1170: BEST OF SHOW: Meryl Santopietro: How to Re-Invent, Re Vitalize Your Firm, Even After 20 Years

Welcome to a well-designed business. My name is Luana Igarra and I'm so glad you found this

podcast. Together with my husband Vince and our partner Bill, we have grown our company

WindowWorks from the ground up. So I know and I understand the challenges you face in

running your interior design business. I also know that your talent alone isn't enough

to ensure your success. So on this podcast, we talk about strategies and practical steps

to help you grow your business. But make no mistake about it. We have our share of fun

here too mixed in with those aha moments that I love so much. This isn't fluff. Nobody

has time for that. Whether you are a new interior designer or a seasoned designer, I am here

to help you create and to manage the kind of interior design firm that you dream of. It's

straight talk and it's action. Are you ready? Let's get started.

Hi, welcome to a well-designed business. Before we get into today's episode, I want to let you

know that we're doing something a little different over the next several months. We're bringing

back the most downloaded, the most talked about episodes from the last nine years of a well-designed

business. These are the episodes that built businesses that sparked aha moments that turned

you into an action taker. Now, if you're wondering why we're revisiting these episodes and what's

changing with the show overall, well, I walk you through the full vision in our April 25th 2025

episode titled The Big Shift. What's changing on a well-designed business and why that episode is

linked for you in the show notes. Now a quick heads up. These episodes are airing as they originally

did. That means the music might sound familiar or it might be vintage. That means the event dates

will definitely be out of date that I talk about. And it also means that any offers that are mentioned

may or may not be valid still. But the insights still golden. So whether it's your first time hearing

this episode or your fifth time hearing it, there's something in this conversation for you right now

in this season of your business. So here's the show. I hope you enjoy it.

Hi, welcome to another episode of a well-designed business. I'm very grateful to have you with me

today. And on the show today, I also have Merrill Santu Pietro. Merrill is the founder of Merrill

Santu Pietro Interiors, which was originally located in Rhode Island and is now based in New York City.

She graduated as a fine arts major from the University of California at Berkeley and also completed

certificate work at the Rhode Island School of Design. She is a member of ASID and has won their

design and excellence award in 2013 from the New England chapter. Wait until you hear how Merrill

Santu Pietro after 20 years reinvented her interior design firm. Just like two of my previous guests,

Robin Lamonte and Leslie Myrick, Merrill set out to reestablish her firm in a new location. But

this time it was the big apple New York City. And Merrill set her sights not only on simply earning

work in New York City, but in working with top tier clients in New York City. This is not easy for

anyone to accomplish, let alone an outsider with no contacts and no network in the area.

You don't want to miss this show. Hi, Merrill. Thank you for joining me on a well-designed

business today. Thanks, Luanne. I'm so pleased that you invited me to join you. This is very

exciting to be here with you. Yes. Today we're going to talk about your career. You have a nice

long career that we're happy to share with everybody. Basically, you primarily, you from

live in Rhode Island in the most of the years of your career were spent in Rhode Island. But you

made a decision several years ago to put your stake in the claim of our island over here of Manhattan.

And there are many things about your business that are interesting to me. And that is only one

aspect of them. The other aspects that your daughters are in the business and that you have

developed a product line. And we'll get to all of those. But first, I would love to explore

the thought process to why you decided to sort of open up shop in Manhattan and what you were

thinking and what were the logic behind it and how you went about it. Would you mind sharing a

little bit of that background with us, please? No, I'd love to. I'd love to. Well, you know, six

years ago, I decided that I recognized there's just so much opportunity in New York City, especially

in the design world. I mean, there's just new buildings going up all the time. And I thought, you

know, I've had a lot of experience. Let me see if it's possible for me to, you know, bring my

business into Manhattan. And of course, I had the luxury of I had two daughters living here in

Manhattan at the time. So it just seemed to be this sort of natural transgression. And what I did,

which might sound, you know, revolutionary to some people is I actually scoped out what was

happening. And I made a list of a lot of the different luxury condo buildings that were,

you know, being built, but also at that important stage of going into contract with individual

clients. And I thought, you know, there lies the opportunity for me. I would actually find

many, many clients potentially in those types of buildings because what's so unique about New

York City is, yes, you know, potential clients might buy apartments with a designer in tow. But

because New York is a maca for the world, you're going to have many international buyers. And

they're not necessarily going to bring a designer with them. And they'd be looking for a designer,

you know, basically on site. So with that kind of knowledge, I put my portfolio under my arm.

And I actually went out to many, many different buildings. And I introduced myself to, you know,

the concierge teams that were on site, introduced myself to the really real estate office teams

that were we're selling these condos. And it was through those series of introductions that I made

and, you know, was able to share with these different people, you know, my expertise that I was

beginning to be able to forge relationships with people in the buildings. And that's how I really

built my business. It was, you know, I had to put myself out there, take a chance, but it was

well worth it. So, okay, so let's back up for a second. So first of all, I love the idea that

when you decide that you're going to start one, you decide you want to do projects in Manhattan,

you would do some market research, you'd turn around. And okay, so we're talking about buildings

that are being built, new construction. And the critical thing I heard you mention is that they

need to be in contract phase. Is there, how do you know that? Is it a parent on the website?

Is it something obvious that I've just now kind of experienced with? So I don't know it? Or is there

further investigative things that have to happen in that regard? Well, no, you could actually find

that information out on the website because you would find that there would be a number of apartments

that have been sold that would be listed as under contract. So when you're dealing with a building

that's making a lot of sales like that, that's a very opportune project for a designer to become

involved with. Absolutely. Okay, I understand it now. But they're basically literally up for rent

or sale. That's the part of the process that are in. So we're not necessarily so much

interested in getting involved with the project when it's breaking ground or when it's three-quarters

of construction completed. We're waiting until we see the activity of the buys of the sales.

Okay, understood. Okay, now. All right, so, but okay, so let's break that down a little bit further.

So you identify X amount of opportunities. Do you identify four buildings, ten buildings,

what sort of amount of opportunities are you identifying when you start out and you have the

list in front of you? I probably identified at least six buildings to get myself started, yeah.

Okay, and now how is it? So you say, okay, I'm meeting the sales team on meeting the

property management team. But what does that mean, really? Like you're meeting them? Are you

getting introductions through mutual people? Are you cold emailing them? How did you meet them?

I actually had to cold call them because if you're going to email them, they aren't going to

have a clue who you are and they're getting so many emails from so many people, they're not even

going to answer. So trying to make an appointment with with those teams, so well, that's nice to

call up and try to schedule an appointment. But again, you know what, they don't know you and

they're not going to be interested in making an appointment with someone that they don't know.

Because it's not in their interest. Correct. Okay, so wait, time out though. You like literally

like door-to-door salesmen. You literally, you know, put on your big girl suit and put your

portfolio under your arm and you like walk into a building and say, hi, I'm Merrill. I'd like to

be the designer here. Well, it's sort of, yeah. Who thinks that this happens at this level?

I'm sorry, that's insane, that's awesome. Okay, so. If you go out and talk to people with

successful businesses, Lewin, that's the point that they've all had. They've all pretty much done

something like that. Well, you know, I do it every week with this podcast. I email these

designers that I've never heard from that are like multi, you know, million-dollar designers

with amazing firms. And I'm like, hi, I'm Lewin with the podcast. You know, I've been on the

air for three months. Want to be on the show? So, so I get that. I'm scrappy. But I don't picture

you, Merrill. You're a sophisticated lady like with a 20-year career. Like I love that you just

said, okay, you know, step one, going back to basics, you literally walk in. So how does that

go for you? I mean, I have a thing in my business that was like for when I came up in sales,

because that's my passion. That's my, you know, my wheelhouse is sales, okay? And so I was reading

books on sales from the time that I was 10 years old. So I always understood, I'm going to hear

25 knows before I hear a yes. And if I get five knows in the 25, well, man alive, I'm just having,

you know, a happy dance happen. But I'm prepared for 25. So, but so when you have these six in front

of you are, you know, what, what walk us through it? You walk through the door, say, hi,

I'm Merrill. Can I speak to the leasing manager? Like I want to hear this, this real story here.

Okay, you know, I just walked through the door and looking for friendly face, you know,

behind the desk or maybe a concierge that's, you know, situated at a separate desk

and introduce myself and tell them, you know, who I am and immediately put forth my portfolio

and open it up because I think that it's, it's very, very important that you have really strong

visuals so that, you know, whoever you're speaking to knows immediately off the bat that you're

the real deal. You've got to, you've got to, you know, take ownership of that immediately and

explain that you are new to the city. But, you know, you have this, you know, long, you know,

career. And you have wonderful resource references, resources, everything that's needed to

reestablish yourself. And, you know, you'd love to just talk to them about the type of clients

that are there in the building, you know, what kind of needs they might have, how you might be

able to help their teams that are in the building, make things easier, fast, they're quicker,

better for those clients that are better moving in. And that's really what it takes. It takes,

you, it takes, you, you have to be a little bit vulnerable. You have to be honest. And you have

to be a person who is really able to deliver. Yeah, because say, yeah, I'm hearing that because,

you know, if you are a fairly new designer, because let's just clarify something, we're talking

about apartments that are going for sale, probably in the multiple millions. We're not talking

about 100,200, why don't I even think that exists in Manhattan? But I mean, I'm just saying,

you know, if you want the water closet, you could have it for a hundred grand.

But I mean, we're, but even within New York City, there are levels of apartment buildings. And

what I understand from your portfolio and from your work is that you are doing those multiple

million dollar residents, the five, 10, 15, 20 million dollar residences. So what you're explaining to

us is that, you know, you can have all of the nerve in the world to walk in and cold call a

concierge and a real estate team at a building. But if you don't also then show, look at this.

I'm in business, however many years, your case, 20, but, you know, a good body of work,

A, that looks quality and displays the level of luxury that you're in the same building as.

But also, like you're saying, I know how to do this. I'm not guessing at it. I have resources.

I have vendors. I have contacts and I have good quality project management under my belt. So I

love that. And by the way, this same premise could be repeated if the designer is listening out

there and she is, or he is only in business two or three years, they could repeat this process,

but they just go to the little housing development in their neighborhood that's putting up 10 houses

or 20 houses and says, look, this is my body of work from, you know, you have to say half of it's

from your college education, you know, whatever it is. But this, as your level of expertise is,

you is where you set your sights. But the thing that I think is most significant is I don't know

that I've ever heard anybody with this level of expertise actually use such a base level

marketing for such a high level market. That's what's so awesome about this. You know, most people

are like, well, I got to put, you know, ads and architectural digest for $20,000 or, you know,

I guess, so I love it. Okay. So, all right. So you, we established that. And then what I heard in

there too that I really like is that it's a, it's a well-known business axiom or well-known

business strategy that solve a problem for your potential client. And then you get that client

easier. And so I heard it in there. You described to these different real estate teams and the different

people that are on site at the building that are now, say like, they've read, they've sold

apartment to somebody who lives in France. And they have to work with them through, you know,

email and Skype and everything else like, did you pick your grant account or tops yet? Did you

pick the tile floor? And what you're saying to these real estate project properties, management

companies are, if they hire me and you help me, you know, introduce me to them and they hire me,

you know, a lot of that headache is off your plate now. Now you just deal with me, right?

Exactly. That's it. That's genius. It's genius because you know what? I'm sure they're just like,

oh my god, we got 90 people in this building now. And that's great that we've sold this many,

but now I got to find 90 tile plate, you know, selections from 90 people. I love it. I love it.

Exactly. And you know, what happened was, of course, you know, once you're able to convince someone

to give you a referral, of course, you know, you're going to be up against other designers that

they're referring because none of these people that you're going to be dealing with these real estate

developers or sales teams, they don't ever refer just one person. But you know, what was so

key in, you know, building my business was the fact that nine times out of 10, I got the client

because I know what clients are looking for. I know the services they need. I know how to

deliver on those services. And that's yeah. I'm sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool because of

what you're saying to me is that, you know, here's this particular real estate management,

you know, particular location, one building, they're going to say give three designer referrals

to 20 of their new homeowners. But when they see that you are earning the work of say 50% of them

or 60 or 70% of them, they're taking notice and they're saying, hmm, okay. So I'm giving three

names out, but one woman keeps getting hired over and over again, this this firm must have something

going on. Exactly. And then that led them to even refer you probably more often or even now the

referral goes like this. Here's three names, but I got to tell you this is the one everybody loves.

Correct. And what happens from that is is, you know, those real estate agents never just stay

with that particular building forever. Of course, they move on to other buildings. Well, now you

forged your relationship with them and you're going to follow them into these other buildings.

And then once you're they do that, then you're going to meet new people in those buildings,

new contacts, new concierge teams. You're going to build your network so that now you you have a

lot of people in the pipeline that could be a source of referrals. And of course, you know,

doing a good job, you're always, you know, hoping for that referral from your client, which is

phenomenal. And we've done so well with that just in the short time in New York City with

had countless referrals from our clients. But, you know, it's great, Lewand, it's vital for

a thriving business to have those, you know, business to business referrals. That's what, you know,

that's when you're really cooking. That's the truth. I can just visualize it just domino effect

in multiplying out because it's the truth. Most property management, my daughters in luxury

property management. And most of them, they, you know, they're in the phase for the lease-up,

they call it the lease-up or the sell-up, whatever. And then within a year or two, the top people in

that management team are moving to the next property because they are recognized by their higher

ups as the movers and the shakers. So they'll leave in place three or four team members, but the two

one or two stars are moved along to the next property, the next lease-up, the next sell-up. It's

it's absolutely genius. I'm like, I'm thinking, well, maybe I should co-call for window treatments

in Manhattan. The funny thing is we did that. My husband and I did that. We literally did that

in the beginning. We had what, you know, where to call door knockers. And it was a thing that

had a cutout at the top of it for your door knob. And the hanging below it was, you know, window

works, custom window treatments and awnings. And this is our address. And this is our telephone

number. Of course, there were no faxes and no websites then and no emails. But, you know, you put

it on it and you listed all your products. And we would literally walk around new construction

sites, like new townhouse developments going up and look for the ones that were closed. And somebody

was living in there and, you know, put the things on it. And we'd walk into realtors and say,

you know, you're leasing up this and you're selling up this property. But I haven't done it in

probably 30 years. It's amazing. I'm amazed by it. And to think about the payoff on the work

at that level, because, you know, it's going to take, you know, me the same amount of time to

prepare my portfolio, to put my big girl suit on, to walk into a building and say, if anybody

just needs their window treatments replaced or repaired or, you know, changed out or whatever,

you know, okay, so that could be a five or a $10,000 order. But for an interior design client,

that's a, you know, $100, 200, $300,000 order for the same amount of time we spent, you know,

smoothing the concierge. Exactly. Exactly. And, you know, from from those beginnings, then we

spun out into doing staging, which we've been very successful for, you know, different real estate

property companies. Yeah. Yeah. We actually, we actually staged a really great one bedroom loft

at the printing house. And that was a particular, you know, line of apartments that they were having

a hard time selling. So they asked us to stage it, stage it because we had actually, you know,

had a number of clients in the building. So they were pretty familiar with us. And so

low and behold, it was a full page ad in the New York Times. And then they were able to sell out

from that, from our staging, from that photograph, from that article, they sold out that whole line.

So, yeah. That's amazing. That's awesome. And, and you know, what loft, loft staging and

loft design is, is not easy. I mean, that's just, that's a whole different animal to design for.

And when you do it well, and effectively, and it sells out of building, that's amazing.

That's great. So, and so I, I got a picture that this not only multiplies. So we've identified

how it multiplies, multiplies within one building. Okay. So one building has got, you know,

whether it's got 20 units or it's got 300 units. You have all of that opportunity within one

building. Then we've identified that when the management team from that building is transferred

to a new property, you know, we've got that now is a warm sale rather than a cold sale. And they're

going to refer you and they have that potential. But then the obvious also is that these are

buy and buy, whether they're interstate clients, international clients, or, you know, just clients that

have, you know, now they may be their primary residences, Manhattan, but they've got the big house

in, you know, am against it. So these are people that usually have more than one dwelling. So you're

probably also multiplying the business out from within the actual clients, right? Absolutely,

because this is one client we've, we've done three apartments for him in Manhattan. And now we're

going to be working on a project with him in London and another one in Miami. We have another client

that we've done their apartment here in New York and we're working with this very talented architect

and building a vacation home for them in New Jersey. So we have many stories like that. It is just

the gift that keeps giving. I mean, it's really, you know, it's so, I guess I don't know. Maybe people

aren't as amazed as I am. I am amazed because I, like I said, I really do come from this sales

background. I mean, I used to sell knives and dishes and paintings and pictures out of the trunk

of my car in Philly when I was 17 years old. So I am that girl. And so just to put it on such a level

with such a high ROI is just so awesome. Well, right. It's just, you know, it's really the power of,

okay, do you really, are you really passionate about what you do? Do you really believe in it? Okay,

if you really believe in what you're capable of doing, you know, bringing design to New York,

working within this, this, this city. And knowing that as, as many designers as there are here in

New York, gosh, there's always room for more. Okay. So it's really carrying that belief through

to the conviction of, okay, let me put myself out there. And you know what? If, if, if I get a

no, okay, so what? You know, I'm, I believe this can, can work and you just need to fortify yourself

and stay with it until you, until you click and it, and it will happen. Yeah, it will, it will happen.

Yeah. And it's really funny, Luan, because I actually have two clients that are graduates of Harvard

Business School. And they actually love this story. They said, they don't even get there in

Business School and teaching you anything of like what you've done. It's like old school tactic.

It's, it's like old school. I love it. It's like, I, like I said, I did it and I don't even remember

to do it anymore. You don't need to. You don't need to. Yeah. But you know, it's exciting. You

see, that's so funny that you just said that you don't need to. And you're actually absolutely

right. We have a multi-million dollar business that, you know, the phone rings every day,

thank the universe that it does. And I have referral customers and clients like every single day.

I mean, probably 70% of our clients right now are referral clients, either they themselves

or their friends, family, kids, God read and grandchildren for crying out loud. That's how long

I'm doing this. But the thing is, I'm listening to your story and the, and the, the at my soul sales

person is like, I just want to go do this. I'm like, I wonder if I could, you know, like, what

if I tried it? Because it's like, you're right. I don't need to do it. But I like, I get so

used up about this sort of thing, you know? Oh my God, I'm so impressed. And you know what? And it's

as you said, that less little bit that you talked about, it's believing in yourself and knowing that,

you know, you, you personally made a decision that you wanted to establish the business in New

York City. I'm sure it was so that you could have more time together with your daughters, you know,

and not always be three states away or whatever it is. And you just went, you know, instead of

wishing for and saying, I wish I was in New York and, you know, maybe, you know, having lunch with

some ladies and giving them your business card. No, like, no way. I'm making a business here.

Exactly. Because, you know, what I knew many of the really well established designers in New York

had all the social connections sold up. So even if I became very socially active and joined many

organizations, how many inroads am I going to make a cloud? You kind of have to be in the cloud,

yeah. I knew that wasn't going to work for me. Yeah, I mean, and you know, what you can get

into the club, the, the members of the club are very nice men and women. I know them, but it takes

a long time to get credibility within the clients of that club because, you know, look, it's their

clients. It's their club. That's how it works. Oh, that's awesome. We've mentioned a couple of times

that your daughters are in the business with you, but that wasn't always the case. And tell me,

because I know a little bit about them from having talked with Joy on the phone a couple of

times. She's a rock star. I love her. And I'm sure Alessandra is the same, but tell us a little

bit about what they do for you, how that involvement started and give us that little background.

Okay. I'd love to share that with you. I'm very fortunate. They're both extremely talented

girls. And when it came into the city, you know, they were both in their own careers. Alessandra was

an apparel designer with Ralph Lauren on Madison Avenue. And Joy was an intellectual properties

attorney working on Wall Street. And when my business really began to click and really take off,

which was year five, I've been in it for six years in Manhattan. So the backup to five years,

I decided, gosh, I am just like, this is wild. There's so much going on. Let me ask Alessandra if

she'd ever consider jumping in and joining me in the business because she comes from a parallel

world of apparel design. And she's used to working with vendors and she knows all about, you know,

obviously the same quality levels of fabrics design. So it was just, you know,

she speaks the language. She speaks the language. She knows how to speak the language to the people

that we need to deal with. You know, on our vendor side, our manufacturing side. So I asked her and

she said, yeah, why not? I'll give it a shot. And I said, and you know what? And don't worry about it

because if it doesn't work out and you don't like it, don't worry, you can leave. So she jumped in

and she really loved it because what she actually loved about it, Luanne, was its design on a real

basis practically every day because you know, you have new clients, new projects, and it's all

different. We don't have a set look. So we're really interpreting clients visions for them.

So everything is changing. You're always sourcing new products, new new finishes, new looks for

clients. So she's really spreading her creative wings. It sounds like that's what makes her

excited. She's everything like we're in a maybe in working for one line of apparel or something.

That line has a look and it's just like a different color saying look, but here you're creating

completely new events, new places, new things for people every day.

Exactly. And she had that sense.

Yes. And then what was so interesting is, of course, the clients that we are coming in contact

with in New York City are pretty exciting people. I mean, we're working with clients that are

the top in their field of business, fashion, sports. So it's all interesting, fun, exciting,

hard work, a lot of detail. And things keep rolling. And boy, we realized, Alessandra and I thought,

gosh, this is really getting really, really hectic. We're good at this and we're busy.

We're good for busy, but oh, there's a lot of details here we could use. We could use

another set of hands, but we need somebody who has who has different attributes to bring to the

table. And so we looked at each other and we said, yeah, maybe we should ask Joy if she wants to

join us with her experience being an attorney. So she understands client relationships.

She knows how to put contracts together. She knows how to manage those funds. Do all of that

financial stuff, the business aside, right? Which is really important. And then she's

positively amazing with clients. They all love her and love dealing with her. So her project

management skills are wonderful. So we asked her and she thought about it and she thought, yeah,

you know, it sounds great. And I said, you know, with a caveat, I said, I know you're newly married

and you're probably going to want to start a family. And it's kind of a great, you know, to be in

this sort of business, have your own business, make your own hours. It gives you that flexibility

that you'd never have if you stay on Wall Street, right? Because they own you there.

Right. Yeah. That's a whole different animal. I mean, here you have commitments and you have

schedules and you have this, but you can, you know, if she's, you know, have, if she has a child

and she has, you know, author day at kindergarten, you know, she can not schedule a meeting for 12 o'clock

on author day at kindergarten. Exactly. Right. Exactly. Exactly. You know, there's, there's just

way more flexibility. And, you know, she, she really loved being part of this very creative

business. So it's really been a great fit. That sounds, it just really does sound exactly the

just the way you describe the great fit. You know, you have both girls with two different skill sets

that they bring. And that's of an important thing that we talk about on the show too, that when

you're going to hire people within your firm, that you have to look very carefully at yourself and

recognize what your skill set is and hire people that have different ones. Because there's no point

having three of you and then there's still two other jobs that have to get done and nobody's good at it.

Exactly. Exactly. You know, like, it's very, very dear client, extremely successful.

Businessman always said, hey, hire somebody smarter than yourself. And I feel like, hey, I did that.

That's awesome. That's terrific. I love it. I absolutely love it. So you three girls are

sitting the world on fire there. Well, we're trying. Yeah. And, and, and how it in this is yet

another sort of topic that, you know, it's premature for sure. Because you're riding high on

the success now and the three of you are so busy creating, continuing to create this business for

yourself. But, you know, I can see in the future, it's a great built-in succession plan for you

when you want to reach the point where, you know, maybe because I, you're now, I happen to know

and we'll share with the audience that you still live in Rhode Island, have a husband in Rhode

Island that you love and want to spend time with very much. And so you're going back and forth.

Okay. And that's, that's a lot of work just in the travel. Let's be real. Okay. But it sounds

like to me that you've also, in addition to bringing two smart people into your business with

skill sets that are different from yours, but compliment yours. You've also set up a built-in

succession plan for yourself because there's bound to be a point in time where what I always

look for in my life, I look to the future and I think, well, in 10 years, I certainly still want

to be working. But do I want to work the 60 hours that I work? Probably not. Be swelled to work

40 or 30. But if you don't have a succession plan in place, then you cannot reduce your hours and

still keep your business going. But you've got it built in. Do you think about that? Is that

something that the three of you discuss? We absolutely did because, you know, Luan, when, you know,

I realized that there was so much potential here in New York City and then bringing the girls

on board, I immediately said, hey, you know, I'm looking to the future. This is really going to be

about your business. I'm here now. I'm helping you establish it, put down those roots, you know,

build those relationships that you're going to need. And of course, I bring a certain amount of

experience just because of the longevity I've had in, in, you know, construction and design. But I

said, we have to think about this. And this is why you have to decide are you fully vested in,

in this business because it's really going to be your business because I, I don't need to be here

all the time. I need to be here a couple of days a week. And I don't need to be here with, with

every project, every meeting, it's not necessary because you two are just taken off so well.

And they're more than capable. Yeah. And more than capable. And, you know, when I go into buildings

and nobody even knows who I am, you love that, right? I actually love it. I know. I know. I love it too.

My name's on the door, but no one came to me. It's the truth. I like, we, you know, I have

Kim that works for me. And she's been working for me probably about eight years now. And she is

just a rock star too. And she's a, she's a designer. And I've been teaching her for all these years

had to, to be me and to do what I do. And every single month that goes by, there's more and more

emails and questions on projects that I'm like, I don't know anything about that project.

Yes. You know, because that's it. And, and, you know, look, she spent, I think, almost three and a half

full years with me side by side in my car going to every single meeting I had with a designer,

with a client, with a vendor, every single one for three, three and a half years. My husband

ever asked her about a year was like, what's the deal now? Kick her out of the nest. I'm like,

we're really making sure she knows the window works, values, the window works philosophies,

and that our clients, our loyal, loyal, loyal 30 plus years of clients know that she represents us

exactly the way we look at this business. And she's there now. She's got it. And so, and that's the

same as you're saying with your daughters. It's like you're working side by side with them now.

And, but as each year goes by, there's less that you need to do because they've learned from you

exactly how to run a profitable, well run business. Exactly. And the key that their learning is,

and that I know you believe, and I believe is that it's how do you build on what you're doing every day

and do it better and service your clients in, in, in a way that, you know, that, that makes you

invaluable to them. So that's what they're really grasping and understanding. A hundred percent

agree. That's my biggest, that was my biggest thing. I needed to wait. I didn't send her out on her

own until I knew that she fully understood the intangible thing that makes window works,

window works. And that is the, the very deep commitment to the customer service. Like, what do we

mean by that? It's not a sentence. It's a feeling. It's a thing. It's a breathing. You know what,

Kay Whitaker told me it's my core value. She was against a few back weeks back. And she's like,

you know, and that's your core value. I'm like, hey, what's that?

Yes. Exactly. Yeah. So, and that's how, that's how the succession planning happens. It's you,

you, they work alongside of you, understanding what your business, you spend 20 years building that

business. I spent, you know, 27, 28 years building the business before she ever came along. It's,

it's a living breathing, you know, child to meet practically. It's like, don't mess with my,

don't, don't, don't not do it right. You know, so. Exactly. Yeah. I love it. I love it. Now,

but you have another component to your being able to earn money without having to be the rainmaker.

And that's that you've developed a product. Tell us about how you came to develop the product

and what the product does for people. And for us, tell us about that. Oh, thanks so much.

Yeah. I was very excited because once, you know, we, we were all a team here. I had this idea

about products. Really great products to service my clients needs because you see, when I take

you back to the beginning, every client when you install their project will always say to you,

okay, I love it. This is so amazing and wonderful. But wait a minute. How do we keep it all together?

Yeah. How do we make sure this doesn't deteriorate? How do we avoid, you know, problems with

stains and all those life issues, right? Yeah. There's been lots of money on their furnishings

and their surfaces and they wanted to keep it clean and well maintained, right? Exactly.

And the one thing that I knew was, you know, in the marketplace today, there really isn't

anything that really meets the standards of our design standards. And that means that we,

we know more about the makeup of fabrics and what happens to fabrics when you use harsh chemicals,

the bleaching, the fraying, the deterioration of the weave, we understand that. And we understand,

finishes, fine finishes on wood or, you know, even, even with stainless, people love stainless,

but it can be really hard to maintain. So I had this idea, Lillian, and I've been thinking about

it for a long time. And, you know, once the girls were fully on board here with me working together

in New York City, I said, gee, I have this idea about these products. What do you think? And

they immediately thought, okay, yeah, let's kind of like kick this idea around. And Alessandra

was able to do the packaging and labeling, you know, create those concepts for us, which are

quite unique and beautiful from her experience of at Ralph Lauren, because she really understood

the brand experience. So she, she really brought us into that and then joy with her experience

was actually able to put together a business plan and, you know, find a chemist that we could work

with and develop our products. And she was actually able to secure that initial angel funding

that we needed to get ourselves off the ground. So it's, it's, it's, it was pretty exciting.

It is, it is exciting. I mean, to create a product on itself is exciting. I'm always amazed when

people come up with these things when they're brain and then all of a sudden it's sitting in front

of you. But the collaboration between the two girls, I mean, anything you do with your,

your kids is just too much fun. You can sit around and have a bottle of wine when I, I like, I like

leave that and I'm like, that was great. But like create a product with them. It's like, whoa.

I know. And, and now we're, we're taking it to that next level. We've, we've had it out there.

We're in, you know, small boutiques and stores and we're in gracious home. They're three locations

in New York City. And, and then we're in different design boutiques in the United States and in

Canada. We didn't take any of it. I'm so remiss here. It's called Silly Spotless, right?

Yeah. That's right. We're talking like everybody knows what we know.

Right. Everybody knows that. And now we're, we're revamping some, some packaging. So we're really

quite excited about, you know, what's happening. Yeah. It's great. And it's, and so let me just say

again, it's called Simply Spotless. And it's a, there's a wood cleaner in the line, a hand cleaner

line, a glass and surface cleaner and a fabric cleaner. So these are all different products or one

product that addresses all of these surfaces. Oh no. We have different different different products.

And, but, you know, what's so great about our products is that glass and surface. That's

amazing on, on stainless, but you can also use it on stone and tile. You, you know, if you,

if you really put the right formulations into the products and what we do, that's so different

than our competitors would do is we actually buy our, our ingredients at the cosmetic grade level.

So we're actually able to super load our products with all the good stuff that makes your,

your products work the way that you want them to work. But it remains extremely gentle.

And that's what's so incredible about the products. Like our wood cleaner, my gosh, people in the,

that custom mill workers love it because it just, it cleans and restores the, the wood veneers.

It doesn't add those, those polymers and that, you know, gunky stuff that just colors your,

your furniture and our fabric cleaner is so incredible and gentle that actually we have so many

clients that buy it and use it on their clothing because it's this really wonderful time-release

formula that really lifts just about anything, anything red wine, chocolate, yeah, blood. It's

just incredible. That's awesome. I love the vision of it. Thanks. Yeah, I love the vision of it. I

love that it's, you know, working at what appears and sounds to be of a higher level of quality,

but that you have reduced or eliminated the harsh chemical part of it. Exactly. And, you know,

keeping it all natural. We've taken it to the highest level of certification with the EPA,

which is called, you know, a safer choice. So, you know, we, we knew that, we knew what was

important to meet our standards. And that's the way we put this together. Yeah, it's, it's really,

you really have a very, I'm going to say, what I really get the feeling of is that it's a really

nice life. I feel like, you know, you come to work every day, you have your girls there,

you have these amazing clients, you have a product in the mix. And at the end of the day or the

second day, you get to go home and see your husband, right? Right. And my other daughter who's

back in Rhode Island, yeah, it's a, it's a great life. Yeah, I can't, I can't complain. It's not

without, it's, it's challenging. And, you know, be worth it if it had no challenges, right?

We know that. Exactly. No, but I love it. I love it. It makes me smile when I think about all of

you guys in picture. You guys all working away and creating your stuff. It's so cool. It is. It's

definitely cool. We've been very, very fortunate. Yeah. Well, it sounds like you've also been very

industrious, very creative and very nervy too. Like, you know, and I don't mean nervy,

nervy, I mean, nervy like, you know, like having guts and, you know, going out and creating

something. So, you know, it's fortune, but it's created fortune. And that's, that's admirable,

truly. Thanks for the end. No, thanks very much. I appreciate that. No, no, it's totally

mean it. And so just before you go, any last advice to colleagues out there that might,

here's the different ways that you could take the question. You could take it to

colleagues who might think that they want to, you know, pack their bag and start knocking

on doors or colleagues that might be thinking about taking children or family members into

the business or colleagues that are looking ahead to succession planning any particular area

that you'd like to share some words of wisdom with us. Oh gosh. I know. I just totally hit you.

I do this to people all the time. I'm just like, you know, just say something profound before

you leave. Well, I think that I think the basis should always be the to underlie everything,

every question that you threw out there about building your business in different ways with

succession or family members, but or or venturing into new areas. You know, it's the very, very first

thing I think everyone needs to do is really invest in themselves and really invest in a great

portfolio. As a designer, that is critical. Find yourself a really great photographer. Yes,

it's going to be an expenditure of money, but without that behind you, you're not going to be able

to open these doors. It's a great point. It's often been made on the show, but every time somebody makes

it and they put a different spin on the reason why or the way they explain it, it always hits me as,

oh, yeah. That's a great idea because it's true. You can't go in and express the level and the

quality that you can bring to the table without having the visual there to help somebody a stranger,

a prospect along the line and see what you're capable of doing. And it is expensive, but buy and buy

everybody that has successful businesses often recommends it. I appreciate you're also saying it too.

So yeah, it said it's that most important, you know, foundation to build on. Yeah, yeah. Well,

we always say, you know, you don't judge book by a cover except when you do.

I mean, right? It's like, oh, yeah. It's true. We all want to say we don't, but darn it we do.

Oh, that's awesome. Oh, man, I'll tell you, Merrill, you are just some kind of lady over there. I

really, really admire you a ton. And I've only met Joy and spoke of the joy, but if the other two

are even, you know, half as amazing as she is, I'm sure that they're all fabulous women. How

could they not be your terrific woman? Thank you so much for so much. Oh, no, I appreciate

you very much. And I thank you for sharing your energy and your insights with us. And I wonder,

I'd love to know how many people that are to start pounding doors now.

Well, I'm sure you're going to find out. That's it. That's it. Oh, man, thank you again. Have a

great day, Merrill. Okay, Louie. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Alrighty. Who's with me? Who wants to go out research and execute a cold, cold campaign?

I mean, there has to be some of you that are totally psyched about this just like I am, right?

I mean, I hope you're not out there thinking, no, not me. I couldn't do that. Of course you can.

And I don't care if you're in the smallest town in South Dakota or in a big city like New York

or San Francisco, the principles are the same. Identify your target client for Merrill. That was

the high end luxury market for you. It might be the same or it could be a 55 plus community that

was recently built in your area for anti nesters. Find them. Get your portfolio scrubbed up and

hit the pavement. Call on the influencers in the demographic where you want to create business,

whether it's the realtor teams, the property management teams, just like Merrill described.

And also, Merrill said, you have to believe in yourself. Believe in your talent and believe in

your firm. And then what do you got to do? You just got to do it, right? I'd love to hear about it.

If you do do it, email me. Tell me what market you identified and tell me what you did and how it

worked out. And remember what every good salesperson knows. You have to hear 25 knows to get to a yes.

So no quitting along the way. Now, if you want the rest of Merrill's advice, please go ahead over

to www.windowworks-nj.com slash Merrill for your free PDF of the things I learned from Merrill.

I'll also have a link there to Merrill's products simply spotless as well as her website.

Thank you so much for joining me again today. This podcast is a production of

window works, your resource for custom window treatments and awnings. To learn how we can help you

on your next interior design project, go to www.windowworks-nj.com. And if you're interested in working

with me on your business, either through masterminds or 101 coaching, or you want to know how to get

my book, the making of a well-designed business, or you just want to know what's going on in the

podcast land and where I'm going to be. All of that is found at www.luanigara.com. Thank you so much.

Have an excellent day.