Community Highlights: Meet Amanda Garcia of A Vintage Life Design

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Garcia.

Hi Amanda, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
When people ask me how I got started in this business, I always have a hard time picking a starting point, because so many things have led me to where I am at. The most significant point was probably when I was teaching elementary school, so I will begin there.

I taught for 10 years in public education, and as much as I loved working with my students and helping them learn and grow, there was so much more to the job than just that, and it was quite exhausting. I had the degree, I had the monthly paycheck (albeit somewhat small), I had insurance and stability- so the idea of starting over seemed impossible.

I have always had a passion for vintage and antique items as well as decorating and creating spaces for different seasons and themes, so in 2017, I decided to start a side gig selling vintage items. I called it A Vintage Life. I had a lot of fun with this, setting up at antique shows and I even had a booth at an antique mall for a while. I did this for a little over a year then decided to take a break from it for a bit. I knew there was something bigger I was meant to do, but just couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I continued to teach until I had my little one (now 3) in September of 2018.

The plan was for me to do my maternity leave and then head back to work… but like many teachers, parents, and administrators had warned me, that was not as easy to do as it had seemed it would be. Leaving teaching was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done, even though it was also quite a relief as well as a blessing that I was able to stay home with my little one. Though my husband worked in real estate and was doing well enough to support us, the idea of not making my own income terrified me. I am not someone who can sit still for long and always need to feel like I am accomplishing something bigger.

I absolutely loved the idea of getting to spend time with my little girl and watch her grow, and I also still had the itch to do something more. I had tossed the idea of interior decorating over and over in my head, but it seemed too unrealistic. Who would actually hire me to decorate for them with no professional experience? I finally realized though- you will never know if you don’t try. So I decided to start small by doing staging for some agents. I figured this would be easy since my husband was an agent- not the case. I can’t tell you how many texts, posts, phone calls, e-mails, office visits, etc. I made it before I even got my first gig. Luckily, I’d reached out to enough people that when a team was looking for a stager, everyone pointed them in my direction!

I began doing some staging for this team in early 2019 and I really enjoyed it, always including a bit of vintage flair in the setup whether it be old books, antique candle holders, or a small antiqued accent table. As word got out that I did staging, I started doing it for other agents and teams as well- always with my little one in tow. At the end of that year the team I had started staging for asked me if I would be interested in setting up their short-term rental (STR) investment properties for them. I really had no idea what I was signing up for, but it was an exciting opportunity so I said Sure, why not!?

This was definitely more of an undertaking than I realized and it took me a while to get my feet underneath me! Eventually, as I grew a better understanding of what this job required, I realized I needed an assistant to help with some of the tasks. I went through several people trying to find someone who was able to handle the different hours, locations, and amount of work required. These people all taught me different things and helped me have a better grasp of how to get things done. It took until 2021 to find my current (and fabulous) assistant, Emily Freer who (along with her husband Anthony) does a great job of helping get properties put together and complete by our deadlines. 2021 was a big year for the company I now call A Vintage Life Design Co. (wanting to keep my vintage roots in there and still throw that vintage flare in when possible)!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Overall, I would say the benefits have greatly outweighed the challenges… but it has definitely been a bumpy ride!  I think some of the biggest obstacles I faced were leaving my job as a teacher, breaking through the barrier of getting the business name out there to get started, and overcoming self-doubt. Leaving my teaching job was so hard since I had so much time already invested in the career, a master’s degree in education, steady income, and insurance- to walk away from that was pretty scary, but I definitely felt like it was time.

When it came to getting the business name out, there were several times I wondered what I was doing and if it would ever go anywhere. I would be pushing my little one in the stroller around the neighborhood and making calls to agents to try to stir up business! And self-doubt- I think is somewhat inevitable when starting your own business, this just takes time and acknowledgement of small victories to work through.

There were many times I thought “I must be crazy to think I can do this!” I’m glad those obstacles weren’t enough to stop me.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We specialize in interior decorating with a huge emphasis on setting up short-term rental investment properties (Airbnb, etc.) for investors. I think the main thing that sets us apart from others is our open communication and transparency. We are always very honest and upfront about things going on with the properties we are working on- especially since many of our investor clients are out of state.

We share all documents, receipts, expenses, etc. through Google Drive and upload them very shortly after any purchases are made so that investors always know what is being spent and where we are at budget-wise. As a brand, I am so proud of the fact that there are so many people affected by our work- not just the investors, but all the many, many guests that have stayed in the properties we have set up as well.

We also expanded to Charlotte in 2021 and had decorators who helped furnish properties in Charlotte, Rock Hill, SC, Black Mountain, and Bryson City for that branch! We currently have our head decorator there- Katrina Carter who takes on new projects! We are looking to do more expanding for that branch as well! We also stopped doing staging for listings in 2021 as we were so booked with STRs.

We ended the year helping furnish 35 short-term rentals in North and South Carolina! Our goals in 2022 include releasing a course that will help walk investors through setting up a short term rental on their own anywhere in the United States (this will allow us to help investors that we could never have reached in the past), keeping up our Fayetteville branch, grow our Charlotte branch, and also hopefully expand to the Raleigh area!

I would love for readers to know that we are here and we can help with interior decorating needs! As I mentioned earlier, we would love to expand to the Raleigh area as well, so if you are looking for these types of services OR if you are interested in being a decorator with us (in Raleigh, Fayetteville, or Charlotte), we would love to hear from you!

Who else deserves credit in your story?
First off, my husband, Ruben Garcia, who is always there to remind me that I can do this thing even when things get hard and I doubt myself! My fabulous assistant, Emily Freer (and her husband Anthony), who always jumps in to help finish or complete things when something comes up and make sure we meet our deadlines!

My head decorator in the Charlotte branch, Katrina Carter, does a great job reaching out to investors, keeping up with communication and doing a beautiful job on properties! And of course, the Five Pillars Team, who gave me my start with staging and STRs and continue to send referrals our way!

To all my friends and Boss Babes (fellow female entrepreneurs/business women) who have been there to support me throughout this process, thank you!!

Contact Info:

• Email: avintagelifedesignco@gmail.com
• Website: linktr.ee/avintagelifedesignco
• Instagram: instagram.com/avintagelifedesignco
• Facebook: facebook.com/avintagelifedesignco
• Other: vm.tiktok.com/TTPdkuo55H/

Image Credits
Sarah Barnett Photography and Teresa at Broken Crayon Photography