Is it ever too late to start over? Our guest, Natalie Froom, proves that the answer is a resounding NO! This episode is all about why it’s NEVER too late to follow your passion for running an interior design business.
Natalie, founder of Studio 180 Design, took a bold leap in her 40s to launch her interior design firm, leaving behind a career in psychology and nutrition. In this episode, she shares how she went from helping friends for free to building a thriving business, why she believes creativity thrives within structure, and how she balances artistry with the practical demands of running a business.
A Power of Process (POP) alum, Natalie also opens up about the game-changing takeaways from the course that helped her streamline her design workflow, set strong boundaries, and confidently charge for her expertise.
If you’ve ever doubted whether it’s too late to start your dream business, this episode is for you!
episode highlights
- The mindset shift needed to go from hobbyist to business owner
- Why boundaries are essential for creative success
- How Natalie built her second empire after raising a large family
- The power of time-blocking for creativity and efficiency
- How she transitioned from free work to confidently pricing her services
- The surprising business lesson she learned from raising six teenagers!
Episode Resources
- Learn more about Natalie Froom at her website and follow her on Instagram
- Learn more about Power of Process
Read the Full Transcript ⬇️
00;00;00;02 – 00;00;17;01
Natalie Froom
You can do all your renderings, you can do all your floor plans, you can do all your measurements. And the science looks good, but it’s still an art. And the signage is actually. And you could have measured to the millimeter, but when that’s in, it’s just different to what you see on paper. And it’s the same as like doing a course and putting it to your business.
00;00;17;04 – 00;00;49;03
Rebecca Hay
All right. I’m Rebecca Hay, and I’ve built a successful interior design business by Trial and Error podcast online courses. And so any breaking 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;49;06 – 00;01;18;28
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’re listening to Resilient by Design. Today I am interviewing Natalie Frome, who is the driving force behind studio 180 design, a company that she built from the ground up into a thriving, respected interior design studio here in Toronto, Canada.
00;01;19;01 – 00;01;53;12
Rebecca Hay
She is a pop alum, was at my mastermind last week and she is a true force with degrees in psychology and nutrition. She took a very extended sabbatical to focus on raising a large family, which was her first empire that she built. She’s done a lot of things. As of nearing five years ago. She now has taken all that experience and dealing with people, personalities, schedules, problem solving, multitasking and impeccable organizational skills and combined it with her passion for design, for creating beautiful spaces.
00;01;53;15 – 00;02;23;07
Rebecca Hay
She is now in the process of building her next empire. Natalie balances her personal and professional life with precision and passion. Her work is a testament to her belief in the transformative power of design, and her dedication has made studio 180 design synonymous with innovation and excellence. She is a true force. Natalie shares this transition, how she decided and why she decided in her 40s to open an interior design firm.
00;02;23;08 – 00;02;47;04
Rebecca Hay
Now, five years in, it is thriving. We talk through the power of process and the role that course played in helping her really solidify the foundation of her business and some of the key takeaways that have really made a difference for her. So you guys are gonna enjoy this episode with Natalie. Her nugget of wisdom is phenomenal. I hope you enjoy this episode with Natalie.
00;02;47;06 – 00;02;51;12
Rebecca Hay
Welcome to Resilient by Design. Natalie, I’m very excited to have you.
00;02;51;15 – 00;02;54;07
Natalie Froom
Thank you for having me. I’m so excited to be here.
00;02;54;09 – 00;03;08;14
Rebecca Hay
I can’t wait to dive into all the things. I just spent some time with you here in my studio at the mastermind, and I really got to know your business well. I mean, I’ve known you for a little while now. We run into each other from time to time. We ran into each other at a personal business development conference.
00;03;08;15 – 00;03;26;01
Rebecca Hay
You’ve taken power of process. So I feel like I’ve got a good sense of where you’re at. And I think you are a true inspiration, which is why I wanted to have you on the podcast. So that other designers can listen to your story and your path and feel inspired and have confidence to take that leap of faith.
00;03;26;01 – 00;03;31;27
Rebecca Hay
So but before we dive into all the questions, maybe if you can introduce yourself to my listeners today.
00;03;32;04 – 00;04;01;25
Natalie Froom
I am Natalie Friend. I am the phantom principal designer of studio 180 design. I have been in business for. This is my fifth year, and we have seen a very steady growth and development and evolvement in every part of the business from creative, big vision, and certainly since I’ve taken your course, the power of the process. Because having not had a process when I began, it certainly limited me in what I was capable of doing.
00;04;01;28 – 00;04;20;17
Natalie Froom
And I knew I had this much bigger vision. So my company and I started to develop these processes, but it took a very long time. And then I have been following you for a while, and I took the dive and, it’s really been like a game changer. Completely. So we do high end turnkey high end interior design and renovations.
00;04;20;20 – 00;04;40;16
Natalie Froom
Basically, I’m very service oriented. I want my client to have the experience I’d want to have as being in good hands and having, just a fantastic team behind me and taking the stress out of it. Because if you’ve ever done a renovation, there are a myriad of decisions to make, and each decision is based upon the previous one.
00;04;40;19 – 00;04;45;29
Natalie Froom
And that’s where our expertise and vision and network really helps a lot.
00;04;46;03 – 00;04;51;13
Rebecca Hay
I love it, and I love your accent, which I’m sure you don’t hear. Can you tell the listeners where you’re from originally?
00;04;51;19 – 00;05;00;25
Natalie Froom
I grew up in South Africa. The funny thing is, I have lived in Canada way longer than I lived in South Africa. But I think once you finish high school, it stays like you’re done.
00;05;00;26 – 00;05;03;27
Rebecca Hay
Yeah, I love it. It’s so beautiful.
00;05;03;29 – 00;05;06;21
Natalie Froom
It’s kind of cool having an accent sometimes.
00;05;06;24 – 00;05;13;14
Rebecca Hay
Totally. People are probably just, like, mesmerized. I could just see you in a presentation with clients are like, okay, whatever you say.
00;05;13;16 – 00;05;15;20
Natalie Froom
So beautiful.
00;05;15;23 – 00;05;44;15
Rebecca Hay
Anyways, okay. You have this thriving business for five years and you now have a solid process. You’re doing these incredible projects, but you’ve only been doing this for five years, and you’re not fresh out of school, right? Like you’ve had some life experience under your belt yet. Would it know it from looking at you? You look like you’re in your 20s, but can you maybe just give everyone a little bit of background to how you ended up opening up the doors to your design from five years ago?
00;05;44;17 – 00;06;05;22
Natalie Froom
A couple of years ago, my kids gave me a book for Mother’s Day, and I had this beautiful poem in it and it said, are you your first empire? Be a large family. I’m blessed with a very large family, but now they’re getting big. Like my youngest is already in middle school, and I decided it was time to take a chance, do what I wanted to do.
00;06;05;24 – 00;06;25;23
Natalie Froom
But not that I didn’t want to bring up my family. But now it’s like I’m entering a new phase in life and I wanted to just build my second empire. So having had a background in psychology and in the sciences, I decided I was always very much fed by creative things. So it was my time to explore that.
00;06;25;23 – 00;06;36;25
Natalie Froom
And even when I was setting up my practice, I’m originally a nutritionist. The favorite part of that whole process, apart from really helping my clients, which I still do, was decorating my office.
00;06;36;27 – 00;06;38;04
Rebecca Hay
Oh, gross.
00;06;38;06 – 00;07;00;14
Natalie Froom
That should have been the first clue there. But really, over the years when I’ve traveled and see things and renovations I’ve done personally and for friends, I always felt this. I used to think that if something makes your heart sing, it’s the right thing to do. Oh, that’s how I got into design. And when I started, I had a very small vision as to how it should be.
00;07;00;16 – 00;07;16;09
Natalie Froom
But as I got more clients and I grew and I got more experience, and I saw all the resources that are available to us and these incredible things that you can do. My vision, my creativity in everything as well as my business has expanded.
00;07;16;11 – 00;07;32;01
Rebecca Hay
I love that, I love that, so you have, I would say, what at least a decade of experience working probably more in nutrition and raising your family. And so this is something that you’re coming out a little bit later, right? It’s like the necklace you said the next phase.
00;07;32;03 – 00;07;49;26
Natalie Froom
There’s a phrase that I love and is called fearless. And so I started this when I was in my mid 40s, as when I first got the idea and I said, I need to just do something different. I have all these skills that I have, like having what I now my, my, my six teenager, thank goodness, six.
00;07;49;26 – 00;07;50;20
Rebecca Hay
Teenagers.
00;07;50;28 – 00;07;52;06
Natalie Froom
Once my six.
00;07;52;09 – 00;07;56;14
Rebecca Hay
Year, six I only have teenagers.
00;07;56;17 – 00;07;57;21
Natalie Froom
They’ve all gone. They’ve all.
00;07;57;21 – 00;08;01;27
Rebecca Hay
Grown up. Wow. Oh my. You must be a parenting expert.
00;08;02;00 – 00;08;05;08
Natalie Froom
And actually teenagers is not management, it’s sales.
00;08;05;10 – 00;08;08;29
Rebecca Hay
Oh, that’s a whole other podcast.
00;08;09;01 – 00;08;39;11
Natalie Froom
That’s a whole other podcast. Exactly, exactly. But having juggled many different being part of the sandwich generation and having a big family and, and even immigration, even though it takes that I’ve had a lot of these life experiences. And if they don’t bring you down, they pulled you out. And I just loved having I’ve always had to be very organized and very inventive, very big and problem solving, like my kids come to the problem of like dumping a problems, bring me solutions.
00;08;39;13 – 00;08;59;12
Natalie Froom
And then I had all this creative energy, like I needed to get out. Like I can only throw so many beautiful dinners or help so many people renovate the house. I’m like, why am I doing this? And we’re feeling self-absorbed with it, but I really need to get paid for it, because I think there’s a lot to be said about as a woman being proactive in many aspects of your life.
00;08;59;14 – 00;09;15;15
Natalie Froom
So that’s how I came to it. And I think a lot of people at my age think that as my age are really subtle, but that they think that this is like they need to wind down. And I get very frustrated when I hear that because this is really a time to wind up.
00;09;15;17 – 00;09;25;14
Rebecca Hay
I love that, I love that, so would you say that you started interior design as a hobby, like you mentioned, friends and family? Were you doing this book for free for people?
00;09;25;16 – 00;09;40;08
Natalie Froom
Pretty much. I was doing it for free. I was helping people. I was doing it for free. I was doing a lot of that stuff around my house. We had moved. In fact, we moved into the house right now. The day of that, my son turned eight days old.
00;09;40;12 – 00;09;41;21
Rebecca Hay
Oh my goodness baby.
00;09;41;21 – 00;09;44;23
Natalie Froom
Baby, talk about being organized.
00;09;44;25 – 00;09;47;02
Rebecca Hay
Holy moly, you’re crazy lady.
00;09;47;04 – 00;10;13;15
Natalie Froom
I’m some work. It wasn’t all at home and like, I just found it. So I’m very much like your surroundings. Definitely influence how you think, how you feel, the atmosphere creating your home. It should be a reflection of you and also of what you deserve. So it just evolved that if I was going to do anything, I wanted to do something that was just fed my soul and the souls of my clients.
00;10;13;18 – 00;10;36;07
Rebecca Hay
So I mean you’re, you’re preaching to the choir here. Everyone listening is like yes. And either they’ve already taken that leap and they’re running their business or they just are desperate to start. They just don’t know how or when. Tell me about that transition from doing it for free to starting to charge people. What was that like? Was it easy or difficult and challenging for you to start charging money for something you’ve been doing for free?
00;10;36;14 – 00;10;56;23
Natalie Froom
It was certainly a, shift. It had to be a mental shift. What else? We I was my pick. A mental shift is like having the confidence to say these are my expertise, and I deserve and paid for them, and this is experience that I bring to the table. So in this, like, oh, this is how much I charge an hour, like, is it okay with you?
00;10;56;23 – 00;11;21;05
Natalie Froom
You know, and then as I got more experienced and I took this in to more people and business and business coaches, and I’ve been following it for a long time, Rebecca, that you deserve to be paid for what you’re good at. Like, so it definitely was a shift. Now I feel like over the years and over the projects and as I’ve gained more, as I say, experience it’s expertise, which is just like exploded, thank goodness.
00;11;21;06 – 00;11;45;02
Natalie Froom
Is that now? Like, I’m not afraid to be paid for what I deserve. That’s what I’m less. But it didn’t shift in the beginning and I meet young designers and I’m not, I shouldn’t say young, newer new designers. And there’s definitely you can almost see where they’re at in their business, by the way. They hold themselves about the confidence you exude because it is this.
00;11;45;05 – 00;12;02;08
Rebecca Hay
Yeah, it actually has nothing to do with age. So you’re right in saying that it’s newer, not younger. You know, I just interviewed and you know, her and Nika Sackler for the podcast, Who’s amazing. She was in the mastermind with us, and she’s only, I think, 27 or 28 years old. And she’s so confident and she’s growing her team.
00;12;02;15 – 00;12;21;05
Rebecca Hay
It really doesn’t matter what your age is, whether you’re younger or in middle aged or even older. It’s about the mindset. Absolutely. That’s a huge piece of it. So let’s talk about power of process because I’m curious and I don’t I’m not fully familiar with. When did you take pop in relation to starting your business?
00;12;21;07 – 00;12;46;01
Natalie Froom
I took top not so long ago. Within the last year. It was not the first coaching design course I’ve taken. I take another one, which is was very helpful, but I definitely found that pop was more concise. It’s streamlined it more now. I don’t know honestly if that was because I had a better idea behind me of what I was doing.
00;12;46;04 – 00;12;55;17
Natalie Froom
It was in part size. Understandable. Yeah, concise pieces that I could really was very easy to institute and I think very, very helpful.
00;12;55;21 – 00;13;18;02
Rebecca Hay
Wow. I love hearing that part of my passions is teaching, but it’s also curriculum. And so for me, that’s wonderful to hear because I do I mean, I’m not trained in this world, but it’s always my intention to teach things in a building block type of way so that, I mean, there will be some amount of overwhelm as you get new information that you don’t have.
00;13;18;02 – 00;13;34;20
Rebecca Hay
And again, if you’re really new, it might feel like it’s so much information. If you’re a bit more experienced, it’s not as much, but it’s we’re building the foundation and then bite size, as you said, those little bite sized steps to get you there. And that’s so wonderful to hear. Why did you decide to sign up for a pop like you?
00;13;34;20 – 00;13;40;17
Rebecca Hay
Don’t you done another course? You already run in your business for a few years, like where were you at and what made you decide to sign up for it?
00;13;40;24 – 00;14;12;19
Natalie Froom
My processes were coming along very well, but I just did not feel that I was there yet. I just felt like I needed that extra, extra push, that extra clarity to see that. That I had all my ducks in a row, so to speak. I’m hearing you speak and listen to your podcasts and other guests that you had on the show, and just getting snippets of what to expect in pop, it didn’t fail to disappoint at it was really easy to to just level it up and put my branding to it and and tweak it like that.
00;14;12;19 – 00;14;17;28
Natalie Froom
Not not not huge tweaks at all, but just tweak it a little bit to make it mine.
00;14;18;01 – 00;14;34;16
Rebecca Hay
I love that because I do say on repeat, I feel like a broken record, but that there really isn’t a one size fits all to running a design business or to running a design project. But there are a lot of systems that you can use and repeat that others use. You just maybe use them in your own unique way.
00;14;34;16 – 00;14;43;24
Rebecca Hay
Would you say that that was very experienced going through pop is seeing what I do, but not necessarily needing to do it exactly my way. Taking what worked for you and implementing.
00;14;43;27 – 00;15;09;28
Natalie Froom
I’m keeping it pretty close. But yes, I also did the classic one before I did pop, which is also a great a great way to start to see exactly how you put things together and how you work. And that was also very helpful. But I’m going to tell you what I tell my clients, but in a different context, is that you can do all your renderings, you can do all your shell plans, you can do all your measurements, and the science looks good, but it’s still an art.
00;15;10;00 – 00;15;26;18
Natalie Froom
And that signage is actually and you couldn’t measure to the millimeter. But when that’s in, it’s just different to what you seeing on paper. And it’s the same as like doing a course and putting it to your business. There’s an art to making it yourself. But it was such an incredible, incredible scientific basis. So was very exact to what I needed.
00;15;26;20 – 00;15;45;03
Rebecca Hay
That’s fantastic. I don’t see myself as very scientific at all. So my sister, who’s a scientist will be will laugh when she hears this. No, but I that makes a lot of sense. It’s the foundation, right? Is the these are this is the blueprint. But it’s how you style it. It’s how you create those PDF. It’s it’s how you use the verbiage in your website.
00;15;45;03 – 00;16;02;10
Rebecca Hay
It’s how you talk to your clients. And we all have our own unique design esthetic. And if you haven’t figured it out yet, then I encourage you to spend some time not you, but anyone listening to really think about like who am I? What are my differentiators? What makes me unique? And we do dive into that, of course, inside the course.
00;16;02;13 – 00;16;04;19
Rebecca Hay
I think that’s a huge part of success.
00;16;04;25 – 00;16;14;25
Natalie Froom
It is a huge part. And as he falls, you’re going to take different things from pop and see like, oh, that’s what she meant, and that’s what she means. And now can apply to unlock and apply it there.
00;16;14;28 – 00;16;31;20
Rebecca Hay
Yeah, I love that. Could you think of one example of something that you pulled from power of process, some technique, some tip that you have implemented in your business that maybe was surprising that you hadn’t considered before?
00;16;31;23 – 00;16;57;01
Natalie Froom
Definitely the streamlining of it, if I have to think about that, like the trade day and coming back to the client spreadsheet and review it, just like cut down a lot of sticks for me. You speak a lot about presentations and onboarding and things like that. And Typekit goes like this. Really interested in that and charging for the first the first consult I’ve definitely been able to like my biggest takeaway was boundaries.
00;16;57;04 – 00;16;59;04
Rebecca Hay
Boundaries.
00;16;59;06 – 00;17;10;09
Natalie Froom
Yeah. Not not boundaries that you’re not available to your client. That boundaries that they shared within yourself to make a more effective design and be better for your clients.
00;17;10;11 – 00;17;28;17
Rebecca Hay
I love that. It’s like I said, I was going to take this time to work on this aspect of the project. I’m going to honor that. I have the space to do that now, because I’ve set up my process in such a way. I love that boundaries and such a big learning for many of us. So I think we spend our whole lives, some of us learning that lesson.
00;17;28;22 – 00;17;47;05
Natalie Froom
Yeah, because we people phases. You know, I say we people creatives are people pieces and we are we can’t see if we try to please everyone all the time. And it’s not about not pleasing our clients, it’s just about having a process. And those boundaries to get everything done in an orderly manner instead of like, just keep going back to making read happy all the time.
00;17;47;06 – 00;17;53;10
Natalie Froom
Building you’re going to be the second to like, make sure it’s like perfectly in line. So you so this.
00;17;53;10 – 00;18;12;26
Rebecca Hay
Comes back to this, you know, constant conversation that we’re having here on the podcast about balancing creativity and organization. So that’s what I’m hearing is like, you know, you want to be creative, but then you also need to be organized. So as someone who appears to be very obviously creative but also clearly very organized, how do you strike that balance then?
00;18;12;26 – 00;18;28;16
Rebecca Hay
You know, you take this course now you want to implement everything that there’s the creative brain, the organized brain, like how do you have that balance between artistic vision and those those practical demands of running a successful design studio? Because there’s a lot that can pull your attention.
00;18;28;22 – 00;18;51;14
Natalie Froom
There’s a lot that can pull your attention. And that’s why I’ve also enjoyed, like having a more defined process, if you can, are definitely at your earliest possibility. That you can do this is get admin help administrators. That is very helpful. Otherwise, like as you’re getting into your design process so to speak, than something paperwork and orders and all that comes up.
00;18;51;14 – 00;19;16;04
Natalie Froom
So that is very helpful as well as soon as you can do that. Locking time to be creative. Blocking time undisturbed like with tears is very hard. Yeah. And also do things that makes you creative whether it’s going for a walk or going to a store or going to travel or going to a show. Like I always try and look at the elements that I think whenever I walk into a room, like even in the most disorganized.
00;19;16;04 – 00;19;20;27
Natalie Froom
So there’s going to be something that’s in your creative process. So for me anyway, it’s
00;19;20;29 – 00;19;23;23
Rebecca Hay
It’s about giving yourself that space to be creative.
00;19;23;28 – 00;19;29;13
Natalie Froom
You need space. You need space to be creative. You do. And it’s very important to do that.
00;19;29;16 – 00;19;49;04
Rebecca Hay
Yeah. It’s funny, I don’t remember where I first was made aware of this concept, and it was as I was building out process and learning from coaches and reading all the books, is this idea that actually, the more structure you have, the more creative freedom it allows, which it sounds counterintuitive, right? It’s like, no, no, no, I’m a creative.
00;19;49;11 – 00;20;06;14
Rebecca Hay
I don’t want to be held by a schedule. I just want to wake up and do what I feel like. The problem with that is the more urgent, pressing issues are going to come in and you’re going to spend your day responding to emails, sending invoices, following up on getting a price check like all the things. And you won’t actually take the time for yourself again.
00;20;06;14 – 00;20;29;06
Rebecca Hay
Boundaries to respect your own boundaries to say no, no, no. I really want to get creative here. And it’s actually the opposite that as a creative, when you have structure to your week and to a project, that’s where process is so beneficial because you have a structure, you know what’s coming ahead. You have a set way of running every project.
00;20;29;06 – 00;20;49;09
Rebecca Hay
So you’re always going to have these chunks of time in certain steps to tackle certain tasks. And that allows you that space to go for the walk to meet with your team. Right. Go and spend a morning at cravat, grab a coffee or a latte and look at what’s new and inspiring. I never had the time to do that.
00;20;49;09 – 00;21;03;16
Rebecca Hay
When I was early in my business, I used to envy I’d be a crab it and I’d look over and I remember seeing a designer and she just had her tea and she’s like, oh yeah, I just got back from Italy. And she’s like looking at the fabrics and I’m like, oh my God. I have like places to be, things to do.
00;21;03;16 – 00;21;06;14
Rebecca Hay
I do not have the luxury of that time.
00;21;06;17 – 00;21;25;21
Natalie Froom
Yeah, yeah. And I have to be more disciplined about that. But it’s becoming more and more evident how important that is. It’s almost a decompress when you look at beautiful fabrics or beautiful furnishings. If you just like embrace that you’re there in the moment. That is when it all happens pretty much. Yeah.
00;21;25;23 – 00;21;49;22
Rebecca Hay
Otherwise, if you’re constantly running the hamster wheel in your head of all the to do’s is mentally exhausting and draining. And I love your advice to hire an admin. That was definitely one of my biggest takeaways in my design business, because I started first with like interns and junior designers who then needed to do the admin, but they weren’t really admin people, and they didn’t really want to do it because they were creatives.
00;21;49;29 – 00;22;08;22
Rebecca Hay
And so there was this constant struggle of like, things would slip through the cracks or they wouldn’t do the math right, or you know, because that wasn’t where they wanted to spend their time. So I do think that’s excellent advice. I’m actually trying to take that advice now in my online business because honestly, Natalie, yesterday I was thinking like, I’m feeling so overwhelmed.
00;22;08;29 – 00;22;30;04
Rebecca Hay
What’s going on? I’m like, right, I don’t have somebody who I can delegate a lot of these. I’m going to say menial tasks to like, hey, can you send this person that invoice? Can you connect that thing? Like, I’ve got help with marketing, I’m helping other areas. But those administrative tasks that initially when this was a side hustle, when this was a hobby, I didn’t really need help with that.
00;22;30;04 – 00;22;49;07
Rebecca Hay
But now, as I’m taking it more seriously, there’s a lot that goes on that is pulling my attention away from podcasting, from updating a course or creating something else, or meeting with designers and hosting events. And so it’s advice that I think anyone in any business can take, especially as a creative start with that administration.
00;22;49;09 – 00;22;58;04
Natalie Froom
So it’s spoken about like which one of you, the CEO or the CFO, do you want to be that we spoke about those different things. And and I think it applies to any business. Correct?
00;22;58;10 – 00;23;20;05
Rebecca Hay
Yeah, absolutely. In fact, I’ve had I’ve had creative business owners take part, interestingly enough, because they said it applies. I mean, the examples are direct to the interior design industry, and it’s it’s been made that way intentionally because I think it’s very helpful to see real life examples, but every business needs it. And that is where I see the beauty and the transformation.
00;23;20;07 – 00;23;39;18
Rebecca Hay
And designers like yourself who are getting really serious about we’re treating this like a business. This is my process and I don’t know if you’ve had this experience yet. Have you ever made an exception to your process and said to a client, you know what? Sure. And you just you do it not how you intend to do it, but you you make an exception.
00;23;39;18 – 00;23;42;22
Rebecca Hay
You’re like, well, I’ll just this one time.
00;23;42;24 – 00;24;04;27
Natalie Froom
And it invariably backfires one way or another. I can say it’s not that I’ve made the exception, it’s that I didn’t have the process yet. So as I was growing, I can see, like in certain projects, that the client was fine, but it wasn’t time for me to look at. The project came out great and everything came out great, but I did not come out great.
00;24;05;00 – 00;24;10;14
Natalie Froom
And I think you can only grow and get better and better and better if you and your client come out of a project, right?
00;24;10;16 – 00;24;31;08
Rebecca Hay
Yeah, absolutely. You know, I always say stick to your process. Don’t veer from your process because it always backfires, as you say. And I always usually regret it. And I did hear somebody say once, if you don’t have a process, if you’re not following a process, that’s yours. You’re following your client’s process.
00;24;31;08 – 00;24;31;26
Natalie Froom
Very much.
00;24;31;26 – 00;24;36;20
Rebecca Hay
So. And your client doesn’t have a process because they’ve probably never done this before.
00;24;36;23 – 00;24;47;10
Natalie Froom
Sometimes you find a client is just stuck all over the place, and you’re giving yourself like all over the place with them. And what that kind really needs is someone to take the lead.
00;24;47;17 – 00;24;48;20
Rebecca Hay
Yes.
00;24;48;22 – 00;24;58;13
Natalie Froom
And not in a negative way. It’s just like, that’s that is your job. If I wanted to think of a thousand things and have a thousand decisions, they wouldn’t have hired you.
00;24;58;15 – 00;25;18;01
Rebecca Hay
Absolutely. Abso frickin lutely. I mean, you need to be the host of the party. Like I say, when it’s the consultation, you might be in their house, but you’re in charge. You need to take the lead, really, from the beginning, from the get go. And that’s where your process is such a backbone, because you can say, this is how we do things, and it makes you more confident, makes you look more professional.
00;25;18;01 – 00;25;21;00
Rebecca Hay
It’s incredibly, incredibly game changing.
00;25;21;03 – 00;25;32;19
Natalie Froom
Yeah. Like the art is like, we are here for you. We are listening to you. This is going to be your home, but it’s our project and you’re going to love it. But just hand it over. Yeah.
00;25;32;21 – 00;25;35;18
Rebecca Hay
Hand over the reins, lady.
00;25;35;20 – 00;25;36;27
Natalie Froom
Love it.
00;25;36;29 – 00;25;44;08
Rebecca Hay
Oh my gosh, this has been so amazing. Okay. Gnarly. What last nugget of wisdom do you have for our listeners today?
00;25;44;10 – 00;26;06;05
Natalie Froom
I’m going to say that it’s never too late to do what you’re passionate about. Just go for it. And I say that to my clients a lot, because a lot of my clients are people probably at the stage of life with their kids are grown. They’ve given everything to them, and they’re like, okay, now it’s really like, how are we going to make this house like that goes, right, this is your time, you know?
00;26;06;05 – 00;26;24;00
Natalie Froom
So anyway, when I say it’s like whatever stage, whether you are in your 20s and you’ve done one kind of education, but it doesn’t speak to you, you want to be in this business for a long time. And, you know, no matter what you choose, you have to love what you do. So this isn’t even my work. This is my pleasure.
00;26;24;05 – 00;26;40;18
Natalie Froom
This is my passion. Follow your passion. And if you have little kids and you’re waiting like, I can’t do this now, I’m waiting for them. If you can do it when you have kids and you have smaller kids, do it. Don’t wait is never going to be a good time for you to follow your dreams, so do it as soon as you can.
00;26;40;20 – 00;26;58;15
Rebecca Hay
I love that advice. It’s not just it’s never too late to like, pursue your dreams. I love that message that it’s never too late. But don’t wait right? So I don’t want never too late to be the message. Like, oh, I’ve got lots of time. One day I’ll do it. It’s like, no, no, no, no, follow your dreams and follow your passion.
00;26;58;18 – 00;27;17;11
Rebecca Hay
Like when I started my business before I even got pregnant. Like, those were bumpy years. Like, literally, I had my baby bumps for two of them. It was frickin challenging. But you know what? I did it. And I loved every second of it. You know, apart from that, know, having a process, being stress, not making any money. I love being creative.
00;27;17;13 – 00;27;37;09
Rebecca Hay
And so you really do need to lean into. And it’s funny, I’ve been having this conversation with everybody. Lean into that passion, lean into that inner calling that is inside of you and and just go for it. And I love that you’re such an inspiration. Ally, thank you so much for being my guest today on the podcast. Natalie, can you let everybody know where they can find and follow you?
00;27;37;09 – 00;27;45;03
Natalie Froom
So I’m instead at studio 18. design, and then my website is due to an 80 design dossier.
00;27;45;05 – 00;27;49;02
Rebecca Hay
And you told us at the mastermind, but can you just tell everybody here how you came up with that name?
00;27;49;06 – 00;28;12;24
Natalie Froom
Okay. So originally I started my business was called Natalie Slim Stylist. And I want you something that was like a studio as opposed to just my name, I felt was not like professional enough as I was evolving. I’m like, this name doesn’t see my business anymore. It continually evolving, growing. So I had a very expensive piece of scientific equipment that I wanted to sell to invest into my company.
00;28;12;27 – 00;28;29;23
Natalie Froom
And I called one of my previous professors and I was trying to sell sell it, and she said, oh, so what are you doing now? I’m like, well, I’m actually I’m building an interior design company. And she said, wow, that’s a 180. And I was like, wow, that’s the name of my new company. It’s my 180. It’s my client 180.
00;28;29;28 – 00;28;32;03
Natalie Froom
We’re just going to turn everything around to make it great.
00;28;32;10 – 00;28;37;27
Rebecca Hay
I love it. Such a great story. Amazing. Thank you so much. We will have you back.
00;28;37;29 – 00;28;44;07
Natalie Froom
I’d love to come back. Thanks for everything Rebecca. Your tree inspiration. Good luck with everything.
00;28;44;09 – 00;29;04;08
Rebecca Hay
Guys, Natalie is so lovely. Thank you woman for joining me today. Your I just have to say your voice is just so lovely and soothing and I’m so thrilled that you have had such a positive experience in growing your business in the last five years. It’s amazing how quickly things can take off when you’re really focused and dedicated.
00;29;04;11 – 00;29;24;14
Rebecca Hay
If you guys want to go give Natalie a follow, we will link her website and her Instagram in the show notes, because I think she is going to be one to watch in the year ahead. Thank you for joining me today. One more thing, if you want to take part, process and have the incredible transformation that Natalie had, you want to go right now because the doors are currently open.
00;29;24;18 – 00;29;45;12
Rebecca Hay
They only open twice a year. Run to rebecca.com/power of process. Or click on the show notes and join us inside the spring cohort that is about to begin. I’ll see you there.
