Q. Kindly give our readers an introduction to your business. Please include what your business is all about, in which city you are located and if you have offices in multiple locations/ cities.
A. John Nanke Signature Group is a collective of the finest local artists, designers and craftsmen that specialize in high-end, luxury architecture and interior design. We are located in Prescott, AZ, but service Arizona in its entirety.
Q. Kindly give us a brief description about yourself (it should include your brief educational or entrepreneurial background and list some of your major achievements).
A. My educational career is an interesting one. I began my education with majoring in the fine arts, but then I decided not to pursue that. I switched my major to fashion design, and while I met some incredible people and had a great experience, I just decided to stop for other reasons.
Q. What inspired you to (start a new business venture) or (to make significant changes in an existing business)? How did the idea for your business come about?
A. While I was figuring out what I wanted to do, I decided to join the family business as a consultant. It was still creative and applied some sort of design, right? That’s when I began discovering who I was. While I love luxury architecture and home design, I am currently applying my creative eye in creating a fashion label.
Q. What three pieces of advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs?
A. Don’t be afraid to just step out and do it. For the longest time, I held myself back with the assumptions of how to do it. The most important thing is to surround yourself with people that inspire you. Then just go for it.
Q. What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
A. Leadership. Work in different positions to develop trades. Also, communication is key because you can’t do it on your own. Lastly, I think that being creative is essential. Having a creative sense is what brings ideas to life.
Q. How many hours do you work a day on average?
A. Oh boy. I would say close to 12 hours!
Q. To what do you most attribute your success?
A. A lot of it, I would have to say is my family. Their encouragement, their support and the opportunity they’ve given me to be a part of design, home décor and fashion.
Q. How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?
A. Marketing is a relatively new thing. It’s been mostly a referral based business and it wasn’t until after the recession that people started thinking about marketing. Internet marketing is huge now. The greatest way to connect with people is through social media, we’ve been discovered by people in France and the Middle East. Hands down, online and social media.
Q. Where did your organizations funding/capital come from and how did you go about getting it? How did you obtain investors for your venture?
A. Nope, no investors! We are the investors.
Q. What is the best way to achieve long-term success?
A. Taking it one step at a time. Break down the bigger picture into pieces. Until you have the little details in place, the vision is incomplete.
Q. Where you see yourself and your business in 5 – 10 years?
A. I see myself being able to just be focused on home design, interior design, home décor design and running my fashion label as part of the Nanke Group. Fashion label will be focused on high end couture!
Q. Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?
A. From the fashion perspective and artistic eye, I have always had a fascination with Alexander McQueen. He started from nothing and managed to surmount to his success by pure creativity, drive and determination. From the business perspective, I’ve always admired Giorgio Armani. The way he went about doing things, targeting high-end luxury and developing a name for his quality and being able to create sub divisions and diversify his company are all things I admire.
About John Nanke Signature Group: The vision of this group is to design and build the finest commercial and residential buildings in Sedona Arizona, and the newly developing Southwest. John Nanke is one of the oldest companies, around since 1948. They are a design/build firm, so they do both architecture and construction.
