- PNC is proud to support "Business Forward," where community leaders discuss the issues confronting business in central Illinois.

(energetic instrumental music) - Welcome to "Business Forward."

I'm your host, Matt George.

Joining me tonight, Becky Pflederer.

Becky decided to start a new business, and we're fired up.

She's rocking and rolling.

Called Decorating Den with the Pflederer Group.

And we're excited to have you.

Welcome, Becky.

- Hi, thanks for having me.

- Well, I'm glad you're here.

Let's start off with you.

I always like to kind of get to know the guests.

Are you from around this area in central Illinois?

- I am, yep.

I grew up about in the country in between Tremont and Pekin.

- Tremont and Pekin, okay.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Okay.

So you went to high school here?

- I went to high school in Pekin, yep.

- [Matt] You have family here and- - Family, everybody's here, so, yeah.

- Well, something I read about you was you were raised in a world of tradesmen and have loved decorating design since your parents helped you out.

- That's true.

- Is that right?

- Yeah.

- Talk about that.

- So my dad was a union painter and drywall finisher, and my mom always did wallpaper and painting as well.

So I spent a lot of my summers scraping wallpaper, which is the horrible part of this business, (laughing) but then you got to make it pretty, so, I've always loved pretty things.

So yeah.

- so your dad was a handyman guy.

- Oh, yeah.

- He just knew how to do everything.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

- [Matt] Very opposite of me.

I know nothing.

- (laughing) Yeah.

No, my dad could, I mean, he could close a door up in a wall and, you know, match up the texture and just make everything look beautiful, perfect, like it didn't happen.

(laughing) - And so as a kid, you're just observing and just caught the bug so to speak, right?

- That's right, yep.

So yeah.

- Well, very cool.

- Before we deep dive into your business, what are some of the other passions that you have?

What do you do?

- What do I do?

Gosh.

- What do you do outside of your business?

- Well, really, I mean, not a whole lot.

- Traveling?

- I love, yeah, I travel.

Yeah, we do travel.

- I was teeing it up for you 'cause I know you and your husband like to travel, so- - We do, we love to travel.

So my favorite place is Las Vegas.

- Oh yes.

- I just love, I just love everything about it.

It's the pretty, again, it's the pretty, sparkly, it's, you know, it's just everything there, you know- - The food.

- I love, oh, the food, but for me- - Blue sky.

- The architecture.

- The architecture.

- Oh my gosh.

Yeah, the decor, it's amazing.

And then we spend a little time in Rotonda West, so that's in Florida.

So we have a home down there that is fun.

So, but yeah, we do do a lot of travel, like to get involved in our church.

I belong to Pekin City Church, and I was part of starting that church back in 2014.

So it's kind of exciting.

So we do a lot with them.

- Oh, really?

Yeah, you and your husband do a lot for the community, and it's just kind of some fun things and always wanting to help.

So we appreciate that.

- Yeah.

- So we were talking.

I was talking to a lot of different business owners in previous shows.

And one of the things we were talking about was, you know, that entrepreneurial spirit that is in a lot of people, but a lot of people just don't know what direction to go.

So they'll think, okay, it's money over here, or it's gonna take this.

And, you know, they start just mapping out their business.

But one of the things that people forget about is you have to have a business plan or you have to have an idea of where you're going, right?

- That's right.

- [Matt] So did you put a business plan together?

And how did you start this idea?

- Well, this is something that I've done on the side.

So I've always had a full-time job.

It's kinda crazy.

I bounced back and forth between healthcare and industrial.

So (laughing) - Yeah, yeah.

- I know it's crazy, but I was always in finance, so... - [Matt] That helps.

- Yeah, yeah, definitely.

So anyway, I...

I would do this on the side and I was really, it was really fun.

I got to do the corporate office over at CSE Software.

- Yeah.

- So I did some of the executive offices there, and that was a lot of fun.

And to be able to just go in and use my ideas and work with the client, you know, what do you love?

What is it that I, how can I make your office a place that you want to be?

You know?

And so that was fun.

So I was working a lot of hours during COVID because I worked in the high grade alcohol world.

So, and what do we use high grade alcohol for?

- Right.

- Hand sanitizers.

- Hand sanitizers interesting.

- So I was working just all of these hours, and we got through it.

And after we got through it, I'm like, "If I'm gonna work this hard, maybe I should be working for myself."

- Right.

- (laughing) And so, so Ken and I started looking at some different franchises and it kept going back to doing what you love, you know, and doing what you're good at and what you're passionate about.

And so I was just listening to Sirius XM one day and I changed, I actually chose the wrong channel, which is just weird, you know?

- Right, right.

- And I'm just like, "God, was that you?"

- Yeah.

- Because there was a commercial for Decorating Den Interiors franchise.

And I'm like, "What?"

- [Matt] Wait a minute, yeah.

There's something speaking.

- I didn't even know there was such a thing.

- Right, right.

- And you look like, an interior design franchise?

So I was at my work and I rewound that and listened to it.

'Cause you can rewind on your computer.

And listened to it again.

And I wrote the number down and I was so excited to get home and tell Ken all about it.

- That's crazy.

That's crazy.

- You know, so, yeah, so we started doing some due diligence there and we, you know, there were a lot of phone calls, a lot of FaceTimes, a lot of things went into this before we pulled the trigger and said, "Okay, we're gonna do it."

- Yeah.

- You know, they vetted us.

We were vetting them.

You know, so yeah.

- Right.

Because they're a brand.

- Correct, yeah.

- And you know, it's like, I've talked to a lot of people that have gotten into franchises, and you have to comply and be part of that brand and live and breathe that brand if you want to be an owner.

- Yes, that's correct.

- So COVID hit, and you brought it up, but it hit and it decimated a lot of business, but at the same time, it also sparked people to want to do what you're doing.

And so where sadly, there's a lot of businesses gone by the wayside, there's also a lot of business that has come up and there's new.

- Yeah.

- And people say, you know, that that's just a cycle and it always happens, but it just seems like it was let's shut the, let's keep trying trying trying over here.

And how far can you go?

And as an entrepreneur, you only have so many resources and so many restrictions out there.

And now we're seeing light.

It feels good.

And new business is here.

So congratulations.

- Thank you.

- That's awesome.

- Yeah.

- I have a lot of people that really, I'm gonna go back to your business again.

I'm kind of skipping around, but I want to go back to what you said about CSE Software, because Renee Gorrell was on here on the show a few months ago and you know, their business is changing.

How do you see what you're doing, and if you look even at business that is current, like that have been around 20, 30, 40 years, those businesses are still having to evolve and change.

Now you're starting a brand new business.

And even though it's a brand, you still have to market, brand, promote you, get out there, find new clients.

How do you do that?

- Well... - [Matt] Besides being on this show.

- Of course, being on the show.

Well...

I started out, really very little.

Luckily I do have a good network of people that helped me get a good start, but I would just do some Facebook ads.

You know, I mean, spending very minimal on that.

I would just do like a boost or an ad every, maybe once a week or so in the very beginning.

And then I found a building (laughing) because so now I have a brick and mortar, and I don't know if that's coming up later, if you want to talk about that now, but- - No, this is your show.

- I had an opportunity.

I had a girl reach out to me who went to the University of Northern Iowa.

She needed an internship to complete her interior design degree.

And I'm like, "Oh, there are so many amazing decorators in this area, you know, have you reached out to, you know, Lisa," you know, just different people that I know in the community.

And she's like, "Well, I've got my resume out and it's in different places."

And I said, "Well, you know, see if those come to fruition and then, you know, if not call me back.

Maybe we'll talk later.

But I just, you know, I'm so new in this.

I don't know that I have much to offer you."

And so anyway, about three weeks later, she calls me back (laughing) and she's like, "My instructor looked at your website and she said I could work with you."

And I'm like, "Oh my goodness."

You know, she was so just, there was something about her.

- Just something about her.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- It was like, oh my gosh, this girl, she's a go- - [Matt] Another meant to be.

- Another, I'm like, "Oh, there's God again.

Hello."

And so I also had the Peoria Journal Star reach out to me because of this building that I rented.

So I'm kind of skipping around now, but- - [Matt] But you got free pub there.

- Yeah, I got free publicity there.

- Then there was like an interview you did somewhere else.

- Yeah, so I ended up with that interview with the PJ Star was because Bruce Binkley of Binkley Jewelers, the building I'm in now, had closed after, I think he had opened a 1986, and he was retiring.

So that's why I got the story.

- Oh, cool.

- Because they did a follow-up and then it ended up on the front page.

And then the next day it was on the front page of the Pikin Times.

And then over the weekend, I got a message from WEEK and WHOI.

And they wanted to come in and interview me.

And I'm like, "What is going on?"

- And now you're on WTVP, right?

- I know.

- That's awesome.

- Yeah, it's amazing.

So lots of free advertising.

And this building that I have is on Main and Jefferson, which is just a prime location.

- Yeah.

- And really, that's advertising.

- Yeah.

- I haven't had to put a lot of advertising in anything else, so, yeah.

- Yeah.

All right.

So I'm gonna dummy this down because I want to just, I don't know your business.

So I want to kind of go step by step.

So when someone's hiring you, they're hiring you for really an experience, so to speak, right?

- Mm-hm.

- Because somebody like me, I mean, play along with me.

I buy a house.

My decorating skills are not good at all.

And I come to your business, and to make it very simple, I just say, "Hey, I just want you to make my house look great."

Right?

- Yeah.

- Very simple.

Is that, does that happen?

- It happens all the time.

- Okay.

- So I really thought that I was just gonna be selling furniture in this business.

That hasn't been the case at all.

So it's been more, yeah.

- I wouldn't think so.

- It's been more people like you.

So what we do, Mary Kate and I will go in and we'll make an appointment, we'll come to your home, and we'll take a tour of your home and kind of get the style that you have, just so there might be people that have no style at all.

And they admit that.

I mean, people are like, "We need you."

- Right.

- So we come in, and they show us what they want to do.

And we'll prioritize that because it seems like most people, they don't want just one room.

They are ready to like, let's start here and then we're gonna move here, and then we're gonna move here, so- - Or like me, you don't know what you want.

- Yeah.

- because you're gonna come up with some ideas.

- Yeah.

- So like, would you interview me and my wife, let's say, - Oh, absolutely.

- and say, "All right, here's," - Yeah.

- Just to kind of get a sense of personality too, right?

- That's right, absolutely.

- Okay.

- Yeah so, and you know, there might be some pieces you want to keep.

So, you know, we'll work around that, and we want it to be your dream room, not ours.

We want to work together to achieve what you want.

You know, some people want a beautiful room.

Some people are like, "This is where we all flop at night.

We want it to be comfortable."

- Right.

- You know?

So it just depends on what you want, but absolutely.

- So I want everybody to know, you've been doing this for a while.

You're just under a different brand now.

- Right, yeah.

- And so interior design program at New York Institute of Art and Design.

- Yeah.

- That's pretty cool.

- It is.

- It's a mouthful.

That's cool.

- It is.

(laughing) So, and I started that when I left a job that I had been at for several years.

It was sold to somebody new.

And so I left that job, and we actually had some projects going on at home that we were doing.

So I was able to be home and kind of project manage there.

And I decided to do this online course with them.

- That's cool.

- Yeah.

- So let's talk about your philosophies, your design philosophies.

- Yeah.

- Okay?

Less is more.

- Yes.

- Would you please, I'll give you Laura's cell phone.

Will you call my wife, please, and talk?

(Becky laughing) Keep it simple and let a few amazing pieces define your space.

- That's right.

- Give an example.

- So I can tell you where this came from.

- Okay.

- So my mom, along with her, she has a cleaning business and she, and so also in the summers, I would go clean with her, and oh my goodness, you wouldn't believe some of the stuff people have.

You have to dust around all of this, right?

- Well, yeah, and you get to see- - So that's where this came from, right?

- Yeah, but you get to see things too.

- Right, you do.

- You get to see styles, and- - Absolutely.

And so I love bigger chunkier pieces, the statement, I love statement pieces, you know, it might be actually the actual piece of furniture.

You know, I just ordered a, for a client, a table that is a sand hourglass, the base is.

- Oh, cool.

- So it turns, you know?

- Yeah.

- Just, that's a statement piece.

And I just, I love that.

Let the art speak.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- And the art could be a table.

- Absolutely.

- Like we bought a kitchen table recently, and some local woodworkers made it.

It's one of those real, it's huge.

And we had an old dining room table, and it was an antique and my dad gave it to me, but it was like, Laura never really liked it.

And then we get this piece and it's a statement piece.

- Yeah.

- So it can be furniture.

It can be art.

It can be anything, a statement piece, right?

- You bet, absolutely.

- All right.

So you also say communication is key when we know everyone's expectations.

So that goes both ways.

- Correct.

- That's the expectations from you, but also mine.

- Yes.

- Right, okay.

- Yeah, and especially the day and age we live in right now, everything takes longer than it takes.

Right?

- Right.

- So, you know, you might think you're going to get something in four weeks and then all of a sudden it's six- - 16.

- And then it's eight or whatever.

So one of the great things about my business is one of my custom furniture manufacturers puts Decorating Den to the top, to the front of the line.

So I'm getting custom furniture in eight weeks, 10 weeks for leather.

That's really, really, really good in the world we're living in right now.

- Right.

- So, yeah, so, and I try to, that's another thing when you're working with me rather than going out and doing it on your own, I have 160 vendors I source from.

So I try to find things that are in stock, ready to ship, or at least, you know, things that I can get within four to six weeks, yeah.

- You know, it's funny you say that because I was just thinking when people want something, they want it now.

- Right, exactly.

- Right?

And so if you say, "Well, it's back ordered six months," I can't even think what I'm doing tomorrow, let alone six months from now, right?

- Yeah.

- So out of those 160 buyers, or sellers, I guess you're the buyer.

I was talking to Bob Woolsey on one of the shows about preferred buying.

So when you're put up to the top, you're a preferred buyer.

- Correct.

- I got you.

- Yeah.

- And so do you plan, I mean, how do you even keep track of that?

Like that, that's just a lot of- - It is a lot.

- Yeah.

- So that was the beauty of buying the franchise, because first of all, I have all of these vendors, because if you were on your own- - [Matt] Yeah, you find 'em yourself.

- You would have to go find 'em yourself.

So I have that, and then we have this back office support system.

So everything's laid out.

So I can just go in and do a query and say, "I want furniture, living room, case goods," or, you know, or upholstery or whatever.

So it makes it- - You just answered my next question.

So the technology piece is key.

- Oh, most definitely, yes.

- Yeah, so you don't think of the technology piece, but really technology drives just about every business.

- It really does.

- So you could say, I could say, "Here's everything that I want," lay it out, and you could sit there and come back with a report and say, "We could go this way or this way."

- Yeah, essentially.

And you know, and what we do is we'll take all of our ideas back to the office.

- Okay.

- And then I have just oodles of samples and we'll pull, you know, you say you want a, you know, you love navy blue and silver or whatever.

And then we will go back and we'll pull fabrics and we'll put a mood board together.

I also do computer renderings.

So this is where I take and I draw your exact room, you know, put your fireplace in, your windows, and place the furniture in so you can kind of see, yeah.

- Oh, I've seen that on some of the shows.

- On HDTV or something.

- Yeah.

- But do that so you can see what your room's going to look like when it's done, so- - For those that don't know, can you explain what a mood board is?

- Yeah.

So a mood board would be, and this is where Mary Kate is amazing at.

I love, she does most of our mood boards, but we'll take, after, again, after meeting with the client, we'll go in and we'll pull, you know, like three clocks and three area rugs and the three different site tables or whatever, whatever room we're working on.

And we put it all together on a board and we try to, you know, we'll pull those fabrics in so you can kind of see what the colors are.

And like, even when we're building custom furniture, we can go in and we can actually pick the sofa and then put the fabric on the sofa so you can kind of see what it looks like rather than just- - Okay, and colors?

You can do the colors too, or not?

- Yes, oh yeah, yeah.

- Oh, that's cool.

- Yeah, if I do like a computer rendering, I paint the walls the color they want, or some people aren't painting, so they use the color they have.

And I mean, the baseboards, the whole nine yards.

- You ought to do- - Window treatments.

- You ought to do your own TV show.

- I should, yeah.

- You got a cool building and a cool business.

- I got a beautiful building, oh.

- [Matt] You've got the personality for it.

- The building doesn't even need anything.

(laughing) - All right, so making dream spaces.

You believe that your home is a true extension of your personality.

That's what we were just talking about.

So how do you handle a client that is just blah, you know, you just go in there and say, "Hey, I want this done, but I really don't even want to deal with, I'm not even gonna talk to you.

I just want it done."

Do you have those?

- I have, yes, but most people, they'll start out where they just don't want to be involved.

- Right.

- But once you start, I mean, once you get to know Mary Kate and I, you know- - You reel 'em in.

- Yeah.

(laughing) But they want to work and they want, and we want the input.

We, the last thing we want is to do a home and then it ends up where they don't like it.

So we want that input, yeah.

- And how important is lighting?

- Oh, lighting is my favorite, favorite, favorite.

- [Matt] Explain.

- Well, I think lighting is the icing on the cake.

So it's kind of like when you paint a room or build a room and if you don't have the baseboards on, it doesn't look that great, right?

But once you put that baseboard on, it's a nice finishing touch.

Lighting is the same way.

So you've got to have, well, depending on lighting, on the age of the client, you know, there's difference.

So, you know, we might want some soft lighting for a room that is just relaxed and you just want to chill.

- Yeah, you want to chill in it or whatever.

- But if you have, you know, a room where you you're cooking and you're maybe doing homework, or so many people work from home now, you know, you've got to have the proper lighting, but not just the proper lighting for, to be useful, but for beauty.

- Gotcha.

- Oh my gosh.

And we have so many lighting choices, so yeah.

We have several vendors that we use for lighting.

I just have oodles and oodles of lighting.

- You know what I need help with?

My closet.

(laughing) - Yeah.

So I do those too, yeah, and- - I was kind of joking, but you do do that?

- Yes!

- Yeah, we do the closets.

Oh my gosh.

You know, we did, in fact, Ken's daughter was, she was kind of my guinea pig there, but we did a closet for her, and oh my gosh.

You know, we put the drawers in and the different levels for hanging.

- Yeah.

- It's beautiful.

- Well, that's cool.

- So yeah, yeah.

You can do a lot with that.

- So you answered this, but it's not just homes.

- Right.

- You design offices too.

- [Becky] Yeah.

- But it's not just offices.

You do outdoor spaces too.

- [Becky] Yes.

- And you know, that's kind of like the hip thing right now.

- Yes.

- Is everybody wants these fire pits and everybody, right?

- So my very first job, the client called and wanted some outdoor furniture.

- Okay.

- And it ended up being a construction project.

We put a built-on covered porch on the back of her house, nice A frame.

I work with Heinold a lot on projects.

So Heinold did that job for us.

She has a beautiful pool back there and no shade, just, you know, it was just no shade.

And now she's got this, oh, it's beautiful.

So that was my first job, actually, was an outdoor space.

- I bet you that happens a lot.

It gives other, I bet your ideas actually create other ideas for the customer.

- Definitely, all the time, yeah.

- Yeah, because I think you would come in and I would sit there and go, "Oh, that would be cool.

Or that would be," you know, and expand the deck or whatever it may be, right?

- Yeah.

Well, and you know, you mentioned Renee Gorrell earlier, and she tells me still to this day, I did her office probably three years ago.

And she says, "Every time I walked into my office, I feel like I'm opening a birthday present."

- Isn't that awesome?

- She loves it.

- Well, that's a- - And that's the goal.

- That's the best compliment.

- Oh my gosh, yeah.

- All right, so here we go.

This is what you do.

Space planning, basement design, interior decorating, corporate office spaces.

Office spaces, that's what we were just talking about, but that includes moving in and moving out.

- Yeah.

- I mean, people are doing that.

You deal, you have to deal with paint, carpet, artwork.

It's not just one little thing of, here's my idea, and I think we put something over here.

This, you need to change the carpet.

It's a whole overall... - We haven't even talked about kitchens and baths.

- Well we're not even gonna have time to get there.

- I know.

- I'm gonna have to bring you back.

Well, this is very, very cool.

And I wanted to...

Decorating Den.

Call Becky.

We appreciate having you on.

You and Ken are great to our community.

Call her, everybody.

This is awesome.

I'm Matt George, and this is another episode of "Business Forward."

(energetic instrumental music) - Thank you for tuning in to "Business Forward," brought to you by PNC.