We were lucky to catch up with Kimi Quinn recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Kimi, so happy you were able to devote some time to sharing your thoughts and wisdom with our community. So, we’ve always admired how you have seemingly never let nay-sayers or haters keep you down. Can you talk to us about how to persist despite the negative energy that so often is thrown at folks trying to do something special with their lives?
I would be lying if I said that I don’t let them bother me. Every single time someone knocks me, my business, my staff, my family, or the work we do, I take it to heart. Each one makes me stop and think, what could I have done different to create a better outcome for this situation. Learning not to repeat a misstep goes a long way into helping you overcome the negative nellies we are all bound to meet. I own a small retail flooring store in a somewhat small town near Raleigh North Carolina. We have grown and we have taken every single word of advice, every negative comment, all the criticism and each speedbump, learned from it, created a new procedure to change the outcome for the next time something happens, or we face an obstacle. What I have found is that by creating a better way of handling a problem, has changed the way we start a project and our challenges have decreased. Be prepared, set reasonable expectations and you will succeed faster and be able to look at yourself in the mirror every day. You will always have haters, each one of us do and we always will. You must face them, deal with the issue and put it away immediately.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My husband and I own a retail flooirng and installation company, Kimi’s Carpets Plus, Inc. We currently have a 4800 square foot showroom in Fuquay-Varina, NC and have just opened another location in Cary NC. Both stores are vastly different from each other. They each bring something different to the communites they are in and I am excited to see how the cary location does in serving the community it is in. This locaton has been in the works for a bit now and to see it actually come to life is great. Kimi’s has grown so much over the past years and we love to give back to our community when we can. We love to support our local sports teams. We are exctied to introduce a new aspect of the company, we just started making area rugs right in the Fuquay showroom.
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 did not start out thinking I was going in the flooring business. I started out in broadcasting, but life has a way to change things for you. I do not let problems or crisis get in my way of accomplishing things that I believe need to be done. I love to face a challenge head on. Everything that I learned when we opened our first store I learned from my husband and trial by error. I know that mistakes were going to be made but believe that it is all in how you handle the different things that come your way. I also believe you need to surround yourself with good people. The saying you are only as good as your weakest link it very true, surround yourself with people who have the same goals and the same ambition as you and you will all go further. I feel like in and out of work, the people in my circle are just that. Hardworking, determined, and smart minded people. If I could offer anyone advice on how to develop or improve yourself would be to never give up. Walt Disney Failed so many times prior to becoming a success. Success is there, you must do the work in order to achieve it.
Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
We handle so many areas of our industry it’s hard to nail down just one type of ideal client. Most of the clients we work with are homeowner, refreshing their space, giving it a better feel and function. A good number of our clients are selling their homes, and we are here to help them get their homes market ready. With the volume of new homes coming to the area, current homeowners need to do more renovating to get their homes ready for the ever changing market. We have worked closely with real estate agents in the area and have developed a program designed just for them and their clients. In the end we try to work closely with everyone who comes to us for help.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.carpetsplusnc.com
- Instagram: @kimiscarpetsplus
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarpetsPlusInc/
Image Credits
Images by: Worth Fitts Music
