I chat with Ashley Bruggeman, who launched her residential design firm just four weeks after completing my Power of Process course!

Ashley shares her fascinating career journey, from design to sales and back to design, explaining the factors that facilitated each shift. With a passion for continuing education, Ashley has earned an MBA and is LEED certified. She combines these qualifications with her sales skills to follow her passion while focusing on her specific capabilities and expertise in her brand new business.

Tune in to learn why it pays to prepare and keep things personal. Ashley’s story is a testament to the power of preparation and the importance of staying true to your passions. Stay tuned for more insights from Ashley in the future! Don’t miss out on this episode—listen now to get inspired and motivated for your own entrepreneurial journey!

Episode Highlights
  • The Decision to Start a Design Firm: Ashley discusses how listening to podcasts inspired her to open her own design firm after years in the commercial design world.
  • The Transition to Residential Design: Ashley talks about the challenges and differences in transitioning from commercial to residential design and how personal it feels to sell her own capabilities.
  • The Importance of Community and Support: Ashley emphasizes the need to surround yourself with people who believe in you, especially when launching something new and navigating uncharted territory.
Episode Resources

Read the Full Transcript ⬇️

Rebecca Hay: Hey hey hey, it’s Rebecca, and you’re listening to Resilient by Design. Today, I interviewed dynamo designer Ashley Bruggeman out of Lexington, Kentucky. Ashley’s awesome. I met her at High Point Market. When we were at High Point together, she told me she’d already registered for Power of Process and couldn’t wait to dive right in. She was about to launch her design firm, and that’s what we talk about today. We discuss the idea of being prepared and getting set up before launching your firm. She comes from a background in sales and manufacturing in the design industry, particularly in the commercial design world. She’s a mom to a 17-year-old son and has been in the industry for a long time but never ran her own design firm until very recently. In fact, at the time of this recording, her design business is only three or four weeks old. You guys are going to love hearing from Ashley and her fresh perspective on what it takes to set up a design business and immediately start attracting clients. Enjoy this short episode.

Welcome, Ashley. I’m so excited to have you on this short episode to share your journey with everyone. Before we dive in, can you introduce yourself?

Ashley Bruggeman: Thanks for having me. I am Ashley Bruggeman, and I own Ashley Morgan Interiors. We met at High Point Market.

Rebecca Hay: We did. Actually, I think I’d already— I mean, I felt like I’d already met you before, but yeah, I’m so thrilled to have had that time with you.

Ashley Bruggeman: And I think at the time, like, I did a little meetup at High Point, and you were there with a bunch of other designers. We got to chatting and obviously hit it off like a house on fire. At that time, you had already signed up for Power of Process, so you were just waiting for it to start.

Rebecca Hay: Yes, I believe so.

Ashley Bruggeman: And at that point, I was like, “Oh, what? Tell me about your business.” And you were like, “Oh, well, I haven’t started it yet,” which I think is amazing.

Rebecca Hay: Actually, I go all out for Christmas. Okay, so that’s where we’re going to start. I have this huge two-story stone fireplace with a mantel that I decorate, and I’ve done this for years and years. Often, I had friends telling me, “You need to do this for other people.” And I was like, “Oh my gosh, I don’t want to do that.” Then slowly, different things happened, and I was like, “You know what? Maybe I will do that this year.” But I had conversations with some other individuals about starting that and getting some leads for that, and it seemed like it would be easy enough. So then I thought, “But I want this to be legit and organized because that’s who I am.” So I started listening to podcasts because I am on the road all the time, stumbled across your podcast, and I binged it like it’s my favorite Netflix show.

Ashley Bruggeman: Yes. I love it. I love it. Binge!

Rebecca Hay: Yes. I slowly started to realize, “Oh my goodness, I need to just open a design firm and go all the way in.” For the first time in my life, I think I realized all of my education and experience really culminated in this one idea of opening a firm, and it just felt right. So yeah, I knew I had to have a well-oiled machine before I opened it, set a start date, and decided I wanted to do Power of Process, get all my I’s dotted and T’s crossed—which, you know, is wishful thinking. Of course, they’re not all done, but it was good enough. I set an opening date for two weeks after POP would finish, and I knew that was a lofty goal, but I hit it actually two weeks after that—so four weeks—and opened my doors.

Rebecca Hay: Wow. Okay. I did not realize that you had set a date to open your firm. Maybe you told me that, but I don’t remember. I think that’s amazing. I love that you held yourself accountable, and it was okay that you didn’t hit that date, but it wasn’t long after that that you actually did it. I remember starting to see your posts on Instagram. When we met at High Point, you said, “No, I haven’t started Instagram yet. I’m waiting. I want to do POP. I want to get everything lined up before I start posting and doing things.” And then as we were going through POP, I don’t know if it was during that or just after, I started seeing you posting. Of course, I followed all my students, and I was like, “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh.” And now I see your posts every day or whenever you post, and I’m like, “Yes, she’s talking about her process. Yes, that quote is so good. Yes, go, girl. You go, girl.” I love that.

Ashley Bruggeman: Thanks.

Rebecca Hay: Can we just rewind a second? I want, in this short episode, to give people a better understanding of where you came from. You decided after listening to the podcast, which I think is amazing, and I feel a little pressure to make sure that I keep supporting you on this journey—although you’re a strong woman, you’ll be fine without me—but to make sure that people understand where you came from. So you were listening and thought, “Yep, I want to do this,” but you actually have a background in design. Do you want to maybe just tell everyone your summary of Ashley the student to where you landed today?

Ashley Bruggeman: First of all, strong women need strong women.

Rebecca Hay: Yes, this is true.

Ashley Bruggeman: I’m not going anywhere. Don’t worry.

Rebecca Hay: Yes, you are not. I will not let you.

Ashley Bruggeman: So yeah, I have an interior design degree and worked for a commercial firm for just a few years. What’s funny is that at that time, I really snubbed residential design. I don’t know why. It’s so funny now, like, in my 40s, thinking about how smart little me thought I knew so much. But I really wanted to do just commercial design. Then I got into commercial design and realized, “Oh, there are still emotions here.” I actually worked on a church project and presented the finishes and the carpet. This one lady on the building board said, “Oh, Susie can’t walk down the aisle on that carpet,” and I was like, “I’m out.” So I realized, “Okay, well, I can’t do this either.” I was really suited for sales, but I love the industry and didn’t want to leave it. So I got a job with a commercial carpet mill that sells to the commercial design industry. I did that and now work for a different manufacturer. I’ve spent 20 years selling to architects and designers and all these commercial firms across multiple states, doing continuing education for architects and designers, getting them to specify my product, educating them on the products and the manufacturing processes, and even managing the subcontractors who are bidding on my projects and installing them. The first manufacturer I worked for was very adamant about sustainability issues. That’s when the USGBC really launched the LEED program, and it was hot and heavy. So they paid for me to sit for my LEED exam, which I did in 2009. Then I went back to school about five years ago and got my Executive MBA as well. I equally love the creative side and my environment, spreadsheets and business, and numbers, as well as playing the game of how to accomplish certain goals. So it’s really a perfect match to have a design business now, where I get to do both.

Rebecca Hay: I love that you have that experience under your belt. Sales— a lot of designers listening don’t enjoy sales, right? Sales feel challenging. Sometimes it can feel uncomfortable. This is why I know that you are immediately going to shine because you already have skill sets that take a lot of time to develop. That’s because you’ve also developed those skills in the 20-plus years of being in the working world and being surrounded by design. But this is different, right? And I want to just quickly touch on this for those who are thinking, “Well, sure, she started her design firm because she went to school for design, she’s been working in the design world—that must have been really easy.” Talk to us about that because you’re going after residential design clients now, which is the thing that you always pooh-poohed and never wanted to do. Has it been a seamless transition to start finding interior design residential clients from your previous experience? Or are you finding that this is a bit of uncharted territory? Just tell us a little bit about that transition.

Ashley Bruggeman: No, I think it’s definitely uncharted territory because these are not the same people that I have worked with in the past. My experience obviously helps in that I have confidence from whatever experience I’m bringing to the table, but this is personal. I’m selling myself and my capabilities now, which is very different from selling for somebody else, a manufacturer, or anything else. So I think when it’s personal, and it’s me that you’re either rejecting or accepting, it carries a little more weight, and it’s definitely a different skill set, I think.

Rebecca Hay: Yeah. I think that’s important. We’ve talked about this on the podcast a lot, and I’ve spoken to a lot of commercial designers, some POP students, and others who have been running design firms for a while. There’s such a difference between commercial and residential, and it’s not just the technical side. It’s the people, from what I’m hearing you say. I’ve only dabbled in commercials a little bit, and it wasn’t for me, but the one thing I did like about it was the client because the client has a budget. They say, “It looks great,” you say, “It looks great,” and they say, “Great, it fits in the budget, let’s go.” Versus, like what you just said, “Well, I can’t picture Susie walking down the aisle with that carpet. Could it be a slightly lighter shade of red?” Right? There are so many personal nuances, so I’m excited to follow your journey and see how you navigate this transition. What’s a bit of advice that you have for anyone listening today who is thinking about launching a design firm? Maybe they have a similar or different background. What would be the first thing you would tell them to do?

Ashley Bruggeman: I would say to surround yourself with people who believe in you when you don’t.

Rebecca Hay: That’s good.

Ashley Bruggeman: That’s definitely been helpful for me, whether it’s just the little things like social media—putting out something and thinking, “Oh my gosh, that was ridiculous. Should I delete it?”—being so nervous about how I am perceived. Then my girlfriends step up, and they’re on fire and loving things, and that’s what you need. You need cheerleaders in your corner. Whether it’s other designers that you’re able to meet through spaces like Designer’s Room that you have or your own personal connections and friends, it’s just invaluable.

Rebecca Hay: Yeah. I love that advice because we can be our own worst critics, especially when we’re going into uncharted territories and we’ve never done it before. We can be really quick to say, “Oh, this isn’t working. This isn’t for me.” And I love that advice—being supported in community, whether it’s family, friends, Designer’s Room, joining POP, and seeing how other people do it and knowing, “Okay, I’m not alone,” is so helpful to keep that momentum going. Love it. Okay, we’re going to have a longer episode with you, so those of you who liked this episode with Ashley and want to get into more details, stay tuned for that. We will share that soon, and it’s going to be so good. Thank you for joining me today, Ashley.

Ashley Bruggeman: Yeah, thanks for having me.

Rebecca Hay: Guys, isn’t Ashley such a dynamo? I love how professional she is, showing up already, and she’s just begun. You’re going to want to follow her journey. In fact, I loved this conversation so much that I invited her to come back and record a full-length episode with me to get into the nitty-gritty details of exactly what it looked like to set herself up for success in order to launch her interior design firm. I think you’re going to really enjoy that episode too. Let me know—pop over to iTunes, give me a five-star review, pretty please. I would love it if you’re enjoying this podcast or share it with somebody who you think could benefit. If this shorty resonated, let me know, and I will see you on the next one.