E9: The Role of Faith in Business with Ruthie Staalsen

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to Shes Big Time Now, a podcast for women who are refusing to place mom. My guest today is Ruthie Staalsen. Ruthie is a trendsetter and a self-taught interior designer who discovered her passion for design after helping her husband flip homes. This eventually

[00:00:20] led Ruthie to launch her own boutique design firm in the Dallas Fort Worth area. She has been featured in major publications, including traditional home, Eldochor, and architectural digest. In my seat journal, named her one of the top 30 entrepreneurs to watch in 2021. And she's previously

[00:00:40] been awarded the distinction of designer of the year by the interior design society. She is also a design blotter and the co-author of Behind Her Brand. On the show, she shares how she turned a

[00:00:53] signed project into a profitable business and brand. How she found balance as a female entrepreneur, mother, and wife. And what her faith was critical in her business success. Let's get into the show.

[00:01:33] And we have another special guest. You just heard all about Ruthie and I wanted to have her on the show because I want to introduce you to women in various industries. And when I came across Ruthie,

[00:01:44] I was like, girl, she is doing the thing. And I love that she's an interior design and not only did she go after her dreams, but then she also has her own boutique firm, which is so cool. So we're

[00:01:57] going to dive right in, Ms. Ruthie. Thank you for coming on. She's big time now. Thank you, Joy, for having me in the pleasure to be here. Well, I want to start right into the question. Many people

[00:02:06] want to know when they see or hear about someone like yourself, what would you say is the secret behind your success? I think for me, the secret behind my success is just doing. I had to start by

[00:02:22] just taking baby steps and I had a desire and just felt like, you know what, this doesn't all have to happen at once. I need to just kind of take little steps and make it happen, but not wait until

[00:02:34] it's all perfect to start. I just started. I just and one of those people that I had a dream and I thought, you know what? I just I've got to step out and I just started doing things to make things

[00:02:46] start happening and get my name out there. So at the beginning, I mean, I had kids and I knew that I needed to kind of start things but it was really hard with kids and trying to balance with their

[00:02:59] life as well. But I was also able to make them a priority. But I just started doing things. I started asking people, hey, can I come and do a room in your home so I can have a portfolio? I can start

[00:03:11] taking photos and have a portfolio. And so for me, definitely just baby steps and doing something, not just waiting for it all to be just right before I started. That's so good and I've heard a lot of

[00:03:23] people say that, just like taking a step and going out there because a lot of people were like, I don't have it all figured out. You know, and if I don't have it all figured out, can I even

[00:03:33] begin? But I think what you're saying, which is so good, Ruthie, is that it's in the doing that the clarity comes. Did you find like as you begin to take steps that the path became more clear to you?

[00:03:45] It did and there was bumps. You know, there was a lot of hard, like, oh, no, what do I, okay, how do I handle that? What do I do with that? You know, so there was a big learning curve.

[00:03:54] But for me, it started happening because there was things started at least. You know, I was able to have some clients where I was, okay, well, maybe what I need to do is start doing walk-through

[00:04:05] consultations and start with that and maybe using what people have. And oh, okay, not, I can add that to my website. So I just started doing little things and then finally,

[00:04:16] it all kind of came together and I was like, okay, maybe that's what I'm supposed to do. And then if that didn't really work, then I started something else. You know, and say, okay, well, maybe we

[00:04:25] can do this, maybe that's where I'm using my gifts will become more powerful and I can really help others and get paid for what I do. You know, because I didn't want it to be just a hobby.

[00:04:38] This on you, I wanted it to be a career. I was in an industry before I was office manager. So I was planning events and doing all kinds of things. But, and I got paid really well and I

[00:04:49] loved that until I had kids. But I definitely felt like, okay, this is my career now. This is not just something I'm just going to piddling. I want it to be worthwhile. That's interesting. So

[00:05:00] for you, did it start as a hobby? Like, okay, I'm kind of interested in this. And you kind of got the interior design bug because you're like, I will go into people's houses and go, okay,

[00:05:10] this needs to all be read-un. For me, it was we, my husband and I read it several houses ourselves because he loves the whole construction side and I loved the way things looked

[00:05:22] and felt it for me was creating homes the way they feel. It's not so much about it. It's a lot about how they look but creating a feel for the home and then people started coming to our home

[00:05:33] and saying, hey, could you come and do that for me? So it wasn't like my, I said, okay, today I'm going to start a business. It just started sort of sort of happening very slowly and then eventually

[00:05:44] I started saying, well, maybe I should do this because maybe this is where my gifting is, you know? And I always knew that I was a kind of the kind of person that loved other people and doing things

[00:05:55] for others and creating something for them that made them feel like their life could be better. And so those two things kind of with my gifting of kind of seeing how things are going to look

[00:06:08] and creating homes that feel amazing. I knew that those two could kind of come together. You know what's interesting to me, too, Ruthie? It's that you didn't go to school for that. Right? No. Here you are, your in office manager, right? You're doing well. You said you're making

[00:06:26] decent money. You and your husband kind of started doing this house flipping thing and, you know, investing in that and you're like, and people were like, oh my god, you're kind of cool.

[00:06:33] Can you, can you do that for me? You realize this gift you had and you that you didn't even know. Did you even know, Brian or two just starting out with your husband that you even had this gift?

[00:06:44] No, you know, I really did. I knew that I loved this feeling like he's like I said before and I knew that I loved creating and like when I was a kid, I was always into like pottery and

[00:06:56] like making, I would take mud from outside and make pots and let them dry and I just love the creative side. But if you had told me that I was going to be an interior designer 30 years ago,

[00:07:08] I would have looked at you and said what? Like no, I know. I mean, I was kind of like very, very organized. You have to make something happen if there was an event. I knew I was very structured

[00:07:20] but that creative side was not really kind of nurtured until little bit later. When you say a little bit later, how old are we talking? I was, it was after my kids were born, they were probably just

[00:07:34] like three and four years old. So, you know, I, I was 30 when I had my kids and so that was a little bit, you know, later in life, I feel like for me and so I, I already had a career for quite a while

[00:07:49] for good 10 years and so it was, it was definitely something that surprised me. Oh, when I started doing it, I was like okay, okay, God has a different plan for me now and this is going to be a whole

[00:08:02] new thing that I'm going to get, I'm going to learn about myself and I certainly learned a lot because it was a, so much work. Wow, I mean that's amazing to first of all, you know, not even

[00:08:17] be having an idea that this is your life path and what did, what do you think that has shown you about life in our journey and finding our purpose? That life is so surprised, you know, and I think the

[00:08:30] things that come into our lives we can, we can learn from and we can also say okay, well, maybe I pivot here. And I think when, when we walk with, with the Lord, I feel like in my faith, then when we're

[00:08:46] asking him what our next step is, the door start opening and then you kind of feel like okay, this maybe this is the path that I need to go down and I've always felt such peace in my life

[00:08:58] because of that because I felt like he's led me to the things that I needed to be a part of and this was one of them and ever since the clients that he's brought me, the people that I've

[00:09:10] surrounded myself with have been organically planned by him. So that's how I sort of feel about all of that as part of my life. Yeah. How much would you say that faith for you? I know you mentioned

[00:09:24] that as a component and being led to something like God leading you to something, how big of a component would you say that faith has been in your success? It's a huge, it's huge for me just because

[00:09:37] being an entrepreneur is super, super stressful and there are so many avenues that you can get to be a part of and if you don't really have some like I talk to the Lord a lot. So you know,

[00:09:48] if I didn't have him to kind of say okay like what's next for me, can you open up the doors or shut them if that's not where I'm supposed to be then I would feel very lost. And so there's such a

[00:10:02] piece inside of me knowing that the things that I'd chosen he's put in my path and so yes it's something that I fall on daily that I need. And so when you look at life, do you see it from

[00:10:14] the perspective as we're trying to find our path that God kind of brings it to us? Like it's kind of like he presents these opportunities to us. Is that how it felt for you? That for me, but you know

[00:10:26] that's my childhood we my parents were missionaries so I grew up overseas and things were hard and challenging because we moved a ton and so you know there was a lot of like really hard things

[00:10:41] that made me who I was and so I kind of feel like no it didn't I mean yes my path my all of a sudden you know the Lord didn't just say this is what you're going to do but I think

[00:10:51] it organically kind of happened and yes he he placed desires in my heart for reason and he put me in the job that I had before to kind of help with this job that I'm doing now because now

[00:11:05] I was able I'm so organized and people are all my clients are always like you're so professional about everything that's part of my success is what I did previously. And so I think the Lord

[00:11:16] led me into those things that now help me with what I'm doing now. No I think that's huge and I think for me faith is a big component too because I do believe that you know God gives us

[00:11:29] the desires right because where do they come from in my opinion and then you have those desires and then I always look for the open doors you know and it was funny I was saying the other day that

[00:11:39] if you're looking at something and you're banging on the door and it's not open I found many times that is probably not your door because every opportunity and I don't know if you felt like this

[00:11:47] but pretty much every opportunity that has been being in my life the doors won't open. Well and you know I think too for me I had a lot of hardships too with I had a learning disability

[00:11:58] when I was younger and dyslexia and I always kind of thought like what am I going to how am I going to be successful with this? Like how how in the world is this going to make me how

[00:12:10] am I going to be successful with with this with these hard things that I had to overcome but I think those things have been you our weaknesses are a lot of times used for good and so yes I had

[00:12:24] to work extra hard than anybody you know to start this business and it's I've grown through that over comment and God gave me that weakness for a reason because it's made me strong it's made me push

[00:12:40] harder and so you know I think if you don't even try and you think oh well what was me I don't have I've got this weakness how am I ever going to do that then you just become stagnant but

[00:12:52] fortunately because of my faith I was like okay well he gave me this weakness for a reason what am I going to you how am I going to overcome this and become something because of it.

[00:13:03] That's good I love that and I want to go back let's go back to the beginning of this so we talked about your husband being in construction and you kind of doing this and then people

[00:13:13] saying oh my gosh you're kind of talented so at what point does the light bulb go off that this could be the next big thing for me that I have to pursue this right was it like a moment that you remember

[00:13:26] I think yeah I think a moment was when the there was a big home expo that came to town they called me and said hey could you come speak at this expo and I thought what I'm good enough to go do that

[00:13:41] like how did they find like what this is crazy like that's I think that's when I kind of thought okay this I I'm good at this like it's not just I'm not just somebody out there decorating people's homes

[00:13:54] I obviously I'm doing something really well and so that that for me was kind of a pivot moment where okay this is maybe what I'm going to do it's going to be a business and they want little

[00:14:07] old me to come do this but okay and saying yes you know even though it was scared to death and I thought do I my really that good you know so yeah that that was one of the times where I really kind of felt like

[00:14:21] okay this is this is going to be a thing for me and how long into kind of starting this and realising this is going to be a business did you say I'm going to do this full time because as you said you

[00:14:31] were making a money and I think that keeps a lot of people stuck because they find there in this position maybe they're in midlife and they're hearing this and they're thinking well think you know what

[00:14:40] I mean things are good I'm making these money should I even pivot or reconsider so how did you know that that was the time and that you were going to do that for me it was hard because there was it was going

[00:14:51] it was growing very fast but I also had young kids and so my husband and I had kind of had to figure out okay like how fast are we going to let this grow and how is this going to take over from

[00:15:05] me being a part of my kids lives which was very important for me and I wanted to be available for them so I set sort of guidelines as far as what I would take on because I could I knew that that you know

[00:15:19] were I'd pick up the kids at three so I was very committed to that and had to really make sure that they were prioritized and so there was times where I couldn't grow and I just

[00:15:30] had to say you know what's not the timing the time is not right and so I took on jobs that I knew I could work around with the kids so how do you know the timing is right though so how did you

[00:15:41] know the timing was right to go full time because I knew my kid I had to have to figure out okay what's my priority okay the kids that's going to take too much time for me and I've got to say no

[00:15:53] right now and there's a season you know that was hard there's a season for everything and I knew that it would come later maybe but my kids had to have had to be first and so you know that it

[00:16:04] was kind of hard because of the timing I was like why am I having this you know success right now while I'm trying to be successful with my kids so trying to find that balance which by the way there

[00:16:16] is no balance it's just we have to choose okay no I have to let that go I can't do that right now that job is going to require me to be out of town and I can't I can't do that you know so

[00:16:28] but there are times where my husband was like no you need to go do that I'll take the kids and help with that so we kind of had to we had to see it really our kids were the priority at that time now

[00:16:40] we're empty nesters and it's a whole different ball game if I gangbusters yeah but I imagine that had to be challenging because here you are you start this kind of as a hobby or you're doing

[00:16:51] it and then you start getting paid for it and you said it is sky it's you know snowballing right like people are calling you and then you're like but I have kids and I have young kids and I

[00:16:59] didn't know it was going to blow up so fast and right what do I do and I wonder if there was ever this fear that if I pause it and don't do everything that I won't make it oh yeah oh yeah there

[00:17:08] was there was a lot of that like I'm gonna let this opportunity go because I'm not saying yes to these things so there was but but I think that's where joy goes back to my to my face and going you know

[00:17:19] what God put this in me he gave me this gift I've been I obeyed and done what or he's you know allowed me to do these great things he's gonna work it out for me so I have to trust that that's what

[00:17:33] you know that putting my kids first and running this business how I can that eventually it's going to be successful because I'm doing the right thing is what I felt like at that point

[00:17:44] for our family and everybody gets to choose you know what their priorities are but for me that's that was very important that my girls had me around and I wanted them to see me successful as well

[00:17:57] wall balancing a family because one thing they will do that you know and there's nothing wrong with being successful it's just that I had to choose which one I was gonna give my time to no and

[00:18:08] you know what is so and I really want this to resonate with so many people because sometimes we think if it doesn't happen at a certain time that it's never going to be right but you are

[00:18:20] proof through they because you said hey I'm gonna do what I can but my priorities still going to be my kids and I just trust that at the right time it's gonna blow up when it needs to and now you know

[00:18:34] you want awards and you're like being recognized as entrepreneur of the year and it has just gone gangbuster so tell me from where you started to where you are now how much has it just grown and

[00:18:47] exploded into this vision that you had. Well I think yeah for definitely as the kids got into high school I was able to spend more time and be more committed and travel more and be more involved in

[00:19:02] conferences and meeting other people and getting myself in front of others that really could mentor me and so it has grown gangbusters from you know now because I'm able to be more committed

[00:19:16] and I'm able to do it bigger and grander and take on bigger clients and you know so it's it's certainly changed for sure. Is it bigger than what has it is it bigger than what you even imagine

[00:19:29] it could be how it's turned out and how so? Well just in the fact that I can't believe some of the I remember pulling up two houses in the past and thinking oh my gosh well how am I gonna

[00:19:42] can I do this? This is like a huge multi-million dollar home of me I'm gonna be doing this and now I'm even in bigger homes you know and you and doing showhouses for traditional home

[00:19:56] magazine and and you know it's just you can't you like little me I'm doing this but it's but it's it's such a good feeling knowing that I worked hard for it and now's my time.

[00:20:10] Do you feel big time now? Well I feel like it's been my time over the last couple years that it's I just feel like because of social media and because of being able to put myself out there

[00:20:21] more it that's that's grown my business at home because it's not just newspaper or articles at the kids school you know advertising and things like that it's like I'm able to put myself

[00:20:34] like you you're able to do podcasts and do you put yourself out there and do your own thing because you own your business and get to do it and make yourself shine and do shout-outs for

[00:20:45] yourself which is hard but you know because you kind of feel like oh my really but but that's amazing and it's and the the whole social media thing has really opened up tons of doors for me

[00:20:56] and you know what I think is is important on that is that sometimes we don't even always feel like we're big time right but we have the gifting and the ability and if we just keep going and

[00:21:10] putting ourselves out there as you said the opportunities will come and you know you probably started off like doing the friends house and now you're like I'm looking at mansion you know I'm

[00:21:19] an architectural digest yes that's me you know and you're going how in the world did that happen but I want to also now count a transition to some of your wisdom that you learned on this journey

[00:21:31] so when you think back I want to go down the road if you think back what do you hope someone who's listening to this gets from your journey what if there was a couple of golden nuggets

[00:21:44] that they should really learn from your journey and how you made it big what would they be? I think it's certainly one of these things like I've said like I said before it's it's

[00:21:55] baby steps and doing it scared if I if I had all the fear that I've had in the past and walking into a home and thinking oh I'm gonna have to address this or you know this is going to be a hard

[00:22:09] conversation lord help me you know just doing it scared and knowing that it's going to be okay and that there's there's hardships that you're going to overcome and you become better because of it

[00:22:22] and did you ever have any fails where you went in and the design didn't work as I wonder was it all pages in cream I know you talked about like business challenges but on that journey did you have times

[00:22:32] that even in the design that you maybe didn't get it right or you had to like really boost your own confidence through some of those things yes you know I think the main thing is that people are

[00:22:43] complicated and this is a business where we're in homes and it is complicated there's a lot of challenges because of relationships and we've had things where we've done the whole install and then you know some they they money isn't issue and that has caused some issues that I

[00:23:06] had if had to address and we've had to go in and repossess all the furniture not fun but and that's like a huge like oh how did this happen you know and just doing it in with a smile on your face

[00:23:19] and going okay this obviously this was hard those there's a lot of that you know in this business because people are complicated and my business is very personal and I feel like I'm as psychologist

[00:23:32] a lot of the time so because I'm constantly in relationships and in their personal space yeah they probably tell you a lot I'm sure you hear a lot of good stories root these I hear a lot I'm definitely

[00:23:44] you know I feel like they should be sitting on the sofa sometimes so I can imagine that so I also want to you know as we think about some other wisdom from the journey if someone is thinking about

[00:23:54] being an interior designer when you look at some of the ones that have really made it like yourself are there any commonalities that you found in the industry in terms of what makes somebody really good

[00:24:05] or able to make it big yes I think it's putting yourself in front of people that you can grow with that can mentor you though the people that are successful in my industry are ones that are consistent

[00:24:20] with going to events and learning about interior design and constantly learning and and applying yourself with the things that you've learned and I think it's it's the consistency of showing up to events to men to talk with other people and learn from them and so it's really

[00:24:42] really a boils down to being consistent and doing and helping others and not just always receiving but helping others and building other people up that there's so many baby designers that

[00:24:55] come to me and say can you help me with this I'd really need mentoring and that's where we learn too about where some of our gift things are is by giving back mm that's good like as you're

[00:25:05] giving to others you can begin to even see the gifting in your own self and then the other thing I wanted to ask you about is what if I feel like I'm not that great yet but I feel like I have a talent

[00:25:17] when you started out you know where you where you do you really honed it is it like you have a gift but you really got a home your ability. I felt like I was excellent but then as I started

[00:25:28] Lord as I started going into having bigger clients I'm like oh maybe I don't know about how drapeies need to go hang you know and what are the rules about this and what are you so so yes I

[00:25:41] felt like I knew everything because I you know you kind of start getting a little bit of a oh I'm the expert you know and so I had to humble myself quite a bit because there's times where I'm like oh

[00:25:53] the drapes are too long we're gonna we're gonna have to take those back and fix them you know and so there are those mistakes that I certainly made along the way yeah I could understand that because

[00:26:04] I think that as you grow you learn and all of that so when you think about some of your daily success habits do you have a mindset mantra I know faith is a big part for you so I'm assuming that you know

[00:26:16] prayers are big part of that but earlier in any daily success habits that you feel people should maybe look at that have been a beneficial for you in your life. I had to set times that I work because

[00:26:29] kind of a workaholic so and I want to think I think it's more I just want things to be organized and done and you know so I have to I I really try to close things down at five o'clock if I can

[00:26:41] and sometimes it's a little longer but I just really setting hours for myself and not we applying to clients after hours because that helps me mentally to be to separate business with my personal life so yeah that

[00:26:56] that would be one of the things and then also I really try to get out and have some fun not maybe it's not daily but weekly but like I love thrifting that's one of my things that I just

[00:27:08] absolutely love to do to find things for my home to be creative and change them up and so I try to do fun things like that or have lunch with a friend or one of the things I've learned to this year

[00:27:20] is that I used to sit at my desk in eat lunch and just work through it or sit in my car and snarf down something and it's just not it wasn't healthy for me so I've really tried to sit somewhere

[00:27:32] go into a restaurant have lunch my phone away and focus on just being instead of go go go go go go go go go go you know it's a super predicting thing to feel like I got accomplished I got to do

[00:27:46] I got to you know finish this up but sometimes just sitting and having lunch and eating slowly instead of snarfing it out you know is a big thing so those are some of the kind of other things

[00:27:58] that I really tried to do and first I wake up early so five o'clock usually in the morning and I usually sit and read some kind of devotional or just kind of write my priorities for the day

[00:28:10] and just kind of it's it's very therapeutic for me to be able to write things down so I do that in the mornings just because it helps me keep my day somewhat focused because things are going

[00:28:22] to go crazy and then at least I can kind of you're centered you got that center yes and I liked to mark things off that I completed because I feel like I accomplished something you know

[00:28:31] if you got something done for the day so what's next for you Ruthie are we gonna see you on HDTV do you see something in your future like that potentially well actually this end of this

[00:28:43] month I'm gonna be recording for a YouTube show and we're redoing a space for a lady there the show is called Make it Mine and so I'm gonna be doing an episode for them on that so that's

[00:28:57] super fun I'm excited about it I'm not I'm not like one of those that likes to be on camera much but I think it's gonna be a really really cool transformation I'm excited about it I can't say too

[00:29:08] much about it yet but it'll be coming out here in the next month or so okay we'll have to make sure to check that out in my final question yes that I always ask people yes on this journey what is the

[00:29:19] best piece of advice that you've received I think they humble keep humble it's so easy to become what you feel like your big time and you kind of have an air about you and for me it's

[00:29:34] just my dad used to always say stay humble stay who you are keep keep on track don't don't get where you feel like you're better than anybody else because we're all saying no matter what you do

[00:29:45] you're still a human being in so stay humble such good words of wisdom or Ruthie this has been really interesting just to track your journey and you know it's amazing to me how God just surprises us

[00:29:55] someone who thought I had no clue about interior design right now has a boutique firm is doing all kind of great things and is making a name for yourself in the industry so thank you for coming

[00:30:06] on the show I appreciate it thank you joy was delight what was your biggest aha moment from today show for me it was the importance of timing how Ruthie found peace with growing her business slowly

[00:30:18] so she could focus on her family all the while trusting that when the time was right things would take off and they really did big time for her if you were inspired by the women you hear

[00:30:29] on my podcast please share this with the friends subscribe to the show and leave a review your support will help more people find us to learn more about our guests visit she's bigtimenow.com thank you for listening