What Interior Designers Should Consider Before Buying Online Courses
Updated September 2023
At the beginning of every year, I see a lot of clients who set goals to finally get organized, finally set up those systems, finally bring help on, finally roll out a new service, finally get consistent with marketing.
You get the idea.
At the beginning of the year, everything seems possible because we have a full year ahead of us to get things done.
BUT, the reality is, we all know how often those courses end up on a digital shelf in your computer with good intentions to get through them and apply what you’ve learned, but little time for implementation. So instead, the course becomes one more thing on your to-do list and yet another thing adding to the mounting pressure you feel building in your brain (and in your business) with every passing day.
Before diving into an online course, think about what you really need
Do you need to learn a certain skill?
Is the lack of this current skill impacting your business and causing you issues? Can it be solved with this course, or would it be better solved by hiring someone to work in your company day-to-day?
Do you need help with implementation, or will you take action and implement on your own?
What kind of structure do you learn best in? Are you self-motivated and just need the info and the to-do list? Or do you need accountability, check ins, and guidance so you can ask questions?
Then, do you have the time and money to invest in the learning opportunity right now?
The reality of a course is this:
You pay the price of a course, let’s say it’s $1,000. But then you also have to invest the time to watch the content, do any homework, join any calls, and participate in the community. Let’s say the course content is 8 hours and you bill $150/hour. That’s $1,200. Then the homework, calls, and community involvement is another 16 hours over the course of 8 weeks. That’s $2,400.
If you’re not an action taker or an implementer, you will likely not have success with the course if you don’t follow the instructions, do the homework, and implement the information you learn into your own business.
And I haven’t even begun to talk about the opportunity cost of those 24 hours (you could have designed an entire room!).
There are a lot of options out there, and I’ve talked with several clients and we both said “GRRR, we wish we would have met before you purchased that course!” But the reason the course didn’t work for them is that they needed implementation, something they knew they wouldn’t have time to do. So there it sat, underutilized and unhelpful.
Don’t get me wrong: there are courses that are really great for business. In my opinion, these courses are for technical things, like learning Pinterest, learning about social media hashtags, and learning the ins and outs of certain software. The other ones that are helpful are if you are learning an entirely new skill or are completely new to the business. And, there are programs out there that run like a course but have a 1:1 element and live support so you stay on track and can ask questions as you implement and get tailored advice.
Do you have time to implement what you learn from a course?
But if you’re a business owner who is buried in client work, on the edge of burnout, and you have NO TIME to implement, a course is going to take you further away from the thing you love most (designing!) and make you feel even more behind (especially if business operations and systems aren’t really your thing). You might be better suited to join a group program, a 1:1 service, or a self-paced program with a 1:1 support component.
What’s the right next step for you?
Before investing in another self-paced course, ask yourself: Do I need more information, or do I need implementation?
If you want bite-sized trainings to learn on your own schedule → Check out my workshops in The Workroom.
If you need plug-and-play solutions → The Design Library gives you fully built templates for client experience, contracts, hiring, and more.
If you need structure + support → Our Foundations program or The Designed to Scale® Method offer expert guidance so you can implement with confidence.
