Manager or employee, up-and-coming or established, no matter what role you play in a business or what stage that business is at, there is a wealth of wisdom that can be gained from reading a great piece of written work. Online articles are a convenient and cost-effective way to increase our knowledge on a particular subject. Be it management tools, business advice, design inspiration, or quick tips – a good Google search can have you informed and off to the races, with guidance on navigating a tricky situation or advice on how to take your business to the next level.
If you're managing an interior design business, there are a lot of great articles out there that you can leverage to help your firm succeed. But where to start? Let us help by summarizing our top 4 articles every interior designer should read.
1. I'm getting more client requests than I can handle. How do I choose which to take? – on Business of Home
Find yourself caught in the middle of the COVID-crazy interior design industry surge that many are currently experiencing? Not sure how to decide on what work to say yes to, what work to say no to, or what you should even say at all? This article gets right to the core on how to manage your pipeline of projects effectively, ensuring you're not shortchanging your firm now or in the future.
Written by Sean Low, business coach to interior designers and writer of the Business Advice column for Business of Home, what's insightful about this article is that Low reminds us of just what kind of business an interior design firm is – a scarcity business. "Scarcity" is a business and economic term used to describe the limited availability of the most commonly available resources for use within a company. Low explains why it's essential to keep this in mind when you're staring down the barrel of a seemingly never-ending tunnel of potential work. He brings it into context by relating it to business pricing models, making it easy to understand and apply the knowledge to your interior design business.
He also touches on how to manage your responses to clients if and when push comes to shove, so if you need to say "no" to some projects, you know what not to do, which can be equally as important as what to do.
Our key takeaway: "Using the metrics of only your best (on your terms, of course) and the work you would stake your reputation on allows you to make decisions that will set the stage for the future while honoring what is in front of you."
2. 6 Unwritten Rules That Can Create Difficult Clients – on Designers Today
Handling clients can sometimes be one of the most challenging and taxing parts of managing an interior design firm. You want them to be happy, but you don't want it to come at a cost to the team, the project, or the business. Written by Desi Creswell, certified business coach for interior designers, this article taps into how easily friction is created when your expectations, or the client's, don't meet the reality.
Creswell discusses six of the most commonly uncommunicated rules at play across many facets of our business and personal lives. When not adhered to, these can become a source of conflict and disharmony. Setting the thinking wheels in motion, Creswell asks us to consider how it's possible to communicate more effectively with clients and operate with intention to help avoid feeling overwhelmed at work.
Our key takeaway: "You likely have manuals for yourself, your family, and your business. Take a look at where you have expectations that are not being met. What would it be like to let people be who they are and not be surprised by it?"
3. 19 Tips From Successful Pros on How to Run an Interior Design Business – on Architectural Digest
No matter how big or small your interior design business is, it's safe to say that if you feel like you're at a roadblock or crossroads, someone, somewhere out there, has been in the same position before.
This Architectural Digest article covers an array of business management topics, including accounting, client strategy and relations, and outsourcing. It offers frank and unguarded advice from the founders and co-founders of six established interior design firms:
- Ellie Cullman – Co-founder, Cullman & Kravis
- Drew McGukin – Founder, Drew McGukin Interiors
- Shaun Smith – Founder, Shaun Smith Home
- Miles Redd – Co-founder, Redd Kaihoi
- Stevie McFadden – Founder, Flourish Spaces
- Frank De Biasi – Founder, Frank de Biasi Interiors
If you run a small-scale interior design firm or are just kicking things off, benefit from tips on starting a business and managing growth. For larger-scale firms, pick up insights on creating a vision, goals, branding, and managing staff.
Our key takeaway: "You don't realize how much it means to have consistent reporting from the beginning until you find yourself tracing back years later, patching together growth patterns tracked in several different systems." —Drew McGukin, founder, Drew McGukin Interiors
4. I need to hire my first employee. What tasks should I outsource first? – on Business of Home
Business growth means new hires. If you're in the position where you're taking on new staff but are contemplating where to start, this is a must-read article for you.
It's another informative article written by Sean Low, the business coach for successful and high-profile interior designers such as Nate Berkus and Vicente Wolf, after all. In this article, Low paints a clear picture on how to prioritize the roles in the business to fill first. He touches on the value of thinking outside the box when it comes to new hires and provides food for thought when considering how to grow your interior design team the right way.
Our key takeaway: "One overarching element you'll need to figure out is how you will seek to grow. Chasing revenue alone is not enough—the opportunity lies in the right business, not the biggest business."
These four articles are a great source of advice for effectively managing an interior design business. As a total project management and online accounting solution for the interior design industry, the DesignDocs team is also here to help your business grow. Our system can help you organize and streamline your workflows, increase your firm's efficiencies, and improve your bottom line. Request a demo of the system today or sign-up to receive our latest blog posts to stay in the loop.
