https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/12754886
Allison Crawford is giving women a design-centric way to feel at home with friends when they travel. Fueling a micro-tend that combines the vibe of a boutique hotel with an extended stay, her boot-strapped brand HOTELette has been profitable since day one.
This female founder is not afraid to follow her creativity and this episode talks about the biggest mistake she made as an investor, how she built her brand and how she’s building a company culture that inspires women to lead. Her story is not the typical path to success, but in doing so, she made her business uniquely hers and hard to duplicate.
Whether she is investing in a property or taking on motherhood later in life, Allison leads with a certain confidence, one that will inspire you to take pride in your own accomplishments, and never apologize for your success or your story. It’s yours. Own it.
Allison Crawford is the founder and owner of HOTELette and Allison Crawford Design. Allison’s goal is to create beautiful and functional spaces. At the heart of Allison’s process is the belief that design creates balance between comfort and luxury, integrating the practical with the desirable.
Allison earned her Bachelor of Arts from Southern Methodist University and studied Gothic Literature at University College in Oxford and Interior Design at New York University. Along with owning and operating two companies, Allison is a public speaker, active real estate investor, licensed real estate agent, and entrepreneur.
LISTEN: APPLE PODCASTS | STITCHER | SPOTIFY
TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:
How to stand behind your ideas and represent them in your work.
The importance of confidence in your career, daily life, or path to motherhood
Why staying true to who you are is your own secret weapon
How to combine all of your passions into a satisfying career
When breaking the rules works
The importance of finding your niche and owning it, even if no one else is doing it
Traits that make women lead differently
The roles of Motherhood in today’s society and how women feel they can’t have it all
#LESSONUP:
(4:20) This wasn’t my first career. This is my so-called second life. I think that to be a successful creative, you really have to have the business side down, too. And so, I’m constantly honing my business skills.
(8:57) I think that executing interior design in a home takes a certain attitude and self-confidence to break the rules because not everything in my projects are to scale.
(9:42) I think women are I think we’re better leaders because we’re compassionate, empathetic, and more relatable.
(11:38) I’m very open about the business because I know that a mans not going to walk in and create another brand like HOTELette. I know that the part of the charm and how we’re reaching this audience is because I’m a woman, how I run my company, the culture that I’m cultivating, and the vibe that I’m putting out in the spaces that I’m creating.
(14:23) Anyone can go and get a good deal on a house and be a shark in real estate.
(16:55) We live in a society that want mothers to be mothers like they don’t have a job, but they also want us to work like we’re not a mother. Society expects us to be perfect at everything from motherhood to having a clean house, to having a design magazine worthy house to working out. Just this false perception of perfection, really.
RESOURCES:
Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, Sheryl Sandberg
Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds, David Goggins
Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable, Tim S. Grover
The Woman I Wanted to Be, Diane von Furstenberg
Comments +