What do you do when the worst contractor you’ve ever worked with sends you a dream client? Take the job? Run for the hills? Here's how to protect your business, your boundaries, and your bottom line.

Join The DTS Files to read my advice. 

Ever feel like you’re leaving money on the table with window treatments?

If you’ve wondered how to turn them into a profitable (and seamless) part of your design business, this one’s for you. I’m breaking down five ways to sell them, the risks you need to watch for, and where the real revenue is hiding.

Join The DTS Files for my advice.

Let’s be honest: most client chaos isn’t intentional.

It’s not that your interior design clients WANT to make your life harder or slow their project down.

They just want to make sure their project turns out as great as it possibly can. And they, more often than not, simply don’t know how the process works or what is normal/not normal.

And what happens when they don’t know?

• They go rogue and start shopping on their own, sending you ideas to “help you”.

• Or they delay approvals because they’re waiting for their sister or best friend to weigh in.

• Or they suddenly want to be looped in on every single update and delivery schedule, micromanaging the very process they hired you to handle for them.

Sound familiar?

The truth is interior design clients unknowingly derail their own projects all the time. And unless you set expectations clearly from the start, the entire experience can turn from elevated to exhausting. 

Fast.

The good news?

It’s almost 100% avoidable. (When is it NOT avoidable? When you’re letting bad fit clients infiltrate your pipeline.)

Here’s how to keep your clients in check (for lack of better words) while making them feel totally supported throughout the entire process. Or, as I like to say, “How you can make Nos sound like YESes.”

When presenting your design fees to a potential interior design client, do you send the proposal first and the contract later? Or do you send everything at once so they have all the details before signing?

Some interior designers separate these steps. Some do them at the same time. Some send a contract out later, like mid project (🙀). Others don’t use a contract at all (🙈).

Obviously—the last two? NOT good strategies.

If you want a process that protects your business, builds trust, and keeps projects running smoothly, the proposal and contract go hand-in-hand.

PS: I’m not an attorney and this is not legal advice. This is based on my experience working 1:1 with over 100 interior design businesses.

Keep reading for my advice on when to send these two documents.

You’ve finally made it to the end of a project, the furniture is installed, everything is in place… and yet, something feels unfinished. The excitement you expected from your client? Yes, they love it, but there’s still something left to be desired.

And, maybe they don’t fully realize it, but you do. Because YOU know the power of styling.

When styling and accessorizing aren’t part of your interior design process, the project never truly feels complete. Read more to learn why.

As an interior designer, you started your business to design—not to focus on marketing and sales. But when you decide to go out on your own, sales and marketing are CRITICAL if you want to book clients.

I've talked to a lot of interior designers, and I know most of them don’t enjoy having sales conversations. They get nervous. They trip over their words. And next thing you know, they’re discounting their services, throwing in extras for free, and practically handing over the keys to a new car while they’re at it.

But here’s something I believe so firmly in (I mean, I built my entire business on it, so obviously, I believe in this):

If you have a solid client experience process in place, you shouldn’t have to "sell" at all.

Yes, you read that right. When your process is seamless, proactive, and aligned with your ideal client’s needs, people should be 90% pre-sold before you even get to the dreaded "selling" phase.

*Now, I’m not saying you don’t have to market. You do. You should always be marketing. But I’m saying you won’t have to SELL.

Remember sales and marketing are two different things.

Let’s break this down.

Join The DTS Files to keep reading.