Niche. Specialty.
Do a quick scan of your body and feelings that come up when you read those words.
Do you feel resistance? Excited? Annoyed? Defiance? Apathy?
Despite all the years that I have been in business and have been teaching other designers how you can make more money by specializing, I still feel a little bit resistant to it.
Read MoreSometimes it is hard to communicate your value, to articulate to a client why they should hire you. Why you are the best person for the job. Sure you have the skills required of an interior designer, but a client should hire you for your unique talents and what you bring to the project.
Figuring out how you are different and special is the key.
I read a book a few years ago that changed my business. Before reading this book, I was trying to figure out how to mold myself into a person that I thought clients would want to work with. Easy-going! Compliant! Cheerier!
Read MoreRaise your hand if you started your interior design business without considering branding. When you start a small business there are so many other important tasks (finding clients! resale license!) that usually branding for interior design is not addressed until much later.
Which is fine. You can't do everything at the same time. But it should be something that is on your mind and on your must-get-done list.
I know that the word "brand" or "branding" can sometimes feel a little insincere or inauthentic. But you are not creating a large Brand (with a capital "B", like Coke or J.Crew) and you are not going to run your business as anyone but yourself.
Read MoreA couple of years ago, I wrote The Anatomy of an Interior Design Agreement. It became one of my most successful posts. Today, I am refreshing and revitalizing that post because my interior design agreement has been updated with all that I have learned over the past few years. Not just what I have learned in my own experiences, but in my fellow designer's experiences as well.
This is the first lesson. You should be continually updating and revising your interior design agreement. Each project will be a new lesson and you want to record those lessons in your design agreement.
This article also has a bit of a different perspective than the first. The first was geared more toward helping clients navigate a design agreement. This article, 2.0, is for designers to help clarify their interior design agreement.
Read MoreI so adamantly tell interior designers to get insurance (DO NOT WORK WITHOUT IT!!!) that I also get a lot of questions about what insurance to have. I'm not an insurance professional and do not know your specific situation so I can't tell you what insurance is best for you. However, here is a primer of insurance for interior designers so you can talk to your agent about what may be best for your business.
Get as much coverage as you can, the more the better. You may think it's overkill until you need it.
A few reasons you must have insurance: protect yourself and your business, to avoid a lawsuit, computer crashes, server explosions, natural disasters...
Read MoreDid you know that how you structure your business now could have long-lasting legal & tax benefits or disadvantages?
These are basic and simplified descriptions of the business structures. This article is not a substitute for professional legal & tax advice. If you have not set up/chosen a structure for your interior business yet OR you could benefit from a possible change in structure find a professional to discuss your specific situation. You create an entirely new business (in the eyes of the government) when you change business structures. It's best (so much easier) to start with the business structure that fits your (future) thriving business rather than have to get new bank accounts and start new records later.
Read MoreNo matter how great you think your clients are if you are in business you can get sued. Unfortunately, anyone can file suit for almost anything and you'll have to defend yourself. Whether you're at fault or not. This is the scary reality of running a business. But, the good news is the likelihood of facing a client or vendor in court is probably pretty minimal. It is important to have good communications with your vendors and clients and it is important to protect your business and yourself.
So you want to start an interior design business? When I first started my business, I was pretty broke. I had just moved to another city and was using savings to live on because I didn't have any clients (aka income). I remember my mom sent me a hundred-dollar bill and I was so relieved that I cried. True story.
If you're starting like I did, don't dismay. You can do it. These things are all very important and I truly wish I would have slammed down my credit card and set this all up before I started my business because it would have been easier than the diy hacking that I did for a while.
Read MoreI can be my own boss! I can make my own hours! I can do what I want! These are probably the thoughts that are at the forefront of any fledgling business owner's mind.
But before you go down that path, here is what you really need to know about starting an interior design business.
Read MoreOften, when you start an interior design business and begin approaching the threshold of too much for one person to handle, the first person interior designers want to turn to is an assistant. Naturally, they want to clone themselves and have another doing the work they are doing. This could be a mistake.
Read MoreYou have two options when you have that fresh interior design degree in hand, either you work for someone else or you start your own business. (Or a third option: you could also think what the hell am I going to do with an interior design degree? and go into banking.)
In my experience, it is always better to gain real-world experience from someone who is established and “pay your dues”. Working for someone else allows you time to grow less green. You'll see the current state of the business of design and learn how your employer runs his or her business. Ultimately, it is a good way to decide if you can or want to go out on your own.
Read MoreYou're adrift in the sea and you find a floating log to hold on to.
This is what creating core values can do for your business. If you're adrift you can grab hold of your values and hold on. Values keep you on course, but if you've strayed or have suddenly looked up and realized you don't know where you are and have no idea how you got there, values can get you back on course.
So the reason to define your core values is to keep or get you back on course.
Read MoreI think most small business owners skip creating mission and vision statements because they are just too damn busy doing the day-to-day work of running a small business. Who has time to create a mission statement? My mission is just to service my clients and make a living. While that mindset may sustain you for the first couple of years, down the road, it is advantageous to get out of the day-to-day work IN your business and start working ON your business.
So here is my special plan for creating your own mission and vision statements for your interior design business.
Read MoreThere is a lesson in my course, The Golden Blueprint, that I call Guiding Light. This lesson is done the very first week of the course because it is meant to be just that, a guiding light.
I read today that people spend more time planning a vacation than they do their lives. So while most people will write down lists of places to visit and restaurants to try and then plan how to make them happen and how to get there, very few people actually do that with their lives.
Read MoreI'm continuing the series on Strategic Planning with creating a business plan. Now, wait, before I lose you, this isn't going to be a super complicated multi-page plan that no one will ever see.
The new business plans are focused and can help you get clear in just a page to what your plan is.
I'll be going deeper into these topics over the next few months. But get your juices flowing and get something on your paper will help you and your business.
Read MoreHow transparent are you in business? Stop and think about that for a minute.
Here is another question: Have you had any client issues that could have been avoided by greater transparency?
Transparency is behaving with openness, free communication, and accountability. Transparency is information clarity and strongly related to integrity.
Read MoreOne of the ways that I practice radical transparency is by displaying my purchase cost on the client invoice. This separates the cost of the item from the design fees or markup. By doing this you are clear about the cost of the item and your design fees. I don’t think that lumping them together is good for business anymore. This practice is common, but I think it is becoming harder and harder for the lump-sum designers because clients are checking prices and are savvier than they ever have been. I recently read a post on a Facebook about a designer that had a client that was purchasing fine art. The designer had spent dozens of hours searching for the right pieces
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