Susan Strauss

talk to us a little bit about how you got into interior design and some of these things that you work on okay so i got into interior design um it's a passion i had always as a little kid um they you know and then i i'm originally from australia i moved here to the states i got married here um and you know i found a job and then slowly kind of led that led to my job led to a small interior design job and then it kind of like flourished from there um and the projects i work on is anything that starts from like a small home renovation to a large apartment building office buildings whatever whatever comes out um it's you know it's it's a busy career and something i'm very proud of so you know it's amazing because i have a little bit of experience in the real estate world and i know that when it comes to these things everything is deadlines every someone needs something and i'm sure many of your clients aren't like yeah get to it whenever like you know no problem i'm sure it's like let's go i need something immediately deadlines like crazy yeah it's like everybody comes in and and needs it yesterday they only remember that they needed today and it needs to be done yesterday right a lot of the stress stress of the job so so how do you how do you manage it you think i have a family of five and i can almost imagine these projects and thinking in my head exactly right everybody needs everything done perfectly yesterday that's right yeah what are some of the techniques that you use to manage all of your time so a lot of it is kind of there's there's the time management and it's the communication so we start by communicating and explaining how long the process takes and and and kind of not creating expectations that are impossible if i promise something i want to deliver and i want to deliver it well and on time um and what we do is within the company i'll sit down with my team we'll discuss exactly what needs to be done review how much time needs to it needs you know kind of for the for this for that specific project and then i'll make the commitment to the client and my number one rule is we meet that commitment um and if for some crazy real reason it's impossible for us to meet it i'll make sure to let them know in advance and let them know we might need an extra day or so um look one second i want to double click on that because this is an important you made it a very important point that i want to make sure everyone hears we live in a world where everyone likes to say yes you got it it'll be done yesterday and when you say to a client i'll take your business and i know it's important to you and i'm going to charge you for it and oh and by the way you can't have it yesterday i'm going to set a date that's real which will probably be later than you want so help us navigate that because that's critical setting expectations that will almost always disappoint the person in front of you that wants it in less time because you know that if you don't set expectations then the the the lack of realism so to speak will will get in the way how do you navigate around almost if you will saying no to people so the answer is making it pretending something and making someone happy that is not realistic is a short short-term solution um i look at building long-term relationships and having building people's trust and faith in myself and my company um and that goes on on a personal level as well with my kids my family if i'm gonna say if i say i'm gonna be there i want to do everything in my power to be there and as soon as i start slacking on that you lose faith in the people around you so i'd rather tell them that if they trust me i'll get it there get it done when i say i'm going to get it done rather than pretending i'm going to get it done when they want it done and they're not pulling through that's a great point that's an excellent point i think people myself included all of us we like the feeling of always saying yes to everybody whenever we need it right don't remember that that little bit of disappointment on the front end will then play off and will pay dividends in the back end that's right let me ask you a question you're in the creative arena right what you're doing really is is your your value if you will is creativity now i know for myself that when you get a million things to do the last thing you want to be is creative because you just got to get stuff done so how do you balance not only getting through your day but how do you balance maintaining the creative edge as you have all those deadlines on me so i think that a lot of people look at me as the creative designer so people that have that creative mind are a little bit spazzed and not necessarily organized and on top of their game um it's something i worked on and it's important to me because i feel like running a business and running and being able to balance family life and business is there's nothing more important than being able to balance and and creating time and space for everything so it's you know it's it's it's hiring the right people getting the right help kind of allocating the right things to the right people and and ultimately getting the job done when you need to get it done yeah that's i think that's a that's a critical piece to this which is like you said earlier which is when you allow other people into your life it allows you the space um to to get it done and allows you to be who you're supposed to be in the moment where you're supposed where you're supposed to be at correct i'm a very big believer i can't do everything myself it's impossible and i know what i'm good at and where my strengths are and i know where my strengths are not i know that there's plenty of people out there in the world that can pull through and kind of chip in in the areas that i'm kind of not as savvy or good at let them do those things and then i'll kind of focus on the things that i know i am good at so even within my office if there's certain programs and tasks that need to get done that i know i have a team member that is going to be a lot better and faster and more efficient than i'm than i am then it makes no sense for me to be sitting there and trying to get it done diligently um if i could be putting myself and my time and my effort somewhere else where i'd be much more effective so it's all about delegate delegating um making sure that we're managing the time and being the most efficient that i could possibly be in you know every situation amazing susan thank you so much for joining us an incredible uh it's nice to meet you and really uh the ability to do all of this while building a business is much harder than people even realize and staying creative at the same time uh anything before you go one any techniques that you have for the balancing family in life any techniques that you have for how when you're engaged in family time you leave the business in the business so um like i said before that i i think a very big role in having my family on board with me running a large firm like i do um is communication so if i'll be you know kind of coming home late one day or having a super busy day my kids know what my husband knows about it of course but my kids will know about it they'll know that mommy's coming home late today and they feel like they're part of my life like i'll tell them i'll say okay today i'll be home approximately at six o'clock or i'd say whatever time it is they'll know about it and i'll say you can call me when you cut when you come home because i want to be talking to you i feel like the communication that i have with them allows them to kind of be part of my life when i'm within the business within the business world and they feel that mommy still cares and as much as i'm at work i still want to be with them and i feel like they don't resent it and don't and they're proud of it so as long as i communicate and and you know let everybody know exactly where i am where i'm at and you know kind of do things responsibly the balance works out very well and another big part of it is is that when i i work i'm fully at work but when i'm home i'm fully at home and when we sit down at the supper table with my husband and my kids we're all there my phone's not with me i'm focused i put all my energy towards the kids and and they know i'm i'm all theirs so i feel like if i'd be pretending to balance both at the same time i wouldn't be achieving it i wouldn't in in either direction yeah or um in order to be doing best at where i'm at at that current moment i need to be focused on what i'm focusing right then and there it's amazing it's just an interesting and important point to even if you're not where you even if you're not with them the communication the knowledge of where you are and where you want to be allows them to be part of your world even if they're not actively physically with you that's an important piece of people don't understand that as you include your loved ones in your life more they feel like they're in your life more even though they're not physically with you exactly yeah and they're proud and they want to you know they want to know what's going on and i think it's the only way to kind of have a healthy balance of both and have them be proud of of of what i do other than being being in in the family life amazing susan thank you so much for joining us in this world and thank you project inspire for the invite