Interior designing is an incredibly vast and flourishing business. The current number of interior designers in The United States is over 66,000 and rising! Here are some marvelous tips from successful interior designers for you to implement:
1. Create a Vision:
Founder of “Shaun Smith Home”, Shaun Smith, says that the first thing you should do when starting an interior designing business is to have a clear foresight of your goals and purpose. These goals should be long-term as they will eventually establish your brand’s motives.
Shaun also says that he has always lived by the “if you reach a goal, it’s time to set two more” mindset.
2. Branding and Advertising:
Founder of Drew McGukin Interiors, Drew McGukin says, that you before you launch your company and declare it “live”, you should be prepared with one final logo design, a firm, and all the possible materials needed for advertisement and promotions; such as notepads, business cards, and folders, etc.
Also, you must figure out a strategy to get fast and easy payments. You can offer payments through credit cards or ACH payments to make it easier and hassle-free for your customers, just like Drew did.
3. Keeping It Professional:
Drew from Drew McGukin Interiors has some advice for professionalism too. He advises you to share what you do but only show the good parts. Maintain a professional image by having a solid logo and unique pictures to post on your Instagram page.
Interact with other interior designing experts by tagging them on your posts.
4. Accounting and Finance:
Cofounder of Cullman & Kravis, Ellie Cullman, suggests you have a good support team backing you, an accountant, and an attorney to deal with the fees and commissions of the design industry.
Next, Ellie recommends hiring a bookkeeper to manage all the paperwork and formalities to save you time; time that you can utilize finding new clients and closing deals.
Indema.co provides features such as invoices, proposals, and QuickBooks to handle your finances with even more ease!
5. Managing Your Brand’s Growth:
Founder of “Shaun Smith Home”, Shaun Smith says that to avoid chaos as your business grows, you must learn to let things go; for example, small inconveniences and mishaps. You have to give equal work, respect, and recognition to each team member.
You must be patient with everyone and not pinpoint every mistake. Be understanding towards your members and go easy on them to maintain a healthy environment, Shaun advises.
6. Outsourcing Tasks:
Stevie McFadden, the founder of Flourish Spaces, says that you should learn everything about running your business, but should know what to outsource as soon as possible. Stevie did the bookkeeping for two years until he outsourced it to a bookkeeper.
You should save all your time and energy on your specialties and let your employees and team members do the basic work.
7. Client Relations and Strategies:
Cofounder of Redd Kaihoi, Miles Redd, says that you should be highly interactive with your customers. Responsiveness will surely grant you success at an incredibly heightened rate!
Indema provides features such as “Client Access” in the “File Manager” that allows your clients to make their experience easier to manage; they can add files there and also assign folders to them.
8. Transparency in Billing:
Miles Redd again says that you should be clear and honest about your work when you describe it to a potential buyer. Tell them the cost and be specific about everything.
9. Starting a Business:
Once again, we have Miles Redd to suggest you to be as decisive as you can while dealing with the business, “stay small”, and be efficient while solving problems.
10. Managing your Staff:
Miles Redd also has a few words to say about managing the staff. He suggests that you find trustworthy, hardworking, and good team players. Communicate with your team as much as you can and forgive their mistakes.
Use a project management platform like indema.co to make sure your projects are run smoothly, are on time, and within your client’s budget.