Our Co-Founder and Principal Designer, Jesse Bodine, has worked in the interior design industry for ten years now. In that time, she has faced the hardships of a new designer, worked through the pains of scaling her business, and is continually learning about how to best balance it all on top of being a working mom. Her story, while not unfamiliar to many working parents, is a unique tale of recognizing problems and solving them in a way that worked best for her and her clients. Read on to see how Jesse has built her business!

You started your blog as a hobby to keep family up-to-date on your life. What inspired you to make your hobby your profession?

It really happened by accident. I started my blog more as a refusal to get on Facebook - I wanted to share pictures of my boys and day-to-day snippets of our life for our family that lived out of town. The blog became such a wonderful creative outlet for me. I have always loved interiors and as a little girl, I would often have furniture, bedding, and home accessories on my Christmas and birthday wish lists instead of the standard toys. I was always rearranging my furniture and even buying my mom gifts that would allow her to redecorate our home (which I’m sure she loved...haha). So here I am with a toddler and new baby and all of a sudden I had a creative space to share things that I had always been doing in my own home. As luck would have it, Pinterest launched that same year and soon enough I had people coming to my blog that I didn’t know. At the same time, I had many friends that were reaching out and asking for my help with their own homes. For every friend I helped, I would get 3 referral calls, the projects increased in size, and I quickly ventured into remodels.

Because I wasn’t formally trained, I dove into learning as much as possible. I googled everything and researched all the options my clients needed to choose between. I spent extra time with contractors and tradespeople to learn why they did things a certain way and asked a ton of questions. At this point in time, I was running 3-4 jobs at one time, ordering items for each of them and this is when some of the obstacles in this industry began to hit me. I spent so much time tracking down orders and dealing with lost or damaged items. The craziest part is I wasn’t even making money on products I was purchasing. I knew I had to do something different. I needed help sourcing and it was important to me to be able to offer my clients a curated selection of furniture to create a well-layered space.

I had gone to several local furniture stores and explained what I was doing and asked if I could get a discount to pull items for clients. I was told no and that is when the real frustration set in. My husband heard quite a bit about the challenges I was facing and when I started work on a new custom build he started to reach out to to-the-trade vendors and found out about minimum orders and how much business I would have to do on a yearly basis to get set up with them. It wasn’t feasible for my particular business at that point in time. I was a one-woman show and I didn’t have the investment to get set up with more than 1 supplier. Because I was blogging, I had become friends with many other home bloggers who were dealing with the same obstacles.

My husband and I started talking about how wonderful it would be to have a website that brought all of the top designer brands together in one place. We thought it would be awesome, as a designer, to be able to order everything for my clients with one cart and have only one place to call to handle the logistics for a project. And as a consumer, you could shop with confidence knowing that the products you purchased were designer favorites and great quality. 

Once we had the idea of this website, we couldn’t stop thinking about it and we wanted to see if furniture suppliers would be interested in working with us and allowing us to put their products on our site.  We flew ourselves to Atlanta Furniture Market with nothing but a concept and landing page and pitched our idea. We were met with wonderful feedback. It gave us the confidence we needed to continue to invest in ourselves and build out the website you see today. The site helped me as a designer to take on more projects without having to hire more team members - I could stay lean and more importantly stay on top of my projects. At that time, I did not market my design services. I worked only by word of mouth and as we grew Scout & Nimble, the e-commerce platform, my love of helping other designers and customers became just as fulfilling as helping someone design their dream home. It was really where my two passions met.

How do you get your creativity flowing?

Travel is one of my favorite ways to feel inspired, but 2020 made that difficult. It became really important for me to set some boundaries and prioritize self-care and make the time to literally do nothing. Creativity flows freely to me when I am not stressed or running around from project to project. It can be mentally challenging because I am someone who likes to get things done and I always seem to be pushing for that next goal. Sitting on my back patio with coffee for an hour or two doing nothing can feel like I am being lazy, but I realize how important it is to be to unplug and disconnect mentally. It is really hard to ignore the endless loop in my head of things I need to do and just sit in the present moment. I have to be intentional about not thinking because my mind will want to overpower. I’ve never been able to meditate, but this is my version of it. I take in the sights, sounds, and just relax into losing time. It has been the balance I need to continue creative work. It has been a forced practice, but it is so beneficial to do to keep the creative ideas flowing.

How do you like to manage a flexible schedule to maintain a good work/life balance? 

Work/Life balance is a tricky one. I have learned that there is no perfect recipe. It is fluid and it changes week to week. Each day I am filled with choices and decisions to make. It is important for me to prioritize those choices and their effects. I am the one responsible for those and it is in my hands. I have to mentally check in each day to see how I’m feeling about that balance and if changes need to be made. There are times where I do have to make sacrifices in regards to my family or my work, but knowing that I am in control of those decisions help me manage my expectations of what work/life balance looks like from week to week.

There are a few things I have implemented to help, too. Mondays are my day. I learned early on that setting up my Monday in the best way possible set me up to have a great week. I do not take any appointments on Mondays and it is a day for me to tackle my inbox and have internal meetings. Feeling like I don’t have the pressure of a typical Monday creeping in on Sunday night alleviates a lot of stress for me. 

A couple of years ago, I realized that while I don’t have to pick my kids up from school everyday to feel like I have a good work/life balance, but I feel I have the best balance when I am able to pick them up 2-3 days a week. I am able to drop them off at school everyday and it just so happens that it allows me to get to work about 1-1.5 hours before everyone else which allows me some uninterrupted time to knock items on my to do list out. By the time I leave at 2:30 to pick them up, I have put in a full day. 

It is also important to me in the summer to have more flexibility in my schedule and be home a couple of days a week with my kids instead of at the office. My husband and I usually will each take an extra day off so we are both getting that quality time. I’m still attempting to perfect this as many days, work will attempt to derail my plans so it is learning how to set boundaries, trusting the processes and knowing my amazing team is capable of handling every challenge. The guilt of taking off is real even as a boss and I still struggle with that, but I know that if I don’t take care of myself, I will not be able to help anyone. I am my best when I do have a good balance of work, family time, and my own personal time. I need all 3 to feel at my best.

What is your thought process like when switching up features in your own home?

Before I launched the business, I had a lot more time and attention to give to my home. I believe many designers and business owners might say the same thing. I often find designing for my own home to be the most challenging because I am constantly seeing all the new items coming down the pipeline. Designing a space for a client there is such a confidence with decisions and knowing what piece needs to be included. All of that flies out the window when I am designing for myself. I find it much more difficult to do for myself and have found that I often have to treat my own house as a project in our project calendar in order for it to get finished. 

Jesse’s Clean and Modern Favorites

Jesse’s Soft and Classic Favorites

If you could give one piece of advice to past Jesse, what would it be?

Enjoy the process. I STILL have to remind myself of this. While you are in a challenging time of growth or scaling a business, it can be easy to focus on some future goal and treat it like a final destination point. In your mind, you think when you hit this pivotal moment or goal, you will finally feel like you “made it” and be able to bask in your “success”. What I have learned is that just doesn’t ever happen. There is always another goal waiting and always another bigger and better destination. I often look back on the times that were some of the most challenging with fond memories and constantly found myself wondering why I didn’t enjoy it more. I try to remind myself that where I am sitting today was the place 5 years ago, I was dreaming about. Keeping that perspective helps me enjoy each day - each success and challenge in the present moment. I think that goes hand in hand with trusting the process and journey.

My story is unique and will not be like anyone else’s - I have faith that it is unfolding exactly as it should. That is very easy to remember in the good times, but it is challenging to remember and practice during the low points and difficult times. If you can find the joy even when things are hard, you will be so much better off. It’s not easy to do and know especially on those days where you feel completely overwhelmed.

What advice would you give to someone who is both raising a family and wanting to start their design business?

Go for it! Figure out the balance you want and set it in motion. It’s funny, I wanted to be a stay at home mom after I had my kids and at that time, I was working as a nurse who could, fortunately, make my own hours. I started my design business with two young ones and would turn down jobs that would take too much of my time. We are all different and we have to figure out what balance makes us happiest. You have to live your life - your kids are going to be happy if you are happy and if you are miserable, you are not going to enjoy anything.

That goes for whether you want to be a stay at home mom or a working mom - I think as women we are in a constant state of comparison of someone else being the better mom/woman (working or stay at home/with or without kids) or better at managing their time to have a creative side business. It’s even easier to get sucked into this comparison narrative with social media. The bottom line is what I have learned is you will be happiest being authentically and unapologetically you. That is true joy and the sooner you can accept how awesome you are, the faster you release the false narrative that you are not enough. I still often have to remind myself of that fact. Again, your story is going to look different than everyone else’s. Determine what amount of time working your design business feels like a good balance to being home with your kids. This can be a fluid number - there might be times where it does shift depending on what’s happening in your life. The thing to know is you are in control and you get to say yes or no to a job and weigh the sacrifices versus rewards.

What’s a big non-negotiable in your work-life balance?

I don’t know if I have a non-negotiable, but time away from your phone is one of the best gifts you can give yourself and your family or people that love you. This might be a shut off time at night or intentionally turning it off when on vacation. Time is a gift and I don’t think any of us are going to look back at our lives when we are old and gray and wish we would have taken on that one extra job.

Any big 2021 goals on the horizon? 

So many exciting things are happening in Scout & Nimble. We are really passionate about all that we do and looking forward to implementing ways to expand our reach and help even more people.

Rapid Fire Questions

1. What is your biggest design influences right now?

I don’t necessarily have anything that immediately comes to mind, but I would say I’m loving the warmth and classic feel of English/bespoke/Cotswald style. In the same breath, I love the clean, edited, and paired back feel of a modern streamlined space. Truthfully, I love every style and will often mix and match to really capture my client’s personality and family.

2. Best white paint color?

Love Chantilly Lace for a crisp white and I’ve always been such a fan of Simply White or White Dove for a bit of a warmer white. For more white paint inspiration, check out our white paint roundup blog below.

3. Best app for busy designers?

I have a few that I love. Obviously, Instagram. It is the easiest way for designers to share their work. If you want to grow or just simply attract the type of clients that are a perfect fit for you, make the time to post consistently. If you are too busy, hire a part time assistant that can help you. There are so many great planning apps out there like Later and Planoly and if you need help with templates there are many apps that make it easy such as Unfold or Adobe Spark. 

I also love Marco Polo for connecting with friends and family. It’s a video app that allows you to record and your family friends can watch at their convenience and respond back at different times. There is something that is wonderful about connecting face to face at times that work for each of you. 

4. Favorite home in TV of film?

Pretty much any Nancy Meyers movie - I find myself so drawn into the details and will often pause it just to take it all in. 

5. Any pieces you’re dying to use in a project?

I have been eyeing these chairs for my own home. I’ve also had my eye on the interesting shapes of this dining table.

6. Favorite S&N Project?

That’s like asking me to pick a favorite child. It’s impossible. I love when we are working with clients who trust us and the collaboration that happens there of mixing our ideas with what they love. It always results in beautiful, unique spaces that truly reflect them. 

7. You’re a fashion icon at the office. Where can we steal your style?

I do feel like what you wear is an outward reflection of how you feel. It’s amazing how much better I feel in putting on jeans and a cute shirt or a simple dress versus throwing on leggings and sweatshirt. There is a time for that, but sometimes the easiest way to perk myself up is to dress for the way I want to feel. It is the same principle as in interior design - what you surround yourself with impacts your happiness, confidence, well being and overall life. If you feel good in the clothes you wear you are going to show up differently in the world and that can be a gift!

8. Speaking of style… Best shoes for the job site?

I’m a tennis shoe girl through and through. I can only wear heels for a short period of time because of knee injuries and surgeries, which is sad, but I always have my mud boots in the back of my car.

We are so inspired by Jesse every day and we hope you are inspired today, too! Keep up with all of Scout & Nimble’s design work here on the blog and on Instagram! To shop designer-curated favorites, click the button below. For kid-friendly decor, check out Jesse’s picks for style and storage!