245: Angela Harris - Building Relationships with Developers & Builders Helped Grow her Interior Design Firm

Welcome to today's show and happy birthday to LuAnn! Today's guest, Angela Harris, is the principal of Trio Environments and she is a real dynamo! Trio Environments is one of the fastest growing Interior Design and Visual Merchandising firms in the USA today and in less than ten years, it is on track to becoming an international leader in Market-Driven Design. The company currently has over twenty employees and it manages more than seventy-six projects at any given time, both locally and nationally. More than twenty-one thousand homes have been sold with the assistance of Trio Environments, who has also generated over seven billion dollars in revenue to date, from Commercial and Residential clients. Listen in to find out more about Angela and the amazing success she's had with Trio Environments. Angela has a B.S. in Marketing and Management, from the University of Colorado. After obtaining her degree, she went to work in an Engineering Firm but wasn't really happy there, because she didn't feel that she was living up to her full potential, so she dropped everything to pursue her dream career in Interior Design. She enrolled in an Interior Design program and spent her last five hundred dollars on business cards, direct mail and a few another start-up costs and then she launched Trio Environments.  Angela also has a Masters Degree in Sustainable Design, from the Philadelphia University and she sits on the Denver Home Builders Association Board of Directors. She manages seven councils through the HBA and she sits on the Sales and Marketing Council for the National Association of Home Builders. Angela has developed a three-part process, to give her company a competitive edge- it assesses a client's baseline value, through their Design program, it introduces Market Design principals and finally, it executes a design that's innovative, attractive and profitable. Listen in now, to find out how important it really is to be prepared and to have good systems in place and also to experience the passion that inspires Angela to fuse her market-driven approach with the creation of really beautiful spaces. Show highlights: Angela describes the types of relationships that she has built her business on, with builders and developers. How Angela has been able to expand her brand, to really handle the entire creative process. Angela describes her company's creative process, which really allows them to be a part of something bigger. Angela explains how their process is really all about the experience of their audience, where every detail is relevant. Angela discusses the enormous amount of work that they do on the upfront side of their projects, in terms of Market Research and Market Data. Why Angela thinks that her company has been so much more successful than most Design Firms. Angela explains her initial process of creating relationships with builders and developers- what it takes and how you, as a Designer, could learn to do the same. Angela explains the best way to start out with doing the types of projects that she does. Angela discusses how she went about creating a really awesome team, with great synergy. Capitalising on people's strengths and passions, rather than their weaknesses, to make the whole machine work. Angela explains the way that her whole team works and what everyone focuses on. They really want to help and support one another. The tight systems and solid processes that they have in place. How they actually developed these processes. Angela's Colorado Companies To Watch video, where they were awarded recognition, as one of the Companies to watch. The criteria that actually earned Angela the Award. What is involved in the bidding process, for projects? Please give LuAnn a bit of birthday love today and go on over to iTunes and rate and review this show. She will really appreciate it! Links: Her website: http://trioenvironments.com/angela-harris.htm Social: https://www.instagram.com/trioenvironments/ https://www.facebook.com/TRIOEnvironments https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-harris-89314a11/