In the process of identifying her firm’s core values, Laura Hodges decided to take a new approach to addressing client issues. When it worked, she used the same strategy with her own team.

In 2018, just two years into running her design firm, Laura Hodges and her husband took a big leap of faith: He left his corporate job to join her firm as its business manager, overseeing the finances and operations as well as a new retail store, Domain. The Catonsville, Maryland–based designer knew that her family’s livelihood was now resting on the success of her studio, and she realized she had to get serious about defining her vision. “We needed to know: What is it that we want to do? What type of clients do we want to work with? How do we want to present ourselves to the world?” says Hodges. “Understanding why we do what we do, who we enjoy working with and what size firm we wanted was critical to making sure we made the right decisions.”

Finding clarity around the firm’s purpose shifted not only which jobs the designer said yes to but also her approach to people and projects. Hodges wanted to cultivate an environment of optimism, gratitude and open communication among both clients and staff—core values that have shaped her small business to this day.