There are some skills that you may not realize are important to running a successful interior design business - and sadly, many designers actively avoid mastering these skills. But if you can improve these skills you’ll improve the success of your business. Keep reading to learn more.
Read MoreOne of the hardest things about running an interior design business is that there really are very few standards and practices in the industry. Interior design is a super-specialized business and extraordinarily personal. Many designers (and clients) find frustration in the lack of industry standards and business practices.
However, because there aren’t industry standards, each design business owner is able to create their own standards and practices based on their strengths, their special sauce, their specialty, and their ideal clients.
Read MoreLast week I wrote about the ways you can work smarter and not harder and this week I want to share with you a super-simple system that I use that has changed my business. Because why create a system unless it makes your business run better? This one couldn’t be any easier, I call them Power Hours.
Power Hours are a time-blocking technique, which means that this is my hour a week to do very specific tasks. I found that there were things I kept putting off or never seemed to have the time to do. All those little random things that pop up that don’t fit into your normal business operations, but still need to get done.
Read MoreI whole-heartedly believe in working smarter and not harder. And based on the amount of inquiries I receive about this topic, it seems like you might too. I would rather work 20 focused hours in a week than filling 40 hours with who knows what just because that is the “standard”. When you own your own business this is within the realm of possibilities, you just need to work smarter and not harder.
Read MoreI picked up some pretty good habits when I worked for my last company - things that helped immensely in running my own business. One of those things was to get paid first (by the client) before paying the vendor. The goal was to never pay out before being paid. We’re not in the business of loaning anybody money, interior designers are not a bank.
Read MoreCreating interior design packages can be great additional revenue streams in your business. They can be quick ways to generate a bit of income without a huge time or effort commitment from you. It’s also nice to have an option for prospects who contact you, but may not be a fit for your signature service or meet your project minimums.
Read MoreToo often, instead of making choices in our business, we allow the circumstances in our business to choose for us. Meaning, we simply react and respond to what comes our way.
Our businesses are like boats and I see so many designers have yet to pick up the oar and steer towards a destination. They’re just floating along, going where the current takes them.
One of the side effects that I heard over and over from participants in The Golden Blueprint was that they felt so much more confident during and after the course. For a long time I couldn’t pinpoint why that was.
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