Adapt or die. We don’t mean to sound so ominously morbid, but in today’s working world, reinvention of oneself is key – not only to survival, but ultimately also to success. Kim Craig is a master of occupation transformation, and she is undeniably the better for it. Read on to discover how this savvy interior designer recognized the possibilities in new opportunities, continued to expand her suite of marketable skills, and rehabilitated her career satisfaction by ultimately crossing over to the construction side.

Kim’s career aspirations started out plainly enough. After high school graduation she headed out to the West Texas plains to attend Texas Tech University. With her Bachelor of Fine Art in Interior Design, she landed her first job with a custom home builder in Wylie, Texas. Grandmark Homes proved to be choice starting point because it exposed Kim to the many aspects of the residential building market. The comfortable four-person office included real estate sales, custom home plan sales and construction.

The residential market soon took its toll… on her patience, for sure: “After working in the custom home area for about two years, I realized that [if I continued] working with individuals’ primary personal residences I was probably going to have to obtain an additional degree in marriage counseling.”

It was time to shift gears, find something better suited to her personality and learn something new. Commercial design was the ticket. Kim took her burgeoning smarts on the road and headed to Dallas where she secured an interior design position with a commercial architectural firm. For the next 16 years time sped by as she enjoyed working primarily on corporate projects, national accounts, institutions and some aviation.

As she rose in the ranks and the thrill began to wane, Kim was lured into a sales opportunity as the Dallas A&D representative with a furniture manufacturer. Kim readily admits that it was a “major change” in career path for her, but the decision proved invaluable: “It was a great opportunity for expanding into sales and marketing. They provided an extensive six-month training program which included learning the complete product line, as well as how to cross sell against our competitors, negotiating skills and additional presentation techniques.”

After almost three years of direct marketing sales, Kim felt the desire to move on once again, this time with a different product in a broader territory. She signed on as a national account manager for a Top 5 Seattle, Washington-based art distributor, and her territory encompassed the daunting, vast expanse of Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana .

The switch proved a bit challenging, but not in the way that she expected: “Having the experience of balancing home office and personal was the largest challenge. I was finding myself traveling and working on weekends to get to the next week’s location. It was difficult to get away from the office when it was right there in the next spare bedroom.”

So who is now benefiting from Kim’s vast skill set” Phoenix Commercial, a 20-year interior construction firm in Dallas , Texas . As Director of Marketing with this reputable company, she is marketing their services to developers, building owners, commercial real estate brokers, architects and designers, as well as end-users. As a bonus, she gets to satisfy some of her designing jones by assisting with the project management of existing customers who require additional small project services. You couldn’t find a better definition of “having your cake and eating it too.”

Kim’s current affiliation with a construction company qualifies her as an Insider. Too frequently there tends to be a somewhat contentious relationship between those on the design side and those on the construction side, so we took the opportunity to ask her how to help everyone “just get along”: “My personal opinion to strengthen the relationship between designers and the contractors / subcontractors would be to treat each project as a complete partnership involving the designer / architect, contractor, developer / landlord and the end-user. I believe that the most successful projects are the ones where everyone is working together as a team with complete open lines of communication.”

We want to mention that along the way, Kim did take the important step of becoming a registered interior designer. For the benefit of aspiring designers, she candidly admits that she required two attempts to pass the written / multiple choice sections of the NCIDQ exam, primarily because the barrier free / ADA requirements were just beginning to surface at that time. Despite the fact that she is not currently practicing, she makes a point to keep her license up to date. Though she recently decided to renew as a non-practicing designer, the requirements are the same, so she maintains her State-required continuing education hours, a circumstance that keeps her current on issues related to the design world.

Kim also was kind enough to share her insights on important things she learned and how she learned them. First, she emphatically believes that one of the greatest skills she obtained in school was the art of presentation, or, as she appropriately calls it: “Learning to sell your product.” That “product” could be your design expertise, your customer service, an actual manufactured product, etc. It really doesn’t matter – a good sales technique can be applicable to all.

And for all of you students trying to assimilate into the workforce and anxious about everything you don’t know, Kim has a little advice: relax and just get ready to keep on learning: “It’s only through professional experience [that] I have learned construction documentation detailing, project management and several CAD operating systems. My largest challenge was the CAD operating systems, mostly because the ongoing development of different systems as it began in the early 80’s. I think I have been trained at least five times on three different systems and / or programs.” Remember what we were saying earlier about being adaptable”””

We featured Kim Craig because she is the epitome of the following ideas:

• Be willing to follow your instincts and take chances to build your career.
• No experience, no matter how difficult or disappointing it may seem at the moment, is ever a complete waste of time.
• Learn something from every step of your career journey and keep building upon your skills.

Follow these instructions and who knows where you’ll end up” Probably on the top of the heap.

A little something extra…

P&C: Are you a member of any professional organizations”
KC: My current involvement in professional organizations includes IIDA, IFMA and TREC. In the past I have served on the IIDA Auction [fundraising] committee.

P&C: Now that spring has sprung, what activities are you looking forward to”
KC: I love when the daylight is longer in spring and summer. With summer just around the corner I am looking forward to being outside more often playing golf, jogging or gardening. I also like to travel and explore new places.