Oh the lessons I’ve learned.

1) I wish I understood that marketing implementation is not the same as marketing strategy.

Oh, if only I’d grasped this sooner—it would’ve saved me so much frustration. My assistants were wonderful people and eager employees, but without me steering the ship with a proper marketing map, they were left posting blindly, chasing trends, and unintentionally wasting precious time and money. In this case, hiring help actually got in the way of growing as fast as I could have. (TOTALLY not their fault. I just didn’t know what to hire for back then!)

2) Building an Interior Design Biz is NOT the same as building other kinds of businesses.

Before I started Seriously Happy Homes, I worked for several other luxury businesses—giving ballroom dance lessons at one, selling couture wedding dresses at another. I thought I had the “demanding clients buying luxury services” thing down. Oh, how naïve I was.

Turns out, most luxury businesses just:

• Land a client
• Make a sale

In interior design, you have to:

• Land a good client
• Build and train that client (<– without this, projects go completely off the rails!)
• THEN make a sale

Unlike the guy selling Teslas who never sees the buyer again, we’re in it for the long haul. Months, sometimes YEARS! If you don’t set up a great working relationship with clear communication, deep trust, and professional boundaries, it’s a disaster waiting to happen. You’ll hate the project, the client, and worst of all, yourself. And portfolio pics, referrals, or profits? Forget about it.

(PS: THIS is why I built the Lead to Launch Business Accelerator—because they don’t teach you how to build a great client in design school.)

3) Perfection is the enemy of progress.

In the early days of being in business we’re like babies – adorable, but just bumbling our way through being a business owner. Then we get our feet under us and start running the biz with more focus and intention, and start knowing exactly what we want to say (cue the first rebrand).

Now you know what you want to say, and just need to find ways to say it. You spend HOURS on Canva tweaking each Instagram post, and you’re lucky if you post once a month. You MEAN to do better every month… and yet time keeps slipping away.

At least that’s what happened for me. 😩

What I wish I’d known is that it’s not only OKAY to create – and share – “crappy” posts at first, it’s ESSENTIAL.

I mean, you’re a designer, right? You KNOW that the only way to iterate is to have something to iterate! How can we figure out what works best if we don’t put out enough content to test the market?

You know I get it. It’s terrifying to hit “publish.” But endlessly tweaking photo filters or obsessing over logos isn’t progress—it’s procrastination.

We can do better. Scratch that—we will do better. Together.

You’ve got this. 💪

Want some focused accountability toward your goals?

🍊 CHECK OUT MIMOSA MONDAYS! 🍊

👉 It’s a monthly marketing mastermind, built just for residential interior designers!

If you’ve never joined me for a Mimosa Monday before, it’s a monthly marketing meetup designed to give you focused accountability so you can check your marketing tasks off your to-do list like the Boss you are.

• Each live session starts by celebrating goals you’ve accomplished thanks to your marketing efforts—because every step forward deserves recognition!
• Next, we spark your creativity with marketing prompts tailored to interior design firms.
• Then, it’s time for focused coworking in silence, giving you the space to plan and strategize your marketing like a pro.
• Finally, we regroup in a small, supportive setting to set specific, measurable goals for the month ahead—all to be repeated month after month until you have built a money-making machine with strategic marketing you can hand off to a well-trained assistant. 🙌

Interested?

• Been meaning to send out that newsletter?
• Write that blog?
• Post that reel?

If you’re determined to do the marketing you know you should be doing and want a bit of creative accountability – join me! Usually the fourth Monday of every month, but check here for the actual dates. Everyone can come twice for freeeeee! Shoot me a message on Instagram and I’ll send you your access code. 👍

May your design biz always make you Seriously Happy!

❤️ Rebecca

Pssst: Mimosa Mondays are also part of the Lead to Launch Business Accelerator, just one of the awesome ways we make sure you’re on the path to business success! 🚀