The Interior DesignHer Blog
real-world interior design business education
Interior Designers: Stop Underestimating Yourself
Interior Designers: Stop Underestimating Yourself
According to interior design business coach Gail Doby, 99% of interior designers underestimate themselves.
Are you one of the select 1% that accurately sees your own potential?
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.
Business and Personal Strategies - Interior Design Success 2024
Business and Personal Strategies - Interior Design Success 2024
2024 is going to be a big year for interior design and interior designers. Massive changes in technology are coming our way, BUT that doesn’t mean you can ignore the soft skills that are crucial to running a success business.
Today’s interior design business podcasts have should have you thinking about where you want your ID business to go in 2024.
Today’s interior design podcasts at a glance:
Dear Alice - Jessica Bennett and Suzanne Hall - Listener Questions December 2023 | Your Burning Design Questions Answered - 47 min
The Design You Podcast - Tobi Fairley - Failing Your Way to Success: The Team Edition with Melanie Coddington - 56 min
Window Treatments for Profit - LuAnn Nigara - Vita’s Tip in 10 with Vita Vygovska: Use This End-Of-Year Strategy To Reduce Your Taxes - 13 min
Resilient by Design - Rebecca Hay - A Mindset Makeover for Interior Designers with Andrea Liebross - 42 min
Business of Home - Dennis Scully - The Thursday Show: Stark Carpet CEO Chad Stark on selling to consumers while sticking with designers. Plus: This year's AD100 is unveiled - 52 min
Who’s Ready to Level Up Their Interior Design Business in 2024?
Who’s Ready to Level Up Their Interior Design Business in 2024?
We’ve got 4 radically different interior design business podcasts today. And yet, all 4 provide a ton of useful advice for those interior designers who are ready to level up their interior design business in 2024.
So much good stuff as we get closer to the new year.
Episodes at a glance:
The Holistic Interior Design Business Podcast - Rachel Larraine - Design Logistics Unveiled: Freight, Shipping, & the White Glove Experience - 16 min
Business of Design - Kimberley Seldon - Rule of Thirds with Patrick Ediger - 28 min
The Interior Design Business CEO - Desi Creswell - One at a Time - 13 min
Designed by Wingnut Social - Darla Powell - Creating Leverage in Your Personal and Professional Life With a Virtual Assistant - 38 min
Transform Your Interior Design Business in 2024
Transform Your Interior Design Business in 2024
We’re less than a month away from a brand new year.
How about instead of starting a new diet or signing up for a gym membership, we all make a determined, systematic and knowledge-backed effort to transform our interior design businesses???
2024 is going to be a year of flux for our industry. Between the rise of AI, higher than “normal” interest rates and an economy that doesn’t “feel right”, change will come for interior designers.
Why not get ahead of the game and make that change work for us?
Today’s interior design business lessons come from podcast hosts Terri Taylor, Michele Williams, Michelle Lynne, LuAnn Nigara x 2, Melissa Galt, Laura Thornton, Cheryl Kees Clendenon, Liz Lapan and Renée Biery.
Guests include Val Duvick - Val Marlene Creative, Jamie Van Cuyk, the owner and lead strategist of Growing Your Team, Susan Hayward & Jillian Hayward Schaible - Susan Hayward Interiors and Bessie Seeley, founder of Kardinia Interior Design.
School’s in session. Let’s put those thinking caps on:
Interior Design Business - Terri Taylor - Profitable Remodeling - 30 min
Profit is a Choice - Michele Williams - Financials are the Foundation to Work Life Balance - 49 min
Designed for the Creative Mind - Michelle Lynne - Keys to Hiring and Retaining Team Members for Your Interior Design Business - 43 min
Window Treatments for Profit - LuAnn Nigara - What Would Lu Do?: Seven Strategies for Business Excellence in 2024: Steps 1 and 2 - 32 min
The Affluent Creative - Melissa Galt - What Your Affluent Clients Want - 59 min
The Business of Beautiful Spaces - Laura Thornton - Let's Talk About How to Cultivate Lasting Relationships with Contractors with the Mother Daughter Duo from Susan Hayward Interiors, Susan Hayward + Jillian Hayward Schaible - 29 min
A Well-Designed Business - LuAnn Nigara - Bessie Seeley: Growing a Thriving Interior Design Firm From the Kitchen Table - 56 min
Damn Good Interior Design - Cheryl Kees Clendenon and Liz Lapan - Why your clients should not hire you - 35 min
Interior Designers Will Thrive in 2024
Interior Designers Will Thrive in 2024
2024 is almost upon us. And it’s going to be an interesting year for interior designers. With interest rates (finally) flattening…and promises of lowered rates later in the year, housing markets are primed to heat up…which is good news for residential designers.
Combine this with advances in AI and a wealth of services designed to level up the business-side of your interior design business, 2024 is destined to be a year of positive change for a lot of interior designers. It’s time to get excited…and get moving.
Today’s interior design podcasts at a glance:
The Design You Podcast - Tobi Fairley - There’s No Perfect Design Business with Sara Noble - 42 min
Window Treatments for Profit - LuAnn Nigara - Vita’s Tip in 10 with Vita Vygovska: End of Year Activities to finish strong - 13 min
Resilient by Design - Rebecca Hay - The Top 3 Products to Maximize Profitability in Interior Design - 27 min
Business of Home - Dennis Scully - The Thursday Show: Heidi Caillier's next phase. Plus: Airbnb's mysterious AI investment and more - 1 hr, 4 min
Interior Designers Sabotage Success
Interior Designers Sabotage Success
We are our own worst enemies.
From not taking credit when credit is due, to not valuing our skills, to not shining a light on those skills, to not respecting our future selves & not putting into place concrete plans for those future selves, interior designers are terrible at looking out for themselves.
It’s time to stop. There is a better way. Each of today’s podcast episodes offers a unique insight into how we can stop sabotaging our own success.
Episodes at a glance:
The Holistic Interior Design Business Podcast - Rachel Larraine - Invisible No More: Empowering Interior Designers to Take Credit for Their Work - 20 min
Beyond Interior Design - Marc Muskens - The Art of Valuing Your Skills and Time in Interior Design - 39 min
The Interior Design Business CEO - Desi Creswell - Leading with Your Future Self - 18 min
Designed by Wingnut Social - Darla Powell - How to Make Authentic Connections on LinkedIn - 30 mi
Window Treatments for Profit with LuAnn Nigara - LuAnn Nigara - C-Suite Talks with Madeleine MacRae: End of Year: PLAN AHEAD - 21 min
Trade Tales - Kaitlin Petersen - How Caren Rideau found new opportunities within a design niche - 34 min
The Quality of Your Relationships Are Going to Make or Break Your Interior Design Business
The Quality of Your Relationships Are Going to Make or Break Your Interior Design Business
I’m going to say something that is going to sound controversial to a lot of the interior designers who read this blog…but it shouldn’t.
The quality of your relationships are going to make OR break your interior design business.
And it’s not just lil old me who thinks so. All 5 of today’s podcasts make an argument that the quality (and quantity) of your actual human relationships are ESSENTIAL to the success of your interior design career / business.
The relationships you’ve built with your suppliers, contractors, trades, etc will determine what happens when something BAD happens with a project - late delivery, product damage, jobsite drama, etc. Will your supplier/contractor/plumber come to your rescue? Have you earned that goodwill?
Same questions for your employees, contract workers, service providers, VAs, etc? Are you part of THEIR team? Are they part of YOUR team? Or are you just a pay cheque?
And what about your clients? You’re not “just” designing their interior space…by transforming their home, you’re transforming how their lives will function moving into the future. You’re kinda a big deal in their lives. Do they feel the love? Do you actually give a poop emoji?
Relationships matter. How are yours?
Today’s Podcast Episodes at a Glance:
Designed for the Creative Mind - Michelle Lynne - From Jobby to Design Firm; The Business of Building Your Business - 52 min
A Well-Designed Business - LuAnn Nigara - Heather Vitti Pruett: Resilience and Relationships: Keys to Success in Her Interior Design Business - 1 hr, 3 min
Damn Good Interior Design - Cheryl Kees Clendenon and Liz Lapan - What got you here isn't going to keep you here in 2024 - 47 min
Home Stagers and Designers on Fire - Marianne Cherico - How to Collaborate with a Pro Organizer - 42 min
Business of Design - Kimberley Seldon - Use Your Sales Rep with Carmen Reinour - 36 min
6 Lessons for the Business Side of Your Interior Design Business
6 Lessons for the Business Side of Your Interior Design Business
We’ve got 6 kick-butt lessons for the business side of your interior design business in today’s collection of interior design business podcasts.
Today’s lessons come from podcast hosts Terri Taylor, Michele Williams, LuAnn Nigara, Melissa Galt, Laura Thornton and Kate Greunke. Their guest lecturers include Stacy Hernandez, the principal and CEO of Elegant Avenue Interiors and Rachel Krull, designer & owner of Monday Morning Interiors
School’s in session. Let’s put those thinking caps on:
Interior Designers Can Thrive in Turbulent Times
Interior Designers Can Thrive in Turbulent Times
Whether today’s economic woes are real or imagined, most interior designers are seeing a pullback from clients concerned about the higher costs of borrowing and fears of a recession. So…what are we going to do about it?
Today’s podcasts have a bunch of lessons for improving your business today AND for the future. Hope it helps :)
Today’s interior design podcasts at a glance:
The Design You Podcast - Tobi Fairley - When Life Throws You Lemons with Nicole Fulton - 34 min
Window Treatments for Profit - LuAnn Nigara - Vita’s Tip in 10 with Vita Vygovska: Secret Weapon of Every High Achieving Window Treatment Professional - 19 min
Designer’s Oasis - Kate Bendewald - 47 Gift Ideas for Interior Design Clients - 38 min
Resilient by Design - Rebecca Hay - Social Media Mastery in Turbulent Times: Insights from Darla Powell - 56 min
Business of Home - Dennis Scully - The Thursday Show: Amber Lewis hits her stride. Plus: Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams inventory heads to The Dump - 1 hr, 12 min
Interior Design Artistry, Custom Creations, AI & a Path to Happiness and Financial Success
Interior Design Artistry, Custom Creations, AI & a Path to Happiness and Financial Success
There is a lot of nervous chatter in the interior design world about how AI powered technology is going to disrupt the entire industry.
But, maybe the fear that AI-generated designs is going to commoditize the industry & see small design firms replaced by AI-powered interior design apps is being blown way out of proportion.
Maybe AI-powered tech frees designers from a whole host of time consuming repetitive tasks allowing for a deeper focus on artistry, custom furniture - hardware - lighting - fabrics - etc, improved customer service, deeper relationships with clients, trades, contractors, suppliers, media and your local community…you know…fun stuff.
Listen to today’s Interior Design Podcast Episodes:
Convo By Design - Josh Cooperman - Sensational Tactile Creations that Loom Large in a Time of Renewed Artistic Appreciation - William Storms - 52 min
Creative Genius Podcast - Gail Doby and Erin Weir - How to Fail at Business and Other Tips for Success (David Farris) - 49 min
The Interior Design Business CEO - Desi Creswell - When Your Day (Or Week) Is Derailed - 27 min
Business of Design - Kimberley Seldon - Winning at Project Management with Alexandra Crevier - 36 min
The Holistic Interior Design Business Podcast - Rachel Larraine - How to Publish Your Work & Get Noticed- 1 hr, 9 min
Is Virtual Reality the Future of Interior Design?
Is Virtual Reality the Future of Interior Design?
Residential interior design is a luxury service. Period. AI and virtual reality are about to radically change how you deliver that luxury service.
In one of today’s four interior design business podcasts, interior designer Ellie Redders talks about her use of virtual reality as a tool to showcase her design concepts. And while this is pretty awesome for 2023, it’s nothing compared to what’s coming next.
Right now, Ellie’s use of virtual reality is way more impressive than floor plans and 3D renderings, but it’s nowhere near as cool as it’s going to be once AI really gets rolling.
Imagine this:
During your initial site visit, you use your next-gen LIDAR app to accurately measure your potential client’s home
You and your AI-powered design software create an amazing design concept
That design concept is automatically generated as 2D floor plans, 3D renderings and a fully immersive virtual reality space
In addition to the design, options for every piece of furniture, window covering, lighting fixture, etc are selected. These options will be classified by vendor, price, availability, etc
When you present your design concept to the prospective client, they will be able to view and interact with your designed space in a fully-immersive virtual space.
And once they’ve signed the contract, AI-powered software will set up a timeline, submit purchase orders, alert employees, vendors & trades to their roles in the project, etc
Now that sounds like luxury.