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 loved that work.
I loved helping families whose homes were making mornings harder than they needed to be. Couples who couldn’t agree. Rooms nobody wanted to spend time in. People who wanted a home designed for their actual life—not some imaginary future buyer.
Were they perfect clients?
HA! No.
Some of the very things that made those projects challenging were what pushed me to create The DECIDE Method.
But they were perfect for me. 💛
Here’s the part that's really cool:
My little design-only firm grew to $425,000 a year in revenue—all from design fees.
That matters, because for YEARS smart, successful, well-meaning people kept telling me some version of:
"That’s not really how a profitable interior design business works."
Mentors said it. Industry leaders said it. Even my very well-meaning husband had opinions. 😂
And just last week, Laurie Laizure—whom I love and agree with approximately 97% of the time—said designers need product as a profit channel because so much design time otherwise goes unbillable.
And I thought:
Laurie. I love you. But them’s fightin’ words. 😂
There are GREAT reasons to offer procurement. There’s serious money to be made there.
But you have to?
Nope!
Design Only. That was my business.
Smaller homes. Design-only services. A tiny service area. Practical people who wanted their homes to work better for their lives.
How’d I end up with this niche? It wasn’t something I invented in a branding workshop. It was simply what I wanted to do if I was going to be in this industry. For me:
- I didn't want to work on big houses.
- I didn't want to rely on selling stuff to make a good income.
- I did want to help regular people get happier at home.
That was me. Maybe it's you, too. 💛
Or maybe not. 👍
If you're still figuring out what kind of design business is actually yours, you don’t need to invent a niche. You just need to notice the pattern in the work you’d happily do day after day after seriously happy day. 🙌
That’s why Day 1 of Nail Your Niche is called:
"WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE? 👀"
It's all about looking at the evidence already sitting inside your business (and just maybe learning to ignore what anybody else tells you about what your business should look like 😉 ).
But I really am curious:
Would YOU have wanted my clients?
If you just had an OMG, THAT’S ME reaction reading this, hit reply and tell me. Seriously. I want to hear from you. (Those clients are STILL calling me and asking for referrals to other designers 'just like Rebecca.' 🥹 )
And if you’re ready to carve out the time to figure out what your version of a financially sustainable design business looks like, Nail Your Niche starts September 14.
Wishing you a Seriously Happy Tuesday!
💛 Rebecca
✨ COURSE ENROLLMENT IS OPEN ✨
The next Nail Your Niche cohort kicks off September 14.
The next Lead to Launch cohort kicks off October 5.
The earlier you enroll, the more support you receive: one mini-session for each month leading up to your course kickoff! 🙌
Well, hello there — have we met?
I’m Rebecca West. I help residential interior designers feel seriously confident about their marketing, sales, and client onboarding.
Everything I teach comes from running my firm, Seriously Happy Homes, for 17 years. Between 2007 and 2023, my team and I helped over 2,000 clients transform their small, tired houses into happy homes. 💛 Our work, and my book Happy Starts at Home, was featured on TV’s New Day, in The Wall Street Journal, Live Happy Magazine, Success Magazine, & beyond!
Then, in 2023, I closed my design studio and moved to Paris, and, a couple of years later, to the south of France. ( 🤩 !! )
As a coach, consultant, and gal-who's-been-there, I'm here to help the next generation of creative, hardworking, detail-oriented interior designers get found, get great clients, and get paid like a pro!
Let’s make it happen for you!
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