EP 415 | Director of Operations with Amanda Giles

February 11, 2025

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Key to success for many interior design professionals is hiring someone who excels in areas where they struggle. Amanda Giles shares her experience of hiring a Director of Operations after many unsuccessful attempts to hire an administrator. This detail oriented, office over-seer can significantly improve the quality of work and overall efficiency and allow you to do more work and better work. What’s not to love?

In this episode we learn:

  • be honest with yourself about your strengths and weaknesses; nobody is good or bad at everything
  • structure your business by radically simplifying for your skills or hiring those with complementary strengths
  • work on understanding all the parts of the business, but empower and trust your team to take authority in their area
  • teach clients and vendors to trust your team, and back them up 100%

 

DESIGN INTERVENTION

Interior designers should not apologize for charging for their time and having a significant income. (Thank you, Kimberley Seldon!)

Communication is key. You might say, this is what I heard and repeat anything that felt ambiguous.

 

WATCH ON YOUTUBE

 

About Amanda Giles

Amanda is a Silicon Valley interior designer with a bachelor’s degree in commercial Interior Design from San Jose State University. From working for an architectural firm on large office complexes to styling the bookshelves of her residential clients, Amanda has experience in most aspects of interior design. Since 2014, she has been the owner of DesignFix, which has grown from a small partnership doing single-room projects to a more complex business creating whole-house custom interiors.

www.designfixhome.com

Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook

About Julie Broms

Julie is a seasoned professional who brings nearly two decades of engineering program management experience from Apple and Google to the world of interior design. As Director of Operations at DesignFix she leverages proven project management methodologies to streamline processes and maximize efficiencies for the design firm. Her unique background along her with MBA bridges the gap between systematic precision and creative design, enabling her team to deliver exceptional results while maintaining smooth operations through data-driven decision-making and program management methodologies.

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Legal Disclosure | This podcast is for educational purposes only and should not be used for any legal decisions. Kimberley Seldon Design Group, Kimberley Seldon Productions Inc., Kimberley Seldon Design and Media, Inc., Business of Design™, or any of its affiliated companies or staff is not responsible for any errors or omissions effecting accuracy in any content, and they will not be held liable for the use or misuse of information, facts, details or any other aspects should there arise any defects, errors, omissions or perhaps inaccuracies. Extensive research has been conducted to put this podcast together for the purpose of educating our industry in order to better serve the public. Care has been taken to acknowledge ownership of copyrighted material. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is offered with the understanding that we do not render any legal, accounting or other professional advice. Seek the advice of a lawyer and/or other competent professional person in all matters of law. Further, listeners should be aware that internet websites mentioned may change or disappear between when this was recorded and when it was listened to.

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