Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with James Swan on his Million Dollar Decorating Podcast. They track their most popular episodes by comments so I'd love if you'd comment on the podcast page here: Million Dollar Decorating - Capella Kincheloe.
Read MoreI've written many articles on pricing and created a free course to help designers figure out their sweet spot. I thought I could round them all up for you in one convenient place. Want to get really clear on what works for me and what I've seen work for other designers? Read the articles below.
Click Read More to Get 10 of the Best Articles on Pricing Interior Design
Read MoreCreating more than one way to make money in your interior design business is like diversifying your portfolio. If something takes a downturn you have other places where money is coming in.
On the other hand, I don't want you to complicate your business so much that it becomes unmanageable or overwhelming. Too much on your plate and business becomes messy and you won't be able to do anything well.
Below are some ideas on how to add multiple revenue streams into your interior design business. A caveat, if you want to add anything, you should be able to create it and then set it and forget it.
Read MoreAt the end of my course, The Golden Blueprint, I do review calls with participants. In the last session of the course I had several review calls every day and I found myself giving the same advice most every call. So what was the question that everyone was asking about? Pricing. Or more specifically, how to make money as an interior designer.
We would talk about how they priced their services and how they charged their clients and ultimately there was one glaring mistake everyone was making in their design business that was costing them valuable income.
Read MorePsst. Designer. Do you want to hear the biggest trade secret of all time? You can't share it with anyone. If I tell you, you are sworn to secrecy. Other designers will ask. Don't tell them. This is just for you. I'm going to give you the Super Secret Magic Pricing Model. MPM for short.
I'm sure you know the Magic Pricing Model I'm talking about. The one where clients readily accept your fees and buy all the product you select without question. It is the one where your bills and invoices are always paid on time. The one where you make a ton of money easily. It is the one that is so easy you never have to have an uncomfortable conversation about money with clients. The MPM is the one that you make the most amount of money with the least amount of effort. I know you want it. Everyone wants it.
Read MoreLet's go back to a time pre-internet. Cue the fog and crackly old-time radio. Generally, the wealthy were the only ones who could afford to hire a decorator. HGTV didn't exist. Correspondence was done via letter or the phone. Orders were placed with checks. Cell phones didn't exist or were giant bricks kept in the car "for emergencies". Shopping was all done in-store or from a mail-order catalog, you had to literally mail-in or call in your order. Things that couldn't be sourced would be designed and custom made in a workroom. Clients had no access to trade-only sources.
Read MoreHow do Interior Designers price their services? How should you price your services?
Unlike architects or realtors, there is no regulating body for interior designers. Therefore, there are about as many different pricing structures as there are interior designers. There is not a one size fits all for designers or clients, the bottom line is do you feel comfortable and confident in your pricing model?
Read MoreWhen you discount your services, you are undercutting the value of the entire industry. Ever bought a Groupon for a discounted exercise class, but then never went again for full price? If you pay less for something it is really hard to fork over more money later. When you lower the price of something, it sets a precedent and people don't want to pay more for it. The perceived value goes down. This may not matter when you are first starting or if you are in a slump and need whatever clients you can get, but it will matter when you are wanting to get paid more for your services or want to work on higher budgets. It also matters to all the other designers out there working their butts off and growing their businesses.
Read MoreI just finished the book Essentialism by Greg McKeown and was blown away by how much the ideas in the book paralleled my teachings and personal philosophies in both running a business and in life. If you ever feel like you have to do it all, that you have too much on your plate, that you are overwhelmed, that you don't know what to focus on or what is most important than this book is for you. And from what I hear from you in your comments, emails, and in coaching sessions this is pretty much everyone running an interior design business. I highly recommend you read it.
Here are how the principles can help you do less and achieve more:
Read MoreMost interior designers keep their portfolio on their website. There may be a little information about their services, but mainly interior design websites are put up to display designer's work and contact information. Some interior designers even have a blog. Although, I'd suspect that if those designers are reading this article, their blog probably hasn't been updated in awhile.
While interior design websites have a way for clients to contact the designer, they usually haven't created a way for the interior designer to contact clients. This is where an email list is useful to your business. Despite the spread of social media, email is still one of the best ways to be in contact with your potential clients and past clients - the ones that you don't talk to regularly.
Read MorePinterest has become one of the biggest search engines online and it's still growing. Now as I mentioned in last week's post on growing your Instagram following, social media is not one of my strengths. But I've been working on it recently and I'm going to share with you what I've learned. If you have tips, be sure to share them in the comments!
Make it easy for website visitors to pin your images with a Pin It Button on your website. Beware of copyright infringement implications.
Read MoreFor the past month, I've been putting some energy into social media. Social media is such a great tool and I've seen it make businesses - through followers, connections, and brands. It is not something that comes natural to me, in fact it feels very unnatural and revealing, but I am working on it. No matter where on the scale of social media comfort you are, the following tips are sure to help you get more eyes on your business.
I know this because the person I asked to give me her tips on growing your Instagram following amassed over 10,000 followers in about a year. In fact, I'm pretty sure most of them came in the last six months. Her name is Meg Hosler from Meggie H Interiors. Meg told me that with little to no money to spend on marketing and advertising Instagram has become invaluable to getting her name out there. She said, "The Instagram community within design and architecture is very supportive and interactive. I have met a number of my Instafriends in person and have made some great friends. It has also been the number one way my clients find me. Instagram is also how I was discovered by The Glam Pad blog which has been invaluable to launching my career." Below are Meg's tips on how to grow your followers:
Read MoreWhen I start a new project there are a few things that I do to organize that new project, this is one of the systems I have created to make my business more efficient. In this post, I've attempted to describe my system for you. It feels a lot more complicated to explain the system in words than it is in actual execution.
I start with a 3" white 3-ring binder and a stack of binder tabs. Much of my organization is based on using Studio Designer, but if you don't use Studio Designer or a project management software you can still organize your projects this way.
Read MoreToday, I am going to talk about two newer interior design programs on the market and my tried and true. This month I spent some time researching and playing around with Ivy and Mydoma so I could report back my findings to you because we are always trying to make business easier and more efficient.
There are pros and cons to each program and unfortunately, there is no definitive answer as to which one is "best". They all are very good options, you'll want to pick the one that works best for running your business.
Read MoreThe title of this article is a bit of a misnomer because there are very few applications that you need to run an interior design business. Somewhere a few years ago, I stopped adding and started simplifying. This was a conscious effort to stop looking for the best way to run my business from external sources to start developing the best way to run my business by looking inside my business.
Simplicity and focusing on what really matters is what will make your business run smoother. By not cluttering up your process with various applications and subscriptions, you can give your attention to the work that needs to be done, not the app you should use to get it done.
That said here are some of my favorite apps for running an interior design business.
Read MoreNot long after I first started my business, I spoke to a potential client who wanted "three different design schemes presented to them like they do on HGTV". First, HGTV is fake. Second, creating three completely different design schemes is a waste of time and of my talent. A designer's job is to take several different puzzle pieces: the home, budget, the clients & family, client's style, and client's lifestyles and combine those into a beautiful and well-designed home. There are a lot of parameters to consider. Without taking into account any of those puzzle pieces creating different design scheme would be as easy as pie.
Read MoreIt's always fun to get a peak inside of someone's bag, right? I little snapshot into their life and the treasures they carry with them. But mainly, I like looking in someone's bag because maybe, just maybe they'll have discovered some great secret I'm not yet privy too. That miracle lip plumper? A genius planner? An adorable key ring? Secrets hidden in someone's bag.
Being an interior designer means schlepping around quite a bit of stuff in your bag (and vehicle). From a job-site meeting with a contractor to meeting a new client to installations, there are many different occasions that interior designers must be prepared for. Below I've rounded up the best items that a well-prepared interior designer should have in her toolkit.
Read MoreWhen I started in the architecture school at USC, computer aided design (CAD) was just beginning to be introduced into the curriculum. Hand-drawing and drafting was still king and I had one class in drawing plans on the computer (which we saved on giant floppy zip disks). It wasn't until years later while working for Michael Smith that I took an AutoCAD class and really started using it regularly.
Now it is commonplace. Your interior design firm can't survive without using CAD for 3D renderings or 2D furniture plans. This doesn't mean that you yourself have to know the programs if you're like me and they were never an integral part of your design education. There are lots of current students and recent graduates that are extremely proficient in CAD. Sometimes it is better to delegate.
AutoCAD - The premier CAD program used by architects and engineers. This is the most widely used program and a standard in the industry, but it is also very expensive. For that reason,
Read MoreI met Lisa Mowry several years ago when I lived in Atlanta and she helped me get published. She is a great person to ask about getting published because she works with multiple magazines. In the 27 years she has worked for home & garden magazines, Lisa has produced more than 1,000 features for national and local magazines.
She is the Atlanta editor for such well-known publications as Better Homes & Gardens, Traditional Home and Decor, as well as a dozen more of BH&G’s special interest magazines...titles such as Cottage Style, Elegant Homes and Beautiful Kitchens & Baths. Lisa also serves as the homes editor for Atlanta Magazine’s HOME and has been a contributing writer for Atlanta Magazine for 20 years.
Her many other writing credits include Southern Living, Woman’s Day, Styleblueprint, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Metropolitan Home. So you can understand why I asked her to help answer your "how to get published" questions.
In theory, nobody is ever really done with a house, but editors do need
Read MoreThis week I am speaking with Kat Alves, a talented freelance interiors and architectural photographer for both commercial and residential spaces. I was first introduced to Kat when I did Amy Aswell's Real Designer feature since she photographs all of Amy's work.
Kat is a California native with a degree in Photography and Design Studies from San Francisco State University. She followed that up with a Certificate in Interior Design from UC Berkeley. So she knows a bit about photographing interiors. Her photography showcases modern, fresh design with natural light. Her work has been featured in numerous publications including Dwell Magazine and Luxury Home Magazine.
Below, Kat shares with us the inside scoop on working with a professional photographer:
To make your project shine and be able to present your work to the world in its best light. Since most homes are private, it is very difficult for prospective clients and others to view all the hard work of interior design. Photos are the key to getting
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