Mastering the Business of Interior Design: Success by Design

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  124. Before You Hire: What Your Interior Design Business Actually Needs 19.08.2026 21分

  Send Katie a Text Message!! If you're overwhelmed in your interior design business, hiring someone can feel like the obvious next step. But bringing another person into a business with unclear processes, weak financial visibility, or undefined responsibilities doesn't remove the chaos. It can actually create more of it. In this episode, I'm breaking down how to know whether your design firm is truly ready to hire and why "I need help" isn't enough information to create a job description. We'...
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  123. When Your Successful Design Business Stops Feeling Successful 12.08.2026 18分

  Send Katie a Text Message!! What happens when you build the interior design business you spent years dreaming about—and realize you don't really enjoy running it anymore? In this episode, I'm talking about a stage of business ownership that doesn't get nearly enough attention: when your business looks incredibly successful from the outside but no longer feels successful to you. You have the projects, revenue, team, and recognition you wanted, yet you're still carrying every major decision, c...
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  122. The Business Decisions I Wish More Interior Designers Made Sooner 05.08.2026 23分

  Send Katie a Text Message!! Some of the most important decisions you'll ever make in your business won't feel urgent. There won't be a client demanding an answer or a deadline forcing your hand. Instead, they'll be the quiet leadership decisions that determine how resilient, profitable, and sustainable your business becomes over time. In this episode, I share six strategic decisions every interior designer should make before they're absolutely necessary. We discuss reducing client concentrat...
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  121. Overwhelmed Doesn't Mean It's Time to Hire 29.07.2026 17分

  Send Katie a Text Message!! Feeling overwhelmed is one of the most common experiences for growing interior design business owners. When projects begin piling up and every decision seems to depend on you, hiring can feel like the obvious next step. But what if overwhelm isn't actually telling you that you need another employee? In this episode, I explore why hiring is often used to solve the wrong problem. We discuss how to identify whether you're facing a true capacity issue or whether your ...
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  120. The Client Email That Can Make Or Break Your Profit 22.07.2026 23分

  Send Katie a Text Message!! What happens after a client asks you to expand the scope of a project? For many interior designers, this is where profitable projects begin to lose momentum. Without a clear process, additional work can quickly turn into unclear expectations, shrinking margins, and unnecessary stress. The way you respond in that moment says far more about your business than the email itself. In this episode, I break down the one email I wish every interior designer would send when...
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  119. Why Small Interior Design Projects Might Be Your Biggest Opportunity 15.07.2026 25分

  Send Katie a Text Message!! Are you turning away small projects because they don't seem profitable enough? You may be missing one of the biggest opportunities in your business. In this episode, I challenge the common belief that designers should only pursue large, full-service projects. Instead, I explain why evaluating the client—not just the project—can lead to stronger relationships, more repeat business, and greater long-term profitability. We also dive into customer lifetime value, prof...
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  118. Why Referral-Only Is Holding Your Business Back 08.07.2026 43分

  Send Katie a Text Message!! Referrals are one of the best compliments your business can receive—but they shouldn't be the only way you're attracting clients. In this episode, Michelle Lynn and I unpack one of the biggest myths in the interior design industry: that being "referral only" is the ultimate sign of success. While referrals are an incredible source of business, relying on them alone creates an unpredictable pipeline and makes it difficult to confidently grow your firm. We dive...
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  117. The Trade-Offs No One Talks About When Growing a Design Firm 01.07.2026 23分

  Send Katie a Text Message!! Growing your business should feel exciting—but if you've ever wondered why success suddenly feels heavier, this episode is for you. One of the biggest misconceptions in the design industry is that growth automatically creates more freedom. In reality, growth often exposes the parts of your business that have been held together by your own talent, memory, and constant involvement. In this episode, I'm talking about the hidden trade-offs of scaling a design firm, wh...
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  116. Booked Out, Busy, and Still Not Profitable Enough? 24.06.2026 28分

  Send Katie a Text Message!! Most interior designers think they have a revenue problem. But what if the real issue isn't how much money is coming in? What if it's how much money is quietly leaking out? In this episode, Katie breaks down one of the biggest profitability challenges facing design firms today: hidden profit leaks. From scope creep and revision loops to owner over-involvement and untracked labor, many designers are losing thousands of dollars without realizing it. In this episode,...
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  115. A Profitable Design Business Is Not the Same as a Scalable Design Firm 17.06.2026 25分

  Send Katie a Text Message!! One of the biggest misconceptions I see in the interior design industry is the belief that profitability automatically means your business is healthy. It doesn't. You can have beautiful projects, happy clients, strong revenue, and still be operating a business that can't handle another level of growth. In this episode, I'm breaking down the difference between a profitable design business and a scalable design firm—and why that distinction matters if you're trying ...
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  114. Your Business Doesn’t Need You As Much As You Think It Does 10.06.2026 18分

  Send Katie a Text Message!! What if the biggest thing holding your business back isn't your team, your workload, or your schedule? What if it's the fact that your business still depends on you for everything? In this episode, I'm diving into one of the biggest growth barriers I see in interior design firms: owner dependency. It's the moment many business owners reach where the business is growing, revenue is increasing, and the team is expanding—but somehow everything still comes back to the...
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  113. The Art Of The Principle: The Hard Conversations No One Talks About That Will Save Your Business 03.06.2026 37分

  Send Katie a Text Message!! In this special joint episode of Success by Design and Design for the Creative Mind, Michelle Lynne and I kick off a new series called The Art of Being the Principal. We dive into what it really takes to lead a successful interior design firm, move beyond being the operator of your business, and step fully into the role of CEO. If you're balancing design work, team management, marketing, finances, and client demands while wondering why growth still feels so hard, ...
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  112. The Hidden Cost of Saying Yes to the Wrong Projects 27.05.2026 29分

  Send Katie a Text Message!! What if the project draining your energy, your time, your profit, and your team was never actually the problem? What if the bigger issue is that you said yes to it in the first place? In this episode of Success by Design, I’m talking about the subtle “wrong projects” interior designers take on all the time — the ones that seem fine at first. The budget looks decent, the client seems nice enough, and the space has potential. But somewhere along the way, the project...
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  111. The Decision That Will Either Grow or Stall Your Business This Year 20.05.2026 31分

  Send Katie a Text Message!! If you’ve ever finished a project and immediately moved on to the next one, this episode is going to hit a nerve—in the best way. Because what if the thing keeping your business stuck isn’t your clients, your pricing, or your workload… but the fact that you’re not stopping to evaluate what actually happened? In this episode, I’m breaking down the one decision that separates designers who stay stuck from those who scale—and it has nothing to do with doing more. It’...
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  110. What I’d Fix First If I Took Over Your Interior Design Business Today 13.05.2026 41分

  Send Katie a Text Message!! In this episode, I’m walking you through exactly what I would fix first if I stepped into your interior design business and helped you scale to seven figures. And here’s the truth most people won’t tell you—you don’t need to work more, take on more clients, or post more content. What you actually need is to fix the right things in the right order. If your business feels busy but not profitable, or like everything is urgent but nothing is truly moving the needle, t...
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  109. Lessons from High Point Market: How Interior Designers Actually Attract Better Clients 06.05.2026 26分

  Send Katie a Text Message!! In this episode, I’m sharing a conversation I recently had with designers at High Point Market—and it’s one I couldn’t wait to bring to you here because it hits on something so many of you are experiencing right now. If you’ve been saying “I need more clients,” but you’re not actively nurturing the relationships you already have, this might be the reframe you need. Because what I shared on that stage—and what I see every day in my coaching work—is that most design...
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  108. Scaling an Interior Design Business Takes More Than Bigger Goals 29.04.2026 32分

  Send Katie a Text Message!! In this episode, I’m unpacking something I see all the time in design businesses—and it might surprise you. It’s not that you need to think bigger. It’s that your business may not be built to support the growth you say you want. I know how easy it is to believe the next level comes from bigger goals, more confidence, or finally stepping into your “CEO era.” But if your structure is weak, scaling doesn’t create freedom—it creates more chaos. More clients, more pres...
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  107. The Smarter Way Interior Designers Increase Profit (Without More Clients or Higher Prices) 22.04.2026 44分

  Send Katie a Text Message!! In this episode, I’m joined by Heather McManus, founder of The Designers Collaborative, and we’re diving into a conversation that challenges what most designers believe about profitability. Because if you’ve been told the only way to make more money is to raise your rates or take on more clients, I want you to hear this—there’s another way. And it might completely shift how you think about your business. IN THIS EPISODE: Why making more money doesn’t always mean r...
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  106. The Hiring Mistake Keeping Interior Designers Overworked 15.04.2026 21分

  Send Katie a Text Message!! If you’ve been feeling stretched thin and thinking, “I just need to hire another designer,” this episode might shift everything for you. I’m breaking down why hiring an assistant designer is often not the solution you think it is—and what’s actually keeping you overworked, overwhelmed, and stuck in your business. IN THIS EPISODE: Why hiring an assistant designer often doesn’t solve overwhelmThe difference between task support and true decision ownershipHow being t...
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  105. Why You Don’t Have a Million-Dollar Interior Design Business Yet 08.04.2026 39分

  Send Katie a Text Message!! If you’ve ever thought, “I want more in my business, but I don’t know if I can handle more,” this episode is for you. Today I’m breaking down one of the biggest reasons interior designers struggle to scale—and it’s not your talent or your work ethic. It’s your business model. If your business is built on the assumption that you have unlimited energy and capacity, it will eventually hit a ceiling. In this episode, I walk you through what’s really keeping you from r...