Best Advice For Someone Starting an Interior Design Business
A friend of mine is in the process of starting a business and asked if I could share a few pieces of advice with her. I don’t often talk about my own business, but I thought my response to her could be helpful for those in the beginning stages of starting a company or for those who might feel stagnant in their growth.
Here are the tips I shared with her:
01 | Niche down as soon as you can.
Whether that's by industry, service offering, method, client type, etc., hone in on WHO you can help the most and HOW you can help them.
Imagine you live on a lake. You want a retaining wall and plantings that are appropriate for a lakeside location. Do you hire a general landscaper who mows your yard and can do occasional plantings? Do you want a company that specializes in retaining walls? Or do you want the company that specializes in retaining walls for lake properties?
Ding-ding-ding.
So, no matter the type of business, identify what you want to offer and are best at executing. Then OFFER THAT. Specificity around what you offer will resonate with people looking for expertise in that exact thing. That’s when you’ll see explosive growth.
02 | Start small with your service offerings.
Rather than create a large multi-month or multi-phase service offering, start small with a service that takes just a few hours and is lower priced so (i) it’s easier for you to deliver and (ii) it’s easier for people to say yes to it. This will give you real-time experience in what to include in your services, what’s valuable to your clients, and what gets the best results. Then, offering these smaller services for a bit, you can expand the offer and increase the price. Continue to do that until the service and scope are at a level where you are happy with the workload, income, and client result/transformation.
The time you spend offering simpler services that are easier to execute provides you with the ability to focus on top-notch delivery (which is important in building your reputation) and coinciding business growth and analysis. The analogy here is to walk before you run. You’ll be better able to build a solid business foundation if you don’t take on more than you are able to in the early phases of your business.
For designers specifically, a small service offering may be a working consultation, a single room design without installation, or a block of design hours that expire after a short amount of time.
03 | Consistently show up and market on the platform where your people hang out.
If your people are on Instagram, market there consistently and follow that platform's best practice guidelines. And ALWAYS have a goal and a call to action with each post. Don’t just post for the sake of posting.
Your goal could be to engage, to entertain, or to educate. Yes, it is fine to put a reel out there that’s funny. It puts you in front of your audience and engages and entertains them. Or, you might want to offer an insight that educates your audience.
Most importantly, include a call to action. Let the viewer know exactly what to do once they’ve seen your marketing content. This could be: book a call, click this link, read this post, share this post, save this post, or DM me.
04 | Don’t make your marketing about you or your success.
Don’t fall into the belief that “I hate talking about myself…so I can’t market my business.” Ummm, news flash.Your marketing should not be about you. Instead, it needs to be about your clients and potential clients and the topics they care about. What do they love? What are they concerned with? What do they need or want to know about? What will happen if they don’t hire you? What are they struggling with? You get the idea. NONE of those topics have anything to do with you.
05 | Start an email list and send regular emails to those who join.
Your email list is an asset to your company and something you own, so always prioritize building it and serving the people who join it. Share valuable information, make offers about your services, and show them how your services have helped others achieve results. Share generously with your email subscribers. Imagine your all-time favorite client reading your email. What would they want to read? Write that!
06 | Get in front of other people's audiences.
Whether you’re offering local or virtual services, it’s always a good idea to position your company by speaking to or connecting with and providing value to other people's audiences, particularly those that may be similar to yours.
For interior designers trying to attract more interior design clients, this might mean getting in front of the audiences of realtors, architects, and general contractors because the clients of these professionals would benefit from your design services as well. The key here is to make connections with professionals in other market sectors. Most (but not all) designers are “people people” and thrive on engaging with others. These connections will lead to opportunities to engage with new groups of people.
07 | Remember, it's a long game.
Building a successful sustainable business takes time. And you may be head down for a while before you start to gain any real momentum. That’s normal. You’re laying the foundation for a successful and sustainable company - and the work you do when you’re not overloaded with clients and projects is critical to building that long-term success.
You can of course always speed up results by investing in a mentor or business coach ← just make sure their values and style of doing business resonate with you completely. I also recommend finding someone who has some aspect of success you desire.
08 | Be specific about what's included in any service you offer, and USE A CONTRACT.
Detail everything that’s included in each scope of service, and be sure to consider any black holes - like, what if this client ends up going rogue? What if someone doesn’t pay me? What if I encounter procurement delays? What if they want to increase or decrease the project mid-stream?
The key is to put ample structures in place to protect yourself. Here, upfront planning can save you from extensive headaches down the road. Having thorough scope of work documentation and a solid contract to use with every project and client is critical to preventing disputes, conflict, and even litigation. If and when these negative interactions occur, they can be quite costly financially and take a huge toll on your time and energy. Save yourself from damage and suffering by being legally prepared.
09 | When pricing your services based on hours, know that, especially in the beginning, EVERYTHING TAKES LONGER THAN YOU THINK IT WILL.
Whatever number you land on (i.e., this will take 10 hours at $150 per hour, so the cost is $1,500), always multiply those estimated hours by at least 1.2-1.4.
I think this is human nature to underestimate (how long it will take to drive someplace, how much things might cost). Recognize that tendency when you calculate your design fees when basing them on your time investment. ALWAYS account for your underestimation, so you will, in fact, be compensated adequately.
10 | Know your numbers!
It’s essential to prioritize using software and keeping accurate records so you can review your numbers at any given point. The numbers don’t lie — whether it’s social media or email list size, website visitors, or revenue, knowing and understanding if things are working allows you to make informed business decisions. For me personally, I have a weekly check-in process and then a larger month-end review process to track and review all my company data.
With the experience of starting two of my own companies and consulting thousands of others on how to run a more streamlined and profitable business, I could definitely go on and on. But, the ten tips I shared above are the key things I would prioritize for a new business owner. If you implement these tips, you will be on the path to success!
