Hello and welcome to episode 146 of Design Curious Podcast.
I'm your host and mentor, Rebecca Ward.
Today on the podcast, I have guest Ranisha Rivera.
We have a very fun conversation. Let me tell you a little bit
more about her. Ranisha is founder and CEO of
Vetted by Design. Her passion for VBD stems from
her own challenges as an interior designer.
After years in the industry, she grew frustrated with endlessly
searching through Facebook groups and Google just to find
the right professionals to hire. She knew there had to be a
better way, a centralized platform where designers could
easily connect with vetted businesses that cater to our
industry. And that's exactly why Vetted by
Design was created. Ranisha believes that Bedded by
Design can help any designer at any stage of their business.
And so it was a lot of fun to learn about this program.
I think it's going to be very advantageous for many people
starting out or even with established businesses to be
able to use this platform to find the right people for their
team. So let's get into our
conversation with Ronisha. You're now listening to Design
Curious, the place where you, Creative One, are here to learn
about what it really is like to be an interior designer, and I'm
your host and mentor, Rebecca Ward.
If you're worried about how to succeed in a creative career, if
you're ready to learn your next steps to become an interior
designer, and if you want the satisfaction of doing something
you love every day, you are in the right place.
Grab a coffee, a notebook, and let's dig into today's episode.
Hi Manisha, welcome to Design Curious.
Podcast. Hi, thank you for having me.
Yeah, it's great to have you on. I love what we're going to be
talking about today. You are an interior designer and
you have a business now called Vetted by Design.
Let's first of all talk about what took you into the career of
interior design. Like a lot of designers, from a
young age, I was designing my room and I didn't even really
know what interior design was. I always knew architecture.
I hadn't heard of interior designers.
And I went to high school, took a class in high school that was
architectural drafting and I loved it, but I didn't like
architecture. I was like how can I continue to
be creative and do the drafting side that I love.
I don't know how I found out about interior design but
somehow someway I found out about interior design and I
ended up going to school for it. I got my A, A and my BA in
interior design and the rest is history.
I graduated from college and started working for a small
boutique firm. I worked for an architecture
firm for a little while and then after a couple years of that I
was ready to start my business. Well, we have almost exactly the
same about not even knowing there was a career for interior
design when you're young just thinking it's architecture.
But yeah, that's very much my story as well.
OK, so you started your own business as an interior
designer. How long ago was that?
That was four years ago. It seems like a long time, but
it also seems like no time. At all, right, Yes.
And still very much So what they would call like a baby designer.
So learning and still making mistakes.
And that's kind of where I'm at, yeah.
What kind of design do you love to do?
I do a lot of destination design, so second homes,
cottages, cabins, lodges, anything that's in the
mountains. So that's how I've been focusing
on it. I've been having a lot of.
Fun with it. Nice.
Where are you located? Is it in mountain area?
I'm trying to see. Washington and Idaho.
Oh, OK, yes, so there's a lot of mountains over there.
Plenty of mountains. No shortage of mountains, yeah.
Awesome. That sounds like a lot of fun.
OK, so how about this first four years?
I'm sure you've made some mistakes.
What about in hiring people for your business?
Tell us about. Yes.
The first, like I want to say year of my business, I very
quickly realized that I wanted to hire somebody to do the
bookkeeping because when I wasn't having very many projects
I was managing, I was like kind of figuring it out.
But then I signed some larger projects and I didn't want to do
the books anymore. So I need to find a bookkeeper.
And I was searching high and low.
And I did my due diligence too. Like I interviewed probably like
two or three bookkeepers. I ended up going with a
bookkeeper. She had never really heard of
interior design. She heard of it, but like never
had an interior designer that she had done services for.
I was a little bit weary about it, but she was the bookkeeper
of a contractor I worked with, so I figured the businesses
would be similar enough that it wouldn't be a problem.
I take full accountability for my portion of this story.
I was a little bit behind on sales tax, and I didn't
understand how to remit it and how to get caught up.
Yeah. So when I hired her, I told her
that I needed help with that. I needed help figuring out how
to get up to date on my sales tax.
I had all of my sales tax set aside in a bank account.
I just needed to get current. And she was fine with that.
And she's like, OK, we'll figure it out.
And, and she actually ultimately ended up filing my sales tax
incorrectly. That ended up me and me getting
like a ton of fines and ton of penalties.
And it ended up costing my business thousands of dollars.
Yeah. And I was only like a year into
the business, maybe 2 years into business.
So having that kind of hit to my company was really not great,
almost devastating and almost took me out because I didn't
have a ton of reserves in the bank accounts.
So that's when it really was very obvious to me.
That who you? Hire in your business, whether
it's an interior design business, whether it's any kind
of business, who you hire can have a very big impacts on your
business. I had the hard way.
Yes, you did. OK, so now you're helping people
to not have to do what you did right?
Learning the hard way and making it a little bit easier for them.
So that's what prompted you to start Vetted by Design.
Is that, Yeah, that's where all the passion comes from, is just
my own mistakes. And there was other things that
I had to hire for in the first couple of years that kind of bit
me in the butt as well. So I just kept feeling like
there should be one place that designers can go to find people
that they can trust to hire. It's 2025.
I do not know why we do not have something like this.
I probably did what every designer does who's in those
like first couple of years of business, anytime I needed to
hire for something, I would go to Facebook groups and I would
try to search and search and search, or I would create my own
post looking for someone. And sometimes I would get no
replies. Or if I did get a reply, it
wasn't from somebody that I felt like I could trust.
And quite frankly, all of that was very time consuming for me,
searching for my team essentially.
And I was just like, we have to create this.
There has to be a place that's not just a simple directory of
people and it be people who have been vetted and who are experts
in their industry. Yeah.
OK. So that is what Vetted by Design
is, is that kind of where we can go to find all of this?
Yes, that is the whole mission of Vetted by Design is to be a
centralized platform for interior designers to be able to
go to and find their team, find their online team.
And it's so robust, there's no stone unturned.
We have pretty much all kinds of pros on there all the way from
3D rendering to lawyers who can help you review your contract.
Pretty robust platform, yeah. So how did you go about putting
all this together? Did you have someone assisting
you with it? Like did you have to hire
someone else and help you hire people?
This has been a dream and it's been in the making for two
years. I did have a maternity leave
within that two years. So that kind of was a whole
aspect of it. But the platform originally
started with a Co founder. So I was building it with a Co
founder and ultimately he decided that he was like, you
know what, You're way more passionate about this platform.
I think you should just take it and run with it.
And I was like, yes. And so it's been many years in
the making, and I'm very excited that it's finally launched.
And I just can't wait to share it with everyone.
Yeah. OK, well, let's talk more about
it. So how do interior designers get
on this platform? Does it cost money to join or
what's it all about? Since the whole platform is
geared towards interior designers, it's completely feat
free for interior designers. And it will always be.
I want it to always be a free resource for them.
There's no paywall, you don't have to make an account or
anything. You can just go and start
searching. And I really wanted to do that
because I feel like as an interior designer myself, my
business moves very fast. So if I need somebody to help me
with outsourcing drafting or rendering, typically it's on a
time crunch, even if there's like due dates that's
associated. So I wanted designers to be able
to go on the platform and have access right away.
So it's free Frontier designers, yeah.
Wow. OK.
And so these are all people that are working virtually and then
they might be working for multiple designers at the same
time too. Yes, yes.
So it's all virtually in the future.
I think it would be amazing if I could implement some sort of job
board, so if a designer wanted to hire in person, you could go
and look by state and kind of find jobs.
But that's in the future. Yeah.
So do you have multiple virtual people for each position like 3D
renderers or CAD drafters? Or what about the the drafting
platforms themselves? So I know a lot of designers use
different ones so. Yes, yes.
And so there is currently 16 or 17 categories in per category.
We're going to have about 15 pros.
There are some categories that are.
State faced. So like lawyers are kind of
state based, so we will have more pros in those types of
categories, but I really envision it to be a curated
group of pros. So I don't want it to be like,
it's a bad word for me, but fiber or anything.
Oh yeah. And there's just like way too
many pros that are on that platform be curated.
And I want it to be intentional. And every single pro that will
be on the platform, I'm going to have a close relationship with.
I'm going to be constantly checking in, constantly
connecting with them and supporting them well.
My job not only is to support the interior designers because I
am an interior designer, but I also want to support the pros
that are on the platform as well.
So it's all goes together, but about 15 pros per category and
then I'm constantly adding categories because I think of.
Things right, Yeah. Or someone might ask you like,
oh, do you have someone for this?
Because I wanted. I wanted to be like a one stop
shop so I do add drafting platforms like Revit and
SketchUp and yeah. Chief Architect and.
There's there's. AutoCAD, yeah.
There's a lot. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
So how do you vet the people that you're interested in adding
to your platform? So our vetting process is pretty
in depth. I don't share the whole entire
process just because it's very lengthy and very wordy.
But essentially if a Pro is interested in joining the
platform, they can apply on the website.
There's like a form that they fill out and we take all the
forms, we review them and based off of basically a couple
components on that form, people will either move on to the next
step or we might ask them to reapply in six months.
For any creative prose that's going to be your Vdas, 3D
rendering artists, even drafters, we will ask that you
submit a portfolio of your work. And then the non creative
categories like lawyers, they don't need to submit a
portfolio. We review your portfolio.
There's a creative board, we sit down on a Zoom call and we rate
the portfolio off of a ton of different aspects.
And when based on that rating, you'll either move on to the
next step, which is going to be reference reviews.
So we asked that pro submit a number of references.
And so we just check in with those references.
And then if you go on to the next step, you have an interview
with me, the founder. And that interview really is
just to get really in depth about why you run your business,
why you want to be on the platform, Why do you want to
work with interior designers? It's very conversational.
It's very, we're going to become close friends.
I really just want to get to know every single pro that's on
the platform. And then from there, if you move
on to the next step, it's being accepted onto the platform.
Even once a pro has been accepted onto the platform, we
are constantly still vetting, we're still monitoring all pros,
checking back in in six months and seeing how we can support
them and just how their business is doing.
It's pretty in depth. But I think it's important and I
think that that really is where the trust comes into play.
For interior designers to hire his people just mean that
they've been vetted and then they're continuing to be vetted.
I think it's. Important.
Yeah, that is, yeah. And so is this maybe an option
also for designers who are looking to supplement their
income, like maybe they're been in business a year or two and
they're still looking to get more work and so they could be
hired out as a virtual design assistant.
How did they get a part of that program?
So when a pros looking to join. That's tricky.
And that's something that I have spent so much time and really
just returning to my peers and having the ongoing conversation
because I think even for me having my business for four
years, there's so much ebb and flow.
There's seasons, we're not getting a ton of projects, and
then there's seasons where you get a ton of, you know, And so I
really want to figure out how I can support interior designers
if they're like, Oh, well, I can offer 3D renderings when I'm low
on projects and it's hard because there is a limited
amount of people that can even be on the platform.
So I think that it's a balance I'm still navigating.
Yeah, I'm still navigating. But if there is an interior
designer out there who wants to be on the platform and offer
services, I'm 1000% e-mail me and we can get the conversation
started. OK, great.
So for designers who maybe want to utilize this platform and
they do need help, they fill out a form probably right to to see
what it is that they need and then they work with you to do
they meet several people or do you just kind of matchmaker?
Have a match. If somebody reaches out to me,
they can explain what they're looking for or you can go
directly to whatever category you're looking at or meeting and
look and see what pros are in there.
And haven't ruled out with it yet, but I am planning on
creating a podcast where I interview all of the pros.
And so if you're torn between, oh, I like this company, but I
also feel like I align with this company, you can actually listen
to a 30 minute podcast on each company and a little bit behind
the scenes, pull back the curtain on that pro, which would
help you make a decision. So it's a little bit of bulls,
it's a little bit of like the matchmaking and kind of seeing
who's a fit for who. But also designers can just go
on there and do a deep dive and look at all the profiles and see
what they resonate with. Fax.
Yeah. So are the pros that are on
there, they have their own companies and then they're just
adding this on as like a virtual arm of their their business?
Yes, yes. So all pros on there have their
own companies. Most of the pros on there have
some sort of interior design background.
So either they were previously an interior designer and made a
career switch or they only work with interior designers or they
have extensive knowledge in interior design.
That's the whole point of the platform is to hire people that
know your business and what know the jargon and how it runs, so
everybody on there has some sort of design background.
Yeah. So I imagine bookkeeping
services would be one of the main ones, and that's one of
your pain points when you're starting out.
And as we know, there's a lot of platforms for bookkeeping as
well for designers. I mean, there's of course
QuickBooks a lot of people use, but then there's studio designer
and design manager. Do you have people for all of
those different types of platforms?
I'm working on because there's certain categories that
specialize in certain project management software.
So you might have Avda who works closely in studio designer and
works closely in my DOMA, which we're kind of navigating that
all of the pros that are on there currently have been hand
selected by myself. And So what kind of navigating
like I want to have a variety. So I don't want all of the Vdas
to only be in my DOMA or all of the Vdas to only be in the
software. I really want a variety of
people who work in a variety of different kinds of software.
So I don't know if that answers the question.
Yeah. No, that that it does, yeah.
So that there should be someone out there for you regardless of
what platforms or softwares that you're using, right?
Because there's a lot of different design software.
Do you ever make recommendations for people who maybe are like, I
need to create some systems in my business?
I don't, I'm not using the software.
Would you meet with them and kind of be like, oh, I think
that like this platform would work well for you and here's the
person who can help implement it.
Is that also something you could do?
Yes, and I do plan on having a bunch of resources for designers
that explain the different types of software.
I have used so many different software.
I have a little bit of knowledge in pretty much all of them.
So I definitely want to work with designers on software for
like managing clients, managing your business, but also software
about drafting and just getting the knowledge out to designers.
I think more often than not in this day and age.
Interior designers are coming from all walks of life, so some
are coming from the education pathway and some are coming into
the career as a second or third career.
And so knowledge is key. And just getting that knowledge
in front of designers who are coming from second or third
careers, I think is going to be really important.
That's going to be an ongoing machine for me, is just the
educational standpoint and bringing in people who know more
than me and who are experts on different software, yeah.
Yeah. And I think one of the most
common things I hear designers telling me that they might want
to hire up for is like social media newsletter, things like
that where it is helpful to have an industry specific or someone
not knowledge about that interior design industry, not
just having some general marketing person who can do your
social media for you. So do you have that as well and.
We have social media managers who will also do like if you
want to do Pinterest, whatever the platform is, they can help
you navigate that. And I think you are so correct.
Social media management is just like a growing category.
It's definitely, we have social media managers, we have PR
agents. Of course, we have branding and
marketing. Yeah, good, good.
OK. So like even setting up like an
e-mail workflow and things like that, that would be good.
PR is interesting as well. So if someone was looking maybe
to get a lot of their projects published, you have APR
specialist who can or publicist who could help connect them or
help them work on getting that. And they specialize in interior
design, so they know all of the publications, they have the
connections already set up. So PR is one of that I'm really
excited about. And then in my own personal
business, I'm starting to think, oh, I kind of want like a
workflow set up on my pricing. Over the years I've gone hourly,
I've gone flat fee. I've never done square footage,
but I need just like a more streamlined process for bidding
my projects. And that's my own thought that
I've been having. And then I'm like, that needs to
be on the platform out there who want someone to come into their
business and help them create a pricing model.
And so now I'm looking for that to answer.
Yeah. No, that's great.
I think that's helpful that you are practicing designer because
then you can identify like OK, now I need this and now I need
that and everyone else is going to want that as well, so.
That's in a way I am my own target audio.
Yeah, it's a lot of the people. Yeah.
And it's nice because a lot of the pros that are currently on
the platform, I've actually used them in my own interior design
business. So I already know their
workflow, I already know their integrity, how they show up.
So it was just a very nice, fluid way to start the platform.
Yeah. Well, you sound like you're very
busy if you have a kid and then you have two businesses that are
also your kids, so. Yes, I stayed busy.
That was, yes. Yeah, I often say that my
business is like another child, really, because it just requires
so much attention, you know? Yeah, yeah, my daughter goes
just at 7 and I'm definitely on my laptop working.
So, yeah, OK, well, where can people find you?
I'm sure they're going to want this service, so let's tell them
how to find you. Yes.
So the platform is live and it's vetted-bydesign.com on, on
social media, Instagram vetted by design, LinkedIn vetted by
design, all things vetted by design.
Currently. I did open up applications.
And so if there's any pros out there that are interested in the
platform, even if you don't know if you want to apply, you just
want to have a conversation with me, I would love that.
That'd be amazing. Great.
OK. We'll put those links in the
show notes so everybody can find you and use the platform or even
maybe get hired to to be on there.
So, OK, well, thanks Renisha for coming on today and sharing this
great service with our audience. Yes, yes.
Thank you for having me. It's fun because I've been a
long time listener and it was just like fun to be on the other
side of it. Yeah, yeah, it's it's been
really fun. Oh well, thank you for listening
of. Course, of course, I don't know
if it you've reached a lot of designers, so it's really cool
to finally talk with you and just say thank you for your
podcast and how much help you're putting out.
It's just amazing. Well, that's.
Great to hear because I don't always get that feedback.
I know it's going out to people, but they don't always take the
time to leave a review or just message me.
And I, I love to hear it. So thank you for letting me
know. All right.
Well, we'll talk soon. Awesome.
Thank you so much. All right, so if you are
interested in growing your team and maybe are daunted by the
fact that you have to hire someone, well, I think Vetted by
Design is going to be a great opportunity for you to do this
so much more easily than doing it by yourself.
So reach out to Ranisha. We've put her information in the
show notes. And while you're there, don't
forget to look for all the other goodies we have for you.
Links for downloads and information on my design mentor.
If you're looking for a little more help in getting your career
started, then you're going to want to get in there.
So all that information is there for you.
I'd love to hear from you and that's all I have for you this
week. So next week we'll have another
great episode and until then, stay creative.
Thanks for listening. If you love this episode, please
leave a rating and a review. This helps me reach other
curious creatives like you. If you have a topic request or
would like to contact me, simply head over to my website
awardesigncom or e-mail me at podcast at awardesigncom.