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ACTIONABLE BUSINESS STRATEGIES
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MEMBERS-ONLY ARTICLES PUBLISHED WEEKLY
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PRIVATE LIBRARY OF EXPERT INSIGHTS & ADVICE FOR INTERIOR DESIGNERS
| ACTIONABLE BUSINESS STRATEGIES I MEMBERS-ONLY ARTICLES PUBLISHED WEEKLY | PRIVATE LIBRARY OF EXPERT INSIGHTS & ADVICE FOR INTERIOR DESIGNERS
A Glimpse into Interior Design Licensing Legislation | Does Your State Require a License to Practice Interior Design?
You may have heard issues related to interior designer licensing or certification (read more about interior design certifications here), and it can all be a bit confusing. Additionally, licensing legislation for various occupations (including interior design) happens at the state level so the picture is slightly different in every state (plus the Canadian provinces). And, things are changing all the time with new interior design legislation being proposed (and sometimes repealed) every year. And, in some respects, this issue of interior design regulation is much different for those who work on commercial building projects than it is for those who work on residential projects.
In this post, we offer an overview of the current state of interior design legislation. To verify the legislative picture where you live and work, it is always best to check the professional licensing and registration website for interior design in your state. To do that …
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Dear Dakota | The Best Form of Additional Income for Interior Designers
Dear Dakota,
Outside of direct services, what is the best form of additional income for interior designers? What avenue is the most profitable and worth pursuing for a company with three employees? Furniture sales? Passive income downloads? Courses? Affiliate income?
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Mistakes I’ve Made Running My Own Business
Owning a business can feel a bit like an experiment at times. Packaging things up, testing them, refining them, and testing them again. It’s only by going through this process that you can actually know what works and doesn’t for you and your clients.
With Dakota Design Company being my second business (my first was a wedding and event planning company that I ran from 2007 to 2014 in Arizona and Illinois), I’ve certainly experienced my share of failures, but I’ve always learned from them (even if I needed to grieve and beat myself up for a bit first).
There are always lessons to be learned in failure. Something that I think resonates with my clients is that I am a done-for-you service provider, just like they are.
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Do This One Thing Before You Automate Your Interior Design Business
If your goal for the year is to automate as much as possible in your interior design business, you have to know this one thing before you invest in technology, consultants, strategists, or done-for-you services.
Why You Should Expire Your Interior Design Proposals
If you've ever sent out an interior design proposal to a potential client (you might call it a contract, LOA, scope and service agreement, etc.) and then waited on pins and needles for their response…this tip is for you.
Expire your proposals.
Most of our designers expire proposals within two weeks MAX. Some expire them within seven days.
Why Interior Designers Should NOT Order Building Supplies
Unless you’re a general contractor or a cabinet supplier, your interior design firm SHOULD NOT be ordering building supplies.
This is one area where I occasionally see interior designers taking on responsibilities that cause extra headaches and coordination. Not to mention that ordering building supplies doesn’t yield sufficient profit from markup to offset the hassle.
Designers should refrain from placing orders for materials that would be considered building supplies.
Why It Could Be Risky For Interior Designers to Source Retail
Most of the interior designers we work with source primarily to-the-trade and custom products for their full-service interior design projects. Sure, they'll pull in a retail item here and there when it comes to accessories or styling items. But for the most part, if they specify something, they're ordering it through one of their vendor accounts.
This may be how you run your business, or maybe you'd like to start selling more to-the-trade items (if this is you, be sure to check out our mini-course: Beyond Retail). Either way, I’ll bet you've heard questions similar to these from prospects before:
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If You Think Your Interior Design Business is Broken Here’s What To Fix
If you're anything like me, you have a gazillion things you want to do in your business. But how do you know where to start when you have SO MANY things you want to do? And on the flip side of that, if everything feels broken but you also want to add in more things, where do you begin?
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ACCESS A PRIVATE LIBRARY OF EXPERT ADVICE for INTERIOR DESIGNERS
My strategies have shaped the way thousands of interior designers and luxury service providers do business.
Inside The DTS Files, you’re getting the original insights straight from the source—tested, refined, and backed by my experience working with 100+ design firms.
And because this is a members-only space, I can go deeper than ever before—sharing the real strategies that help designers build profitable, sustainable businesses with confidence.
HEAR FROM SOME OF OUR MEMBERS:
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PRICING PLAYBOOK for INTERIOR DESIGNERS
The Complete Guide to Pricing Your Design Services
Grab my pricing playbook, The Complete Guide to Pricing your Interior Design Services, to learn:
the six most common pricing models for designers
who each one is best for, and
how to know if your pricing model is broken
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SHOP TEMPLATES
Plug-and-play templates, questionnaires, processes, and guides for interior designers who want to stop reinventing the wheel with every new project.
The Design Library helps you streamline client communication, set clear expectations, and protect your time—so you can spend less time in your inbox and more time designing. Inside, you’ll find:
✔ Professionally written client emails and marketing guides for every step of the process.
✔ SOPs to standardize service delivery and create a seamless, high-end experience.
✔ Contract templates with sample scopes to protect you, your team, and your clients.
What took me years to refine can be in your inbox in minutes.
*for interior designers only, not interior design business coaches, consultants, mentors, strategists.
SHOP WORKSHOPS & TRAININGS
Learn from my team (comprised of industry experts and educators) and me all the things they don’t teach in design school. And we know because two of the women on my team went to interior design school!
After consulting with and doing hands-on implementation for over 100 interior design business owners, I’ve seen what works (and doesn’t) across every business model imaginable. We are familiar with various software types, team structures of 1 to 20, and the challenges that are coming, whether you’re on your way to your first $100,000 or already making multiple millions.
On-demand trainings for your busy schedule.
*for interior designers only, not interior design business coaches, consultants, mentors, or strategists.
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Proven strategies and tools to streamline and elevate your interior design business.
COMPLIMENTARY QUIZ FOR INTERIOR DESIGNERS
Feeling stretched thin in your design business?
You’re busy—but is your business actually working for you? If you’re constantly putting out fires and second-guessing what to focus on next, this 2-minute quiz will show you exactly where to start.