Starting Your Career as an Interior Designer: The Business of Interior Design

Interior Design Mentor - The Business of Interior Design genie

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 Interior Design Mentor - The Business of Interior Design genie.

Easier Said Than Done

Since last October we have been waiting to move forward on an opportunity for a new retail space in Carmel.  We’re waiting for the lease to be signed.  The proposed collaboration between Hale-Williams Interior Design and HomeScapes Carmel would give us access to a large retail space and marketing opportunities and give HomeScapes Carmel a stronger interior design presence.  The catch has been waiting for an agreement between the lease holder and HomeScapes.  Boring, Boring, Boring.  Every little nuance of the contract has been looked at twenty times or more.  One would think signing a lease wouldn’t take more than five months.  Well, I’m here to tell you, it does.  So, as we wait for the lease to be resolved we have started looking for new product for the store.  That will be part of our responsibility as well as interior design services.  We are part of the team to expand the furniture side of HomeScapes business.  That’s great and we’re so pleased to have been asked to work with Thompson Lange, the owner of the store.  HomeScapes reputation in the community is stellar and our combined reputations will give HomeScapes and Hale-Williams Interior Design great visibility.  It’s why we decided in October it was a good idea.  Did I mention we are waiting for the lease to be signed?  I’m surprised at how difficult the process has become considering there aren’t that many businesses running around trying to lease 12,000 square feet of retail space in Carmel.  Heck, anywhere for that matter.  I understand the idea of caution in this economic climate but come on.  Ease of implementation would take a lot of the fear and trepidation away from the process and make the entry into the new space far easier.  I guess it isn’t going to happen.  So, did I mention we’re still waiting for the lease to be signed?

Our business has been so quiet for so long I know I sound as if I have become impatient with the process.  OK, I have.  We met today with Thompson, the owner, and discussed how quickly we expect things to proceed if he does indeed sign the lease on February 1.  The plan is to get into the space after build-out by the end of May.  A very tight schedule but one I believe we will be able to meet.  A lot of the pre-design for the space has already been completed and our job would be to define, select and order floor samples for arrival in May.  We have already started talking to reps about product both new and currently carried by our firm and looking at expanded offerings from the products HomeScapes already carries.  Everyone, of course, wants us to spend thousands on floor samples with minimum requirements.  We’ve already worked out a deal with two vendors to let us floor samples at no cost until we begin to sell.  That will give us six months to make the sales and start special orders for a consistent cash flow.  I’ve just got to get talking to a few more vendors.  I know I can make it happen I just wish things would move along a little faster.  By the say, did I mention we’re still waiting for the lease to be signed? 

Kind of A Drag

The weeks after Christmas and New Year’s are always a slow time in my business.  It always has been.  The phones go quiet and there just isn’t as much activity as usual in the office.  The business has been slow for some time and you would think I wouldn’t notice a slow down but I do.  I find myself asking all the “What did I do wrong” questions during this period each year.  I shouldn’t, I know, but I do.  It’s the quiet that gets to me.  I find it difficult to focus on the tasks I do have at hand and a challenge to make the phone calls I need to make or the contacts that must be kept alive.  Still, I make myself go to the Chamber of Commerce meetings and mixers and get out as much as possible in the community. 

Of course, now that the holidays are over the just aren’t as many functions to attend.  It seems as if everyone simply pulls the covers over their head and doesn’t want to get out of bed.  Until the first or second week in February there isn’t a lot of action around here.  The AT&T Pro-AM golf tournament is scheduled for the second full week in February and that always brings a lot of people to town.  And with the people comes a more vigorous social and business scene.  I’ll be so glad to see more people getting together in more places.  That’s where a lot of connections are made and how we work to bring in more business.  It may sound silly but mixers, meetings and seminars are our life blood.  It’s the interaction with other business people that keeps our name on their minds and hopefully they will think of us when someone needs design work. 

So, I’m off to a Chamber breakfast meeting in just a few minutes and I know we’ll hear a lot about what’s going on in the community.  It makes sense for these types of functions to be important to our business.  It’s why we are members of the Chamber of Commerce, and Rotary and all the other service organizations to which we belong.  Contacts.  They are important and they certainly help take away the blues during the dark and quiet days of January.

Just posted tomorrows blog. Will appear on the site by 5 AM PST.

Make Somebody Happy

The work we do is so multi-faceted I am surprised so many of us stay in the business.  So many designers I’ve met try to do it all without the correct support personnel.  I’m not going to do another piece on outsourcing but it is good to remember that particular solution to your staffing challenges.  What I want to direct your attention to is how to make and keep your clients satisfied with the work you and your staff produce for them.  I hear so often about client’s unrealistic expectations and how difficult it is to deal with those expectations.  Well, I’m here to tell you it’s up to you to set expectations; not the client.  From the very beginning of the relationship it is you and your firm that should be in charge of how business is done.  Your firm should produce the letter of agreement or contract upon which the project will be based.  You decide how and when time charges and deposits for goods are taken; not the client.  You should make it very clear from the beginning just how you operate as a firm.  Your contract should be concise and easily understood.  Proposals for goods orders should state how deposits will be paid and when the balance due is expected.  You must adhere to the terms of the agreement just as you expect the client to adhere to those same terms.  If your contract calls for bi-weekly billings for time then make sure those invoices go out every other week.  If not, you are breaking the contract your firm presented.  As long as every person in your firm works to meet the obligations of the contract it won’t be hard to keep the client on the straight and narrow. 

This is the essence of good client and project management.  You aren’t the dictator but you are the voice of reason when it comes to contract obligations.  Make sure you are happy with your contract and how it works for your business.  Review it every six months or so just to be clear about the contents.  Occasionally ask someone not in the business to read your contract and tell you what it says.  You might be surprised at the responses you get.  Make changes if you have to and keep it as clean as possible.  The framework upon which you base your business and the procedures you create to ensure good project and client management are part of your overall business plan.  Keep it fresh and up to date.  Make sure you are happy with how business is done in your firm.  Clients will recognize your professionalism and be happier working with a firm that stands by its’ business ethics.  Clients will respond to this precise type of management by paying invoices on time and working with you and your office to move the project forward in a timely manner.  It will also give you much more time to focus on the important part of our business which is good design and a client that will refer you to others and continue to use you and your services for new projects. 

Signs

Oh, to listen to the prognosticators of the New Year it seems as if everything will either be better or worse.  The new decade will bring renewed prosperity or deeper reductions.  Housing prices will continue to decline or they will increase.  No one seems to have a clear idea of what will happen.  That, of course, has always been the case.  None of us has a crystal ball to see the future and how could we predict with any certainty exactly what might happen within the next hour much less over the next twelve months.  There are, however, some very clear signals out there of what we might expect over the coming year, five years and the coming decade.  Eventually housing prices will stabilize as will the job market.  We will see an increase in personal spending and people will begin to decorate their homes again.  It won’t happen tomorrow but it may happen within the next few months.  All the signs are there.  Yes, the stock market seems to always lead in a recovery.  Jobs lag and because of that it still feels as if we’re in recession.  Actually we are definitely on the upward climb out now.  It will, of course, be much slower than the decent.  Patience is not one of my strongest virtues but I will try to await my piece of the new pie as calmly as possible.  I’ve been telling you about the different ways to prepare for a renewed business market and the preparations needed to succeed.  Watching for the indicators of growth is also part of your job these days.  Not just watching the stock market.  In fact, it won’t really tell you a lot about what is going on in your own neck of the woods.  What’s happening where you live?  Are people working?  Have housing prices stabilized or even begun to increase a little.  One area of the country doesn’t tell the story for all of us.  Just for those of us in that particular part of the country in which we live.  Have you seen a new shop or two open near you?  How about a new restaurant or cocktail lounge?  All of these are also signs.  They’re everywhere you look.  Interpreting the signs is another issue but doesn’t require the same type of clairvoyant sense to ascertain what they might mean.  Increased activity is more than just people running around.  It means things are happening out there and you want to know what and where the action is.  So, keep your ear to the ground and your eye on the ball.  The signs will lead to increased business activity and more income for you and your firm.  Signs, signs, signs.

Let me know what you’re seeing where you do business.  It might help inform all of us as to what to look for now and in the future.