#82 | How To Harness the Power of Transitional Moments in your Life with Cerissa McKinnis
Welcome to the Designers Oasis podcast. I'm your host, Kate Bendewald. If you're tired of one-size-fits-all all advice to running your interior design business, you're in the right place. Join me each week as we dive into topics to help you run a thriving interior design business. Without the hustle. We'll talk about the business of design, but also mindset and mental health because I know when you thrive, so will your life and business. It wasn't that long ago that I stepped away from my corporate interior design job to build my own design business so that I could realize my own creative dreams, have more time with the people I love, and serve my clients at the highest level, while making more money than I ever could have working for someone else. It wasn't always easy, and I made my share of mistakes along the way. Fast forward to today. And I've learned a thing or two. Since then I've built multiple six-figure interior design businesses on authentic word-of-mouth referrals with many repeat clients. And I want to share it all with you the ambitious, inspired, and I get it occasionally overwhelmed interior designer who shares this dream of transforming lives through the art of interior design, You can do this. Thank you for letting me spend part of this day with you. Let's get to it.
Today, my guest is Cerissa McKinnis of industries interiors in San Antonio, Texas, offering luxury kitchen and bath design and Whole Home Transformations is a longtime member inside the interior designers business blueprint. But today we're here to talk about a book she's written navigating the liminal places, how to harness the power of transitional moments in your life. Naturally, her book uses the metaphor of home to help readers unveil the life lessons held in times of transitions. from the bedroom to the kitchen, we consider the essence of these spaces, revealing how they mirror the transitions of our lives. We often consider times of change and transformation to be challenging, and they are but Sirsa offers a way of viewing these moments as opportunities for personal and spiritual growth. I am so excited for her to share more about her book today. Please welcome my friend services McKinnis Hello, Mr. Issa. How are you?
Cerissa Tate
I am doing wonderful. How are you? Kate,
Kate Bendewald
I'm so good. I'm so much better now that I'm on the phone with you. I've missed you. It's so good to connect. And I want to say thank you so much for sharing this book with me. It really was a delight to read it. And I'm really excited to share it with our listeners today.
Cerissa Tate
Thank you, thank you so much. It's a delight to hear you say that it was a delight to read it.
Kate Bendewald
It really was I remember back in November, I think it was we were on a call. And I got a message from you that said, Hey, you got a minute, I want to chat. And we got on the phone and you said I wrote a book. I'm gonna send you a copy of it. Can you send me your address? We talked about some other things. And I was just like, when does this girl have time to write a book, she is so busy. And you told me about the essence of it. And I finally had time to really dive into it. And it was it was really beautiful. And I'm so You're so honest about your life and really beautifully drawing these relationships between home and liminality and how it reflects transitions in our lives. So I'm excited to be able to share this today. So I want us to start by really dissecting the word liminal. What it means, what it means to you. We know that you know the definition of liminal is an intermediate state phase or condition. So it's kind of this in between state. I've heard it referred to as the Twixt in between, it's like not here, not there yet. And a lot of times you'll see like infrastructure like bridges or tunnel or doorway as physical representations to liminality I personally think of the week between Christmas and New Year's as being a very liminal time, there's like, all this lead up to the holiday and then it's over. And then you're sort of waiting for New Years. And I don't know, for me personally, we sort of loafer on the house, like reading and eating too much and day in and day out all day and no expectations, and I sort of love it. But that's one way of looking at it. But you know, liminal times in our life, right? I think of adolescence or menopause. preparing to leave your nine to five, waiting on test results waiting on election results. These are all sort of examples of liminality. So I want to hear from you what liminality means to you, and how the definition of this word drove you to write this book. You
Cerissa Tate
said it all really. It to me it means like, in between. So when I first read the definition I saw first, let me back up just a little bit. I had a friend of mine. We were chatting, very similar to the phone conversation that you and I had, and I was telling her this and this is going on in my life. And I don't understand, like, I don't understand what's happening in my business and this right now. And she had a mentor and her mentor told her, Well, this sounds like you're in a liminal place. And so then she told me, she said, because she found out what that word was. She said, Teresa, you're in a liminal place, too. And I was like, what is that? What is even liminality? And so she told me and so I got onto Google, and I'm looking and I'm like, What is this word? And what really hit me. K is that in Latin, the word means threshold. Right? And as a designer, you're like, Oh, I know what that means. I was like, Do you need me, me, me, me, me? Threshold. I'm like, wait a minute, that's it's a space, but it's the space between, you know, automatically. Especially when we're in terms of like, selecting materials and things like that. We're always thinking about how to treat the transitions between like, maybe carpet in the bedroom and wood floor in the main hall, and how do I deal with that transition? And do I really want, like, I immediately had a picture in my mind of what that was, and immediately clicked, and I said, I need to learn more about this. And so I went on a journey to learn more about it. And then, as you said, in several examples, we go through liminality. In as we age, you know, from childhood to adolescence, to teenagers to young adults. And even as we continue down the age process, when we are pregnant. We're in a liminal place, you know, where are no longer sees me without a baby, but we still haven't like the babies within us. We still have not had the baby as of yet. You know, we go through so many liminal places and spaces. And even when we get in the car, right, and we're driving to a client's house, I'm at my I started out at my house, I but I'm not yet at their house. And so I'm in that in between, and that's what, so that's what it was, and it just excited me. And
Kate Bendewald
we, I think I'll write a book about it. And so you did I love it. Yeah. And so as I said, in my intro, we, you know, we talked about some sort of physical manifestations, bridges, doorways, thresholds, that sort of thing. Life, you know, how life reflects liminality through these periods of time, but one of the other things I said was like, leaving a job, right, you've decided or you're thinking about leaving your nine to five, and or you've like mentally made a decision, but you haven't shared it with anybody, whatever that might look for you and look like for you. But maybe that's a period of time where you're considering your options. What's the potential? What's the earning potential? What is my timeline look like? We can think about it in terms of career. We can think about it in terms of managing clients, right? Maybe we've got a client who we've done a consultation for and we want to prepare a proposal for them and we're in this liminal state of trying to move that along, I can just think of so many times and also life challenges, right? It's oftentimes challenge transitions can be challenging. And you talk about a few specific examples in your life, which we're gonna get to in a moment. I'm very eager to hear from you on those. But you know, marriage, divorce, loss, grief, all of that those life experiences are liminal times, and they require a headspace to help you navigate that. And what, what, what you're sharing with us in this book, is that that headspace, is really what really matters, right? Because life is gonna life and there's things that are going to be hard. And you know, there's some things that are just truly hard, you know, the loss of car, you can't deny that right? And you can't just say buck up and move on with it. Right? There's, there's a period of grief that's required for healing.
Cerissa Tate
Absolutely. But
Kate Bendewald
that with the right frame of mind that you can turn these liminal periods into really beautiful moments for personal and spiritual growth. So, so I want to get into that. That part of it too. But you mentioned something to me previously. And I want to bring this up, because I think it's also important you talk about the relationship between liminality. And the work we do as interior designers, with our clients. So can you share with us? What your perspective on this and how we take our clients through a transition? And just some perspective that you have on on that thought?
Cerissa Tate
Absolutely. So as interior designers, what's really cool is that if we take a step back, and we think about all of the challenges that we go in life, and as as you said, as we think about how to appropriately really how to appropriately shift our mind to think what think differently about it. We look at our own work, and we realize that we are navigators, we help our clients navigate through liminal spaces themselves, how so we meet them. At the first consultation, we actually really dial back, they call us on the Discovery call, we talked to them for 1520 minutes, however long you do your discovery call for. And you get to know them. And you're like, Man, this project sounds like this is going to be fun. This is exciting. And so and they're already excited, right? They've already actually entered into the liminal place themselves, because they chose to call us. Right. So but now they've gotten there. And they're like, Oh, my God, what do I do? There's so much happening in here. And I need somebody to help me get from here in the middle. Now that I've decided to, let's say, do my kitchen, to the finished product. And then we meet them capture their vision, we're in the consultation. We're like, oh, you can do this, you could do that you can do this. And we're having all of these thoughts about what it could be. But none of these dots have manifested yet. And our client, certainly, especially the ones who are not visual and can't see it. They have no idea but trust, right, right. And so we carry them through that process, all the way through even when we go through design development. And we have the plan all the way laid out everything selected. And we're still holding their hand, guiding them through the liminal place. And I want to pause right there and say, depending on how long your design process is, this could be a long period of time. It's a long period of time to be uncomfortable and not know what the end is going to be like, but know that it's worth it. And we know that it's worth it. Because we're used to putting the vision together. We have our experience, we have our expertise. And so we're able to guide them through that. And so at any rate, we make it we make it to the design development. Everybody's excited because oh my gosh, this is amazing. You did such a great job. I can't wait to see what it looks like. And then we enter into another level of liminality with them because now we have to go through construction and tear up the house
Kate Bendewald
as as I'm getting ready to demo a kitchen project and I noticed clients while I've worked with them for years, I can assure you that there will be some hand holding through this liminal phase, because it's not, you know, I've just I've worked with some clients, and I just know that it's going to be easier for some than others. And these are ones that are definitely some hand holding, they're gonna important role that we have as designers to walk them and support them through that transition and assure them that this is what it's supposed to be like,
Cerissa Tate
exactly, and it is going to be worth it in the end. And then we're put on the end, once it's all done, we then what do we do right? Before we leave, we prepare them for one last transition. And the last transition is for them to, okay, this so this is this is where you put this drawer, okay, this is where you intended for myself, and were to be okay, this is this. And then they began, they begin another journey in liminality. Because they still, they haven't quite yet figured out their new family, like function, like how they're going to engage with their space. But we help we leave them with the tools to be like, Okay, it's live, you can see it, it's in the flesh, but you still got to learn how to use it. And it's manual. Exactly. And so and your care and maintenance manual, and all the paperwork that we give them. But there's also the verbal, that we give them to just help them be excited that this is the journey is still continues. And the same as for us, you know, we'll enter in and go out and it's like an ebb and flow of being in the liminality. And so that's why we have to have a good mind about it. Like the same mind that we have when we take into our projects is the minute we have to have when we are going through our personal life, through our business, through our spiritual walk is to make sure that we remember that there's an ebb and flow.
Kate Bendewald
Yeah, beautiful. I love this so much. And I love how you paint this picture in your book of the home specifically, which, obviously, this comes naturally to you. But you were you drew some clear distinctions using metaphors of the different areas of the home. And I want to share with our listeners today, two of those chapters that you share with us starting with the foyer, which in your book is really a metaphor for facing decisions. So we walk in, right we walk into the home and we have a choice, right we can head to the kitchen, we can head down the hallway towards the living room. Just like which mirrors life right, we're always facing choices. And right we walk into the house and sometimes that another as I was preparing for today's episode, I also learned that liminality can also really mean just under the surface, like just under the radar, it can be which informs the word subliminal, right? It's just below the consciousness, right? So we walk into the foyer, and first most of the time, we walk into that space, and it's subliminal, we are on autopilot, we're putting our stuff away and going through these transitions without a whole lot of thought, right. But in life, it's not always that straightforward, right, we can come to a threshold of failure, if you will, in this case. And then life would be faced with some some really challenging decisions and choices. Now, in your book, you write about your experience, when you were at Spelman College in Atlanta, you were an a pre med track following your late mother's dreams for your life. So if you've listened to sources past podcast episode, which we'll be sure to link to, and here, your mother passed when you were 17 years old, a tragic time for a daughter to lose their mother. And thank you for sharing that with us. But in this book, you bring this up and you say that this is what she wanted for you. And you were really trying to honor her in this way. But that wasn't where your heart was pre med biology and you had this realization. And clearly you had a decision to make. Do you pursue this dream that your late mother had for you, person that you lost when you were just a teenager? Or do you follow your heart? So walk us through and I'm sorry, I'm really trying to get through this question without tearing up. Walk us through that time and how you navigated that decision at that period of your life.
Cerissa Tate
Um, so I was about 19 1819 years old when I made had this decision.
Kate Bendewald
This was very new recent after she Oh, yeah.
Cerissa Tate
Okay. Well, this is very recent after she passed. So I was 17 when she passed, but she passed in November of 98. And then my birthday is in February. So I was very quickly 18 after. So that's just so for people who are trying to calculate times, this is my freshman year of high school. So that way, you can have context. Yeah. But my mother and I had always talked about me going to Spelman, which is in Atlanta, Georgia. And for years, like I actually, I thought for sure I was going to be a doctor, I was going to be a pediatric cardiologist, I used to watch surgeries like y'all need to understand. I loved medicine, I really thought that that's what I was supposed to do. And so I get to Spelman, and I'm failing, this is where the the kicker is, I am failing miserably. Now, I am a straight A student. I was in all the clubs on all the things. I used to read encyclopedias for fun, like I'm a, I'm a nerd, for real, I'm a nurse. And so for me to be failing. And it was, it was really, like an existential crisis. Um, and I didn't know what was going on. And so for me, I talked to some people, and somebody told me they was like, versus if you're failing, and you're so good at everything, I think that you should just like pause, and reflect, and pray. And see if you can hear some guidance. And out of that came into your design. I had no idea what it was. I knew it sounds similar
Kate Bendewald
to biology.
Cerissa Tate
So similar, obviously, oh, similar. So similar. But, um, so I had no idea. And so neither did my stepfather. And I get up on the computer. And I'm like, Hey, let me let me see what interior design is. Because I asked Jeeves, right. And Jesus, like, I'm dating myself. All right. Some of our members are with you know who Jesus. But I am. Yeah, it's like Google, the predecessor. But I, and he didn't have much to say. And so just a couple of schools popped up. And so I called some designers in Atlanta. And I began to ask them, like, if I want to be an interior designer, where should I go to school? Yeah, so they told me, and I picked a school I interviewed, I went to all of these schools, like on my off days, and and I interviewed and ended the book, I talked about being intentional. And this is the intention that I'm talking about. I had no idea where I was going. And sometimes when we enter into change, we think I've got to know everything. Honey, you don't have to know everything. You just need to know the first thing. What am I doing? For me, the first thing was, I'm going to be an interior designer, I'm gonna go and pursue that track.
Kate Bendewald
Everything right, we can.
Cerissa Tate
And so I, I went, I found the school that I wanted to go to the Art Institute of Atlanta. And, and then I got up the courage to talk to my stepfather and tell him, I need to leave this prestigious school and go and pursue what I believe to be my calling and be an interior designer. And not well, okay, at all. It was terrible. He told me that I was ruining my life. That this was the this was I didn't understand being 19 years old that this was a terrible life decision. And I mean, it was just awful. He was not here for sure.
Kate Bendewald
And he was doing the best with what he could at the time. He didn't know, clean. He didn't know. He was doing what he thought was going to be the support you needed.
Cerissa Tate
Exactly. And so and what the support that my mother would have wanted him to give me so don't know he was doing the best he could do. Right. So nonetheless, I didn't get to leave us Bellman right away. I say this but with a whole nother like almost a year. It took me an entire year. But let me tell you about being in a liminal space. Right, it was a long time. But some of them are real short, but some of them are really long. Sure. And so in that time, every week, every other week, I would have the admin counselor, call my stepfather with me, we would call him on three way every week. What questions do you have? Why do you not want to let me come to the school, what I read every week, I was relentless. And sometimes in change, you have to be that relentless. If, and that's not even knowing what the end was gonna be. I had no idea what to expect on the other side. I just knew that I needed to go to the other side. And so eventually, he caved in it took a year, like I said, he caved in. And I went to the I went to school, and on my first day of school, I remember sitting in class, I was sitting in a hand drafting class. And we were going through drafting and I sat there. And I was like, Oh, my God, this is what I'm built for. I understood in that first day. At first two hour class, I understood that the reason why I couldn't be a doctor was because for me, the sciency part was great. But I would have been lacking and missing out on the create the creative expression, and on the Creativity portion. And I realized in that moment, that the year that I fought the year that I struggled the year that I felt like I'm behind, and you're wasting my time, because you won't let me go to the school was all worth it. And I was happy that I fought myself through and in that moment, it just it gives me tears, because now 20 years later, with this book, I just talked to my godmother and my godmother was like, I just want you to know that if your mother was here now, she would be immensely proud of you. Immensely proud for you fighting to do what you were called to do. And write a book about it.
Kate Bendewald
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Kate Bendewald
How did you not get bitter in that year?
Cerissa Tate
Man. So I will tell you this. I am built a little bit different. So I will share with with you all why I'm the way I am and why I'm able to smile with having such an adverse background. So what background filled with adversity with my mother passing my mother always raised me to see the best and things to see the silver lining in things. And so she would not allow for me to be bitter about anything. And so I had, like, when I was growing up, I did not have the best relationship with my father. But my mother would never I would be upset about that. My mother was like, Hey, listen, we're not going to be upset. Your father loves you. He may not know how to appropriately show it, but he does love you. And so my mother, I had a lot of positive reinforcement from my mom, even in difficult situations, even in sucky moments of transition. And so, like, I dedicated this book to her, because I realized, as I was writing it, that my mother taught me about liminality. In my 17 years of having her with me, she taught me about it. And so, um, and there's also another story that I share in the book, when I was 16. So barely, like a year before maybe 15. I tried out for something in high school, I did not make it. And then I had to take this summer to, to work and do the work and so that I could make make it again, and, and not knowing the results, my mom showed up with flowers in hand, like you did it. And then when they call my name, and I made the team, I turned my mom has these flowers already. Like, um, that just showed me that some things are worth fighting for. And that was one of the last big, big lessons that she taught me. And so I chose not to be bitter because I understood, you know, I understood. I understood his physician, I understood that he had my best interests at heart. And I just was like, You need to hurry up and make your decision. Because I got things to do. But
Kate Bendewald
oh my gosh, I love that. Thank you so much for sharing I'm if you're watching this on video, you can clearly see that I'm a bucket of tears, but I bought it together. Well, clearly she's still with you. And she's still helping you with these life lessons, right? In what a beautiful thing to get to experience. So much and and I Can you are you are different. And that is why I love you so much. I think you guys she that we're gonna pause what the typical podcast format for just a second because stress is a longtime member inside the program, but your name consistently gets brought up because you are a source of motivation and clarity. And you were just such a big cheerleader for the other designers in the group who, you know, when they come with the Facebook group, and they've got a question or challenge or whatever, like you have such a soft, but commanding presence that, you know, people have come to respect and you're, you're truly an asset to the community. So there's, that's, you know, not surprising, but we we love having you around for that reason. Lots of reasons. But all right back to the episode. Okay, so the other chapter that I got really excited about, and I want you to share some more here with us today is about the kitchen. And you talk about the kitchen as a metaphor for a source of nourishment. And in this chapter, you share a different challenge that you had in life one where you are going through a big transition. You were in the midst of a heartbreaking divorce with your first husband, and knowing that you are a woman of faith for you, it was your Bible that brought you peace and comfort during this liminal time. So, can you share from the perspective of nourishment? What are ways that when we are going through these liminal times in life or business ways that we can seek nourishment during these these times?
Cerissa Tate
Absolutely, absolutely. That divorce was extremely heartbreaking and had it not been for. As I said the Bible I would not I have made it. But that was not the only thing that I did. The other thing that was probably the most important error for you the few other things that we all share. But the second most important thing to that was just other people can period. Community is so very important. I have a very strong belief that humans are not meant to be, we're not meant to be by ourselves, we don't do well by ourselves. And because of that, having, like community around you is actually filling it is actually feeling to your soul. And it is scientifically proven that people having people around you to pour into you is filling and it can. It can, it can raise your emotions, it can take you out of a depressed state. And that's a lot of times what happens when you go through change, and just a lot of the nuances of change. When I was studying liminality, there's a lot of things come up from like, BetterHelp. Like, initially, when I got into it, BetterHelp some of the things that I read, were from different psychologists, paper papers and everything, because liminality is I wouldn't, I would say crippled, but I don't feel like that's a very good word. But there it is riddled, really with depression, with anxiety with a lot of things like that. And having people around you in those types of times, makes it easier to make it through. And so you got to have a community. The other thing that I would say is that you have to again, we're talking about feeding ourselves. So we have to pay attention to what it is that we're eating, what it is that. And so by that I mean like, what are we like? What are we consuming, like, you might want to mind the kind of TV shows that you're watching, you might want to mind what kind of books you're reading. Instead, you know, pick up a pick up a good book that is going to, excuse me, encourage you to go forth and do well. I'm looking at my bookcase now, because I have several books that I have picked up that are business books, that are motivational books that are spiritual books, the whole gamut that I have picked up to help me through varying moments. So go find a book. Yeah, and read it. And then the other thing that I would say that people could do, to nourish themselves, during difficult times, aside from feeding your spirit, aside from being in community, aside from reading, is, go out and and learn. Like, get a coach. You know, a lot of the times we are going through things, especially in business, where we're like, I have no idea I can't No, I don't know down from up. And I've been in business and I've been in design for quite some time this year, I celebrate 20 years in design 13 years in business. And I've haven't known down from up. Now when I started 13 years ago and 20 years ago, I haven't known down from up last year, right? A couple of weeks. Like you can get tight, you get topsy turvy easy. Yeah. Um,
Kate Bendewald
I love that I saying that because I think that there's a lot of folks who feel like, Oh, I've been doing this long enough, I shouldn't I shouldn't be. I shouldn't be having to deal with this. Right? And, you know, I'm too experienced for this, like, how am I dealing with this client who's off the chains? Or how did I make such a silly mistake or whatever, but the reality is, are like how can I be going through this dry spell? And I love that you're normalizing that. We have seasons in our business and in our life and you're not to you never get to a point where you've sort of made it to the point that you're We learn a lot, right, we can prevent a lot, we can circumvent things we can prepare better, you always get a little bit better, but you're not immune from having experiences and challenges in your business, which is why community is so important. Hello, join designers oasis. And you will have an immediate family of designers to help you in these moments, which is where you are such a beautiful asset to this community. So oh my gosh, this is all coming together, right? It's so community reading, learning, educating, getting yourself embedded in some sort of, you know, program, whatever it might be, depending on what you're going through. I'm personally right now doing a seven week yoga training that is, and I'm learning about different aspects of yoga that I've never learned before. And it's so invigorating just to learn something different, just something outside of design, it's outside of parenting, it's outside of business, it's totally new. And it is so fulfilling. And I love it so much.
Cerissa Tate
I think that that is so fantastic. And I like the fact that you made the distinction, that you're learning something outside of design, because I feel like sometimes when we have an issue, especially when we have an issue with our business, we sometimes run real quick to try to see what book Can I read about business, but that might not necessarily be the case, you may you may need to go and go off. And allow yourself first of all, allow yourself the grace to be in this moment of change, and then go off and like relieve your brain of some pressure and learn about something different. Because I can guarantee that when you come out of this seven weeks of this yoga training, there will be some portion of it that you will be able to apply to every layer of your life. We live life so much like we're compartmentalised. But we are not. And everything bleeds over.
Kate Bendewald
That is that is nothing that is the essence of what I'm learning in this in this yoga training is how we are so like our mind or body and spirit is so connected. And I also think it's a driver for creativity, right? I was talking to my my I have a business coach who I adore, and I was an obsession I was I had just finished a bunch of books. And I was like, Okay, I need a new book, what do you recommend? And she was like, Do you ever read fiction? And I do. But I it's not my go to. And she just reminded me that, like, it's good to go get outside of your typical things that you consume and consume something different, you know, and it was a good reminder that, you know, when we say to read, it can be something of fiction, right? It doesn't even have to it can be a business book, right. But giving yourself permission to go outside of those typical avenues. I love it. This is an aside question. How long did it take you to write this book? I like something just moving through you. Right? Yes. So
Cerissa Tate
all in all, it took I really wrote the book in a week and a half. It took about three weeks. So three weeks total, the week, a week and a half to write. And then a week to illustrate, as I drew the cover of the book and about 19 other drawings within the book to illustrate because we're like, we're designers, right? We are visual people. And, and then a few days to do the editing. So pin the paper and we'll pin to publish I'll say was three weeks. I will say however, just for those who are like, Oh my God, that's so quick. Yes. Quick.
Kate Bendewald
lifetime of left, but
Cerissa Tate
I have a lifetime of lessons. Yes, you are absolutely correct. And I was in another platform. I was teaching about liminality for about a month and a half. And so I had some comment, some content, some research and some practice. So when I got ready to sit down and write. I brought those things together and was able to expound upon that to create what is before us.
Kate Bendewald
Wow. Yeah. Because there's obviously anybody who writes a book, there's research involved. So what you're saying is that the research phase preceded that. But when it came time, for pen to paper, that was a pretty quick turnaround. Well, to me, it's a it's a clear indication of, I mean, that's a God thing, right? It's moving through you. It's manifesting, whether you like it or not, everything else can just screw off because I'm writing a book right now. So no,
Cerissa Tate
it's funny that you say that, because it definitely was a God thing. And to the point to where it was so much. I had like two nights in a row, I stayed up to like four or five o'clock in the morning, and still had some work to do. And I was like, This is gonna take too long. And I do not have months to write this. So I prayed. And I said, Listen, I said, I really need, I was like, God, I really need for you to hold back time somehow. So that I can write this book because it's, I feel an urgency for me to get this message across. And, and so my product, I had a project that came down to a close, like a day late a day or two later, we came to a good spot. And then the new project that I had coming, they had a delay. And so I had this three week window that I asked for, I didn't even know how long the window needed to be. I just was like, I don't I need to be able to write and focus on Wow. And so that was my full time job for
Kate Bendewald
for three weeks. That book. That is amazing. Wow. Wow. And you got just the thing that you needed. Well, I love that so much. Well said, say you are you're a gem to this community. I'm so grateful that you wrote this book and that you're sharing it with us, of course, we're going to be sure to link to it in the show notes so you can get your hands on it if you're listening. In the meantime, so I know you're in the process of rebranding, but can you share with us where we can find you online website, Instagram, that sort of thing? Absolutely.
Cerissa Tate
So my website is www industrious interiors.net. You can find me on Instagram at industrious interiors, and you can find me on Tik Tok because I've been I like to do video I like to talk y'all. So you can find me on Tik Tok at the dream caster, which is my nickname that I made up for myself.
Kate Bendewald
I love that. Are you going to be the reason I finally download Tiktok onto my phones?
Cerissa Tate
I don't have to be the reason Kate you can see all my videos on Instagram right now. Are you too when I realized my YouTube channel?
Kate Bendewald
Oh my god. Thank you so much. Yeah, I feel like such an old lady like Tik Tok and AI are two things that I'm just really struggling to warm up to. I'm I'm there with AI anything. I'm like, Okay, fine. It's like the Internet to however many years ago I'm like, But I'm here for it because I've got to stay current, but I think I'll stick to Instagram for my social media fix when I need.
Cerissa Tate
Yeah, you'll be alright.
Kate Bendewald
Alright, so I love you so much. Thanks for your time. Thank you for sharing. You're a delight. Have a wonderful rest of your day. And to our listeners. Thanks for hanging out with us. We'll talk to you real soon. Thank you. Hey, friend, thank you so much for letting me spend a part of this day with you. I'm so passionate about helping designers like you. And I believe in a rising tide that only one of us does. Well, we all do better. So if you share this attitude of abundance with me, I want you to do just one little thing. Please share this episode with someone using might love it. And if you're feeling extra generous today, go ahead and take just 30 seconds to open your podcast app and leave us a five star rating and review. It's free for you to do and it helps me to be able to keep making more episodes and resources for you. However you choose to help please No, I appreciate you so very much. Thank you, my friend. Have a wonderful rest of your day. I'll see you soon.
