18. Erika MacKay’s Niche for Design: How Workplace Wellness Supports Employees
EPISODE 18
In this episode, Julie interviews Erika MacKay, the founder and CEO of Niche for Design, about her journey in interior design and her focus on workspace wellness. They discuss the evolving office environment and Erika shares her experience of balancing entrepreneurship with maternity leave. Erika shares insights into creating healthy, productive workspaces and the challenges entrepreneurs face in maintaining business operations during significant life events.
Catch the Conversation
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Erika is a workspace wellness expert and advocate for spaces that help us feel and perform at our best. She is a registered Interior Designer, a member of the International WELL Building Standard Faculty, and a part-time faculty member at Conestoga College. As founder and CEO of Niche for design she is focused on growing her team and their impact. She is fascinated by hybrid offices, flexible “coworking,” environments, and the opportunity to create connection and belonging in physical “office” spaces. Her next business venture is going to be an embodiment of this new work “experience”. Erika is sought out to speak and consult, based on her expertise in work environments, space planning, and especially wellness in the workspace. She believes that the spaces we spend time in have an enormous impact on our health and has made it her mission to help more people work in spaces that truly support their wellbeing.
You can connect with Niche for Design through their website, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or connect with Erika via LinkedIn.
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Erika and Julie discuss...
Erika's journey in interior design (00:02:22)
Erika discusses her childhood interest in space optimization and explains the shift in the purpose of office spaces.Growing a business and building a team (00:12:46)
Erika shares her experiences and strategies for growing her business, including her approach to taking maternity leave as an entrepreneur.The opportunity of stepping back (00:20:25)
Erika takes a step back as a CEO to focus on the bigger picture and plans her return to work.Workplace design and wellness (00:23:18)
Erika discusses the reasons why business leaders may not consider workplace design and the misconceptions about the role of designers.Reimagining office spaces (00:29:36)
Exploring alternate arrangements for office spaces. Erika describes how this shift in perspective on workplace design and wellness is not an extra but the most important aspect of a workspace. -
Julie 00:00:04 Welcome to Figure Eight, where we feature inspiring stories of women entrepreneurs who have grown their businesses to seven and eight figures revenue. If you are in the mix of growing a bigger business, these stories are for you. Join us as we explore where the tough spots are, how to overcome them, and how to prepare yourself for the next portion of the climb. I'm your host, Julie Ellis. I'm an author, entrepreneur, and a growth in leadership coach who co-founded, grew, and exited an eight figure business. This led me to exploring why some women achieve great things. And that led to my book, Big Gorgeous Goals. Let's explore the systems, processes, and people that help us grow our businesses to new heights. If you're interested in growing your business, this podcast will help. Now let's get going. Hello and welcome to this episode of figure eight. Today I'm talking with Erika MacKay, and Erika is a workspace wellness expert and an advocate for spaces that help us feel and perform at our best.
Julie 00:01:17 She's a registered interior designer, and she's really got a lot of experience in what I would say is the new workplace of today. So she's the founder and the CEO of niche for design, and right now she's focused on growing the impact of her team, the impact of her business and growing her team. She loves to be a part of working on hybrid offices and flexible co-working spaces, and the opportunity to have how we create connection in those spaces and how we create connection in a hybrid work environment. So her business venture is really about embodying with the new work experience looks like. I am excited to talk to her today and so welcome, Erika
Erika 00:02:03 Thank you so much for having me, Julie. I'm happy to be here.
Julie 00:02:07 Thanks. So why don't you tell me a little bit about how you started in interior design and then how you came to sort of niche into, the design area that you're in now?
Erika 00:02:22 Yeah. So I have always been interested, will say, bordering on obsessed, even as a child with how we can optimize space and kind of how the spaces we spend time in impact us and change the way we feel and how our day kind of functions.
Erika 00:02:39 To the point that I was that kid drawing floor plans and all of my notebooks in like elementary school and, just everywhere I was that that just seemed to be top of mind for whatever reason. And so as a kid, I thought I would be an architect was kind of my original plan. And then I discovered interior design and realized that that level of detail and intricacy in the built environment, and that focus on the interior spaces was really appealing to me. So I went to school for interior design and, worked in a few different areas of the industry. government worked for government, worked for an architect, did, some hospitality design hotels for a bit, which was a cool experience, and then started my company in 2012. And initially we like a lot of companies. I think we sort of did a bit of everything, which worked out well to start to get a feel of where we wanted to focus, but it became evident pretty early on that the the needs of a commercial client are different than a residential client, and we wanted to focus on that area.
Erika 00:03:40 That, coupled with some of my kind of family business experience in the office furniture world, kept pulling me back into workspace design. And it just workspaces. It's an area we spent, whether they're home or in a traditional office. It's a space that we spend a lot of time in typically, and it's a time in our lives where we're we're trying to really function optimally. And so I started to discover that there's a lot of ways that we can really intentionally impact through design, the way that our spaces support us, to help us be more productive, to help us be healthier, and to help us really just excel more in the work that we're trying to do. So that's kind of been the path that's taken us to this niche of specifically commercial design and workspace wellness. And there's actually a really well established building standard called the well building standard that some of your listeners may have heard of. It was developed by a kind of aligned group to the To Lead, which is a sustainability standard, but it focuses on human health.
Erika 00:04:44 It was established in 2016, I discovered it in 2018, and we were already kind of talking about this as being the way that we approach design, and so it just aligned so perfectly. And that has really, really been a lens that we've been continuing to develop and and build into the way we approach projects. So that's something I'm really passionate about. It makes a lot of sense for me and well gave us like the science behind it and, and all of that information, which is cool.
Julie 00:05:09 Well, and it's so interesting because I think back to, you know, when you went through, when I started working and coming in the through the first part of the 2000 and, you know, there was a lot of talk about ergonomics and how your desk was set up and, and, you know, for the health of your physical body. But what you're talking about really encompasses a lot more than that.
Erika 00:05:32 Yes, ergonomics is part of it, for sure. And we had so many conversations through the pandemic, especially about that.
Erika 00:05:39 So many people just kind of went home and sat at their dining room table in their Bed or on their couch, or even worse.
Erika 00:05:45 Yeah, okay. For a short period of time. You know, sometimes I like a change of scenery too, but it is not positive in terms of impact on our bodies to be doing that on a regular basis. So yeah, ergonomics is important, but there are a lot of other aspects. So things like lighting, for example, and access to natural light is one of the big ones. also looking at the purpose of the space and the layout of the space in terms of distractions. So being very intentional about how we're zoning things so that we don't have acoustical distractions or visual distractions to be dealing with. We've we've had a lot of instances where it's just things people don't think about. You know, who's walking by you when you're trying to focus and kind of coming into your peripheral vision and pulling your, your mind away from things.
Julie 00:06:33 Well, and I'm laughing as you say that, because I sit facing out the window to the street in front of my house.
Julie 00:06:39 So I see all my neighbors walking by with their dogs and all the things. And yes, I do have blinds, and I do make use of them because it does get distracting for sure.
Erika 00:06:49 Yeah, it's good that you can see outside. That's really there are some real significant values there, even from a stress management standpoint. There's research to suggest if we can view nature and be able to look up and see like out into the distance, into nature can be really beneficial. But yes, sometimes you need to be able to to pull the blind and do the focus. Yeah.
Julie 00:07:10 Oh that's so interesting. And it feels so I mean, it's funny to sit here in 2024 and think about how timely your vision was when you really started to go down the road and get well certified and all of those things, because I think the office environment is changing really quickly right now.
Erika 00:07:32 It is for sure. And there was a moment through the pandemic where it was really heavily focused on safety for good reason.
Erika 00:07:39 And so while actually followed along with that, with a lot of strategies around, you know, germ mitigation and air quality monitoring, and that's still a big part of, of well, in some of what we talked to with our clients. But it it's the office. The purpose of the office has just changed so much. This was starting a bit before the pandemic, but we've expedited it significantly over the last four years for sure. And it's just really that understanding that we don't need an office space for the tools anymore. We all have computers at home. We're not. We don't need access to the file cabinet or the photocopier. It's not about that anymore. It's about connection. That's really the point. And that's super valuable. And I think we're we're really just scientifically speaking, we're really just starting to understand the full breadth of that impact and how it can impact an organization at a really core level. And so companies are starting to look at like, what does that really mean? Because it's not a one size fits all situation, really.
Erika 00:08:43 You know, what does it mean for us? And even I find it very interesting. I've been reading a lot about companies who are fully remote. And yeah, and that can be a really wonderful thing from a staffing standpoint. Access to talent pool. There's lots of advantages to that, but some of the more successful ones have actually realized that there's so much value for their team to have some in-person interaction. That doesn't mean they need to go into an office every day, necessarily, or any of that, but they've gotten to the point where they've they've figured out, and it usually seems to mimic the 8020 rule, the Pareto principle, if you're familiar with that, around 20% of the time they try to be in person for something, right?
Julie 00:09:24 So so by in person, do you mean like opening a video call link where they all join or. No, actually physically in person?
Erika 00:09:32 Yeah. So even a lot of these companies are flying in their team members from all over the world to do like a one week, a quarter coworking week or or sometimes it's more like team building.
Erika 00:09:46 It can be a mix of things, depending on what kind of work they're doing and how collaborative it inherently is. But they're finding that that has, you know, having your team be connected gives them it helps with retention is the really obvious one, and it really impacts the way that they care for your clients, because they're kind of everyone's sort of working more in line with each other. so yeah, it's really interesting.
Julie 00:10:13 And I have read about, trust building among teams is increased in person.
Erika 00:10:21 And I'm, I'm a huge fan of hybrid. I mean, I'm working home right now. We work hybrid. yes. Yeah, yeah, I have I don't think I don't believe we ever need to go back just because connection is good to be in the office five days a week necessarily. There are some companies where maybe that makes sense, sure, but I think in a lot of cases it's really taking the opportunity to rethink, okay, we have all this space. Probably you don't need as much first of all.
Erika 00:10:43 So let's optimize it, look at it through the lens of maybe quality over quantity and also intentionality around what should my team be doing here that is valuable if they're all just sitting in their own cubicle not interacting with each other, that's not really utilizing what needs to happen in person. So how do you make what needs to happen facilitated?
Julie 00:11:06 Yeah. And that's where I think, like I've worked in offices that are all cubicles and everybody's, you know, in their little square. I have worked in an office that was entirely open and had no walls, which was not a good setup for me. I could not focus in that environment. too much to just too much visual stimulation as well as noise for me. And so it is that interesting part though now I think about offices being they're not all one or all the other, are they. They have like they have co-work space, they have private space, they have quiet time space, they have collision areas and all of the different sort of parts of how we.
Erika 00:11:49 Yeah, exactly. And it is it is a different solution from company to company, depending on how their team operates and what they're going to be doing in office. But at the end of the day, it's a mix of all of these different things. In some area, it might make sense to have some open areas so people can kind of collaborate. There's a reason that people choose sometimes to go work in a coffee shop. Sometimes that energy is good, especially if you're extroverted. But other times, we need to be able to hop on a zoom call in a quiet, non distracted area. And so ideally, if that's the kind of if that's the variety of tasks that are happening in your space, you want to have a space that supports that in a meaningful way. And yeah. Yeah. So it's it's pretty interesting.
Julie 00:12:32 Yeah. And what's it been like. So I mean you started the business in 2012 and in 2018 you kind of continued to sort of refine that focus. But what has it been like growing the business to this point?
Erika 00:12:46 Yeah, well, it's been, as with any entrepreneur for sure, a roller coaster of sorts.
Erika 00:12:53 But I kind of love that. as much as I'm a planner and I like to have the certainty of what's happening next and all of that, it is kind of the the strategy and the excitement behind those pivots that makes it interesting. So yeah, and I've built up a really amazing team. I kind of the first hire I made was sort of two hires at once, a designer, another designer, and an outsource bookkeeping and payroll person. It was like an exercise in understanding your strengths and what you want to be doing, and then also recognizing hiring someone, at least with the technical skills for design, was going to be most versatile to do the different tasks that were relevant for us at that time. And then, and then from there, it's it's been kind of gradually realizing it's not just about hiring on credit. It hasn't just been about hiring on credentials, but I've figured out more and more the importance of hiring based on like, attitude and the values and the alignment, and that over the years has been so impactful and so helpful for us because then, you know, I'm I'm not I don't like to micromanage and I don't need to because regardless, we have lots of processes and systems in place.
Erika 00:14:09 But even regardless of those, if everyone kind of has a clear understanding of what we're doing, how we want our clients to feel, you know what's important to us and to those clients. The process is kind of inherent for the most part.
Julie 00:14:25 Yeah. Yeah. Which is a really great way when you think about how you want to build a culture in an organization, it really is about the people that you bring to the table and put on the put on the bus to, use a use the term that's well known, and then you figure out what is the right seat for everybody.
Erika 00:14:43 Yes. Yeah we do. When you say seat two, we, we operate with iOS. So that that was a lot of the US stuff we were kind of already doing, but that was really a nice tightening and refinement. Bringing that in to.
Julie 00:14:54 Yes and iOS iOS takes that from good to great. So yeah. Yeah. Which is yeah. And I think it is interesting. And there are some jobs where you do need, you know, a, a base level of skills has to be present.
Julie 00:15:10 but there are so many things that you can teach for somebody that has the right sort of attitude.
Erika 00:15:15 Oh, yeah. There's always a base level of skills. But yeah, you can't teach attitude. Yeah.
Julie 00:15:23 Yeah. It's true. And so now you have, a nice, happy addition to your family that's coming along in a couple of months. And so one of the things that we got talking about was what it's like for entrepreneurs to take maternity leave. And I know you're thinking a lot about how you're going to do it and what you're going to do. And so I'm curious to for us to chat a little bit about that.
Erika 00:15:48 Yeah. Your timing is impeccable because I feel like just in the last few weeks, I'm actually wrapping my head around what the game plan is. So take some time, you know, and it's, I think different for every entrepreneur and depending on the way their business is structured. But this is my second. So I'm done with my second and August and my first was born right in the depths of the pandemic, for better and worse.
Erika 00:16:09 And so it was a different time then, you know, it was easier in some ways. Like no one really knew I was pregnant. We were only meeting virtually. So that's because you were seeing. Yeah seeing you in the square.
Erika 00:16:19 Yeah. So that was a very different experience from particularly on the like client and business development side of things. but as far as it relates operationally to what's happening, even the I wasn't it was easy for me to come back sooner in some ways because it was all virtual anyways. So I've really had to put some thought into making sure. My main goal is that I want to make sure my team feels like they're supported, and I'm not. I'm not disappearing. Obviously, you're never going to be 100% out, but having some clear expectation around what I will be able and willing to do and when. which is it's difficult and it's mainly be it's such an unpredictable thing. I don't know exactly what day I will be 100% off. Right. but we've we've, figured out kind of who's going to be filling in and parts of my role and when and, we'll be transitioning into that at the beginning of August.
Erika 00:17:21 So there's a bit of a buffer time to, to. So I'm still there, even though I'm not necessarily acting in in some of the capacities that I do day to day. And then, yeah, I mean, it's it's funny. It's so many people ask me about that. Our entrepreneurs especially asked me about that, like, oh, that's that's awful. Like, you don't get to really take a mat leave. And I think at some moments I've, I've felt a little bit of jealousy of like being able to take a typical one. But at the same time, I kind of like that I get to make it my own, and I, I don't know that I would want to be completely out. I need to be able to keep in it a little bit and keep myself excited and motivated about what we're doing next. And so, yeah, it's it's a process.
Julie 00:18:09 Well, and setting up a team, that you can step out and let them continue to run the business for the period of time that you want to take off is a job in itself.
Erika 00:18:23 It is for sure. and making sure that they're clear on what that looks like, like how much you're stepping out and when. I mean, I've, at various points, been more and less essential day to day just depending on where we're at with work loading and the team and everything. And and to be honest, that's been actually a really wonderful blessing in disguise sort of situation sometimes because it makes sure that you have a clear understanding of how all aspects of the business are operating. And so similarly, I'm I'm approaching it with my team to have similar value. You know, here's an opportunity to expand your role a little bit. And we can kind of see where this goes from here. And that might lead to to further growth and development for them on an individual basis and as a whole.
Julie 00:19:08 Yeah. And it's where I think you can also see the possibilities of, you know, if you want to think about is your business saleable? I mean, that's also a place where the, you know, the acquirer wants to know the business could run without you.
Julie 00:19:24 Right. So there are similar similarities in how you can think about things, but it is that interesting piece of like deciding what you want out of this time after you have the baby, and then figuring out how to set the business up so that you aren't sort of dragged back in, you know, you think you think you're at the end of the of the emails and the phone for the quick questions. But that can lead to, you know, kind of getting dragged back into the deep end too. So how you figure out what you want and set barriers and, and set people up for success also so that you can be out.
Erika 00:20:04 Yeah. And most entrepreneurs or most that I know anyways, that are building their business, scaling their business internationally and so forth, that is the goal. You want to be able to pull yourself out of the essential day to day stuff. So for me, this is a this is a good, we had a big staffing change earlier in the year that did pull me into some more day to day than I had been doing in months previous.
Erika 00:20:25 which was a good experience. But this is now my opportunity to figure out. Okay, is have we figured out a new way for me to pull out of this in the short term? And you're right, that is such an amazing opportunity to kind of test that. Like, you know, I'm 37 years old. I'm not retiring anytime soon. But I also think there's merit in giving me the ability to focus as CEO of the company on some of our bigger picture opportunities, the things that aren't necessarily the random phone call in the middle of the day so.
Julie 00:20:55 Well, and the strategic thought of, okay, I'm stepping out. How do I want to be when I come back? What do I want my role to look like? Because it's also like an opportunity of you don't have to step back in and do all the things you're doing right now.
Erika 00:21:12 Yes, exactly.
Julie 00:21:13 You have to plan for how you're not going to, but there is a real opportunity in that in terms of, you know, if you can hire the right team, download the work properly and get things working, then when you come back, what is the next realm of possibility that you want to explore?
Erika 00:21:31 Absolutely.
Erika 00:21:32 And you know, we we're always writing new processes and refining our processes. But what better way to motivate ourselves to really get things nailed down? You know, the the the more I can make sure everyone's clear on what they need to do in this process is good. The more I can kind of step out and focus a on myself and the baby, and then as I go back in and hopefully be able to, to do some of the more bigger picture, projects that that sometimes get backburner. Otherwise when you're pulled into day to day, you know.
Julie 00:22:03 Yeah. And you will I mean, I think the second that leave is different than the first one, like just from a family life perspective it's a busier and there's more moving parts and all of those pieces as well.
Erika 00:22:17 Yes, it is, and we're still working out the intricacies of it. But I'm also very lucky in that, we're not a two entrepreneur family, which sometimes is probably a cool thing also, but my husband is able to take some paternity leave too, and I'm so grateful that a we live in a time and a place where that is not only possible, but acceptable, like most of the men on his team have also taken some level of leave when their family is grown.
Erika 00:22:46 And I think that's just such an amazing, amazing opportunity to have. It's really a once in a lifetime or maybe a couple times in a lifetime opportunity, you know, so and, and kind of a new phenomenon even here.
Julie 00:23:00 No, I think that's really interesting. so let's talk a little bit more about sort of like workplace design and the link to health and wellbeing and how you are really working to make a difference for that.
Erika 00:23:18 Yeah, that's probably one of our I wouldn't say challenges, but one of our biggest focuses right now is how do we really continue to align our brand and our presence, but for the purpose of getting that messaging out and that awareness out to people, that you can really make a difference in your own individual work life and health by paying attention to the spaces you spend time in and then also helping leaders, business leaders understand how that can really be a tool for them to help elevate their team. Right. You know, we talk you hear so much about corporate wellness lately in general.
Erika 00:23:54 And that's a really broad category. And I think it's wonderful that that that's becoming more more of a prevalent priority for companies to really consider how the well-being of their team impacts their business in general and is a worthwhile initiative to to put some effort into. And so I think being able our focus and our, our thinking moving forward is, is how do we really fit the space into that conversation in a way that makes sense to people outside of our industry? It's easy for us to understand that, but it's something I find people really don't think about until you start talking and having the conversations, right?
Julie 00:24:31 Because they just take I mean, they just take for granted. The space is what it is. Do they not think about how they can shape it? Why do you think it is that they haven't kind of considered it?
Erika 00:24:47 I think there's a few reasons, I think. I think business leaders are, for lack of a better word, busy. Sometimes there's just a lot of competing priorities. And as much as I know that the space can support a lot of those priorities, like if there's a financial element of it, of course there's your retention and your HR element in the productivity of your team and your brand, like all of that kind of intersects.
Erika 00:25:11 And so I think it just it's just too low on the list sometimes until it has to be addressed. And so it's very common for us to be brought in on a project when someone's moving or renovating that seem that's fairly obvious, that someone would think to maybe reach out to someone like ourselves. But at the same time, there's also, Unfortunately, a bit of a, I'll say, a misconception or a stereotype in our industry that we bring in a designer and they're just going to try. They'll make a beautiful space, but they're going to make it complicated and expensive and all of this stuff and that. And that may be true in certain cases, I suppose, but that is very different than our approach and always has been very different from our approach. We really pride ourselves on being more like, yes, of course you want the space to be beautiful and that that in and of itself does have an impact, right? You we feel good when we walk into a space that's beautiful but beauty subjective.
Erika 00:26:01 So that's a pretty broad goal. and so really looking at, you know, beyond that, beauty is, is a function to an extent. But beyond that, how do we really create a space that's going to support a business in a meaningful way and is really going to provide something for their team that is beyond what they maybe is thinking or thinking is possible. And yeah, I there's most people are probably still kind of caught in that okay. We need x square feet per person or how many desks can I fit in here. And so I think there's a long way to go from an education standpoint on really broadening that, understanding that, yeah, you probably do need a space. It's very likely that it's the ideal scenario is not for what you're thinking. And so doing that deep dive and and that's kind of where we come in. We facilitate that a lot through feasibility studies and needs analysis projects to kind of help a company figure out what do we really need here. What does it look like?
Julie 00:27:06 Yeah.
Julie 00:27:06 And it's almost like then the the like the number of desks, the number of people meeting space. Like, those are more almost like the table stakes of the design. And then it's like, you know, what are the things that actually make the space well and beautiful and vibrant and all of those things, whatever that means to. But those are the things that they never thought about. It was really all the dry number cut and dried pieces before that were the all that was thought about.
Erika 00:27:40 You know. Yeah. And I think there's some, awareness to be had to eat for a lot of companies to even be open to that summer more than others, especially when you start really with the realization that you probably do could work with less space and less cost, or at least spending the cost in a more intense like spending the investment in a more intentional way on things your team actually cares about, not more cubicles.
Julie 00:28:04 So. So part of your education process then, is sort of teaching people that like what you're doing is not icing on the cake.
Julie 00:28:12 It's actually the cake. It's actually the most important thing that they need to be thinking about is that that space and the wellness aspect of it.
Erika 00:28:21 Yeah, yeah, that's a good way to put it. I like that, Julie.
Julie 00:28:24 Yeah. Well, just thinking that I think a lot of people probably thought that was the extra. Right. Like like that's been the, you know, but really now in today's environment it's actually the most important thing.
Erika 00:28:37 Yeah. For sure. And, and that the variety of what that means is a big part of why I think it can feel overwhelming to get into. And that's really where we can provide value. But there's lots of solutions, like even, even co-working. I think this is a big part of why co-working is, is gaining prevalence in some some industries in particular, because it gives people the some option. You know, you're not committing to a 10,000 square foot lease for ten plus years. You have some flexibility to grow. It's not coworking.
Erika 00:29:10 It's not just for startups anymore. And so I think there's a lot of opportunity for companies to look at alternate arrangements, such as co-working or offices that maybe don't look like offices, if that makes sense. And thinking about how how can space support your operations and kind of wipe the slate? Pretend offices didn't exist. What is it that you need? Call it whatever you want, but. Yeah.
Julie 00:29:36 Right. Which is that, like, interesting thing for people to wrap their minds around, right. Because offices are just I mean, you know, it's a function of how space has worked for decades.
Erika 00:29:51 Exactly. Yeah.
Julie 00:29:54 I think it's a really interesting place a little intersection to be at right now in terms of how quickly things have changed. And you know what the future looks like is different. And you know, as somebody who works from home and is also an extrovert, like co-working and coffee shops and like, those are all ways that I, you know, get out of, get out of the house.
Julie 00:30:19 And so I think for companies though, to create inviting spaces is what will get their workers to want to be coming into the office and that the human connection and the collisions that happen and all of the things that are there.
Erika 00:30:33 Absolutely. And there's a programming piece to that too, which is one of the things I love about. Well, it's actually there's actually a large HR and operations component to the well building standard for exactly that reason. It's kind of getting everybody at the table, making sure we understand high level what's needed and are able to accommodate that. Yeah.
Julie 00:30:49 And so what's next for niche for design. What's next for you? How do you see the business in the future.
Erika 00:30:56 Yeah for sure. So you know, in a in a roundabout way, I'm excited that having this baby coming in August is pulling me out of the day to day in a in a forced manner, But that, I'm hoping, will, bring me back to working on some of our bigger picture projects. We've we've talked a lot about, we have we're working on a project to open kind of an experience space to help people understand more of what is possible in the office, because a barrier we often see, similar to what you and I have talked about, is that it's hard to even imagine what else is possible, because we only know what we've seen for offices.
Erika 00:31:33 So we've we were hoping to look into that, that project as an alignment to the brand and then just generally being able to be more visible and get the word out there about the opportunity, really, that exists for companies to kind of look at wellness, look at space as part of their wellness approach. one of the I forgot where I read this, this statistic. I think it might have been a, well, thing, but, you know, if you if you look at corporate wellness initiatives, if you're well, certifying or really doing anything to really factor in wellness into the space and people are there, you have an inherent 100% participation in that. Right. And so that's that's a big opportunity in and of itself. And so really helping people understand how to capitalize on that. And and looking at our service offering and providing different ways to help businesses do that, whether or not they're taking on a big rhino, it doesn't necessarily need to be that there's there are many ways that you can look through the lens of wellness and optimization in making some modifications.
Erika 00:32:38 It doesn't necessarily mean you're moving or doing anything drastic. So yeah.
Julie 00:32:43 Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, getting your getting word out into the world. And I think having a lab kind of space would be really interesting for people to go and see and break down their sort of preconceived notions of what it can be.
Erika 00:32:56 Yeah, for sure. And I think there's some really interesting kind of research and case study opportunities we can do with that. So it's been something we've been working on in the background. It's kind of coming together. yeah. So watch for that for sure.
Julie 00:33:08 Yeah, Definitely. Well, I think you're really on the edge of, like, what the modern workplace is, you know, forming up to look like. And it will be a really interesting journey for you now as you come back and start to really grow this business.
Erika 00:33:24 Thank you Julie.
Julie 00:33:26 It's good. Well, thank you so much for joining me today. I really appreciate it. We had a great conversation and I look forward to checking in with you and hearing how baby and the Mat leave go! Wish you all the best.
Erika 00:33:40 Thank you so much. Yes. Okay.
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