30 Years of Real Estate Design Lessons: Trust, Relationships & Client Psychology

Lori (00:00)
So it’s interesting you asked me that and interesting you bring up the word education. You know, I hear a lot about, and I’ve experienced it, right? Because I try new contractors out all the time. I’m like, I want to work with this person. They’ve got something. And then you put them on a job and it goes south, right? So they don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t have the skillset. They, you know, walk off with your money, right? So.

To me in the real estate industry, I think that’s super important. So find out, you know, if your contractor is licensed, have they done any work? Do your due diligence. Don’t just take like an advertisement saying, we’re the best because maybe they’re not, you know, and I think, you know, with that education piece comes that awareness. So, and I hate to see people get screwed over.

Quentin (00:41)
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host Q Edmonds and I am excited to be here today. I have another fantastic guest and this young lady comes with 30 years of experience, right? So y’all know that’s like music to my ears because I love learning from different people, learning from their experience and she has a ton. She has a psychology background, grew up in construction. mean, so.

This is probably gonna go so many different directions. And y’all know mindset is one of my biggest things. Self-development is one of my biggest things. I know this is gonna be just very advantageous conversation. And so I’m so excited to introduce you all to Ms. Lori Miller. Ms. Lori, how you doing today,

Lori (03:07)
I’m great, thank you for having me.

Quentin (03:10)
Absolutely, I’m so glad you’re here. Thank you for being here. You didn’t have to be here, but you are. So thank you for being here. And Ms. Lori, I’m the type. I like to dive right in, right? So I would love for you to tell the people, what’s your main focus these days? If you don’t mind, give us a little bit of an origin story, kind of how you got into the spaces that you’re in. And then also tell them what part of the world you’re in. People love to know geographically what people are.

Lori (03:22)
same.

Quentin (03:37)
So what’s your rub to, your origin story and where you are? Miss Lori, you have the floor, man.

Lori (03:41)
Okay, so I’m gonna start backwards. I’m here

in Long Island, New York, and you probably hear it with my accent. It’s a little strong. And I’m in the real estate industry. I do interior design. And I also have a psychology practice, which I think is really important these days. And yeah, I’m in some great spaces. And how I got there was a little bit of twists and turns.

I was an art major, I ended up as a psychology major, and I was working in the largest prison system, Rikers Island. I ended up running the crime victims program and I was like, you know what? I just need to make pretty. And I found that spaces were so important to people who didn’t have one. And I went into, I started, I bought my own house, I started working in a wallpaper paint store.

Quentin (04:17)
Mm. Mm.

Yeah.

Lori (04:37)
And I was like, my boss was like, you got to go back to school for this. So I kind of fought him tooth and nail ended up going back to school, learn the interior design. And because education is so important to me and learning is important. I wanted to know the why. You know, I could see the picture, but I want to know why it works and then be able to use those tools in my designs.

Quentin (04:52)
Mmm.

Lori (05:47)
And I just ended up really lucky and.

finding my place, show houses, different jobs fell in my path. And after I was done with school, my professor said, hang a shingle, you’re good. So I worked for everybody else and I did. you know, it’s been a great journey. I love what I do. Not to say that the last couple of years haven’t been challenging. COVID has certainly played its role. And you know, I hate to keep saying that and living in an old story, but it did. Manufacturers are gone.

pieces aren’t the same. So yeah, that’s where I am and that’s what I do.

Quentin (06:23)
Thank you so much for sharing. I really appreciate it. And so many things as you was talking, alarms went off in my head, just because of alignment. One of the reasons why I got into podcasts was to create space for people to be seen, known, and heard. I think everybody deserves to be seen, known, and heard. You may not always agree, but the fact is that all people still need to have places to be able to process, because process blames clarity, and clarity blames

Lori (06:52)
Exactly.

Quentin (06:54)
who you are and reinforces your identity. so this conversation is going to be great. So I was actively listening. I was writing some things down as you talk. So I’m going to say some things back to you kind of as a summary because I want to make a statement and ask you a question. And so born and raised, native New Yorker. And it’s funny because I don’t hear your accent that strong, believe it or not. So that’s pretty interesting.

Lori (06:58)
It does.

Pretty good.

Quentin (07:22)
Yeah, right? Yeah, right? So interior design, was an art major, psych major, worked in Rikers Island. Wow. Yep. Wanted to create spaces for people that they didn’t have. And of course, I told you, that’s alignment there. Went back to school, one of your, know, mentors, predecessors, sure how to friends, how we frame them. But I was like, hey, you should really go back to school. And so you went back because you wanted to learn the why. Oh, I love that.

Lori (07:30)
I did.

Quentin (07:51)
You had different jobs that felt kind of like into your path and kind of rounded you out to where you are today. Pretty good summary, right? Okay. I appreciate that. I appreciate that. Active listening, right? And so, Ms. Lori, often say destiny has no wasted moments, right? Meaning as you’re going through life, going through the journey, it is reinforcing the people that we are today.

Lori (07:58)
That’s an excellent summary.

Right.

Quentin (08:16)
And we’re borrowing from every moment. We’re borrowing from the lessons, the failures, the success, the pain, the hurt. Like the journey is just reinforcing the people that we are today. So I would love to know throughout your journey, 30 years of experience, been in different spaces, what has the journey taught you about yourself? What has it revealed to you? Has it revealed discipline, resilience? Like what has it revealed to you, Ms. Laurie?

Lori (08:42)
Definitely resilience. I’ve had some experiences that I just thought, I’m like, I can’t come through this. And I did, and stronger and better. So it taught me that. It taught me relationships, had a ⁓ look for who’s gonna be true to you, who’s gonna support you, who’s gonna knock you down. How do you see people for who they are?

Quentin (08:53)
Yeah.

Okay.

Mmm.

Lori (09:09)
⁓ At one point, my business was taken down and I wasn’t listed on Google. said I was permanently closed. My website was down. ⁓ My social media was hacked and people couldn’t reach me. And I was like, I’m going out of business now. But, you know, I stopped. I took a look back. I looked at my skill set. I said, how did I get from A to Z before? I asked a couple of my mentors, you know, people who are marketers, people who are in PR firms.

friends who run businesses, you know, what do I do? And, you know, it was going back to grassroots. So I did and I’m still standing.

Quentin (09:43)
Mm.

There

you go. No, I love it. And you know, one of the reasons why I asked that question, because you just said it so eloquently, sometimes you got to look back and seeing how you overcame past situations, right? Sometimes you got to realize what’s inside of you that made you successful in the first place.

Lori (09:57)
Mm-hmm.

Quentin (10:36)
Because all of us are going to hit bumps in the road. know, that’s life. Adversity is going to come. But what powered me back then that continues to power me today?

Lori (10:42)
Absolutely.

Quentin (10:46)
And sometimes, know, like, you know, when you driving, you sometimes you just gotta glance in the very mirror, just glance and just remember what’s behind you so that you can keep looking forward. It’s like, you know what? Yeah, yeah, we’re gonna be all right. That’s in the past. We good, we good. So I love it. Thank you. Thank you for that reflective answer. I greatly appreciate it. I really do. What are some of the strategies or systems that serve you well now within business, within life?

Lori (10:57)
Very true.

Quentin (11:12)
Like what are some systems and strategies or practices that you have in place that you found has been really, really helpful for you in this season of your life?

Lori (11:21)
strategies is meeting people, speaking with people and honesty. You know, listen, if I’m dealing with a client and they want something and I don’t think it’s going to look good or fit well or something, you know, it’s not saying, no, you can’t have that or, my God, that’ll be great. And just do it. It’s a way of speaking to someone and saying, listen, this isn’t going to work because right. ABC, but.

we can do XYZ to give you what you want. And I think that’s first and foremost. Networking, meeting people, being out there, that keeps you in business. That’s your referrals, it’s who you know. And that’s before the internet, right? Because we didn’t have social media, we didn’t have cell phones. So how did someone get you? Word of mouth. So if you have honesty and if you have integrity,

Quentin (12:08)
Mmm.

Yeah.

Lori (12:19)
Those things are going to follow you and you’re going to have continued referrals and clients for the rest of your business existence or even your life.

Quentin (12:27)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Again, I’m still actively listening, writing. So you’re hitting on key words that I often talk about on this podcast. And I’m going get to them. I’m going to bring them back around. But before I go there, I do want to ask you, what’s your next real goal? Like, what are you looking to solve or scale next? What’s next for you in your business?

Lori (12:48)
So interesting. I’ve toyed with two things. ⁓ One is doing a not-for-profit. And I think that having a residence for people coming out of jail is super important. And if I can’t get there, then it’ll be building a counseling practice so people have support of where they need to go. Those are my next steps.

Quentin (13:01)
Yeah.

I absolutely love the way you think. I think it’s recidivism. I think that’s the word, if I can get it out. That’s so important for people that’s trying to get back, reacclimate it to society. I know people have different ⁓ relationships with people that’s been in jail. Some of it is more traumatic than others, but you know.

Lori (13:18)
Yes.

Quentin (13:40)
you know, not to make this, not to go too far off, but you you live in New York, I live in, know, Baltimore, grew up. We know these spaces can be tough. And so I lost my sister to violence in Baltimore. And that shaped the way I seen people. But also I want people to have a second chance at life, right? I want people to, because you’re a psych major, you understand that we can rewire this brain. Like we can,

Lori (14:08)
Yes.

Quentin (14:09)
grow

different branches, protein branches in these brain. We can rewire the way we think. And I just love the fact that you want to give people a second chance and you want to build a community, a space where people can be seen, known and heard and possibly rehabilitate the way that they think and a way that they could contribute to society. And so I just, I’m loving the way you think. So this brings me back to some words that you said.

Lori (14:34)
Thanks.

Quentin (14:37)
You said words like relationship, honesty, integrity. And so I would love to hear your perspective when it comes to relationships. What is your perspective? What rings true to you when you hear the word relationship?

Lori (14:52)
So I don’t necessarily think husband wife, you know, like, ⁓ I want to love relationship, right? I think a partnership.

Quentin (14:55)
Yeah. Yeah.

Lori (15:41)
So I, you know, when I meet you, who are you? What are you looking for? How can I support you? You know, how can we work together? How can we build a community? How can we build a house? How can we build anything? You know, because I think everybody has value.

Quentin (15:59)
Yep.

Lori (16:00)
So it’s where does my value align with your value and how, you know, how do we work together to whether it’s community, you know, it doesn’t matter. It’s just supporting someone. Even if you’re sitting on a park bench and you’re having a bad day and I sit down next to you, maybe you just need an ear. But I was here to do that. And that’s a relationship too.

Quentin (16:10)
Yeah. Yeah.

Hmm.

Yeah, yeah. ⁓ yes ma’am. Again, I mean, you’re saying so many things that ring true to me. You brought up the word community. And that’s normally where I go after talking about relationships is because community, and I often say it is common unity. That’s what community is. It’s common unity. It’s people connecting, doing different things, but with the same goal in mind, the same goal and the goal to support each other.

the goal to be there for each other, the goal to create space for each other. I actually often say community saved my life. You know, I believe healing happens in community. And when you got the right community around you, everything gets reinforced. Your mental, your physical, your financial, because you have people who want to see you win.

You have people who want to see you grow. And so therefore, it starts to get contagious and it touches every part of your life. so I love a lot of what you’re saying. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So Ms. Lori, is there any topic that I have not brought up that you would like to talk about?

Lori (17:17)
Absolutely.

Quentin (17:26)
⁓ Is there any other words of inspiration, motivation, education? Like maybe you came in with something on your mind and your heart. Like I want to make sure viewers kind of get this. I kind of want to create space so that you can land that message.

Lori (17:41)
So it’s interesting you asked me that and interesting you bring up the word education. You know, I hear a lot about, and I’ve experienced it, right? Because I try new contractors out all the time. I’m like, I want to work with this person. They’ve got something. And then you put them on a job and it goes south, right? So they don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t have the skillset. They, you know, walk off with your money, right? So.

To me in the real estate industry, I think that’s super important. So find out, you know, if your contractor is licensed, have they done any work? Do your due diligence. Don’t just take like an advertisement saying, we’re the best because maybe they’re not, you know, and I think, you know, with that education piece comes that awareness. So, and I hate to see people get screwed over.

Quentin (18:22)
Yeah.

Yeah, no, absolutely. wow, listen, I really appreciate you. I have thoroughly enjoyed this conversation. Ms. Laurie, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you?

Lori (18:49)
So it’s LGC Interior Design is the website and it is up. And unfortunately, Meta took me down. So my Instagram now is luxeinteriors.lgc. So, and I am LGC, which is short for Lori Girl Creations. yeah.

Quentin (19:01)
Gotcha.

Love it. I love

it. Well, Ms. Lori, let me say three things to you sincerely. First, thank you for your time, because literally you couldn’t be doing anything else in the world, but you’re here with us. So I think time is our most precious commodity. So thank you for your time. Secondly, thank you for your story, for the gift of your vulnerability, for the gift of your integrity, for the gift of your authenticity. I really believe stories have a way.

of planting seeds in people that can bring about a change. And we may never know when the change is going to come. We may not be there to experience the change, but the seed has been planted and people can pull from that seed. So thank you for coming and planting seeds. Secondly, from ⁓ somebody that’s a psych major, thank you for the way you think. Thank you for your mindset and bringing that mindset to this platform. I greatly appreciate you coming on today.

Lori (20:01)
thank you for having me. It was so nice and so nice to speak with someone like-minded as well. It’s a pleasure.

Quentin (20:05)
Yeah,

I mean, so you’re so refreshing. mean, you so aligned with what I try to do as a host, you know. And so of course, we talk real estate, we talk business, we talk X’s and O’s, but to be able just to talk about the person that’s at the center of it all, which is us, the people, I’m so glad we could have that conversation today. I appreciate it. Well, listen, y’all heard Ms.

Lori (20:26)
Awesome. Thank you.

Quentin (20:29)
Her information is in the show notes. Check it out. Let’s build her back up. Met up people that took stuff down. Let’s build these Google reviews back up. Let’s build this rep back up. That’s, good. When people Google Lori, her name will come up first. So let’s, let’s do this, right? So please go check out her information is in the show notes, but definitely make sure you are subscribed here. Cause I promise you, we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people just like Ms. Lori. So ma’am, thank you again. And everyone else, y’all have a fantastic day.