[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:11] Speaker B: Hey and welcome back to the Interior Collective, a podcast for the business of beautiful living. I'm your host, Anastasia Casey, and I couldn't be more thrilled for today's episode because it'll be a masterclass in social media authenticity and strategy. Today I'm joined by my dear friend Chloe Legross of Foxwood Avenue Interiors. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of diving into Chloe's world yet, you are in for a treat. She's the visionary behind the stunning interiors and lifestyle brand Boxwood Avenue, a brand that effortlessly combines luxury design with the art of intentional slow living. Chloe and I have been friends for years. We had actually met at the Haven Workshop years ago, I think in 2019, and have stayed really close since. I've even had the privilege of attending her retreats around abroad. Experiences that were truly life changing. This past May, I attended Boxwood Abroad in the Cotswold and it was the trip of a lifetime. Well, that is until next September when I'm attending the Boxwood Abroad in Provence. Those retreats have given me a firsthand look at Chloe's passion for honoring heritage, simplicity and the beauty of Old World charm alongside Chloe's joy for life that extends way beyond beautiful interiors. Today, she's here to share her approach to balancing a luxury design business with a lifestyle brand that celebrates the everyday. We'll get into the nitty gritty of her social media strategy, particularly over the last year, how she connects with her followers so authentically and her secrets for building a brand that high budget design clients are genuinely excited to be a part of. I mean this in the most genuine way possible. Get ready to dive in because this is Chloe's world and I feel just so lucky to be living in it.
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[00:02:39] Speaker B: Hi Chloe and welcome to the Interior Collective. This has been a long time coming and I'm just so honored to have you.
[00:02:46] Speaker A: I am so excited. Truly so excited. I know I told you this, that this is on my manifestation list to be on your podcast. And so I am honored.
[00:02:56] Speaker B: Well, that's just me. I just make dreams come true. So I am super excited for this show because Chloe's one of my dearest friends now and that friendship has blossomed over the last like five years. But there was a long time of me just admiring her from afar. And so it's going to be a fun episode to get to sit in on one of our design chats that we have very frequently. But I am really excited for you to just school us on social media because I feel like you are taking such a unique approach while serving a masterclass in the ability to combine lifestyle brand with still high end design. And it's something that feels almost impossible to me, to our clients, to our listeners. And so if you can just teach us literally everything you know, that's going to be great.
[00:03:51] Speaker A: I am so excited, actually. Just I'm fresh off of. So, you know, we, and we'll talk about this. We do the Boxwood Abroads, but we also do small business workshops and it really does focus on social media. We just had one some. I'm coming fresh off of our last social media workshop. So I've got a lot at the forefront of my mind of growing social in today's landscape of reels and TikTok and all of the things. And so I feel like I have a lot to share and I'm really excited because I know for anybody listening, social media feels kind of can feel, I should say, like this, I don't know, this impossible mountain to climb. And it can feel sometimes I think like you take two steps forward and you kind of get your bearings and then all of a sudden you're sliding back down the mountain, so to speak. And so I, I think that I have a good understanding of, of Instagram and social media again, but it took me a while to get back to this point because reels were introduced. And so I'm, I'm really excited to share everything that I can today with, with you and everybody listening.
[00:04:55] Speaker B: Let's start with a little bit of background because your journey to design was certainly not a straight line. And I think it's important to acknowledge that you were blogging and doing other things with a pretty different target audience, which you've masterfully molded and redirected to have a lot of overlap, but also introduce new people. So tell us a little bit about your like, professional backstory and how you ended up having a design firm.
[00:05:24] Speaker A: Yes, yes. It's Kind of like directing like a giant cruise ship. And then we, very slowly. I mean, it took us probably a year to shift. But I started, of course, I actually started with an Etsy shop. So I had this Etsy shop. I was sewing pillows. I got a sewing machine for. I think it was like my 17th or 18th birthday. And I got so sick of sewing pillows on my Etsy shop. And I thought, you know, people have blogs, and I think people can make money doing this. So I'm going to try and teach people how to sew pillows so that I never have to sew another pillow in my life. So I started blogging. And I was on Instagram, of course, sharing that journey, blogging. And I was posting a lot. And I'll talk about this because I still think people do this. I was posting a lot of what I thought people would want to see. So at the time, I think it was maybe 2015 ish. You know, it was kind of like a coffee cup with like a lipstick mark and like a flat lay. You know what I mean? So I was posting that and I was not getting anywhere. It's not getting any traction. And I lived on this cattle ranch in Northern California, and one of my girlfriends said, he live on this ranch. He should share pictures of horses. And I legitimately said to her, I think that's the stupidest idea ever. Nobody wants to see a picture of a horse. So I. I was like, but I'll try it. So I started sharing a little bit more of my life in within the business side of things. So I started to kind of interweave my story within the Etsy shop blog thing. And that really started to gain some traction. So I saw, oh, people want to see the story behind a brand. And I always, actually always wanted a brick and mortar shop. But I knew, even at the time, I knew I could sell really cute baskets or whatever, but if I didn't have a brand backing it, people would just go to Amazon. So I knew that I needed to build a brand to support the vision of having this shop. So that's what I was doing. I was just trying to build this brand. And I was sharing on Instagram life on the ranch and the design. I was designing my house and it got noticed by a production company, and they reached out wanting to do a pilot episode for a TV show. And I was not a designer at the time. So originally actually it was going to be a cooking show. So we were on our Zoom call. You know, it was actually probably even before Zoom. Cause it was Pre everything. But they. They was construction in the background, and they're like, what's going on in the background? I said, oh, my dad and I renovate. Are renovating my house. And they're like, tell us more about that. And so I said, oh, yeah. My dad and I are like, my whole life. He said, he has helped me. And they said, okay, tell us more about that. So then I had to do a casting call. Cause I wasn't a designer. I didn't have clients. So we did a casting call for this TV show, this pilot episode, where I was a designer on it. And my dad and I together renovated these people's house. And so we got three people that applied for the show. One of them we did. And it was great because there's a. Something called a showrunner. So the showrunner is kind of like a project manager. And now I do have a design firm, so it's kind of like a project manager. Project manager of a. Of a construction site. And so I had my handheld, that first project that I took on, and the two people that didn't get picked, they reached out and they said, hey, can you. Would you still be interested in doing our house? I know we're not gonna do it for the show. And I said, sure. So actually, Lori came with me with a tape measure and pretended to be my design.
And I mean, talk about fake it till you make it. I mean, I had a little experience because it was my house. And now that I'm in the industry, I want to be really respectful of the skill that it takes to become a designer. But I just started doing it. You know, I jumped in with both feet, and I started sharing more and more. And the project. That one project then led to a spec house, which led to a couple other houses and actually sharing on Facebook. Our biggest project ever came from Facebook. It's the most random thing, but that's a little bit of how I got into design. And from there, I. You know, I always say you have to be prepared to be lucky. I feel like that was my little bit of luck. And then throughout that, we were really intentional in building a design firm. And so now we serve clients really across the world. And it's great. It's really fun. It allows me to travel, and we have some amazing clients and some amazing projects.
[00:09:31] Speaker B: Okay, so how many people are on the team today? And I know that with every small design firm, that number fluctuates and is ever evolving. So how many people are on your team today? And for those who do follow you or know a little bit about your story. How is, how does that get handled when you are abroad for your other business ventures or a distance design project, et cetera? How do you keep boots on the ground, if you will?
[00:10:00] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. So we have six or six of us and then we have a couple independent contractors who help with the blog and help with Pinterest and things. But on the team, there are six of us and I couldn't do it without them. I mean, and I am, I tell them every day. I am so grateful for my team because they really allow me to do what I love. And I kind of, you know, I see myself as more of the creative director, the visionary. I am very involved in every single project. I know what's going on in every single project. But on the day to day, I have two incredible designers on the team. One's west coast, one's east coast based. So that allows flexibility for projects that are either east coast or west coast. And then we have two procurement managers. One of them oversees the customer service of our online shop as well. So we still have the online shop. And then there's my right hand, Lori. I'll probably mention her a couple times throughout the episode. But Lori is our operations director. And so she and I are every day connecting, kind of seeing the big picture vision and what needs to be done for the day or week or month.
[00:11:05] Speaker B: Okay, perfect. And then just to finish painting this complete picture, where in that trajectory did the concept of Boxwood abroad and the travel and like lifestyle elements really fall into positioning your brand for a design studio?
[00:11:25] Speaker A: Right. So I love to travel and I actually went on a retreat, kind of like what we host now. And it, it really changed my life. And I remember thinking, I want to do this someday. And I was traveling a little bit with just family and posting about it on social media and people were saying, oh, take us with you, take us with you. Because I was sharing antiquing. We do a lot of antiquing. We bring antiques back for our shop and then of course for our projects. And so I said, well, let's just post it on social media. I posted that on social media. I said, boxwood Abroad, where, you know, you can come with us next year on, on Instagram Stories. And then Lori called me the next day and said, hey, my mom called me and told me that we're now offering trips abroad. I said, yeah, sorry, I forgot to tell you that. But so I, I mean, I just posted it on social media and then decided to make it happen. But it Felt like a really natural progression because we already hosted retreats stateside, so we already were pretty well equipped to to in hospitality. One thing that I think we've learned over the years is that we are very, very good at serving and service help in the service kind of realm. We lean into that more so than the retail side of things. We learned that retail just wasn't our forte and we let that go and so we really embrace the hospitality and service part of our business.
[00:12:45] Speaker B: Amazing. Okay, so I have been a long, long time follower and I've really watched your strategy evolve as your brand has kind of grown up as well. What I'm curious, kind of most curious about is how did you. Has there been an initial vision for what this was going to grow into or has it been very much kind of step by step as curveballs come and things change? Because for me growing my business, there has never been a five year plan. Like it is like, it is like a one month plan, it is like a six month plan. And so I'd love to hear like how did you have a vision of how lifestyle travel interiors would all help support a really successful high end design business?
[00:13:35] Speaker A: Definitely. I mean I am a visionary. I am not good at the details and I'm not good at the day to day. I am a big picture person and luckily I have Lori who is the direct opposite of me. So I can set my sights on something and then Lori will come and assist and help. And so I do think that it's really valuable to have somebody on your team that can balance out your strength, you know, strengths and weaknesses or strengths and areas of growth. And so but yes, to answer your question, I mean I always, I feel like we all have these callings in our hearts and so I just, I always wanted a lifestyle brand and like I said at the beginning, I knew that I needed to build a brand if I wanted people to buy into it. And throughout over the years I, yes, we've shifted because when I first started when I named Boxwood Avenue, I actually just thought I really can envision it on a storefront sign. And we had the storefront, you know, and we let that go. And that was hard, but it also was something that I knew I wanted. We brought it into the world and now and then I knew when it was time to let it go. And of course there's time, there's areas of pivot and so you know, sometimes we have to set a ball down and maybe it's something that I really, really wanted and I just know it's not the right time, but I, I do have a pretty solid ten year plan, a five year plan and a three year plan. We use the EOS system. I think it's free for anybody to download. And we, Laurie and I do that every year. We actually just did it. We do it at the year end and actually remember the first time we ever did it, it was at Vegas market. It was 2019 and it was January. So right before, and there was, we remember, like there's this thing that people say they're going to be sick. And it was right pre pandemic. And we sat there and we thought and we said, let's try and make a hundred thousand dollars next year. I mean, that was our big, big goal. And so it's really cool to see how far we've come, but I do think it's helpful. And so, yeah, I have always had that vision. And the EOS system is great for that.
[00:15:35] Speaker B: Okay, great. We'll make sure that that is linked in the show notes for anybody who's, who's ready to explore that especially Perfect time because this episode will air probably right before the new year, just the first week of January. Okay, so I want to talk esthetic because this is where I feel some of the biggest challenge happens when it comes to social media, especially with the introduction of Reels and the takeover of TikTok. What steps are you taking to ensure that Your Instagram or TikTok align with your brand's core values and philosoph philosophy? From an aesthetic perspective, being in an aesthetic business, this is where it really struggles. Like, how do you keep coming up with content when you don't have another project installed to shoot or to film in, et cetera.
[00:16:22] Speaker A: You know, what's really interesting is that I don't think that we really share much of our projects because a lot of our clients actually don't allow us to photograph their homes. It's an interesting thing. And you know something, we're balancing. That said, there are some really amazing projects that I'm excited about and those projects I share a lot on stories. But aside from, aside from that, what I think is really helpful for people to hear, and this was a mindset shift for me, is that most of the content that I have, I'm just repurposing it. So it's not actually new content that I'm shooting constantly. I think when I first got started, I was on that hamster wheel of, okay, we have to shoot this, we have to style this. I need new, fresh Content, and it actually wasn't as effective as I thought. And my friend Julie, who's a blogger, she's an amazing blogger, she taught me that. She, you know, she would write about marble countertops or something, and she'd have pictures of her kitchen, and she'd just write about marble countertops, and then she'd write about pendants in the kitchen, but she'd use those same pictures. She wouldn't feel that she had to reshoot that. And she would tell that to me. And I didn't really understand it until now. When I'm traveling, I batch shoot a ton of content, and that content will last me three, four months. So really, I think repurposing that content, figuring out what works, what your audience is resonating with, and then just rinse and repeat and rinse and repeat. And we kind of have a strategy where once a week we know we're doing this type of reel or this type of reel, and we figured out what carousel style does well. And of course, there's always shifts and things, but it's. It was less about trying to come up with the best new idea and really just focusing on what was working and then repeating that over and over again.
[00:18:07] Speaker B: Okay, that's so fascinating to me. Talk to me about actually capturing content then that. Because you're essentially creating this evergreen content bank and just probably have so many photos and videos. Talk to me about, like, what you're looking for while you're traveling. If you aren't traveling for a while, what are you able to capture in your immediate surroundings that can serve as that content that you're speaking of? Especially, you know, your clients don't necessarily let you shoot, but maybe someone else doesn't have a great project or, you know, a nuts to bolts project that they want to share yet. So talk to me about a day in the life of Chloe. And what. What are you training your eye to see, to know? Let me capture that.
[00:18:50] Speaker A: Well, it actually starts with more so the messaging for me. So what I'm really actually focusing more so on. And I write this down in my journal a lot. So what do I actually believe in? Because I think it's easy to get caught up in real trends and see what other people are doing. And so I will. I have this exercise where I write down what do I actually believe in? And it can be something like, I actually believe that really every room should have antiques in it. And I mean, yes, duh. I mean, most designers listening will probably agree with that, but I. So it's it's less about training my eye visually. It's more so about the messaging. So I will constantly be writing scripts. I actually write out my scripts and record my scripts, and then I just overlay footage that fits onto the script as a secondary element. And so it's more so about connecting with my audience and the message that I'm serving my audience rather than the visual component. Now, visually speaking, I think it's really important to capture things with a lot of movement in them. So I will set my camera up, and I have. I. I film a lot by myself because I'm traveling a lot by myself. So this, I think, is a helpful takeaway. I have this little, like, iPhone, something that has a sticky back. And so I. I will stick it on places and, you know, sip. Sip a cup of coffee or whatnot. But really, I think movement, light. It can be something as simple as leaves blowing, and there's some movement in it or, you know, a candle flickering. That little bit of movement, I think, is really visually appealing. So clean lines and, you know, creating. Creating a mood and an ambiance that supports the message that you're trying to get across to your audience.
[00:20:28] Speaker B: Okay, so I'm hearing that you're repurposing your content, your visual content, and you have this bank of it, but then you're also saying that you write your scripts first and you focus on the message. So where do those two overlap? Like, if you've been writing your scripts and, you know, you want to talk about cornices, like, that's what you really want to talk about, but you are starting with that, and then you go to your bank, and you're like, actually, I don't have the visuals to support that. What are you supplementing with? Or what are you looking for to go capture that yourself?
[00:21:01] Speaker A: Yeah, if there were. If there. Let's say, you know, there were specific Thanksgiving tablescape or something like that, I would shoot that. Then I would schedule some time to shoot that. And we do shoot. I'd say once a month, we'll. We'll shoot content. And that's where if we have a specific idea that we're trying to do, I would then specifically shoot that at that time. And it can really be something as simple as, you know, when I was first getting started, I'd order a ton of stuff, style it, and I'd have to return it because I couldn't keep it. And so it was all about the aesthetic that I was trying to create. Aligning myself with brands that I wanted to align myself with, you know, I don't know if you heard that guy on TikTok who is like the private chef in the Hamptons. And the story goes that he actually wasn't. You don't know this. Okay, is the story goes that he actually. I mean, he was in the Hamptons, and yes, he is a private chef, but he wasn't a private chef for anybody in the Hamptons. And he just said that, you know, I'm a private chef in the Hamptons. Technically not a lie. Anyway, so he started shooting this content, and then he got hired by all these people. I think he's Jenna Lyons, like, private chef now because of this content. So anyways, I. I mean, I say that because I think it's all about aligning yourself with where you want to go and doing what you have to do to create it. And so for me, when I was first getting started, it was a lot of buying styling and sometimes having to return or, you know, getting really creative with certain angles, because I completely understand the. I don't really have that specific content that's elevated enough to my vision. And so there's always, you know, there's always this tension in that. And I can resonate with that so much because I. I'm constantly telling Lori, like, it's time to level up. And I think that's being creative. We're always trying to grow and be bigger and better and, you know, so.
[00:22:47] Speaker B: So on a very basic level, you seem so able to maintain a signature look, blending your personal homes or your travel or projects with more whimsical reels or Q and a style content on camera. How do you get that video image quality to be consistent between them? I think that this is what is paralyzing for people. It's like, I don't know how to get my lighting similar enough to look cohesive next to my professional photography to make it worth sharing.
[00:23:26] Speaker A: I completely understand that battle. And so I think it's one. So when I first got started, I had to teach myself photography because I was blogging, right? So I had to learn how to. And posting on Etsy. So I had to learn how to take nice photographs for. For my Etsy shop. And throughout that process, I learned a lot about light. And so. And I think designers understand light. So if we can take. Put our designer hats on when we are taking photographs or taking videos and look at light. One, I never shoot in full sunlight. So it's either in the morning, when sunlight isn't directly overhead, or in the evening. And that's Key, I think, to getting that consistency in light. That would be a really great takeaway. Great advice. And always looking about at where the light is coming from and, you know, just no harsh shadows that way that it. It can feel consistent. So you don't feel that you're telling the story of it. One clip you're at sunrise, and then in another clip you're, you know, middle of the day and it's harsh sun. So I. And I always only shoot on cloudy days if I'm going to be shooting outside and it is full sunlight. So that's just one little tip for consistency. Then also, I think it's more so for us. It's about. Well, our tagline is luxury and simplicity. And you don't need more, you need to meaningful. So I'm always thinking of that when I'm shooting things and making sure that whatever I'm shooting passes through that filter and kind of falling back. And I. And I'm pretty hard on. I'm shooting all of our content. So I. It's a rigorous process, let's say another. Another great thing is I think that a mistake designers make when they're shooting video content is having, like a shaky video. And so having some sort of tripod or like I mentioned, a little sticky back camera or phone case or whatever, that is really helpful, too, to make sure that your video footage is high quality. And when I'm editing my reels, I also slow it down. Oftentimes the speed, rather than that full speed, I kind of slow it down to maybe 0.7, so it gets a little bit more of that dreamlike quality. And it's not. There isn't any shake to it.
[00:25:34] Speaker B: Okay, that's brilliant. What about transitioning between indoor and outdoor shots? Like, you covered what you would be doing. If you're shooting outside, do you primarily shoot outside? Do you ever shoot inside? And if so, how do you make inside feel cohesive as well?
[00:25:51] Speaker A: Again, I think that's all about lighting. And so, yes, we shoot inside and outside, but like I said, a lot of what I share isn't necessarily our design projects. Even on our interiors account, we're sharing concepts. I think the last one we did was about, like layering a tablescape. And so a lot of what we shared on that wasn't necessarily a tablescape that we shot at someone's house. It was more so a video of us pulling pieces while we were antique shopping. Because the message that we're portraying is we love to infuse antiques into our projects. So it's more about the lifestyle within the real. I didn't really answer your question about going indoors and outdoors, but indoors, I would say it. It's more so about the light. And sometimes, here's the truth, sometimes the light sucks and you're just not going to get the shot that you want. And that, that's just oftentimes reality. I have a bank of interior footage that I really like that I know has done well, and I just reuse that. So if you look at some of my reels, I mean, there's a reel of me walking with some lilacs in my former kitchen. I know that shot does well and I put it in a lot of our reels and like my entryway, I know it does well and so I put it in a lot of our reels and I'm not concerned about making that different each time. I just, I know that it's gonna do well. And sometimes it's casting that wider net and not worrying so much about, oh, I've already shared that. Because chances are people aren't gonna remember.
[00:27:20] Speaker B: Right. Or chances are your full following. Plus people who haven't discovered you yet didn't even get to see it the first time. I think that that's a really, really good reminder that repeating content that does well and telling a different story with it absolutely qualifies as new content. And people get. We get questions from some of our social media clients who are like, oh, we posted that same shot three months ago. Is it too soon to use it? And I'm like, it did exceptionally well. We should have posted it eight times in the next week.
[00:27:54] Speaker A: 100%. Yeah.
[00:27:57] Speaker B: So I think takes a bit of exercising the muscle to realize that you are seeing everything in chronological order and you're seeing every single single thing that you put out there. But that's not what the rest of the world is expecting, experiencing. And so if you see that certain things perform really well, you should be rinsing and repeating.
[00:28:19] Speaker A: Yeah. And one thing I, one thing I talk about in our, in our retreats, our small business retreats, if you think about. Because I, I was much like this, what you were just describing until I got over it. And I'm like, oh, yeah, this makes sense. If you think about, let's just say Williams Sonoma, for example. Williams Sonoma, we know the look and we know what they're going to post about. Right? And every day they're posting, maybe it's a recipe or something that they're selling their beautiful cookware. Right. If they were trying to post something different every single day. It would be exhausting for them. They know what they're selling, they know who they are and that's what we expect from them. So I think and if we follow William so if we're going to go with this analogy, our feed has a thousand other things in it. So when William Sonoma pops up, it's like, oh yeah, that's William Sonoma. Double Tap. Like it move on. And every day that consistency builds over time to create the brand. I think it's easy for us as small businesses to think, oh, I need to be doing something different every single day. I really challenge that. And I say no, you need to be doing something that's consistent every single day. That's going to build that brand recognition. So if every day you are posting a recipe, you're come you come to known for those recipes or for a designer, it's one specific type of interior, you know, concepts or whatnot. So I think that just releasing the idea that it has to be different every single time and just leaning more into consistency is key for growth and brand recognition.
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[00:31:15] Speaker B: So I find that so fascinating and 100% believe it support it I'm wondering for someone who has a design firm whether they're a one person show or they have a small team but they don't have boxwood abroad and they don't have the lifestyle aspect of it. There's like this creative itch and, and kind of this burnout that you'll feel of just posting the same type of things because they don't have those other avenues that you have so successful fully explored. So how do you feel that designers can find that sweet spot between promoting their design work and sharing more personal or, or lifestyle content? How do you decide what to post and when knowing that you don't have all those additional other true businesses but avenues that you can pull content from?
[00:32:10] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Well, if I, if I were to put myself back in thinking of today's landscape and this is going to bring TikTok in a little bit because I think that there's something to learn from TikTok for Instagram. I still think Instagram is a great resource for people. It's free and it can allow you to grow. I mean Instagram has grown my business. That's where I really started. If I were just getting started again. What I lean back on, what I think is one what makes you special and this is any business book is going to tell you this, like what makes you unique, lean into your authentic story. But I know that every single person has a unique perspective and a unique view that they can share. And so if I were just getting started, I actually think I. And we're, we're doing this a bit on our interiors account because our interiors account we just shifted, I mean in probably the past month, started posting again. We took a break for a while from it, but leaning into some educational content because I noticed that does really well on TikTok. And what I think happens is it's kind of like I think of it as an onion. I talk a lot in analogies, so everybody just bear with me. But I think of it as kind of an onion. You know, that first experience and we've all had somebody like this on maybe TikTok or Instagram where they come across, you're not following them and they come across you for you page or whatever on reels, I forget what it's called, but they teach you something, right? And you're like, oh, that was interesting. And then there's another one maybe a day or two later from that person and they teach you something new, something else. And then you're kind of like, oh hey, that person again. And then maybe it's the third time they pop up and you're like, wow, that person just taught me three things. Maybe one was about paint colors and one was about countertops, and one was about, you know, how to style a coffee table or whatever. And then you're kind of like, oh, this person's actually taught me a lot. I'm going to start following them. You start following them and they're teaching you and teaching you, and then you kind of want to know more about them. You're like, oh, where does this person live? How does this person, you know, have children? Or what type of work do they do? And so I think it takes that educational content where you're helping somebody before somebody wants to know more about you. And so if I were a designer just getting started, I would, I would have a mix of content. I would have some educational content, and that could just be the talking head style where you're in a pretty shot, you know, corner in your living room or whatever. We're talking about paint colors. Or it could be lighting or whatever. And then I would have some of my portfolio shots or even just styled spaces. Maybe it is in your house if you're. You don't have a huge portfolio to share. And then I would have a little bit of personal in there until you start to build. I would lean a bit more into the educational content because I think that that's what people are really resonating with right now on social. I don't know for how long that's going to hold true because it is ever changing. But I have noticed that's what's done really well for TikTok. I've brought that over to Instagram and that's what's actually helping grow our Instagram account on the interiors platform right now, which is under 10,000 followers at this time. Our goal is to have it be 10 by the end of the year. So here's hoping by the time this airs, we're at 10. But, you know, if, if I were just getting started, that's the tactic and strategy I would use.
[00:35:16] Speaker B: Amazing. I know everybody is like writing madly to get all those tips down. I do feel like I personally have questioned how, how do I provide educational resources to the people that I actually care to convert to clients. I mean, someone who's looking to hire a full service luxury designer doesn't necessarily, like, care or need to care about education on marble countertops because they're, you know, the ultimate goal. And this is something that I talk about a lot at Design Camp and we've talked about personally, is truly is understanding what your ultimate goal with growing a following on Instagram is. And for people who have a lifestyle side of their brand or have add to cart options in their business, obviously that is valuable. But for a lot of people, they can only take on four to six projects a year and they only need four to six people from Instagram to ever say yes to them. And so putting time, resources, energy, breaking through your, your camera shyness to, to educate people on different aspects that doesn't really align with what your actual service offering is. How have you been able to balance that? Is that something that you feel like you have been balancing? And, and what is your logic behind continuing with that TikTok education element when that. Not necessarily who's hiring you?
[00:36:49] Speaker A: Oh my gosh, this is, I mean I am so glad that you brought this up because I talk about this at our small business retreats too. You can have a huge following, but why? What are you going to do with it? And the truth is that it is a lot of work. I spend the majority of my time actually on social and content. I get to do design work too. But I mean like I said, I have an amazing team who is really feeding that beast and I am solely focused on content. But I have the vision of this lifestyle brand and we have all of these different elements of it and its facets of it. The truth is you don't have to have a huge social media following to have a really, really successful design business. I'd argue that some of the most successful designers probably don't even have Instagram. So I encourage anybody. If social media is so overwhelming and it's a time suck and it just drives you crazy and your business is successful without it, have a pretty page, have, you know, have somebody help manage it, make it really beautiful and let it go and don't worry so much about it because it can really weighed. It has weighed down on me often because there was a time, I mean I grew my account to, I don't know, 150,000 followers and then it sat there for a good year and a half and actually we were losing followers and it was just so defeating to me. And over the past less than a year we've increased that. But it took me getting back dedicated into it, telling the story, really re steering the ship like we talked about. But I let it go for a little bit and, and my business was just as successful. So I think that that's really important. A very important thing to understand is that you don't always have to have this huge social media following And I had something else to say, and now it's escaped me. But I just. I wanted to say that because I think it's important for people to not beat themselves up if they don't. If they're not growing in the way that they want to be growing into essence. Well, why do I really want this and what am I hoping to achieve from it?
[00:38:44] Speaker B: Right. If you're sitting there saying, I need to do this for my business, then what is the actual business goal? Is it because you want to book three more clients by the end of the year, or is it because you want your business to be well known on Instagram? And then I challenge you to say, because why well known on Instagram? Because more editors will see it more. Because you want to start getting collaborations. Like, what is the actual goal of it? Because if you just peel it back your. Your onion and peel it back to your. Why of being on Instagram? So often we have conversations with our clients and they're like, it's just about booking clients. And then it takes a couple of days of deep diving with them to understand that the very natural, absolutely non, arguably, their level of vanity that comes with social media exists, and that there is part of them that wants. That feels like having a larger social media following would make them a more legitimate designer. And that just is not the truth when you take steps back.
[00:39:49] Speaker A: No, it's not. And. And I. I mean, look, when I first started on Instagram, it definitely gave me confidence when I. When I grew, because I thought, okay, I have something to say. So I understand that there is an element, the vanity numbers or vanity metrics. And there was a time, and we can talk about manifestation, but there was a time where I had to get really quiet with myself and let a lot of that go, because I had my shop, I had my brick and mortar shop. We had to let that go. We. We closed that. And that was. There was just a time of really reevaluating what my goals were, what type of business I wanted and what mattered to me and what I was doing, because I thought I should. Because I think. Not that we're talking about brick and mortar, but I think that a lot of designers, I know I did thought that that was the. The epitome of success was to have a brick and mortar shop and letting that go, and then where did I stand? So. And then my numbers dropping and being in that dark place and then letting that go and just saying, I'm going to be me, I'm going to share what I want to share. I know I have a message to share and sharing that unapologetically rather than showing up and thinking this is what I need to be sharing. But I did, actually, I remembered what I wanted to say earlier is that on TikTok and Instagram, we have two completely different audiences. On TikTok, it's all just educational content does really well. But actually we have booked clients through TikTok like randomly and we, we have other passive income streams that I think any designers can implement if they want to spend that, the, you know, the resources for that. So we have paint guide and we have our one hour consults and I book, you know, one or two of those a week. And that's like extra fun money for me or money for photo shoots or vacation money or whatever it might be. And so it is actually worth it for me to be posting on TikTok. And I think that TikTok is a little bit easier to just nobody knows you on TikTok, so you can go, go get practice on TikTok if you want and see what sticks over there. Because if it's sticking on TikTok, it generally does pretty well on Instagram, at least on our interior side. Now I find it's really interesting because content that does really well on my Instagram, it flops, flops, flops on TikTok. And so it's really interesting to me. But I just wanted to add that, is that, that educational content, we have got some pretty decent clients from it and I think it just shows a level of expertise and we do it once or twice a week, so it's not like we're constantly doing it. But I do think that it shows. Some of our clients have said to me like, oh, I know that you don't love Shaker cabinets. Like, yes, okay, so this is coming across. You know, I think having an opinion is always good too, so don't be afraid to have an opinion. But, and, and like I said, our biggest project that we're still working on, we've been working on since 2019. And I mean, it won't be done for probably a whole another year. It's the same this like massive compound. It came from me posting a tour on Facebook and just having clever SEO. So you just never know what's going to, when, when a great client is going to come in. Be prepared to be lucky.
[00:42:55] Speaker B: Okay, I, I have many more actual questions, but I'm like, what do you mean you posted on Facebook and got that huge, huge project when you say you posted on Facebook Are you posting to Facebook groups? To just your Facebook page. And it had good SEO, so it got traction. When you say you posted on Facebook, everybody's like, okay, tell me what that means.
[00:43:16] Speaker A: Yeah. So randomly it was when you could do Instagram lives and then share it as. I don't think you do this anymore. You share it as like a long form video. I think Instagram took away the long form video. I could be wrong, but this was. We were doing a. It was one of my first projects, Laundering Farmhouse in Reno. And I did a little tour, like a FaceTime tour, Instagram Live of like, oh, here's where the kitchen's gonna be. I mean, it was just Sheetrock of this tour. Everyone's probably going to go try to find this. I don't know if it's still up. And I, I shared it on my Instagram, but then I just clicked like share to Facebook too, you know, and I titled it Modern Farmhouse New Build, Reno, Nevada. And what do you know? Client was searching on Google Modern Farmhouse, Reno, Nevada and found Boxwood Avenue Interiors. And before you knew it, we were working with him. And it's been an amazing project and I never would have thought that. So I just like same with Pinterest. Pinterest drives so much of our business. And so you never know if you are putting resources into TikTok. Cross post it on Instagram and cross post it on Facebook and throw it up on Pinterest too.
Don't just rely on one social media.
[00:44:24] Speaker B: Okay, so speaking of resources, I'd love to figure out your strategy or your thought process behind deciding which account to put more resources into, et cetera. So you currently have two. We're going to say you have two primary Instagram accounts, Boxwood Avenue and then boxwood avenue.interiors. let's just talk about those two. I know that Mercantile's there.
[00:44:47] Speaker A: Yeah, Mercantile's taking a nap. Mercantile's taking a nap.
[00:44:51] Speaker B: Everybody needs a nap. So how are you differentiating the two Boxwood Avenue and Boxwood Avenue Interiors? And how do you decide where to put the majority of your resources? I mean, you're saying that as the principal of your firm, you spend the majority of your time creating content, which is something that everyone's swallowing as they listen to this and deciphering if that is an avenue that they want to explore. But when you're looking at that, which platform are you putting the most energy into and what kind of return are you seeing in that decision for the design firm specifically?
[00:45:33] Speaker A: Yeah. So I mean, if I really, I Think about it. I'm basically in my head. I'm just creating a digital world for people to experience. And it started when I moved up to the ranch. I realized the luxury of slowing down and living a little bit more simply. So that was always what we were aiming to create. So I started sharing that, of course, on Boxwood. So Boxwood is and remains our primary source of. Of all the things of ticket sales for retreats, not necessarily Mercantile, Mercantile is Pinterest, but for interiors as well. People. People really resonate with that message. And they think because as designers, we're not selling a pretty home. Making a pretty home is easy, right? We're selling the life people get to live in those homes. Because I know the type of designer who's listening to your podcast, and I know I can't speak for everybody, but I think birds of the feather flock together. And I. I'd like to think that most people listening care about their clients on a deeper level. It's not about the money. It's not about just creating a pretty home. It's about creating a space for their clients to really experience life. And so on Boxwood, that's what I'm sharing. I'm sharing. This is the type of life that I'm living, that I want you to live. And I think people, our clients see that and they are like, yes, again, birds of a feather flock together, right? They're like, that is the type of life, and that's the type of home I want to have. So it's less about the perfect pretty picture, and it's more so about the lifestyle they can live if they work with us. So for Boxwood, because now on Instagram, which is actually quite nice, you can, you know, tag people or make them a collaborator. So most of the time on our interiors account, we're making the. We're making Boxwood and interiors collaborators together. And that's really helping grow our account. So that, I mean, that's a luxury that I have that I'm leveraging, as Instagram allows it right now to grow our social. But I am seeing good conversion for interiors clients come from Instagram. And actually a lot of it is just stories. I think people really connect on stories. And so that's another piece of advice. I notice when I share perfectly curated photos or imagery on stories, it doesn't do well. It's when I'm sharing an experience or an opinion. It's definitely when I share an opinion or if I'm sharing tips on stories, that's when I really start to connect with people. And a lot of our clients, I see them, I see them on there. And then when we have client meetings, they bring that type of thing up to me. And so I know that that's really helping drive that connection too. And I know I said I spend the majority of my time creating content. That is true. I would say it's like 60, 40, 60% kind of creating content, managing the Boxwood abroad, managing Mercantile, having team meetings. And then 40% of the time I'm in with our designers, reviewing design work or working on, you know, working with our procurement managers or prepping for an install or photo shoot, et cetera.
[00:48:33] Speaker B: So totally makes sense that stories are most successful in converting followers once someone's already following you to really finish telling that story. But stories are only seen after someone has at least made it to your profile. They don't have to follow you, but they had to have clicked over to see them. So as far as seeing a return on your investment, and when I say investment, I mean your time, energy, resources for growing the Boxwood Interiors account. Like you said, you're able to leverage the following and community that you have at Box and post as a collaborator, which is genius. Do you feel like there is value or something to explore for a designer who wants to post a collaborative reel with their personal account? And I don't mean personal in the sense of like the setting on Instagram as a personal or a private account. I mean like their individual human self. We hear so much that brand accounts are dead. It's all about founder stories. Should we be incorporating more of the personal side of things?
[00:49:40] Speaker A: Yes. Oh, my gosh. Yes. Okay. So much about this. So I actually went to. This is actually how my account started to turn around. Wow, I'm so glad you brought this up. Okay, so we were like, I said we were losing followers and I was like defeated over this and it sucked, right? And I had dinner with this gal and she was a marketing executive at like, you know, some. Some company that. That fosters small individual food brands and then builds them up to sell. So she did like, I think, like crave jerky and those type of brands. You know what I'm talking about? And so I was at dinner with her and I'd be prepared to be lucky, right? So I'm talking with her and I said, if you can give me one piece of advice, like when you are growing these brands, what are you focusing on to grow? And she said, founder story. Founder story. Founder story. And so I thought, oh, that's really Interesting. So we started to implement that founder story into Boxwood again. And holy smokes, I. There was one reel that I think we got 20,000 followers just from that reel. It was insane. And I mean, yes, I had an account, but I was, it was dead. Okay? So I, I mean it. I can just empathize with the feeling being like, wow, cool. Like, she already had an account. But no, this account was totally dead. So that I was like, oh, this founder story thing is really working. So that's what we. We do founder story once a week now, and then we do educational content once or twice a week. And here's what I think this is. I'll answer your question about adding the collaborative posts, but I think of this as like a big funnel, right? So at the top, you're casting that wide net because Instagram, like TikTok on Reels, allows you to be seen by so many people who aren't following you. So that founder story component, or your ethos, your big overall message, think of that. At the top of the funnel, you're casting this huge wide net, right? So you're getting all of these first eyes on you. So that's that first layer of the Onion. People are like, oh, that was cool. And maybe they follow you, maybe they don't. But now that they've seen that, Instagram is probably going to feed and TikTok too will do this feed the next video. If they watch that first video, they're going to feed that next video. So if that next video is some sort of educational piece, that is the next level into the funnel. And so now you've got people kind of invested, you're teaching them something. If you've taught them something, they're invested. Now they're making their way down that funnel into basically your story content. And your story content is that end of funnel, nurturing content. So you want to start with that casting that wide net with founder story going down deeper into some sort of educational content, then going the next level, I'd say is more so just like a personal post about you. And I still have a hard time sharing those because they don't do as well. And I think one thing to accept is just like some of that content, that more nurturing content isn't going to do as well. And then the third or the, the bottom layer is like that story content that's really, really nurturing.
[00:52:24] Speaker B: Okay? So the founder story is so interesting to me because it's something that we're exploring, something that I go back and forth with this Season will be the first season we've had an episode where I'm being interviewed, and it was because we had a lot of questions like can we hear your story? And why you're qualified to even have this podcast? So thank you for breaking that down for us. I think that the segmented areas is super helpful. But let's talk about specifically sharing design work. I know that you mentioned that not everybody lets you shoot that project. I. As I've mentioned on other episodes, there's definitely things you can have in your contract. You can get paid. There can be a mandatory fee if someone opts out of something being photographed, etcetera, etcetera. But let's just go ahead and assume that that's the situation where either you don't have a robust portfolio photographed yet, or you've done killer projects but you aren't allowed to photograph them. How are you showcasing your actual skills and not just your eye? Because I think so much of what someone's being hired for as a designer is their ability to actually execute. How are you articulating that on social media if you don't have those photos?
[00:53:37] Speaker A: Well, I think that a lot of this, I am so into personal development and psychology to everything, so I actually think of this on more psychological level. And I think of attracting the birds of the feather flock together kind of mentality and attracting the type of clientele through sort of mirroring. So it's not always necessarily about creating a pretty space. Like I said, it's our job to create a pretty space. So that's kind of, you know, that's a given, right, that it's going to look beautiful. I think it's more so for me, signaling that I'm in alignment with what my. That my ideal client is also in alignment with. And so when I'm sharing on stories, I'm not just thinking about pretty pictures or interiors. I'm actually thinking about other brands maybe that they'd be in alignment with. And so elevating Boxwood to that level. So it could be something as simple as, oh, that pair of shoes you were wearing. I also really love that pair of shoes. Or, oh, you believe in antiques. I also believe in antiques. Or we have clients where sometimes it's like, oh, you're going to go, you're going to Bordeaux. I saw on your stories you shared this hotel. I also love this hotel. So it's more about mirroring other elements of life. Because at the end of the day, again, we're. We're really sharing lifestyle for me to kind of show that I, you know, that we're at this, we're on the same page with, with life, so to speak. Does that make sense?
[00:55:09] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. We talk all the time in our office for Quinn Made and Idyco that when we're talking about our ideal client, you're not just talking about the person who fits that description exactly where they are today. We're also talking about someone who can identify with that and aspire to be that. And so I think that that's a really good reminder that just, just because you're saying your ideal client is empty nesters with, you know, two kids who are gone at school and now they're moving from the countryside to a more urban area and you're like, those are really like my perfect people. That might not always be exactly who Sally and Jim are today, but that's Sally and Jim in five years. And so you want to be talking to them through longevity in that sense and also spark their interest and help them align with what it is you're creating well ahead of time.
[00:56:05] Speaker A: Exactly, exactly. I really think it's about telling the whole story. And again, that goes back to when I first realized like, okay, I've got to be creating a brand.
I think of we actually have like three different archetypes of our ideal client. And so I'm always speaking to them and often Lori's mom is one of our brand archetypes, which is just is really tangible thing. But we're, we're thinking about, okay, if I'm writing this email newsletter or whatever, Lori, would your mom be interested in, would she open this? Would our ideal client in this area open this and be interested in. So there's this filter that we're passing through all of the content, you know, so that way it's so easy to get caught up in what we think would be good or bad. But really having those exterior archetypes of who we're trying to attract, filtering everything through that has been really helpful. And a lot of the time I actually use ChatGPT for this to run things fines and, and be like, okay, well do you think that this is going to resonate with our ideal clients? So that's a whole other element of this. But I do use a lot of chatgpt too.
[00:57:07] Speaker B: Awesome. I am curious as we're talking about really this last 12 months, 12 to 18 months, I remember, I, I'm trying to think of where we were that you and I would have been in person talking about this, where you were telling me you're like, we have completely plateaued. Like, we are not growing on Instagram anymore. We're getting like, we have to figure out a way to switch it up. And I. You have seen immense growth. I mean, we're like pushing up words of almost a hundred thousand new followers since that kind of benchmark of feeling like you're losing followers. And so I'm wondering if you can share a bit about your strategy. You talked about what you had been doing before, but I'm curious as to what you have found to really be sticking these days. And so you mentioned one day a week there's gonna be founder story, two days a week, it's going to be educational. What are tips or techniques on a more technical level? Like, I've noticed you're definitely putting text on your reels these days. What are some other technical things that you're like as of today? And we know it changes really quickly. What are things that seem to be sticking?
[00:58:15] Speaker A: Yeah, that is a great question. So, technically speaking, I think there are things that I wish would do better that simply don't perform that well. And then there are things that performed really well. And I said, okay, I'm going to look at what's doing well and I'm going to do more of that. It seems to be sticking. And I also, I think it's easy to get it to be like, oh, this person's doing that, so I'm going to try that, or this person's doing that and it was successful, so I'm going to try that. I still sometimes get caught in that. And I just have to remind myself, Lori always tells me, we are on our own flight path. Do not get on somebody else's flight path. So that's a big tip. Stay on your own flight path. But I also, I look to other industries at what's being successful for them. So, for example, I think that food bloggers for blogging do really well. So I look at what food bloggers do and I implement that into our blog. But on Instagram, I think that there's beauty bloggers seem to do really well. And so there's some beauty bloggers or other. Other content creators, I should say, outside of the design industry that I noticed were growing and doing really well. And I noticed, oh, they have the white background on the text of their reels. Does it kill me a little bit inside to have that? Absolutely. I hate having that. But it's. It is what has done really well. So I suck it up and I put that text overlay and that's what does really well. So anytime something performs well, whether it's I take it and I analyze it. So there was that reel like I mentioned that really gave us that first push where I think we got like 20,000 followers from it, maybe even more. And it was, I had the white background on the text, text and there were a few specific clips. Like I started with a clip of me smiling and I'm walking and moving. So I just made mental note of that, like okay, walking, moving, smiling clips do well when I'm traveling. I'm going to make sure to get a couple of those and really just analyzing things from a more tactical, like you said, tactical level. And then wash, rinse, repeat over and over again. And like I said, if I were getting started again, I think I'd focus on that founder's story. I'd cast that wide net and then nurture con through some educational content and then nurture, nurture, nurture into that more personal content.
[01:00:30] Speaker B: Got it. Can you talk us through a little bit about your script writing? You mentioned it at the top of the show that I thought was so interesting that like you will write out what it is you really believe in and what it is you want to focus on. Are you time blocking for this? Are you writing four scripts at one time? Is it like just when you think about it like you stop and you get the whole script ideated. How, how is that formulated? Because I know you are very much a systems and processes person as well as like a very analytical person internally. So I'm just curious as to what you have found to be the most successful. Like when inspiration strikes, how do you capture it?
[01:01:10] Speaker A: So I have a journal and I have a running notes that's shared with Lori for working scripts we call it and all of that. If I, if inspiration strikes or. The other day I had a hot take as I was driving. I was like, oh gosh, it's board form concrete. It should be illegal. Sorry for anybody who loves board form concrete. But anyways, so I just texted to Lori real quick. I'm like, hey, this is a content idea, an opinionated piece of content, right? Anyway, so we have all of these sort of bank of ideas and we spend. Lori and I get together on Mondays or sometimes Tuesdays and we spend a good hour, hour and a half writing different content scripts out. And then I actually do run it through ChatGPT to flesh out ideas and I've found again, this is just what I found worked for us. A 45 second script does really, really well.
So I write out the 45 second script. I record that script in my memo, like my Voice memo app. I send that voice memo to myself and I actually use my desktop to edit videos. But you can also use Cap Cut or Instagram reels. Capcut is great because you can filter for, you know, we do the 45 second to 60 second templates. So I then add in that voice overlay and I build my video off of the voice overlay. So I think a lot of people do it in the reverse, right? They have some pretty video they want to shoot, and then they figure out what to say over it. We do it in the reverse where I figure out what I want to say and then I build the videos off of that. And I also will add. And I talk about this in our small business retreat too. I think it's very easy for when you're talking about founder story to be like, hi, I'm Chloe. I'm an interior designer that travel, you know, splits her time between the States and. And Europe, blah, blah, blah. And then ending with, you know, talking about myself. And then ending with, I believe in luxury and simplicity and living more meaningfully. I think that's a very natural way of writing things. I'd encourage anybody to write out their founder story. And I guarantee you, when you look at that, you're starting with yourself and you're ending with your ideal audience or your target market. And I think it should be flipped. So write it out and then flip it on its head. Start with addressing your audience and then end with why you're that person to help guide them to the life they want to live. So if you watch any of our founder stories videos, we talk about that. We address our audience first. So it's usually something like, if you believe in X, Y and Z, if you resonate with this, if we have some trigger words that are just boxwood words. So not too precious is one of the words that I noticed a lot of our clients were using. So we integrate that term not too precious until a lot of our reels. So we start with everything our audience identifies with and then we end with ourselves. And so I think that that's really key. Right. Like when you. We. You hear this in a lot of business podcasts or books, like, you don't want to be talking to yourself. How boring would it be if you were at a cocktail party and all you did was talk about yourself? The same thing holds true for your social media content.
[01:04:06] Speaker B: Brilliant. Thank you. Okay, one more technical question before we kind of talk about the Future of Boxwood. So what I guess it's a two part question. I'm going to cheat and get two answers out of you. So first of all, what scheduling platform software do you use if anything or is everything always manually updated in real time?
[01:04:28] Speaker A: Yeah, you know, because I am doing our social content and Gabby on our team is actually helping me with, with the interior's content as well. But for Voxwood, I'm doing it in real time. I like the satisfaction of uploading it and sitting there and seeing and responding to comments. I like that. I get that some people don't do that. You can now schedule reels which is great. And oh, another tip is if you go into settings on your reels, oh click over the upload highest quality video that's not automatically selected. And I think that, that it can be really defeating if you're uploading a video and it doesn't upload the highest quality. So anyways, I upload real time but you can schedule on reels. Now we use Tailwind for Pinterest. We use, you know, Asana for planning things out. Like I said, we do shared notes app for different content ideas. We use ChatGPT and that's about it that we, we kind of know like our social content calendar, so to speak. We plan that out on Mondays. I like planning that a little bit out on Sundays and then sometimes if I get around to it on stories, I'll share kind of what's coming up for the week, you know, for our followers to see. But it's, it's very loose, it's, it's not super structured.
[01:05:39] Speaker B: So you are reviewing, planning, putting everything together on a weekly basis. Not further out than that. Sure. You might like know that hey, we're going to have tickets launching for Boxwood Abroad in two months. But conceptually you're looking at this on a weekly basis.
[01:05:54] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And I think it's important to note like my personality type. I am very type B. I am the opposite of type A. I do not like getting bogged down with details. And so my team knows that about me and gives me that grace and flexibility. I think that everybody would probably like it if I was a little bit more structured. But I am very spontaneous. Like I said, I mean we launched Boxwood abroad. I didn't even tell anybody. Like half the time I don't even know where my, where my wallet or phone is. But so yeah, we're a bit loose. We plan it out about a week in advance and sometimes it's even that day. Lori And I are like, hey, we have an hour. Let's sit down and write a script together.
[01:06:31] Speaker B: Okay. Well, Chloe, I'd love to hear about what's coming next for you in the intro, which I never let our guests listen to during the show because I get too nervous to talk about them directly in front of them. But I did mention that this past May, I had the immense pleasure of going on the Boxwood Abroad trip to the Cotswolds. And it 1000% changed my life. I believe that there are still one or two tickets left for Cotswolds May 2025. And just, I guess it was literally the day that you dropped them. I like yesterday.
[01:07:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:07:10] Speaker B: Yeah. I did just purchase my ticket to Boxwood Abroad for Provence in September next year. And believe me, if I didn't have a baby come out, I would absolutely be back at the Cotswolds in May as well. But apparently I'm not supposed to be gone for that extent of time with an infant, so I had to skip that. But what else is going on with the interior studio with Boxwood Abroad? I know you've been teasing boxwood B and B's. Just what. What's next in the. In the 15 and 10 year plan?
[01:07:45] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, my gosh. This is so fun because I am such a visionary. Thank you for everyone listening and indulging me and getting to share my dreams. So, yes, Cotswolds is. We still have some tickets left for Cotswolds. That's our collaboration with my dear friend Jamie from Jay Z Interiors. And she and I actually met at Haven, where you and I actually. At the same time. We all met together anyways.
[01:08:05] Speaker B: All three of us.
[01:08:06] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:08:06] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah. The Cotswolds is really fun. And Boxwood Abroad is. We have a lot of designers that come. It's a lot of mother and daughters or sisters or we've even had couples come. And it's primarily focused on antiquing and lifestyle. So we do cooking classes and go antiquing and we have just great late night chats and connection. And it's a great way to develop really significant, deep relationships because I think the people that come all are similar in mindset, so it's really fun. So we host those twice a year. We do Provence every fall, which you will be coming to Provence next fall. And then in the spring, we generally change locations. So this year is in the Cotswolds. We've done at Florence, and I split my time between the States and Europe, so a lot of the time I Am overseas and. Oh, actually this is kind of fun. I rented an apartment in Paris for the next three months. So I'll be in Paris the next three months, I don't think. I don't know if I told you that.
[01:09:02] Speaker B: No. Where was that in the group chat?
[01:09:04] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm really excited about it. But I, my dream here now is to the mercantile. We've noticed that lighting does really, really well and specifically European lighting. And so as I'm over there, I'd like to get some new European lighting brands to be able to offer to designers because I know that lighting and that sourcing really beautiful, artisan, unique lighting can be tough and getting it imported and things. So that's something that again, I just noticed. Okay, this is what's doing really well and we're going to lean into that. So hopefully on the mercantile we'll be infusing a bit more of those European artisans as I spend more time overseas and offering potentially more Boxwood Abroad retreats. And then on top of that, I, I'd like to buy something overseas and start our first Boxwood bnb. I, like I said at the, you know, throughout the podcast is we've created this digital world and I'd like to, with the implementation of Boxwood abroad, it's sort of bringing the digital into the reality. And I think Boxwood BNB's can be that for our audience and showcase not only our design and mercantile product, but also give people the opportunity to experience the Boxwood life abroad. And then Lori and I have a side hustle that we're doing. We're, we're just about to launch a tech support for designers which is completely on the side, but it's just something we noticed designers really struggled with. So Lori and I, you know, in our spare time when we're not working on the design business or Box and abroad or Airbnbs, we're like, let's add something more to our plate.
[01:10:36] Speaker B: Well, I can't wait to hear more about that. When that's up and running, we'll have to have you come back on the show because obviously we offer a level of tech support here at idco, but at some point designers are off on their own and to have someone that they can call to just help, like you said, get that flow desk form implemented would be so amazing. So congratulations on that. That is huge. I'm going to hang up and call you immediately to talk about Paris because that was a little rude that I wasn't informed.
[01:11:03] Speaker A: I can't believe I didn't tell you guys that. I'm sorry. I thought I did. I thought I tell everybody.
[01:11:08] Speaker B: I don't think anybody's heard that is breaking news. Just just the way we like to wrap up the show. Well, Chloe, thank you so so much for your time. I know we have gone over but I just could listen to your passion and brain dump all day long. Thank you for sharing your insights to what you've experienced experience and your incredibly inspiring journey. And we're just really excited to continue to watch you thrive.
[01:11:30] Speaker A: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
[01:11:32] Speaker B: We'll talk to you soon for more.
[01:11:35] Speaker C: In depth analysis of this interview, including exclusive downloads, examples and more. Don't forget to subscribe to the Interior Collective on Patreon. We are building an amazing private community of interior designers and industry experts open to candid conversations and answering questions. Join us on Patreon in the show notes
[email protected] the Interior Collective thank you so so much for tuning into this episode. Producing this show has truly been the honor of my career and I cannot believe I get to have these conversations. The biggest thank you to you our listeners. Your sweet notes, DMs and reviews mean so much to us as we work to keep our show free and always accessible. Until next time. I'm Anastasia Casey and this is the Interior Collective, a podcast for the business of beautiful living.
