Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Hi everyone. I'm Courtney Wright, host of The Lady Boss Podcast. Have you ever wondered how luxury homes get built all the way from the ground up? Well, today we're gonna hear from Emily Mackey. She's the c e o and founder of Inspired Luxury Homes. She's got a really interesting story about where her focus is around technology and space utilization. Let's have a listen. Oh, Emily, I've been so looking forward to this. Thanks for making time. Thanks
Speaker 2 00:00:48 For having me. Well,
Speaker 0 00:00:49 You're welcome. All right, so bring us up to speed. I think a lot of people know you're kind of a serial entrepreneur, but I wanna talk right outta the gate and we'll work backwards about your new venture as a developer.
Speaker 2 00:01:01 Yeah. I, um, I've had this on my wishlist for a few years, um, and I used to have it taped behind my desk in our old office space on hdd, and it's been on my wishlist for a few years, and it's taken a lot of planning, a lot of risk, and a lot of hard work to get here. And I'm super excited to be building the first luxury home for Inspired Luxury Homes, which is a sister company to inspired interiors. And I'm super excited for it to be a show house in September of 2022, and, uh, featuring all sorts of vendors in the Merchandise Mart and throughout, uh, the United States. Um, and it's really showcasing just everyone's best foot forward in the world of technology, product, luxury, home building, and a collaboration of artists, designers, architects. Um, so I'm super excited to have people walk through and experience, um, an ecosystem of a home, is kind of how I'm referring to it, um, of modern living. And we're calling it the Art of Living. So not only does it have, uh, artwork and technology and uh, high-end building products, but it's an entire ecosystem of what a home should be in today's.
Speaker 0 00:02:16 Now, when I think of an developer in, in the residential market luxury that you're after, I think most people's goal is to hurry up and build and sell it, because as I know it, it's a bit of a margin business. Tell us what the real objective would be in having the one month timeframe to have an open house.
Speaker 2 00:02:36 So the objective is to get exposure and have people physically walk through the site and physically walk through the house in its ecosystem and see how we're thinking of things differently and improving things differently from a livability standpoint. Hmm. Um, what I've experienced in 25 years of being in architecture and design is you've got the architect who thinks of the structure of the house. You've got the contractor who thinks of the building products and assembly, but then you always end up with designer or interior architect that thinks of where am I going to pack my children's lunches? Where am I going to relax and bathe at night? How much clothing can I store? What size night stands can I fit next to the bed? And, and how you're actually using the space. And so I think if, um, what I've always felt like is why am I not starting with land and building the home when I know what the end result should be on how people wanna live in a home? Why do I not start with those foundational elements instead of ending up with a client calling me with a, a structure they wanna modify?
Speaker 0 00:03:38 Emily, you are one of the most strategic people I know. Um, and I I think we'll get into a little bit about some of the things you've dreamt up that didn't work, because I think that's what's made you so successful is you try a lot of things. Can you give us a little insight into before inspired interiors, what, what you did for a career that really launched you into this, uh, entrepreneurial journey? Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:04:00 Well, so I, I come from a family of entrepreneurs. I mean, um, in Texas, I uncles and grandfather, father and everyone, serial entrepreneurs, back to great-grandfather inventing parts for the cotton gin to, you know, franchise businesses that uncles created. And, and so I've always been, um, of that mindset, um, and a hardworking mindset. So I've always not really known anything differently. Um, and I, I think when you come from that kind of mindset, that's all you know, and you, and you live and breathe. But I started my career at, um, Gensler and working at a large architecture firm. I was thankful for seeing, um, accounting department, seeing a marketing department, seeing a, a project management department. And when you see all of the parts of that type of, uh, an architectural firm, you understand what it takes to do it all. Um, and so I, I was thankful for seeing that on a large scale and then knowing how to go off and do it on my own. It, it became apparent what segments I needed to fold in.
Speaker 0 00:05:07 Interesting. I don't think I knew that you were at Gensler. And I do think that, um, explains a little bit about, you know, very strategic company, global brand, huge, um, what, you know, when you got into your small business, which we, uh, are all in, what was the biggest challenge? Because when you go from a place where there are all those departments to wearing multiple hats, what did you struggle with the most in being in a small business?
Speaker 2 00:05:29 Well, I think like, like all small businesses, you, you struggle to scale. You, you know, your trade and you know your talent, but you struggle to scale. How do I be a part-time bookkeeper for myself? How do I market for myself? How do I, you know, wear all of those hats? And then how do I keep growing and earning enough income for myself and adding people on, you know, so my father used to always call it adding a mouth to feed. You know, you're adding constantly adding a mouth to feed. Um,
Speaker 0 00:05:57 So one way to scale a business is to add people. Uh, has that been the path that you've chosen to really use to grow your company?
Speaker 2 00:06:08 So over 19 years, I've definitely realized, um, a lot of different growing pains. I mean, you realize you can grow too fast, you realize you're growing too slow, and then you realize this balancing of, of sales funnel with production funnel. And there's definitely just a lot of things. I always sort of, um, describe it like other people, your business is like a, a child. You've got at one point an infant or a toddler or a middle schooler or a teenager or, you know, and it's hard to push to get your business to the next level. And sometimes you might not want it to get to the next level. You might want to plateau somewhere and just be more profitable and live that plateau.
Speaker 0 00:06:53 Sure. Um, but you know, not you, you've gone on and created another, uh, area. So what do you think really drives you when you think about why you get up every day?
Speaker 2 00:07:03 Well, I think first launching inspired luxury homes. I've been saying for a lot of years, a lot of years pre Wayfair years, I've been saying, I wanna get out of selling furniture and I wanna get out of selling product. Um, and my business model used to be a lot more about kitchen and bath and, and gut rehabbing. And even there, it's hard to thrive as a designer because there's a lot of overflow with contractors and architects. There's a lot of, um, everyone bumping into each other. And then you get into selling furniture, and then you've got RH and, and Wayfair and all these places giving free services and, you know, solo practitioner designers. It's just too, everyone's diluted the role of a designer. Mm. And so it's too, uh, it's really too competitive. You've, you've gotta get to a certain level, um, which we have to some extent.
Speaker 2 00:07:54 But, but then I thought, you know, it just would be a lot easier to work long term with someone with a piece of land and know that not only can we provide you with a whole structure, but then we have team members that can follow through with furniture, with window treatments, and you get a whole home and someone knows that there's electrical supply for automated window treatments because they were part of the electrical plan. You know, or, or someone knows that there are floor outlets because they've got the electrical plan and they, they can buy you lamps that go in the middle of a center of a floor because they know there are floor outlets. So there's just so many things that, um, in whole home production that one team should really be doing. I think
Speaker 0 00:08:36 It almost is, um, a, a very good business strategy is, um, you know, going up and down the integration channel. You know, you become a manufacturer, you become the raw material provider, whatever it is. And in a sense, you've just taken, you know, design and home building and, and put the entire pipe together so that somebody builds a home with you. Ultimately, you probably end up their decorator and that makes your average sale a lot bigger. How will you acquire customers, uh, in this new, much bigger sale? It's a much bigger risk for a customer to take on inspired luxury homes. So then if, if you mess up their living room, who cares? They go on. Yeah. But this is a big deal.
Speaker 2 00:09:16 Well, so when I started, uh, years ago, about four or five years ago, when I started really thinking about it and putting it on my goal list, um, you know, several people in my office sort of rolled their eyes or thought it was too ambitious, or I had female friends that told me, that's so hard to do, you can't do that. Even one female friend whose husband's a developer, <laugh> <laugh>. And, and I've always been of the mindset where I get a little excited when someone tells me, no <laugh> or you can't, like, it's, uh, it's sets something off inside of me that, that I wanna prove them wrong. You know, especially when it's something that I know I can do if it's something that I know I can achieve different, different topic. But, um, so every time someone kept saying, you can't, you can't, I just kept getting more excited and thinking.
Speaker 2 00:10:02 And my dad used to always say about me, you know, he said, you're just like me. When you see a concrete wall in front of you, all you think is, let me get another helmet and figure out how to make my way through it. And, um, and I think that's how I just kept going about it. Um, but I think selling an entire home and having the show house where people can walk through and see, um, a successful space plan, um, successful use of space, high functioning spaces, um, not wasting square footage, um, total home solutions with lighting and technology, I think you see a home differently. And I just know from my years of going through all these homes that builders have made, a lot of times they're just racing through production. And, you know, with production just as well as I know, sometimes you race through and you really miss the mark with production sometimes. And I think when you've got, um, a lot of, in predominantly the building sector, new home building sectors, a lot of men that might not think about it from a perspective of how much clothing can I store? Where am I packing lunches for a kid? You know, um, can I use this space from infant to teenager? You know, I think they're thinking about it differently.
Speaker 0 00:11:18 I think a lot of the things you just said are things that women struggle with, particularly that, you know, you know, a developer or a wife of a developer and she says, don't go into it. Um, and it is a very male dominated industry. Yeah. How do you think, um, and where, where will that be a benefit and where will that, you know, get you, have you stumble a little bit, particularly in this very tough building market we're in, where there's just not enough builders people to do the work? You know, I'm not talking about the, the developers, the actual work men.
Speaker 2 00:11:46 Right. You know, I, I have been asked that question again a lot. And um, I always say it's a bit like saying imagine a world where a woman was president and negotiating policy and, um, interacting with the world at large and representing America differently. What would that communication look like? What would that problem solving look like? And we haven't really had the opportunity to experience that. And it might be really nice to, I mean, I know when Hillary Clinton was, you know, running, I brought my daughter and stood in line to vote to, you know, show her, Hey, there'd be exciting to have a time and space where a woman might be problem solving differently. Whether you agree with her policy or not. Percent, it would, might be exciting to hear a woman problem solve different things and think about things through a different lens. And I think with building and construction, that that time has come where, um, a lot more women need to be, uh, running the show and calling the shots and problem solving differently. And it might be that you end up with a different, uh, belief system than the stigmas that have been associated with building delays and construction delays. And it might be that it's a different, um,
Speaker 0 00:13:00 Different experience,
Speaker 2 00:13:01 Different stigma associated with home building. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:13:04 And, uh, well, it's neat. And I, I think, yeah. You know, when you run for president, I'll definitely vote <laugh> <laugh>. Um, maybe just tell us, I mean, I know, um, you are a single mom and mom of three. How do you get done all the things you do and be such an incredible mother?
Speaker 2 00:13:23 I think it's all about like, organize, organize systems. Um, you know, I'm always like trying to find ways to organize time differently and organize systems differently. Like, just this week I took a Monday through Friday calendar and said, I'm gonna color block my week. Like this day in this block of time is accounting this day. And this block of time is social media this day and block of times working with the design team. And I'm not gonna do other things during those times. But I think it's about constantly trying to come up with systems that are more productive and problem solving. I mean, I always say, um, you know, problem solving, solving is the best talent you can ever have in life. Like, I don't care whether you're a lawyer, a doctor, some doing something artistic, like problem solving is the best skillset you can ever have.
Speaker 0 00:14:11 Yeah. True. Um, right. And definitely we'll come to good use in the, in the new work you're doing for sure. Right. <laugh>. Um, talk to us just a little bit about your team. Um, when you hire, what are you looking for?
Speaker 2 00:14:24 Um, the number one thing, and I, it's funny, I actually do like a personality. I make them do a personality test. 'cause the number one thing that I'm always looking for is intuition. Hmm. Um, I'm always looking for intuition. 'cause I think anyone that can anticipate, need and interact with the world at large and anticipate need gets really high marks. You, you, you can be bad at a whole lot of things. Maybe you're, um, a designer that's bad at spreadsheets or maybe you're a bookkeeper that's really not creative, you know. But if you can anticipate need and have a refined skillset, that's a good pair for me.
Speaker 0 00:15:01 Good for you. Tell us, um, you know, if we look out in three years, what is the inspired luxury and home market and, and your design business? What does that look like?
Speaker 2 00:15:11 So in three years, I, I have a goal of doing, um, around three homes per year is where I'm hoping to be. Um, I don't wanna be doing a huge, huge amount, but I feel like I could manage three and I hope to be, um, handing over the keys, if you will, to inspired interiors and the team kind of like running itself. Um, and I'm playing less of a role there and playing more of a role with inspired luxury homes. So there's a little bit of a, a graduation, if you will, um, from one to the other. That's my goal. And, um, I feel like the platform that we've set up with the virtual three D tours, the new construction three D tours that we've, we've gotten a lot of press and, and awards for, um, I feel like it allows us to build a home anywhere. So some of what we're working on right now is like a, a pretend home in the Virgin Islands, or a pretend home and, you know, and actually having people tour what that would be like, understand on a piece of land.
Speaker 0 00:16:07 Yeah. I was gonna ask you, are you gonna be geographically focused or could they give you a piece of land anywhere?
Speaker 2 00:16:13 Well, in theory, you, you, we could take a plot of survey anywhere. Um, in fact, I've been talking to my brother about some properties in Texas. I've talked to, you know, a lot of pe a client, uh, potentially buying something in, in Florida. And if we have a plot of survey and we kind of understand the topography, then we can create a home anywhere. So the architectural and the design team work in tandem with the technology team to really produce that three d tour of a home anywhere. Now we've learned, you know, we can buy product and ship it to any receiving warehouse mm-hmm. <affirmative> anywhere in the nation and just puddle up all the product. And when the job site's ready, we start distributing it to the job site. So we really don't have to be here. Everything could be anywhere. Geographically,
Speaker 0 00:16:59 You're so good at technology, um, you know, you would kind of think that that's, um, maybe a supplementing belief for me, but that that's like a young man's game, so to speak. But I see you've used that a lot in your project management, a lot in how you've thought about jobs. Are you naturally inclined at technology or how do you learn so much in put that into your business so efficiently?
Speaker 2 00:17:20 Well, I can't, I can't claim to use on a daily basis all the different tools and software systems, but I try to understand the time consumption, uh, that it takes to operate them. And I try to understand the, the benefit that they'll yield by someone using it. So a lot of different software that that we use, whether it's, you know, social media using Airtable or whether it's, um, the production people using Asana to task everything out in Project Manage, or whether it's, um, the three D rendering software that we're using for the three D tours, to me it's about asking, uh, the younger staff members, Hey, what do you see out there that's making everything more productive? Um, so I'm not necessarily learning all the <laugh>, but I think it's about asking them what, what tools and resources do they think, um, would make things more productive. Like I, I'm, I love Richard Branson, I'm, he's like my hero. And, um, everyone always says, oh, if you could date anyone, who would you date? I'm like, well, anyone that's like Richard Branson, <laugh> <laugh>,
Speaker 0 00:18:21 We talk deals all day. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:18:24 I just love how he is like a little artistic, a little entrepreneur. Like that would be my, uh, my thing
Speaker 0 00:18:30 Too time. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:18:31 <laugh>. But anyhow, um, he had a, a comment one time about how he, um, he asks like everyone on his team down to like, maybe it's a flight attendant, maybe it's, um, you know, but someone that's just in the, in the trenches. Um, and he'll ask them, what do you think would improve Virgin Airways? What do you think would improve any one of his businesses? And he said, he's always intrigued by the answers that he gets, and the answers are usually direct things that, that he needs to solve that are not being solved. But he was on such a high level, and some of the people that are, he's surrounded by on a daily basis are thinking so high level that they're missing, like these tiny little things that would make a big difference to, uh, the people that are actually producing the revenue and, and buying their products. You know? So I thought that was really interesting. But I think if you ask the younger staff members what would you do? Yeah. You know, what are the top things you would do? Yeah. You get these responses that are really holistic.
Speaker 0 00:19:31 Well, what a treat. I, um, I think that not only, uh, is your business evolved and, and been so, you know, pivoted and, and been so growth oriented, but also that you have just executed. And I think at the end of the day, lots of us can have a lot of good ideas, but Richard Branson didn't just take those little ideas. He executed on those good ideas, and that's what makes them them productive. So we really wish you all the best with this next venture. We're very excited to see the show House in September, be part of it, and, um, watch Luxury Homes all over the North Shore and beyond, uh, become female Run and Emily focused. Oh, yeah. We'll be really happy to watch this next trajectory.
Speaker 2 00:20:10 Thank you. Thank you for having me. You're welcome.
