Today in The Lounge, Nick talks to Kristi Hopper, a Dallas-based designer with a sharp sense for the business side of things on top of her interior design acumen. 

Her Journey from Corporate America to Design

Right out of college, Kristi took a temp job at Canon that evolved into a job as the national sales operation manager of Canon U.S.A over 10 years. When she got laid off, she began designing her own home until it got around she could do interior design, and she began helping other people with their spaces and, from there, she started her own business, building a clientele through word of mouth in her tight-knit community that she still maintains and expands, relying on her clients’ trust and satisfaction to grow.

Multitasking

Kristi Hopper Designs only employs two designers other than the herself and a couple clerical employees to help run the business, so Kristi has to have a lot of different skills. She’s the head salesperson and decision-maker, so she has a hand in every operation. She knows how to delegate, especially with contractors she can build longterm partnerships with , but she’s a salesperson, psychologist, administrator, AND designer.

Relationships

In addition to knowing contractors she trusts and goes back to over and over, Kristi insists on partnering with reliable vendors who she feels comfortable working with based on how trustworthy a company is and how she can expect to be treated, as a business owner, by the people at the companies she works with. If a vendor’s people aren’t friendly and present, she looks elsewhere.

Learn more about Kristi at https://kristihopper.com/ or Kristi Hopper Designs on Facebook and @Kristihopperdesigns on Instagram.