What if your workspace could tell the story of your business and inspire everyone who steps inside? Join us for an enlightening conversation with Robin Pasley of Pasley Commercial Interiors, where we explore how authentic design goes beyond aesthetics to embody a company's brand and culture. Robin shares her meticulous approach to crafting environments that resonate with both employees and clients, illustrating how the physical space can drive well-being and productivity. From personally repainting walls to achieve the perfect finish to listening beyond words to understand clients' unspoken desires, Robin's commitment to excellence shines through.
Discover the transformative power of facing fears and embracing change as Robin recounts a personal story from her past that shaped her business journey. We delve into her professional evolution spurred by influential literature, highlighting "Never Drop the Ball Again," a book that catalyzed her transition from a solopreneur to a business ready for expansion and collaboration. Through these insights, Robin emphasizes the importance of truly understanding client needs, aligning design strategies with future aspirations, and preparing for growth by recognizing and seizing opportunities.
Explore the art of uncovering a business's true identity as Robin and her husband help owners discover the rich narratives behind their brands. Learn how aligning a company's story with personal strengths and values fosters authenticity and success. Reflecting on her transition from residential to commercial design, Robin highlights the shift from purely aesthetic considerations to a holistic approach that integrates functionality, storytelling, and profitability. Gain valuable insights on common design pitfalls, such as undervaluing lighting and break spaces, and learn how thoughtful design can transform your workspace into a compelling narrative that attracts the right clientele and nurtures a thriving work environment.
hello hello everybody today we get the wonderful pleasure of talking with our
friend Robin Pasley of Pasley commercial Interiors as our conversation progressed
it took us down this wonderful path of discovering ourselves and who we are and
as business owners staying authentic to our true selves through our business and
showing ourselves to the world and Who We Are and how we show up and so um this
this episode is very uh deep and reflective and has some very fun twists
and turns and some abstract viewpoints so join me Jason and my friend Robin on
a path full of Adventure and self-discovery on show me
yours welcome welcome to show me yours I'm here with my co-host Jason welcome
back Jason hey everyone and I am here with my lovely friend Robin
Pasley and she is with Pasley commercial interiors and she helps small businesses
specifically find ways to grow through I was going to say quality but I
don't even think it's quality it's excellent an exceptional interior design um her philosophy ophy behind Interiors
is one that speaks to my HR geeky heart because I think that we're H birds of a similar feather in
the fact and acknowledging that an individual's environment makes or breaks
their their well-being their Spirit how they show up dayto day and so um as we
dive into today's conversation just know that you're looking at a badass you're so sweet
that's a little little much maybe but I think I appreciate that well you know
you do wear a super superhero cape here you're so sweet yes um so with that said
Robin do you want to talk a little bit about your team and what you do over at
Pasley yeah so um we have a commercial interior design firm and a commercial Furniture dealership which helps us to
kind of handle a project from start to finish not only handle the construction side of it designing the space but also
outfitting it with the proper furniture that really fits the budget speaks to the client's brand and also really
serves their Workforce um and we really focus on helping businesses grow through interior
design which I know some people are going to be like what what is she talking about but what we understand
interior design to be is not just about things being um functional or pretty but
we want to tell the story of our client's business in that space whether it's a restaurant or a medical office or
attorney's office or whatever an HR office we want to be able to um really
Express them in that space so that people come in and have an experience and even if it's just I mean nowadays
you know social media has changed everything it used to be your office could just be functional you get in
there you get out you go on to the next thing but I believe that social media really impacted
um people's experiences and that they begin to be able to see other people's
spaces where they've been and it it kind of raised the bar for everyone yeah so now when you go into your dentist office
I mean look at it like branding is everywhere now it's not just you know so and so dental office I mean there's
icons and stuff and things and so we really anchor off of that branding piece
and help really establish who they are inside of that space I love that
yeah I do I love telling a story through just walking into an environment and you
can look around and say I feel you yes I know who you are without even reading
you know that that boring our history page or where we came from it's just you
can walk around and say okay I got you you're my people or you're not yeah exactly and that's that's really it
that's one of the things we always tell our clients is we want them to know who you are without reading your values and mission statement and we do that through
materials and other things that we use in the space y absolutely okay we're going to jump into rapid fire um so I
have a question for you okay looking back at those days of starting
Pasley let's talk tell us about your very first
project and one of the craziest things you did to accomplish that project oh my
gosh this may take me a minute um well
I'll tell you about um projects where I made mistakes and
the craziest part was Dawning my painting gloves and going in to repaint
whole rooms because I called out the wrong color oh no and I was early in the
day so I didn't have the extra money to pay someone else so I was like I'm GNA fix it I mean it was usually paint that I
did that with I I did it on another project I just forgot to put the room in the scope so I went in just painted it
myself did you really but you know I was going to deliver for the client I wasn't going to they weren't going to feel it I
did you know I made the mistake so um crazy things besides that was um gosh I
can't remember anything that was too outrageous um I think anything that felt
like that way to me felt a little crazy was maybe just because I you know failed
yeah missed something and just had to you know do something I wasn't expecting to do
um when you first start a business there's always those those mistakes that you make and then you know that late
night of painting that one room that you totally forgot it can turn into a crazy
night it was yeah it did it it just turned into a crazy week because of that right exactly um you had mentioned Story
Coffee was one of your first yes clients actually Story Coffee was one of that I
had to repaint a whole section of their their space oh did you really cuz I I
called out the color and I got there I was like oh my gosh this is horrific and I told the owner I'll be back later
tonight paint in hand and he was like what like yes I'm going to fix this but Story Coffee was actually my very first
commercial project and um it was really exciting
cuz he was going to be turning a tiny house into a coffee house which I had never done that and he had never done
that uh so that was a fun project to work on together but the other fun part is that um it won recognition from
architectural digest as the most beautiful Coffee House in Colorado in 2018 which I was really you know proud
of for both he and I you know for his his space getting that recognition as well as that being my first commercial
project so that felt really good how did you make that transition from
this is your first commercial project but before you did residential right oh yeah I did and so was it just
circumstance that brought you two together yeah actually so um I had started my firm back in 2013 and we were
still climbing out of you know the slump for residential um you know home sales
and so staging was necessary and that's how I started my business was just staging homes and making connections
with real estate agents and then um I got my first um interior design job with
a couple and you know it just kind of built from there one thing after another um and then this uh the owner of Story
Coffee actually is a friend of mine and so um he was coming into town and wanted to build a space and I said would you
let me do it and because I said I've never done commercial before and I think it could be really awesome to you know
get my hands wet and he has stories to tell about working with me
because I was very specific about some things and because I had a great relationship with him and he trusted me
he was like okay uh you know someday if you ever interview him he might have something to say about that but um
anyways but he he trusted me and that was really an excellent you know place to get my feet wet in commercial design
especially something that was Hospitality directed um and and then it just you know one one job at a time you
just start getting you know used to what you're doing in in each Realm both residential commercial and then in 23 I
changed and began only doing commercial I stopped doing residential so that's
been the big shift for our company and that was when we picked up commercial Furniture as well that's exciting yeah
it is it's kind of like hold your breath here we go all right yeah okay so we're gonna do a card um
here so pick a card any card okay do I read it right go ahead
and read it what fear have you outgrown what a great question that is a great
question H you hope you have an answer right that
I'm out one of my fears um oh
gosh you know while you're thinking about it I'll tell you guys mine um when I was growing
up I I remember the distinct journey of this fear my dad took us to the um what
is it called down near Durango the cliff dwellings um the national park down there yeah what is that called I'm
drawing a blank anyways so we did um a hike and a tour and we had to climb up I
it felt like a 300 foot ladder on the side of a cliff to get to one of the dwellings and ever since then I realized
my fear of heights oh um and so I was terrified as a kid growing up with the
significant fear of heights like I could barely even like step out onto a balcony you know or uh you know at an apartment
complex or anything like that and I would just be terrified but what helped me get over my fear of heights was
shortly after high school I worked at a flight school and I was the receptionist
and one day we also had we it was a flight school and then we had a commercial um not a commercial um a
private jet type of service where they would do you know um um little flights
and stuff for people privately anyways so the pilot came to me and he's like Hey listen I need
someone sorry if I'm telling on you guys publicly but they needed someone to sit in the co-pilot's seat as they did this
flight they're like we really need you to sit in the co-pilot's seat and we're going to fly down to Texas and then
we'll bring you back and I'm like okay so we hopped in and we had this Charter
I get into the co-pilot seat and I'm thinking this is going to be terrible I'm going to die it's going to be
horrible but we fly all the way down to Denton Texas and we drop off our passengers from the charter and then we
start flying back and the pilot looks at me and he's like do you want to try and fly and I'm like oh oh my word I don't
know I'm so scared but eventually I was like okay and then he just let go of the Yol and I'm like what do I do and he's
like grab the yolk and I got to fly pretty much the whole entire way back from Texas to
Colorado and I realized and I started taking Private Pilot Li lessons from
that point and got very close to becoming a private pilot license or a licensed private pilot um but what I
realized is that helped me regain a sense of control over Heights again it
was you know conquering that fear but knowing I can be that high up and still control my destiny so that's awesome
yeah hopefully that got your juices flowing well so it makes me think about um because it has to do with control
always right isn't that usually associated to fear oh my gosh so I've been a creative since I was a child I've
always just been in some kind of creative work and I had a 20-year career in performing arts and um so um it's
it's hard when you make something that people are meant to enjoy to not be a control freak about that you know and be
like it has to be perfect it has to be you know I see it this way or I imagine it this way or I created it to be this
way it must be that way it's very easy for that to be a thing and it that actually has a ton of fear Associated
because links back to your ego right so um in the latter part of my music career
um we were doing a lot of collaborations and I began learning how collaboration
in was better than what I just decided by myself or created by myself and it's
translated into my career now in that um well sometimes when I'm working you
know on a project uh the question will come why are we doing it like this and I'll say well this is what the client wanted and there will be a comment of
but I don't think I really like that and I'm like that's okay it's not about us it's about them and what they wanted in
this part was more important you know than what we thought it was going to be and because we may have had another idea
but that part of collaboration is necessary because if I'm going to do be
have a design firm and it's about my ego this is going to be terrible
potentially um and I've heard people talk about working with designers that it was so much about what they designed
that it became very difficult and um I'm actually so thankful that I had that
other career to kind of wipe the um egotistical prideful artist off of me so
that I could actually run an interior's business that was all about the client
and really about you know focusing on them hearing them our our best skill set
and we're always trying to get better at it is listening and listening to them hearing not just what the words they say
but the words they don't say hearing their heart what are they really trying to accomplish what are their goals in
the future do they want to um expand to have multiloc did they want to sell their business in the future these are
all things that we learn in some of our first even consultations because it helps us understand how we're going to
design for them if they want to sell we need to package this thing up like a product that somebody can buy one day
you know make it really brand Centric yeah Absol absolutely but then if they want to open multiple locations you got
to make sure you have a design that expands across the country AB is not regionally tied or something like that
yeah yeah wow I never even really really thought about those considerations yeah
huh well what a really cool metamorphosis that you went through and you took into your design business and
wow huh very cool yeah I would say that's a great fear yeah
hopefully to get over exactly fear of losing control of
everything which is so hard yeah it is totally all right my fear so this is a
funny one when I was in college I worked at a camp a summer camp and I was like a
camp counselor and one night a group of guys snuck into our cabin right as all
of my cabin guys were falling asleep and you know right when you like first drop into sleep and again and you know these
are like high schoolers so we've been talking and yaking and trying to get them all quiet so they finally do the lights go out we're all right on that
edge of falling asleep and then these guys snuck in through the bathroom window were hiding in the bathroom and
they waited for us all to get to that moment of like quietness and then they
jumped out of the bathroom running and screaming through the cabin and just ran
out that's it they just ran out it scared me me so bad like I mean it was
one of those just like adrenaline fear nobody knew what it was cuz by the time like we woke there was no life there's
just all of this sound I walked around with this fear of being scared for years
because it was like this almost like triggering like so anytime I was alone or if I was alone in the house I had to
like walk around the house make sure everything was quiet make sure like everything was locked up make sure you know Peak behind things like just
nervousness followed me until my 30s wow and I finally after a season of like
living alone and actually having to face that and be comfortable of actually
being kind of in that space and not someon being jumped out and being scared it finally started to like dissipate but
even now if like you know my partner's gone and I'm sleeping alone I still have this like little inkling of fear of like
something's going to jump out and get me from freaking almost 20 years ago really yes you live with monsters under the bed
I guess yeah or someone just that that being scared right again which is another like loss of control in some
ways right at the end of the day so yeah that's been a big fear I've had to work to to get over in my my journey of sour
so anyway yeah fun fears okay here's my question okay and then um so with all of
this kind of creative work that you've done I'm always curious to learn like what book has shaped you from a creative
perspective or maybe a professional perspective but is there a specific book or something that you read where you're
like all of a sudden it gave you something new to look at or think about that you applied into your
business yes and this is going to be very it's going to be a little
sketchy because it was written by my
husband I know that sounds like I'm plugging his work um and I I I am
because he's I think he's a genius um but he wrote a book um called Never drop the ball again and um you know we're
married so he was like would you read this and just you know give it your give it a once over I'm a slow reader I have
um dyslexia and I'm also add so put those two together it's a good time and
so um he was like if you can read this in a short sitting anyone can and I was
like it's totally true so I was reading it and I was so inspired by it and he was already kind of
coaching my practice a little bit at the time but but when I finished reading it
I was like I think I need you to come on to my into my firm more as a fractional
um part of our company to take what you're proposing in this book and make it happen for us and it literally has
changed my practice wow 100% um specifically because I did want to get
to a place in the future where I could potentially sell my practice or be set up in order to bring on part
Partnerships and and you know share the load with a with Partners in the future I mean just things like that but I was
operating like a solar preneur and I wasn't ready to do that and it needed I needed a major shift so um reading his
book got my brain in a different direction You' think we lived together you know he was slow feeding me the book
you know over time he's not like that it was all in here and it all came out wow really and then I read it and I was like
oh my gosh this is this is fantastic and it's like a Seth Goden Style real small you read it in like an hour was like two
hours but still that was short wow I have to pick up a copy of the book quite
intrigued I know it's on Amazon okay it's and never drop the ball again never drop the ball again awesome never drop
the ball we should put those in a link in the show notes abolutely we can totally that it would be great we'll plug it okay awesome you can't plug it
we exactly right it seems weird you're bias or not for
sure well you know the the theme of this podcast is all about reflection and growth
through mistakes and failures that we've made in business and I was I was at an event this morning
and they were talking about you know vulnerability and I think as a a business owner being a being a business
owner is probably the most vulnerable position you can ever put yourself into
and so let's let's pull down our pants and
talk about going be your part right I love the name of this podcast
it's awesome I know isn't it amazing oh you should have been in the room when we came up with it it was
hilarious I'll have to tell you about that another time um but tell us if you
look back through all of your steps and sounds like kind of a Natural Evolution
within your business what was that one mistake that you reflect back on and
what it look like what it feel like what it smell like taste like yeah okay so I
think you know how it's a mistake and and you don't know it's a mistake to you look back and go oh that was a Mist I shouldn't have done it that way yeah
um for me it I didn't know myself well enough in
the beginning to really shape my business towards who I am and so um I think my
biggest mistake was actually being a residential designer and it's not because I don't like people's houses I I
love people it's what gets me out of bed in the morning is thinking about my clients I think about who they are and
what they're doing and how I want to help them um and it's not that helping people with their homes I had no bias I
have no judgments about how much people spend on their stuff it's nothing like that
but um I'm wired for business when I was a little girl um I loved you telling me
about this about your wall because it made me think of my story um when I was
a little girl I would play at my grandmother's house we she lived in East Texas um and she had all these tons of
irises and this big garden and that was one of my favorite places to play and pretend and stuff and it wasn't until I
was a teenager that on a trip back you know how when you grow up and you go through those teen years it's all like
all of a sudden somebody peels the film off of life and you start seeing things differently oh yeah I remember getting
to her house and looking down those flowers that I had played in just a year or so before without paying attention
and seeing signs in front of all the different flowers and I went over and was reading them and I realized that she
was hybridizing irises and selling them because she lived on the highway like on two lane Highway in Texas and um she was
you know came from a eration where women don't start businesses you know and she was an entrepreneur she was running that
business on the side and I didn't even know it I I just went in and she always had cake that's What mattered right
that's all that matters it's like my papy and the suckers right exactly I didn't care about the Playboys in the bathroom I just wanted that sucker
that's exactly right and so um because of that you know I could tell you five
more stories about the same thing I started my first business when I was 19 and I've been a business owner ever since and what I learned so the biggest
thing that I wish I would have known before and I learned that it wasn't a
failure but I I've I've been a bu better business owner by understanding that we
are wired a certain way and how we're wired really helps us attract the right
people it helps us enjoy the work of our hands that we do every day and when I
discovered that I was wired for business and I thought about business all the time it made me understand that I'm most
attractive to business owners and I'm most attracted attractive to them and I'm attracted to them so I I'm drawn to
them I I want to hear their stories I want to help them you don't have to like get me in the right heads space to do a
project for I am just ready to go and I it has made me a better business owner
to understand how I'm wired and who I'm meant to get to and that that was a mistake I made for years not not knowing
that about myself made me um you know if I was going to have hiccups or bumps in the road in in
projects or just have projects that I was like man this is not going well or we didn't really connect it's not
because the person was the wrong person or I was the wrong person for them I you was doing a bad job necessarily any of
that it was just it I wasn't wired to just do that part of Interiors I was
wired to help businesses grow I was wired to think like a business owner and
it changed everything for me so you moved into more of your true authentic self in that moment that is it not
living in my authentic self for all that time and it wasn't like I was you know faking anything it's just I didn't know
that about myself and I didn't know how important it was going to be yeah to to have that set right God that's beautiful
well and it sounds like it's become your business model it has like now you're helping other business owners bring
themselves through their business so I'm curious like how do you help other
business owners navigate the mistakes maybe they're making and putting a front of their business that isn't them or
kind of walking through that like how is that mistake now helping you oh absolutely so I'm dovetailing again into
this story about my husband because um his business after I adopted you know he came into my business with that book um
I we have started now partnering together working with my clients which become our client
exactly on this piece of it when they don't know really who they are and I call this just being unbranded if they
have a logo a lot of times they'll go oh I've got a brand and I'm like let's talk about that's not a brand that's just an
icon and it might have been formed um for many reasons sometimes it's the the
fastest thing I could put together because I had to get something going hey I get it we have to be nimble and we
have to sometimes get Scrappy when we're starting our our companies right so true but when we're going to have longevity
it's really about understanding ourselves how we're wired and who we're wired for so that story I just told
about myself is what we help other companies do now is understand who they are what they're wired to do what their
sweet spot is and how they do it and who they do it for and what they're delivering to them and um my husband's
actually going to be writing a book specifically on that coming soon um but
we work together with clients and then I I springboard out of that into the design because now I feel like I have
such a rich pool to draw from to take into their design and it it's really
helped some of our clients talk a little bit with us about a brand what exactly
is a brand it's not a logo is it a logo I think it's that story element
um it it creates this width and breadth to um what the company is doing it it I
think it actually if the company can absorb it it changes the model of what
they do and how they do it because it starts to infuse into their Workforce Now their Workforce actually has
something to Anchor to and they can believe in something because it's a story it's a narrative it's rich and
deep and um it's not just we sell widgets it's we you know we're culture
it's the culture we're answering a question we're solving a problem but the why we're doing that is back there and
we get to all of that and that's that you know it's sometimes hard to talk about
it because not every business is a Sol was started by a solar preneur but some most of them were and and that story way
back there is part of that foundational story you know narrative that's built up
into the company and why we do what we do and what does it make people feel like
to be in contact with who we are what we're our service our product blah blah blah all of those things and how do we
want them to leave how are we trying to change their lives or make their lives better or you know whatever we're doing
it is answering all of those questions in such a way that if it is a if the brand is well established it can be a
part of the HR it it goes into how then do we treat one another how do we treat
our clients how do we want to be known in this community and boy does that make a
difference for the life of your business and this seems like again just one of
those things where every owner has that wise story and yet pulling that out into
a brand seems to be also so many business owners biggest Achilles heel they can't figure out how to actually
take that why and turn it into a brand exactly and in your own experience I'm curious like what do you think that edge
is what is that struggle that bu owners have being able to pull that forward I think it's a Mis
misunderstanding of what branding is I think they just think because it's branding um marketing and then you know
the the visual collateral that goes with those those are three different things there three different parts so even The
Branding piece we don't do graphic design we work with a graphic designer and we'll we'll bring all of the
knowledge that we've gathered and we start um turning it into image words
that then will work with the graphic design designer and go okay these are the images that we' we are pulling from
their story and we think this is going to influence that visual collateral that
you can make for them and then we release it to them to do that piece of it I think most people when they just think of that piece and they go oh I've
got this but they're missing that depth and I think that depth is going to influence so much of their company and
their future even things like am I going to expand or does it just need to be one
location am I going to you know sell it in the future I mean cuz those are big things that you know as you are you've
had your company for how many years now s or we're coming up on our eth anniversary yes okay so you you've had
this time now to think about the future and what do I want to do with this thing because you've put all the Blood Sweat and Tears into it and you've gotten a
pretty good thing growing here yes we do I'm pretty proud I've gotten to watch you too which is really fun um anyway so
yeah that that changing from just seeing it as an element that they push out on a
business card to something that foundationally changes the way they're approaching and I think the biggest
thing is a they don't understand that piece of it and B there's a cost Associated because there's some mental
technology that we bring to the table to work through with them that is you know just part of our IP you know what's that
transformation that you see though I have a feeling that there's got to be this
series of aha moments that you get to watch and capture and it's probably not
just one it's probably a whole series of them but like from the first aha to the
maybe not the last aha but you know to the point of where you you get them what does that transformation generally look
like like I'd love to watch that it's really fun to be a part of because they it there's a lot of self-discovery in it
cuz they're like I never thought about that I didn't realize and we we do very much like what I just talked about with
my story of my grandmother we help them think back into their their history as
to what has made you who you are because that is all a part of your business you know all of those influences are coming
through whether you know that or not if you can anchor onto it it's powerful and
so when they have those moments it is transformational you know they they get this new um a lot of them get like a the
lights come on they understand why they love certain parts of their business and why they hate certain parts and it's
given them freedom to go oh we'll be like it's time to hire that part out if
you can you know love what you do and understand that you're doing it because
of the way that you're made you know you're doing well you're attracted to certain things because of the way that you're made and and how to really tune
that business up so that you have fun yeah absolutely because there's plenty of parts of our businesses that are not
fun yeah yeah well it sounds like you know I think that this conversation is really interesting and correct me if I'm
wrong but in your evolution of going from residential into full commercial you
identified your own brand it's 100% true right so tell me I want to just kind of
circle back around to that before what were those feelings like you you loved doing residential you loved helping
people in their homes but there was something that was going on inside Robin tell us what was that something it was
like [Music] um kind of just being unfulfilled like I
just I liked the people and working with the people was great but there was that I could tell there was that little itch
there was something and when I because I was doing a little mix of both when I was working on the commercial jobs I was
I mean I was firing on all cylinders and it was honestly my husband who was the one that said you have to go with
commercial only cuz he was like it's in the tone of your voice when you talk about your projects he goes your your
countenance changes there's a little to in your voice and there's so much energy when you're talking about it because go
when you start telling me about residential and I'm there's not one bad thing to say about any of my res I love
everyone I've worked with but he say you just have a different demeanor when you talk about residential and he said you
are going to enjoy what you do if you do it for the people you were made to work with oh so true he's kind of a sage he
is a little bit of yod and then you know fast forward into
today yeah what's that shift looking back at the robin of
2017 is where's the difference yeah um well
there's I there's new challenges with commercial but um I feel like I
fine-tuned my offering like I feel like I know what I bring to the table now um
before if you would have said what makes you different than other designers I would be like my hair's early I mean I
really I had a hard time like but now I can put my finger on it because I
understand that the way that I'm wired makes me think differently and so the
way I like to tell clients sometimes is I don't make it pretty I make it profitable because I'm not thinking
about just those things now granted we love making it pretty don't let me get
that wrong we love to you know bring in the best materials and the best creative
ideas to you know you know make it eye-catching but it's all about telling that story that is their unique story
and so um yeah I think just getting that thing pulled up to the front where I
could go this is what makes me different this is what makes me really good at my job and because I'm I'm sure that when
it comes to the nuts and bolts of what interior design is everything from you know construction documents to whatever
that we produce I'm sure somebody can do that better than me and I'm planning to hire them
because what I love is I love listening and I love this branding piece of it
where we walk through their story with them and then I love you know just working with them one-on-one and getting into the project with them but um yeah
it's it's changed how I approach it for sure so fun what in and kind of that
same vein I'm curious like what mistakes do you see a lot of business owners making when it comes to their interior
design or their commercial spaces like what are the two or three common things
across the board that you feel like you often observe lighting is number one not
realizing what an impact it makes matter of fact it's the thing I talk to them most about when it comes to HR
absolutely is how do we keep our best employees and how do we make them love they spend more time in your office if
they're you know not remote they spend more time in your office than they do at home so how can we make them feel really
cared for and appreciated so that they want to to come in and do their best
work and lighting is one of those things um I think it's because we've the in the
design build industry has set some norms for offices that I think are just poor yeah which is you know steing chers yeah
with 2x4 you know choer lights in them and you know fluorescence was The Way We Were and now you know we're we're
putting panels in so that's an improvement but sometimes the light color is just like we're going to get a root canal instead of you know do our
job today unless you know we're working on a root canal um but studies show that
natural light increases productivity um I've seen studies
anywhere from 25 to 45% so you choose your Source everybody but it drastically
increases productivity yes I believe that is true and so I one of the projects I worked on um it was uh a
satellite company and so they had most of their Workforce were coding and I walked in the first St us to see the
space and all the lights were off and I was like oh did it are they all working remote today and she was like oh they're here and I would walk around the corner
and they're in their little cubes and they're all in the dark and I was like why are the lights off and she said they
hate the lighting and I was like number one on our list is going to be changing and their budget was very low and so we
just used some really creative ideas of bouncing light around the room that just made them feel warm and cozy but not
with this thing over their head the whole time it makes all the difference oh it totally does so lighting what's another thing that you often see another
thing is um forgetting to have a good break space it's another thing it's
about employees I mean goodness I Love My Team without them I can't do what I want to do I can't have the company I
want to have so I have to think about what is going to make them again feel cared for and loved and taken you know I
thought about you and I wanted you to have this I mean in our office it's the small things like having some snacks but
you know having a break space that they feel like they get to literally get a break from their work space go into
another location I often encourage them if you can break this up into more than just one break space if your office will
allow to have another just quiet space a a getaway um a phone booth especially if
you've got yeah if you've got bigger work rooms and it's hard for people to get privacy you know they feel like they
can't have that call with their doctor or something if if everyone's going to hear what they
and so small things I mean those are not cheap pieces of furniture so to speak
but I think that they go a long way to translate to companies you know to their
clients that you know they really care and I think the the final thing would be um understanding that branding matters
that having spending some money on that in their space um they think it's just a
sign on the on the top or you know something behind the front desk but it really is about integrating it
throughout the space that can create that experience it's that brand cohesion
that begins to get into the psychology of the people that go into that space
they they just kind of absorb it I think you just nail it it creates that experience that's exactly what a brand
is at least in my mind that's you know it goes so much more Beyond a logo and a
couple colors because you associate that that's the visual but you associate feelings to that logo those colors
that's exactly right and that's the brand mhm and that's what we try to do is is then Infuse those feelings
throughout the space everything every layer that you can everything from paint colors to lighting to Furniture it's all
layered up together that's so cool can I come work for you
sure um looking back at that Robin of
you know 2017 2016 why would you go back in time and time tell
her change now CH change to the commercial side as
soon as you can cuz that was really the biggest change for me was was getting my my head right into what I was made to do
and who I was made to do it for um and and not give up you know don't give up it you're going to hit hard stuff what
about all of the listeners here who may be sitting in that unsettled place that 2017 Robin was sitting in and maybe they
don't know who their true self is I mean you didn't even know them right you had no clue that you were sitting in the
wrong spot so how do business
owners who's who's living in a little unsettledness take that deep look within
and say whoa what what what did they do yeah well I would say buy my husband's
new book but it's not out yet it will be soon but no it is I think it is about
finding out what you what makes you tick why do what do you love what what has historically been a thread you can trace
back to Childhood I really I believe we're made with purpose and that it comes out as we're children because you
know given the best circumstances we will pretend the thing you know we will
act it out as children when I was little I didn't play house I didn't either I played business I would set my did you
oh my gosh that's so fun I've never met desk with the box and everything all I knew people had asked me what I wanted
to be when I grew up and I was like I just want an office I knew I wanted to wear like business clothes and sit in an
office oh my gosh what we're soul sisters I I knew that from the moment I met you when my friends wanted to play
house and I was going to be hanging out with you know playing with them I would pretend I was pregnant and then I would hand the baby to somebody
else that is awesome you'll take that and and I am a mom of two amazing
men now and so I I've never you know regretted the days that I've had with
them but but it is true that I was wired as a child to think about working and so
even my play was pretending to be a and I did too I pretended I would imagine
myself in my business clothes driving my sports car I even envisioned my older self with
glasses did you really oh then here I am funny I love it that is great so it's true that it to to be able to as a
business owner look into the thread of your history and go what what have I
always been attracted to it will give you an indication of what your best future could be if you're thinking that
way really engaging that part of yourself and who does that person really want to serve who do you want to be
solving problems for creating products for so the the piece to me like 100% And
what I so often see the the edge for a lot of people is permission you can love all like and but
they think whether they invest you know thousands of dollars in a coach that tells them what to do or they buy on to
a model that tells them what to do or they buy into a franchise that like they never get to that place of giving
themselves permission to actually do it yeah so what was the permission for you how did you give yourself
permission I think it was that encouragement from my husband having someone else that loves you and knows
you really speaking to that thing and go I know you you're going to love this part of your life and it was not easy
matter of fact the first six months or so was a little financially like thin I
was like did I choose poorly but um over time you know it all came back because it was the right
direction but I think that permission is um you know having someone else in the
process with you that can help reflect and and process that even just who do
you know me to be what have you seen that you think is natural in me you know have a friend go with them and give
yourself permission to re-evaluate CU that was my big thing
yeah that's beautiful I think that's a perfect place just to stick a pen in it and say all right we're done we're well
done yeah wow that's wonderful thank you so much
for brings such a a unique concept to the couch in Grandma's living room today
um you know I think it's easy just to kind of get locked up into you know well I made a bad financial mistake or I
fired the wrong person or something like that but I love this abstract thought
process of you know making a mistake and not being true to
yourself and I think that's probably more common than not yeah so it's
beautiful thank you all right we're going to go ahead and wrap up but Robin I'd love for you to
tell everybody how they can do business with you get in touch with you and we've
already talked about a little bit of your your your badassery but tell everybody a little bit more sure so we
have a showroom in a studio downtown Colorado Springs it on the door it says buy appointment only but we're at 616
Norte hone so we are available if you need to see furniture or sit in a chair we have a showroom uh and then p
commercial interiors.com we really work to make that as long as possible um that
is our website so p a s lyc commercial interiors.com uh is our website and um
it's where you can see some of the work that we've done you can see our team and um see what offerings we have and you
can even book an appointment with me I have been to her showroom and I think I've sat in almost all of the chairs and
they're incredible there's one chair I keep eyeing and one day I'm going to be like Rob [Laughter]
but in the meantime you need to pop up to Brian's office and convince him to order a new chair have you seen his chair haven't seen it oh gosh be
prepared to be mortified right Jason he needs some new chairs 100% that's awesome all right everybody this was
your show me yours thank you Robin thank you Jason and we will see you on the
next episode