We had the good fortune of connecting with Mandy Lehman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mandy, how do you think about risk?

From my experience, the saying “with great risk comes great reward” has proven true.

I started MANMAN Studios after being laid off from a small agency that was tanking. After now 9 years of running my own biz, I still feel so much joy getting to do what I love every day, feeling challenged in ways I never would have at an agency, nuturing real relationships with my clients and watching my income match my effort (vs having to wait for years on that raise or promotion that I know I deserve).

The 1890 Bricky House (@the1890brickyhouse on IG) was a dilapidated house everyone felt needed too much work. I knew it was a diamond in the rough the first time I walked into it (and Dayton, Ky as a neighborhood too). After we remodeled it, we were featured on a historic home tour where 400 people walked through our house in one day. Even though I had no prior interior design experience, so many people reached out after that day to ask me to design their spaces that I ended up giving it a shot and 7 years later, interior design now makes up 1/2 of MANMAN Studios services.

I also like to take risks with my side hustles. I’ll try any new idea I have for a business as long as my business’ main sources of income are steady. If they start to falter, I halt new ideas until it’s stable again.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

I’m a graphic designer (20 years experience) and interior designer (7 years experience). With graphic design, I’ve worked with bigcos like Nike, Heinz, Anheuser-Busch, Jim Beam, etc as well as start-ups and non-profits from all over the country. With interior design, I focus mainly on designing airbnbs but love designing businesses/coffee shops/restaurants and even throw in a homeowner project once in a while!

Starting your own business is not easy. You are wearing all of the hats, responsible for every part of it. When I started mine, I’d been at 3 agencies in a row that I felt were not giving me enough responsibility and I felt bored with the lack of challenge. So taking on all of these extra responsibilities of a self-owned co was fun to me. Still, no matter where/who I’m working for, I’ve always been a 110% effort employee. When it became my own business I was doing that for, I found I reaped so many benefits from this mindset and work ethic. And I LOVED getting to give myself a raise simply by saying so haha.

What I’ve noticed is that it comes down to how hard you want to work for your dreams. And not many people do want to work that hard so you won’t have a lot of competition if you decide to! I meet tons of people who have the talent but they don’t have the self discipline and the work ethic (can’t self-motivate, aren’t persistent, act entitled to more than they deserve at their current experience level, aren’t appreciative of those who stick their neck out for them, don’t communicate well, don’t give credit where it’s due, etc). There’s SO MUCH talent out there but good work ethic, it’s few and far between.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

There’s so many places we could go in a week! Here’s what I would suggest for 5 categories (coffee shops, restaurants, bars, sight-seeing/activities, shopping).

COFFEE SHOPS
Unataza
Roebling Book Cafe
Sitwell’s
Coffee Emporium (downtown)
Avenue Brew

RESTAURANTS
Pepp & Delores
Amol India
Condados
Skyline
Adriatico’s

BARS
MOTR
Tokyo Kitty
Tiki Tiki Bang Bang
Somerset
PINS Mechanical

SIGHT-SEEING
Covington Riverwalk
Devou Park overlook
Krohn Conservatory
21C Art Museum
FCC Soccer Pregame & Game

SHOPPING
Riverside Antique Mall
Coda.co
Handzy
Native One
Ohio Valley Antique Mall

WHERE TO STAY
@the1890brickyhouse airbnb
@theneatsuites Pickle Factory

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to dedicate this shoutout section to one of my professors in college, Thom Davie. He now works at Nestle in Cleveland but used to teach at Northern Kentucky University as a graphic design professor.

I always felt like more of an artist than a designer in college, and it wasn’t until Thom showed me how to use my fine art sensibilities to make my graphic design work stronger that I fell in love with that medium. From that moment on, I’ve loved every day of it. Teachers have such a huge impact on our minds and outlooks and where we will go in the future. I am so thankful to this day for the mind shift he provided me in that class.

Website: www.manmanstudios.com

Instagram: @manmanstudios

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/manmanstudios

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/themanmanstudio

Image Credits
@bychristinanyx, @haileybollingerphoto

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutOhio is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.