Don’t Be A Toe Dipper – Guest Julie Laughton – e49 – David Vs Goliath

Adam DeGraide:

Coming up today on David Vs Goliath.

Julie Laughton:

I’ve been doing it for 35 years because when I got out of college I’ve done nothing but this.

Adam DeGraide:

The toe dipper. I don’t know how to eat, but I’m going to make it happen. You’ve destroyed yourself.

Julie Laughton:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Welcome to today’s episode of David Vs Goliath. A podcast dedicated to helping small businesses leverage technology to not only help them compete against their large competitors, but win. Your host is currently the CEO of Anthem Business Software, a three-time Inc. 500 recipient and a serial entrepreneur with a passion to help small businesses everywhere find, serve and keep more customers profitably. Please join me in welcoming your host, Adam DeGraide.

Adam DeGraide:

Hey everyone. It’s Adam Degraide with another amazing edition of the David Vs Goliath podcast. We have Julie Laughton coming up today. She builds residential homes for people. She’s a general contractor. She designs, builds your dreams come true right here in Southern California. Should be a very interesting conversation. We also want to thank right out of the gate our brand new corporate sponsor, automatemysocial.com. You can literally automate 90% of your social media as a business and never have to think about it again. Stop paying thousands of dollars to a social media manager or a big agency when you can absolutely automate your social media with automatemysocial.com. Check it out.

They got a video tour there. We use them at David Vs Goliath. We use them at Anthem Software and it’s a great, great product. It has made our lives so much easier. It’ll make your lives easier as well so check them out today and there’ll be a little commercial for Automate My Social a little bit later on in the episode. As you know our website for the podcast is davidvsgoliathpodcast.com. There you can subscribe to receive updates on the podcast and also apply to be on the podcast. Well, with no further ado, we got to get right into it today with Julie Laughton. Julie, welcome to the David Vs Goliath podcast.

Julie Laughton:

Thank you. I’m glad to be here.

Adam DeGraide:

And I’m just going to take my glasses off. I was just reading a little bit about-

Julie Laughton:

I have the same glasses.

Adam DeGraide:

… what you do and your story and it’s so great to have you. You’re going to be the first person that I have. I’ve had architects on the program before.

Julie Laughton:

Oh.

Adam DeGraide:

Yeah. I can’t remember her name. Oh my gosh. It just slipped my mind. I’ll remember it as we go through the episode. She’s fantastic. She was a few weeks back and she’s out of Newport Beach.

Julie Laughton:

Oh.

Adam DeGraide:

And I’m actually in Newport Beach right now.

Julie Laughton:

You’re not, oh my God.

Adam DeGraide:

I’m not in my Florida studio. I’m not in my Florida studio. Yeah, I’m right down the street from you.

Julie Laughton:

Oh my God.

Adam DeGraide:

And there’s so many gorgeous houses here.

Julie Laughton:

That’s just it.

Adam DeGraide:

And when I started looking at your website realizing that you build them, you design them. I mean, that’s a fascinating process. So to start off, tell the listeners currently what you’re doing right now.

Julie Laughton:

Right now I’m working on five or six projects and they’re all basically remodels with additions. And basically I like to restore the beautiful homes that no one wants to tear down because either they’re emotional or connected to the family, but why tear it down? It’s already there. So I’m working on design, build with homes in Laguna Beach, Balboa Island, Balboa Peninsula and they’re all under construction with me doing the plans and my team, and then standing there in the dirt every day being the contractor because the client with me only deals with one person, so it’s the same kind of thing every day. It’s like having a bunch of children, but it’s a bunch of different projects.

Adam DeGraide:

Yeah. It’s funny, we have a saying in our business it’s like herding cats.

Julie Laughton:

Yeah. Yes.

Adam DeGraide:

You got to herd the cats all together and keep things moving, keep things moving.

Julie Laughton:

I’m playing the conductor.

Adam DeGraide:

So now this is your own business.

Julie Laughton:

Yes.

Adam DeGraide:

How long have you been doing this for?

Julie Laughton:

I’ve been doing it for 35 years because when I got out of college, I’ve done nothing but this. So when I got out of college, I did architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, finally got a degree in design. And then after living in New York city working for the top 10 developers I was doing all the model homes, working in the dirt with all the construction people in New York. After 10 years of that I came to California and thought I need to do residential and I like to draw all the architecture and the custom kitchen. So I did that for 10 years. Then I realized, oh my God, I have to become the contractor because I was used to working with professional contractors and in residential it’s not so much that way most of the time.

So here I am. I became a contractor in early 2000s and that enabled me to make the job a one stop shop for the homeowners, especially the women. They’re like, oh my God, I can work with a lady the whole time and she can design it, draw it, shop for me and run the men. I manage men for a living. I mean, it’s not as bad as herding cats, but men are easier to work with than sometimes women. I have to say that out loud, but it’s business all day long. It’s like business. So I did the whole thing for the benefit of the client. Yeah.

Adam DeGraide:

That’s awesome. I wanted to pick your brain a little bit about your time in Manhattan. So many people, Julie, you’ve been doing this and you’re very successful in the area. I was actually looking on your website. For the watchers and listeners it’s julielaughton.com.

Julie Laughton:

Yeah.

Adam DeGraide:

We just put it up on the screen so you can see it and some of the custom homes I was actually looking at, there’s one that you did that I thought was fascinating. But before we talk about a specific project, when you were in Manhattan and you were learning from those large companies that you worked for initially, what did you do exactly for them? But more importantly, how did it shape the direction of you going from there to eventually starting your own because there’s a lot of transition people that watch the David Vs Goliath podcast and they’re probably working for someone right now, but in their heart of hearts, when they put their head on the pillow at night, they actually have something that they needed to do. How did your transition work? What did you learn in Manhattan? Both good and bad. And then how did it lead you to being, I’m going to start my own business?

Julie Laughton:

Okay. I’ll tell you exactly. So what I is, is I’m like an anti retentive little draftsman architect and I like to draw and design so to this day it all starts with a good plan, but my very, very first jobs in New York, my internships were architects and they send me in the field because I was the only girl in the office. So instead of the guys, they just laugh and they send me to do all the dirty work, which is me measuring the hundred thousand square foot spaces with the plans, getting the plans right, standing in the dirt, getting whistled at by all the Italian and Irish workers. It was brutal. I mean it was union. You can’t even go anywhere in the construction, but they love me because I’m this girl in the eighties with high heels and a skirt. So I’m in there making things happen, working with the top developers, making them change their building design so the furniture works.

It was like I was thrown in by my boss at 24 years old and they said to me, “Julie, you’ve made it in New York so if you do it here you can make it anywhere.” But what happened is I because I was thrown in young because my boss wasn’t a designer. She needed me to work with them. So I ran this whole team of men and a draftsman and all these guys that would help me do the furniture. So what happened is I moved to California because there was a recession in New York. So I moved to California and I was so proud of my career, but I couldn’t find a job because I was overqualified at my age and it freaked me out. So I was forced to get a job in an arena I was not comfortable or new in.

So I got a job selling kitchens on Robertson Boulevard in Beverly Hills and that led to me selling and designing one million dollars of cabinets and kitchens custom and in everybody’s home everywhere. And I got notice and that drove me to Newport in Laguna. And then all of a sudden, a few years later I become the contractor because I can’t stand on working in residential because without the structure of commercial, because I’m used to very professional because that’s what I learned in New York city. No nonsense. All my business skills came from Manhattan from the best. So when I was forced out of the nest, of the protective nest of getting a job with an architect or getting a job with another developer, I had to start my own business to survive and it was survival. You have to-

Adam DeGraide:

Yeah. When exactly, what year was that, that you started your own business? You realized, okay, I’m doing great at selling sinks and designing them.

Julie Laughton:

1991.

Adam DeGraide:

1991. So in 1991, think about this watchers and listeners, she started her own business because she really needed to find a place for herself and she loved what she was doing. And she said, there’s no place for me to go because I’m overqualified at my age. I’m going to start my own. And in 1991, all the way to today in 2022, here we are, you have a very successful business. How many homes have you, since you started your company, have you custom designed and remodeled?

Julie Laughton:

The total is more than a thousand, even though I only say 500, but if you start from 91 and all those homes I was in LA and Palos Verdes in Malibu. Oh my God, I was everywhere. That’s a thousand plus homes of me hand drawing and drafting and working with the homeowner. So it’s a lot, it’s like a doctor who’s delivered 2000 babies.

Adam DeGraide:

That’s so funny, man, a doctor, you’ve delivered baby. I tell people this all the time, when I build software and we install our clients on them it’s like a delivery. It’s like you are, you’re giving birth to a vision and something that has life behind it. And people who live in their homes they spend most of their lives there and so to be able to create an environment for them that’s fantastic, it’s awesome. Now how many employees do you currently have? How many people are on your team at this point?

Julie Laughton:

Well, I have, employees I have 12 because there’s three in the office and then the rest are in the field as construction. But then I have my draftsmen who I work as a sub and he has three people. So it’s really like 15 people at my fingertips 24/7 plus my other subcontractors. So that adds up to 50 people. But my immediate a staff is 15 because I have two drafts, well three draftsmen and two secretaries and a guy that runs around and does all the stuff I used to do.

So just so you know, all three of those people, Ashley, Veronica, Roberto, I used to do all that and then I had to graduate to hiring them as you grow, but I remember the day when I actually did everything, just like the thing, when you own your own business, you’re doing everything. Oh my God. I don’t know how I did it, but in 2015 I had a big growth from, my sales quadrupled in one year. So that’s when I started to hire more people. It was crazy. So I’ve always doubled or tripled my business every five years. It’s kind of funny. So, yeah.

Adam DeGraide:

That’s awesome. And people really are the backbone. I talk about the five smooth stones that every business needs to have and the first one is people. Then you have the right process, the right tools. There’s also the right plan, actually starts at plans and goals, the right people, the right technology, the right process and then courage. With your team when you hired them, what kind of culture, how important was it for you that you made sure you got the right team members to match your we’re going to get this done, we’re going to be professional. We’re going to get it done quick, efficiently in on-time. What did you do to train, find those people and then how did you train them in what I like to call the Julie Laughton way so to speak?

Julie Laughton:

Well you can tell, and all my clients, just so you know, know that they were trained by me because everyone’s like me. So they’re like me because we do have a, it’s plans, process, procedure, execution. So the thing is I have a secret system where if they can make it through the first hour of conversation with me, we’re good. Meaning we have to match and I can tell that they can, it’s, first of all, people are number one, that’s it in life. Number one, relationships. It’s number one. You can’t have someone you work with that you don’t get along with or they don’t follow and they’re not in sync with you. No matter what you’re doing, hiring or whatever. So I have a process where I interview them and I see if they like me and they understand that I’m super high energy, super efficient, super fast.

I do not like to repeat myself, but on the other hand I’m an educator, I’m a trainer, I’m a leader and I’m ridiculously patient because I’ve literally groomed my people to serve the client five star and that’s what we’re about. It’s about the client and the experience and the trust. So when you see my men, they’re dressed clean, their shirts are clean. They’re polite. They’re courteous. The job site’s like nobody else’s job site and then our efficiency on response and email time and the way we handle the client is how I do it. So the thing is they have to be in sync with me almost immediately. And I can tell by their personality because a lot of them my people have come to me and then they never leave of course. And then they refer me to people that are like them. So it’s kind of fun.

Adam DeGraide:

Yeah, that is.

Julie Laughton:

There is an art to it and I think it comes naturally to me. Yeah.

Adam DeGraide:

Yeah. That is absolutely awesome. We’re going to take a break here from a corporate sponsor. But when we come back I want to continue talking about the team building and I want to talk about marketing in the early days, how you actually got the word out because marketing has changed dramatically over the last several years. You’re with Julie Laughton, you’re with your handsome host, Adam DeGraide from the David Vs Goliath podcast. We’re learning so much today about how important it is to match the culture that you have as the business owner to the people who serve and love your customers. This is critical. We’ll be right back. Here’s an important message from automatemysocial.com.

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Adam DeGraide:

And we’re back with Adam and Julie, the quickest break of all time from Julie’s perspective and Julie, a few things. First of all, a little birdy told me you don’t like repeating yourself. Is that true?

Julie Laughton:

Yeah, I have this thing and I think I get it from my family because they’re all kind of like my personality is in my DNA. It’s kind of, I don’t know if it’s, we’re like high energy sales people, but we’re full of information and we like to go fast because knowledge is power, but I don’t want to hold someone’s hand too much, but I give them the world and I tell them everything and then we coach them along and guide them. So I don’t like repeating myself because that might mean someone’s not listening.

Adam DeGraide:

I’m sorry. Could you repeat yourself? I wasn’t listening. I’m only kidding. Now let’s talk about marketing, marketing in the early days. So when you’re basically, and back in 1991, you hang the shingle up, you decide I’m going for it. How did you get the word out? What were the forms of marketing that you were involved with then and how has that morphed since then?

Julie Laughton:

Okay, so it’s so funny because back in the old days I had maybe had a business card, but the first few years was 100% word of mouth and I never thought about the cards or the advertising. And then I started to get busy and I thought I need to get going here. So I ran an ad in the newspaper and I remember, oh my God, I can’t afford this. It was like $500 every week. So I remember it was a panic about that cost, but my mom who is a master at certain things and she said, remember the ad and the consistencies, what’s going to pay off.

So that first newspaper ad has been in that same paper for 30 years and I have this huge thing following and reputation, that whole thing where you’re just seen, but what happened is it used to be 90% referral and 10% advertising and marketing and now it’s the opposite. I mean, I bet it’s 1% referral by a human. It’s so small. It’s all marketing, it’s all advertising. It’s all internet, social media. It has totally flipped, completely. But my awareness of who I am is good.

Adam DeGraide:

It’s interesting that you say that because I used my last business, we worked with plastic surgeons and medical spas. And one of the things that you didn’t realize is that a lot of their business is referral based. However, the crazy thing Julie, is that imagine you and I are at a coffee shop and you’re looking for a specific procedure and I’ve had it with a doctor and I say, this doctor’s wonderful, you should try him. You know what most people do at that point, they don’t go and just go to that doctor. They go online and they try and they see the reviews and if they see a negative review, too many negative ones versus not enough positive ones, who do you think they believe, their friend or the negative review? It was the negative review.

And so think about this. You could have a relationship with somebody for 35 years that you’re best friends with and trust, but then when they go online, if that digital presence isn’t right, it’s going to put that red light in their mind and cause them to pause. So I find that to be fascinating. If you own a business and you say most of my business is word of mouth, well, let me tell you something, if you don’t have a good online presence, that’s going to kill you one day because you have to have both. You have to be referred and you have to have a good online presence. Now walk the listener through the life of a lead. So somebody comes to your website, they see your work, they check your reviews. They either call you or email you. Your team gets that. What happens then?

Julie Laughton:

Okay. So what happens is they either call me or email me or they go on the website and take the time to fill out one of those forms and then it goes directly to my guy Tyler. And so what I do is I send everything to him because what he does is he qualifies them with the 30 point questionnaire to see if they’re used to working with the designer. Have they ever built before? What’s their budget, where’s their house? All the good stuff. But we get a little more questions in there so they’re qualified so I can call them next and then I set up the appointment to go see them and I meet them in person. Then we get that in person thing where you see if you like them but you also see if they like you, because you got to do that in person. We call that the describe it meeting, tell me everything. And then you hope they like you. And then we start off a five step process. Baby steps, but it’s five steps total to get them into the moved in state.

Adam DeGraide:

That is a great, well organized and well thought out process. So you can see folks, Julie has a very specific thing she does because it’s probably high end people she’s looking for. When, so a lead comes in, she has somebody who’s trained as a professional to qualify that lead, to make sure that it’s not wasting that leads time or Julie’s time. If the lead passes that initial qualification, Julie gets involved, has a conversation. Hopefully they like each other on the phone. She goes out, she meets them. They press the flesh as they say and then a proposal I would imagine is probably given after that in writing. And then after that the person says, I’m going to hire you. Julie gets a check. Julie gets to work. And then there’s five steps to take that person from concept to them walking in with the champagne and the roses.

Julie Laughton:

Exactly.

Adam DeGraide:

And I want to see if I can show some of this right now. I’m going to try something I’ve never tried before in a presentation right now. This is either going to go well or not. So I’m going to try to share my screen. All right, here we go. Here we go. I’m sharing my screen. All right, hopefully this is actually recording right now. I think it is. And so if I look at this screen now-

Julie Laughton:

Oh yeah, that’s one of mine.

Adam DeGraide:

Can you see it as well too, Julie?

Julie Laughton:

Oh, yeah look at my website. It’s so fun.

Adam DeGraide:

I want to talk to you about this one right here.

Julie Laughton:

This, oh my God.

Adam DeGraide:

This is the one I wanted to talk about. So for the watchers and the listeners that are sitting here, I went through this and it says Disney Imagineer Hilltop Estate and I just started to look at some of the pictures that were here. I mean magnificent, beautiful internal structures. It’s almost like a fairytale.

Julie Laughton:

It is.

Adam DeGraide:

These are the drawings I would imagine of what it’s going to be or has been. Tell the listeners and the watchers a little bit about this specific project.

Julie Laughton:

Okay. So first of all, this is Tony Baxter’s house. Hes designed the Paris Disneyland and we’re working with him right now and we started with him five years ago and he’s never letting us go because we can do what Disney does a little bit better. Because I have the craftsman, the carvesman, the gilders. We could do anything. And what Tony does is he draws a sketch and then I take it and go put it to scale and then we build it. So he can draw like I can draw.

But what the difference is between him and me is I take his drawings and I make them to scale and engineer them so they can actually be built. So we added onto the back of his house and we copied what he did 30 years ago in the Disney Studio because he had the workshop back then he used, but he loves us because we do work a little bit higher end than Disney because it’s residential and you can touch and feel it. But he also taught me some tricks about stone and finishing stone, but we have the carvers, the gilders, the finishers that make everything look two or 300 years old. So it is Fantasyland. It is Disney and he hired us five years ago and we’re never leaving his house.

Adam DeGraide:

When you go through people’s websites and you go through their portfolios, because in so many respects what I love about what you do, Julie is I have a soft spot. You may or may not know this from watching DVG for creatives. These are artists, either painters or illustrators and fine art as well as musicians. And I know that you’re also a musician as well too. And what I also think is important for people to realize is that here is a creative, because Julie really is a creative, she’s an artist. And she’s made this business now that has 15 people plus up to 50 people involved in it. She’s built a multimillion dollar business, had the courage and the bravery to start her own business.

And here she is helping dream makers dreams comes true. And I think that is what’s so important is when you find your space and you find your place that you’re supposed to be in, magic happens. And I just think that is so awesome. So we’re going to have to take another break for another sponsor and when we come back I do want to talk about the subject of courage and how people can get in touch with you. And then we want to hear some advice that you have for those aspiring entrepreneurs. So Julie, hang on one second. You’re with Julie Laughton and Adam DeGraide for the David Vs Goliath podcast. You are loving this. You’re learning something new every week. We appreciate your time. We’ll be right back.

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Adam DeGraide:

And we’re back for our final segment with Julie. Julie, this has been a pleasure. It’s been interesting because I’m trying new things on the podcast technologically that are causing computers to crash, which is fun. So if you guys see any like little un-smooth parts, which is unlike the David Vs Goliath podcast, it’s not Julie’s fault. It’s not my editor’s fault. It’s yours truly, the dingleberry over heres fault and Julie, we think about starting a business is not for the faint of heart. It is absolutely for the brave. And one of the things I talk about all the time is courage. And the reason why I named the podcast David Vs Goliath is because whether you’re a small company competing in a big space or you’re an entrepreneur competing with yourself to actually do it, all of us have a Goliath that needs to slayed.

And in the Bible the story talks about how we had five smooth stones and I liken that to plans and goals, the right people, the right technology, the right process, and then the courage it takes to do it. And if you read the story it only took one stone to slay that giant, which I think is the most important one, and that is courage. For you, you come out of Manhattan, you’re working at these big firms, you could have easily gone to a market that could have taken you in and had that time, but you said, no, I’m going to make my own way. I’m going to start it. What gave you the courage to do that? And what was it like, very specifically, the very first day you put your head on your pillow after starting your first design firm?

Julie Laughton:

Well, the courage comes from believe it or not, self confidence and believing in myself and knowing what the heck I’m talking about because when I open my mouth to this day I actually know what I’m talking about because I earned this experience. So even early on with my natural born talent, I had talent and I had experience so I put my two feet firmly planted on the ground and stand behind my convictions. No one pushed me around day one because even though I was a woman I was confident and I don’t know I think it’s because I’m confident in my abilities, but when I first got the design firm started, it was so relaxing and fun and exciting. But on the other hand I was broke. You have to eat.

So it’s scary, but it’s a good scary, because that fear in your belly, that’s what keeps me going every morning. I love what I do, but it’s the go, go, go, go, go. What’s next? Punchlist, checklist. So it’s a constant burning fuel inside of you, but you have to believe in yourself and don’t second guess yourself and stepping, I mean hurdles and obstacles to me are stepping stones to success. You might trip and fall down, but you’re always stepping over or around something to get there and you just stay steadfast. It’s just, it’s fun. You just believe in yourself. Trust me. It’s about self-confidence and believing.

Adam DeGraide:

I think it’s interesting. You talked about, you put your head on the pillow that night basically and you said I’m excited, but I’m trying to figure out how to eat.

Julie Laughton:

Yeah.

Adam DeGraide:

It reminds me of a scene in the movie, What About Bob, where he was trying to get out of his own room and he was basically going, he’s going, “I’m doing better, but I got to figure out how to get some food.” Because he was so panicked he didn’t even know how to leave his own room. And I think you made a really good point. If God’s given you talents and gifts and if there’s something that’s inside you that just keeps tapping on you saying there’s more for you. There’s more for you. Don’t ignore that voice. That voice I believe is God speaking to you saying you could do this.

You got this, just go for it. And there’s no easy way into the Pacific Ocean. If you try to toe dip your way into the beaches over here, you’re never going in the water. If I’m going to go on the water here in the Pacific coast, the shirt’s ripping and I’m running in and diving in and not giving myself a chance to turn back. I find that the toe dippers are the ones who don’t stay in the water. Those who jump in without toe dipping have a tendency to swim around for quite some time.

Julie Laughton:

Yes.

Adam DeGraide:

And it is exactly like that in business.

Julie Laughton:

Yes.

Adam DeGraide:

Now we should call this episode TJ, the toe dipper. I know that’s going to be on the, that actual clip right there that I just did and this is all part of the podcast as well too, I guarantee that my opening next week, two weeks from now is going to be the toe dipper. It’s going to be funny. So anyway, I do want to ask you one final question. There’s somebody out there right now that’s listening to us that has a business that’s struggling or they’re thinking about starting their own business. What advice do you have for them?

Julie Laughton:

Well, if it you’re struggling you got to fine tune and cut back and stay focused on what do you do best. Get rid of the overhead you don’t need, don’t go too fast. You got to build. But really laser focus on what do I do best? What makes my clients happy? And then just build slowly because some people get ahead of themselves and they get too much going on and you can’t cover yourself financially. So it’s just really getting laser focused on and then making your list and build, build, build. But for me I have talent and I know what people like and I know how people want to be treated so that’s how I started. It’s about servicing the clients. We’re in a service business and they can’t do what I do. So I give them what I can do and taking care of yourself and being happy and positive. Don’t do things to destroy yourself physically and mentally, just stay healthy.

Adam DeGraide:

That’s good advice from Julie Laughton. Don’t do anything to destroy yourself physically, mentally, or spiritually. Otherwise, you’ve destroyed yourself.

Julie Laughton:

Yeah.

Adam DeGraide:

So great advice, Julie. Julie, have you had fun being on the David Vs Goliath podcast today?

Julie Laughton:

This is my favorite podcast of all time. We have to do this again. You’re amazing. We match in personality. How’s that?

Adam DeGraide:

Good answer. Anyway, it’s been great having you. Thank you so much. I’m going to wrap it up now. So think about it folks, what we talked about today. You learned about residential, design and delivering of dreams from a girl in New York who was training under a bunch of men and she learned all these skills, moved to California as overqualified, finds a temporary job, but continues to design and says, you know what, I don’t know how to eat, but I’m going to make it happen. And so if you think about it from New York city all the way to Laguna Beach and all the experiences in between, we all have the ability to grow in our business and in our personal lives. And thank you so much for tuning into the David Vs Goliath podcast. I’m your host, Adam DeGraide. That was Julie Laughton. You guys have an amazing day. I’ll see you next week.

Speaker 3:

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