Hi Everyone! I hope you are doing well. Wow, this year is zipping by! Well, I told you a while back that I would have some big announcements for you. As many of you might have gathered, I did go ahead and purchase the 10 year strong, annual Business of Design (BOD) Conference! David Shepherd decided to retire and offered the conference to me. Eventually, I said yes and I am now an international conference owner! It was a big step for my company, but it is the best thing I ever did! Fortunately, I was ready when the opportunity presented itself and I was craving a more dynamic platform by which to advance the design industry and empower designers, which as you know, is my mission.
The BOD, while very impressive, did not quite embody the luxury touch that I resonate with. So, I re-branded the event and it is now called the Business of LUXURY Design Summit or BOLD Summit for short. I shifted the event to be more focused on the particular business needs of luxury oriented interior designers and architects, as this is what my firm, Molloy Management Group has been guiding the industry on for the last 9 years and well, it’s what I know best!
It has been a wonderful adventure putting it together over the last 10 months and way more work than I thought! I absolutely love it though, so no complaints here! This first year I decided to keep it the same days as it has been for the last 10 years, the Thursday and Friday right before labor day, the 28th and 29th of August.
To my great delight, we have been able to gain the support of so many thought leaders in the industry. We have some AMAZING designers coming to share their secrets, namely Mario Buatta, Clodagh, Richard Landry and Vicente Wolf! We also have some big dogs like Crans Baldwin and Lloyd Princeton coming to share with us what you need to know about billing for time and product in this new age of design, as well as some leaders in the design publication arena to talk about what you need to know about how to get published. Michela, President of Dwell, Traditional Home, Hospitality Magazine and Mike Peterson of Luxe will be there.
The list of brilliance at the event is long, but suffice it to say, if you are building your design business and are striving to become a more powerful presence in the world of high-end design, you will want to be there. I’ll share more with you over the coming weeks and you can also take a look at the event here:
If you know me, you know that I am a rubber-meets-the-road kind of person.The BOLD Summit is not going to be a fluff fest, but packed with real business critical content that propels your business forward. This is extremely important to me. This is also why I am giving all of the attendees the recording of the presentations so that you can share the ideas with your team and really implement change back at the office.
Here are a few highlights that our faculty of Design Masters are bringing you at this year’s event!
• Massive amounts of information, knowledge, and strategies that took the most successful masters in the industry DECADES to learn, you’ll learn in TWO DAYS. Why reinvent the wheel? They want to show you how to catapult to success, earning more revenue in less time.
• They’ll explain how they created international luxury brands, how they run their businesses, how they became published, and how they maximize profitability.
• Meet publishers and editors from: DWELL, ROBB Report, Traditional Home, Hospitality Magazine and Luxe!
• David Mandell will discuss ways to streamline operations & cash flow and practices for productive wealth management & protection, tax shelters, etc.
• Lloyd Princeton, Kim Kuhteubl and Chris Ramey will discuss innovative marketing strategies in a changing clientele – what it means to attract your ideal luxury clientele and how to negotiate accordingly.
• Mike Peterson of Luxe Magazine will discuss the importance of branding and HOW to brand yourself for a changing clientele.
• We will take an in-depth look at how other design firms are billing and making money! Including: discount from retail vs. markup, value-based fees vs. time billing, and price-per-square foot strategies and answer that pressing question, WHAT IS THE BEST BILLING MODEL FOR MY FIRM?!
Anyway, I am excited and I am so incredibly blessed to be able to provide this experience to our lovely design community. The coming weeks are all about preparation for the big day. I’ll share more about the award ceremony and how the event is giving back to a few special causes soon.
Until then, let me know if you have any questions on the BOLD Summit and as always,
Expect great things!
Julia A. Molloy