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?
Ans: Cottage Home Company prides itself on the principle of “right sized design.” Whether it is a 1700 square foot Cottage or a 5000 square foot Estate Home, every square foot in a design has a purpose in relation to how each client lives. Gone are the days of wasted space or rooms we don’t actually ever use.
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)?
Ans: Bill spent over 17 years with large residential building companies and community developers before starting his company. Most recently, he served as Vice President–Operations at The St. Joe Company in Jacksonville, FL. He has been responsible for the oversight of the building of thousands of homes in the state of Florida. His intense focus on operations and customer satisfaction has helped communities such as Weston, FL garner numerous awards over the years. He is a hands-on owner, taking pride in making frequent visits to every jobsite and engages with each customer through the homebuilding experience.
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?
Ans: Bill & Liz began Cottage Home Company with a burning desire to create a different kind of Custom Homebuilding Company, one that was based on a real passion for good design and focused on how families really live in their homes today. The goal was neither to be the biggest builder, nor to brag about how many closings they had per year. Instead, their goal was really simple – “Create beautiful, inspiring places for families to live, places we could be proud to say we built.”
Q: What three pieces of advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs?
Ans: Don’t be afraid to work for your dream, take action!, Dont be in love with the goal, be in love with the process.
Q: What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
Ans: Drive, passion, and patience
Q: How many hours do you work a day on average?
Ans: 60
Q: To what do you most attribute your success?
Ans: Loving what I do and having that show in the work we do for our clients.
Q: How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?
Ans: Referrals and digital marketing
Q: Where did your organizations funding/capital come from and how did you go about getting it?
Ans: How did you obtain investors for your venture? We were self funded
Q: What is the best way to achieve long-term success?
Ans: Patience and the ability to adjust to what the market wants, not what you want.
Q: Where you see yourself and your business in 5 – 10 years?
Ans: Still building homes that people and families love to live in.
Q: Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?
Ans: Amazon, I cant think of any other business that has grown and become such a backbone of so many consumers in the amount of time that they did it.
Q: How important have good employees been to your success?
Ans: They are very important. Good employees make a good company great.
Q: What motivates you?
Ans: The smiles and joy that our homes bring families every day.
Q: How do you generate new ideas?
Ans: We get a lot of ideas and inspiration from our clients, but also from trade shows and paying attention to home building trends.
Q: How do you build a successful customer base?
Ans: Put out a quality product and genuinely care about your clients.
Q: What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur?
Ans: Being able to do something that I love to do every single day.
Q: What kind of culture exists in your organization? How did you establish this tone and why did you institute this particular type of culture?
Ans: In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur. Hectic
Q: How has being an entrepreneur affected your family life?
Ans: My wife works with me and I couldnt imagine running this business without her.