Interior Designer Re-Designs Herself

What does a small business owner do when they ‘plateau’?

Rebecca Pogonitz of Skokie, IL, based GoGo Design Group had hit a wall. Her interior design company, Schema Interiors, was doing well, had a list of happy clients and successful projects, but the work didn’t seem to represent her as she saw herself. She asked herself, ‘What does a designer do when their own environment doesn’t ignite their passions?’ Answer: redesign yourself.

Starting with her own shape and form, Rebecca signed up for Krav Maga, the mixed martial arts training developed by the Israeli Army. Taking classes and working with a personal trainer she’s lost 77 pounds to date, got in the best shape of her life, and is training for a level four certificate (a brown belt equivalent in Karate). She’s ‘packing’ too: she bought and learned to shoot a gun.

Then there’s the jumping from the plane part. Along with another interior designer friend, Rebecca took on a life long dream and accomplished her first parachute jump in October of this year. Like her life, her business is ‘flying high’ too.

To have her professional materials better reflect the work she wants to do she engaged a branding expert, Susan Fireside of Winter and Construction Design LLC, and re-invented her interior design firm, Schema Interiors, as GoGo Design Group. She’s now soliciting not only homeowners, but commercial clients, like professional offices, restaurants and retail settings. Her list of loyal clients is still there, but some of these new projects, a series of therapy clinics, for example, have breathed new life into her business if not her passion for design.

“The whole process,” says Pogonitz, “Has been like ‘sculpting life,’ a term I began using recently. In sculpting you’re either adding to or taking away from your raw material, but you’re always working with what you have to come out with something that you could always see in your mind’s eye. I’ve been lucky enough to get closer to the picture of my self and my business that's in my mind, but I don’t think it will ever be finished. There’s always more you can learn.” 

So her answer to the question: What does a small business owner do when they feel like they’ve hit a wall or have been on the plateau too long? “Go back to your vision for your business, the reason you started your company in the first place, and look at it as if there were no obstacles, like time or money. Imagine you can do anything you put your mind to, and then go do it.’ 

Rebecca can be reached at GoGoDesignGroup.com. Read her blog or ‘like’ her on Facebook. She’s interested in new projects, building alliances with related businesses and always loves to hear from others who are also ‘sculpting’ something new and bigger in their lives.