Interior Design Business

Are you setting boundaries around money in your design business? Every designer I’ve ever met (including me) struggles with boundaries because we’re all people pleasers. You’re in this business because you want to serve people and make them happy, but you’ve still got to be paid for it. I’m here to make sure you’re not short-changing yourself.  If you have a hard time creating and sticking to boun...

What do you do when you get into a design job and discover that you don't want to put your name on it because the client's taste is so bad? You won’t be in the design industry long before one of these situations comes up, so it’s important that you know how to handle it. In this episode of Interior Design Business, I’m sharing three ethical solutions to working with a client with bad tas...

What do you say when a client asks you for your resources? Their questions might sound something like this: “Where did you get the bar stools for my kitchen? My friend wants to buy them!” “What’s the number of your painter? I need to get my daughter’s bedroom painted!” Take a deep breath and remember they’re not trying to steal from you, they just don’t understand how your business works or how to...

Is my design fee enough?  This is a very common question to have, especially when you’re making the transition from hourly rates to design fees. It’s hard to figure out what your fee should be, right? You want to ensure you’re getting paid for all your time and making a profit but you might feel like no one will pay for your services if you price them too high. I can help.  Your design fee won’t b...

How do you turn prospective clients into paying clients? Let’s talk about the magic question you should always ask a prospective client on an initial discovery call. This question will tell you everything you need to know about whether they will become a paying client or not.  In this replay of a favorite Interior Design Business Podcast episode, you’ll learn how to structure your discovery call,...

So, you’ve got a good design practice, a steady stream of ideal clients, and your jobs are consistently profitable. What’s the problem? You have absolutely no time for yourself. In fact, you spend most of your time putting out fires.  Does that sound familiar? It’s hard to grow your business when you’re spending all your time fixing things. Do you want to know the solution to the chaos? Systems an...

Where does the most potential for profit lie in design jobs? Purchasing.  If you’re not sure how to get your purchasing profits up, you’re in luck. Let me introduce you to our guest for this episode of the Interior Design Business Podcast, Heather McManus. Heather is the creator and CEO of The Designers Collaborative and she knows pretty much everything there is to know about profitable purchasing...

Have you been wondering how to start a design business? Maybe you’ve even started already but you’re not sure what to do next.  I’m bringing back one of the most popular episodes of the Interior Design Business Podcast all about starting a design business. If you’ve been scouring the internet for information about starting your own design business, you’ve made it to the right place.  In this episo...

What do you do when you have a client you feel you can’t say no to? This usually happens when it’s a client who put you on the map or helped your career in some way. You feel like you owe them, but they just keep calling with more and more design questions that you’re not getting paid to answer. Are you obligated to help this client? Coach Marsha Sewdass is answering all your questions in this epi...

“I hate my business.” “This isn’t what I signed up for.” “I’m overwhelmed.” Does this sound like your inner dialogue right now? Have you reached a place where you’re feeling resentful toward your business? Let’s talk about what happened, how you got here, and what it means for the future of your business. I want you to know that it’s normal to reach this point, so don’t feel bad about it. This fee...

I want to talk about my favorite thing to do: remodeling jobs.  They might be fun, but they can easily turn into money leaks if you’re not careful, because let’s be honest, they take a lot of time to do and you still need to get paid for all that time.  It took me a long time to figure out how to make remodeling jobs profitable, but now that I’ve got it figured out, I want to share the process wit...

It’s all well and good to know how to turn a lead into a profitable client, but how do you get a lead in the first place? We talk about that first part a lot around here, but I want to take it back a step and talk about how to find clients. This is something that a lot of people are missing from their business plans because they don’t think they have the time or money for marketing. Don’t let that...

Let’s talk about your relationship with money.  One of the biggest challenges you will face as a designer is your money story. If you’ve been around here for a while, you’ve probably heard me talk about this before, and that’s because I can’t overemphasize how important it is that you work on your money mindset.  Most of us start with a scarcity mindset through no fault of our own. It could have c...

Have you ever had a design job that you felt you somehow lost control of? You could have an ideal client, a huge budget, and the perfect setup, but if you lose control of the job and the client takes over, it’s going to turn into a nightmare, trust me. To make sure this doesn’t happen to you, we’re going to talk about how designers lose control of jobs and what you can do to avoid it. In this epis...

Is your business leaking money? There are a few common mistakes I see designers making that are causing them to lose money without even realizing they’re doing it. If you can learn how to avoid these mistakes, you’ll also learn how to avoid losing money. In this episode of the Interior Design Business podcast, I’m sharing five potential money leaks in your design business.  Tune in to find out if...

What is getting in the way of being paid what you’re worth?  In Part 1 we discovered that the main reason designers don’t get paid what they’re worth is that they aren’t comfortable talking about money. We talked about how to fix this pricing challenge, but there’s more to be said, so I’m back with Part 2.  In this episode, we’re taking a look at the support you need from yourself and from the peo...

Designers often ask me, “What questions should I ask in a discovery call to see if this could turn into a real paying client?” What if an effective discovery call isn’t so much about the questions you ask as it is about the system you use? Let’s talk about your discovery call system: the process that you use to take your clients from their first interaction with you to your first paid appointment....

What is getting in the way of being paid what you’re worth?  I want to address the most common pricing challenges that you’ll face as a design business owner. Maybe you’ve struggled with this before or maybe you’re looking out for your future self. Either way, this is important information for you to know.  This episode will teach you how to reframe your money mindset, get comfortable talking abou...

Do you feel like you never have enough time for all the things you want to do? Usually, when I ask fellow design business owners what they want their businesses to look like, they can give me a pretty clear answer, but when I ask them why they aren’t working towards it, they say something like “Oh I don’t have time for that.” If that sounds like you then I have another question for you: why not? I...

What is a luxury mindset?  This is an important concept for interior designers and service providers to understand, so I wanted to revisit this favorite episode.  There’s a misconception that once you start getting luxury clients, you’ll become a luxury designer, but it just doesn’t work that way. Your luxury mindset needs to come first and the clients will follow.  In this episode of the Interior...

Are you still charging hourly rates? If so, listen up because this is for you! In this episode, we’re going over the differences between working on an hourly basis vs. working on a fee basis as a designer and why I switched to working on a fee basis in my own business. Not only is selling your services as a package deal beneficial to your clients, but it’s also beneficial to your business. By pres...

Are you taking advantage of the tipping point of your sales conversations?  If you’re not sure how to answer that, keep reading.  The tipping point is the point in a sales conversation with a prospective client when you ask to be hired. The thought of asking to be hired might immediately send you spiraling. That’s not uncommon, but we’re going to fix it.  My goal in this episode is to teach you ho...

Have you ever done a design job that you didn’t get paid for until months after the design was finished? This episode is going to make sure you avoid ever being in that position again. There are four rules of pricing that profitable design businesses follow and believe me, I learned them the hard way, so now I’m sharing them so you don’t have to.  When you follow these pricing rules, your design j...

Most designers struggle to get paid what they’re worth. Have you experienced this? You might have felt the need to lower your prices to get a client, felt bad about charging a high price for something, or given away your time for free to try to lower your costs. Why do you feel the need to do things like this? The answer lies in your money mindset.  The first step to getting paid what you’re worth...

When is the right time to hire help? Maybe you’re intimidated by the idea of making your first hire, maybe you’ve had a bad experience, or maybe you feel like it would be easier for you to just keep doing everything yourself. I’ve experienced all of these, so I get it, but if you’re serious about growing your business, you’re going to need some help.  In this episode of the Interior Design Busines...