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How I Got Seriously Happy

Lessons on getting schooled by business. 

Julie Mannell Interior Design Photographer Behind the Scenes

Yes, you need professional interior design photography, and here’s a way to save money!

By Rebecca West | May 15, 2023

If you’re an interior designer you know how expensive it can be to get good professional interior design photography. Depending on what you charge and the size of the project, the photography can cost as much as, or even more than, the profits from your project. 😳 What if there were a way to save…

How to protect your clients from decision fatigue

By Rebecca West | March 30, 2023

Decision fatigue doesn’t just affect your clients during that meeting where you asked them to make too many decisions. It also affects the success of all your following meetings, and hits your bottom line by making your projects less profitable. 😳 Think about it. When your clients feel overwhelmed, even if they make choices, they…

Interior Design Presentation

10 Big Presentation Mistakes Designers Make

By Rebecca West | February 15, 2023

Over my years of coaching and training interior designers I’ve noticed the same 10 Big Presentation Mistakes being made over and over again. Since I want you to succeed, so let’s look at what those ten mistakes are, and what you should do instead! 10 Big Design-Presentation Mistakes(that make decision-making harder for clients) So, what…

stop overwhelm

Are you overwhelming your clients?

By Rebecca West | January 18, 2023

As if design wasn’t overwhelming enough – did you know that there is something that a lot of designers do that creates more overwhelm for their clients? Of course, they don’t do it on purpose. It’s just that design school taught them how to design, not how to successfully communicate their designs to a client.…

Are you doing initial consults all wrong?

By Rebecca West | January 18, 2023

Are you doing discovery calls and initial consults all wrong? No judgement – I used to do them wrong too! I would get a great sense of my client’s project scope and wishlist, give them some great ideas, write a great design agreement, and then… not get the project. 😩 Why? Because I missed a…

How to Say “No” To An Interior Design Client

By Rebecca West | January 18, 2023

One of the keys to having a design practice full of ideal clients is learning to say “no.” I don’t just mean during the initial consult when you feel like the client might not be a good fit (I cover that in this blog post) but also when they *are* your client. Over the last…

Five Reasons To Say “No” To A Potential Client

By Rebecca West | November 23, 2021

If I’ve learned one thing from running my interior design firm for the past 14 years it’s that I *always* regret it when I don’t listen to that little voice that says “don’t take this project.” Ugh! 😩 If you’ve ignored that voice, then you know what I’m talking about! It doesn’t necessarily mean that…

The #1 most important email to send after a design meeting

By Rebecca West | August 10, 2021

Our communication style plays a huge role in creating “good” or “bad” clients. If we don’t set them up for success and tell them *how* to be our very best clients, then how can we expect them to live up to those expectations? Specifically, the way we communicate right after a meeting is KEY to…

How To Tell An Employee They Have Bad Breath 😬

By Rebecca West | May 20, 2021

Being an interior designer means that we’re judged on our aesthetics – not just the aesthetics of the rooms we design, but also how we dress and carry ourselves. That means that even more than in other jobs, our personal hygiene and general appearance is linked to our professional success. So what do you do…

How to tell your clients about these crazy long lead times. 😬

By Rebecca West | March 30, 2021

Shipping containers lost, cargo ships stuck, snow storms shut down Texas, and we’re low on foam!  For those of you who haven’t heard, lead times are INSANE! Why?  Well… The pandemic has disrupted global supply chains Cargo shipping company Maersk lost 750 shipping containers at sea Snow storms in Texas caused power outages that have decimated the foam supply (meaning…

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