Designing for Profit: Maximizing Revenue with Interior Design Business Podcasts
The BEST Interior Design Business Podcasts - Episode 200
Listening to today’s curated collection of the best interior design business podcasts is the easiest, fastest, most repeatable way to improve your interior design business.
In today’s installment, we’ve got episodes from hosts Dennis Scully, Rebecca Hay, Rebecca Ward, LuAnn Nigara, Beth Bieske and Rhiannon Lee.
Today’s podcast guests include Emily Evans Eerdmans, Jessica Bantom and Rachael Turner. Enjoy :)
Business of Home - Dennis Scully - The true story of Mario Buatta - 45 min
Resilient By Design - Rebecca Hay - The checklists you need in your design business - 23 min
Design Curious - Rebecca Ward - Celebrating a Year of Design Curious: Takeaways and Future Vision - 12 min
A Well-Designed Business - LuAnn Nigara - Jessica Bantom Continued: Take Action With the Six Habits of Culturally Competent Designers - 1 hr, 12 min
Design Dialogues - Beth Bieske - A Dialogue with Rachael Turner - 58 min
Designing Success - Rhiannon Lee - Money on the Table: 10 Signs It's Time to Raise Your Design Prices - 40 min
Business of Home - Dennis Scully - The true story of Mario Buatta - 45 min
Design historian Emily Evans Eerdmans is the author of a new book: Mario Buatta, Anatomy of a Decorator. In the later years of Buatta’s life, Emily was something of a protege to the legendary “prince of chintz.” Since his passing in 2018, she’s devoted herself to his legacy, organizing a blockbuster auction of Buatta’s estate and penning two books on his life and work.
In this episode, host Dennis Scully spoke with Emily about how Buatta was able to find his way from a humble beginning in Staten Island to the upper echelons of Manhattan society, the rise and fall of English country style, and what young designers can learn from the industry’s last great eccentric.
Resilient By Design - Rebecca Hay - The checklists you need in your design business - 23 min
In today’s episode, host Rebecca Hay is here to help us stop feeling like we are mired in chaos and forever destined to wing it on your projects. Rebecca explains how to create a dynamic checklist that documents our processes, establishes a standard operating procedure for your business and helps with delegation, organization and onboarding. She also shares some previous experiences that led her to depend on a checklist and the final, crucial tip that ensures its success.
Design Curious - Rebecca Ward - Celebrating a Year of Design Curious: Takeaways and Future Vision - 12 min
In today's episode, host Rebecca Ward talks about the journey of her podcast from the first three episodes to now, Episode 55. Rebecca shares her key takeaways from the past year, the exciting direction of the podcast, and the amazing people she’s had the privilege to interview.
Why you’ve got to check out today’s episode:
Discover the MINDSET that sustained me, and adapt it to your own endeavors
Learn how you can shape the future of Design Curious podcast
Look back on a year of inspiration & empowerment, and celebrate with us
A Well-Designed Business - LuAnn Nigara - Jessica Bantom Continued: Take Action With the Six Habits of Culturally Competent Designers - 1 hr, 12 min
In today’s episode, host LuAnn Nigara is joined Jessica Bantom, interior designer, color consultant, and DEIB practitioner. This is Part Two of our conversation on how to become a culturally competent designer, and we are going even deeper.
In this conversation, Jessica walks us through the six habits of a culturally competent designer—the same habits outlined in her new book, Design for Identity: How to Design Authentically for a Diverse World. Listen now to learn more about each of these habits and how you can incorporate them into your routine and be a part of this phenomenal shift in the industry.
Pick It Apart
[1:58] LuAnn and Jessica discuss the first habit of culturally competent designers: Take accountability, especially during the design process and through inclusive leadership.
[10:25] Jessica explains the second habit: Ask questions. She says this step is about creating a space for conversation, which should be established at the beginning of a project.
[17:58] LuAnn asks Jessica about the third habit: Seek knowledge.
[25:26] Jessica shares that the majority of her book, Design for Identity: How to Design Authentically for a Diverse World, is about the critical fourth habit: Talk to customers.
[34:44] LuAnn and Jessica expand on the fifth habit: Believe people, and why this habit should not be overlooked.
[41:00] Jessica explains the sixth and final habit: Share experience, saying that culturally competent designers need to set the tone, create the space, and model the behavior of sharing experience.
LuAnn Nigara and Jessica Bantom's Ah-Ha Moments
“All of us need to adopt these habits. So that there is no one outlier in the team or in the organization that is the one speaking up. It becomes a normal part of conversation. And when a point is raised, it can be something that can be can be discussed more broadly.” – Jessica Bantom
“The entire culture of the company has to be a place where you allow people to express their points of view.” – LuAnn Nigara
“When it comes to identity, and representing cultures and identity, and it's in an authentic way, that does require getting other viewpoints and perspectives..” – Jessica Bantom
“There is this expectation that we can't start talking about difference until we bring people of different backgrounds into the organization. That is not true. Because, like we said, there is information available and accessible to of us. And it is also not the responsibility of those people to come into a firm and educate their peers.” – Jessica Bantom
“We have to be willing to engage with customers, because we are the experts on design, but they are the experts on themselves.” – Jessica Bantom
“These are principles, these are ideas, these are things that we should be doing to be better humans. However, if that's not enough to get your mojo going, understand this is your business. Your business is going to dramatically change over the next five-to-ten-to-fifteen years.” – LuAnn Nigara
Design Dialogues - Beth Bieske - A Dialogue with Rachael Turner - 58 min
In this episode of the Design Dialogues podcast, host Beth Bieske interviews Rachael Turner.
KEY PARTS IN THE DIALOGUE
2.59 Rachael talks about how she became a licenced builder
14.46 Rachael talks about relationship between Interior Designer and Builder
18.31 Rachael talks about her new joinery line
29.25 Rachael talk about how she built her team
Designing Success - Rhiannon Lee - Money on the Table: 10 Signs It's Time to Raise Your Design Prices - 40 min
In today’s episode, host Rhiannon Lee is breaking down the ways of recognizing when it's time to raise your prices and offering tips on how to do it effectively.
The signs that indicate it's time to increase your pricing include:
When clients readily approve your invoice without discussion.
If you're overworked or feeling stretched due to too many clients.
If you're working with and attracting "difficult" clients on a budget.
When your conversion rate is exceptionally high.
If you initially undervalued your services.
When your diary is fully booked with a waitlist.
As your experience and confidence grow.
When you consistently receive positive customer feedback.
If you're not meeting your profit goals.
When you hear comments about being "too cheap."
Your design business should be both fulfilling and financially rewarding.
