Barbara Viteri is a fast rising entrepreneur in the interior design industry. Her company Viteri Style Management provides practical business management solutions for the modern day working designer. This girl means business. Her straight talk, unfiltered opinions and hilarious personality has clients and even competitors, wanting her unique style of management advice. So we asked her to share the goods with us and she delivered! Take it away, Barbara!
I’m a firm believer you can run a multi-million dollar business from a tote bag. With technology these days you can practically run it from your cellphone alone. Part of my job is to smoothly transition my clients into a cloud-base run operation with the ultimate goal to work remotely from any place in the world. Designers are most inspired by what they experience when they travel. But whether you are traveling around the globe are just a few blocks from your house, a girl does need a few essential items to keep running her empire on the go. Here is what I recommend to my peeps and what’s in my bag:
How I’m Styling
I’ll be damned if I had to rule the world everyday with those airport roller carry-ons. I like to roll in style with a versatile handbag that is easy to clean, can securely hold my important on the move items and looks fab with every outfit change. My girlfriend, who owns a fantastic accessories boutique called Pippy&Lily, hooked me up with this great bag. It’s sized perfectly and has just the right amount of pockets, including one just for my tablet. Life changing.
Never Leave Home Without It
No surprise I could never leave behind my Galaxy Note 2 smartphone. I run the VSM show off this baby. I also stock up on a few color cases that can hold money, credit cards and photos of my babies for when I leave the bag at home and hit the parties or red carpet events. Sometimes the bag can cramp your style like carrying a big stuff animal at an amusement park. With this, I’m literally covered.
Smile
Even though I could use my phone to write a book as it does have an S Pen, I am old school and must have notebooks. I love the smiley face with pen recycled Italian leather notebooks from Fiorentina. I give them as holiday gifts to all my clients and I swear by them. I actually use all the colors as each notebook for me is categorized for something. The black one is always in my tote ready for me to jot down my next big idea.
Keeping Tradition Alive
I love handwritten notes. I’m an advocate to keep this tradition alive. My client gave me these awesome gift tag size notecards from Kate Spade that are perfect to carry everywhere. If I’m waiting in line at the bank or at the grocery store checkout, I’m usually writing a quick thank you note to someone and mailing it out as soon as I leave the place. This also means I have a sheet of pretty stamps on hand as well. I know that special feeling when I get a personal handwritten note and that’s why I make sure I keep these fully stocked to send that same special feeling to someone else. Trust me it matters.
Be Prepared Always and in All Ways
I’m a mother of two and also take care of my two elderly parents. There are days I feel like I am Macgyver (geez, I just dated myself). Basically I have to be prepared for anything. The boo boos, ripped hems, untamed eyebrows and the headaches this all brings when you can’t bring the bathroom medicine cabinet with you. I love the “Shemergency” bags available now. Pre-packed in a variety of cute cases that fits the palm of your hands, I’ve been bailed out by the deodorant towelettes when getting ready to meet high profile people in life changing opportunity meetings. Big fav of mine and must have.
Just A Little Bit Makes A Big Difference
Believe it or not, I am not a girly-girl. I hate make-up. Yet we girls will feel the need to bring a backpack of every piece of makeup we bought from the department store. Again, having the best clients, I got this awesome tint makeup from Tori Burch. You can put it on your lips and cheeks. No more smacking your face when you forget you’re the blush. A little dab goes a long way.
Please Don’t Talk Dirty, I Can Smell It
Need I state the obvious why mints should be a must carry? I don’t care about the brands, but I stock up on what I can get. Don’t take offense when I offer you a mint multiple times. It’s mainly because I eat them like they were my last supper. You see I get a lot of people who want to “pick my brain” which is fine, but I need to get a meal out of this deal to make it worth my time. So hence the mints are part of the appetizers. But seriously, I’ve turned down future hires based off of this missed detail when talking to people. Don’t let your second impression ruin your first with bad breath. It’s not a good look.
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Photo Credit: Alan Barnett