The Everyday Entrepreneur with Gregory Marinelli: Finding Your Superpower and Cashing In

my monthly interview series of real stories that inspire and teach about business ownership.

Today I’m sitting down with my dear pal Gregory to chat about his incredible career from architecture and design, to teaching, to designing dentists’ offices, and then selling and design luxury homes. Today he’s created his dream job as his own boss in a very niche career as a realtor slash designer for the high-end residential market in Orange County, CA.

Gregory is the type of casual cool that will either have you wishing you were him or wishing you were his best friend. Either way, that makes him the perfect candidate for this new segment of mine, the Everyday Entrepreneur. 

As a third-generation homebuilder, Gregory grew up swinging a hammer. His grandfather, father, and uncles bestowed upon him their master building skills and inspired his passion for design + real estate. Gregory holds a Master of Interior Architecture & Design from Marywood University and has been involved in real estate development for over two decades.

In 2009, his first residential design firm was created, with a focus on historic preservation. In 2014, he moved to Orange County, CA and took on a position as a designer with a focus on private practice dental offices. This opened several doors for him to travel nationwide and speak as an industry expert. 

In 2018, Gregory became the lead designer on a new luxury home in Irvine which fueled the growth of his design firm and its new division specializing in the luxury design market.

Gregory has also held leadership roles within the International Interior Design Association and acted as Chair of the School of Design for ITT Tech.

The culmination of his experiences resulted in his desire to become a Realtor and offer full-service accommodations of design and sales to his clients in the luxury residential market of Orange County, CA.

When not working, he enjoys walks on Laguna Beach, hikes and travels with his partner and their two dogs. And if you’re anything like me, you’re probably about ready to settle for being one of Gregory’s dogs at the end of reading all that. If nothing else, just to see the inside of his undoubtedly beautiful home.

gregory marinelli

Holly: Welcome, Gregory! I'm so excited for you to share your journey with everyone today. You’ve been on quite the journey as you’ve gone from being an employee to an entrepreneur.  

Gregory: I'm excited to be here, so thank you. I have been your audience for the past couple of years since you went live with your brand and congratulations to you as well. It's been really awesome to watch you grow.

Holly: Thank you. And on that note, let's dive in.  When I lived in Orange County I recall many of our conversations when we were both working at jobs as employees. I recall that we both had the desire to make a change and do more fulfilling work by starting businesses. 

Holly: So tell me a little bit about what made you switch from employee to owning a business.

Gregory:  I've always loved the actual work I was doing, so making this transition was a bit of a struggle. It was that most often I didn’t like who I was working for, and sometimes who I was working with.

When I was an interior architect and designer I loved this role, loved working with clients, and enjoyed the whole process. When I had my sales gigs, those were also fun. I got to entertain clients and work with great people. But again, the company was the holdup.

Yet I was able to instill so many strategies into my own business from my learnings at corporate jobs. I’ve definitely been able to apply strategies on how to get more business while running my existing business at the same time. 

Holly: Tell us more about your new business… what is it that you do?

Gregory: My business is very dynamic as it incorporates design and real estate into an all-inclusive service that empowers my clients on their journey. The real estate development team creates space plans and interior design concepts that help our clients to make informed decisions, often determining the success of their business investment.  The residential sales and design team aims to guide clients that are selling and/or buying a home.  Sellers received success strategies to prepare and market their home to get the highest price. Buyers receive support as we guide them to find their dream home for the lowest price and then we customize the design of their new home. This is all sensitive territory because these are three areas of someone’s life that you should not interfere with: home, money and family. And I get to influence all three!

It’s a culmination of everything I loved doing at my previous jobs. So I decided, why not do that on my own

Holly: So even though you loved doing the work in your 9 to 5, it wasn't your ideal situation. And yet you still gained so much value from that experience.

Gregory: Yes! If I can give any advice to someone sitting at their desk right now who has an idea, concept, or even a side hustle that they want to make their full time hustle, my advice would be to ask yourself - do you like doing what you do?  And would you like to do this full time as a business owner? 

And if the answer is yes and the market is out there, then why not just do it.

Holly: So let's talk about that. During my time as an employee I often heard from others, “why don’t you just start your business (already)?”

But I had no clue how. I didn’t come from a long line of entrepreneurs nor did I have a large network of other business owners that I could tap into for advice. I didn’t have the confidence or wherewithal of what to do when it came to starting a business. 

Holly: What was the catalyst that made you decide, “Okay, I'm finally going to start my business.”?

Gregory:  I didn't come from a long line of family entrepreneurs, either. I mean, we had a few small businesses here and there. I learned to model successful people.  And I read the most amazing book this year that I wish I would have read 10 years ago - Rich Dad, Poor Dad. 

Holly: That book is a game changer!

Gregory: Yes. So I've pretty much always had a side hustle which was my passion. For example, when I was working full time I was teaching part time, when I was designing full time I was maybe designing part time for my own clients as well.

But in 2018 I had a sales position that just felt wrong. 

My amazing boss at the time noticed that I was struggling, not only with my numbers, but also personally. I had moved to a new city for this role which was a major life change. 

I found the role itself very stressful. Here I was, a creative person in a role that needed someone who was old school. Someone who kind of followed the typical success strategies for a sales gig and that just wasn't me.

Gregory: So my former boss and I had a heart to heart. He explained to me that he was very proud of me for trying so hard to make the role work, and he was going to offer me a great severance to ease a transition out of the company. 

When he said that, I thought, “Oh, man. It's happening again. I am getting fired. This is the world talking to me.

And I emotionally, physically, and mentally released and I literally cried at the lunch table. My boss was very understanding of exactly what those tears meant - rather than sadness, we both knew they were joy. They were happy tears of relief to be released from something that wasn't working.

Holly: You now could be true to yourself. What a freeing feeling.  It’s so important to listen to our intuition and then take action because the longer we ignore it, the more we suffer. 

Gregory: That's right. And there are clients who want what we uniquely have to offer.

Holly: Yes, exactly. What we as individuals offer is our most competitive business advantage. As you know, there are millions of realtors out there, but there's only one Gregory Marinelli. And no matter how hard someone tries to replicate what you do, it's physically impossible. 

I always want my clients and my audience to know that your most competitive advantage is YOU.

Gregory: Right, because if it's not you, it's going to be someone else. So why not make it for you.

Holly: You mentioned, this has been a major year of lessons. What is the biggest lesson that you've learned this year when it comes to your business? 

Gregory: My gosh, so many lessons from 2019. One of my biggest mistakes, and I say this with love, is that I once tried to do a similar business with a business partner. 

I blurred the lines and was good until it got messy.  If I were to give advice to anyone going into business with a friend it would be to make sure there are clear distinctions of rules and a clear distinction between the friendship zone and the work zone. 

Continuing education has been a lesson this year. I had an incredible opportunity to become a certified master practitioner of NLP, Neuro Linguistic Programming. After over 250 hours of training I received my certification as a master practitioner of NLP, hypnosis, and mental and emotional release.

What prompted this training was I had many limiting beliefs in the past. And that's why I was sitting at a desk and not working for myself sooner.

Holly: Knowledge is one of the best gifts you can give yourself. Is there anything that we didn't cover today that you want folks to know? 

Gregory: Just go out and take the first step. Because after you take the first step, it gets easier. Then take the second step. And soon the steps turn into a stride and you just keep moving forward and forward. 

Holly: Love it. However small and insignificant, I agree, take the first step. 

Holly: Now where can people find you online? 

Gregory: GregoryMarinelli.com is my home base for everything - designs, real estate, and all my social media profiles are listed there. Instagram is @gregorymarinelli or @RefinedDesignOC. 

Holly: And I love, love, love a good book! What’s your top book recommendation?

Gregory: Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman​. It allowed me to better understand the Platinum rule: Treat others how they would like to be treated.

Holly: And on that note, thank you so much for sharing your story today. I wish you all the success in 2020 and I can’t wait to see where your business takes you. Thank you, Gregory.

Gregory: Thanks, Holly.

Gregory is so easy to talk to and has so much wisdom about listening to your gut and following your passions as soon as possible. As we discussed in our interview, if there is something in your life that you can easily point your finger to and say “I love doing that and I’m dang good at it”, it might be time to take that first little baby step towards starting your hustle. 

YOU are your biggest competitive advantage in business. Your experiences, your glowing personality, and that big gorgeous brain of yours. So don’t hold back! You never know if your big break is right around the corner. 

Holly works with professionals to create services-based businesses using expertise and strengths they already have. Holly is the creator of The Consultant Code, a program will have you up, running, and profitable with your services-based business in 60 days or less! Want to learn more? Drop her a note at: holly@hollyknoll.com