Dear Dakota,

Clients pushback on my furniture pricing and markup. But I’m barely above retail. How do I present pricing so they don’t push back?

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Dear Dakota,

My biggest problem is not having SOP's in place, and already having a team of 3. We are bleeding time and money right now and it's so painful. I grew fast, and am finding myself drowning and needing to re-adjust everything to ensure we can continue to stay afloat. Help!

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This sales tax blog series was written by Dakota Design Company and evaluated by CVW Accounting, 2/24/25.

Sales tax is often a topic that prompts questions among interior designers. And we don’t blame you. No business owner wants to get it wrong and risk tax audits and/or penalties.  

For an overview of the basics of re-selling and related sales tax, see this blog post. And to dig into the particular sales tax rates you need to charge your in-state clients, read here. 

Another complex topic that needs to be tackled is how and when to tax out-of-state clients and purchasers. 

We also cover the protocol if your business is in an origin-based state but your client is an a destination-based state.

Ah, the joy of taxes. But we’ve got you covered! Subscribe to The DTS Files to unlock this post.

Dear Dakota,

I just started my interior design business, and I’m struggling to figure out what services to offer. Should I offer full-service design right away, or something else? How do I know what people will want?

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Of all the tools that interior designers have in their toolkits, none is as impactful and effective as color. Not only does color provide the mood and liveliness in spaces, it can also be used to alter our visual perception. Particular tints and shades of colors used in combination can create the perception of more (or less) space than actually exists, produce an increased sense of openness, highlight and draw attention to one wall over the others, or, conversely, create the sense of a more constricted, cozy, or comforting space.

This blog and this blog covered some basics of color theory. Here, we will take a look at how color can be used to alter the perceived size of a space.

This sales tax blog series was written by Dakota Design Company and evaluated by CVW Accounting, 2/24/25.

Sales tax is a complex topic, and one that prompts many questions from interior design business owners. This post is part one of our Sales Tax Blog Series.

First, if you are purchasing to-the-trade-only products, and selling them to your clients, you already will have a sales tax permit (that allows you to make purchases without paying sales tax). You should understand how to invoice your clients for the appropriate amount of sales tax on transactions and how and when to remit the sales tax you collect to your state Department of Revenue for state and local sales tax. For any designer who needs a refresher on these sales tax basics, please read this post that covers all this need-to-know information. 

The Dear Dakota blog series where I provide complimentary consulting and advice to interior designers is a members-only feature. If you’d like the ability to submit your questions and get the chance to have me answer them on the blog, please become a member of The DTS Files.

If every project feels like a custom job and your workflow is all over the place, you’re making business way harder than it needs to be and I have a GUESS as to what’s happening.

The secret to scaling isn’t doing more—it’s doing less, but in a smarter, more strategic way.

Ready to stop reinventing the wheel with every new project? This is EXACTLY where I would start if we worked together 1:1.