I’m bringing all sorts of new things to the show today! While at High Point Market, I sat down with Jude Charles, who produces documentaries for entrepreneurs, including the phenomenal docuseries with LuAnn Nigara. We spoke in depth about the power of storytelling in your business – from marketing to client relations.

Through this episode, Jude shares many of his personal stories as he walks us through his approach to infusing the personal with the professional through his films and in marketing. He encourages interior design business owners to focus on the ‘why you’ aspect, their core values, and the realization that you are more than just your portfolio.

Listening to his story, I was moved to share a few vulnerable stories myself, including how I felt about them then and now. Because of the intimacy of our design work, Jude inspired me and I hope you, to take note of your experiences and absorb these narratives into your business and life.

Stop playing small because your story is your strength!

Episode Highlights
  1. From Teacher’s Encouragement to 18 Years of Filmmaking – Discover how a high school teacher’s unwavering belief in Jude Charles kick-started his entrepreneurial journey at just 17 years old—with a surprising gift that changed his life forever.
  2. Why Storytelling is a Designer’s Secret Weapon – Jude and Rebecca dive into the power of storytelling in the design industry. Learn why showcasing your journey, values, and behind-the-scenes moments is the key to standing out and attracting your dream clients.
  3. The Vulnerability Advantage: Turning Personal Stories Into Powerful Connections – Jude shares a deeply personal story of loss and how it shaped his unique approach to storytelling. Plus, actionable tips for designers on sharing their own authentic stories to connect with clients on a deeper level.
Episode Resources

Read the Full Transcript ⬇️

00:00:00:03 – 00:00:10:17
Rebecca Hay
All right, dude, welcome to the podcast. I’m so excited to have you here and be here literally in person with you. This is a relatively new experience for me. I’m used to being on zoom. Yeah. So thank you for joining us.

00:00:10:18 – 00:00:21:11
Jude Charles
Well, thank you for having me, Rebecca. I am excited to be a part of this test run. We are, here at High Point, which is exciting to high point can be a bit crazy, but yeah, we’ve made it happen.

00:00:21:13 – 00:00:40:23
Rebecca Hay
Yeah, it’s, a whirlwind. And, we’ll hopefully recap the trip in some way for the podcast, but it was your idea to meet in person. And it’s funny because I was coming down here for a panel, as you know, and I was panicking about my tech, and my husband sort of had this idea to do remote technology, meaning I would bring my own equipment.

00:00:40:23 – 00:00:51:00
Rebecca Hay
And I thought, oh, that’s an interesting idea. And then I got your email. Yeah. And you were like, well, you’re coming to High Point. Why don’t we do it there? And I thought, oh my gosh, this is perfect because I’m going to have the equipment.

00:00:51:00 – 00:00:51:13
Jude Charles
Yep, yep.

00:00:51:16 – 00:01:01:11
Rebecca Hay
So we’ve just launched the Rebecca on the Road series. So if you want me to come to a city near you. But anyways, welcome. And can you just introduce yourself to our audience?

00:01:01:11 – 00:01:22:18
Jude Charles
Yeah. So my name is Joe Charles, and I am a filmmaker. I create documentaries for entrepreneurs. I’ve been doing that for 18 years. I got started when I was 17 years old, sitting in a TV production classroom, and my teacher at the time, Mrs. Donnelly, taught me everything she know about video production. And then at the end of close to the end of that school year, she looked at me.

00:01:22:18 – 00:01:26:19
Jude Charles
She was like, dude, you’re really talented at video production. You should start a business.

00:01:26:21 – 00:01:28:00
Rebecca Hay
What?

00:01:28:01 – 00:01:29:08
Jude Charles
Rebecca I’m wild.

00:01:29:08 – 00:01:30:03
Rebecca Hay
I’m 18.

00:01:30:08 – 00:01:30:23
Jude Charles
At seven.

00:01:30:23 – 00:01:32:17
Rebecca Hay
17. Your teacher said that.

00:01:32:22 – 00:01:50:01
Jude Charles
Now I’m the youngest of ten children. My father was a construction worker. My mom worked at a chair factory. So I knew nothing about being an entrepreneur, starting a business. But Mrs. Donnelly didn’t take no for an answer. The following day, she came into the classroom with a yellow envelope and I was like, what is this? She’s like, look inside.

00:01:50:01 – 00:02:02:11
Jude Charles
And when I looked inside of this yellow envelope, it was my very first set of business cards. Wow. And that’s how I got started. 18 years ago, doing video production, doing what I’m doing now, creating documentaries for entrepreneurs.

00:02:02:13 – 00:02:06:01
Rebecca Hay
Does Mrs. Donnelly know what you’re doing now? Yes. Have you sent her a thank you?

00:02:06:03 – 00:02:11:18
Jude Charles
Was I have we stay in touch India. And as we’re recording this she’s in her final year of teaching.

00:02:11:20 – 00:02:12:08
Rebecca Hay
Oh wow.

00:02:12:08 – 00:02:14:08
Jude Charles
So yeah she definitely knows.

00:02:14:10 – 00:02:33:22
Rebecca Hay
I mean, honestly, that is an amazing story. It is amazing how teachers can shape our lives. And the right teacher can really instill that confidence in us. I love that she saw something in you. And here you are with me and you’ve been doing so. Just tell us a little bit about what you’ve been doing in the interior design industry, because I’ve seen you did Lou and Niagara’s docu series, right.

00:02:33:22 – 00:02:36:19
Rebecca Hay
I believe you’re doing more with her. Tell us a bit about what that looks like today.

00:02:36:19 – 00:03:02:03
Jude Charles
Yeah. So, two years ago, I filmed my team and I filmed Luhrmann’s, docu series, and it’s a four part docu series. Each episode is about 20 minutes long, and it tells the story of how she started the podcast, how she built up window works, and the story of like, what it meant to build the podcast. We were actually here two years ago, running around at High Point, as she met different people, was speaking on different panels, and, that’s what I do.

00:03:02:03 – 00:03:23:12
Jude Charles
I tell the true, authentic story of who that entrepreneur is. And so I’ve continued to do that with other interior designers, helping tell their story. That is long. It’s not a 20 minute segment. Instead, it’s ten minutes. But helping interior designers tell their story of, like, who they are beyond their portfolio, beyond the beautiful designs. Like, how did they get to where they are?

00:03:23:12 – 00:03:29:07
Jude Charles
What is their vision? How do they what are their core values, even, that is the work that I do.

00:03:29:09 – 00:03:51:18
Rebecca Hay
I love this, I mean, this is something that a lot of designers talk about wanting, right? They want video content. And I’m not just talking a little snippet on Instagram. Right. Although I’m sure that you can do that too. Or pull from the what you what you what you capture. But it sounds like you’re also a storyteller. Yes, and I love that because I always tell designers it doesn’t matter how good you are if nobody knows you exist.

00:03:51:20 – 00:03:55:04
Rebecca Hay
Yeah. And also, being a good designer is just not enough.

00:03:55:07 – 00:03:55:13
Jude Charles
Right?

00:03:55:17 – 00:04:11:01
Rebecca Hay
And, you know, I teach about process. I think you’ve got to iron out your systems in your business so you can deliver. Because if you are super talented and creative and you can’t deliver, then you’re not going to have a successful business. But also, just because you’re talented and creative doesn’t mean people are going to hire you, right?

00:04:11:02 – 00:04:13:20
Rebecca Hay
There’s so much more they need to know your story. And I love that.

00:04:13:20 – 00:04:21:12
Jude Charles
Yeah. If you look at any entire designer’s Instagram page today, you pick ten and just look at any ten. They all look the exact same.

00:04:21:14 – 00:04:23:09
Rebecca Hay
Yes, I know.

00:04:23:11 – 00:04:42:02
Jude Charles
It is just beautiful pictures of the final product. Yeah, but when your client’s looking at that or a potential client is looking at that, they have no idea what it took to get to that finished product. They have no idea what the vision was behind that finished product. They have no idea the kind of clients that you worked with to get that final product.

00:04:42:04 – 00:05:01:04
Jude Charles
The one question in their mind is, why should I choose to do business with you? Why should I hire you as an interior designer? Over every other interior designer I come across? And that boils down to why you. And that’s why I like to focus on the storytelling aspect and looking at the core values, looking at who you are even when you’re not working.

00:05:01:06 – 00:05:15:14
Jude Charles
Because that determines that tells the story of why you not just that you can do a beautiful design that’s a given. As an interior designer, you should be able to to create a beautiful kitchen or a beautiful living room. But what else is there?

00:05:15:16 – 00:05:35:08
Rebecca Hay
So true, so true. When someone’s coming to you, they’re assuming that you’re going to do a beautiful job. That’s not usually a question, right? It’s all the other factors. Yes. So this is interesting. You’ve just sort of touched on an interesting topic, which is what do you do besides interior design? Because I know a lot of designers and we talked about this a little bit on the panel, but not in depth.

00:05:35:08 – 00:05:55:19
Rebecca Hay
And I’m curious to go here with you. You know, a lot of us struggle with how much of our personal life or our personality to share online because we want to look professional and polished as a designer. Right. And I’m I’m probably the black sheep, a little bit of that, because early on I was just like, I’m Rebecca and this is who I am.

00:05:55:19 – 00:06:10:04
Rebecca Hay
And I it really did help me grow my business because clients would come to me and say, I feel like I already know you. Or they would say, I like how you don’t sugarcoat it. You show behind the scenes of a construction project. You tell us what’s gone wrong. You’re not pretending that everything is rainbows and butterflies. But I’m curious.

00:06:10:04 – 00:06:23:06
Rebecca Hay
Your take on it. Like how much should a business owner share of their personal life, of their personality? In on on a public facing platform?

00:06:23:08 – 00:06:29:16
Jude Charles
You know, it’s interesting because that answer is the answer that most people hate. It depends. Right?

00:06:29:18 – 00:06:30:21
Rebecca Hay
Oh, come on.

00:06:30:23 – 00:06:54:16
Jude Charles
Nobody wants it depends. You have to determine how much of it you’re willing to share, right? Because some people don’t want to show their kids and that’s completely fine and perfect. Some are okay with sharing their kids. You have to determine what that is for yourself. I, I believe that it is important to be vulnerable, and vulnerability isn’t just the bad things.

00:06:54:18 – 00:07:15:04
Jude Charles
I think you show the bad things. You pull back the veil and show that this isn’t all a polished and it’s going to be perfect as nothing is perfect. There are humans involved, so it’s going to be there’s things that are going to go wrong. But what matters is what do you do when something goes wrong. Right. There’s a story that I tell before I ever work with clients.

00:07:15:16 – 00:07:32:03
Jude Charles
I do a consulting session called Road Mapping, and there’s a story that I start with that is extremely vulnerable, but I share it because of what matters at the end. So I’m going to share the story in a second. But it’s important to understand what is a story a story is a retelling of a very specific moment in time.

00:07:33:04 – 00:07:59:14
Jude Charles
But what matters most is the lesson that you learned in that moment in time. Right. So I’ll give you an example. In 2014 I went to Spokane, Washington. I live in Pompano Beach, Florida, but I went to Spokane, Washington to go to a leadership conference. As I always knew, leadership was important to me. But coming back from the trip, you know, you go to a conference or you go to a mastermind like you have been to.

00:07:59:14 – 00:08:05:05
Jude Charles
Right? And you take in all this information, you write down a bunch of notes, but then you get home so.

00:08:05:05 – 00:08:05:19
Rebecca Hay
Many notes.

00:08:05:19 – 00:08:21:07
Jude Charles
So many notes. But then when you get home, that notebook gets put away totally right. And you forget to do some of the things that you thought of doing. Well, I was like, I’m not going to do that. I’m 25 years old at the time, I was like, I’m going to take a Greyhound bus from Spokane, Washington.

00:08:21:09 – 00:08:23:18
Rebecca Hay
You’re a brave human, right?

00:08:23:20 – 00:08:36:07
Jude Charles
Oh, because Washington State is the furthest northwest point I have told you. I live in Florida, the furthest southeast point of America. And I was like, I’m 25 years old. This will never happen again. This should be fun.

00:08:36:09 – 00:08:43:03
Rebecca Hay
I mean, when you’re 25, it’s not deal, but when you’re my age, you couldn’t pay me. I don’t think to do that. How long was that trip?

00:08:43:03 – 00:08:54:00
Jude Charles
Three days. And it was one of the dumbest decisions I’ve. Because by day two, I am miserable. There are a lot of weird people on the Greyhound bus.

00:08:54:05 – 00:08:55:02
Rebecca Hay
Yeah.

00:08:55:04 – 00:09:16:21
Jude Charles
So by day two, we get to Chicago, Illinois. I had my phone off the entire time because like I mentioned, I wanted to digest this conference I had just came from. Well, I turned back on my phone, Rebecca and I get a text message from my sister and it says, call me back. It’s urgent. Yeah, I’ll be going to brace myself because in 2014, at the time that I’m taking this trip, my mother, was suffering from depression.

00:09:16:21 – 00:09:28:23
Jude Charles
She had attempted suicide in my father was, diagnosed with, prostate cancer right before this trip. So I brace myself because I know she’s. If it’s urgent, it’s either mom or dad.

00:09:29:01 – 00:09:31:03
Rebecca Hay

00:09:31:05 – 00:09:41:23
Jude Charles
I take a deep breath. I call my sister and she tells me they found my dad unresponsive in the house. Now I know what that means. They won’t tell me because I’m on the road. But that means he’s passed away.

00:09:42:01 – 00:09:43:05
Rebecca Hay
Oh my goodness to.

00:09:43:10 – 00:10:00:19
Jude Charles
So many Chicago, Illinois at the time. I take the first flight back home from Chicago, Illinois. And my brother comes to pick me up. He comes with his daughter, my niece Ayanna. She’s nine years old. I hug my brother. I don’t say a word. I hug my niece. I don’t say a word. But I sit in the backseat of this car going to my father’s house.

00:10:00:19 – 00:10:21:14
Jude Charles
I sit in the backseat with my niece, and I’m staring out the window because, like I’ve mentioned, I’m 25 years old. I’m the youngest of ten. My father wouldn’t get to see me get married or have kids, and I feel lost. But then Ayanna, all only nine years old, looks at me. She’s like, uncle, why did grandpa have to die?

00:10:21:16 – 00:10:39:23
Jude Charles
Boy, nine years old. I don’t know how to answer her, but she says it again. Why did grandpa have to die? Well, that question rang in my ear as we’re making funeral arrangements and, deciding what to do with my father’s things. And I’ll never forget August 9th, 2014, I got my answer as to why did grandpa have to die?

00:10:40:00 – 00:10:52:00
Jude Charles
Because that Jew, Charles, the youngest of ten children, is asked to give my father’s eulogy. And it’s not just that I was telling his story. It was the fact that I was leading my family through a difficult moment.

00:10:52:05 – 00:10:53:04
Rebecca Hay
As the youngest.

00:10:53:05 – 00:11:10:11
Jude Charles
As the youngest, I tell that story in the beginning of road mapping, because the way that I end it is, you know, it’s going to feel scary when we go through road mapping, cause I’m going to ask you very deep questions. I’m going to ask you to give vulnerable is going to feel scary. Just like it felt scary for me to lose my dad.

00:11:10:13 – 00:11:25:06
Jude Charles
But I want you to trust that I’m going to be able to lead you through this difficult time, that I’m going to be able to lead you through this process. Because it’s not about video in this moment. It’s not about storytelling. It’s it’s about getting you to go really, really deep in this moment. Right. That’s a very vulnerable story.

00:11:25:08 – 00:11:26:11
Rebecca Hay
Very much so.

00:11:26:16 – 00:11:33:22
Jude Charles
And I could start by saying to you, Rebecca, hey, I know what I’m doing. I’ve been doing this 18 years. You should trust me through this process.

00:11:34:03 – 00:11:34:21
Rebecca Hay
Right.

00:11:34:23 – 00:11:50:05
Jude Charles
But that’s not going to land as well as me telling that story that takes you on this journey, right? And allows you to get to know who I am, why we’re going on this journey, but then also allows you to be vulnerable and open up, because now I’ve been vulnerable and open up with you. Right.

00:11:50:06 – 00:11:56:10
Rebecca Hay
Well, and the listener or the person you’re sitting with can connect with the human side. And that vulnerability.

00:11:56:10 – 00:12:21:16
Jude Charles
Yes, connect with the human side. And so when you ask me like, okay, how vulnerable do we get, how open do we get? It depends on how vulnerable you’re willing to what are you willing to share? You don’t have to share a story about losing someone in your life, but you can share your strengths. You could share the lessons you’ve learned over time, and you can definitely share your weaknesses, but it allows you to connect with the human side.

00:12:21:18 – 00:12:31:00
Jude Charles
Which part of your life are you willing to share that allows people to get to know who you are? What are your hobbies? What do you do when you’re not being a mother, right? Or when you’re not at high?

00:12:31:00 – 00:12:35:18
Rebecca Hay
I’m not saying we’re still trying to find some time for those extra hobbies, but yes.

00:12:35:23 – 00:12:45:05
Jude Charles
What you what kind of TV shows that you like to watch, right? Like there’s all these things that make you, you and the client needs to know what is it that makes you, you.

00:12:45:07 – 00:12:58:07
Rebecca Hay
So first of all, I just want to say thank you for sharing that story. That’s very vulnerable. And I’m very sorry that you had such a that experience. I can only imagine what’s going through your mind. And this is me connecting to your story. I’m thinking you’re probably thinking, why did I take the bus? Should have flown straight home.

00:12:58:07 – 00:13:17:07
Rebecca Hay
Yes. Could have seen him. Like all the all the things that could go through a person’s mind. I’m curious when you work with your clients to pull out this story. I love this idea of finding the different stories. Is it a situation where I’m thinking of myself right now and I’m thinking, I’ve got so many different stories that have shaped who I am, and I’m not going to tell all of them.

00:13:17:07 – 00:13:36:17
Rebecca Hay
Right. Maybe over the next decade I do end up telling them. But do you help your clients or the designers you work with kind of hone in on? This would be a really great story to tell because it will connect with your audience. Like it’s like if we’re sitting down, I’m like, well, there’s this story of, like, I had that lemon job, and then I have this other story of growing up with my house, with this or whatever it is.

00:13:36:17 – 00:13:42:11
Rebecca Hay
Will you sort of sift through all of that information and help us kind of hone in on this is the message?

00:13:42:11 – 00:13:58:14
Jude Charles
Yes. So there’s two things I start with. It’s start with why. So why are you doing the work that you’re doing today, which usually takes me on a journey of where you began right years ago. Right. But then the second thing is your core values. So let’s make this practical. Do you know your core values?

00:13:58:16 – 00:14:00:15
Rebecca Hay
I feel like I’ve done them for my company.

00:14:00:17 – 00:14:02:19
Jude Charles
So what do you mean? Yes, for your company? For your company?

00:14:02:21 – 00:14:10:04
Rebecca Hay
Oh, they’ve changed over the years. I don’t know, I don’t know them at the drop of a hat like that. I mean, I think about it, but I would. One of them is integrity. Absolutely.

00:14:10:06 – 00:14:24:01
Jude Charles
Right. So most people use integrity. What does integrity mean to you, though? Tell me about a moment in time, that maybe you lost out working with a client because you felt like this wouldn’t be a good fit for you.

00:14:24:03 – 00:14:29:10
Rebecca Hay
Right? A moment. I’ve lost two clients. I don’t think I was.

00:14:29:11 – 00:14:30:17
Jude Charles
Or what does integrity mean?

00:14:30:17 – 00:14:47:23
Rebecca Hay
So for me, it would be, you know, coming into the house and the contractor has done something that is not really me. Not that’s not a code, but it’s. I wouldn’t have done it that way. This isn’t really what we wanted, but shoot time. We’re running out of time. And do you think the client’s going to notice it?

00:14:48:01 – 00:15:03:00
Rebecca Hay
I have a choice in that moment, and I can tell you, I haven’t always operated this way because I had different experiences when I first started my firm, where you could easily say, you know what? They’re probably not going to notice because clients don’t always have a keen eye. Yeah, I’m going to let that one slip under the rug just so we can keep things moving.

00:15:03:00 – 00:15:20:12
Rebecca Hay
To me, that’s that’s not operating in integrity. To me, integrity running a design project is hey to the contractor, here’s what happened. Or hey to the client. Here’s what happened. We’re going to take we’re going to fix it. Yeah, it might delay your timeline, but I want you to know this is not the intention of the design. At that point, the client might just say it’s fine, let’s move on.

00:15:20:14 – 00:15:28:08
Rebecca Hay
But at least then I feel like I’ve done my, job as a designer and as an advocate for my client. So would be an example you mentioned.

00:15:28:09 – 00:15:36:04
Jude Charles
It’s not the way you’ve always done it where you would speak up about a moment you didn’t speak up and you regretted it. Yeah.

00:15:36:06 – 00:15:57:10
Rebecca Hay
Early in my career, when I was more timid and less confident. I certainly didn’t speak up on many occasions, but I did have one job where everything seemed to keep going wrong and one specific example from this job. This is the job I refer to as my lemon job, because it’s what I realized. I needed a process.

00:15:57:10 – 00:16:20:09
Rebecca Hay
It was a real pivotal moment for me, and my business resulted in a lot of tears. But there was a ceiling medallion in this newly constructed home that we’d been hired to decorate, and it was round, and I think I had ordered a rectangular dining chandelier. And I kind of looked up and I thought, oh, shoot, I probably I don’t know if that’s going to work.

00:16:20:09 – 00:16:35:04
Rebecca Hay
Oh, oh, it’ll be fine. So then the light comes, it gets installed, and the client says, what were you thinking? We thought you were a professional. Why would you let us install a rectangular fixture on a circular medallion?

00:16:35:04 – 00:16:36:03
Jude Charles
That’s tough. Yeah.

00:16:36:07 – 00:16:52:07
Rebecca Hay
Now, this sounds like a silly story to tell because everyone listening is like, obviously Rebecca. And yeah, in hindsight, obvious. But at the time I was so nervous to point out to the client, I thought, let’s just not say a word and hope they don’t notice. Then I had to return the chandelier, which of course couldn’t be returned because it had been installed.

00:16:52:10 – 00:16:57:11
Rebecca Hay
So it hung in my office for a decade. Maybe it’s been ten years. So no.

00:16:57:13 – 00:16:59:00
Jude Charles
No constant reminder.

00:16:59:06 – 00:17:09:11
Rebecca Hay
Constant reminder of the failed job. And I don’t even I don’t know if it’s still there. I think I got rid of it. It was hanging in our boardroom forever and it was a constant reminder of, you messed up. Don’t do that again.

00:17:09:13 – 00:17:29:19
Jude Charles
Here’s why I love that story. It not only communicates to your client that you’ve learned that lesson already, that you’re going to have the tough conversations, but then to your team, they understand this is what integrity means, and we need to speak up when we notice something isn’t being done right. It doesn’t matter that it’s going to be difficult.

00:17:29:21 – 00:17:45:21
Jude Charles
Doesn’t matter is going to be a confrontation. Maybe it matters that we do things right. Right. The way you think about integrity, the way I think about integrity might be different, right? But the fact that you communicated that story and it became a constant reminder for you. Yeah, that was.

00:17:45:21 – 00:17:48:17
Rebecca Hay
Kind of dumb. I should have just told you something.

00:17:48:19 – 00:17:59:22
Jude Charles
Right. It but it it communicates that to everyone. It’s not lost in translation. What you mean by integrity, right. How do you want people to feel after they work with you?

00:17:59:23 – 00:18:17:15
Rebecca Hay
My clients, I mean, as an interior designer, I want my clients to feel proud. Hey, I want them to be proud of their home so they can invite people in and kind of show it off and say, look at this. And I want them to sit in their home and feel like everything is in its place and everything is as it should be.

00:18:17:17 – 00:18:26:20
Jude Charles
Was there ever a moment you did a project that the client was so happy or so proud that it brought you to tears to see how happy they were?

00:18:26:20 – 00:18:27:07
Rebecca Hay
Yes.

00:18:27:13 – 00:18:28:18
Jude Charles
Tell me about that.

00:18:28:19 – 00:18:52:19
Rebecca Hay
Absolutely. And sometimes it’s not even the bigger projects, to be honest. Sometimes it’s the smaller ones. Yeah. Where it’s usually the client starts to cry and then I start to cry. Yeah. It was a lovely story. We, I had a really great team on the project and we did. It wasn’t a very big project. We did their kitchen and like a little like mudroom nook at the back and maybe the floors throughout.

00:18:52:19 – 00:19:12:00
Rebecca Hay
We didn’t touch the rest of the house and we did our reveal the way we always do. And then we kicked them out of the house for the day. We did all the final touches. My team like, styled it to perfection, and the clients came in and they were just moved to tears. And of course, seeing them cry, I’m like feeling emotional right now.

00:19:12:00 – 00:19:29:22
Rebecca Hay
Just thinking about it made me cry because I thought this was not my most lucrative project. It was not my biggest project, but I thought we nailed it. These people are going to be so happy. And they wrote me the most incredible testimonial, a Google review and all the things. And it just it on my heart. And you know, that’s that feeling that I had.

00:19:29:22 – 00:19:45:16
Rebecca Hay
That is what I feel now when I help designers with their business and when I see them here at High Point, they pulled me aside and they’re like, Rebecca, I like this one girl yesterday started to cry. She’s like, you have no idea how much you’ve transformed my life. She’s like, your course complete. And that is that same feeling of pride.

00:19:45:16 – 00:20:04:16
Rebecca Hay
I think. I feel very proud that I’m able to do something and make an impact. But to back to that home with that client, it. You know, it wasn’t my most beautiful work either. I mean, it was beautiful, but it wasn’t the most luxurious space, but it just everything fit. We hit the nail on the head and they were so grateful.

00:20:04:18 – 00:20:15:07
Jude Charles
I imagine you you understood what it meant for her to have that right, to have that completed home. What was the story behind it? What was the story behind why it mattered so much that she remodeled her home?

00:20:15:08 – 00:20:30:23
Rebecca Hay
I think they had wanted to do it for a very long time. When you’re living in a home for, I don’t know, a decade, right. And you just think it seems like such a hurdle to get there. You don’t know how to do it yourself. And in my firm we handle all the details. So it’s white glove service.

00:20:30:23 – 00:20:42:03
Rebecca Hay
So you come, we’re going to do it. You don’t have to manage anything. And I think for her it was like, thank goodness someone came in and you know, and did the thing that I’ve been wanting to do forever.

00:20:42:08 – 00:20:42:17
Jude Charles
Yeah.

00:20:42:22 – 00:20:43:16
Rebecca Hay
Yeah.

00:20:43:18 – 00:21:02:04
Jude Charles
That’s the way that I began to break down and pull these stories out because it’s not like you mentioned. It’s not just telling a story because you have so many stories. You might be able to tell the stories that matter that your clients potential clients need to hear to better understand what matters to you, to better understand why you’re so passionate about what you’re doing.

00:21:02:06 – 00:21:09:10
Jude Charles
To better understand your personality. Even the fact that you are moved to tears because your client was moved to tears. That tells me more about who you are.

00:21:09:12 – 00:21:10:04
Rebecca Hay
Right.

00:21:10:06 – 00:21:14:02
Jude Charles
Than just. We did this beautiful design and that wasn’t even your best design.

00:21:14:04 – 00:21:17:06
Rebecca Hay
I feel like I’m in therapy right now.

00:21:17:08 – 00:21:35:14
Jude Charles
It’s so funny you say that because many of my clients say the same thing. When we go that deep, it can feel like therapy, but it’s because you haven’t been asked these questions before, but these are the things that makes it. It goes beyond just, oh, I need to hire an interior designer too. I have to hire Rebecca Hay Designs.

00:21:36:06 – 00:21:44:12
Jude Charles
I have to because now they feel connected to you in a deeper way. There’s a deeper desire in demand to. I have to work with you.

00:21:44:14 – 00:21:48:00
Rebecca Hay
Yeah. And then you’re attracting the right people.

00:21:48:00 – 00:21:48:14
Jude Charles
Yes.

00:21:48:14 – 00:22:05:19
Rebecca Hay
Right. And I, you know as I, when I teach my students inside my course I, we talk about the ideal client because it’s super important you have to know who you’re serving. It’s marketing 101. Right. If you don’t know who you’re serving, how are you gonna market to them? And it is one of those things that I’m constantly reminding designers.

00:22:05:21 – 00:22:28:19
Rebecca Hay
It’s not so much about the demographics. How many kids do they have a dog? And yes, that can be really helpful. And neighborhood is helpful, but who are they? Who’s their personality? What are their character traits? Because you want someone who maybe is very generous or is very patient. Yes. Or might maybe they’re someone who’s very trusting. Like those are not traits that everybody has.

00:22:28:19 – 00:22:40:07
Rebecca Hay
And so if you want a seamless experience with your client, you need to think about that. So I can see Jude, how telling these stories is going to attract those people who are drawn to your core values.

00:22:40:08 – 00:22:41:06
Jude Charles
Right, right.

00:22:41:07 – 00:22:42:21
Rebecca Hay
Who share those core values. Yeah.

00:22:42:22 – 00:23:05:11
Jude Charles
And that’s why it’s important to go this deep because like, I’ll give you an example of even I’ve changed. There’s a question I usually I there’s a set of questions I asked and my discoveries discovery call or discovery meeting. I’ve changed one of my questions to or added this actually to. What insecurities do you have about possibly doing a docu series?

00:23:05:13 – 00:23:29:23
Jude Charles
And let me tell you why. And this is the exact this is how I’ve changed it. I asked the question, I say, but I don’t want you to answer yet. I want you to think about it. I’m going to give you the context as to why I’m asking you that. I worked with a design and build company, not too long ago, maybe a couple months ago, that, we’re doing a docu series husband and wife team has been is obviously the contractor wife does design, and when I get to their home to do their interview, I do the interviews on the first day.

00:23:29:23 – 00:23:51:02
Jude Charles
It’s a three day shoot, but I do the interviews on the first day and I do the interview with the wife. But the husband steps out with the three boys so that the wife can have her own time to do her interview. And as we’re doing her interview, she tells me he’s really nervous, really nervous. Now I know if he’s very nervous, I can’t put him in front of the camera.

00:23:51:03 – 00:23:51:20
Rebecca Hay
Yeah, of.

00:23:51:20 – 00:23:55:07
Jude Charles
Course, because it’s going to come out like he’s not. You could see it stutter you.

00:23:55:07 – 00:23:56:14
Rebecca Hay
You’re not yourself, right?

00:23:56:14 – 00:24:15:05
Jude Charles
Exactly. So when he comes back, I say, hey, we’re not gonna do your interview right now. Let’s just go on three job sites. Let’s show me what projects you have going on. Now we go on to three job sites, and then after that we go to lunch and he finally tells me, yeah, I’m really nervous about this. I didn’t sleep last night.

00:24:15:07 – 00:24:31:12
Jude Charles
And he says, I’m nervous because of my accent. Now he has an accent. He’s been he’s from Brazil, but he’s been in the States 20 years. And I’m like, hey, I don’t I just want you to know, I understand you’re afraid of your accent, but I don’t struggle to understand you. I’m not saying, What did you say when you’re talking to me?

00:24:31:14 – 00:24:33:20
Jude Charles
It’s like, yeah, I know, but I still I still worry about it.

00:24:33:20 – 00:24:34:10
Rebecca Hay
Self-conscious.

00:24:34:10 – 00:24:48:20
Jude Charles
Self-conscious. Five minutes passes by. He looks up while he’s eating. He said, to be honest with you, I’m afraid of embarrassing my wife and kids. Oh, gosh. I’m just like, wow, okay. That’s deep.

00:24:48:22 – 00:24:53:01
Rebecca Hay
You are a therapist. Whoa. You’re like pulling it all out. I love it, I love it.

00:24:53:01 – 00:25:08:08
Jude Charles
So I said to him, I get that you feel like you’re going to be on camera. You’re going to look silly or you might say the wrong things. You won’t have the perfect sentence. But I was like, what if you’re embarrassing your wife and kids by not showing up? What if your wife has all this belief in you and confidence in you?

00:25:08:10 – 00:25:26:21
Jude Charles
She’s just waiting on you to have it. You didn’t say a word. We ended up doing the interview the next day, and, I asked him. I was like, okay, how did he feel? He was like, to be honest, I thought we were still warming up. And he said, you know what you said to me at lunch yesterday was the whipping that I needed to be able to do this.

00:25:26:23 – 00:25:41:15
Jude Charles
I gave him the courage to show up. Now I so I asked the question, what are your insecurities? But then I go through that because you won’t expect a contractor, a man’s man, to be worried about how he sounds.

00:25:41:17 – 00:25:49:19
Rebecca Hay
So your part life coach? Part, filmmaker. This amazing combination. I love it, actually.

00:25:49:19 – 00:26:07:08
Jude Charles
But it changes my process. Better understanding what my clients are going through to, and then I can tell them a story to really pull it out. Because you might not be thinking about how you sound, you might just be thinking about how you look, or you might be thinking of, oh, you’re going to film at my house. I don’t know what my house is going to look like.

00:26:07:08 – 00:26:28:02
Jude Charles
Like, I don’t know if I want to show my house on camera, but it’s better for me to know that in advance, right? That’s why storytelling is so important, because it pulls those things out of you. I know my purpose is to lead and empower entrepreneurs to have relentless courage. I now have another story that adds to how I get my clients to have that relentless courage.

00:26:28:04 – 00:26:40:03
Jude Charles
And when you watch this docu series, you can’t even tell that he was nervous now because I’ve walked through that process with him. But if you’ve never worked with me, that’s important for you to know. Like, I’m not just going to we’re not just going to put a camera up and start recording.

00:26:40:03 – 00:26:41:22
Rebecca Hay
Yeah, like you did to me today, just.

00:26:41:23 – 00:26:43:11
Jude Charles
Like I did. I do.

00:26:43:13 – 00:26:52:17
Rebecca Hay
Hard, I like him in my sweatpants. I like I hope this isn’t on video. Oh, shoot. There’s a beautiful camera there. But I’m like, you know what? I think I’m in good hands. We’re good, we’re good.

00:26:52:17 – 00:27:01:00
Jude Charles
Right? But yeah, it’s important for your clients to know, like you’re thinking about all these things now. It changes how they see you.

00:27:01:02 – 00:27:02:06
Rebecca Hay
Totally.

00:27:02:08 – 00:27:23:11
Jude Charles
Again, you’re not just an interior designer. You’re. You’re more than just your portfolio. You’re more than just your name, which is interior design, your title, I should say, which is interior designer. There’s these nuances, these small things that are really big things. I think the biggest mistake interior designers can make is thinking, oh, my client doesn’t care about that.

00:27:23:13 – 00:27:34:19
Jude Charles
Of course they do. Interior designers are spending sometimes a year or two years working with their clients. Intimate. It’s very intimate. Sometimes you’re in their jaws.

00:27:34:21 – 00:27:35:08
Rebecca Hay
You’re always.

00:27:35:08 – 00:27:35:18
Jude Charles
Closing.

00:27:35:18 – 00:27:41:03
Rebecca Hay
Their underwear drawer. You know, where they keep what they keep in their nightstands. Like, you know everything, right? Yeah.

00:27:41:05 – 00:27:49:21
Jude Charles
So they need to know who is this person. You talked about trust earlier. Who is this person I’m going to trust in my home? Who’s this person I’m going to trust in my bedroom where I sleep?

00:27:49:23 – 00:28:10:08
Rebecca Hay
Yeah, I have an interesting story that I’d like to share with you. I think this is very applicable. One of the. There’s a designer in Toronto who taking my course. She’s lovely. She’s very established. She’s been doing this for 30 plus years. And we were at an event and she said, Rebecca, you know, I want to tell you that for the longest time, she said, I go golfing on on Wednesdays.

00:28:10:08 – 00:28:12:19
Rebecca Hay
Wednesday afternoons is when I go golfing with my ladies.

00:28:12:20 – 00:28:13:04
Jude Charles
Okay.

00:28:13:08 – 00:28:31:01
Rebecca Hay
But I never wanted to tell my clients, so I’d always just say, I’m not available. And then one day I let it slip to a client. Oh, well, I can’t because I’m going to. I’ll be playing golf, and as soon as she said it out loud, I think she was like, oh, I immediately regretted sharing that detail because it’s felt like she was like, you know, just slacking off or not working.

00:28:31:01 – 00:28:48:06
Rebecca Hay
And the client was said to her, you golf two? Oh my goodness. And all of a sudden they had a conversation about and they were talking about all of their experiences and golfing, and it actually gave that client more respect for her because they had that commonality. Yes. And she saw that she valued that work life balance. Yes.

00:28:48:06 – 00:28:53:23
Rebecca Hay
And so this designer said to me, you know, now I don’t hide that fact for my clients. I let them know Wednesday afternoons I golf.

00:28:53:23 – 00:28:54:13
Jude Charles
Yes.

00:28:54:15 – 00:29:02:02
Rebecca Hay
And she said it actually attracts different clients. Then they’re the ones that really she enjoys working with because they have that in common. Right.

00:29:02:03 – 00:29:19:07
Jude Charles
It attracts a different kind of client because now she knows so much. She knows much more about that interior designer, because now she doesn’t look at her as just an interior designer. I take two months off every year, June and December, two full months. And that’s something I let my clients know in advance. And it’s the same thing they respect.

00:29:19:07 – 00:29:23:07
Jude Charles
Oh, you have that work life balance. Oh, I’ve never you take a month off.

00:29:23:09 – 00:29:39:02
Rebecca Hay
I love that you just said because literally when I was at this mastermind, I was thinking, I map out my 2025, this is a sidebar. And I thought to myself, I want to take December off. Yes, because so much is happening in December. I’ve got young kids or school. There’s the holidays. And I thought, wouldn’t it be nice to take December off?

00:29:39:02 – 00:29:44:04
Rebecca Hay
Yeah. And I thought, oh, that would be a bold move. But now I know someone else does it. So I’m going to pick your brain.

00:29:44:04 – 00:29:44:13
Jude Charles
Yes.

00:29:44:13 – 00:29:48:03
Rebecca Hay
I love that you do that. Yeah. It says a lot about your values.

00:29:48:06 – 00:30:08:02
Jude Charles
Yes, yes. And that’s why I work through what’s your why and your core values. We just like you said, it says a lot about your values. And I don’t have to tell you what my values are for you to understand. I just told you something about myself. Something that was vulnerable, right, that I normally wouldn’t share. Because, no, there should be this separation between business and personal.

00:30:08:02 – 00:30:10:21
Jude Charles
And it’s like, but you’re the one running it.

00:30:10:23 – 00:30:12:04
Rebecca Hay
Yes. It’s hard.

00:30:12:06 – 00:30:35:08
Jude Charles
Right. So so that’s why I believe, like storytelling is so critical because your marketing is more than just showing off your portfolio. Your your Instagram page isn’t just about your beautiful finished images. It’s everything in between. That’s what you should be showing your clients as a dramatic demonstration that not only we know what we’re doing but we’re human just like you.

00:30:35:10 – 00:30:39:08
Jude Charles
And we’re going to get you through this process. We’re going to lead you through this process together.

00:30:39:10 – 00:30:59:20
Rebecca Hay
So a question for you, for the designers listening today, if they’re hearing this and they’re thinking, oh, that’s okay. Yeah. This all makes sense, dude. Like, I like this idea of maybe sharing a little bit more. What would you suggest they start with? Like, if they’re not quite ready to, like, hire into a whole docu series or do a video, how could they start sharing and what do they pick?

00:30:59:22 – 00:31:18:21
Jude Charles
I have a resource which is storytelling for interview designers. It’s actually a, ten storytelling prompts that I start you with. And there’s examples. I use examples from the projects I’ve done so that you can begin to think about how do I tell my story, or how do I tell stories about the projects that I’m working on? That’s the place that I would recommend.

00:31:18:21 – 00:31:25:05
Jude Charles
It’s completely free. They’ll find it on, Ju Charles, that CEO forward slash Rebecca. I’m sure you put it in the show notes.

00:31:25:05 – 00:31:25:15
Rebecca Hay
Yes, we.

00:31:25:15 – 00:31:45:12
Jude Charles
Will, but that’s the place to start. Is thinking of beginning to write down the stories and not taking them for granted. I have this, story bank journal that I started years ago for that same reason where I would just, at the end of the day, maybe take five minutes, ten minutes, nothing long. And I just think, what are the stories that happen today?

00:31:46:09 – 00:31:53:04
Jude Charles
That’s how I have that story with the guy that was, embarrassed or afraid of being on camera because of his accent.

00:31:53:04 – 00:31:55:00
Rebecca Hay
You documented it so that you don’t forget it.

00:31:55:00 – 00:31:56:11
Jude Charles
So I don’t forget it like that.

00:31:56:11 – 00:31:57:00
Rebecca Hay
That’s a good.

00:31:57:00 – 00:32:09:18
Jude Charles
Idea. And then I don’t know when I’m going to use it, but at least I have it if I’m going to speak to a client. And maybe I figured out a little of information about them, that I know this story might resonate with them. So let me tell that story. Oh, I like that.

00:32:09:18 – 00:32:11:04
Rebecca Hay
It’s like a stories journal.

00:32:11:04 – 00:32:13:03
Jude Charles
It is story Bank Journal is what I call it.

00:32:13:03 – 00:32:26:16
Rebecca Hay
Yeah. It’s so interesting that you say that. I remember years ago when like, so much shit was going wrong in my business and I was like, oh my God, there’s a mistake. And I can’t believe this happened. I remember having a moment where I thought to myself, I should write all these things down, because I feel like one day it might be useful.

00:32:26:16 – 00:32:44:04
Rebecca Hay
Of course I didn’t. But there’s so there’s such a volume of stories that happen in our lives, especially when we’re running design projects. Yeah, that you tend to like. Also, your brain has a way, I think sometimes, at least when it’s a bad story or a negative story of kind of.

00:32:44:06 – 00:32:45:04
Jude Charles
Trying to push it, to push.

00:32:45:08 – 00:32:57:02
Rebecca Hay
It to the back. And, and, you know, the other day someone asked me like, tell me about a time when you lost a lot of money on a project and what went wrong. And I’m like, well, sure, this has happened a lot. And I couldn’t think of the specific example.

00:32:57:05 – 00:33:01:18
Jude Charles
Do you do Monday meetings of like reviewing your project?

00:33:01:18 – 00:33:03:19
Rebecca Hay
Start with Monday status with the team.

00:33:03:19 – 00:33:26:16
Jude Charles
Monday status with the team. That is the best place to carve out one person in the meeting that’s going to take note of the challenges that happen on the project, because then as you’re documenting this project, let’s say you’re getting behind the scenes video and you’re putting that on Instagram. Now, you can in your caption, you can tell the story of, here’s a challenge we had in this project, right?

00:33:26:18 – 00:33:32:16
Jude Charles
Here’s how we overcame it. Yeah, that becomes your story bank journal because you already having the meeting. You’re doing it anyway.

00:33:32:18 – 00:33:51:22
Rebecca Hay
Yes. Designers listening. Did you hear that? Because this is a really big tip, right? Every time you know weekly there’s a challenge week. Weekly there is a challenge, if not more than one, where it’s like, oh, we didn’t estimate enough tile and now this is happening, or oh, shoot the light. This may or may not be happening to me right now.

00:33:52:03 – 00:34:03:17
Rebecca Hay
The electrician installed the light to low, but is that light even going to be high enough? Am I going to have to replace that? Oh my god, I can’t return it. Like all these situations that happened to us. Write them down on a weekly. Yeah, I love that.

00:34:03:17 – 00:34:19:06
Jude Charles
Write them down and you might not figure it out in that one meeting, but you might figure it out next week. Now you have oh this was the challenge and this is how we figured it out. Even better when a client asks you what why is your process this way. Why is this one thing in your process this exact way.

00:34:19:07 – 00:34:20:09
Jude Charles
You have a story now.

00:34:20:09 – 00:34:21:11
Rebecca Hay
Totally to.

00:34:21:11 – 00:34:36:01
Jude Charles
Articulate. And it’s not just because that’s the way we want to do it, because we, the experts know we had this happen on a project once and we didn’t like how it feel. We didn’t like that it happened to our client. And we don’t want this to happen to you too. Yes, but you have the story that backs it up.

00:34:36:01 – 00:34:44:03
Jude Charles
It’s not just something that’s ethereal in the air. Right? And so you’re going to have the meeting anyway. Document that.

00:34:44:05 – 00:34:53:10
Rebecca Hay
So we need to start taking note of these, stories and challenges and problems and solutions that happen in our business. Make a note of them and start sharing.

00:34:53:10 – 00:34:54:10
Jude Charles
And start sharing as.

00:34:54:10 – 00:35:10:13
Rebecca Hay
Opposed to like, complaining. Oh my God, this went wrong. It’s like, here’s what happened, but here’s how we handle that. Yes. And then other stories that we can think of. And then infusing a bit more of our core values and possibly personal life, we still think that’s a good idea, like golf example or whatever. Yeah.

00:35:10:13 – 00:35:36:15
Jude Charles
And because your personal life, again, I don’t think you should downplay what goes on in your personal life because that makes you interesting. Like many people are thinking about, how do I stand out or how can I be interesting? Or maybe there’s the this is an interesting like the things that I do is an interesting. Yeah. You think that like I started with the Mrs. Donnelly story, my first five years in business, I failed because I wasn’t telling my story.

00:35:36:17 – 00:35:48:10
Jude Charles
I remember the first time I ever told them Mrs. Donnelly story. Person leaned in. I was like, wait, what teacher gave you business cards? I was hiding from that story because I was like, what is in that thing she just gave?

00:35:48:12 – 00:35:50:23
Rebecca Hay
So what? Right.

00:35:51:00 – 00:36:06:18
Jude Charles
But it was, I realized, oh, it was interesting to other people. So that’s why I share it over and over and over again, because I realized it’s an opening, right? It’s the way that I started my business that I thought wasn’t that special, but it was a teacher believed in me. That’s why I started my business.

00:36:06:19 – 00:36:26:20
Rebecca Hay
So cool, so cool. I love that story. Okay, so one last question. I’m just super curious. When you work with your clients to create these stories and these stock you series or videos, what do your clients do with them? Like where do they post them? How do they use them? And does it help to attract their clients?

00:36:26:20 – 00:36:28:04
Rebecca Hay
Like how do they leverage it?

00:36:28:06 – 00:36:51:14
Jude Charles
So there’s the standard what I call the standard, which is, your website, social media. But then there is the strategic part of it, which is maybe you’re looking to expand your network in the sense that you’re wanting to work with other builders, home builders. So you’re looking to work with, maybe real estate, developers, right?

00:36:51:16 – 00:37:14:15
Jude Charles
When you go to meet with them, you now have a better introduction. And it’s not just, yeah, we’re going into a design firm that does XYZ get to know us through this video series that we’ve created, this docu series that we’ve created? If I work with some clients who might be looking for licensing deals or brand deals again, this tells you now have a story that shows what makes you stand out.

00:37:14:20 – 00:37:31:17
Jude Charles
So it’s the standard way, which is again, just your regular marketing that you do on an everyday basis. I look at what are you doing right now? How do we incorporate that into it, maybe even in your onboarding sequence when clients are coming to work with you, they get to understand what your process is like. But then there is the strategic.

00:37:31:21 – 00:37:41:14
Jude Charles
We’re growing and we want to work with a higher level client. Even this allows that higher level client to understand who you really are.

00:37:41:16 – 00:37:42:23
Rebecca Hay
Guess what’s behind us?

00:37:43:00 – 00:38:01:05
Jude Charles
Yeah. So that’s the way it’s and that’s why I say your marketing is more than your portfolio, because many designers are only focused on. Oh, we have to have these beautiful images. Now, here’s a way to package up your story in a way that makes it engaging. And someone who actually sit down and watch and they would feel like they have met you before.

00:38:01:05 – 00:38:02:04
Jude Charles
They’ve met you.

00:38:02:06 – 00:38:22:19
Rebecca Hay
Yeah. Love that. Yeah, I love that. I used to do YouTube. I still have a YouTube channel now. It’s for the podcast, but I used to have a YouTube series, if you will, where every week we would put a video out and it was my girl VR. Follow me around behind the scenes job sites here, there and everywhere and editing it and putting it up and, and it was really fun.

00:38:22:19 – 00:38:41:12
Rebecca Hay
I loved doing I actually missed doing that. I loved it, but it really did help clients get to know our company, our brand, our business, and see behind the scenes and really understand what we do. And it it really, really did help, even though it wasn’t probably as polished and as beautiful as what you do. This was like we were being very scrappy, right?

00:38:41:23 – 00:38:44:20
Rebecca Hay
It did help. So I can completely see the value.

00:38:44:20 – 00:38:48:12
Jude Charles
And to that point, designers do not need to wait to start.

00:38:48:13 – 00:38:50:01
Rebecca Hay
Progress over perfection.

00:38:50:01 – 00:39:12:03
Jude Charles
Maybe every single person that’s listening to this has a beautiful camera in their hands right now. And that’s either your iPhone or Android, but they have great cameras. Start today, just like you said you were doing it scrappy, but it’s the only thing that changes is that you add a story to it. Now. And it’s not just we’re seeing you running around behind the scenes, but like, what’s happening?

00:39:12:06 – 00:39:13:00
Jude Charles
Talk us through that.

00:39:13:05 – 00:39:29:16
Rebecca Hay
Yeah, I never did go to that deeper level. It was much more superficial. But I can see now that would that will be if we go back to it, that next evolution of telling the story is, is really going deeper. Oh my gosh, it’s been such a great conversation. I’m glad that you like, put me down to do this here.

00:39:29:16 – 00:39:51:07
Rebecca Hay
Live at Market. It’s been so refreshing. Yes, to talk in person in real life and hear your story. And I really appreciate you opening up and sharing that beautiful story. Because I know a lot of designers do struggle with the vulnerability piece, they do struggle with sharing more of who they are. Right. And I just it’s been such a great conversation.

00:39:51:07 – 00:40:06:00
Rebecca Hay
So before we start, oh, I forgot to let you know that at the end of every episode, we ask our, sorry, our guests to share a last nugget of wisdom for the designers listening today. What would that be? Dude?

00:40:06:02 – 00:40:24:16
Jude Charles
Stop hiding. There is no reason to play small. We are all unique and special and different and there is no reason to play small. Continue to show people who you really are. Because that is the thing that will open the door for where you really want to go.

00:40:24:18 – 00:40:27:12
Rebecca Hay
Love it. Yeah. Stop playing.

00:40:27:12 – 00:40:27:23
Jude Charles
Small.

00:40:27:23 – 00:40:37:14
Rebecca Hay
Yeah, I love it. Invest in your business. Yes, yes in yourself, I love it. Well, thank you so much for being my guest today. Can you let everybody know where they can find and follow you?

00:40:37:14 – 00:40:52:04
Jude Charles
Yes. On Instagram I am Jude Charles. And if you go to my website, you want to see some of the stories I’ve worked on Joe Charles, echo. And of course, like I mentioned, storytelling for interview designers is we do have that in the show notes. Ju Charles that co forward slash Rebecca.

00:40:52:06 – 00:40:56:16
Rebecca Hay
Easy to remember. Yeah. Rebecca thank you so much.

00:40:56:16 – 00:41:04:00
Jude Charles
Thank you for having me. It’s it’s really fun and I love to I love to not only share my story, but I’m glad we got to do this live. And so thank you. Thank you for doing.

00:41:04:00 – 00:41:06:03
Rebecca Hay
Thank you. Awesome, awesome.