Anna Jacoby Interiors’ owner Anna Jacoby (pictured) says her company has grown to include interior decorating and staging services divisions.

When Anna Jacoby was ready to re-enter the work force after spending many years as a stay-at-home mom, she knew she didn’t want to return to her previous career in elementary education. She liked teaching, but she wanted to work with adults after spending so many years educating children.

So, she jumped feet-first into the interior design industry instead.

Seven years later, Anna Jacoby Interiors (AJI) has split into two companies providing interior decorating and staging services throughout California’s Bay Area.

And through the decorating workshops she leads, a bi-monthly column she writes for ANG Newspaper Group in California and training her part-time employees, she still satiates the teaching bug. “I was an elementary school teacher, and there were a lot of things I liked about it, but it was not the right fit,” Jacoby says. “Now I get to teach adults about a topic I really love and enjoy, so I’m using my teaching background in a different way.”

Although Jacoby describes her company as a “small, home-based” operation, AJI offers myriad services and maintains an inventory of staging furniture worth more than $100,000. “I fill an interesting niche and I don’t want to be a huge player, but I want to be well-known within my niche, which is everyday types of people,” Jacoby says. “I want to be well-known as somebody who knows what they are talking about and offers services to real people.”

Through AJI, Jacoby provides design and paint consultations, one-day makeovers, custom window treatments and decorating workshops. In 2005, Jacoby spun off Premier Home Staging, which offers full-service staging consultation to clients. Premier Home Staging provides furniture and accessories for vacant properties or to enhance an occupied property.

No Longer Exclusive
Jacoby says that due to HGTV and similar home decorating programming on other networks, hiring decorators and designers is no longer considered a luxury only wealthy homeowners can afford. “HGTV has been huge in inspiring people to hire decorators and designers to work on their homes,” Jacoby says. “A major trend in interior design is to appeal to the masses vs. just the very wealthy, and now it is for almost anyone.”

Jacoby gets this point across by remaining approachable and easy to work with for her clients, no matter what their tax bracket is. She also makes sure her five part-time employees have the same attitude when they are in the field.

“I always tell clients, ‘I want to do what I can to be helpful to you,’ so sometimes I’m a little bit more hands-on for project management, while other times I just lead them in a direction and let them go with it,” she adds.

“One of the reasons clients like to work with me is that I’m very down to earth,” Jacoby adds. “Clients always think we’re going to tell them everything about their home is terrible. But we’re friendly, warm and approachable, and everything we do is about making the clients happy. It’s about offering really [excellent service].”

Jacoby says her employees also like her down-to-earth attitude toward management. She tries to make the job fun and gives positive feedback along the way, as well. “These are creative people of high integrity, so I trust them to represent me and I give them a lot of creative license,” she says.

To Grow or Not To Grow
This year, Jacoby realized most of her furniture was out in homes and new customers kept coming to her for her services, but she decided not to take on more jobs. “I am trying to cap it,” she adds. “Next year, we’ll test the market again and see where [the] demand is.”

But Jacoby does see the staging side of the business growing due to increased awareness from HGTV shows like “Designed to Sell” and increased demand from realtors. So, she hopes to eventually hire a full-time manager for that company. That way, Jacoby will be able to develop the training workshops for her clients.

“I feel like this is the way to keep current regarding design trends and resources,” she says.