Resilient by Design with Rebecca Hay

This episode is all about knowing the worth of your services. Through the episode, I share the steps and my insights to help you address the fears and myths currently keeping you from charging the right value of your knowledge, expertise, and luxury services. I dive into the questions you need to ask yourself ahead of time, how to calculate your new rate, and how to communicate it along with a rec...

In this episode, we take you back inside our community of designers as we share another episode of Candid Corner. This time Rebecca shares the pros and cons about designers vs contractors purchasing products for clients. She encourages designers to think about margins, markups, ordering and managing the process because there is no hard and fast rule here. She shares her own preferences, lessons le...

Since we're halfway through the year, I thought it would be a good time to assess all things numbers so this is a rebroadcast of the first episode in our  Know Your Numbers series. My own Operations Manager, Merilee Wright, and I team up to help you learn the numbers in your business so that you can develop a proper business growth strategy. In this first part, we're starting with all things Proje...

Today we've got a very special guest on the podcast: my very own husband Kris Karski! Kris brings his marketing and tech expertise to the show and shares insights on all things AI. He lets us know what this tool actually is, how it works and how it can help designers with their business. We do some live demos (and go down a few doomsday rabbit holes!) as Kris shares his advice on what designers sh...

In this episode I chat with Renée Biery about building relationships with your trades and managing a construction site. She shares her career trajectory, her mid-career crisis (and the new ventures it led to), and how she seeks to build confidence and equip designers with the skills they need to succeed. She is passionate about encouraging female designers to excel in the business and shares her s...

Today I'm taking you through my version of the most important thing every business needs: a clear step-by-step onboarding process to convert leads to clients. This is absolutely necessary to keep yourself organized and to set expectations (and boundaries) to your potential clients. This process will help you strengthen your client relationships, protect yourself from misunderstandings and lapsed p...

In this episode, we take you back inside our community of designers as we share another episode of Candid Corner. Rebecca answers questions about sourcing and helping clients with that essential finishing touch, art. She shares insider tips and a few different approaches including what to do when tastes don't align. Then she dives into what designers should consider and concentrate on in during an...

In this episode, I walk you through we are planning to onboard our new hire! This episode is for you if you're looking to take that next step to grow your team or bring on some help. Recently my team went through a restructuring and we had to shift into hiring mode. If you're interested in learning more about my experience with hiring, have a listen to episode 55 where I share 3 big hiring mistake...

If you're curious to learn more about what it's like to design a show house, this one is for you!  In this episode, I speak with residential interior designer Jennifer Muirhead, of Jennifer Muirhead Interiors, all about her experience and the process of designing rooms for a show house. She shares what it was like to move across the country, re-start her business, and how she got involved in show...

In this episode, I chat with Jamie Van Cuyk all about hiring. We dive into why you need to hire to scale your business at any level, how you can prepare to interview the right candidates, the distinction between salary, contract, and freelance, and what you need to have in place to successfully onboard someone into your team. If you're looking to hire but haven't before, have hired but it hasn't w...

Pricing your services is always a hot topic for any service-based entrepreneur. For many of us, pricing is a constant struggle due to our own money mindset, so bringing the topic up often and openly sharing can make that struggle a little easier. In this rebroadcast episode, I share my experience with pricing my services and talk about my mindset and relationship with money. I also share how much...

This is a special episode because we're sharing a live broadcast we did inside our Designer Meet-up Facebook group. We brought together 2 special guests to open up the discussion of what it really means to be a licensed Interior Designer. About Maia Maia's formative years were spent in a home built by famed Canadian architect Ron Thom. Visits to properties in Toronto's Forest Hill and Rosedale nei...

In this episode, I chatted with Dena Patton and did a deep dive into the CEO mindset. We talked about how to take you from a fly-by-the-night designer or entrepreneur to the truly savvy business person you know you want to be. If you're looking for the right motivation to stop treating your business like a hobby this one is for you! About Dena Dena Patton is an elite business coach and transformat...

In this episode, I share exactly how I run a consultation to ensure that both you and your client get the most out of your time together.  Using a consultation to kick-start your process and convert leads to clients is the single most powerful and strategic way to eliminate chaos and increase your revenue. So let's dive into why you need to include in your process and how to run one! During the ep...

I'm thrilled to share this episode with special guest Darla Powell! If you're a design professional you've probably heard of Wingnut Social or of Darla herself. In this episode, Darla joined me to talk about all things marketing, with a special focus on Instagram and social media. If you're looking to up-level your social media marketing game as an interior designer this is for YOU!   About Darla...

In this episode, I delve into marketing! In a time of recession, it is your time to up your game and stand out from your competition. I recently read that typically in a recession marketing is one of the first items to be cut when businesses try to rework their budget and cut costs. This is counterintuitive because during this time period, is when you need to get in front of more people and get cl...

In this episode, I sat down with powerhouse POP alumni, organizer, and decorator Sarah Grant and we chatted all about how she picked up and moved her family and her business across the country and is now expanding her offerings! If you're considering making a big move to a different city or beyond, you'll want to catch Sarah's nuggets - let this episode inspire you! About Sarah Sarah Grant is the...

In this episode, designer extraordinaire and returning guest, Erica Gelman and I sat down to talk all about contracts! We covered why you need a contract, and what should be in it. If you're a designer and are looking for some insight on what to include in your design services contract, this episode is for you! We both share some lived experiences that should help you fast forward and skip a few p...

In this episode, I sit down with entrepreneur extraordinaire and sales maven Nikki Rausch and talk all about getting comfortable with selling. Designers and creatives, get ready to take notes. Sales is an area where many of us often fall short - myself included. It's an area of constant stress and one that we constantly need to improve if we want to have a successful business. Nikki has a phenomen...

In this episode, I sit down with interior decorator supreme and POP Alumni, Jen Sottosanti! From Nurse to Decorator - Jen moved into interior design as a second career, bringing over her skillsets of caring for people into her design business. Jen and I have a really candid conversation about balance, setting boundaries, and the real struggle of being a parent to young children. We also share tips...

In this episode, I walk through what we do in my design business when a project phase comes to a close. We like to call it a post-project review. This is a very powerful debrief where we sit down as a team, look back at the phase or project, and analyze what went well, what didn't go well, and what we can improve on. This is a great exercise to help you constantly improve your process and business...

In this episode, I sat down with TV reporter turned designer and POP Alumni, Shirlee Engel. We chatted about her transition into her second career and about her journey to running her own interior design business. This episode will resonate with you if you are someone who wants or has just recently left a previous career to run their own interior design business.   About Shirlee Shirlee Engel is t...

Let's talk about calculating project costs! This episode will help you answer the question almost every client asks "how much will my project costs". I dive into how you can find out what it costs to decorate or renovate a space without relying on simple guessing or giving the client a number that isn't fair or profitable for your business. As a business owner, I'm always looking for a better way...

This episode is all about money but more specifically about being profitable. In this episode, I dive into what really matters when you want to be profitable, especially right now in a recession. Profitability means that there's money left over in the bank after you pay yourself, and my free tip for you is, always pay yourself first (something I never used to do that I've learned and has made a wo...

In this episode I dive into the process I use to hire the right fit. I'm sharing what I've learned over the years, from lots of trial and error, and what I've improved on in the last 18 months. I'll be sharing details of my hiring process that will benefit both business owners who are looking to grow their teams, as well as anyone trying to break into the design industry and get hired at a design...