Meet Eddie Mickenberg

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Eddie Mickenberg a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Eddie, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?

I grew up having something to do all day and night. School was always a part of growing up, but it was the extra activities my parents signed me up for that I wanted to do like sports, art, I also was a child actor so that within itself was demanding. I would sometimes get pulled out of class in elementary school to go on auditions or have a tutor on set if the day was long. I’m glad I grew up this way because my parents did always encourage to lean into what I loved so it didn’t feel like much of an effort, but something I looked forward to. Luckily to this day I still feel like my work is not something I dread even though I work a lot, but something I’m excited about doing everyday.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

My interior design business focuses on luxury residential design and I am thankful to continue to serve S. California for now over 10 years. I believe my clients each have their own unique styles that I can bring out of them and include those characteristics in an elevated feel. That’s what makes each project exciting because it doesn’t feel like the same project over and over again. There is depth and layers to each design and I treat it like a piece of art rather than just technical or hyper focusing on function without creating the visual feeling my clients love, which is essential.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I would say there are a couple of necessary qualities to be successful. Grit and long term strategy.

Grit – This is more about when you are terrified to start something or do something. That’s when you don’t think too hard about it, do it, and figure it out along the way. And keep trying when things fail. I realized you can be very smart, but not a risk taker and the risk is where you get the reward. Planning too hard will set you back. You will fail and it will be messy and that’s okay. It’s supposed to be that way. And it will take time. Everyone goes through that. But, it’s your grit that starts to see the reward years later. If you love what you do, that’s enough of a strong foundation to keep you motivated. If money is the reason you are doing something to try and copy a “formula” that worked for someone else, the love and passion for what you are doing won’t be worth it when you are in the eye of the storm.

Long term strategy – Being mindful and having intention about what you are doing is a great way to stay in business. This is more with marketing, relationships, growth. Maybe write your goals and keep always asking yourself “Why am I doing this.” Make quality decisions and act on them. This is different than just making decisions. Quality decisions sometimes take a day to make that really change the direction of your path substantially. But, don’t stay stuck. Act on that decision. Give yourself deadlines.

Give yourself grace through this process. It’s not supposed to make you feel safe or comfortable. It’s just what has worked for me to keep moving forward to my dreams.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?

I can be a very overly optimistic person by flipping being and feeling overwhelmed to being present and appreciating the moment. What I have realized is that I’m looking to always grow and take on more so I encourage that feeling to gain higher mental strength and take on more. So gratitude for the opportunity of being in that position personally helps me.

Also, planning is huge. Time management has to be at the top of my list. I personally have a hand written calendar to this day so I can see everything clearly, what’s going on, in the next few weeks, what can I delegate, postpone, what is time sensitive. Then I write down everything I have going on in a random order, then review my to do list, and number them from first to last. This clears my head and makes me think more strategic and logically.

This personally helps me in the way my brain operates. But, it works for me.

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Andrew Bui

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