I believe it was Shakespeare who wrote, “What’s in a name?”
Well, as it turns out, quite a lot.
Apparently, Juliet hadn’t considered social media.
What am I talking about? Let me fill you in:
When I started Collaborate to Win back in 2016, my goal was to help other designers increase their profits by sharing trade accounts with vendors that might otherwise be out of reach. And during the past four years, CTW has done just that.
Our original group of five East Coast designers has grown to a collaborative of over 200 designers, decorators, and home stagers across the U.S. and Canada.
We share accounts with nearly 300 of the most popular home furnishing manufacturers — most of them at the lowest price point available.
And the original dream of greater profits has become a reality for our members. (One designer told us that she made an additional $46,000 last year because of CTW. And that was during a pandemic!)
While our numbers have been growing and our members’ businesses have been growing, Collaborate to Win itself has also grown. In addition to sharing trade accounts with manufacturers, we also now offer a host of other resources to our members — from monthly Mastermind meetings, to downloadable resource lists, to rebates on recommended educational and coaching programs.
That’s why we felt it was time to rebrand. We wanted an updated name that communicates more specifically who we are: a true collaborative of design professionals whose only purpose is to help each other succeed.
Along with this new name, we’ve also created a brand-new website that showcases our various offerings and explains exactly how we operate.
We can’t take all of the credit for this work. One of our members, Amy Baker, offered to take the lead with her husband, using her background as a writer and his experience in marketing to develop and help launch the new brand. They even roped in their son, August Osterlund, to design the website. I have been floored by their dedication, creativity, and skill.
I’m truly grateful that Amy so appreciates what we’ve created for interior designers that she was willing to take on the mission of improving what my business partner Tracey Taylor and I started. Our hope is that it will help even more designers skip the struggle and start succeeding.
I may have created this group, but it was God who moved me to do it. And it’s not an exaggeration to say that I have seen real miracles happen along the way. There’s no other explanation for the help I’ve received — usually in the form of a person showing up right when I needed them.
(For example, Tracey first approached me through a Facebook post just as I was pulling my hair out trying to keep everything organized all by myself.)
Another gift from God that continues to bless: LuAnn Nigara. I had no idea what a podcast was when she asked me in 2016 to talk about my work as her very first guest on the now famous “A Well-Designed Business.” But I agreed, because I believe that God puts things in place and that when he does, the only appropriate answer is “Yes!”
LuAnn invited me back again to talk about Collaborate to Win, and to this day, people still tell me, “I heard about you from LuAnn.”
I am so proud of what this wonderful group of people has built together, and I know that we will continue to improve, enhance, and expand to new heights that I hadn’t ever imagined. The journey has only just begun!
So now, I invite you to join us in celebrating . . . The Designers Collaborative!
