Today we’d like to introduce you to Browning and Lauren Vaughn.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I (Browning) worked in San Francisco for Joanna Teplin (co-founder of The Home Edit) following my graduation from the University of Texas. Joanna owned a personal concierge company in which home & office organization was the largest part of what we did. After four years in San Francisco, I moved back to Dallas to pursue my MBA at SMU.
Lauren worked for Goldman Sachs for almost eight years following her graduation from Vanderbilt University. In 2018, she married Browning’s brother and began running the back office at her dad’s plastic surgery practice.
With my background in organization and Lauren’s innate ability to organize, my brother suggested we look into starting our own company. Once the seed was planted, Lauren and I were off to the races and haven’t looked back!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I don’t think it’s ever a smooth road when starting a new business – and we knew that going into it! Because neither of us had any experience starting a business, we had to figure out the ins & outs of what it takes to just get off the ground. We relied heavily on those around us for advice and recommendations. We also wanted to keep overhead as low as possible so there were a lot of tasks we took on ourselves, such a building our website.
Beyond building the foundation of the company, Lauren and I had never worked together. Before going on any projects, we organized our own houses together to figure out our plan of attack and what the process would look like. We learned that we actually have two very different approaches to work – neither right or wrong, but we had to figure out how to understand and respect the way the other person works.
The biggest challenge has been finding the best ways to spread the word about Life Refined! As I mentioned, we’ve tried to keep our overhead as low as possible so we didn’t want to spend a bunch of money on marketing. The people I am most grateful for are the clients who took a chance and hired us with little to no references. Without them, we wouldn’t be where we are today. Lauren and I look back on those first months of projects and laugh at how little we knew.
We continue to have obstacles, and we always will. Good things don’t come easily and every day is a learning opportunity.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Life Refined – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Life Refined is a professional organization company. We mostly work in homes but have organized a few office spaces as well. We will organize any space you want us to – from pantries to playrooms to storage units! The most common spaces clients want organized are pantries and master closets.
There are so many organization companies in Dallas, so we try to set ourselves apart by tailoring the service to our clients and being as transparent as possible. We begin every project with a consultation where we see the space, take measurements & photos and discuss the client’s habits/goals/etc. At the end of the day, the client is the one who has to live in their space, so we want to make sure our system works for them. We are also extremely transparent with our pricing. We send our client’s a very detailed proposal with the items we plan to bring, the estimated timing for each space and the quote. We give the opportunity to say yay or nay before we even begin so they don’t get themselves into a number they aren’t comfortable with.
Nothing makes us happier than the smiles on our client’s faces when they come home to an organized house. We love the texts and emails expressing gratitude. The other day, we had a client reach out to say they showed off their closet to friends for the first time since moving into their new house (6 months ago). These moments are why we do what we do.
We haven’t had a week off since 2020 began and that brings us a lot of pride. For the little marketing we’ve done and being in business for less than a year, we have stayed incredibly busy and I believe that’s a testament to the work we’re doing. Word of mouth is the biggest compliment for us and that is exactly how we get most of our business.
If you had to start over, what would you have done differently?
Oh man – tough question! To be perfectly honest, I don’t think I would do anything differently. It hasn’t always been easy but, in those difficult moments, we learn the most which helps us do better next time. I wouldn’t take back any lessons I’ve learned over the last year because they have not only made the business better, but they have made us better as individuals.
Pricing:
- Shopping/returns/donations fee: $60/space
- 1 hour of organization: $150 for a team of two
Contact Info:
- Website: www.liferefinedco.com
- Email: hello@liferefinedco.com
- Instagram: liferefinedco
- Facebook: liferefinedco
Image Credit:
Hina Surani
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