How To Start an Interior Design Business

Firstly, congratulations on making this courageous step. If you want to start your own interior design business, you’re on the right page and we are honored to be a part of your journey.

Because yes, starting your own business from scratch is a true journey!

It’s important to understand what you get yourself into. Not to discourage you, on the contrary. So you can be prepared to embrace and grow from the lows and ready to celebrate the highs.

This article is meant to help you bring your idea to life in the best way.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, stressed, or anxious about this new venture, it’s totally normal. Let’s dive into what you need to focus on to make this next career move your best one yet! If you’re going to have to take some admin decisions, remember that this also gets to be a creative experience from the get-go!

Here we share with you what you need to start thinking about and what steps to take to begin.

You’re ready, business owner? Let’s go!

Don’t become your worst boss

You’ve probably heard it before and maybe this is one of your motivations to start your business: “I don’t want to answer to a boss anymore! I want to have my own business because I want to work for myself.”

Before we jump into specifics, we’d like to take a moment here to balance this thought. Yes technically by having your own business you’re working for yourself.

You don’t have a boss anymore. Instead, you have clients.

You want to decide when you work, who you’re working for, what projects you decide to work on, and when you take a day off… But this freedom doesn’t come automatically.

We actually see a lot of business owners (especially in the first years) becoming an employee of their own business, with a boss (yourself) that ends up being not that flexible.

If you don’t set up your business strategically from the beginning, you may end up with less freedom than what you had at your past job.

Now don’t worry! Like we said, with planning and strategy you get to decide exactly HOW you want YOUR business to be!

So why do you want to start your biz?

Let’s get into it then! Why is it that you want to start your own business instead of working for another firm?

List all the reasons making you take this decision!

Is it to work less and have flexible schedules? Is it to explore your creativity the way you want it? Is it because you want to have control over all aspects of the business? Is it because you want to work with specific clients? Is it to work from wherever you want?

There are no wrong answers. Take some time to write it all down!

It’s important to be honest with yourself if you want to build a business that is really going to fulfill you.

If you want more time for yourself and you don’t want to work 40hours/week anymore then you need to know that before saying yes to every project coming your way.

If you want to work from anywhere in the world, then you’ll need to make sure to take on remote work and not accept in-person projects.

Keep your list and review it once in a while. After 3 months, 6 months, 1 year in business. It’s ok if your list evolves as you and your business will evolve, too. But if you find these reasons to still be true but your business doesn’t support them, then you’ll know you need to make some arrangements.

Make your business unique to you

You’re in front of a blank page right now. HOW EXCITING! We told you it was going to be a creative process.

Before we go more into business and marketing strategy we’d like to ask you another question:

What made you want to become a designer in the first place?

This often leads us in the direction of what we want to do. Often when we’ve been on the market for too long we lose that flame of why we chose this field in the first place. As you’re building your business, this is a great opportunity to reconnect with it.

What’s your niche?

An interior design niche is an area of specialty within the industry.

Is it important to be niched? YES! But that doesn’t mean you can’t have some legroom here.

Some people are very specific. They like to go into detail. They become true experts in one specific area.

Others like to keep things broader. They like juggling multiple projects and having different experiences.

Some clients will want to work with someone who only focuses on one area while others will appreciate working with someone who has broader expertise.

So you don’t need to pick only one specialty but you also can’t try to please everyone!

Even if you like to keep things broad, you still have specific interests! This is what we want you to get into now.

So how to find your niche?

1. Who’s your ideal client?

Defining your ideal clients is really important for two main reasons. It will help you:

-        Define offers/services/packages that they will need and want to buy

-        Adapt your communication so it resonates with them

But it will also make sure you’re going to work with people you appreciate and respect!

Spend some time being clear about who you want to work with. What’s their age, occupation, values, hobbies, where do they live, where do they get their information from, are they on social media and if yes how do they use it, what are they struggling with, what do they dream about?

If you’re not quite sure where to start check out our blog on how to attract your dream clients.

2. What’s your area of expertise?

What projects do you most enjoy? What’s your expertise? Designing office space or tiny houses is very different. Get clear on what you’re capable of AND what you want to spend time on.

Define your offers

When it comes to launching, it’s important to have one clear service tailored to a specific niche, especially at the start of your business. Offering too much leaves people confused. It’s time to claim your space in the industry as an expert! By trying to please everyone you end up resonating with… no one.

Your services are the perfect combination between your ideal clients, your ideal offer, and the needs of the market.

Your offers will grow as you and your company grow. Make sure to listen to feedback, pay attention to the reaction of your audience when you launch a new service, and allow yourself to adjust. You don’t have to get it right from the beginning.

You can also test your services before you officially launch. Have you completed any projects pro-bono? Or for friends and family? Or maybe you want to start a soft launch at a reduced rate to help you expand the offer as you go with one or two test clients.

Gather together feedback and reflect on these experiences.

Do your research!

We often think we know what our audience needs. But is that true? If we build our entire business on presumptions we might be running into a wall.

To confront your ideas with the reality of the market, it’s important to have a good market research strategy in place to help you grow. You want to ensure that you’re offering services that people actually want and need! 

Check out our blog here for our top market research tips.

Build your website

Yes, having a website is an important element for an interior design business. As you’re starting, having a website will help build credibility for your new audience. It will give important information about yourself but also about your style and any past projects you’ve worked on.

Potential clients like to gather information before investing. Make sure to have this information available.

Having a website is also a good way to be found by people you don’t know yet.

You’ll want your domain name (website name) to be the same as that of your company or your own name. Don’t make it hard for people to find you!

Learn more now: Do interior designers need and use their own website?

It’s possible to design a good website yourself without being too technical using free or low-cost templates you can individualize, you can check out platforms such as Squarespace or Wix. If you’re too busy and website building is not your thing, then skip the hassle and delegate these tasks. Contact us for more info!

Now, don’t use this step as an excuse to delay the launch of your company! You don’t need the most complicated website in order to start your business. If you don’t have the time just yet, start with a simple landing page that shares who you are, what you do, and some testimonials and imagery of your projects!

Once you’re ready, do make sure to look into content creation. Learn more about content creation here.

Set up your social media platform(s)

In today’s world, your future customers are more likely on social media! So you should be there too! But which one to use? This will depend on your ideal client – where do they interact and find their information?

Check out this blog on the top 3 social media platforms for interior designers.

Not sure what to share? Check out Instagram content inspiration for interior designers in our latest blog here

Let’s talk marketing

Your website is live, your social media platforms are set up. But you still don’t have any clients or nobody asking you for a quote.

Now that the foundations of your business are set up, you need to market it!

When it comes to your marketing plan you want to ensure you have both short-term and long-term goals. Both are part of an overall marketing strategy, and both are important to your business, but there are definite differences between the two.

-        Short-term Marketing

This strategy comprises the efforts to accomplish your short-term goals on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. You want to focus on goals that are just on the horizon. These goals build into your long-term marketing strategy and are the stepping stones to help you build your business in the long run. Some elements to consider in the short-term include market research, sharing testimonials, and the day-to-day running of your business and digital platforms.

-        Long-term Marketing

This is all about the ‘big picture’ that you want to achieve with your marketing efforts. This strategy focuses on elements that are six months, to a year away, and often beyond that. Remember that building a business is a marathon, not a sprint. Try not to focus only on short-term and/or immediate results. A successful long-term strategy will pay off! Elements to consider include branding, SEO optimization for your website and blogs, social media strategies, and public relations.

Learn more about how to create a marketing plan here.

Networking in and out of your industry

Another aspect that we thought was important to include in this article is about building a community when you start as a business owner. We want to encourage you to be active in your industry and to see other interior designers as peers and not competitors. Read more here.

Interior design networking is an important part of having a successful business. Networking allows you to meet and exchange information with other designers and helps you stay up to date with the latest trends in the industry, and even helps you meet potential clients, mentors, or partners!  When attending an interior design networking event (online or offline!), try not to talk to every single person in the room. The goal is not to collect as many contacts as humanly possible but to generate quality relationships you genuinely want to have. Whatever you do, do not immediately jump into your own business especially if you are just beginning; ask about their business first, what projects they’re working on, what their challenges are, etc.

You’ll gain a lot more perspective when you take the time to listen to other professionals in the industry rather than just talk about yourself the entire time. People often remember faces and conversations much more than a website or social media post.

Now networking outside of your industry can also be very valuable. Meeting other business owners from various industries will not only be fulfilling but it will also help you to feel less lonely on this journey. Because yes, starting your own business, if you’re not properly supported and surrounded by like-minded entrepreneurs can feel very lonely at times!

We’re so excited for your to start this new journey! And we hope this article helped you feel less alone and more structured.

We’re experts in marketing and public relations and our niche is interior designers! We’d love to help you get started on the right foot!

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