Designing Success

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep. 21 Years in Design, Still Evolving: AI, Business and Human-Centred Design with Robyn Hawke According to Robyn Hawke, it involves staying curious, being honest with your clients and being willing to roll up your sleeves when the industry changes. Robyn is the designer behind Sydney’s Inspired Spaces, and she joins me for a wonderfully candid conversati...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep. Thanks for listening to this episode of "Designing Success: From Study to Studio"! Connect with me on social media for more business tips, and a real look behind the scenes of my own practicing design business.  Grab  more insights and updates: Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/the_rhiannonlee For more FREE resources, templates,...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep. Six Years In: Business, Family Seasons, and Using AI as a Support Tool (with Aiden) Host Rhiannon Lee introduces a 2024 catch-up conversation with her husband, Aidan, reflecting on how their family and her business have evolved into its sixth year, including the pressures of supporting other designers through her framework. She shares a new small-grou...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep. revisiting one of my most popular chats over the school holidays - part one of mt chat with my husband, tune in for part two next week and an all new part three the week after.  Behind the Scenes of Oleander & Finch: Real Talk on Business, Marriage, and Boundaries (with Aidan) Host Rhiannon Lee replays a candid 2023 conversation with her husband,...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep. You can smell it the second you walk into some budget stores. Then we bring the occasional chair home, pop it in the corner and call it styled. Susie from Casa Flair Interiors has run her design studio in Sydney's Hills District for six years. Before that, she taught creative arts. Now she's niched into low-tox consultations, which means loo...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep. What happens when the thing you started doing for yourself quietly becomes the thing you want to build your life around? In this episode of Designing Success , I’m joined by fibre artist Kasia for a conversation about creativity, business, motherhood, visibility and what it actually takes to stop treating your creative work like a little hobby and sta...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep. Explore the AI safe policy KIT here Check out Studio Build HERE If you’re using ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or other AI tools inside your interior design business, there are a few decisions worth making before client information starts casually finding its way into AI . Because “is AI safe?” isn’t actually the right question. The better questions are: Wha...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep. If Instagram has felt like you’re posting into the void lately, Trial Reels might be worth your attention . In this episode of Designing Success , I’m sharing the Instagram growth strategy I’m actively testing in my own business — and the results have been pretty hard to ignore. In the last 30 days, I’ve added around 4,500 Instagram followers , had a...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep. Clients are starting to ask interior designers how they use AI with their private information — floor plans, budgets, family details, meeting transcripts. Rhiannon Lee, AI strategist for Australian interior designers, breaks down what actually happens to uploaded data, why your account type changes the answer, and how to build a simple studio policy s...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep. Register for the AI Safe Webinar, HERE  Join the weekly email list HERE  learn how to build out project management in Notion HERE Interested in my speaker fee card and customising a talk for your business or group? email me at hello@rhiannon-lee.com and I'll point you right to it.  Thanks for listening to this episode of "Designing Success:...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep. Thanks for listening to this episode of "Designing Success: From Study to Studio"! Connect with me on social media for more business tips, and a real look behind the scenes of my own practicing design business.  Grab  more insights and updates: Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/the_rhiannonlee For more FREE resources, templates,...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep. Thanks for listening to this episode of "Designing Success: From Study to Studio"! Connect with me on social media for more business tips, and a real look behind the scenes of my own practicing design business.  Grab  more insights and updates: Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/the_rhiannonlee For more FREE resources, templates,...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep.  Want to watch this and see the screen share version of the apps? chek it out on YouTube here  https://youtu.be/LHPePe1tDMQ?si=78-Y9S-9glV8-V54 Fable (Claude's most capable model) is free until July 12th. Rhiannon Lee used hers to audit 40+ AI skills, build a private boardroom of business advisors, create a marketing analytics dashboard, develop...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep. Oula, Em, and Natasha all said the same thing: they didn't expect the business structure side of it, they thought it was going to be more about the AI tools. If you've been on the fence about Studio Build what's the actual question you'd want answered before you'd feel ready to commit? Emily Bere — Musa Studio Emily is the fou...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep. Most interior designers hit 30 June without ever looking down. This episode covers the end of financial year financial habits solo interior design studio owners actually need — from reading your P&L without panic, to auditing subscriptions, pre-purchasing annual software, and having a planning meeting that changes the next 12 months. Practical, no...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep. Starting an interior design business with an exit strategy — rather than building it to keep forever — is one of the most overlooked approaches to studio setup. In this episode, regional NSW designer Ewa shares how she built her supply selection and B2B builder service with saleable IP in mind from day one: documented systems, transferable processes,...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep.   When an interior design client says "I just need someone to execute my vision," they've already decided they're the designer and you're the logistics coordinator. Rhiannon Lee explains what's actually happening in those moments, how to catch it early in the discovery call, and how to use the parachute cord method to rea...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep. Interior designers often over-deliver at proposal stage — sharing mood boards, design direction, and creative strategy before a client has signed or paid a deposit. This episode asks whether that's genuinely good service or anxiety dressed up as process. Rhiannon Lee, AI strategist for Australian interior designers, unpacks where the habit comes...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep. Value pricing means charging for the outcome your client gets, not the hours it took you to deliver it. In 2026, that distinction matters more than ever — because AI is making designers faster, and if you're still billing by the hour, that efficiency is going quietly to your client's pocket, not yours. Rhiannon Lee, AI strategist for Austral...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep.  AI is not replacing interior designers — it's replacing average ones. Rhiannon Lee, AI strategist for Australian interior designers, breaks down why "AI killed my industry" is lazy marketing, how pattern recognition software produces sameness not taste, and what designers need to document right now before AI flattens the industry. Prac...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep. Interior designers who feel overwhelmed by AI typically don't have a tool problem — they have a prioritisation problem. Australian AI strategist Rhiannon Lee recommends three starting points: spend four minutes meeting Claude, do a five-minute audit of your most repetitive business tasks, and invest time in free AI literacy resources. Chasing AI...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep. Join the email list to get the business restructure challenge, 'Studio Build'  updates HERE  The kids are on school holidays, there's a triple bunk being installed, and I'm stealing 20 minutes here and there to talk about the pricing shift that's quietly happening in the interior design industry and why you need to get ahead o...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep. AI adoption jumped dramatically in the first quarter of 2026 ... and so did the slop. In this episode Rhiannon gets into the conversation she's been sitting on: what AI-generated content actually looks like, why it keeps happening, and what the real fix is.  Rhiannon takes a straight-from-the-machine AI caption and edits it in real time, cutting...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep. You've probably pasted a client brief into an AI tool this week.  Maybe a site visit transcript. A proposal draft. A mood board description with the client's full name, address, and renovation budget attached.  And there's a reasonable chance you've never read the terms of service of the tool you pasted it into.  This episode is ab...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep. I uploaded a six-month-old transcript from a client consult and got a complete Notion project dashboard in about eight seconds. Find out how HERE  Every action item, every room, every design direction we discussed — colour-coded, categorised, with checkboxes and notes. I hadn't touched the output. It just built it. This is for you if you finish a...