Robin Wilson

Founder, RobinWilsonHome
www.robinwilsonhome.com

You just finished fantasizing about the soiree to show off your new kitchen, when the contractor mentions your revamp-on-a-budget might not exactly fall within your budget. Then you find out your appliances are delayed. And discover the painters missed a spot. Or several.

Forget plopping down on the floor with a tub of Ben & Jerry’s. (You have no freezer, remember?) Washington D.C. Ladies Who Launch Incubator leader Robin Wilson’s business is all about helping people to avoid home renovation headaches. Even if you can’t afford to hire someone like Robin, soon you can learn some of her secrets thanks to a new partnership with a major magazine group. And check out her new home renovation management software, scheduled to launch in August 2006.

To learn more about the Washington D.C. Ladies Who Launch Incubator with Robin Wilson, Click here

Starting Out in the Cold

“Eight days after graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, I moved to Boston and worked for Mercer Management Consulting doing strategy work. I had never seen snow before. I was so cold, I thought my coat didn’t work.”

No Warm Fuzzies from Number Crunching

“One day I realized that crunching numbers was not bringing me joy. I wanted to help people, but I also wanted to make money. In a small bit of career luck someone said, ‘Why don’t you become an executive recruiter?’ So I started helping people change their lives and their vision for who they are.”

New Career Heats Up in New York

“I started out at a small boutique search firm to learn the business, and moved from there to the corporate side at Houghton Mifflin, and from there to Heidrick & Struggles, one of the top search firms in the world. I started my firm in 2000 and focused initially on the executive search business.”

Launching 1st Biz – Juggling School, Work and More Work

“The first year after starting my own executive search firm, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was avoiding my destiny in real estate. While still working at Heidrick, I went back to school to get my master’s degree in real estate finance at New York University. It took me three years – I went to school at night, worked full-time during the day and started renovating friends’ homes on the side. No wonder I could eat anything I wanted and never gain weight. During one semester, I purchased a property in Greenwich Village where I did a quick ‘flip’ renovation in November 2001. The profits paid for my last bit of graduate school.”

Reality Check Re: Real Estate Biz

“Real estate development is a very male-dominated profession. Every developer that I approached for a job tried to refocus me on the possibilities of being a broker. I did not want to be a broker because I thought that I wanted to build buildings. After a few months of knocking on doors, one of my professors suggested that I consider project management. The project manager acts as the owners’ representative – juggling the architect, designers and contractors to manage work schedules, budgets and completion time.”

Keeping Costs in Line, Contractors on Time

“Have you ever noticed that people often complain about their construction projects? They’re supposed to take six weeks, and after six months they’re still not done. My role is to make sure (clients’ home renovations) are completed on time and on budget.

“A project manager may cost 15 percent of the construction job. Jane Doe might say ‘I can’t afford a project manager.’ But if she’s on a tight budget, she needs me more than someone who has unlimited funds. The person who has $15,000 to do their house and that’s it… you want to know that at most there might be a $1,000 change and that’s because you decided to make that change.

“We’re creating software so that if you can’t afford our services, you can work on the Internet, log in and your contractor can log in and you can manage your projects that way. It makes life easier – it helps you to be sure that there are no miscommunication issues. The software is going live in August 2006.”

Help for Homes Large and Small

‘We went from zero to 25 projects during a 30-month-period… that’s almost a new project every month. We’re juggling a lot of projects. We’ve done everything from celebrity homes (we don’t say which ones to protect their privacy) to an 8,000-square-foot house in Fairfield, Connecticut on three acres of land. We’ve also done a 500-square-foot studio apartment. We do projects around the country and will give all Ladies Who Launch subscribers a $1,000 discount for our services. We always start with a scope of work and then work with your architect or local contractors to do a bid process. If it is a large project, we will hire a local site foreman to consult on your project. We hope to help homeowners as they transform, restore or renovate their properties.”

High-Profile Partnership

“(This month) a partnership developed with a magazine group where my firm will be doing special sections to help homeowners manage their renovations with tips that will take them through a project. I become the person who says, ‘Here’s a great set of products from a major manufacturer’ within a special pull-out section within the magazine.”

How It Happened

“The magazine team gave me an opportunity to prepare a prototype for the editors. Some people might have sat back and done it at their leisure. I stayed up all night for two nights straight. I didn’t let the door inch open – I kicked it open and prepared the document they needed as quickly as I could so they could make a decision. If someone gives you an opportunity, take it.”

Money Tip for Managing Home Contractors

“Never pay 50 percent in advance and 50 percent on completion. Do 30, 30, and 30 and then 10 percent at the ‘punch list.’ When the contractor says it’s done, you withhold 10 percent so that you have 48 – 72 hours to wander through the property. That way, you can say to the contractor, ‘You didn’t put plug plates on.’ Or ‘I need you to touch up this paint, it’s uneven.’ Those last touch-ups that someone needs to do to make (the job) absolutely perfect. They want that last 10 percent, so they’re going to finish to your specifications.”

Greatest Success

“Learning to believe in myself and my own gut instincts. When you try to start up something new, you have 5,000 doubters saying ‘You can’t do that. ‘ C’mon. I don’t know if I can, but I’m going to try.”

Greatest Challenge

“My brother died in a motorcycle accident. I learned at a young age that we’re not promised tomorrow. I learned to live every day with an appreciation for your friends and family. I learned to give a lot. And sometimes that has been taken advantage of… but it is still important to me to give to others. There are times when I have taken a great risk and been afraid about paying the bills, but with a lot of hard work, it always seems to work out. A lot of people put themselves down, but if you’re here… you did something powerful today. You may not realize it, but you might have smiled at someone who didn’t think anyone cared about them. Do nice things… it makes the world a lot better.”

Words of Advice: On Right and Wrong

“If you have five projects that go wrong, don’t keep blaming clients. Look at yourself, your team, your reporting and your business practices. Analyze, review and retrain. If you have five projects that go right, write the information down so that you have institutional knowledge and are able to articulate to your team why things work.”

Recommended Resource

“A book that I try to live by is ‘The Power of Now’ by Eckhart Tolle. Another book that has great meaning for me is ‘The Dream Giver’ by Bruce Wilkinson. In your, personal and professional life, you have to remember that right now everything is fine. You can’t project 10 minutes from now. And lamenting and not sleeping at night over a decision you made doesn’t make it better. It is important to focus on where you’re going, but it’s also important to do something nice for yourself today.”