We were lucky to catch up with Carly Filbin recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Carly , 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?
My work ethic comes from my family. My father worked hard when I was growing up to provide for us. He always made sure that we had all of our needs and a lot of our “wants”. He always told me he would take care of my college tuition because he wanted me to have a good job, that I also enjoyed. He never worked too much however, and was always home on the weekends and in the evenings with us. He really balanced work and family well. I truly applaud that now that I am older and see how hard that balance can be. My grandmother was another example of hard work. She started working in high school to help her parents and family get by. She continued to work hard after she was married and through raising my Dad and Aunt. Not only did she work but she cleaned house and cooked every meal; doing all of it with a gracious heart and a smile. She was a true inspiration, I think of her often when I need to be reminded of great work ethic.
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?
Blue Jay is special because we are unique partnership! My business partner Stephanie Jones is an Engineer by trade. We balance each other really well in that aspect, and are able to work on our own strengths, while having the ability to learn from one another and improve on personal weaknesses. We believe that women can achieve work/ life balance and are here to cultivate that environment for ourselves and our future employees. We are fun, approachable and easy to work with. Full service design is our strength, where we work with a client from inception of blueprints, through building, into furniture/ window coverings and styling.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
From the design side of things I would say that my degree and my TBAE license were huge accomplishments in bringing me where I am today. If you are interested in design, pursue both of those, I have never once regretted it. Lastly, just experience! All of my experiences at different jobs throughout my design career have created the designer and woman I am today. From the little jobs right out of college, to project management, sales and working for builders. Every single success and failure have led me to this moment.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
We all get overwhelmed, especially as business owners! I have grown a lot in this area since starting Blue Jay. My business partner Stephanie has helped me learn to ask for help when I need it. As designers we tend to get in our heads and think we have to do everything to have it just perfect. When you own a business you learn that is nearly impossible and you have to have help when you start to grow. When you learn to let go and delegate, you come to understand others strengths and how they compliment your weaknesses. This I think is the key to a partnership! Of course we strive for greatness in all of our designs, but this only has come through asking for help and delegating when needed. Stephanie will sometimes as me, “Is this a today problem ?” That really helps put it into perspective and I have started asking myself that as I create my task lists. We never want to put things off just because, but we do want to serve our clients as well as possible, and that sometimes means other issues have to wait. Lastly, I will say that sometimes just stepping away can be really helpful. When I get stuck on a design, sometimes I have to put it down. I may move on to another client for the remainder of the day, I may go on a walk, or sometimes I won’t come back to it until the next day. Things are always so much clearer with the fresh perspective that comes from a break. It is ok to rest, that is where the work/ life balance I mentioned earlier comes in. We really stand by this!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bluejayinteriors.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bluejayinteriors/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlueJayInteriors/
- Other: https://www.communityhomeguide.com/listings/blue-jay-interiors-interior-designer-tomball-texas
Image Credits
Daniel Angulo
