And as I began the book and started writing it, I realized. More and more about myself. And I realized why I became a designer and I realized what led me to be a designer was my past. It was my history. It was the real reason I was here was my family. It was. All of the things that shaped me throughout my life. And one particular person was my grandfather and my grandfather was such a talented woodworker, such a talented home builder. my entire family is actually, And I actually dedicate the book to him. you know, I say this in the book 
he could not read or write, but he did teach me more than any. Written textbook could ever teach me to I've ever taught me in design school or any sort of skills that I learned through reading.
You have tuned in to the designer within episode number 12. 
I'm John McClain and welcome to the designer within podcast, the business minded podcast created for creative entrepreneurs by a creative entrepreneur. That's me. I know firsthand the challenges, but also the victories that can come with our careers. And I'm here to sip and spill the tea with you. It's time to dive deep within yourself and redesign your own business and your life.
From the inside out together, we will uncover secrets and share valuable insights. So prepare for a transformative experience, my friend, because it's time to unleash the designer within.
Hello, everybody. My friends. People who love design people who worked in design. Maybe you want to work in design? Welcome to my podcast. I'm so happy to have you back again. Today's podcast is a celebration. We are celebrating something so special to me. And I'm going to be giving away something to you for this celebration, but we're celebrating the one year anniversary of my book. The designer within? Yes, that's right. One year ago this month, the book that I worked so hard on for almost two years during the pandemic. I was writing and editing and rewriting and collecting and photographing projects. That book came out one year ago and it was such a labor of love. So today and in the upcoming episodes, we're going to celebrate my book, the designer within. And if you do not have a copy or even if you do have a copy, I'm going to be sharing with you some insider tips, some insider secrets about the process of writing the book. But also more about the things inside of the book. Some of the tips that I shared, some of the information, some of the processes inside of the book, and really dive deeper into those subjects and hopefully help you to better understand those. And elaborate on those a little bit more, but the biggest thing I wanted to tell you was. I am doing a giveaway. That's right in celebration of the one year anniversary, I am giving away copies of my book, not just any copies, I'm going to sign the copies. So you get a signed copy of my book, the designer within, and I have a cute little bookmark that I include in there, and I'm giving away 10 copies of the book. 
Now, there is also one grand prize that I'm giving away. Now this grand prize is really pretty cool. . It is a box full of goodies that accompany the book. So you will get the book. You will get the grand prize of all of the additional things that go along with the book. And that is for one lucky winner. Now, how do you, when you might be asking, so there's a few steps to the way that you can win and it's going to be pretty easy to do this. 
first of all, you can head to my Instagram page, which is at John McClain design or at the designer within one of those, or if you want, you can head over to my website. Site John McClain.co that's co not com. Make sure you leave the M off of the end of it, but it's J O H N M C C L a I N. Dot C O. either way you had to those three places and enter the contest. So here's how you enter. If you go to those places and you can find the link to enter the contest. There is a page. And on that page, you have to do three things. You have to follow my Instagram page. If you're not already, you have to follow my Instagram at John McClain design and at the designer within pretty simple, right. 
 And the next thing you need to do is share the post regarding the giveaway regarding the book that I will be posting on both accounts. You can share either posts from either account on your page. And this can go into your story or this can go in to your post Either way you want, but the more stories or posts that you share, the more entries that you receive towards winning the book. And lastly, you need to subscribe to this podcast. The very one that you're listening to, if you have not subscribed yet to the podcast, you do need to subscribe to this podcast on whatever platform that you choose. 
If you've already subscribed, you can go ahead and click the button. On the platform. So when you go to this page, it will show you all the steps and you just verify that you have done those steps. Now there are bonuses that you can get other entries. So if you leave a written review of this podcast on whatever platform you listen to, if you write a review for me about this podcast, about how you enjoy it, hopefully you do enjoy it. Um, but if you leave a review for me, On your podcast platform of choice, you also get a bonus entry entered into the contest. So all of these entries combined together to make a total number of entries for you to enter in the contest for winning both the book itself and also the grand prize box of the designer within goodies. So 10 winners of the book of the signed copies, and then one grand prize winner of the designer within goodies. 
I'm. I'm going to be doing four episodes surrounding the book between now and the 1st of November. the contest will end November 3rd and it starts September 7th. So you can enter now and it will end at November 3rd you can enter as many times as you like, as far as sharing the post. Now, the platform that I use actually will wrap. Randomly draw the winner based upon the number of entries and the number of people who do enter that. So please enter the contest 10 books will be given away. This includes domestic shipping as well. So you paid nothing for this. And then the one lucky winner will receive that grand prize box. And let me tell you, it is a good grant. Prize box. I would like to have one myself actually. so 10 winners of the book itself, and then one grand prize box of goodies contest starts September 7th. And ends November 3rd, head to my Instagram page the links either at John McClain design or the designer within, or you can enter on John McClain and you can find the steps to enter there, but enter the contest and grab a copy of my book. So. All that aside and celebration of the anniversary of my book. I did want to give you a bit more information about the book and hopefully some insight to the book, as I said, of why I wrote it, how I wrote it, the process behind that, and then also some deeper details about the book itself. So the book was really. I labor of love for me. And I will admit to you. It did start out a little bit narcissistic. It did start out. As one of those bucket list items, one of those things that I really wanted to do because, I'm an interior designer and it would be wonderful to have a book. So that is really the way that it started. And I'm slightly embarrassed by that because I always want things that I do to have meaning I always want things that I do to have a purpose. am, because that was the initial thought behind doing the book, I feel a little ashamed that that was the beginning of the reasoning behind it. 
I say that to let you know that it developed into other things. And as I began the book and started writing it, I realized. More and more about myself. And I realized why I became a designer and I realized what led me to be a designer was my past. It was my history. It was the real reason I was here was my family. It was. All of the things that shaped me throughout my life. And one particular person was my grandfather and my grandfather was such a talented woodworker, such a talented home builder. my entire family is actually, which is why I really am. So understanding and knowledgeable about home building itself is because of my family. 
But my grandfather was really the one who was just there with me. I felt such a connection with him and he was so smart. And honestly brilliant when it came to a lot of things, but he could not read or write. He came from a small town in Georgia. And it was a time period when his family, would rather have him work And contribute to the family as far as finances, rather than go to school. So he dropped out of school. At a very early age and could not read or write, he could write his name. And he could sign, you know, documents and checks and so forth, but he could not read a book and he can not read. the newspaper. So always perplexed me, that someone could be so intelligent and still not have that skill set. So I did find Hearkening back to the past for my book. And I realized that all of these things that this small town that I kind of wanted to leave as a kid, I kind of want to turn, leave and run away from, it was such a part of me. Now that I really don't ever want that to leave me. I don't ever want that part of my life to escape from who I am now. And as I said, my grandfather could not read or write, but he was the smartest person I know. And I actually dedicate the book to him. you know, I say this in the book about dedicating the book to him. 
He could not read or write, but he did teach me more than any. Written textbook could ever teach me to I've ever taught me in design school or any sort of skills that I learned through reading. But I kind of feel. You know that I kind of feel that he has written the book. Now. I do feel that he can write and that he has written this book because I could feel his hand guiding me all the way through this entire book. And I had him on my mind as I wrote the book and it was just a very heartwarming process for me to write the book and I, and I loved. Love love loved writing the book and it felt as if he and I were writing it together. as I said, in a way, I do feel that he. I can read and write now because I know he's definitely. A big, big part of, of, of this book. So I had to say that had to let you know. Why this book came to be. And when I realized that my past was such a pivotal part of why I am a designer, I also realized that. I needed to make this book accessible to everyone I needed to make this book. And the design industry in general, something that was not out of reach Something that was obtainable. Something that is relatable to everyone. And I know design in general, interior design is a luxury industry. I understand that. And I know that it is not for everyone. And, and frankly, even if I not a designer, I probably couldn't afford to pay myself. The fees that I charge. but I do understand that everybody wants a beautiful home. And everybody who deserves a beautiful home. And even in the book, I say that the place where you live your home should wrap its arms around you when you enter it. And it does not mean that has to cost them millions. That just means that the feeling that your home evokes is what is important. 
And that was really the message that I wanted to bring home to everyone who read the book. So I wanted lots of tips. I wanted lots of information. advice. I wanted things to be inside of the book that I had learned over my almost 14 years as a practicing professional in the interior design industry, not even counting all of the quote unquote nonprofessional years, where I gave my services away to friends and family. But all of the experience that I have garnered over the years, I really wanted to share that with everybody and share that in a way that was understandable share that in a way that they could also apply it to their home. So I really did feel that I pulled back the curtain. And gave the reader and insi to my design process, to why I design rooms, the way that I do to how I design rooms such as, a high and a low. And we're going to talk more about that later about designing a room and, including some things that are higher price tags, and some things that are lower price tags, but also I really wanted to, to be beautiful. 
I mean, hello. it. It is a picture book. It has a book full of photos, and I really wanted it to be this gorgeous coffee table book. That had moments of learning scattered throughout it. And I think that is how the book really did turn out. So if you have a copy of the book, you know, that I have the chapters divided up by style. So we've taken all of the projects that we've worked on and that we have really saved for this book. 
And by the way, when you're working on a book. Or when you're working on a project that you want to be published somewhere, you can't put it anywhere. You can't put it on social media. You can't let anyone see it. So we photographed, I think maybe five or six brand new projects throughout the course of the writing of this book. And again, that was during the pandemic. And that was times when we were all, not even sure what was going to happen the next day. 
So this was such a. tumultuous time for everyone. But I pushed through with my editorial team and my publisher at Gibbs Smith. it was such great combination of people because everybody did care about the outcome of the book. And the biggest compliment that I've gotten from. people who read the book is John. I can tell that you really wanted to first give information in the book, but secondly, I can tell that it's your heart. I can tell that it's you speaking. this is from your soul. And that is what means so much to me. I didn't want to just put out another beautiful coffee table book with lots of beautiful photos and it, and it is that, but I definitely wanted it to have some takeaways and I definitely wanted it to have some heart recently I was in LA and stopped by a bookstore book soup. and they had a copy of the book right on the top there, and it had a great referral. a great recommendation written by the manager of the store and shout out to book soup on sunset Boulevard, if you're listening. And I just loved the review, it was saying that they could tell again, that it was, written from the heart, that it was easy to read, easy to understand. And you know, the only thing that they did say on there was that they questioned my love for book toppers. 
Cause I do like to place a little. Object on top of a stack of books to make them more beautiful. And I guess if you're the manager of a bookstore, you don't want anything to cover a book. So I do get that, but I stand by my book topper and I stay. I stand by my book. the book is written from the heart. but I hope that when you do read the book that you do also feel those same emotions and, and that you do feel that I put my heart and soul into it and that you can take these takeaways and hopefully make your home even better. So the book is available. Everywhere books are sold. It's on every website. 
it's in bookstores, from Barnes and noble to Amazon. And on my own site, you can purchase one, you can purchase the book anywhere, but also remember what you can win one by entering this contest. Contest. After the book has its introduction and I give everyone. Who's reading the book a little bit about my past and my history. I do go into my design process And this is literally the design process that I use for myself, for my own clients and my firm. And I wanted to include this in the book for those who have no idea where to start, because I get that question a lot with people who have not done design is where do I even start? 
I'm so lost. I have no idea. And there's so many different. Places out there where you could start, I wanted to simply list them out in. 
Six simple steps so that every single person could take these six steps and follow along. So step one is very easy. It's define your needs and your desires. 
ask yourself, what do you want, what are you looking for? Is that a vibrant glam home? Is it a modern home with clean lines is a colorful home with lots of bright colors or maybe a light, all neutral transitional space. Ask yourself what you're looking for. 
And , not only do I want you to think about aesthetically, what are you looking for? I want you to think about functionality in your space and how that can make your space even better. And What are you looking for in the functionality category of your space? are you envisioning a kitchen that can hold all of your favorite cooking supplies while still being designed forward? Just know that you can have it all, at least, at least during this first design planning session. This is this time when everything works. There's no limits here. I want you to write down all of the things that you're picturing. 
I use bullet points to write mine down and it just really separates all my thoughts, but use descriptive words Or a specific examples of what you're envisioning of your ideal space. You don't need to be organized in any specific way. This is just your brainstorming session and there are zero, zero judgment on how you laid this out. Step two, find your inspiration. So now that you have this list of wants and needs of functionality and beauty, it's time to start organizing them. And I am mindful that most projects have strict budgets. but for this first very important exercise, let's just pretend that money is no object. Wouldn't we all love that. And by building on that foundation that you started in step one, we're now going to find exact examples are as close as possible. Of the things that you wrote down that you wanted. So your dream kitchen, your dream bathroom bedroom, all the things that you wrote down, you're going to find physical representations of those. And these can be inspirational images from magazines. They can be a Pinterest board, a board on and you can digitally save things there, but don't limit yourself to entire rooms or an entire home. 
If it's just one sofa or one lamp or a door. Knob or a plumbing fixture or a desk save those because those two can become the foundation of your design plan. Think about the commercial, where the guy comes in and he puts the faucet down on the desk and says, design a home around this. I really do feel that that can be done and there's so many products out there that can lead to great designs of an entire home. 
So ask yourself what physical representations are out there. that show, the actual inspiration of what I'm looking for. And then I want you to ask yourself this, why do I like this? Why do I like this image? What do I like in this image? We do this with our clients on every single project, we have them save their images to Houzz.com and then and the note section, they enter what they liked about it and what they don't like about it, because you didn't have a photo of an entire room, but maybe you just love the furniture layout Or maybe you just love that one lamp in the room, but I'm telling you, once you start saving all of these inspirational images, you're not going to remember exactly what you liked about it. So as you're saving them, and I do like the digital version of personally, because it's just much easier, but if you want to use a written version, that's fine too. But the digital version I think is great And you can also go back and change it if you need to, but definitely make sure that you put notes about why you like, or don't like that. And what's going to happen is. You're going to soon start to see this pattern. Developing from your selections, a pattern, a repetition of things that you are enjoying. And if you didn't know what your quote unquote design style was, that will start to form itself. Once you see these visual representations of what your needs and desires were. Step three, create your project direction board. We started making project direction boards it's sort of like a mood board by the way, but I love calling it a project direction board because for our firm, it takes the direction of the project into this physical form. And it allows our clients the feeling that their project once we start choosing specific things. So this project direction board isn't necessarily specific items for their home. It is the feeling that their home will. Evoke. So it is the overall general direction of their home, and that's why I call it the project direction board. So after you've gathered all of these inspirational images that get your attention, start creating your project direction board. And again, I do this digitally. You can do this by actually physically pinning things to a board, but I like to do it digitally and just take those images and snip them and put them on to a PowerPoint or onto any sort of Canva document that you're using. 
Anything that you have, that you can pin them to. We'll work. I believe some of the other platforms even have a way to do that. Even at Houzz.com if I'm not mistaken, but don't worry how you assemble them together. You just want to be able to review the images as a grouping altogether to see how they work. And then you can remove things that you feel that you do not like. 
But what this is going to do is going to give each room a direction. Once you start pulling all of these pictures together is going to give you a true definite direction for your project. 
Step four. Now it's time to start getting specific and it's time to begin making very specific selections for your home. You're going to need full measurements of your room, including the sizes of your windows and doors, and also a full list of all of the items that you want to incorporate. I recommend sourcing about two to three options for each type of items. So you can compare your selections and make the right choice, or you can simply re-select if your first choice is unavailable, but it's nice to have multiple options. And then you need to decide on a total budget or a total investment allowance for each space budget. 
Is that dirty word that I hate? I much prefer investment allowance, but budget seems to be the word that people like to use. So we're going to say budget for here, but do some online research on low, medium. And high price items in each category so that you can better understand the quality and construction of each piece as it relates to price. So find a sofa and a go-to a low, middle and high price. Retail store, and then you will know what you're looking for. and also read about how the sofa is constructed, read about how the coffee table is constructed. And you're going to feel a little bit better about the price that you're paying for that item. and you can make an educated purchase. So next, we're going to add your options to the final boards. And so these final boards are your design boards as we call them. these boards can be a digital board or a physical board. We prefer a physical design board so that you can touch the fabrics and finishes and see the printed images of all the products that you're choosing. And you just pin them to a foam core board. It's very, very simple. Get your foam core board and these tee pens, and you just pin your items to the board, not going to go into detail with that, but for a physical board, you just print and cut out each image of your products and glue the fabrics and the metals and the fringe and the paints watches, et cetera, to this board. So pretend if you're not a designer, pretend you are and start putting together a presentation for yourself. And I like to do this by space. I divide them up by room. I divide them up by area. So if there's a family room, that's in conjunction with a kitchen, it's nice to see those together and It will help you to see the flow and the cohesiveness of the home.. So before you finalize your design boards, I want you to narrow them down to your favorite item per category. for instance, maybe you have three sofas and two chairs and two chandelier's. 
I want you to be decisive and I want you to narrow them down to one item per category. So one sofa, one chandelier, one chair, and those are the things. That will make your quote design board, your presentation board be very decisive and your choices when considering how each component coordinates with the entire group. This is going to force you. to make an actual decision for your project, because at the end of step four, you should have a design board that has specific choices for every area that you are designing. I also recommend starting a spreadsheet as well, including each room, each item, vendor, color, finished dimensions and price. 
this will help you just keep track of all of the ordering of your design pieces. at this point, if you've made your design boards, you have your spreadsheet that accompanies it. You should be very, very, very proud of yourself. You can stand back and look at that design board, know that your investment allowance is what you wanted to spend, know that your first inspirations have now come to full circle and are on this design board and you are ready to order your products and you can begin the actual design of your house. 
Isn't that amazing.
 Congratulations, step five is next. And this is the fun part. The hard part is over. You have worked your way through most of the design process. You've narrowed down your options. And acquired and place your items in their respective places. So now it's time to add the final touches, the jewelry of the room, what we designers, call accessorizing and never underestimate the power of good accessorizing is really what makes the room come to life. And it's what makes that room that you see on all of our design websites, look like a magazine look light. 
It should be on a website. if you were to remove all of the accessories, all the books. Books, on the tables and the book cases on the fireplace mantles on the shelf. You would have such a boring space because those are the final ingredients that really make the room again, come to life. They are the jewelry of the space truly. And frankly, it's the most fun part for me. so you will want to establish a separate assessory budget for your room, But first, I want you to take an inventory of what you currently own as far as accessories go. find a large table or some space, a dining table in your home and bring all of the accessories that you currently own. Everything. Bring them there and assemble them in one space. I want you to look them over closely and ask this question to yourself. What does a must have that I simply cannot live without? I know some clients can not live without some of their family heirloom items. Some trinkets from travels, maybe it's a favorite book. Anything that has a sentimental value that you really cannot live without put these in a must keep pile that you will not get rid of. Now, those are non-negotiable. They have to stay so at this point, your rooms should be ready. Your rooms are installed. All of your furniture's in place. The lighting's in place. The area rugs are in place, the tables, et cetera. And now it's time to bring the accessories in. So go back to these rooms that are finished if they are, and if they're not finished because of delays and something shipping, you can use your design boards. But look at those spaces and choose items from this collection of accessories that you already collected and figure out what you can put into each room. I want you to think about color texture, metals scales, such as varying sizes end. Really just the amount that you need when you are reviewing your room. For instance, if you have a large bookshelf, you know, you will need a minimum, I lot of books, and I can tell you this, I'm not sure how it happens, but a bookshelf can consume so many accessories, no matter. How many assessors we feel we're going to need for a project. We always end up needing a few more. It seems because they house and somehow. eat up all the accessories so quickly. And we feel like our car is overflowing with accessories when we're coming to do installations and we get to the house. And then all of a sudden. In the home is just eating them alive and we don't have enough assessors to go around, but after you've used all of your own accessories, then you're going to give away what you don't want. Of course. And then I want you to develop an investment amount for what you would like to spend on new accessories for the space. maybe you had all that you need for your family room, but you're still missing a few items. You can allocate a small amount of your overall budget to complete your assessory list for that room. But if your entry hall has empty console tables, bookshelves, or lots of walls that need art, you should consider a higher investment allowance to properly accessorize those rooms. So every room could be different. And you're going to basically use what you have give away what you don't want, and then bring in things that you will need to finish the look of the room. And again, remember, do not skip this step of accessorizing. It is critical, critical, critical to making that room pull together. And lastly, I wanted to say this have fun with it. All. I know that it can be taxing. I know that it can be overwhelming. But if you just know that the benefit will far outweigh the work that you put into getting that room, getting your home ready. 
Why not have fun along the way. I can tell you, I have used these steps for years. They worked for me and I know they will work for you. You can always add more steps if you like, or you can take these steps and break them down further. I have more details in my book under each step. But I know it will get overwhelming and there will be times when you want to say, forget it. I don't want to do this anymore. I want you to ask yourself what made you feel this way? Write it down and then never let that feeling come into your mind. Again, also, something that's really great is to just pull out that design board. One time. I remember we had a client who was so upset about the construction of their home, and we were probably two years in to this massive renovation and the client was getting so overwhelmed with everything. 
I reminded the client that they had this beautiful design board with all of these. Gorgeous fabrics and amazing selections on it. And I had the client take that design board and sit it by her sofa so that she can see every day Exactly what the outcome was going to be. And that really made all the difference. So the process was a little tumultuous at times, but I just had them trust the process, look at the final result. And at the end of the day, the project turned out beautiful, but we just had to remember the reason why we were doing all of that. 
So there is a reason behind it and I hope that this simple review of my six steps for my process has helped you to better start your own process for your own home or your design from even.
So that's it for today on the designer within podcasts. And again, we're talking about the designer within book, we're having the one year anniversary of the publishing of my book, the designer within from Gibbs Smith Thank you to my publisher for trusting me to write this book. Thank you to everyone who has purchased it already. If you want to purchase it and not worry about the contest, you're more than welcome to do that. Again, you can purchase it anywhere. Books are sold, Amazon Barnes and noble. Any of the places where you want to purchase the book, you can buy a signed copy from my website or better yet. You can enter the contest that I mentioned earlier. 
And just one more recap of the contest I'm giving away 10 sign, the copies of my book, the designer within. And all you have to do is follow both my Instagram accounts at John McClain design and at the designer within share any posts that you want to share. And remember the more stories or posts that you share, the more entries you receive. And subscribe to my podcast, the one you're listening to. Now, if you haven't subscribed yet, please subscribe to the podcast on any platform of your choosing. remember there is a bonus entry for leaving a written review. have my podcast on your platform of choice. so if you leave a written review, you get an extra entry into the drawing for the books. One lucky winner will receive the grand prize box of the designer within goodies. This is a box full of so many goodies, so many things that accompany the book and you also get the signed copy of the book. So 10 winners of the book, one grand prize winner, all chosen at random from the company that I'm using. 
the contest is going now September 7th. And it ends November 3rd, 2023. If you're listening to this in real time, if you're listening to this later, I'm sorry. You did not get a chance to win. Uh, but you can still buy the book. So there you have it. Thanks again for listening everybody. I really appreciate you. I hope this episode has been helpful for you, , if you're a designer out there and feel that I've missed some steps, or maybe you want to add more steps into it to help everybody understand a little bit better, I'm open to all of that. Please leave your comments for me. I'm happy, happy, happy, happy to listen to those even more. 
I'm always up for learning new things. So. That's it stay tuned I got three more episodes for you about the book , they will be scattered. They're not going to be consecutive. I'm going to do those through the. End of the competition, which is November 3rd. So I will have three more episodes where I will dive deeper into the book. But next week we will go back to other episodes, not related to the book. And then the following week, we will revert back to some information about the book. And I'm going to dive deeper into the topic of listening to your heart when you design. So listening to what you want, not what a magazine says, not what your friend says, not what the TV says, listening to your heart. 
And I'm going to discuss how to do that in design and why that is so important when designing your own home. All right. Enough babbling for today. Thank you. My friends. I appreciate you. And I will see you on the next episode of the designer within.
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Thanks for sticking with me to the end of the designer within podcast. It means the world to me. If you're ready to dive deeper into the topics that we've discussed here, be sure to check out my online courses and coaching program, the designer within business. You will join other like minded creatives in various phases of their own businesses.
Whether just starting out or career veterans who are enjoying the freedoms and profits that can come from an organized and structured business. Now's the time to make the change for you and your company. And I'll be right by your side the entire way. Learn more at johnmcclain. co that's johnmcclain. co