Let Your Light Shine
Want to hear something crazy? You should do what you want. Because that’s the way you let your light shine and share your gifts with the world.
Too often interior designers get into this business and then the business of the work starts to get to them. They’re not making money. They don’t think clients value and appreciate their work. The stress of expectations. The suck of creativity. The weight of running a full-on business. All the responsibilities and pressure.
To thrive in this business you need to let your light shine. So you should do what you want.
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” - Howard Thurman
The quote above spawned this article. Read it again: “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
Isn’t it beautiful?
Obviously, following this advice is usually what gets us into interior design to start, but then we lose it a bit. We get run down by all the rest of it. So if you’re feeling a little disenchanted by the interior design business, consider reacquainting yourself with what about it makes you come alive. And consider what you’re doing or experiencing that is dimming your shine.
Things like:
Grinding out projects that don’t light you up.
Taking projects for financial or obligatory reasons.
Giving discounts.
Doing what other designers are doing just because it seems to be working for them or that’s what someone told you to do.
Copying other designer’s work (even when clients request it).
Not charging what you’re worth or discounting your services.
Making business decisions based on fear.
Because when you continue to allow things to dim your shine, you end up doing a disservice to yourself, your business, and your clients - no one is getting the best of you and no one will be happy.
When you do what you do well in your business you can shine. When clients hire you for your expertise, point of view, experience - and you’re doing it in a way that makes you come alive - that is the magic.
