While your brand and business may not be an exact extension of who you are, the energy you’re putting into it, IS. The way you treat yourself affects how your space looks and feels. Self-love is good for business in many ways, but we’re going to speak to the area where we see the biggest impact firsthand – in interior design.
We see the power of self-love in interior design every single day. We recognize the comfortable energy that fills the room when you can enthusiastically, authentically, and simply be yourself. Your best self, your fun self, your comfortable self…your inspired and inspiring self. When you have space to become your full bold self, everyone else around you becomes a little better off, too.
Discover 6 reasons self-love is good for business from a designer’s point of view!
#1 Self-Love Fosters Clear Brand Identity
Taking time to love yourself translates into taking time to KNOW yourself. Knowing yourself unlocks a cascade of positive outcomes for your business, like understanding exactly what you want for your brand – functionally and aesthetically. This will lead you to logical decision-making when identifying the people, music, scents, pieces, and materiality that bring your brand to life in your commercial space. Just as importantly, this practice also highlights what your brand is NOT.
Knowing exactly what you want for your brand makes it impossible to not be authentic. Coriander Kitchen and Farm is a great example of what happens when business owners know who they are and what they stand for. Their restaurant is an extension of their fresh, eclectic, welcoming selves.
The importance placed on brand identity is something that makes Concetti unique. We’re experts in bridging the brand to the built environment. Translating your brand into tangible elements can be challenging without formal interior design training, even for those with complete brand clarity. We designed Phase 1: Discover to help establish a brand identity for those who need support, too. Our unique strategy allows us to invoke the very essence of your brand and bring it to life in a physical space.
#2 Self-Love Connects You with Those Who Need Your Product or Service
We firmly believe the energy you give is the energy you attract. Your commercial space needs to align with how your customers see themselves or who they wish to be, and they’ll feel it if it’s filled with love. “Never judge a book by its cover” doesn’t necessarily apply to brick-and-mortar businesses. First impressions are important. A polished, well-thought-out, authentic space will draw customers in – in person and online.
Build Institute provided a space for Detroit’s entrepreneurs to engage each other, network, and cultivate successful businesses when they first opened in 2012. However, as the needs of aspiring entrepreneurs evolved, they recruited us to aesthetically and functionally transform their space and elevate their brand. Now offering coworking spaces, presentation equipment, corporate events, and a dedicated staff headquarters, Build Institute honors Detroit’s past and present while offering new opportunities to the next generation of Detroit entrepreneurs.
#3 Self-Love Compels You to Evolve
Loving yourself can unlock your imagination, raise your quality standards, and embolden you to be brave enough to envision what could be.
For example, the owners of the Color Bloc could have kept business as usual when they bought the Banner Sign Co. However, they honored the 100-year-old business by maintaining its core service offering and expanding new services to help even more Detroiters get their dreams down in ink. The Digital Print Specialties brand added Detroit’s first Benjamin Moore to the mix and brought us in to breathe new life into the space, creating a multi-service hub for artists, business owners, home improvement enthusiasts, and many more, to explore Detroit’s most innovative paint and printing services.
#4 Self-Love Leads to Improved Customer Experiences
Loving yourself puts you in touch with your needs and, in turn, makes you more attentive to the needs of your customers, clients, or tenants. Customers who feel seen and appreciated are one of the most important, if not MOST important, keys to growing your business.
PRO TIP: Use journey mapping, an exercise in interior design that illustrates the entire physical journey your customers and employees will take in your space from the moment they enter to the time they leave. It provides insight into how they interact with your space at various touchpoints and highlights pain points and opportunities to enhance their experience.
Journey mapping is one element in our human-centric approach to interior design strategy. Self-love and the consideration of others are inherent to human-centric design because they put peoples’ experiences at the forefront. In a world where cookie-cutter living spaces are becoming more prominent, offering tenants something personal can make their space feel like home. It also reflects the passion, joy, and self-love of the developer.
Case in point: Our client recruited us to transform the Murray into multi-family housing that honored the neighborhood’s culture and the building’s history while anticipating his tenants’ needs.
#5 Self-Love Provides Better Employee Experiences
Like we mentioned at the start, self-love sends positive shockwaves to everyone around you – especially your employees. Leading by example gives your employees more space to be authentic and, in turn, inspire and delight your customers.
Are you starting to see the self-love domino effect? Imagine what would happen if we all shared our most confident, authentic selves with the world…that’s the world we want to live in.
The owners of Good Cakes and Bakes see it that way, too. Their mission is to provide quality baked goods that are wholesome and organic in nature; and to provide them in an environment that is positive, creative, educational, and friendly to their employees and community. We have a shared understanding that the places we work deeply impact our well-being. So, we worked together to create a space that facilitated an effortless, inspired experience for both the customer and the employee.
#6 Self-Love Creates the Vision
Getting started – on anything – is the scariest part of any goal. Whether you want to start a business or transform your commercial space, self-love is the catalyst that will get you started.
Self-love and care are the heartbeat of client Fiber & Strand, a hair studio based in Toledo, Ohio. They came to us seeking to transform their recently renovated historic studio space into a beautiful collective for women that exudes the feeling of empowerment through self-care. They had a strong brand identity and the confidence to bring their space to life – all they needed was the vision to get them there.
We guided them through Phase 1 of our process to truly understand their goals, challenges, and brand, then co-created the vision with a 3D rendering they would use to turn it into a reality.
At its purest form, self-love in interior design does more than make room to embrace who you are, love your brand, and grow your business. It’s the foundation for creating a life you love and inspiring others to do the same.
