Episode 448: Carlie Fraser of Hygge Design
In this episode, Fiona chats with Carlie Fraser, co-founder of Hygge Design, about her journey from various careers to creating an interior design business that focuses on homes reflecting personal stories and fostering happiness. Carlie discusses the importance of connection, sustainability, and timeless design in creating spaces that truly enhance well-being. Tune in!
You'll Learn How To:
Philosophy of Hygge and its influence on design.
Importance of designing homes that reflect personal stories.
Balancing trends with timeless, sustainable design.
Collaborating with clients and pushing creative boundaries.
Marketing strategies for small interior design businesses.
Challenges of balancing business with creativity in the interior design industry.
Hosting home events to showcase design work
Importance of local area marketing strategies
The power of in-person connections in business
Favourite tools and courses
Advice for aspiring business owners
Integrating Hygge principles into the design
Get in touch with My Daily Business
Connect and get in touch with My Daily Business:
Sometimes we can be critical of ourselves and I look back and think you haven't grown enough. But now I do look back and go, I've come a long way in the last four years with the business, but I'm also thinking, why didn't I start earlier? Just start. I was never going to have all my ducks lined up and I still don't, I guess, if someone was thinking of doing it, life's short. I know that you don't want to dwell on the negative, but you just gotta make the most of it. We've got one chance at this. Do what makes you happy.
—
Welcome to episode 448 of the My Daily Business podcast. Today is an interview episode and I'm looking forward to your feedback on this one. I think it'll just resonate with a lot of people, especially those of you in the creative spaces or people who maybe took a different career path before you started the business that you have. Before we get stuck into that, I want to let you know that Marketing for Your Small Business is open anytime that you want to have a look at it. But we also have a course and coaching program. For nine weeks, you have live coaching with me. This is the perfect time of year to do this because you'll be able to understand how to get more strategic and come up with a marketing plan for 2025 and beyond. Once you understand the principles and all of the stuff that we teach, you'll understand how to create that plan not just for the next 12 months but for every 12 months thereafter.
We have people that did this course years and years and years ago and they've said, this is still the marketing plan that I use because it makes sense. It's strategic. You can map things out, you can analyse stuff. It takes all of the information and knowledge I've had and gained from different places I've worked such as Amazon, Audible, and Country Road Group, all of the different places, plus my knowledge and things that I've learned along the way that I think need to be part of a marketing plan. If you are interested in that, just head to marketingforyoursmallbusiness.com and sign up if you already own the course. And I know a lot of people that listen to this already have the course. Thank you. You can upgrade for a small fee. Look out for an email that will be coming out to you shortly about how to do that. I also want to of course acknowledge where I'm coming from and the traditional owners and custodians of these beautiful lands. I pay my respects to the Wurrung and Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded. Let's get into today's small business interview.
It's my absolute pleasure today to be bringing you an interview I did a couple of weeks ago now and luckily I did do it a few weeks ago. You don't have to listen to my voice like this the whole way through the interview. And today's guest is Carlie Fraser. Carlie is an interior designer. She runs an incredible business called Hygge Design and she talks all about the word, the name, and how she came up with that in today's chat. Carlie and I met a few years ago now when she applied for group coaching and she was successful in that. We spent about a year together learning and understanding her business and her ideas and viewpoints, her values and how aligned they are with her business, which is part of the reason that I said yes to bringing Carlie onto today's podcast because there are a lot of people out there that want to create a business that is in true alignment with what they're interested in, who they are as people.
Sometimes they can get off track because of what's expected or potentially thinking about, this is the way that everyone else does it, so maybe I'll do that. And I love that Carlie has created her own path in interior design and stayed true to what she's genuinely interested in. Also as a person, she stayed true to what she's been interested in since she was a teenager. She talks about that today and maybe going on other career paths and then coming back to what it is that she was greatly interested in, which is her passion for interior design. In today's chat we talk all about how did she end up here, how did she come up with the brand name, what impact another country has had on the way that she works and also how she gets the best out of her clients.
In any design or creative endeavour, sometimes you are going to come up against clients who have their own thoughts and ideas and of course, you need to bring that on board. But also how do you work with those clients to challenge them in creative ways and get the best out of them? Get the best out of your own work with them as well. We talk about all sorts of things, but it's such a lovely conversation. I won't keep talking, you don't want to listen to this voice for too long. But I just want to say a massive thank you to Carlie and here is my interview with Carlie Fraser, founder of Hygge Design.
—
Welcome to the podcast. Carlie, how are you feeling about life right now?
Hi Fiona. Thank you for having me. I'm excited. All's pretty good. It's been a tough year if I'm honest with the economy. We have been a bit quieter than in other years, but look, we've gotta keep our heads down and bums up and we'll get there. We're also renovating our own home at the moment, so that's keeping me busy. We just pulled the kitchen out on the weekend, what would you say officially camping?
Have you got a microwave or have you got something?
We've got a microwave, air fryer, thermo, and barbecue I'm sure we'll get through, but it's going to be interesting without the dishwasher with the kids I think because they've got no idea.
I know. We didn't have a dishwasher in my family and we had four of us four like three siblings. My dad used to say we have four dishwashers, we have each of you kids so I'm sure everyone will figure it out. And air fryers. Aren't they the best? We use our like, I reckon every single day and I thought, we're not going to use this. When I worked at Amazon a long time ago, I was gifted an air fryer from Phillips because they were the first people doing it and at the time I think it was like three or 400 pounds and now they're so cheap. And I gave it away 'cause I was like, I don't think I would ever use that. And at the time you just put a teaspoon of oil in anyway, not here to talk about rice I do think that they're amazing.
They're pretty popular now, aren't they?
They're since Covid I think. They're just every veggie, everything. We are talking about your business, which is somewhat not to air fry us, but to homes and all of the design and everything else. And obviously, I know you quite a lot because you went through group coaching for a year and it's so nice to be chatting again. But for people who have not heard of your business, can you tell us a bit about your background and then how you came to create Hygge Design? Did I pronounce it correctly?
You did. Perfect. Well done. It's a tricky one to say. It is Hygge Design. Yes. I guess I can maybe go back to my background. When I finished uni, I completed a Bachelor of International Trade and Bachelor of Arts and then I went to work for the immigration department I guess I always had high hopes of working as a diplomat, but then I had to move to Canberra if I was going to go down that path. However, I'd fallen in love with Marcus and he was in Melbourne, so that didn't eventuate. He was then heading to Europe for work. I ended up going over there doing the working holiday thing as you do in the UK.
Then after that, I came back and I decided I'd study primary school teaching. I got three different degrees before I delved into interior design. The irony I guess you could say is that all I wanted to do in high school was interior design. I did my work experience in interior design, but I think I just talked myself out of it and just thought I couldn't do it because I wasn't great at drawing. But life. Life is too short. We had also done quite a few renovations ourselves and I just absolutely loved it. I thought I've gotta do it. It was the end of 2019, early 2020 just before Covid hit. That's when I established who could design. Work from home. I have a colleague now as well, Agi. I guess you could say that I've come full circle now doing exactly what I wanted to over 20 years ago, but I just didn't have the confidence maybe to pursue it.
Isn't it amazing that we do come back to what we originally, like I often think whatever you wanted to do as a child, you do come back to that or as a teenager, like even with this podcast, I did drama, I was like always getting the lead in drama. And then my parents, made me give up drama and art because they thought it was like the days when those subjects were graded a bit lower. Instead, they made me take up chemistry, which I completely failed. And economics, which all I remember is that there were lots of phone lines and more boys than girls in Sweden. And my friend Gab was like, let's move to Sweden. We can be on the phone all day and date people. But isn't that funny that what you originally wanted to do, you've now come back to, but I'm sure those other studies, especially teaching and being able to communicate with people and you have such a lovely way about you even in a Group Coaching, you were always so like calm and just nurturing to the other people in Group Coaching? And I could see you very well as a primary school teacher doing that as well. And that would come in handy I'm sure with nurturing your clients.
Absolutely. Because a lot of our work is about education and a lot of our clients haven't gone through this process before when they're renovating. We are nurturing them, we're educating them about best, best design practices and principles and our way of design, I guess. Our approach at Hygge Design is we design for people. We have a very humanistic approach, guess you could say. We want to incorporate how people have lived if they've lived overseas or we want to tell their story, I guess you could say. We're passionate about that. We are not so much driven by design trends or anything like that. We try and incorporate their story and we want to design homes that make them happier and have more connection with the people that they love. That's important to us.
I think it's something, and I know this is a bit controversial, but I do feel like so much design is the same. And it's so boring to look at. And I love when you walk into a home and you're like, this matches those people. They've got this type of artwork or they've got this, I don't know, vintage couch, or they've got something that is them and there's a story that's like, this is my grandmother's, or this was passed down or, or I found this on the side of a road or whatever. And it's them. I think that that is, I know there's a lot of people like you that do that design, but I also feel like there's a lot of trend following and sometimes where you think, that house is going to date. The whole house is going to date in like five years.
Absolutely.
Then how did you come up with the name and the whole falling in love with Denmark and that whole philosophy and the Danish concept of Hygge? Where did that come from? Is that your background?
No, but when I was in high school, I went on a student exchange to Denmark, so that was for a year back in 1995, 1996. And I just fell in love with the country and the people, they have great values. I believe they live quite a simple life in terms of they invest in pieces for their home. They're very focused on sustainability, recycling, and riding their bikes everywhere. And for them, it's all about family and friends and connection. And I guess that has a little bit to do with their weather being so cold. They are inside a lot. And for them, it's about those simple things. And although the word is Danish, we apply Hygge here as Australians all the time. For me, how do I? I have a cup of tea in the morning and I light my tea lights every day.
I love cooking with my family and for my family, reading by the fire walking in nature with my dog, George trying something new for the first time. All these things, they give me comfort and they give me joy. And that's exactly what Hygge is. The homes that we design, we try and design so that you will do more of these things that make you happier. If you love painting or if you love reading, well then we're going to try and get that library in and a little nook or a little spot for you to sit and read because that's what makes you happy. If you can do more of that, well of course you're going to be happier.
I love this so much. We are huge readers in our house. And also my parents were huge readers. Like our entire downstairs was just full of bookcases and it's so nice to have little spots that make that feel. Exactly. Like that Hygge. What does Hygge mean as a word? I mean, I know you've just expressed it, but is there a definition?
It is hard to pronounce. As I said, it can be said several ways, but the current pronunciation is a Hygge and it's about an atmosphere and an experience and it's a feeling that you have. It's just about being with the people. We love a feeling of home, it's togetherness, warmth, relaxation, and it's about those simple things that we do in our daily lives. It's just about being in the moment, being present, and being grateful for those simple things like a cup of tea that allows you to just take that deep breath and get ready for the day. It's powerful. And even though its roots are in Denmark, we believe that we can educate a lot more Australians and people about it and apply it daily here.
When you said before loving this and knowing from high school that you were going to, or that you wanted to do interior design, were you in a super creative family, like, or maybe you were not in a creative family and that's why you thought you couldn't do it? What were you like as a child and then how do you think that's impacted what you've decided to do with your life now?
When I look back, I guess, I was in a creative house. My mom and dad built three houses. Mom did the designs for them. She always wanted to be an architect herself, but that didn't eventuate, unfortunately. My grandpa, he was a builder. My brother's a builder. My sister has a hospitality business cooking, so she's also creative. We were just always surrounded by creative activities. We just had a lot of freedom up in the country. I was born and went to high school up there and just had a lot of freedom from mom and dad and that DNA of the designs and things like that came from mom. I guess even though I had a creative area, I had a creative family, but when I went overseas on exchange, I picked up the language quite quickly and then someone was saying, you should do this and you should do that. And I think I did get a little bit disjointed with the path that I wanted to go down. And similar to what you were saying just before Fiona before we hopped on that, I did economics and some subjects that I was probably doing to get higher grades, but I should have just listened to my intuition and did what I wanted to do.
With your work now, do you run it by your family members? Or do you bounce ideas off with your parents?
Definitely. Mom loves looking at the designs that we are doing and I'll send floor plans and things like that to her and say, we are thinking about this, what do you think? And she loves all of that. And then my sister, she has her own business, albeit in hospitality, but we still have a lot of crossovers with running a business and marketing and things like that. We're always chatting about things. It's hard to switch off when I'm so passionate about design. I think it's everywhere.
It is everywhere. And I feel like it's also such a, I mean, you've grown up with it and you had your family members in it, so maybe it doesn't seem more a modern thing, but I do feel like, obviously, people have always enjoyed expressing themselves in their homes, but I feel like social media has brought, what does your house look like to a whole new level. And there are people who probably never thought about this, who are now like, I need a plant there, or I need to have these shelves, or I need to create something that's Instagramable But I love that you're just bringing it back to like, what does it feel like in your house?
From that perspective, when you're working with clients and you are collaborating or you're working with architects or all of these different people that are involved in the home, how do you work best with them and how do you get the best out of other people? And also how do you have those conversations when you want to help or guide a client to push a boundary a little bit more than they are? How does that all work? Because I think regardless if you're an interior designer or whatever you're doing and working with, you'll have instances that come up with colleagues or clients or customers where you can see a beautiful path forward and you just need to get them across the line a little bit as well.
I think that developing that relationship and building on that connection with them. We have not lots of meetings, but cups of tea and we get to know them and about their story. It may be that they've been working in Hong Kong for the last seven years, and they've got a couple of little pieces there that inform, that can inform our design, but it's also what they don't tell us as well. As an interior designer, we have to have that intuition and read between the lines a little bit as well. We just have lots and lots of honest, open conversations about how they want to live, how they want to feel in a home, and what their activities are. Do they are they a family that cooks every single meal in their kitchen or do they eat out a lot or do they get takeaway coming in?
Every family is so different. And we pride ourselves on trying to get to know them thoroughly before we then dive into that design. And I think once they get to know us, I feel like they trust us and then all of a sudden we can push those boundaries a little bit more. And a lot of the time those suggestions, so it might be a coloured couch or whatever it may be, they're those pieces that they go, that's my favourite piece, so it's all about building those relationships with our clients and getting them to feel comfortable enough to trust us that our decisions are the best thing for them. We're not designing for trends, we're designing the home, the best home possible for them to be happy, comfortable, and more connected with their family.
It's so true. We are all such different people. My husband and I would easily just live at home 99% of the time we are not people who go out heaps. We just love being at home. When we come to a weekend where we don't have sport and we don't have like 50 other things to get to, it's just the best. We're also excited 'cause like we just get to stay home and like just do whatever. We played a whole bunch of board games yesterday or just stuff like that where it's like, that's my idea of amazing luxury is to just have that time together.
I couldn't agree more. I love being home. I love cooking, I love having our family and friends over. Sounds like we're similar to you, Fiona. If we're going to catch up with people, it'll be like, right, come on over you come. I'm more than happy to cook and have everyone at home instead of going out. And I think the kids love it more as well. We're all more relaxed there are no distractions. If you're a bit more relaxed then you're going to have more honest conversations too. You're not just tapping on the discussion of it. You're getting a little bit deeper and if you're sitting around a nice round dining table. I just feel like those connections are better.
We got that was the first thing we got for our new house when we moved in here last year. I was trying to find the perfect table and I just could not find it. And then I contacted all these different makers and I found this guy who just lives around the corner who makes the most beautiful tables. He and I had a conversation and I just found him through the Facebook marketplace. Because he advertised one of his tables on there and he made us a custom 1.8 meter round, beautiful American Oak table. And we are on that, not like it has opened up everything. And even like Christmas dinner, Easter dinners, like all of the things my family come over and everyone can be part of the conversation. Because It's not a long table. You can see every person's face and you can, it's just transforming things.
It's so interesting, isn't it? How like just the tiniest little change to maybe that moving to a round table can be so powerful and there's no hierarchy either with the table.
No, it's not. When I grew up, my dad, there were the four of us and then mom and dad at either end. My dad had a different chair, he was in charge. I mean, my mom was but he had the perception of being in charge. With interior design, you've come at it a bit differently, but also similar to other people. A lot of people in interior design do come to it after a different career or after something else they've done and then realise this has been their passion all along. Maybe it's because I'm in a world where I work with a lot of interior designers and a lot of people in landscape and photography and all of that, but I feel like there are so many people becoming interior designers or interior stylists or decorators.
How do you go about that when you're established and you've got your folio is incredible, but how do you deal with the increasing number it seems, and this is for lots of industries? I mean, people could ask me the same thing about business coaches there's a gazillion business coaches out there, but how do you deal with that? And then what advice do you have for someone who's reading, who's maybe in interiors as well, or in something a different industry, but it is feeling like it's saturated?
I believe that there's plenty of work for all of us, especially because there are so many different facets to the interiors. As you mentioned, styling, that's not my strength. I have a good idea of it. But to be an expert in styling, that's a whole nother level of training. And it's very different. Especially if you're styling for publications and things like that, it's very different to styling a home that someone's going to live in, if that makes sense. But I just believe that who could design and how we design, it's not everyone's cup of tea, but we will gravitate to it, or the clients will come to us because of that aesthetic and that feeling and that connection that they want in their home. If they want the stainless steel island in the middle of the kitchen, that looks amazing and cool, that's probably not our go-to. We're designing for enduring spaces and we want them to be sustainable. We do gravitate towards natural materials a lot just because we're inside so much. Then now, they say we're in our homes and inside up to 80% of 87% of our time.
87%. Wow.
It's huge. If we can incorporate some outside elements wood, cork, natural marble, whatever it might be, those things, then we have that connection to outside whilst we're inside as well. Our approach is like that and our aesthetic is not going to be for absolutely everyone, but that's okay because the best clients that we have had have similar values to us, and they're passionate about sustainability and using those materials and having a kitchen for a long time. I guess there are a lot of us out there, but, just keep true to our values, I believe that we will find the right clients.
Absolutely. I have been interviewing people for the latest round of group coaching and I have to say every year, I mean, we run a few groups each year and each year I feel like, these people, like, they get it like they get who I am. And we get less and less of people who are like, I want to make a million dollars tomorrow. Because there's coaches out there go and they'll be like, I can get you to seven figures tomorrow night. But there'll be people that more and more are coming to us because they're like, I want to have a life that I enjoy. That's right. And I want to be part of it, but I don't want to just live to work. And it's like, that's exactly how we work. With yours, when you said people come to us and they have a shared value system and the aesthetics and everything else, how are they even finding out about your business? What marketing has helped you gain brand awareness and also how do you decide, because you've got you and the other person that works with you, did you say Ogie?
Agi.
Agi. How do you decide which marketing to do? Because you don't have this huge team working with you on just marketing, obviously you're trying to run a business as well. What do you decide, where do you decide to market and what's worked best for you?
I think marketing is just, I have just taken my hat off to yourself, Fiona, and others that have a grip on all of it. Because it is a beast.
It's such a beast.
It is. I guess when I was in your coaching group, I learned that being consistent is important and to just to focus on a couple of types of marketing and do them and do them well before you move on to other aspects. Word of mouth has been powerful for us. We're located in Beaumaris, so we have a nice community around here. I was also on the Beaumaris Modern Committee, which is a not-for-profit organization that encouraged the restoration and saving of, century homes. Being on the committee there, I worked with some amazing clients who had beautiful homes and again, similar values. We wanted the same outcomes. They were nice projects to have. And I'm still working with some clients that have that connection or have heard of me through Beaumaris Modern, which is lovely.
Word of mouth, Beaumaris Modern. Then also like some hubs. On the Facebook page, there's a Bayside Community hub. I try and hop on there and, and be present now and then. And I've received some recommendations and things like that through, through there. And then I've been a bit more consistent with my newsletter. Building that up and slowly, but getting there, getting some more subscribers and they can do that through the website. And that's where we go into a little bit more of the nitty-gritty of our projects and our design process and our thoughts and our just more details I guess. And behind the scenes as such. We show a lot more in our newsletters than we would on social media, which I probably should ramp up that up a bit as well. And I am posting on Instagram quite a bit, but interestingly enough, I think I've only got two clients directly from Instagram. A lot of the time they're coming from another path, then they'll follow me on Instagram and then down the track they may engage us, but it's not the first call for them.
I love one that data and I feel like you went through group coaching that I'm constantly saying to people like, what does it bring you? Great to be on Instagram. And I think most people should be on social media, but you need to know what it's still, like, where does it fit in your overall strategy? And the other thing I love that you are doing that I haven't yet come to, but I'm going to come to, is one of your events because they're just always, the dates haven't worked for me, but that's a huge thing. What have those done for your business? And also when did you decide to do your first event?
That's a good point. They've been good. Two years ago we went over to Copenhagen for the design week and we just came back buzzing and full of all these ideas and we thought, maybe it'll be good to have a little evening where they can come and have some nibbles and a drink and we'll just go through a bit of a slideshow and show them what we observed and saw over there what we think may be coming. We were seeing walnut timber that was a bit more prevalent as opposed to oak timber. Just observations and things like that. And that evening we had about 40 people come and we received two jobs quite quickly afterwards, and they just said they had a nice evening, they got to see our studio.
We've got a wall with our projects on there so they can see the drawings and we've got tables with the mood boards and things. And I just felt like it was a nice way, a relaxing way to, to get to know people and then they're in my home so they get a feel for how I live and then how that could translate into the designs. And since then we've had three others. The most recent one was a couple of weeks ago, and that was when we showed the guests what we're doing with our home. I got to show them what it would look like, and then we walked through the home as well and said, we're doing it in stages. We've done a couple of bathrooms and we've got another one to go. Then the kitchen's just been pulled out. I think that they enjoyed that. The feedback when I sent out a survey. They said it was just a nice, nice evening. They learnt we gave 'em hints and tips of why we designed the kitchen like this and didn't do this, or then it just seemed like they loved that. The plan is that we'll invite that particular group and anyone else that we can squeeze in as well, and they can come back when the renovation's complete. They'll get the first glimpse of it as you could say.
It's so important. I think these things like events, people sometimes think they have to have this huge venue and they have to have all of this. And it's like, no, like what could you do with where you are right now and what could that look like? The fact that you can easily go, this is how many clients came straight out of that. The stress and everything, I think people put themselves under to show up on Instagram all the time. And it's like, is that doing the best thing for you? And even when you talked about Beaumaris Modern, those sorts of connections can have such a long-tail effect for decades because of that initial like local area marketing. And I think people don't think about local area marketing as much when they start out and you think, I've gotta grow this big following and I've gotta do X, Y, Z. And it's like if you're a local based business like yours and you're predominantly going to work with people within say Victoria the state or elsewhere, but you're not necessarily going all around the world doing it, it's like, what is our local area marketing strategy? How are we connecting with people who are going to be the connectors for us?
That's right. With that recent event that we had, I put a post on the Bayside Community Hub and said are you thinking about renovating? Do you want to know how an interior designer renovates their own home? Join us for an evening that was free. And we had quite, I would say probably, I know the data, it's in there, but I can't remember the numbers. I would say 60 or 70% of the people that were here I had never met before.
Wow.
It was interesting and when I asked them how did you find out about it? It was from that post on the Bayside hub. It's quite powerful and I just feel like it's my marketing too, because I feel comfortable doing that in my own home and in the studio as opposed to other forms. I feel like I can just better connect and be a bit more relaxed as well, and they get to know me a little bit better.
When you meet people in person, you just get a different sense of who they are. Even people who I've been Instagram friends with for years than when we've met in person, it's like, you are taller or you are this or you're that. And like you get your laugh is amazing or whatever it is, and there's a real human connection that I think is only going to get more and more wanted as AI continues to grow.
Absolutely.
On that, you are helping all these other people like learn about the industry and how things work. What are some of your favourite books or courses, tools, software or anything that you are using to streamline your design process and just manage the whole business?
There's quite a few, I think about that.
Take notes, everyone.
As I mentioned, I have got a few degrees. I love learning, I'm always doing some courses. Started with yours, Fiona, which was amazing and just met some great people like Ann Claire. We catch up all the time. We've got a nice friendship now since being in the group with you. I was early days then, I think I'd only had the business for one year. I needed all of that help that you gave me, which was just incredible with marketing and just the business and systems. And it's like, whoa. Because I just want to design, but if I can improve the systems and processes, then I'm going to have more time to design. I'm passionate about continuing my learning on the weekend. I did a workshop with Hannah Nolan.
She's amazing. We have one of her pieces in it.
Do you? She's just such a lovely person and I just enjoy the process she just gave us little hints and tips and just let us go with the flow. But I learned a lot about colour and that's, that's great for interior design. I think we can just always keep learning. I've been in Lauren Lee's mentor program and now I'm in Natalie Walton's Design and Grow. I think we we don't know what we don't know, there are just different approaches that might be a better fit for the way that you want to run your business. I'm a big fan of courses and just learning what else. I guess from the perspective of a book, I've got quite the library of designer books here in the studio and I might be a little bit traditional there, but if I'm starting up off with a concept, I'll go to my books first as opposed to online.
I just love that flicking of the pages and sometimes you just see something when you're ready to see it, if that makes sense. Yes. I can go back to a book five times and I may not need that particular inspiration, but all of a sudden it just comes to me. That's a big reference for us. Australian designers like Arent & Pyke, I love international ones as well. And Beaumaris Modern, they've got two books as well. They tell great stories in there. They've got floor plans and sometimes they're sadly been demolished homes, but other times they've been restored and they've got the updated photos and just the history of the homes. I just find that fascinating. Because They're all very well-designed homes focusing on natural light and natural materials. We love working with mid-century homes in that era. It's so cool.
It's so cool. I've just remembered I'm following this person. I'm going to try and find it so I can put it in the show notes. But when you were talking about Houses that are demolished, there's this woman in the US who goes to houses that have just been sitting empty for like decades sometimes. Or even a century. And she tells the story and she tries to find the history of the house and it's just incredible, like homes and how things used to be built. Even sometimes when you go into churches or temples and things, look at like the quality.
Absolutely.
What about tech stuff? Do you have tech tools that you look at?
We use Canva a lot. We love Canva for doing presentations for our social media thing. We do use Later as well for our scheduling. Then Xero. And then one tip I got from one of your other podcasts was Milanote. And we're loving that.
Yes. I love Milanote.
Just creating all those different boards and it's just for my eye, it's a lot more visual and it just works. I can't work out Notion and things like that. It's too complicated for me. I just want to see the pretty stuff and make it even prettier online. It's just great. If I see something on my phone, I can screenshot it and then send it to that particular board on Milanote. It's just making me a lot more organized instead of having to scroll through the phone. I'm just doing it more instantaneously. And Milanote has been great, so thanks for that one.
That's fine. Milanote if you're listening, we would love to for sponsorship with all of these, which we'll include in the show notes. Thank you so much. What about like, just is there any advice that you'd give to your younger self? Especially say people who might be reading this, who are working somewhere else right now and thinking, oh, I'd love to do that, or I love that she turned out doing that 20 years after she initially wanted to do it. Is there any advice you'd give to someone just starting or someone who's aspiring to do what you're doing?
Sometimes we can be critical of ourselves and I look back and I, and you think you haven't grown enough. But now I do look back and go, I've come a long way in the last four years with the business, but I'm also thinking, why didn't I start earlier? Just start. I was never going to have all my ducks lined up and I still don't I guess if someone was thinking of doing it, life's, short. I know that you don't want to dwell on the negative, but you just gotta make the most of it. We've got one chance at this, so do what makes you happy. And that's something that I'm trying to encourage my son, Archie, at the moment, he did his Morrissey testing and it was just so fascinating and they've gotta pick their subjects and things. And I just said to Archie based on things that I did wrong or the path that I went down, I just said the number one thing, buddy, is that you've just gotta be happy. Do what makes you happy in life. For a career, if you can be fortunate enough to do something that you love, then you're just so lucky and you'll have a great life. I just think life's too short. Just start, don't overanalyze it. Yes. Here is me saying that. Just start and it can be small it might be that you're still working full time for another, doing another job, but if you are in your heart, you want to pursue whatever that may be, give it a go. You've got nothing to lose.
Yes. I completely agree with that. And it's so good that you're saying that to your son. As I said, my parents pulled me out of drama and art and my mom countless times, years later, said, I regret that we did that and we just did what we thought would help you the most. And I sometimes used to joke saying I could've been the next Nicole Kidman like, wow but whatever. She saved me from a whole bunch of Hollywood drama What are you most proud of from your time in business today? You've done so many different things, but What are you most proud of?
When was it? Last week? No, the week before. I think about two weeks ago we had one of our projects published in the latest country style. We’re thrilled with that. And I guess it was one of my dreams and goals to get published. We hope that we can get a few more of our projects in the media as well so that we can get more and more people to know about the power of good design and how integrating Hygge the Hygge principles into your home can just have such a powerful impact on your wellbeing. We want our clients to thrive in their lives, but also I believe that it has a flow-on on effect their work and relationships and all sorts of stuff. It might just be designed for some people, but to us, we're just so passionate about it and we believe that we can make some positive changes. That project that was in country style was a home, a passive house out in the wood end. And they were just the loveliest clients, with similar values it was just one of those dream come true projects. We were pleased to be able to get it published.
Yes. What are some other dreams for you? And if anyone is listening you never know. There's people, there's a lot of people who listen to this podcast, which is very amazing, and we have people all over the world. Is there anything else that you'd love to create with the business in the next couple of years in case anyone's reading and can help you do it? There was a woman on this podcast a year, like a year or so ago she does a social enterprise and she messaged me saying, I just wanted to let you know that somebody was listening to your podcast in, I think in Europe, a huge philanthropic family, and they got in touch with her. You just never know, Carlie, you never know. That's right. Put it out there. What would be your dream?
I guess one of our big, scary audacious dreams is to work in a winery with accommodation, that hospitality area. I would love an opportunity to do that. We have worked on a couple of hospitality projects, but not to that scale. I guess to push it up there would be amazing. And just in general, continue the work that we're doing. We love helping people and we just want to make more people happier in their homes. More renovations and extensions and just sensible design. Less is more. Sometimes we don't have to have these huge houses. We can design spaces that have flexibility for people. We are just passionate about that side of things and more consideration with sustainability. Going down that path, it just felt good with the projects that we've done to coordinate and work with, these house design principles. We love that. And lastly, if I can grow enough to be insition to be able to hire someone to help me with my marketing, that would be amazing.
Amazing. I love that you put that out. You never know. You never know what is out there. Lastly, thank you so much for your time, but how can people connect with you if they're reading, thinking, I want to connect with her or the business, where's the best place?
Our Instagram handle is @hyggedesign.au. And if you jump on our website, which is hyggedesign.com.au, you can also subscribe to our newsletter. That's probably a good way of connecting and getting to know how we design. And just a bit more about us. We pop on recipes that we love for the winter months might be a slow cooker recipe. It could be just an art gallery that we've explored. It's design-related, but it's also just hints and tips and just other things to do that have made us happy and we've enjoyed. We hope that other people would love to experience it as well. By all means, drop me an email, which is at carlie@hyggedesign.com.au, or give me a call, pop in for a cup of tea, or come to the studio. Love having people here,
Yes. Go in and have some hygge.
Exactly. Well, I've got my tea lights here. The studio's always open. We love people visiting and it might just be that you are two years away from doing the project, but just hop in and just have a bit of a chat. We are more than happy to help where we can get you going in that design process because it's quite overwhelming It's a lot to think about. And the more time you have on your side the better.
I love this so much. And this whole chat alert just goes to show the alignment between your values and who you are and the brand and everything. Thank you so much, Carlie, for coming in and sharing so much.
Thanks for having me, Fiona. It was great to chat with you again.
Yes, you too.
See you soon. Bye.
Bye.
—
That was just so lovely to chat with Carlie about all things Hygge and how she's built the business and the marketing and all the things. Of course, I'm going to point out two things that stood out for me, but I'd love to know what you are taking away from this. You can always send us a message at My Daily Business on social media, and I'm sure Carlie would love to hear from you. And her Instagram @hyggedesign.au. The website, hyggedesign.com.au. The two things that stood out for me the first, I loved when Carlie just talked about what she was passionate about when she was younger and that she had gone off and done these different degrees and different careers, but she came back to what it was that she wanted to create with her business.
I think it just goes to show you that you don't have to do this straight after university or straight after high school, or there's no gold star for figuring this out first. I think sometimes people feel that they're behind or that they can't start a business at a particular age or anything like that when it's just not true. These are all these invisible rules that sometimes hinder us as people. There are so many business owners that start a business in their forties or fifties or sixties or even later and they're successful. Some of the best authors and most prolific authors in the world started writing their first book in their fifties or their forties or later. And I just think that it's never too late to start. But also that if you are feeling maybe a bit down in your business or a bit bored or a bit whatever, think about what lit you up at the start or maybe what lit you up when you were a teenager or in your early twenties and is there part of that that you could bring into your business?
So much of my business, when I look at the things that are working well, often I can connect it to something I did in a previous career or something I used to love doing as a child. Like writing, I've always loved writing, so writing books or writing my Sunday newsletter, is not something that I find hard to do. I mean, of course, a book is a chunk of work, but there are certain things that I enjoy doing, like writing. I enjoy speaking and this podcast and that's something that I've also enjoyed telling stories, liaising with friends and having deep conversations. I love that she brought up so much of who she has always been present in what she's created now. And you can hear it through her voice. You can hear how passionate genuine and authentically aligned Carlie is with the ethos of her brand.
The second thing that stood out to me was when Carlie talked about understanding who your audience is and being able to create events, experiences, marketing, and things that they are genuinely going to connect with. And also knowing who your audience isn't. She was talking about the stainless steel kitchen island and going, this isn't necessarily our audience. Or there may be other people who want to create a super trendy home or a home that's going to get splashed across everything, but in two years it'll be a bit dated or a bit a bit out. And that's also not who she's going after and she's going after and working with people that want that sustainability factor and that want to build a kitchen that lasts and they can have all of these beautiful moments with.
Also, it doesn't always take, doesn't have to be about the biggest and the best. And it can be the small moments that make a house into a home and make it somewhere that you want to be. And I love that she talked about the fact that we are spending 87% of our lives indoors. I mean, that's incredible, but also that that goes to even more the power of making that space that you're in reflective of you and I alluded to it in the conversation with with Carlie today, but I think so often people don't stop to think about what do I want in my home? Or what do I want in my business? Or what do I want that's going to make me feel me? Our house is full of all sorts of knickknacks and different things.
We have all these different things that my dad found and discovered and bought on his travels. He used to be a captain on a ship for 30 years. We have little trinkets from India where my family and my in-laws are from. We have all sorts of little things that mean something to us and every single piece in our house has a little story behind it. Or it's like, yes, this was from when we went here, or this was from this little antique shop or this op shop that we found here. Not everything's like vintage, but everything has its place and everything has its story. And I love those homes. I love it when you go somewhere and you think, tell me about this, or where did that come from? I love this. And even if it's not your style, it's their style and it's so authentic.
I think that way of designing and that way of genuinely connecting with the people that she's working with is so aligned with how Carlie operates and how she runs her business. I just want to say thank you again for coming on and sharing your wisdom, Carlie. Again, we'll link to all of the links that Carlie mentioned, including some of those great tools and resources in other show notes for this, which you'll be able to find at mydailybusiness.com/podcast/448. And just a reminder, if you are interested in having your own book published one day, we are running, the How to Get Your Book Published course in October in this month. You can find all the information for that at mydailybusiness.com/courses. Thanks so much for reading. I'll see you next time. Bye.
