How to start an interior design business: 5 things to work on first
The problem I see with lots of new design business owners is they are working on the wrong tasks.
And that’s why their business isn’t taking off as fast as they wish it would.
They focus too much on things like building a website, what to name their business, making a pretty logo or stressing about social media.
And although these things are important, what’s even more important when you’re first starting a business are:
finding your first clients: working out who your clients are and where they are going to come from
proving product/market fit: do you have the design talent and a service that people want to pay you for
making money: unless you start making money as quickly as you can you have a hobby, not a business
So in this post I’m going to outline five things that I think new design business owners should be focusing on when they first start their business - before they worry about social media or building a complicated website.
1: Find your first 3 clients
Your most important task as a new business owner is to get your first clients in the door.
And these don’t necessarily have to be paid clients. Working for free (or very low fees) is pretty inevitable for most designers when they are first starting their business. Working for free isn’t a negative as you will not only gain experience from doing this, but you will also get some images to use on your website and also (hopefully!) some great testimonials to use as well.
Why is finding your first 3 clients the most important task as a new business owner?
Because if you can find and work with 3 clients it proves:
you have design skills that people want to pay for (or at least get your help with for free)
you have a service that people need and want from you
You will also:
build confidence in what you’re doing after working with some clients
start to build out a signature system
develop better client leadership skills
learn sales skills
have some completed projects that you can use to promote yourself (e.g. via before/after images or client testimonials)
Almost every new designer I meet who is struggling to find their first few clients are simply not doing enough proactive, daily, consistent lead generation.
And when you are at the very start of your business journey you need to do the most lead generation of any other time you’re going to be in business. Because at the moment pretty much nobody knows who you are!!
What is proactive lead generation?
It is not posting an image on your Instagram account each day and waiting for clients to come to you.
Instead, this is what you need to be doing, every single day:
💡 reaching out to potential strategic partners and building relationships (e.g. builders, contractors, joiners or others who are already working with your ideal clients)
💡 actively seeking out client referrals (e.g. from past clients or from family/friends who can vouch for you)
💡 using social media strategically as a business and lead generation tool
💡 building connections and networking about your business everywhere you go
💡 reaching out to your network regularly to find new potential opportunities
In my business short course Lead Generation Pick-n-Mix I teach you how to implement all of these strategies (and more). If there’s one of my business courses that will help you at the start of your business journey it’s that one.
2: Get revenue in the door
When I was first starting my own business and there were so many things that I could be working on I would inevitably end up in a spiral of overwhelm and procrastination. When that happened my husband used to regularly ask me a question:
What is your fastest path to revenue?
This is your most important question as a new business owner, because without revenue you have a hobby, not a business.
The question is designed to help you think about whether what you are working on is busy work or whether it’s actually making a difference to you getting your business up and running.
So as you plan your day each morning make sure you ask yourself one simple question:
Will these tasks help me get closer to making money?
If you answer no, then choose the tasks that will (even if these are the harder tasks to take action on).
As a new business owner most of your time should be spent on lead generation (as discussed above).
The way I got started in business was to start telling everyone I knew that I was now taking on design and styling projects. It was scary and confronting but I did it because I was determined to make a go of my business and do something I loved.
In fact, the way that most people who are starting their own business generally get started is by word of mouth referrals (e.g. from friends, family or colleagues) and so I would suggest this as the first place to try and seek out your initial clients.
3: Build confidence (i.e. stop imposter syndrome)
Often imposter syndrome comes from a lack of confidence in what you are doing.
You’ve probably heard the saying - fake it ‘til you make it - and while I agree with that to a point, you also need to remember that as a designer your job is to help people make alterations to what is most likely their largest financial asset - i.e. their home.
Faking how to do that is unprofessional and also potentially very risky for you from a liability point of view.
If you don’t really know what you’re doing and you make a mistake or overstep your role as a designer in a project (e.g. start working on aspects of a project that you aren’t qualified or licensed to work on) you are exposing yourself to significant risk if something goes wrong. Many new designers often don’t understand what these risks are or how serious the ramifications can be if things go wrong (e.g. specifying tiles with incorrect slip rating and then someone slipping and hurting themselves badly = a potentially very expensive legal issue for the designer).
In many parts of the world it’s still not required to have formally trained as a designer in order to start a design business, but my prediction is that this will start to change in the coming years. As shonky building work continues to be a problem governments are already starting to change laws in our industry and my prediction is that this will continue. For example we are already seeing this where I work in Sydney, Australia with the introduction of the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (if you live in Sydney and don’t know what that is then make sure to educate yourself).
Although I am not trained as a designer the legislative environment was different back when I started my business 10 years ago. I also had a lot of confidence in what I was working on as I had renovated many of my own home projects and was extremely confident in my ability to upskill myself in areas I needed to learn about (e.g. building codes, legislation, the design process).
But if I were starting a design business these days I would definitely be getting a qualification of some sort so I could be confident that as legislation changed I would have the necessary qualifications to allow me to continue working in the industry.
So if you are not confident or trained in any of the following skills, I would make sure you work out how you are going to learn about these things before you start working with clients:
your design skills
the legislation that exists in your jurisdiction around design and building works
your local building codes
how a design project is run and who is responsible for what part of a project (so you don’t take on tasks that you aren’t qualified or licensed to take on)
how to produce design drawings for your work
the process of working as a designer - e.g. the steps involved at each stage
negotiation and client management skills
business skills (e.g. sales, marketing, finances and operations)
Your job is to lead your clients through a design project and if you don’t really know what you’re doing then it’s irresponsible to be taking on that work.
The best way to combat this is to be proactive about you learning.
This might be learning more about the design craft itself or it might be learning about the other essential aspects of running a business like the legal side of the industry, marketing, social media, leadership or even about how to improve your productivity.
So make sure you upskill yourself in areas of weakness by:
going to university/TAFE/college
taking courses
listening to podcasts
watching educational content videos
reading books (or listening to them)
finding a mentor or business coach who can help you improve your business.
The start of your business journey is the time to build solid foundations not only for your business but also for your own personal and professional development.
4: Work on the right things
Business isn't about doing more things....it's about doing more of the right things.
If you want your business to grow you need to work on the activities and projects that will actually help it grow. You need to do more of the right activities and less of the activities that feel like work but are actually just procrastination in disguise.
Here is the distinction...
Busy work (procrastination in disguise):
checking and answering email
working on your website
creating a logo
book keeping
random posting on social media without a strategy
planning and organising things (that you don't execute on)
Work that will actually move your business forward:
planning your day strategically each morning with tasks that will help generate revenue
proactive lead generation (every day!)
obsessing over your client experience and how to improve it
creating new products or services
planning and executing a strategy for your social media
establishing strategic partnerships (e.g. with contractors, builders or others that are already working with your ideal client)
creating systems and processes for repeated tasks
5: Document everything
One big regret I have is that I have very little documented from when I was first starting my business. It was only a few years ago that I really started to document my ideas and the behind-the-scenes of how I’m building my business.
But I wish I had documented the entire process right from the very beginning with blog articles, videos and a social media feed that I could go back over and see how my business has evolved.
Documenting everything you’re doing and learning is also the EASIEST way to come up with content ideas - e.g. for posting on social media or in longer form pieces of content like this blog post.
But I used to be so scared of being on video that I have almost no video footage from any of the design projects I worked on - including the renovation of my own homes. And I wish I had that now as it would be so fun to look back on.
Instead of trying to look like a polished professional at the start of your business journey - embrace the point in time that you’re at - i.e. the start of your journey! Take people on that journey with you.
Not only will it help you build rapport with people (many of whom may eventually turn into paying clients) - you will also have a great record of this fun process of building a business from scratch!
Don’t pretend to be someone you aren’t - people can see straight through that online these days. Embrace the fact you’re at the start of your business journey and have fun with the content you create. :)
Courses and Templates for Designers and Architects
DO YOU WANT TO….
Improve your professionalism?
Find more clients?
Bring in more revenue?
Create better systems and processes?
Then check out my business courses and templates for designers and architects.
These courses and templates leave you with work done - not just a long list of things you need to do next. We have a really strong focus on taking action and getting things created that improve your business.
Enjoy the rest of your day!
Clare x
Dr Clare Le Roy
