Happy Thursday, interior designers and small business owners! First, a special welcome to the 16 (!!) new readers who joined us yesterday. 😀 You’ve landed right in the middle of a conversation about figuring out what kind of design business you actually want to run. Read about how my design-only firm reached $425K in revenue without relying on procurement. Catch up here → On Tuesday, I asked y'all whether you would have wanted my design-only, modest-budget, one-room-at-a-time clients, and a...
14 days ago • 2 min read
Happy Tuesday, interior designers and small business owners! Here's a fun fact: A lot of interior designers would not have wanted my clients' projects. The question is... Would you? 👀 Their homes were usually under 3,000 square feet. Budgets ranged from about $60K for a hall bath remodel to $500K for a home addition. They didn’t want to pay us to manage construction. They didn’t want to pay furniture markups. Nearly all of them lived within about nine miles of my Seattle office. I freaking...
16 days ago • 3 min read
Happy Thursday interior designers and small business owners! A quick one today. 🙂 If your About page mostly explains where you came from, what you’ve done, and how you became a designer, it may be leaving some of your best marketing on the table. When I recently helped a student in my Nail Your Niche class rewrite hers, she didn't need to make her story more impressive. She just needed help connecting the dots. Her previous career, childhood home, project experience, and design instincts were...
20 days ago • 1 min read
Happy Tuesday Interior Designers and Ambitious Entrepreneurs! Tell me if you agree: One of the hardest things to do is: 👉 Say 'no' to a potential client. If you're anything like me, just reading that sentence makes your stomach clench. 😬 → The potential client seems lovely. → They have a real project. → They’re ready to pay you. And now you’re supposed to say, “Actually, I’m not sure you should hire me”? 😑 But saying yes to the wrong client—or even the right client under the wrong...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Happy Thursday, Designers & Savvy Service Providers! Let's adapt Tuesday's reveal for your brand! On Tuesday, I shared how Josepha adapted her message for contractors without abandoning the heart of her brand. Her homeowner-facing message is: Find Your Bold. Her contractor-facing message is: Bold decisions. Buildable designs.Design support that keeps remodels moving. Different words. Same business. And that is the point. Your message can change outfits. It just should not change...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Happy Tuesday, Designers & Savvy Service Providers! Let’s talk taglines. A few simple words, meant to capture the heart of your brand. They can take ages to find and refine, and once you finally discover language that explains what makes your business different, it's tempting to treat those words like they've been carved into a stone tablet. This is the tagline. We shall use it forever. Nobody touch anything. But clear messaging does not mean repeating the exact same sentence to every...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Happy Thursday Designers and Creative Entrepreneurs, On Tuesday I gave you a quick test: Copy the titles of your last 10 blog posts into ChatGPT and ask what your business does, who you help, and what problems you solve. Today, I’m showing you what happened when I ran that test on two real interior design blogs. And spoiler: both designers were doing smart things, but in very different ways. One designer’s blog titles made her location and service lane crystal clear. The other designer’s...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Happy Tuesday Interior Designers and Ambitious Entrepreneurs, I'm gonna keep this short because this is important: Your blogs matter. Not just because people might read them, but because: They Help You Get Found. And these days, that does not only mean humans searching Google. It also means humans using AI tools to help them find the right designer. Of course, that only works if you are strategic not just about what you write, but also how you title your blogs. A strong blog title should make...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Happy Tuesday Interior Designers & eager design-preneurs! Question of the day: What kind of designer are you — really? I don’t mean "What services do you offer?" I mean: Are you more “banana bread and brownies,” or “we have a checklist, no time for chit-chat?” 🤔 Some designers make clients feel cared for, cozy, and emotionally held from the very first interaction. Their clients value warmth, reassurance, and someone who makes the process feel personal, safe, and deeply supported. Other...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read