Business of Design

This year was another one for the books, with no shortage of its business challenges. We saw how hard you worked, innovated and showed up, day after day for your clients. You worked double and triple time to manage product delays while ensuring your clients had the best customer experience. The past two years have been unlike anything our industry has experienced before. We tip our hats to you for your continued perseverance and dedication to your projects and clients.

As interior designers, we pride ourselves on being a jack of all trades. We handle rooms large and small, and are required to know a lot of information about almost every aspect involved in making a house a home. From the initial design to the last piece of trim, clients lean on their designers as the tour guide that leads to a fabulous home.

Let’s talk about Jane. She’s a naturally talented dessert baker, but she’s new to the business.  An acquaintance hires Jane for a party of 50 she’s hosting to make her signature dessert - a triple layer lemon custard buttercream cake. Jane’s excited by the opportunity, agrees and makes mental note of the gig.

Being in the design biz for over (yikes) 20 years now, I’ve noticed how things have REALLY changed!  Like, a lot!  In school we are taught about form and function.  Balance, scale, colour theory, and ergonomics. But one thing that isn’t really taught is some of the nuance of managing and delivering a project to someone else…. Like, if the actual design style should be led by the designer or by the client.  If the style path they wanted to go down was just so darn ugly, but didn't prove to hinder any of the above lessons, what do we do?  When you are just starting out the last thing you want to do is turn down a potentially PAYING client…. Right?

People talk, right? And you want them to talk about your business since referrals account for 65% of new deals, but you probably knew that already. But, I don’t think past clients are your BEST source of referrals for new business. Why not, you ask? Because…