because, like you said, you get to do the ideas that you see and you want to do and there’s there’s no push back. Clients have their own ideas. It’s their home. They’re living that right. And so as much as we want to encourage them to think outside the box and we want to push them, they’re not always ready and wanting to push.

00;16;50;06 – 00;17;15;17
Rebecca Hay
Yeah. I’m curious though from a financial standpoint, because of course my mind is always going to the business side. How were you able to support yourself when you launched your DIY mom brand and fund your own projects? I know they’re DIY but it still took some money. Right. So were you working full time while you were building this brand before you were able to bring in revenue from, let’s say, partnerships, or was it funded through client work?

00;17;15;17 – 00;17;18;19
Rebecca Hay
I’m always just so curious, like where people are generating their revenue.

00;17;18;20 – 00;17;34;11
Rebekah Higgs
Part of it was one of the first things I did was, the rental house that I was living in was owned by my dad. And so my dad was like, you can do the kitchen and the bathroom and I’ll give you some money to do that. And I just filmed it and shared it on my own time while I was working.

00;17;34;13 – 00;17;52;14
Rebekah Higgs
When I decided to buy my first home, that was a combination of I got a great deal on a house. I got it for $100,000 under asking, I was able to get a renovation mortgage and put that money into the renovations, and I didn’t have to start paying that mortgage until I moved into the house. So there was a little bit of a break there.

00;17;52;19 – 00;17;53;10
Rebecca Hay
Awesome.

00;17;53;11 – 00;18;21;13
Rebekah Higgs
I met a guy that was just, sort of a single unit of a photographer, an editor, and he was very affordable. And we started making these little YouTube mini series called The Welcome Home Project that was before DIY mom season one started. So that was like in the fall. And then I got asked to be because I had posted some content and I had shown that I was good on camera and that I could speak eloquently, and that I was doing these interesting designs.

00;18;21;13 – 00;18;48;25
Rebekah Higgs
I got asked by a production company locally if I would be a host to a carpenter for a blind carpenter TV show called eyes for the job. And so I made a good little nest egg of money from the time that I spent doing that show. And then when Bell came on board pretty quickly after that to ask me to do season one of DIY mom, I was able to take all of that money that Bell gave me and put it 100% into making the production high quality.

00;18;48;28 – 00;19;13;12
Rebekah Higgs
It wasn’t very much. I think it was like $75,000 or something like that for the whole season, which is not a lot of money to make a TV show, but because I had a crew that was fairly affordable and had the money for the renovation, I was able to kind of put all of that money back into the production and then use the money that I had to renovate the house, and then I really didn’t profit or make money off of DIY mom until I sold the house.

00;19;13;14 – 00;19;32;24
Rebekah Higgs
And that’s when I saw the return on my investment. But in the meantime, I had other small sources of income, so I would go on video shoots and I would do hair, makeup, wardrobe, set design, and I’d make a pretty good chunk of money on a day, right? Doing that. I also had an apartment building that I bought back in my 20s with my pizza girl money.

00;19;32;24 – 00;19;56;25
Rebekah Higgs
I was a pizza girl in my 20s, saved up by thousand dollars, bought a small apartment building downtown. I had a little bit of income from that coming in too, so I always made sure I had a little bit of passive income to to support me, but I think I was also very comfortable with going from my bank account constantly fluctuating, like having that, having one day having $100,000 in my bank account, the next day, having nothing in my bank account.

00;19;56;28 – 00;20;18;20
Rebekah Higgs
I don’t think that’s for everybody. There’s a lot of people that like, really get anxious seeing all that money flowing out of their bank account when they’re making big investments like this. And I think that there’s also, you know, a certain personality type that is able to not have a reliable income, like be on that in entrepreneur income versus someone that really needs that paycheck every two weeks.

00;20;18;22 – 00;20;34;11
Rebekah Higgs
And so I think that I just got used to sometimes being a zero, sometimes being below zero, sometimes needing to draw on my line of credit or something like that and then get myself back out of the hole. Yeah, it wasn’t necessarily comfortable the whole time, that’s for sure.

00;20;34;14 – 00;20;51;01
Rebecca Hay
Thank you. Thank you for for saying that, you know, the whole time I’m nodding my head thinking, yeah, I can relate. Like, this is how I’ve operated. I’ve always operated in this kind of up and down and influx and I’m investing and people will often say to me, designers will say, well, like how, how could you afford to hire?

00;20;51;01 – 00;21;05;26
Rebecca Hay
How did you know when you were ready to hire? I’m like, I just did it. And sometimes shoot, I was in the red because I went a little bit too crazy and I brought in all these people, and then the revenue didn’t cover it. But then I learned for the next time. And I do believe you’re right. Not everyone is wired that way.

00;21;05;29 – 00;21;29;13
Rebecca Hay
Like a true entrepreneur who’s multi passionate, I think has to have some tolerance for the financial risk that’s associated with it. Not to say you need to be tolerant of risk to run a design firm. It’s not the same thing. But I think for someone especially like yourself, you’re clearly a very hard worker. You follow your instinct is what I’m hearing and you follow your intuition.

00;21;29;15 – 00;21;49;23
Rebecca Hay
When it’s saying, I want to try this, I’m going to learn this. Let’s see where this goes. And I love this story because it shows us that you don’t need to know where you’re going to end up. You don’t need to know the end result, because look at all the different aspects of your life. They all have kind of led to different places that you could never have imagined.

00;21;49;26 – 00;22;07;04
Rebecca Hay
I love that you’ve shared that. So thank you for sharing and being so open and honest about the cash flow and how it can go up and down, how it changes because there’s people listening who they have a gut pulling them into something, but they’re afraid because maybe they’re used to a corporate job where they get a paycheck every couple of weeks.

00;22;07;07 – 00;22;14;03
Rebecca Hay
And so they’re afraid that what if they do it and it’s not going to work out? What I’m saying is, what if you try it and it does work out?

00;22;14;04 – 00;22;17;23
Rebekah Higgs
Yeah, totally.

00;22;17;25 – 00;22;20;00
Rebecca Hay
What does your business model look like today?

00;22;20;02 – 00;22;52;03
Rebekah Higgs
Typically over the past couple years, I had sort of three incomes. I had my influencer marketing income, and then I had the production budget. And I would also I also learned over time how to make that production budget grow through grants and through incentives. So, you know, the first season I only had $75,000. But the future seasons I learned about Camco and and SBI and all these other ways to increase, the amount of money that the government would give you to create jobs through the film industry.

00;22;52;07 – 00;23;10;03
Rebekah Higgs
So I was able to stretch out a little bit more. And then that second season of DIY mom, I turned one of the apartments in the building that I bought with my pizza girl money in my 20s into an Airbnb. And so I started to generate some extra money through that Airbnb, as that did really well. I did another unit turn that into an Airbnb.

00;23;10;03 – 00;23;37;10
Rebekah Higgs
And so the Airbnb income then became like a third of my income. So I had sort of three incomes. Then when the laws changed and I had to close down the Airbnbs, I had to be a bit figure out, oh my gosh, I just lost a third of my income. What am I going to do now? So in the house that I’m currently living in, I have a basement in my house with two bedrooms and because I’m allowed to have an Airbnb in my primary home, I still have that Airbnb income from my basement apartment.

00;23;37;10 – 00;24;04;02
Rebekah Higgs
And that really covers my very big mortgage right now, because my mortgage, just the timing of it all, went up a lot for my third house that I’m in now. So I still have that income, and now I do have the client work. So I added that other pillar in with the client income as well. So designing and contracting, I get a bit of a chunk from each of those renovations because I’m doing the contractor work as well as the design work, and I think that’s what makes me interesting.

00;24;04;02 – 00;24;21;10
Rebekah Higgs
When you hire me to do your renovation is that I can do the designs, but I can also execute them because I have a Rolodex, I have a team, I have all the trades in place to get the work done, and it just tends to be pretty efficient because then I can communicate designs as they change and shift through the project.

00;24;21;12 – 00;24;27;22
Rebekah Higgs
I tend to also get those renovations done in a pretty quick timeline at a reasonable budget.

00;24;27;25 – 00;24;38;15
Rebecca Hay
My question is, and this year everyone’s thinking this who’s listening is how the heck do you do all of the things when you’ve got a lot going on? Yes.

00;24;38;17 – 00;25;08;05
Rebekah Higgs
Well, you know, the the Airbnb seems to kind of take care of itself, which is great. I have a local girl that does the flips for me. I stopped doing those flips. I remember when I was younger doing the flips myself and through trial and tribulation of all the years of doing DIY and home renovations and constructions, I have learned that my body was starting to give up on me a bit and that the injuries I was procuring from all this hard labor that I was doing was not really worth it on the long term, right?

00;25;08;05 – 00;25;30;27
Rebekah Higgs
Because I was spending all this money on chiropractors and physio and osteopaths and I’d be like, okay, wait, I just mowed my own lawn and now I have to go to my osteopath. So why am I not paying a kid 30 bucks to move? Well, you know, the hundred dollars to go to my osteo. So just kind of like over the years, I slowly started to offload some of the labor and the more intense things.

00;25;30;29 – 00;25;55;26
Rebekah Higgs
And I found the the flipping of the beds was really hard on my arthritis and my neck. So just kind of helping things run on their own as much as possible with the production. When I was in full swing in the production, I had a great team that helped me with my contracts. In terms of the brands that were coming in to work with us and sponsor the TV show and all the things that I had to deliver in exchange for that support.

00;25;56;01 – 00;26;23;03
Rebekah Higgs
And then I had some different sort of interns or recent graduates from the design school, or from the film schools that would work on behind the scenes content or helping me execute those things. So that was when I was in my really busy stage. Now that I’m a little less busy, I have university students in the neighborhood that come and help me with my daughter, and they help me with my housework and things that it’s easier to offload on somebody.

00;26;23;03 – 00;26;38;18
Rebekah Higgs
They can do my laundry just as well as I can do my laundry. So just realizing that there’s certain things that only I can do and then there’s other things that people can do just as well as me, maybe better. Or if they’re not quite as good as I am at it, I can teach them and train them to do it.

00;26;38;21 – 00;26;58;20
Rebekah Higgs
So I kind of offload as much as possible the money that I do spend on offloading those tasks. I’ve actually seen that income come back to me because my rate and my personal value is higher. I’m able to build myself an hourly at a higher rate. So therefore it just makes sense for me to try to free up as much time as possible for me to do those things that only I can do.

00;26;58;26 – 00;27;17;14
Rebecca Hay
Yeah. And also there’s that mental list, you know, that mental load that isn’t there, all the things that you need to think that you have to do. I haven’t done the laundry yet or I got to do this, or I got to pick up that thing, or also even the physical, like you mentioned, physically feeling like you can’t do it all because you are doing a lot.

00;27;17;16 – 00;27;35;14
Rebecca Hay
You are achieving a lot, but you’re not doing it alone. And it’s interesting. I just interviewed Katie Decker Erickson for the podcast. I think it was episode 276 where we talked about hiring for your design business. And one of the areas that we went deep on was this idea of like, what do you love to do? What are your specialties?

00;27;35;14 – 00;28;03;10
Rebecca Hay
What what can only as you just said, Rebecca, what are what can only you do? Let’s focus on those skills and then let’s outsource the rest. Let’s outsource. Let’s delegate. Because that’s how you will be able to expand your capacity as a business owner, as a mom, right? As as a as a human in this planet. Otherwise you will limit yourself if you don’t give up a little bit of control, which can be hard for us, especially, I think, as women.

00;28;03;13 – 00;28;17;23
Rebecca Hay
But you have to trust. You have to trust that others can do the job, even if they can’t do it exactly as well as you can. Why do laundry? Sometimes people can do that better than me. Like, look how people fold laundry versus how I do it.

00;28;17;26 – 00;28;37;05
Rebekah Higgs
Yeah, I think that there’s two aspects that are really important, and it’s the control, letting go of control and also letting go of perfectionism, because sometimes perfectionism is not serving us and is actually slowing us down, or we use it as an excuse for why it can’t happen, why it can’t get done. I remember hearing someone tell me that perfection is the low hanging fruit.

00;28;37;07 – 00;28;51;20
Rebekah Higgs
It’s the easiest thing to grab at when you don’t want to do something, or you want an excuse as to why it’s not going to happen. And so often times I will have to let go of that and say it’s good enough, right? Because I got to move on to something else. I got to get other things done.

00;28;51;27 – 00;28;54;04
Rebecca Hay
Progress over perfection.

00;28;54;09 – 00;28;54;22
Rebekah Higgs
Yeah.

00;28;54;26 – 00;29;03;25
Rebecca Hay
And, you know, I have heard them say them, whoever they are, that, perfection is actually procrastination in disguise.

00;29;03;27 – 00;29;04;12
Rebekah Higgs
Yeah.

00;29;04;12 – 00;29;23;05
Rebecca Hay
Which is exactly what you just said. And we cling to it. We really cling to it. It’s funny, we had a coaching call yesterday inside designers room, and one of the designers who is so talented, she’s doing so well. She’s really struggling to bring on one person to help her. She is so overwhelmed because she can’t in her brain.

00;29;23;05 – 00;29;45;13
Rebecca Hay
She can’t see how she’s going to find the time to teach the person, to show them the way, to get them to help her. It’s a constant roadblock until you can decide, okay, I’m going to try having someone else help me. It may not work out. That person who’s flipping your Airbnb, maybe you get a bunch of comments that, oh, the bed wasn’t made properly or it was dirty.

00;29;45;17 – 00;29;53;24
Rebecca Hay
Well, then you deal with it. But if you don’t at least try and bring somebody on, you’re never going to even have a taste of what that freedom feels like.

00;29;53;26 – 00;30;13;11
Rebekah Higgs
A couple things I can speak to about that would be one. If your Airbnb is not to your standard, or if you’re getting complaints, you show the cleaner. Those complaints and you give them a list and you give them improvement. You offer feedback, right? You just say, can I give you some feedback? Are you open to feedback? I think for the most part, people want to improve and they want to do a really good job and they want to take pride in what they’re doing.

00;30;13;16 – 00;30;38;09
Rebekah Higgs
So giving them the opportunity to take pride in that work that they’re doing. Yeah. In terms of bringing in those kids to work for you or a new hire, I know it can be very frustrating to have to retrain somebody. That is a thing that often brings me the most pain and the most frustration when I lose somebody, because I’m often because I often hire people that don’t have experience, because I’m getting it for a better rate, or I’m giving them the experience that they need, I often do have to teach them.

00;30;38;09 – 00;30;42;12
Rebekah Higgs
And then when they get really proficient and good at their job, they get picked off by somebody else, right?

00;30;42;16 – 00;30;47;28
Rebecca Hay
But that’s a fear. A lot of designers fear that. Okay. So what can you tell us about that.

00;30;48;01 – 00;31;06;06
Rebekah Higgs
So, well, the first thing I would say is that you have to let people make mistakes and show you what they’re good at and what they’re not good at. And when I would see somebody working for me and I would figure out, oh, wow, they’re really good at making these planters look beautiful outside, or they really love spending time in the garden.

00;31;06;09 – 00;31;23;25
Rebekah Higgs
And then I would give them more of that work. Or if I saw somebody that, like, really love organizing and making my cupboards look beautiful and and making things in the house like picture perfect. And they were really particularly good at, like helping me stage for an Instagram photo or just organizing my house. I would give them more of that work.

00;31;24;02 – 00;31;43;23
Rebekah Higgs
And then when I have had people that have worked for me under my design company doing AutoCAD sketch up or other work that requires more direct contact with clients, then yeah, we have had some contracts, some non-disclosure agreements and some non-compete in certain ways that they can’t go poach my clients.

00;31;43;26 – 00;31;45;04
Rebecca Hay
Yes, absolutely.

00;31;45;10 – 00;32;09;04
Rebekah Higgs
So you do have to protect yourself. And especially when I am exposing all of my, you know, banking information, how much I’m getting paid for things. There is a lot of things that I have maybe over shared in the past that I would be a little bit more careful about. You know, I have had girls that have worked for me and they really wanted to work for me because they wanted to see how I do my social media stuff and how I get those that content.

00;32;09;06 – 00;32;32;21
Rebekah Higgs
And then they go off and they do that for themselves, and they do it really well, and I can’t hold it against them. I think that’s part of the thing. When you are a trailblazer or when you’re an inspiration to other people, is that you are going to take them on this journey and they are going to make progress and do things maybe that you didn’t think about or do them better than you, and you kind of have to just let it go and say, okay, I’m in my own lane.

00;32;32;24 – 00;32;32;29
Rebecca Hay
Yeah.

00;32;32;29 – 00;32;51;00
Rebekah Higgs
If it wasn’t meant for me, it wasn’t meant for me. The things that are still meant for me are coming to me, and I can always pivot and adapt and do other things, because I have more financial freedom now and I have other opportunities coming to me. I love that, just like not not being too competitive, which is really hard.

00;32;51;00 – 00;32;52;09
Rebecca Hay
It can be very hard because the.

00;32;52;09 – 00;32;54;27
Rebekah Higgs
Competition is also what sort of fuels us to be so successful.

00;32;54;27 – 00;33;12;19
Rebecca Hay
As well. There’s that. But also, as Mel Robbins would say, let them. Yeah, there’s plenty of space to resolve. Let them and let me, let me stay in my lane. Let me focus on what what I want to do, what lights me up, what I, what I am good at, which clearly you are good at many things. Your talented Rebecca.

00;33;12;21 – 00;33;26;10
Rebecca Hay
So I as we wrap up our conversation together, I feel like I have a million more questions that we barely scratched the surface. Isn’t that funny how that happens, but what would you leave designers with? Like what would be your last nugget of wisdom for the designers listening today?

00;33;26;12 – 00;33;44;08
Rebekah Higgs
Just set yourself apart. Find what you’re really good at, what you’re passionate about, and what your own personal flair is. Do things excellently. And I, like I said to my daughter, she’s like, mom, I don’t want to play the snare in band. It’s too simple. It’s too easy. I know how to do it. Why do I have to go?

00;33;44;08 – 00;34;02;21
Rebekah Higgs
I want the drum kit and I’m like, you need to play that snare as best as possible. You need to be excellent at playing that snare. You need to impress the conductor so much that she gives you more to be responsible. And so just like do the things that you are doing, even the small projects. Excellent. Finish them.

00;34;02;28 – 00;34;25;28
Rebekah Higgs
Execute well, and then you’ll be given bigger projects, better projects, more projects. But you have every client that you work with has to leave with a really good taste in their mouth that you are a great person to work with, so they recommend you to the next person. It’s really easy to leave loose ends at the end of a design project, to kind of just want to get out of there and be done with it, wash your hands of it.

00;34;25;28 – 00;34;37;27
Rebekah Higgs
And so I would just say, do things excellent, finish things as well as you can, and try to keep your relationships healthy so that you will be given much more.

00;34;38;00 – 00;34;55;01
Rebecca Hay
And approach it with integrity. Right. And sometimes we need to be reminded of that because these projects can drag on as we all know. Right. And by the end, our clients might be getting on our nerves. We don’t want to deal with the issues with the contractor. But you’re right, it’s how we finish is what they’re going to remember.

00;34;55;01 – 00;35;14;02
Rebecca Hay
That is the taste in their mouth. And I mean, we didn’t really have a chance to dive into all the systems and all that conversation that I was so eager to talk about, and I feel like we did we did touch on that a little bit, especially when it comes to hiring. What is one system or process that you have implemented in your business that has been a game changer.

00;35;14;06 – 00;35;35;29
Rebecca Hay
So it could be something like, now you have you have a very multifaceted business model. So we were talking about Airbnbs. It could be something as simple as I have a checklist that my cleaner or my flipper follows every single time. And you know, if something is missed, we like circle back and we find out what happened. That’s an example of a system or a process that she follows.

00;35;36;01 – 00;36;04;01
Rebecca Hay
It could be that. Or is there something else that you found has really helped you gain more time and avoid things slipping through the cracks, whether it’s in your content creation, your production company, your client work, what is one system that you could leave designers with the thought of that has really helped you? Because there’s no way a woman like you is, or anyone is running this incredible business without some semblance of systems because you’d be going crazy.

00;36;04;06 – 00;36;04;29
Rebecca Hay
Yeah.

00;36;05;01 – 00;36;22;21
Rebekah Higgs
It’s funny because when you look at yourself and you have a little bit of a reflection about what the things you are good at, what are the things you’re not so good at? I always kind of thought I wasn’t that organized and I wasn’t really good at being organized. But then when I hear feedback from other people and they say, Rebecca, you’re so organized, I think, oh, okay, I’m not doing such a bad job.

00;36;22;21 – 00;36;43;08
Rebekah Higgs
I thought that I was much worse at this, and I really am. So I do think going into a project, having as much planned out prior to starting the project is going to save you a lot of headaches in the end, and I’ve definitely learned over the years where mistakes tend to happen, and trying to only make those mistakes once and not do it again the second time.

00;36;43;08 – 00;37;10;18
Rebekah Higgs
So just like the accumulation of experience and realizing where things can go wrong and having a plan in place prior to starting. So the more you plan before you start your project, the better it’s going to go in the end. And I’m talking about have that wallpaper early, had the stone that you want to use, or have the textures that you’re going to incorporate, and the colors so that when you go to pick your paint, it’s really easy because you already know what your wallpaper is, your you know, what your stone color is.

00;37;10;18 – 00;37;38;16
Rebekah Higgs
You already know that you’re using this type of brick or this type of tile. So just trying as much as possible to organize all those things before you start your project. And then working with people that I knew worked well with me. I’m talking about other, other trades, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, people that respected working with a woman and listened to me, and just having those people in my Rolodex and keeping those relationships healthy, paying people immediately.

00;37;38;16 – 00;37;55;13
Rebekah Higgs
That goes a long way. When people see that you pay them as soon as they send an invoice, they’re more likely to return. And so I think just having that return rate of good people that I work with, clients that recommend me, and being organized, those are some of the systems that have really helped me to get where I am today.

00;37;55;19 – 00;38;18;18
Rebekah Higgs
And then just knowing, you know, when you see a red flag, when you see a person that maybe is going to add some drama or toxic ness to your world, just trying to avoid those people as much as possible. And then when I do get triggering emails, because you everybody does get those emails or those text messages that are short or you feel like they somehow trigger you right away.

00;38;18;20 – 00;38;34;26
Rebekah Higgs
Yes. Yeah. And all of a sudden I’m reacting in a way that I don’t want to react. I definitely made mistakes in the past, like I’ve lost my temper and things that I’m embarrassed and ashamed of, so I never want to do that again. So instead of reacting quickly to an email or a message, just taking a second.

00;38;34;29 – 00;39;00;18
Rebekah Higgs
I also find that chat has been my friend because I will put the email in and ask him how would you respond? And they’ll give me a response that I can see. I can be a bit more balanced in, in the way that my perspective and be like, okay, this is how a professional person would respond and that I can tweak it to sound a bit more like me and also give it some feedback to say, well, I don’t really want to give in on this point, so push back here a bit stronger.

00;39;00;18 – 00;39;29;22
Rebekah Higgs
Or maybe it needs to be more legally binding in the wording or something that really communicates, you know, my side of perspective. And so using chat to be like a sounding board and then having your client sign an agreement before you start to and just giving them the terms and the rules to follow, like if you’re making decisions in the last minute, if you’re changing things, that is going to slow down the renovation, that is going to change the cost.

00;39;29;28 – 00;39;45;15
Rebekah Higgs
So as long as they understand you clearly before you start working together, that these are the parameters and these are the restrictions and the results of breaking those restrictions, then yes, I think that you can have a good, healthy relationship with those clients.

00;39;45;18 – 00;40;08;29
Rebecca Hay
Setting those expectations early and often repeating them. That’s so key. And I love your very first point where you say, man, pick everything, choose everything up front. I’ll just just chime in and say, that was a big game changer for me. I worked for a designer for years that we did not do, that we were making decisions as needed and it was frickin chaos.

00;40;08;29 – 00;40;30;18
Rebecca Hay
It was. We’re not going to pick the cabinet hardware until the kitchen’s installed. Well, why the heck not? That’s one more thing. We could check off our list and add the assistant. It used to cause me so much anxiety. And then when I switched to my model, which is I make every decision before I even presented it to the client, it is such a smoother process.

00;40;30;18 – 00;40;51;03
Rebecca Hay
So investing that time upfront, whether it’s in creating the contract, making sure you have all those terms laid out as you say, or making those design selections like the wallpaper, the stone ahead of time. It actually saves you so much time and pain and all that goes with that as you’re moving through a project. Those are really great, great tips and it’s.

00;40;51;03 – 00;41;16;05
Rebekah Higgs
Never going to be perfect. And there’s always these times where, you know, you do have to make last minute choices. But I do find like just not being one step ahead. Like it’s a it’s a chessboard, right? You always need to be one move ahead. So if you know that in two weeks the cabinets are going in and that they will want the hardware on site when they finish their cabinets and that they can install the hardware, then you better go and pick up that hardware and get it there.

00;41;16;05 – 00;41;34;15
Rebekah Higgs
You know, I love it when I hear feedback from a tradesperson that is working for me that they say, well, you’re a lot more organized and other people that I’ve worked with or you seem to know what you’re doing, or I love working for you because you always have all the things I need on site. It really slows down the guys that are there, the girls that are there working.

00;41;34;15 – 00;41;44;09
Rebekah Higgs
If you don’t have the things that they need on site and people love to say they can’t do the job that you’ve paid them to do because the things are not there. So don’t give them that excuse.

00;41;44;09 – 00;42;03;07
Rebecca Hay
Don’t give them the ammunition, the one step ahead. Exactly, exactly. Oh my goodness. We’re talking about this all the time. Inside designers room with designers. Oh my gosh Rebecca, this has been so amazing. Where can everyone find and follow you. And then also where can we watch your building, your your building, your next home? Like, it sounds like it’s going to be an incredible project.

00;42;03;07 – 00;42;06;09
Rebecca Hay
You’re building from scratch. Where can we follow this journey?

00;42;06;11 – 00;42;25;29
Rebekah Higgs
If you want to see how I’ve gotten to where I am today, the best thing to do is to watch my TV series DIY mom. You can do that on my YouTube channel by going through my website DIY mom okay, or the entire series is on. Try binge.tv and they are putting it on all the fast channel. So maybe when you turn on your TV it may come on.

00;42;26;01 – 00;42;47;04
Rebekah Higgs
And then if you want to follow what I’m doing on a daily basis and my next project, find me on Instagram at DIY mancha. And if you’re hearing about me for the first time and you want to connect on a deeper level, please send me a message or DM me. Let me know that you’re following me and that you found me through Resilient by Design and I would love to connect with you further.

00;42;47;11 – 00;42;57;26
Rebecca Hay
Amazing! Well, I’m excited to follow your journey and we will have you back. I’m excited to see where this next decade takes you. It sounds like you’re destined for even bigger things. Thank you.

00;42;58;02 – 00;43;06;04
Rebekah Higgs
Oh, thank you so much Rebecca. I really enjoyed this conversation that we had today. Thank you so much for having me on the podcast.

00;43;06;06 – 00;43;27;10
Rebecca Hay
Wow guys, I loved that conversation. Rebecca and I actually stayed on for an extra 20 minutes chatting about the land of TV and producing your own TV show and running a business and all the things. I really enjoyed talking with her. There’s so much more we could have talked about. I would love to hear from you. What part of Rebecca’s story really resonated?

00;43;27;12 – 00;43;51;15
Rebecca Hay
I hope if you take anything away, it’s that the path to success is rarely direct. Sometimes you kiss a few frogs, sometimes you go left, then you go right, then you go up, then you go down, you go horizontal. It’s like those word searches. My kids always have these word searches and then they’ll throw in one of the words will be like diagonal and backwards.

00;43;51;18 – 00;44;12;24
Rebecca Hay
Like, what do we do? We never see those ones coming. So just remember that. Try it. Follow your intuition. Where is it going to take you? Maybe you’ll end up in a totally different place. Take that leap of faith. Whatever you’ve done up until now in your life, you can use that. These are skills that are directly applicable.

00;44;12;26 – 00;44;35;12
Rebecca Hay
I hear so many designers say, well, I mean, I feel like I’m throwing my career away if I start my design firm because, you know, I have these 20 years in corporate in HR. Like I can’t even see how that’s going to help me. It is going to help you. You will be surprised how much business is so much more than just designing pretty things.

00;44;35;14 – 00;44;58;26
Rebecca Hay
Any life experience you bring to the table will catapult your success forward even faster, but I digress. I hope you guys enjoyed this episode with Rebecca. Go give her a follow. I think what she’s doing amazing! I cannot wait to watch her new build of her new home in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It’s such a beautiful part of the country and please let me know on Instagram how you enjoyed this episode.

00;44;58;28 – 00;45;17;19
Rebecca Hay
It would mean so much if you could leave us a review and subscribe or follow this podcast. It surprises me often how many people still are not so subscribe to the podcast. And the more people who subscribe, the more people who will know we exist, who can come and join in this world, who can learn from these episodes, from these beautiful guests.

00;45;17;26 – 00;45;35;16
Rebecca Hay
So please, if you could just do me this one favor and hit subscribe. Follow this podcast wherever you are listening. That would mean the world to me. Thank you and I’ll see you soon.

May 1, 2025

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