Today we’d like to introduce you to Anisa and Casey Darnell.
Anisa and Casey, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Anisa and I met in high school… and have been married now 15 years. We have four daughters and are done!!
I used to travel and sing and I still write songs for other artists, but in the early days when I did that, Anisa was working freelance doing decorating and design.
Rewind a bit: she is from Canada and a daughter of an entrepreneur family in construction and remodeling, etc.
She remembers doing home tours as a child with her family and trips to Georgia and that’s where the love for design began.
She got her first job when she was 17 (18 years ago), helping friends with their home. Now, years later, she’s doing a 500,000+ renovation to that same family’s new 2 million dollar home. Crazy.
We married and moved to Florida and built our first home immediately and sold it six months later – an accidental flip but that got us going… we continued building new and selling until we landed in our current home five years ago where we renovated the MESS out of it.
This home was featured in many magazines and even the cover of Better homes & gardens.
About that same time, Anisa was doing design work with a friend and they parted ways to pursue their own things.
So… it indirectly helped us launch our new company Truth & co.
We immediately started taking on major projects and realized we had the opportunity to scale and grow if we could figure this machine out.
Which is where we are today… still growing and trying to learn new and better ways to serve clients in the interior design world, while seeing our own dreams realized with our company.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Smooth road? Not smooth, nope.
We have read dozens of books and thought we could skip a few of the painful learnings, but nope… we learned above all how challenging being married entrepreneurship is.
For starters, we got pregnant with our 4th kid four months into launching our company… not expected, if anything… we agreed to try not to. 🙂
We are 3.5 years old and have had to hire and fire and have hired wrong and paid for it and hired right and felt elated. We have won and loss… several failings… but to quote Michael Jordan, “It’s because I fail, I succeed.”
Having each other in this journey is good and bad too. We have to have the discipline to shut it off.
Which is hard when no one is making you.
But also to have each other be so aware of how the other is doing – cause you’re in the moments together is also rewarding.
Anisa would say, to get your finance person (bookkeeper and CPA) lined up and ready… whatever your career choice… prepare to be challenged with how you do your pricing and how you charge and be ready to defend those things and have someone take it over ASAP!!!
Those details will bog you down and make you fall out of love with something you love.
Read E-myth and rich dad, poor dad immediately.
Then, Story brand by Donald Miller and listen to his podcast for encouragement on your race.
Have a business mentor or someone you can take stuff to that cares about YOU. Your success as a human, not just in your industry.
Can’t stress having a bookkeeper lined up at the start. We did this wrong 2x. and it cost us more than we imagined.
“Don’t trade what is unique to you, for something someone else can do” – Andy Stanley
You have unique roles in your life… don’t trade them and fade away into someone else’s race. Remember your value and worth and uniqueness, unattached to your work. So, that whether in the success or hard times, you won’t be defined by it.
Don’t compare yourself. There’s no win in comparison. You’ll always be tempted to take your last 10% and compare it to another’s top 10%.
DO be teachable, get wise counsel and be willing to be mentored. It will save you.
Please tell us about Truth & Co. Interior Design.
We began with this phrase: “The spaces you create are the backdrop of the memories you’ll make.”
We had this huge idea of helping people have a home that brings them together and enhances the greatest memories they will make. With integrity and quality and value in the process and delivery, we set out as Truth & co. to make whatever part of the world we touch a little brighter.
Then, we realized we needed to be clear. Prospect clients need clarity.
So, we are a full-service interior design team, helping busy homeowners make confident design decisions for their whole home projects. We save them from the stress and often costly errors that come from all the design decisions needed.
Whether new construction or high-end renovation, from start to finish, we bring incredible value in the results we deliver.
We take a team approach and believe we can prevent more errors and do better quality than going it solo.
Rooted in Anisa’s gifting and presence as a person, that sets us apart, we seek to grow others and help them live their dreams as well. So, we see T&C like an umbrella of sorts.
In addition, we are developing a few custom products and decor items to sell and hopefully open a shop one day.
All for the purpose of being a resource for the home.
Seven years ago, Anisa was on HGTV for an episode of Design wars. Which she won and learned a ton from… since then, we have had numerous TV show opportunities but nothing that has felt the right timing.
So, that is always looming around.
Often it feels as if the media, by and large, is only focused on the obstacles faced by women, but we feel it’s important to also look for the opportunities. In your view, are there opportunities that you see that women are particularly well positioned for?
TONS! There is no opportunity without challenge… they are kind of hand in hand.
Woman seem to more often bring a sensitivity that is hard to find in men.
So, maybe it depends on the line of work… but as a man doing this for my wife, she is DEFINITELY better at dealing with painful moments. Calm and collected. Not quick to fly off the hook.
Again, not a woman only trait.
So, it’s not universal but in our workforce experience and on-site jobs… we have been the recipients of being looked down on and treated awkwardly to being held in high regard as experts.
Anisa is enneagram: 1. An improver or perfectionist. Thriving off of I’s dotted and T’s crossed and execution, she is an asset to any project that is not for the faint of heart or a flighty personality.
We see woman thriving. Brilliantly gifted and more than capable to carry the heaviest of responsibilities.
The main challenge truly… is the challenge to decide and move forward.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.truthandco.co
- Phone: 6783158495
- Email: Info@truthandco.co – Anisa@truthandco.co – Casey@truthandco.co
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/truthandcodesign
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TruthAndCoDesign/
Image Credit:
Sara D Harper, Casey Darnell, Anisa Darnell
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