Today, we’d like to introduce you to Tasha Moody.
Hi Tasha, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Eighteen years ago I was sitting on my sofa, watching a big before-and-after reveal on HGTV and thinking to myself – “I could do that.” At the time I was working at a great job in the trade show industry, but had been praying for guidance to something new, asking God to let me see what He might have instead of only what was right in front of me.
Around the same time, different friends would call me to help with paint colors or to pick their new bedding, and I remember thinking, “Why are they asking me?” I also spent a weekend at my brother’s house sweating my tail off and staging it from top to bottom, selling his old plaid sofas online, accessorizing shelves, rearranging furniture and decor, and generally transforming the home. At the end of the weekend, when I stepped back and saw what I had accomplished, which was unpaid and completely physically worn out, I was hooked.
I quit my job, flew to Minneapolis to get certified in Home Staging and Interior Re-Design, hit the pavement when I got back to Atlanta, passing out flyers, scheduling individual coffee meetings or whole firm presentations for anyone who would listen, and the rest is history. It has been a steady year-by-year build with plenty of setbacks and pain points, but overall, it’s a beautiful story that has led to many blessings in my life as well as the lives of my team and clients.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I believe growth, by nature, comes with pain points. There have been many along my path of growth! From employees who don’t turn out to be what they promised to insane supply chain issues during the pandemic to having our box truck stolen from right outside our warehouse, each new week seems to bring its own challenges.
At the end of the day, all of the glory AND all of the guts are yours in tandem when you own a business. And believe me, there are a lot of guts along the way to the glory. You have to maintain a unique balance of persistence, malleability, determination, optimism, work ethic, and sound judgment.
If you have the ability to fall down and get back up over and over, you’ll make a great business owner. The glory is there – as long as you don’t allow the troubles to take you down on the way.
We’ve been impressed with Iris & Oak Interiors, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Iris & Oak is a Home Staging and Interior Design firm specializing in residential and small business projects in the Atlanta area. As a firm, we exist to create environments that bring joy, and we take that mission seriously in every aspect of what we do, from our personal interactions within our own team to the way we treat our clients and vendors and the spaces we design.
A beautifully finished room that speaks to our client’s unique personal style is our obvious core goal in every project we take on, whether in luxury staging or full-scale home design. We go to great lengths to ensure that the goal is consistently achieved. But even more than that, we care about the interpersonal experience along the way and typically wind up feeling more like friends with our broad range of varied clients.
At the end of the day, design is great, and it is important, but we believe relationships matter most and the design process should be fun.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
My best advice is to decide in your heart you’re going to be successful in the business you’re launching and then do whatever it takes to accomplish that. Each new day will bring setbacks and trials, but if you’ve already made up your mind that this is what you’re going to do, you’ll find a way to overcome those challenges rather than succumb to them.
The reality is that a large part of owning a business involves putting out a steady stream of fires. These can be deflating and make you wonder if you’ve bitten off more than you care to chew. But if you’ve firmly decided in your heart that your career path is right and have a solid mission statement to back it, taking “no” for an answer won’t be an option, and instead, you’ll spin your wheels finding the right way to “yes” each new day.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.iris-oak.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/irisandoakinteriors/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/irisandoakinteriors
