LuAnn Nigara

A Well-Designed Business® | Interior Design Business Podcast

In today's world being a talented interior designer isn't enough to ensure that you have a profitable and successful business. Design school curricula doesn't always equip you with the business skills to have your interior design business be everything you imagined it would be! A Well-Designed Business® is here to fill in the gaps and give you real live business skills from some of the top interior designers. Your host, LuAnn Nigara shares her 40 years of success in the interior design industry, and she finds the most successful guests to share their interior design business best practices. Th...

Author

LuAnn Nigara

Category

Business

Podcast website

luannnigara.com

Latest episode

Jul 10, 2026

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Episodes

1208: Kate Ahl: Your Designs Might Already Be on Pinterest, and You Don't Even Know It 10.07.2026

Today with Kate Ahl: Today with Kate Ahl, founder of Simple Pin Media and a 12-year Pinterest marketing veteran, we are talking about where Pinterest stands right now in 2026 — and why it might be the smartest marketing move interior designers aren't making. Kate has managed over a thousand Pinterest accounts, her team has been with her between five and eleven years, and last year she became a ver...

1207: Arianne Bellizaire & Ben Johnston: The Talent Was Already There | Diversity Advocacy Alliance 07.07.2026

Today with Arianne Bellizaire & Ben Johnston: Do we still need to be talking about diversity in our industry? Yes. A thousand times yes. It is so incredibly easy for us to operate inside our comfortable, familiar bubbles and assume that if the door is wide open for us, it must be open for everyone else. But when we don't do the real work, when we overlook the lack of diversity and allow designers...

1206: SPONSORED SHOW: Dezign Assist: Kylie Ponton, Corri English, The Hiring Answer for Solo or Scaled Firms 03.07.2026

Today with Dezign Assist: Kylie Ponton, Corri English: Today with Corri English, founder and principal designer of Music City Interiors, and Kylie Ponton, principal and CEO of Ponton Interiors, we are talking about what it actually looks like to bring qualified virtual support into your design firm at any stage of business. Corri is eighteen months into building her Nashville-based studio and alre...

1205: BEST OF SHOW: Eric Ross: His Process for Selling Accessories and the Reveal Install 30.06.2026

Welcome to our special bonus show! Today, as promised, we will be sharing our conversation with Eric Ross about his business philosophy, his process for selling accessories, and the way he manages his reveal install day. Eric’s process is unique and very unusual. Be sure to listen in, to hear what he has to share. Eric has been a professional decorator for more than twenty years. Although his pref...

1204: BEST OF SHOW: Eric Ross: Operating His Design Firm Like a Retail Store 26.06.2026

Welcome! Today, Eric Ross joins us on the show. Eric is a charming southern gentleman and a well-experienced design professional. He is also a seasoned businessman who has figured out how to run his firm in a unique way that really works for him. In today’s episode, he describes how he runs his private interior design studio like a retail store. He explains that he no longer feels the need to chan...

1203: Madelaine Mayer: The Interior Designer Who Spent 20 Years as an Architect Before Choosing Joy 23.06.2026

Today with Madelaine Mayer: Today with Madelaine Mayer, licensed architect, certified interior designer, and founder of ADROIT Architecture & Interior Design in New York City, we are getting into what it really means to bet on yourself when everything you have built says you should stay put. Madelaine spent nearly 20 years in commercial and institutional architecture before making the leap to inte...

1202: In Good Company: CEO Conversations with Kate O’Hara:Is Your Next Idea a Revenue Driver or a PR Play? Part 2 19.06.2026

Today With Kate O’Hara: Today on In Good Company: CEO Conversations with Kate O’Hara, we’re discussing diversifying your revenue—how to expand your business without losing focus on what’s already working. Kate O’Hara, CEO and Creative Director of O’Hara Interiors, joins me to unpack what it really looks like to grow beyond design. We talk about service expansion—adding furnishings to construction,...

1201: The Boardroom for Creatives Is Open. Here's Why I Built It. 16.06.2026

Today with LuAnn Nigara: The Boardroom for Creatives Is Open. Here's Why I Built It. After nine years and over 1,400 episodes of bringing the best voices and the most qualified experts to this community, LuAnn built something new. In this episode she tells the full story, the heartfelt emails she couldn't answer the way they deserved, the Instagram DM that crystallized the problem, and the intervi...

1200: SPONSORED SHOW: Mr. Steam: Optimize Wellness Design with Steam Showers Built for Performance 12.06.2026

Today with William Kauker and Dawn DiGregorio of Mr. Steam: We all know that wellness-focused design is steadily trending. And in today’s sponsored show, we’re talking about what exactly that means in terms of bathroom design, and how you can be ahead of the cutting-edge to meet clients before they even know what they’re looking for.  My guests today, William Kauker and Dawn DiGregorio of Mr. Stea...

1199: Jasmine Roth: Say No to the Small Things So You Can Say Yes to the Big Ones 09.06.2026

Today with Jasmine Roth: We all want to stand out and get noticed in our businesses…but sometimes we get so caught up in trying to do what we’re “supposed” to do or put out what we think people are looking for that we forget the most important thing—loving what we do and committing to who we are as people and business owners.  My guest today, Jasmine Roth, host of HGTV's hit shows and the upcoming...

1198: Isabel Ladd: Build a Business that Matches Your Vibe 05.06.2026

Today with Isabel Ladd: Today with Isabel Ladd, self-taught interior designer and unapologetic maximalist, we are getting into what it actually looks like to build a business entirely on your own terms. Isabel is a 2026 High Point Market Authority Style Spotter, a Kips Bay and House Beautiful Whole Home Showhouse alum, and someone who has spent 11 years in business deliberately engineering her cli...

1197: Jason Saft: The Systems, Standards, and Boundaries Behind Luxury Home Staging 02.06.2026

Today with Jason Saft: Today with Jason Saft, founder of Staged To Sell Home and one of the most recognized names in luxury staging. Jason has built a business staging multi-million dollar properties across New York City — the kind of apartments and townhouses that were stuck on the market for years until he came in and transformed them into spaces that sell in weeks. With over 20 years in real es...

1196: OVERHEARD: How to Build a Referral Pipeline That Actually Works with Liz Walton, Amy Peletier, and Janelle Blakely-Photopoulos 29.05.2026

Today with Janelle Photopoulos, Amy Peltier and Liz Walton: Today we're continuing our referral marketing series with three more designers who transformed their businesses by working with Stacey Brown Randall. Liz Walton shares how she went from throwing spaghetti at the wall to systematically generating referrals, and she's now more profitable while working less. Amy Peltier reveals her brutal bo...

1195: BEST OF SHOW: Campbell Minister: Building a Referral Based Interior Design Business 26.05.2026

Today With Campbell Minister: Welcome to a Well-Designed Business. Building a referral-led business isn’t always easy. It takes commitment, dedication, integrity, and accountability. Most of all, it takes the ability to navigate speed bumps and navigate challenges.  My guest today, Campbell Minister, knows what it takes to do all of those things. She has created clear processes, learned how to set...

1194: Zach Perez & Zach Keenan: Automate Tedious Tasks and Scale Productivity with Agentic AI 22.05.2026

Today With Zach Keenan and Zach Perez: Are you spending more time checking boxes in your project management software than you are actually designing? We all love the idea of technology making our lives easier, but even with tools and systems, we still end up taking a lot of time out of our day to make them work for us. But what if you could fully and seamlessly automate your most annoying, time-co...

1193: What Would Lu Do?: Listener Question: Buying an Existing Interior Design Business, What to Know 19.05.2026

Today With LuAnn Nigara: What happens when you have the opportunity to buy an established interior design business? And more importantly… How do you honor someone’s legacy while still protecting yourself financially? In this episode, LuAnn answers a thoughtful listener question from Hannah Textor, a newer designer navigating a potential transition with a long-time designer nearing retirement. She...

1192: BEST OF SHOW: Jaclyn Marie: Build an Authentic Instagram Following 15.05.2026

Welcome to A Well-Designed Business! In this episode, LuAnn chats with Jaclyn Lankiewicz, the woman behind the Instagram handle, Jaclynmari_. She is the principle of Jaclyn Marie Interiors based in Long Island, NY. Her journey into interior design, like many, has not been a direct line. Basically, Jaclyn created an Instagram page that was getting so much attention that it prompted person after per...

1191: BEST OF SHOW: Park & Oak Interior Design: From the Park Bench to Luxury Design Firm in 3 Years 12.05.2026

Welcome to the show! We have Christina Samatas and Renee DiSanto, the founders of Park and Oak Interior Design Studio, located in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, with us today. These ladies work on new construction, renovation, and furnishing projects across the US, and you may even know them from their Instagram, with 130 000 followers. The way that they handle themselves and speak about their firm really...

1190: Josh Cooperman: Building What's Next While Protecting What Works | Live From KBIS 2026 08.05.2026

Today With Josh Cooperman: Josh Cooperman and I have been crossing paths at trade events for years — waving at each other across the hall, meaning to sit down, never quite making it happen. We finally did, live at KBIS in the KB podcast studio, and this conversation was worth every year of waiting. Josh is the host and publisher of Convo by Design, a platform dedicated to exploring what he calls s...

1189: Helen Bygraves: How to Grow a Design Firm to 50 People Across Two Countries 05.05.2026

Today With Helen Bygraves: It’s easy to look at massive design firms and wonder how they could have possibly done it. When you’re growing your business, it can seem like top-tier firms must have a secret roadmap or a crystal ball that tells them what decisions to make when.  But more likely, the success of a firm like that comes down to something much simpler: the discipline to show up and the gut...

1188: In Good Company: CEO Conversations with Kate O’Hara: Scaling Your Design Firm Part 1: The Three Paths Forward 01.05.2026

Today With Kate O’Hara: As you grow your business, you inevitably hit a point where you just can’t force more projects into your pipeline. So…what happens next? Do you bring on another designer? Are there other options? Do you have to let go of creative control if you do bring on another designer? How do you make sure it’s a successful process?  In Part 1 of this two-part episode, Kate O’Hara shar...

1187: WWLD: If Talent Isn’t the Problem, Why Aren’t You Getting Hired? 28.04.2026

Today With LuAnn Nigara: You’re talented. You’ve built something thoughtful, elevated, even exceptional. So why isn’t it landing? That’s the real question behind today’s What Would Lu Do. In this episode, I answer a question from a creative entrepreneur who offers highly customized, luxury-level products designed in collaboration with interior designers. Her question? Do designers even want this l...

1186: BEST OF SHOW: Candy Scott & Rachel Cannon: Interior Design is a Service Business Not a Commodity Business 24.04.2026

Welcome to today’s show! We are really happy today to have Candy Scott and Rachel Cannon join us on the show! In today’s episode, these two smart ladies will be talking to LuAnn about the changing landscape in the business side of interior design. Candy and Rachel are both highly organized, with finite systems in place for running their businesses and they truly understand that you really need to...

1185: Kia Weatherspoon: The Cost of Performing Leadership 21.04.2026

Today With Kia Weatherspoon: Today with Kia Weatherspoon, we explore what it truly means to lead, not performatively, but fully and honestly. As the founder of Determined by Design, Kia has built a mission-driven firm rooted in the belief that interior design is not a luxury for a few, but a standard that should serve all people. In this conversation, she shares how that belief has shaped her work...

1184: Geraldine Morrison (NKBA): Stop Guessing—Use Industry Insight to Grow Your Business 17.04.2026

Today With Geraldine Morrison: What happens when you stop guessing in your business… and start making decisions based on real industry insight? In this episode, LuAnn is joined by Geraldine Morrison, Chief Partnerships Officer for Domestic and Global Brands at NKBA | KBIS. With leadership experience at brands like Samsung and LIXIL, Geraldine brings a unique perspective on how manufacturers, desig...

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