The Interior DesignHer Blog
real-world interior design business education
Smartphone Photography for Interior Designers
Smartphone Photography for Interior Designers
In 2024, marketing your interior design business relies heavily on the quality & quantity of the images & videos you post on social media.
And, for a small number of fancy-pants interior designers, that means paying a photographer to take and edit about a bazillion pictures of their projects.
Us mere mortals are more likely to:
Pay a photographer to snap a few pics of our completed projects
Supplement those images with our own DIY smartphone pictures & videos.
Guess whose images look better & get more social engagement? Yours or the already big-name interior designers.
And as a result, the Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest & TikTok algorithms end up favoring those big-name designers who can pay for better content.
A Discussion About Interior Design and Artificial Intelligence
A Discussion About Interior Design and Artificial Intelligence
Like a lot of nerds, I’m beyond excited about artificial intelligence and how it’s going to change our lives in the coming years.
Looking specifically at interior design, there has been a lot of talk about how AI is going to change the design side of the interior design, but very little about how it’s going to impact the business-side of our industry.
To help facilitate a discussion, I’ve created a shareable Google doc that I will update as the AI + interior design picture becomes clearer. To get things started, I seeded the doc with my initial thoughts on how artificial intelligence may impact the interior design industry.
I would love to get your feedback and together create something useful for all interior designers.
What To Look For In An Interior Design Business Coach - Q&A with Marc Müskens
What To Look For In An Interior Design Business Coach - Q&A with Marc Müskens
If you have ever thought about hiring a business coach to help improve your interior design business…you’ve come to the right place.
As part of our series on interior design business coaches, I recently interviewed interior designer & interior design business coach Marc Müskens about his coaching business, what makes it different, what makes it special & all the other questions you need to know before contacting an interior design business coach.
Marc is the co-owner of the Institute of Interior Impact, a Netherlands-based interior design coaching business with a unique approach to helping interior designers level up their business.
If you’ve ever thought about hiring an interior design business coach, you’re going to love this interview.
Mr. Beast Wasn’t Always Mr. Beast
Mr. Beast Wasn’t Always Mr. Beast
It’s true…Mr. Beast wasn’t always Mr. Beast.
Like the rest of us, Mr. Beast’s first YouTube video sucked. Seriously, not good.
However, unlike a lot of us, Mr. Beast kept making videos, and - surprise, surprise - a lot of those sucked too.
Unlike even more of us, Mr. Beast kept making videos AND he studied how people consumed his videos...what they liked, what they didn't like, when they quit his videos, etc
Unlike even more of us, Mr. Beast studied other creators & identified why & how their videos worked and/or failed. And he replied to almost all of his viewers comments to make a connection & learn from them. And he did a whole bunch of other stuff over & over & over & over...until he became Mr. Beast.
How Much Do Interior Designers Get Paid in 2024?
How Much Do Interior Designers Get Paid in 2024?
It’s a good question considering the financial roller coaster that we’ve been on during the past few years.
Like most small businesses, the first phase of the Covid pandemic crushed our businesses as our job sites were shut down.
Then, with the arrival of gov’t support cheques AND a lot of people working (or not working) form home, our economy shifted from buying services to buying stuff to make our homes more livable.
When our job sites were allowed to re-open, a lot of that “free” money flowed our way. Interior designers were busy as heck. Busy residential design firms needed help handling all the job requests.
Then came the double whammy of inflation & increased interest rates. Suddenly, for a lot of interior designers, business fell off a cliff.
So…what does the industry look like in 2024 AND if you’re a junior OR senior interior designer looking for a new job, what should you expect/demand to be paid?
Interior Designers: How to Brand Your Business in 2024
Interior Designers: How to Brand Your Business in 2024
If you're an interior designer who…
owns their own interior design business,
wants to run their own design biz,
has no desire to run their own business but wants to get a raise or get a better job with another interior design firm
…and you're looking to get 2024 started off on the right foot AND you're already on Insta, TikTok, Facebook and even LinkedIn, you probably already get this, but...in 2024, organic social media content - DONE RIGHT - is the best way to build your brand, excite potential clients and build your business.
Gary Vaynerchuk's new book - Day Trading Attention - should be your blueprint to doing social media the right way in 2024.
A friend who has seen a draft copy says that even massive fans of Gary Vee are going to learn a lot from this book. As I haven't seen what they’ve seen, I can't conform 100%, but my friend isn't a bull💩er. As annoyed as I was that he wouldn't give me any scoops on what's in the book, I have to respect that he didn't spill the beans.
Everything You Need to Know About Interior Design Business Coaching - Q&A with Gail Doby
Everything You Need to Know About Interior Design Business Coaching - Q&A with Gail Doby
If you’ve ever thought of hiring a business coach to help you improve your interior design business, you need to check out the full-length, very in-depth Q&A we recorded with interior design business coach Gail Doby.
How to Improve the Business-Side of Your Interior Design Business
Residential interior designers are among the most creative of creative business owners in the entire world. Transforming a house into a home that combines beauty, function, style and meaning is not a task for the unimaginative.
Unfortunately…a LOT of interior designers fail at their business not because of their skill as a designer, but because they struggle with the business side of their interior design business. That’s why we invited / begged Gail Doby to give us some advice on how we can improve the business side of our interior design business.
For those that don’t know, Gail Doby is one of the most skilled and well-known interior design business coaches in the world. With 20+ years’ experience running her own design firm (plus degrees in Finance, Banking and Interior Design), Gail knows what she’s talking about.
In our Q&A interview, we dove deep into interior design business processes, how design school fails interior designers, and how easily you can implement effective systems & processes into your interior design business. Hope this helps :)
Too Much Process: Can You Over-Systematize Your Interior Design Business?
Too Much Process: Can You Over-Systematize Your Interior Design Business?
I love designing business systems & processes. It makes my nerd-brain ridiculously happy. Perhaps a little too happy.
But…as much as I love the processes that help a business run more efficiently, provide an improved service and make more money…it is possible to mess things up and over-process a business. Especially if that business offers a luxury service…like residential interior design.
Interior Design Business Coaching - Q&A with Andrea Liebross
Interior Design Business Coaching - Question & Answer Session with Andrea Liebross
As part of our mandate to provide high-quality & actionable business education to interior designers, we’re recording a series of Q&A style interviews with some of the best interior design business coaches in the biz. Our first chat is with business coach Andrea Liebross.
In our interview, I asked Andrea the questions that I think interior designers need to know before even considering hiring a business coach.
We Review The KEY: Nancy Ganzekaufer’s Pricing Tool for Interior Designers
We Review The KEY: Nancy Ganzekaufer’s Pricing Tool for Interior Designers
Interior design business coach Nancy Ganzekaufer has created a downloadable pricing tool for interior designers called The KEY.
Like many of you, I was introduced to Nancy by her many appearances on LuAnn Nigara’s podcast - A Well Designed Business. During Nancy’s chats with LuAnn, Nancy has always shared a ton of high-quality, actionable advice. As LuAnn says, Nancy Ganzekaufer is one #smartlady.
If The KEY can do half of what Nancy told me it can do for interior designers, I needed to take a long, hard look at The KEY, put it through it’s paces & share my findings with the Interior DesignHer community. So that’s what I did.
After analyzing The KEY, I reached out to Nancy and set up an in-depth Q&A with her about The KEY for this article & accompanying video interview.
So…without any further ado, here is my interview with Nancy Ganzekaufer as we discuss The KEY.
Value vs Price - The Business of Interior Design
Value vs Price - The Business of Interior Design
As the co-owner of residential interior design firm Robb and Company, you would not believe the number of times I have seen homeowners confuse the value of our interior design services with the price they were paying. And to be honest, that was all on us.
Back in the early days of our business, how we presented ourselves often led to confusion, discussions, debates and tantrums. To make things even worse, sometimes we even dropped our prices to keep the peace & happy clients. At the end of the day, this focus on price wasn’t good for anybody.
But…somewhere along the way, we came to the realization that we didn’t need to debate price with clients if we kept focus on value.
By identifying & staying focused on the value we were providing our clients, price became less important…especially for the homeowners who value…value. And aren’t those the kind of clients we all want?