Interior Design Business

Throwing out design fee numbers to potential clients without thinking about it can get you in all kinds of trouble, so why does it happen? In this episode of Interior Design Business, I’m teaching you how to take a $1,500 throw-out fee that’s going to get you in trouble and turn it into a $4,500 fee with a $30,000 budget (or more!). It’s not hard to do, you just need to know how to say it and how...

Have you thought about hiring a virtual assistant for your design business?  One of the best things you can do for your business is focus on your brilliance. Your brilliance is your creativity and it’s where you make the most money. How do you spend more time there and less time on paperwork and putting out fires? You hire a VA to help you.  If you’ve been thinking about hiring a VA but you’re not...

Are you scared to make your first hire? The fastest way to build your business is by hiring good people to help you, but hiring has its pitfalls too as I’m sure you know.  I’m here to tell you that you don’t need to be scared. I know it’s a big step, but when you’re well-prepared and you know exactly what you’re looking for, you’re not going to regret hiring people to help your business thrive.  I...

What if I told you there were some simple changes that you could make to instantly grow your business?  In this episode, we’re talking about some of the common mistakes that could be holding your design business back. If your business isn’t growing as fast as you’d like or your growth has plateaued, these are some things that you can take a look at to get back on track. I’m sharing specific things...

Are you trying to do everything in your business by yourself? The fastest way to build your business is to focus your time on high-paying tasks, but often you get caught up in everything else it takes to run a design business. The sooner you can hire someone to do those things, the better.  I want to talk about the thing that stops a lot of business owners from hiring sooner: delegating. If you th...

Do you want to know the secret to reaching your goals? It might not be what you think.  When you’re starting out in the design business world, it’s all hustle. You pick up every job that falls at your feet and you don’t have a marketing or business plan to follow. It’s all about getting your business off the ground.  Now that you have better clients, you’re making more money, and you have bigger e...

Have you been curious about getting into commercial design? In this episode, I’m sitting down with Megan Thompson from Spark Interiors to talk all about her journey to becoming a commercial designer.  She’s sharing what her path to success has looked like and some of the things that helped the most along the way. From graduating during a recession to hustling as a new designer to hiring her own te...

Designing a business is exactly like designing a room.  Do you think I’m wrong? By the end of this episode, you’ll know exactly what I mean.  I’m taking a look at what the design process is like and how to apply it to creating your business. The great thing about this is that you already know how to design a room! That means you already know the formula to design the business you want. You’re half...

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 and...

Are you ready to say goodbye to imposter syndrome? In this episode, I’m joined by someone who knows that feeling well, Thea Stephens. Thea is sharing how imposter syndrome manifested for her and how she overcame it (and you can too.) You’ll hear the story of how she got started in design and where she is now, as well as some of the lessons she learned along the way and the changes she made to her...

Have you been wanting to start your own design business and wondering how to get started? If you’ve been waiting for an episode about starting a business, you’re in the right place.  In this episode, I’m taking you through a list of everything you need to get set up to start your business. From networking and building a team to setting up software and marketing, I’ve got you covered.  If you’ve al...

What’s it like to be a student at the Interior Design Business Academy?  In this episode, I’m joined by my student and amazing interior designer, Sarah Conti, to talk all about her journey.  Sarah is sharing her story from discovering a passion for design at a young age to starting a business and eventually realizing that she needed help if she wanted to grow. She’s sharing the takeaways from the...

Have you ever completed a job only to find that there’s no money left to pay yourself with and you don’t know where it all went? In the last few episodes of the podcast, we’ve been talking about how to recognize jobs that are too small to be profitable and either make them profitable or say no to them. On the other end of the scale, there are also jobs that are so big that they end up not being pr...

Are you trying to move your business upmarket? Perhaps you’ve realized that you’re not getting paid what you’re worth or you want to get some of your time back. Whatever your reason is, it’s not too late to start moving upmarket!  In this episode about moving upmarket, we’re talking about some technical and physical things you can do to shift your interior design business toward higher budgets, hi...

How do you move your interior design business upmarket? In this episode, I’m sharing everything I know about moving upmarket and what it takes to shift your mindset as you become a high-end designer.  As interior designers, we usually start our businesses by hustling. We take every single job that falls at our feet. That hustle is an effective way to start a business, but it’s not an effective way...

How well do you know your numbers? In this episode, I’m talking about little money habits that create big results, and it all starts with getting familiar with your numbers.  I’m sharing some little changes you can make to the way you handle your money as an interior designer that will make a big difference to your finances. From bookkeeping tips to attracting more money, if you struggle with fina...

What do you say “yes” to that you shouldn’t? In this episode, we’re talking about people-pleasing.  People-pleasing is an important part of being an interior designer, but it has a time and a place. People-pleasing often leads to giving away your time when really you don’t have time to be giving away! The problem is that many of us have a hard time saying no.  I’m listing some of the areas where y...

How much of your time gets gobbled up by distractions? Time is your greatest currency and it can’t be replaced. Once it's gone, it’s gone.  Often, I hear designers say, “If I just had one more day in the week, I could get it all done,” but the truth is if you did have one more day, you would just fill that one up too. A more practical solution is learning how to notice what is filling up your...

What are the dos and don’ts of a first appointment? As you know, a first appointment is a rich opportunity to gain a potential client’s trust and business. How do you make sure that happens? That’s what I want to share with you in this episode.  I’m talking about what to charge, what to include, how long it should be, and lots of other first appointment dos and don’ts. If you’ve ever had a questio...

Are you ready for another episode all about budget mistakes? This topic is important enough that I thought it deserved a second episode.  In this episode, I’m sharing more budget mistakes that you should look out for and avoid in your business. If you didn’t catch episode 10, you can go back to that episode any time to hear Part 1 of this discussion about budget mistakes.  In this episode, I’m cov...

Let’s talk about budget mistakes.  There are some mistakes that you just can’t afford to make. No matter how much you might want to help people out, you can’t run a successful business if you’re losing money on jobs. Trying to do jobs for less at your own expense just doesn’t work.  If you’re honest with your clients from the very beginning about what things cost and what you can do within their b...

Have you ever felt like a client was taking advantage of you and your time?  If you feel like that a lot, it might be time to take a look at your boundaries.  Many of us have never been taught to have boundaries or we’ve never had permission to have boundaries, so it’s not surprising that we just don’t have them. In this episode, I want to help you identify some areas of your business where you ne...

How do you feel when you think about money? Is your relationship with money comfortable, reliable, and consistent, or do you avoid thinking about it because it’s the opposite? This episode is about making small shifts to the way you think that will make a huge difference to the way money shows up in your life, and that starts with thinking about how you feel about money.  I’m sharing 4 little mone...

Are you comfortable with your design fee?  I talk to designers every day, often for the first time, and in that first conversation there’s always some kind of apology for a design fee or hourly charge.  People often start with “I know you’re going to tell me my rate is too low and I need to raise it, but…” I’m not going to tell you to change your fee because you need to be comfortable with it, not...

Are you still charging hourly for your design work?  I want to help you see that you are missing out by not charging for your value. The value you bring to a design job is not based on the number of hours you work, it’s based on the benefits that you bring to your clients, and they will pay more than you think for those benefits.  In this episode, I’m going through some of the many ways that you b...