Imagine stepping into a space so uniquely you, it speaks your language without uttering a word. We're joined by Claire Hunt, the creative spark behind Living Funky Design and Build Company, who shares her extraordinary journey from fashion to foundations, all while building a business that's as much about relationships as it is about renovating spaces. Tune in for a masterclass on crafting homes that echo the soul of their inhabitants, and delve into the personal and professional evolution of a designer who believes your home should fit like a glove – tailored, comfortable, and distinctly yours.
Navigating the design world isn't just about aesthetics; it's an intricate ballet of client dreams, material realities, and the occasional leap of faith. Claire and her partner Lindsay turned their profound partnership into Living Funky, a testament to the artistry of building both a family and a business under one roof. Discover how their story unfolds from plastering beginnings to a full-blown design and renovation enterprise, all while juggling life's milestones. This episode is a narrative of love, labor, and the kind of lively homes that stand out in a beige world.
Wrap your mind around the weighty subject of women's wellness with our deep dive into the transformative power of weight training. Claire's commitment to strength, both of structure and self, resonates in her approach to design and life. From the daily grind to the delicate balance of work and personal time, get ready for a conversation that might just redefine your morning routine and inspire you to lift more than just spirits. Join us for a heart-to-heart on creating spaces and lives that are as strong and expressive as the people within them.
A new podcast in which Johnette Barrett, educational psychologist, seeks out inspirational working women who have transformed their lives and that of others through their courageousness and compassion.
The conversations that follow are sometimes eye-opening, sometimes heart- breaking and sometimes humourous.
Diary of a Working Woman (DOAWW) is hosted by Buzzsprouts .com.
Email: diaryofaworkingwoman@yahoo.com
Instagram: doaww podcast
Website: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2227789
Imagine stepping into a space so uniquely you, it speaks your language without uttering a word. We're joined by Claire Hunt, the creative spark behind Living Funky Design and Build Company, who shares her extraordinary journey from fashion to foundations, all while building a business that's as much about relationships as it is about renovating spaces. Tune in for a masterclass on crafting homes that echo the soul of their inhabitants, and delve into the personal and professional evolution of a designer who believes your home should fit like a glove – tailored, comfortable, and distinctly yours.
Navigating the design world isn't just about aesthetics; it's an intricate ballet of client dreams, material realities, and the occasional leap of faith. Claire and her partner Lindsay turned their profound partnership into Living Funky, a testament to the artistry of building both a family and a business under one roof. Discover how their story unfolds from plastering beginnings to a full-blown design and renovation enterprise, all while juggling life's milestones. This episode is a narrative of love, labor, and the kind of lively homes that stand out in a beige world.
Wrap your mind around the weighty subject of women's wellness with our deep dive into the transformative power of weight training. Claire's commitment to strength, both of structure and self, resonates in her approach to design and life. From the daily grind to the delicate balance of work and personal time, get ready for a conversation that might just redefine your morning routine and inspire you to lift more than just spirits. Join us for a heart-to-heart on creating spaces and lives that are as strong and expressive as the people within them.
A new podcast in which Johnette Barrett, educational psychologist, seeks out inspirational working women who have transformed their lives and that of others through their courageousness and compassion.
The conversations that follow are sometimes eye-opening, sometimes heart- breaking and sometimes humourous.
Diary of a Working Woman (DOAWW) is hosted by Buzzsprouts .com.
Email: diaryofaworkingwoman@yahoo.com
Instagram: doaww podcast
Website: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2227789
Hello, my name is Jonette Barrett and you're tuning in to Diary of a Working Woman, or DOA D-O-A-W-W. Hi, I'm here today with seasoned interior designer and design and build specialist, Claire Hunt, who has had 20 years experience in this industry.
Speaker 2:I'm so pleased that you're here with us today, Claire, Thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm happy to be here as well.
Speaker 1:I'm delighted. Now Claire is the co-founder of the Living Funky Design and Build Company. That's right that's had so much recognition, and not just on social media. But I know that you've been invited to do features in magazines.
Speaker 2:Yes, so tell us a little bit about the magazines.
Speaker 1:first, the status of that Right.
Speaker 2:So most recently would have been in the House Beautiful magazine. I had a lovely spread in there. It was eight or ten pages, I think, I'm not sure actually and it came out last year, just mid-last year, and it featured a lovely house that we just recently sold on, actually, but somewhere that we'd lived in, and we transformed it by doubling the size of it. It's mid-century modern space, so lovely, bright and eerie and I just worked some magic. And well, lindsay and I, we worked some magic. We doubled the size of it and really created something that was quite, that was quite small initially and dated, and created a beautiful family home. So someone else has it now that is absolutely amazing.
Speaker 1:So you, you have open houses that do people come in and have a look at your marvel, at your, your, your skills.
Speaker 2:Well, the other, the other event that we were part of. That was a magazine feature, but the event that we were a part of, where we were able to invite people into our home, was Open House London, which is architecture part of Architecture Week yes, so it happens in September usually and we were invited to exhibit and be part of the amazing event. It's fantastic because people from far and wide not just londoners can come into spaces that are usually closed off architectural spaces that are usually closed off, whether they are um residential homes or or public spaces that not necessarily the whole public can have access to. So we had about two, three hundred people come through our doors and it was wonderful. It was fantastic. It's a real validating moment of your design and your style and people just embracing it.
Speaker 1:It must have been a bit nerve wracking, though. I mean, I can't imagine 200 people scrutinizing every chip in the paintwork, every smear on the surfaces.
Speaker 2:It was fantastic because I actually, I actually called our event um what was it? Bubbles and brownies, so we had.
Speaker 1:As you entered, you had some bubbles and you also had nibble of brownies as well and don't tell me you did you make the brownies. I have to confess I didn't make the brownies, those were already names next time yeah, because I know you are a superwoman, but have you always been this superwoman? The young Claire you know? Did she have visions of becoming this remarkable um interior design specialist um, or did you have another passion when you were younger?
Speaker 2:well, my, my passion, I had another passion is the answer to that, however, if I take you back on the journey of 13-year-old Claire emigrated to Canada and at the time you would be able to look through the newspapers on a Saturday afternoon thick newspapers on a Saturday morning and within the newspapers there would be pages upon pages of houses, of custom-built houses that you could purchase because canada was such a new country. Then, um, there were so many developers and you know, there was just lots. There's still, there's lots of land there, but there were a lot of developers developing houses and so forth. So I would just look at these, these floor plans, and just dream about imagining how I would decorate and redesign and picture the sunken living rooms and all of that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2:So that was my first love affair with, I suppose, creativity and design. But as young girls do, I then started to whip up some outfits and decided that. Outfits for your dolls or for you actually, outfits for myself and re, and my sister is older than me, so um, she would her hand-me-downs, I would cut up and redesign and um. So my other passion was, um, was fashion. So that was really my first, my first passion yes that's what I studied.
Speaker 2:That's what I wanted to become a fashion designer, and that's what I did. I did do a bit of fashion design along the way, and fashion styling as well. So it was that. It's that creativity of being able to make things so it's just defaults.
Speaker 2:So, from the clothes and the fabrics, and and then to the fabrics and the design of houses, that was an actual progression because, um, my partner and I, lindsay, we um bought our first place together and um at the time, I was working as a fashion stylist and I was also organizing events for fashion designers, bringing in people to talk about business and so forth and um we bought our first property and right away we knew that we wanted something that we could make our own and put our stamp on and also elevate ourselves on the property ladder as well.
Speaker 2:So bought something and it was just a wonderful experience just being able to bring my love of design, of fabrics and patterns and colors and so forth into a renovation project. And from there we just went on to the next one and the next one, and the next one, and it continued.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. So you are the co-founder of living funky and you've already mentioned Lindsay yes, so tell us about Lindsay, how you met Lindsay oh my goodness did he always have a passion himself in this industry, or did you inspire him, or how did that happen?
Speaker 2:well actually. So, as I said, my background is fashion design. Lindsay, many, many years ago, was a model. Many, many years ago he was a model.
Speaker 1:Oh, Many, many years ago he was a model, yes, and he did Brace the Catwalk with, I think, Naomi Campbell.
Speaker 2:Naomi Campbell, I mean he's told me that Whether or not that is actually the case, I don't know, I know.
Speaker 1:I will and he Brace the platform. No, no, no. Your husband, lindsay, co-founder of Living Funky.
Speaker 2:Brace, the, the platform, the modeling platform, the Naomi Campbell, I believe. So, yes, that's what he has told me. He hasn't shown me, so I don't know whether he's just trying to make me jealous or but, um, so he worked. He did work as a model, yeah, but he also worked as he when he left school, yes, um, in the construction industry. So when we got, we met at a private members club called many moons ago called 10 rooms. Did you ever go to 10 rooms?
Speaker 1:yeah, 10 rooms was amazing. It was fabulous. So you joined a private members club and and met your husband.
Speaker 2:I didn't join a private members club, but I was there.
Speaker 1:I was there and he was there as well and the first time he was there.
Speaker 2:Well, we were there. We I think our friends kind of chatted a bit and then that was the end of the evening and the second time we were there we started to chat and he got me a drink, and the rest is history. And then, literally two weeks after that, I was meeting his parents and his family and it was great his parents.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right away so um he was. Well, as I said, he had um worked in the construction industry.
Speaker 2:So when we then got together, um, we decided to um formalize a business which was nothing to do with well, it was the I suppose the precursor to live in Fungi and it was a plastering company. So we worked on big commercial projects as well as lots of residential plastering works for many, many houses in Dulwich and Southwest London and that area, and then also a lot of commercial and leisure centers locally and retail outlets and so forth. Wow, so we were working on, we had our business.
Speaker 1:Yes, and we were building that business.
Speaker 2:Right and hundreds and hundreds of new build flats. Wow, clark and Well.
Speaker 1:But plastering, plastering, plastering.
Speaker 2:So we had guys on site.
Speaker 1:So you were working in a mail?
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, I mean, I was never on site, I was doing all of the the tendering process and the marketing and the developing websites, and you know we're going back to when a website was this. What is a website?
Speaker 1:yes, you know, so we're way back then.
Speaker 2:So um uh. So at the same time, we then purchased our first home together. So it was well, we're going to develop it and make it our our home and then make a profit as well. So it was always about creating something that was special, but also being able to elevate ourselves, making it profitable, making it profitable.
Speaker 1:So you've got that business partnership yes, obviously yeah, you've got your relationship yes yeah, and that is amazing. So where did children fit into this? I know you know, between all the plastering and the designing, you know where did you find the space to start a family and is it something that you both wanted? And yeah, how do you fit it in?
Speaker 2:well, I mean, this is now our son. He is is 19 off at university. So it was, you know, 20 years ago when we thought, okay, this is the time, let's do it Otherwise now. Well, not now or never. But it's like, yeah, we had our first home. Yes, yeah, we had our first home, and then we decided to start a family.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And we finished designing that one and then we sold that one on and went on to the next project. So I was heavily pregnant with the next project, actually, and that was we bought a shell like a live-work unit in South Bermondsey. It was a shell and we moved in there in July and then I had our son in the beginning of October, so it was literally.
Speaker 1:In the work unit? Yeah, in the work unit. How?
Speaker 2:did you do it?
Speaker 1:I mean being pregnant. Well, for me anyway, being pregnant was really stressful, but you know the stress of being pregnant. At times some people have easy pregnancies, I know. And then living in a shower with no creature comforts and dust and debris everywhere, how do you see past that to see, to unveil the beauty? So in your mind, both of your minds, you visualise the outcome. There's always a vision, yes, there's always. You stay true to the vision.
Speaker 2:You stay true to what you've pictured in your mind. And if you've got it on paper as well, if you've got the beautiful design renders, then you stay true to that as well. So and you picture you, you embrace what your life will be like, or what the if? You're developing for other people what their life will be like yeah. So that's what you stay true to and you get through the dust and you get through the debris and the washing up in the bath and all that kind of that good stuff, that glorious stuff you know it's about, I guess, delayed gratification.
Speaker 1:You see, I'm sorry, I've got to admit I like things now, you know, and there are lots of people like me who like things now but you know, sometimes they say good things come to those who wait.
Speaker 1:And I think in your business you can walk in somewhere and straight away just size it all up and think, yeah, I'll put that there, this there, that there, that there. I would really struggle personally because I don't think my visual spatial skills are great, but I do like things to look homely and nice. So how did Living Funky take off? Who was your first client? What was that like?
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness, how did it take off.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, I suppose, in theory we are a client first and foremost, and that's our passion Our passion is to buy homes and transform them, redesign them, recreate them for whoever will live in them next. So we're our client. But in terms of other homeowners, other amazing homeowners, we've been so fortunate with, you know, the community, the local community here, who we're being able to, you know, design and renovate and build for. So our you know, our work spreads from whether it be kitchen redesigns and extensions through to garden rooms, through to full house, everything you know, top to bottom, garage conversions, full. You know, the beauty really is is working with the client and having that open communication and also being on the same page for the. The dream. Staying committed to the client and having that open communication and also being on the same page for the. The dream.
Speaker 2:Staying committed to the dream and the and the vision and how we know that we're changing their life, for when their families are around and their families have places to stay and you know their friends come over and they entertain with their friends and they cook and they laugh and they, you know they do all that wonderful that's really magical, isn't it?
Speaker 1:I mean, do you ever get situations where the client has a vision of how they'd like?
Speaker 2:to look, but you know it's never going to look like that well, well it's not necessarily that it will never look like that, but it's more about well, that's not necessarily my taste, right, so that's a trick, or it's not necessarily what I would choose. However, one of the things that I suppose makes a good designer is to embrace who your client is and embrace how they want to live. There is merit in designing in your way and you know clients will come to you because of our look. I've. I had a wonderful client and she said I I didn't really want to approach you because as she said it, I'm not really funky and I'm not really cool and I said, well, that's okay.
Speaker 1:That's okay, we can work with you. We can work with you, we can work with uh, work with us. Yeah, she can work with her. She was more traditional, but you know what?
Speaker 2:She was a dream she was an absolute dream to work with Because I presented things to her. She's like yeah, I like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Easy Presented something else. Yeah, I like that. So it was really it was quite easy.
Speaker 2:Although she didn't feel that she fitted into the living funky which, you know, know, a lot of people may think. What is that? What is living funky? But it's, I mean. For us it was always about, um, I suppose, just empowering people to create a wonderful, a wonderful family home that they can live in and love and laugh in with their family and their friends and so that's the funky.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, something that's special and unique for them, so very personalized, yes because one of the things that I've always noticed over the years is that, uh, developers or property investors or whoever renovates houses, they tend to just do a very, very bland and safe and boring yeah, boring canvas yes, yes, canvas, yeah, yeah so we wanted to do something, and we continue to do something that's, uh, pushes the boundaries and creates, you know, creates instant warmth, something that people can move into yeah, so with living funky, then I get the vision of colors and boldness and and and maybe a little bit, a little bit out there, but maybe that's just my interpretation of looking funky, um well, I would say that, with my background in fashion design, one of the things I do love I do love colour, but I have a motto that it's colour, not chaos right yeah, so it's not chaos, it's not overly designed.
Speaker 2:It's colour, not chaos, right, yes, so it's not chaos. It's not overly designed, it's still. It's simplified, but you can inject colour, you can inject patterns, you can inject materials and bring it all together and it's tasteful, but it is unique unique to the homeowner, to the person who's going to live there so.
Speaker 1:So what's the most challenging project you've ever taken on? Challenging in what way? Well, ways that maybe created a little bit of stress. You know you get up in the morning you'd be oh no, I've got this to do today, or I'm I'm not sure if I'm going to, you know.
Speaker 2:Well, what I will say? To have a successful project, you need open and honest communication, and you need to have the products and the materials all at hand, of course, and you need quality workmanship, or workpersonship, and you need to bring it all together. You need a collaboration of all of those things so once those are all in place yes then the projects work together and the vision, the vision and the creativity.
Speaker 2:So um, you know, once those pieces are all in place, if, if there isn't something in place and you're and it's out of your control for example, delays in manufacturing of a particular item there isn't any point in pulling your hair out. You either go to plan b or you wait so you always have a plan b. There's always a um, I would say you always have a plan b because you, obviously you want your first option.
Speaker 2:But naturally, yes, you do. Yeah, if you can't, if you, if, for example, the handmade tiles are going to take, um, I don't know, 20 weeks to manufacture in Morocco or wherever, then you decide do you want those tiles or this is the other option, and then it's. You know, if you do want those tiles and we wait, then we'll go on to another project until those tiles are available, for example so, in terms of challenging projects, it's just as long as you know that those are the moving pieces.
Speaker 2:Communication and trust are the two biggest communication as a place with 20 years experience in the industry.
Speaker 1:You know you've seen it all. You've been there, done there, been there, done that. So you know you take things in your stride, hopefully, and I'm sure that's reassuring for your clients, isn't it? Because you know, as you say, all the pieces of the puzzle must sort of fit together yes, yes, yeah slips.
Speaker 2:You know that can cause a little bit of, but I suppose if you're there to just communicate with the client, yes, you know the communication is everything one of the things when you work in um as us, as we, as you know, living funky, it is about being unique to the client and to unique to the person who will live in the home, and we do that through great design, great space planning. How, how is the, the flow within the home or within the room going? To work and then also I love injecting color, so um I've forgotten what I was saying.
Speaker 1:Can we cut that? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, don't worry, don't worry. It was just about, you know, just being able to sort of manage expectations. Oh right, Expectations, so client expectations If things don't go right to be able to communicate. It's about communication and trust, and so because you've got the reputation and you've got the experience, I suppose people are more willing and likely to take you on, because they've got confidence in you.
Speaker 2:I would like to think so we do have a track record as well so one of the things well, two aspects that we have to look at are the clients how risk averse they are or how, whatever the opposite to risk averse is so how much of a risk taker they are.
Speaker 1:Yes, how much of a risk taker they are.
Speaker 2:And time scales as well. So for some reason within the industry, there's this thing where this arbitrary line that everything has to be done by Christmas. So if someone contacts us in the summer, we need everything done by Christmas, and now they've contacted us. In the summer we need everything done by Christmas. And now contacting us in the summer and expecting it done by Christmas, depends on what it is that needs to be done.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it might seem like um a reasonable time scale, but it's not necessarily always the way, so it is about managing certain expectations so you might think, yeah, that's plenty of time. But going back to time scales, delays and other contractors. And partners being busy, so it depends.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, so have you ever turned a job down?
Speaker 2:It has to be the right fit. The personalities this goes back to communication, personalities and expectations, and yeah, actually, and the budgets as well, you know we don't do cheap and cheerful.
Speaker 1:We don't. It's just not our thing, yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, we do good quality, which takes time. We try not to rush things. We do good quality, which takes time, we try not to rush things. So if someone wants something for you know if their first thing is they need it done.
Speaker 1:Under a certain amount, yes, At a reasonable. Reasonable and cheap. The two words there Don't go. No, reasonable, cheap funky no, they don't go together If funky no, they don't go together.
Speaker 2:If you want style, individuality, time, quality, quality then yes, and you've got and you've got a good workmanship excellent workmanship, which cost? You know it costs money. Yeah, it's, you know it is people's um. You know the partners that we work with, it's their. They've got 25 years experience, absolutely, so yeah, they should. They need to be compensated.
Speaker 1:I like your new nonsense approach to this. It's no, you know, oh, we might be able to do it for this. No negotiating, you know your worth yes, you know living funky is top end, yes, and you've got a wealth of experience. So that just leads me on to social media, right? Um so wow, just tell me you thought sort of exploded, you had, you had a video go viral yes, I did hi, welcome back.
Speaker 1:I'm here with claire hunt, who is a an interior designer and a renovation specialist not an ordinary one top end, if you please, uh. Co-founder of Living Funky Design and Build Company. So, claire, just before the break I think we were thinking about, um, uh, social media. Yes, and what happened? Because, to begin with, you had you know just a few hundred, a few hundred, just a few hundred, she said, I'd like that a few hundred followers, not much.
Speaker 2:And then?
Speaker 1:now, how many followers do you have?
Speaker 2:I have approximately 65,000 followers in the space of a few weeks 65,000 followers that's on Instagram on.
Speaker 1:Instagram, yes, in the space of a few weeks. So we need to know how she's done this right. We need to really know how you've done this. Tell us what happened well late.
Speaker 2:Towards the end of last year, lindsay and I we purchased a lovely 1930s terrace house cute little 1930s terrace house. So from the start I knew that I wanted to document the journey, because I've never fully documented any of our projects. I've done snippets here and there and I haven't taken social media.
Speaker 1:It's really cool. I looked at the walking Amazing, all right, brilliant.
Speaker 2:I just didn't take social media as seriously as I should have, because, you know, leads were coming in and I was always, always busy. But for this one I thought, no, let's document, because there are people out there who need to know how things are done properly and how you get started.
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly how to get started, that's the biggest thing, big. Thing.
Speaker 2:How to start when and how to start is the biggest thing, one of the biggest questions that people are curious about. So every time we visited the property I just put together a few snippets and then, for the first um reel or video, I edited it all together of me walking into the house and just doing a tour. But I layered that um with the story, my I narrated a story about us purchasing the property and the previous owner, who was the lovely old lady who bought it in 1963, lovely old lady called Dorothy, who bought it in 1963. And for some reason that reel, that video, has received more than 1.4 million views.
Speaker 2:And it catapulted my my following from um just over 760 000 followers yes to. At the time it was approximately 45 000, and then just gradually and I've released further videos.
Speaker 1:So what is it about that video? Do you think that just? I don't know. It's just people's interest.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, yes. And actually, and at the end, which is for those of you who are interested in growing your following, it's very important to hook your viewer in, tell a story and then give them a call to action. So my call to action at the end was like and follow, to stay up to date with what we're doing in the renovation and to come along with us on the journey of the renovation of this 1930s house that hadn't been updated in so many years that's amazing.
Speaker 1:I'm going to take that tip instantly. Guys, if you're enjoying this talk with claire, you know what you need to do. She said it like and follow the do a podcast, that's it. Yes, that's exactly right, yeah, it's as simple as that.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah so you, you hook your viewer in, you, you tell them a story and you obviously you've got to have a good um visuals as well yeah and um, and then at the end, you, if they want to see more, if they want to come along on the journey, ask them or let them know how they can do that so it is a journey, and your journey's yeah, it's been a spectacular one, hasn't it?
Speaker 1:so you've got the 13 year old claire looking at construction designs, visualizing how she would do things, then going through to fashion design and doing your, you know, going to uni doing all of that, and then meeting your lovely working partner and also your, obviously, your um, your your hubby, um lindsay. And then that evolving into um the home and designing and building first for yourself, just to see what you can achieve together, and then catapulting into the stratosphere, really inviting other people to share your wisdom and expertise. And then you're a social media guru on top. So what? Is your mission now? What's your mission and where to next with your living funky business?
Speaker 2:well, the mission is always, has always been the same to really to um empower, empower people, to um create beautiful homes for them to to enjoy and to um to live in with their family and with their friends. So it's the same thing um beautiful homes, quality homes, um, they can't all be, you know, high-end, expensive, and it doesn't have to be expensive, but just good quality. What you, what you do um in your home, make it, make it last, yes, and make it something that you, that you love, I mean we, we do things because we love them, but also we are investors to an extent, so we always like to see a return on our investment in our home. Um, so it depends on what angle you're coming from. I mean, it's enabled us by taking that route. It has enabled us going from, you know, a one and a half bedroom flat tiny second bedroom um flat through to you know, a lovely, lovely home. I'm not going to say how many rooms?
Speaker 2:but you know a nice, you know a nice nice home and, you know, in the process, also building a house in the garden of um. You know one of our houses and you know it's just given us a beautiful. For me, it's a creative outlet. It really is a creative outlet. It's nice, isn't it? It's a we all have different creative outlets.
Speaker 1:Um. Some people like shopping. I could do shopping as well. You know, get a bit tired with that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, actually I like buying, buying home things buying tires and showers, but for those?
Speaker 1:people who are thinking, maybe, of making a business out of this and wondering how to get started. You know, um, what would be your, you know maybe your top three or five tips would they? They have to find the right build right?
Speaker 2:um, it's, I would say for me personally dream big, you just dream big dream. What is it dream? Yeah, yeah, go big, go home, dream big dream dream dream dreams are beautiful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, it doesn't mean that you're gonna get exactly what your dream is but just open your mind, because we're all coming from different places and sometimes you can. You're only aware of your environment, so sometimes we have to open our mind beyond our environment. So, research, research, whether you're doing desk research or whether you're actually going- out and going out the streets, pounding the streets, pounding the streets seeing what's out there and whether you're going to, you might not be able to afford, you might not have the funds to afford the city that you're living in to purchase.
Speaker 2:So go to another city if you can depend. You know, if you're with lindsay and I was the two of us. We we used to say, oh, should we move to this place or that place? Or, you know, we were always open for the next opportunity to see what the opportunities are there are. You know england, although it is a small island, there are places. There are such big differences and disparities between the different postcodes and different locations so, so don't limit yourself don't limit yourself to just what you know, exactly you know, and be open-minded.
Speaker 1:Be open-minded, follow your dreams. Follow your dreams. Yeah, those are I mean obviously you have to be able to build a team.
Speaker 2:A team and this is you know, this goes down to, this is people skills. Yes, you have to get to know people and that takes time. That's time and that's energy. You know things things that are things that are rewarding aren't necessarily fast and easy. It takes time. You know, 20 years ago we were on I don't know property number two for example yes.
Speaker 2:So yeah, you know we with hindsight and with with um, with time and with age and with the experience and wisdom, all those things that seemingly are boring um. You know, we're now in a different, completely different place so.
Speaker 1:So just thinking of the person who's looking, potentially, to go into the property, doing up and turning around and selling it business once they find the ideal property, which may or may not be in the immediate vicinity of where they live. It's a case of them having contacts. How will people know about them? They'll have to do the property up. So they've bought the property, they've done it up, they've visualised it. Then what?
Speaker 2:Do you then have to get these?
Speaker 1:contacts like you do with the magazine.
Speaker 2:Well they either.
Speaker 1:Oh to get featured To promote it. Oh, to get Okay, right, so this is a tip.
Speaker 2:This is a tip that could work very well. Look through the magazine that you want your property to be in, right If you're an interior designer, for example, or a developer. Look through the magazine, see who the photographer is, see who the editor is and see who the photographers are actually, because there will be a number of photographers in the glossy magazines and you can contact them. Now nothing will happen on the first go and nothing will happen on the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, but at some point something will happen. If they like your work, if your work fits, yes, so you're sending them visuals.
Speaker 1:Yes, you're making a contact, you're making contact with them. Yeah, you're sending them visuals. Yes, you're, you're making a contact.
Speaker 2:You're making contact with them yeah, um, you're letting them know that you love their work. Yeah, right, because that's the most important you've got to know that you love their work. There's no point in looking at a spread and thinking, oh, I don't like this, I don't like the lighting, I don't like how this is positioned, and then contacting someone this is work. This is aspirational. Aspirational um a photography that you love and you think, oh, my god, I would love my, my home or my one of my properties to be shot in this manner and to appear in this magazine you have to be quite bold and confident yeah, you have to go out and put yourself out.
Speaker 2:You have to put yourself out there and um and not be shy believe it or not, I'm actually really shy, so so you know you're really shy.
Speaker 1:I know I know, I'm sitting here with you 60. How many followers have you got on Instagram?
Speaker 2:I am, I promise you because I'm I'm actually a look at me and then I'm like no, please don't look at me. That's, that's me all over. Don't look at me, no no, but you've got to.
Speaker 1:You know, you have to put yourself out there, you have to you tell your children, come on, use your voice, speak up, and you've got to do the same do you never experience that imposter syndrome, always, always, always. So how do you break through that feeling that I'm not good enough, I'm not worthy of all these followers?
Speaker 2:um, I just keep going, yeah, and and within, you know, within the realms of um instagram, for example, you have your, your grid and you have all of your followers who are looking at. Well, actually, instagram doesn't feed out your, your um content to all of your followers at the same time yeah but they will gradually feed out your content and only a certain percentage of your followers will see that content.
Speaker 1:But then you also have these.
Speaker 2:When you click on your profile, you have something that takes you through to stories. So when you post to your stories, then you have a much smaller percentage of your followers who see your stories, and that's when you're really communicating with your people, because those people who yeah, those people who look at your stories.
Speaker 2:They're on your journey they're fully on your journey and you can ask them questions and engage with them, and one of the things with social media was you need to be visible and get your followers and bring them into your world. You then have to keep them engaged and you have to, and it has to be genuine yeah, you know what kind of um if you, if you could create your dream home, what would it be?
Speaker 1:or so. Little polls, yes, yes, little polls. So how often do you, how often do you actually post a week? I mean, I'm really bad actually I'm really bad.
Speaker 2:I'm not posting three times a day or anything like that. I post when I have something, something relevant yeah, for them, yeah, something relevant and that means that I'm not growing now exponentially.
Speaker 1:I did my had my burst and then it's now and you've been maintaining that. Yes, keeping the interest, yes.
Speaker 2:But you know, because we are taking them on our journey. So, I think to myself okay, how much mud do they want to see being?
Speaker 1:cleared, yeah, yeah, so a little birdie tells me that you've got an academy in mind. Oh my gosh, I forgot about that yes, yes I know, I forgot about my academy. Yeah, tell us more. Tell us more about this right the design and renovation academy you heard it here.
Speaker 2:Yes, is um design and renovation academy I actually said to lindsay that it's going to be launched in six weeks. Wow so six weeks from Friday's good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, there we go. We're here on Friday, so six weeks time, so that takes us through to March, doesn't it?
Speaker 2:Oh my?
Speaker 1:goodness, you'll have to come back and tell us about it. So what's the vision?
Speaker 2:The vision is to. I mean to really be honest, open and realistic about what it's like designing and renovating homes. So we'll have various modules where to start, how to bring your team on board, let's think where the kitchen. Kitchen design is a huge one. Kitchen inspiration inspiration how to create that dream kitchen space, planning the flow through to the final build out and then styling. You know, people I see, I see on social media there are a lot of people who need the information, who have had builders come in and they finish their kitchen and then it's a sterile white box with navy cabinets and sometimes substandard as well and substandard possibly, but even if it's not, substandard.
Speaker 2:What they then do in terms of the styling and the decoration, their paintings are way up to the ceiling or the or. They've got a beautiful big wall and they've got a painting that's this small yeah so the we're talking about proportion and placement of things, and so would it be like a training program?
Speaker 1:like you know, it's a six-week program um, no, it'll be.
Speaker 2:We will probably do a live aspect to it, combined with online at your own pace yes, so we'll do some recorded modules recorded modules and some um live live um events we could do live live from where our current sites.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, yeah, so that's really exciting I'm looking forward to that and you know what, although I'm not thinking business wise and going to this area, I know friends who are and plus, at the moment I'm trying to do up the home, so some ideas and inspiration would be great so, claire, we're going to be working towards.
Speaker 1:There's a couple of things we haven't touched on yet. So this podcast is called Diary of a Working Woman, and you are an exemplar of, you know, of a working woman, so we just want to tease together. What does your day actually look like? Can you give us a typical day, an outline of a typical day in your busy schedule, and give it that your, your wife, your mother of two, and you're this business owner, and I'm sure you do other things as well.
Speaker 2:So how does it all go together? So now, at my age, I've prioritised certain things. Well, fortunately and unfortunately, the first thing I actually do which is terrible is look at social media that's my first thing, because I'm looking at who's engaging, who am I engaging and the people who I'm interested as well.
Speaker 1:I've been following Mel Robbins podcast and she was saying don't do that. Of course, I know you look at social media.
Speaker 2:I know look at social media and then I get ready for my day shower and so forth. Get ready, and then I have the school run still because my big daughter gets to school late so I have to take her.
Speaker 1:She gets that, yeah, so I have to take her so she's not late.
Speaker 2:Um, and then after that is self-care right because I have to either go to the gym, resistance training, weight lifting or walking.
Speaker 1:So that's my, that's my part in your. So that's my, that's quite a part in your. Yep, that's more than yes, it helps.
Speaker 2:Yeah, health and fitness. So that's non-negotiable Good. And then after that is more non-negotiables, which would be social media again and communicating with, you know, with my followers, yeah. And then it would be working with the clients. So I might. For example, right now I'm working with a client doing a lovely kitchen extension, lovely. So we've got to look at options, for we've gone back and forth different options for worktops, so it's changed again based on the maintenance and care of this particular copper, of a copper worktop, oh wow.
Speaker 2:So I've got to look at the different different options, so it would be client work, and then it would be our, our own renovation work, design, renovation work, which might be lighting plans, um, I'm thinking about how far out are we going to dig this patio because we need a patio, um, so all that kind of planning, types of, um, you know, type of work, sourcing for bathrooms, all of that wonderful sounds exciting.
Speaker 1:It does sound like you have an exciting day, so what time do you start on a typical day and what time would you finish working?
Speaker 2:okay. So in an ideal world, I would love to spring out of bed at 6 am spring. Spring out of bed. Not wrong spring, she's great mel would like that.
Speaker 1:I would love to spring out of bed at 6am. Spring not roll. Mel would like that. I would love to spring out of bed at 6am. You would love to?
Speaker 2:I know I just go to bed too late. I just don't get enough sleep so I don't it's more like ok, let's crawl out at about 6.30 if. I could push it to 7, oh gosh, but I need to leave the house by quarter to 8, right, get to school for 8.15ish. That kind of time it doesn't take me half an hour but, it's that.
Speaker 2:Well, now de-icing the car and you know traffic and all that kind of stuff, and then, um, so I would say that 11am is non-negotiable from that time on. So prior to that is my self-care and my family stuff, and then from 11am, because our business is very much a lifestyle- business we're not building a corporation or anything like that, certainly lifestyle, so you fit it in around family and around everything else.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, and, as a woman, that's how it is, yeah yeah, absolutely, that's how it is. I mean lindsey's up and out he's out now and he is dealing with he has. He always says he's frontline, frontline with the clients he's on the site.
Speaker 1:He's on the trades. Yeah, he's there all the time, so which is true.
Speaker 2:So he's an amazing, you know you've both got your role manager.
Speaker 1:Yes, he's both got your roles, and is that what makes it work for you? So he's an amazing. You know, you've both got your role manager. Yes, you've both got your roles, and is that what makes it work for you?
Speaker 2:so he's up and he's out yes, and that's his personality as well. And that's his personality. Yes, I'm a creator, I can. Yeah, as a creator, I, you know, I can work through to 1am. Yes, you know, I'm getting going in the evening when he's winding down. Yes, when he's gone to bed. So what is the magic?
Speaker 1:we've got valentines coming up an original valentines feature. But how do you keep the magic going, claire?
Speaker 2:how long have you and? Lindsay been together we've been together since 2001, yeah 23 years and from the beginning we knew that we were going to work together, right, yeah, so professionally and personally together, some people say never work with your partner.
Speaker 1:With your partner, yes. So what's the?
Speaker 2:we're separated, though, like I said, he's on site, he's with the guys they're doing it, so you're not in each other's faces all the time you've got your own roles and it works and um, do you stop for me? Do do things like celebrating valentine's romantic yeah, we're romantic I wouldn't say we're specifically romantic, but we certainly do um mark the, those timelines and those, you know, those special dates, yeah, so um, although we don't have an official anniversary date.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we don't go out for an anniversary, right, or anything like that, but birthdays are big and valentine's and yeah, although we don't have an official anniversary date, we don't go out for an anniversary date or anything like that. But birthdays are big and valentines yeah, that's very lovely.
Speaker 1:So you see, find the time for love. Yes, it's not easy. You're working flat out and you get back and you just want to do nothing, but it works for you. So I had someone that I interviewed a few podcasts ago called Valerie A Campbell. It talked about energy and dating, energy dating and how she talked about masculine and feminine energy and some would say that working in the building, the design and building industry industry is maybe there's a lot of masculine energy very much so yeah, so um, but you know, masculine energy needs to attract feminine energy.
Speaker 1:But yes, you had a lot of masculine energy and I'm assuming lindsey's got super super alpha male energy. So do you ever lock heads on someone?
Speaker 2:always do you.
Speaker 1:So who gets their way? So when you're, when you're in conflict about which way to go with you know, with a particular thing for your project, talk me through, talk us through that, oh my god, well, I would say, and lindsey would say, that I always used to get my way way always.
Speaker 2:However, it changed. He put his foot down and he started to be really mean to me so he had this alpha female there's only one room for one alpha in this house. It's me and so he put his foot down and now he gets his way and I'm just like well, you know what, we're getting older. There's no point.
Speaker 1:The energy, I don't mind, you do with it, you grow together, getting older, there's no point yeah you have to do what feels right at the time, yes, and so, just before we end this very quickly, about your children. So how do they all fit? What do they think about mom and dad in this industry, in this space, making huge ripples?
Speaker 2:and they're terribly proud of you. I, I think they, they, they looked at our life and our daughter. Well, my, our daughter said to me this morning on the school run I don't want your life, your life is so boring, I want my own life. So I'm like I agree, my life is rather boring, you have your own life, um, and she's actually an incredibly creative person, whether or not she's designing her own her. She sits on the computer and she designs as well she's 15.
Speaker 1:She just turned 15. Is she designing what property? Or is it clothes?
Speaker 2:yeah, property, I mean she was making shoes out of tissue boxes and cereal boxes when she was seven years old, and putting string on them and tying them on her feet.
Speaker 1:So she's very creative, but she's also very sporty, so we you know who knows what area she'll go into.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but, um, from what I can tell, neither of them want to go into living funky as their as their business. Our son, he's uh studying biochemistry yeah, university now, so he's a scientist so unless he comes up with some kind of construction material scientifically formulated, yeah never say never yes.
Speaker 1:And it's just amazing how you, you know just talking about your daughter and her designing uh shoes out of shoebox. I mean that is so inspirational and so creative. She is um, and so they're looking at you and they're thinking she might be saying, on the one hand, I don't want your life, thank you very much, but actually you've taught her lots of things about focus and about creativity and I think to see you both as entrepreneurs yes, you are and self-employed because you know, I always say you know, these days we're trained to be worker bees and when you work for other people.
Speaker 1:You stay in your lane and I've. I don't think that many people who work for other people during your nine till five necessarily necessarily find the financial independence that they'd like later in life, so I think it's good that she is you know, both of them are seeing that in you and gonna make their niche and yeah, no, I know it's definitely um.
Speaker 2:I mean, we don't actively speak about business, about the. This is how you um do a forecast or a spreadsheet or a. We don't speak in those terms, but they see us, they see what we're doing. They see, they see the vision when we go to a property and we unlock the door and it's like this dated, you know, dated shell of a property, and we unlock the door and it's like this dated, you know, dated shell of a property, and then we talk through what's going to happen and how it's going to work and the guys come on site or you know, the plans are created, the architectural plans are created yeah so they see those kind of things um.
Speaker 2:So you know, hopefully that's dripping into them absolutely.
Speaker 1:They're immersed in it, aren't?
Speaker 2:they, yes, yes, they are, they're soaking it up, they are.
Speaker 1:Maybe sometimes subconsciously, but they're taking it on board. Claire, we are going to come to an end now. Usually, at the end of my podcast, I'll ask if you're reading at the moment I don't know if you're a reader if you're reading a particular book that you'd like to share, or if you're reading a particular book that you'd like to share, or if you've got a particular piece of music that inspires you, oh my goodness, if neither of those things, if anything that just inspires you.
Speaker 1:Maybe you do mindful walks every day, or yoga. What is it that keeps you spiritually connected with? Take your time to have a little think.
Speaker 2:As I said earlier, one of the non-negotiables in my day is my um, um, wellness, wellness in the morning. And almost two years ago I started weight training and that it has just been a phenomenal journey because the and it's I go to a women's only space, labanita.
Speaker 1:I've trained with labanita.
Speaker 2:She's wonderful and crystal palace yeah she's fantastic and her pts, they're all amazing and I would say that, um, I've just embraced, embraced that, so that gives me great pleasure. Um calmness, um strength yeah mental strength, physical strength.
Speaker 2:Um so, in terms of, I wouldn't say that I can share anything with regards to reading or music, but in terms of wellness, um't say that I can share anything with regards to reading or music, but in terms of wellness, I will share the delights of weight training for women, whether at a certain age, actually at Labanita. They're from very young and then through to me and through to older ladies as well. You've been great on it and you've definitely been an inspiration on this show today through to older ladies as well. It's great.
Speaker 1:Well, you honestly are great on it. Oh, thank you, and you know you've definitely been an inspiration on this show today and I am wishing you the most luck that your business will continue to grow and to prosper and that you'll keep that beautiful smile that you've got oh thank you and yours as well.
Speaker 2:Oh, my God, thank as well. Oh my god, thank you so much for having me. Thank you.