With the Woman Wednesday series, CatMax Photography introduces you to exceptional female entrepreneurs who have gone through the CatMax Personal Branding Experience. Today, I invite you to meet Candice LePorte of Elemental Design & Consulting, Ltd.
Candice LePorte of Elemental Design & Consulting, Ltd. Photo Credit: CatMax Photography
Outsourcing. The concept is one that is likely familiar to business owners and managers. As someone who provides the service to others and utilizes it herself, Candice LePorte of Elemental Design & Consulting, Ltd. understands the practicality and pushback associated with it. She regularly sees the added productivity and availability provided to cabinet designers, interior designers, and remodelers through her “back-of-the-house” offerings.
Candice’s company can manage pricing, drawing, project management, and select administrative duties behind the scenes, opening her clients’ schedules. Yet, like so many of us, offering herself a similar reprieve has been difficult. She says, “It took me over five years just to hire an assistant to help with emails and work on giving my clients a better experience. That is one of the things I am trying hard to initiate for 2022.” Additional goals include avoiding burnout and “quarterly breaks with no phones, no computers—just me, the sun, sand, and surf,” Candice says.
It’s All in the Numbers
For Candice, it’s crucial that outsourcing also increase her clients’ profitability. Once on the path to becoming an accountant, her love of all things numeric has never left her. She enjoys handling accounting for her business and recommends aspiring entrepreneurs watch Mike Michalowicz’s YouTube presentation on the mindset and financial strategy detailed in his book “Profit First,” and get a copy of the title, if so inclined afterward. She says, “It is eye-opening on how to run a profitable business.”
Though stifling to some, numbers and math act as complements to Candice’s creativity. She says, “Upon graduating [from interior design school], I realized fabrics and the like were not my thing, but numbers and space planning—gimme!” She brings more than two decades of experience to the design and remodeling services she provides to homeowners (her “front-of-the-house” clients) for cabinetry and the areas that contain them, in addition to the outsourcing she offers for other industry professionals. Over the years, her work has earned her numerous awards, including regional and national recognition.
She says, “I love reworking a space and making it function for my client to a level they didn’t even know was possible—whether it’s moving things around to better serve their family, creating new spaces that weren’t there before. I do this for my back-of-the-house clients too.”
Embracing the Entrepreneurship Journey
Besides that being an entrepreneur allows her to do what she calls “working in her zone of genius,” Candice also enjoys connecting with other entrepreneurs and talking about the nitty-gritty of business, gathering advice for them, and using her own experience to help others.
She tells those looking to launch a business to be wary of decision paralysis and simply start. Additionally, don’t be afraid to ask questions or make mistakes, which Candice confirms will happen. She also suggests following those who inspire and motivate you and reaching out to them.
Just as running her own business allows her to flourish in what she does best, the photos from her CatMax Photography Personal Branding Experience allow Candice to showcase her authentic self.
She says her favorite photos from the shoot include those of her leaning against the wall because, “It’s just naturally me. Nerd and all,” and those at her desk, “Capturing me in my element.” Candice confidently notes that the time spent by CatMax Photography to ensure every detail is correct and you are photographed at your best makes investing in a Personal Branding Experience money well spent. “I plan on doing another one soon. I have every intention of hiring [a] makeup artist and stylist to bring it up to the next level,” Candice says.
You can learn more about Candice’s Personal Branding Experience and her business by watching this Q&A video we did recently. Follow CatMax Photography on Instagram at @catmaxphoto and Candice at @Elementalltd.
