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You don't want to have any 
friction there, so you want your

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installations to run as smoothly
as possible. 

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So walk the site before install 
and anticipate any conditions or

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problems that might arise and 
then make sure the client is 

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aware going into the 
installation of what they need 

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to do. 
I like to tell them often that 

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they don't need to be on site 
for installation. 

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We don't love when they're 
looking over our shoulder as 

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everything gets placed because 
there's a lot of massaging on 

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site that we have to do. 
You know, the rug goes down and 

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then the sofa and then we're 
like, oh, actually we planned 

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for the chair to be here, but 
maybe it looks better on the 

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other side. 
So there's all those last minute

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details you want to fine tune 
before the client actually sees 

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it. 
You're now listening to Design 

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Curious, a place where you, 
Creative One, are here to learn 

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00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:54,000
about what it really is like to 
be an interior designer. 

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00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:57,240
And I'm your host and mentor, 
Rebecca Ward. 

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If you're worried about how to 
succeed in a creative career, if

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00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:04,800
you're ready to learn your next 
steps to become an interior 

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designer, and if you want the 
satisfaction of doing something 

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you love every day, you are in 
the right place. 

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Grab a coffee, a notebook, and 
let's dig into today's episode. 

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00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:22,400
Hello and welcome to episode 179
of Design Curious podcast. 

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Today on the podcast, we're 
continuing the 4th installment 

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in our design skills series. 
Today we're talking about 

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practical business and project 
skills that you might need. 

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Most designers can develop a 
design vision, but the execution

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is probably where you don't 
realize you need more skills 

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than you thought you did when 
you signed up for the career. 

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So that's what we're going to 
get into today. 

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Don't forget to check out the 
links in the show notes. 

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I've got some freebie downloads 
for you for those starting out 

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in the career. 
Some things I wish I had known 

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before I started, and then also 
the road map to interior design.

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You might want to get those, so 
go check that out. 

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OK, now let's get into practical
business and project skills that

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you might need that you didn't 
know you needed. 

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So when you think of skills that
you need as an interior 

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designer, you're not necessarily
thinking business skills or you 

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00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:26,880
know, maybe project skills, how 
to run a project, but business 

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skills really as an interior 
designer. 

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And as we've talked about 
before, most designers do end up

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going into business for 
themselves, especially 

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residential designers. 
That's why we need to talk about

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it. 
So you can be the best designer,

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00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:47,400
but that doesn't mean you going 
to have happy clients because 

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you might not know or you might 
not be profitable because you 

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00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:51,920
might not know how to run a 
business. 

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00:02:51,920 --> 00:02:55,280
You might know how to design a 
project really well, but running

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a business is a whole different 
animal. 

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00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:01,600
So let's talk about the 
different areas that you want to

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focus on to develop your 
practical business and project 

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skills to execute the design. 
So the first place you're going 

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to focus on is project 
management. 

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This is where you will separate 
the hobbyists from the pros 

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because if you're a hobbyist, 
you're not going to really have 

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any systems for running the 
project. 

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And it's really necessary to be 
a professional designer to have 

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a system to have steps of each 
project that can run smoothly 

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through a workflow that is 
probably the same every single 

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project you're going to start in
the same place. 

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I have episodes talking about 
how I have a seven step process 

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that I take every project 
through. 

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Regardless of the scope of the 
project, we follow the same 7 

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steps every time. 
And so that project management 

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framework is so valuable and it 
keeps projects on track and it 

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helps you to not burn out, spin 
your wheels, reinvent any 

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wheels, and really have 
confidence going into the 

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project and also helps you 
understand how many projects you

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can take on at a time. 
If you're a solopreneur, you 

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might be focusing on one or two 
projects to start out with, but 

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over time, when you have a 
project management system, you 

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can stagger them and have them 
at different points of the 

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process and really have a handle
on each part of it. 

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And so that can help increase 
your income as well. 

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So creating project management 
systems is going to be helpful. 

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Now there's lots of project 
management softwares out there 

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that you can explore to help you
run your projects, just to name 

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a few. 
There's Programma. 

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And I like Dubsado for the first
part of my onboarding the 

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client. 
So it's first steps one and a 

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00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:05,240
little into Step 2, we'll have 
them in Dubsado. 

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00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:08,960
And it helps me to also track 
like where my clients are coming

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from. 
So it gives me a lot of data, 

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but I could continue to use 
Dubsado, but then I kind of 

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00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:17,160
switch over to more of a manual 
mode and I use a sauna to help 

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00:05:17,160 --> 00:05:20,960
keep track of all the tasks and 
the projects steps that we have.

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Asana or monday.com is a great 
tool to use. 

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So there's a lot of different 
project management softwares out

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there. 
You can explore and figure out 

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which one is the right fit for 
you and the way your brain works

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and the needs of your business. 
So you might have larger needs 

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if you have lots of projects or 
smaller needs if you don't have 

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a lot. 
Moving on to the next skill that

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you need to work on. 
Is working with contractors and 

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trades very important? 
They are a part of your team. 

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They are an extension of your 
business really and they are 

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representing you out in the 
field. 

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So you want to build trust based
relationships with your 

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contractors and trades. 
What I like to do for my clients

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is I tell them I kind of do a 
matchmaking service for them. 

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I'm not out there necessarily 
getting three bids because 

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that's not required in 
residential design. 

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You don't have to get 3 bids. 
What happens if you have a set 

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of contractors that you love 
using and then you keep asking 

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all of them to give a bid 
because you're needing three 

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bids and then 2/3 of the time 
they're not getting that 

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project? 
Well, they could spend a lot of 

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time putting a bid together and 
then they're not getting their 

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project. 
They're going to stop wanting 

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you to ask them to bid a project
because it takes up too much of 

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their time and then they don't 
get the project. 

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So what I like to do is consider
the clients need scope, 

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personality, and then I think 
about which contractor will be 

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the best fit for that client. 
I call that one contractor out. 

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And if they do like each other, 
they like the price, Everything 

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00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:02,960
goes forward. 
We don't have to waste the other

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00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:07,400
contractors time and it helps to
build your relationship with the

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00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:11,080
tradespeople because they know 
that when you're calling them to

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come out and bid a project, 
they're most likely going to get

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that project. 
Sometimes it falls through or or

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the client might be bringing on 
their own contractor. 

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So that's a little bit 
different. 

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And if they do have their own 
contractor, then you want to 

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probably meet with that person 
and see and let them know how 

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00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:33,360
you typically work, how you like
to work with contractors. 

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I always communicate with them 
at the beginning to say that, 

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you know, we are a team and if 
there's an issue on site, please

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call me first before calling the
client. 

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Most of the time, the client 
doesn't have the answer and 

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they'll have to call me anyway. 
And part of my service, my 

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luxury service, is to have the 
client avoid those types of 

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00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:00,080
headaches. 
And so if a contractor can just 

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00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:04,040
bring those problems directly to
me, I can answer them or filter 

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00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:07,880
them and then take it to the 
client if necessary, if I need, 

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00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:09,880
if I need the client to answer 
that question. 

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But most of the time, I'm an 
advocate for the client and 

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00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:16,760
answering on their behalf for 
the best of the project needs 

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and the client's needs. 
So you want to learn how to 

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speak their language. 
So you might want to brush up on

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maybe you know some of your 
construction vocabulary, 

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understanding floorboards, 
ceiling joists, things like 

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that. 
With that, they might throw 

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around drywall where if you've 
never done any remodel before, 

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00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:42,039
you might not know these terms 
and you don't want to look like 

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00:08:42,039 --> 00:08:43,799
you don't know these terms in 
front of the client. 

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00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:47,160
And so building your 
construction vocabulary is very 

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important if you're going to be 
doing a lot of remodels. 

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You just want to make sure that 
you establish good communication

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with your trades from the 
beginning and that you don't 

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talk bad about your trades in 
front of the client either. 

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It's a two way St. there, right?
So you're looking for your A 

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00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:08,640
list, your A-Team to always have
your back and do their best work

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00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:12,160
for you and for the client. 
So you're working on your 

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relationships with your 
contractors and trades and 

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communicating with them is very 
important. 

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OK, Next we're going to work on 
how to estimate and pricing to 

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protect your profitability. 
This is probably one of the 

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trickiest things for designers. 
Most of designers I find are 

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00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:35,000
undercharging. 
Their rates are too low when 

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00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:39,600
they come to me for mentorship. 
Or the other thing that I find 

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00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:41,640
they're doing is they're not 
charging for their 

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00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:46,040
consultations. 
And understand that your 

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creativity and your ideas are a 
part of the value that you 

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00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:53,160
bring. 
So you can't be giving 

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everything away for free. 
There's, you know, a few things 

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00:09:56,520 --> 00:09:57,880
you can give away. 
Like if you're just doing a 

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00:09:57,880 --> 00:10:01,640
discovery call over the phone, 
you can kind of tell what you 

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00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:03,960
might want to do with this 
space, but you're not going to 

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00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:06,560
know until you're there. 
But I wouldn't go on site unless

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00:10:06,560 --> 00:10:10,160
you're getting paid to go there 
because it takes time to get in 

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the car takes gas money to get 
there. 

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00:10:13,040 --> 00:10:16,880
You're there for an hour or two.
That's time that could have been

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spent doing something else on 
another project. 

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So your time is valuable. 
Always be charging for your 

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00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:27,240
initial consultations. 
So that's one way to work on 

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00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:29,040
your pricing if you're not doing
that. 

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And then another way is to 
understand what your margins 

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are. 
So if you're selling furniture, 

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you have to understand how much 
profit you're getting when 

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you're selling. 
There's episodes I've gone over 

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about selling wholesale 
furniture versus retail. 

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And my recommendations of course
always is to sell wholesale 

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whenever possible. 
Wholesale, in my opinion, is 

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anything that you get over a 30%
discount. 

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Otherwise it's in my opinion, 
retail. 

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So understanding that you want 
to have profit margins that 

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00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:04,800
you're shooting for, for each 
piece of furniture, each item 

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00:11:04,800 --> 00:11:08,800
that you're selling to the 
client, hopefully it's in the 30

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00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:13,280
to 40% profit margin range. 
If you don't know how to get 

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00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:17,000
there, then that's a place that 
you need to develop your 

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00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:20,880
financial skills to understand 
how to pull a report and see 

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00:11:21,360 --> 00:11:25,560
what you're charging versus what
it cost you and how to calculate

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00:11:25,560 --> 00:11:30,560
your profit margins. 
You want to work on developing 

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00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:32,800
realistic budgets for your 
clients. 

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00:11:33,240 --> 00:11:38,280
One thing that I love having is 
a good, better, best kind of 

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00:11:38,280 --> 00:11:42,560
case study for how much 
furniture can cost for space or 

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00:11:42,560 --> 00:11:45,600
it's like economical mid range 
and high end. 

200
00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:49,640
Just because a lot of people 
have no idea that they're going 

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00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:54,200
to spend 10s of thousands of 
dollars in just one room on 

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00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:57,000
their furnishings because 
everything adds up quickly. 

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00:11:57,480 --> 00:12:01,800
People are just in general not 
great at estimating and they 

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00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:06,480
always underestimate. 
So you don't want to promise or 

205
00:12:06,560 --> 00:12:11,520
suggest to a client that it's 
going to cost them $20,000 to 

206
00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:15,000
remodel their kitchen. 
If you don't know that's how 

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00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:17,000
much it's going to cost. 
And most likely it's going to be

208
00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:20,240
$120,000. 
So if you tell them 20,000 at 

209
00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:23,920
the beginning, then they are 
going to hold on to that number 

210
00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:29,080
probably and then you will be in
trouble when it comes in so much

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00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:32,640
higher. 
So educating yourself on what 

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00:12:32,760 --> 00:12:36,520
typical project costs are. 
There's publications out there 

213
00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:38,800
and websites and places that you
can find that. 

214
00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:42,800
You can also ask your colleagues
and peers in the area what their

215
00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:47,360
last project cost for a kitchen 
remodel or for furnishing a 

216
00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:50,480
living room and just start to 
generate information that way. 

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00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:53,600
If you don't have a lot of 
projects to pull off of for your

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00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:59,360
own documentation, it is also 
important to document every 

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00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:02,840
decision that's being made. 
So that's why I like to have 

220
00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:05,080
everything in e-mail when 
possible. 

221
00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:08,840
The easiest to go back and 
verify what you said. 

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00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:11,640
If you said that you thought 
your design fees were going to 

223
00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:15,760
be 20,000 and the client is 
saying like, oh, you only said 

224
00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:19,320
ten, well you can go back to the
e-mail and said for your said 

225
00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:22,560
20,000. 
So that's going to be helpful so

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00:13:22,560 --> 00:13:25,120
that you can protect your 
pricing and everything like 

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00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:27,360
that. 
The next area you might want to 

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work on is construction 
literacy. 

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So construction site vocabulary,
which is good just for more 

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architecture and engineering 
related things. 

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You need to be able to talk with
both architects and engineers 

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often times throughout your 
career. 

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So you need that vocabulary, but
you also need to know more of 

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the interiors, construction 
literacy, so cabinetry basics, 

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tile transitions, lighting 
plans, switching, things like 

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that. 
Just be curious about it. 

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So go to your local lighting 
showroom and ask an expert on 

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what you need to know or things 
like that. 

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Go to your tile showroom and ask
them like if I wanted to install

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this mesh into a bathroom floor,
what else am I going to need to 

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know about it? 
What kind of trim pieces do I 

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need? 
So get curious about all these 

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things. 
Some of it you're just going to 

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be learning on the job as you 
get a job that maybe covers an 

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area you haven't done before. 
Maybe you get a job so that 

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you're installing AI, don't know
a wine storage room or something

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like that. 
There's going to be things you 

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don't know yet, so you're going 
to have to do a lot of research.

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The internet's going to be super
helpful here. 

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And then you're going to bring 
that to your contractor. 

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And then I love to have my 
contractors verify the 

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information that I'm bringing, 
like is this design that I've 

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come up with that I think is 
doable? 

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Is it really doable? 
And so the contractor will know 

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most of the time they have a lot
of experience with that. 

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And so they can help guide you 
towards them and then know when 

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to bring in a specialist. 
So if you've never done a 

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lighting plan before, then just 
go find a local lighting 

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designer and partner with them 
on the project and learn from 

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that experience. 
And then the more times you do 

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that, the more confident you'll 
get with designing lighting for 

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space. 
So it's OK to bring in 

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specialist when you need it. 
Bring in the cabinetry or 

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kitchen designer. 
If you've never designed a 

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kitchen, you might want to 
partner with a kitchen designer 

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who knows all the insurance and 
outs and special upgrades and 

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special drawers and things like 
that that you might need for a 

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kitchen to function properly. 
If you've never done that 

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before, don't guess. 
Educate yourself or hire a 

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specialist to help educate you. 
OK, so another thing you're 

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going to work on is managing 
installations and helping them 

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to go smoothly. 
So you're going to want to 

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develop a punch list way before 
you are on the job site to 

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install your furniture or 
anything like that. 

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What are you going to need to 
bring that day? 

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Has the house been cleaned 
already? 

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Did the clients existing 
furniture get moved out? 

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Who does that? 
So things that you have to think

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about before the delivery 
company shows up with the 

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furniture, you might need to ask
the contract about your trade 

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schedules or if you're hiring 
the trades directly, like maybe 

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it's a painter or flooring 
person. 

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You can you manage their 
schedule, coordinating 

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deliveries, making sure that the
delivery company knows if a 

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heavy item needs to go upstairs.
They like to know that head time

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so they have enough manpower on 
site to take it. 

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Sometimes some pieces will take 
three people to take it up a 

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stair well. 
And how do they have to pivot in

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the stairs? 
We all know that Friends episode

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where the cell phone was getting
stuck in the stairway and they 

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had to pivot. 
You don't want to have any 

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friction there, so you want your
installations to run as smoothly

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as possible. 
So walk the site before install 

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and anticipate any conditions or
problems that might arise and 

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then make sure the client is 
aware going into the 

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00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:19,119
installation of what they need 
to do. 

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So they might need to be aware 
that they have to get rid of 

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00:17:22,079 --> 00:17:24,520
their furniture. 
That might not be a service that

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00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:28,480
you're going to offer to them. 
So they need to have it donated,

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00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:31,880
have it picked up, sell it, or 
whatever they need to do to get 

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that old furniture out of there.
Then they need to know whether 

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you're hiring cleaners or if 
they need to hire cleaners to 

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come in to clean. 
Nowadays, I usually extend that 

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to the client and just say we're
bringing in cleaners. 

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00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:48,560
Here's their estimate and I'll 
bill it to you directly, but I'm

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communicating that ahead of 
time. 

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I like to tell them often that 
they don't need to be on site 

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for installation. 
We don't love when they're 

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00:17:56,920 --> 00:17:59,840
looking over our shoulder as 
everything gets placed because 

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there's a lot of massaging on 
site that we have to do. 

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00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:06,560
You know, the rug goes down and 
then the sofa and then we're 

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00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:09,720
like, oh, actually we planned 
for the chair to be here, but 

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00:18:09,720 --> 00:18:11,200
maybe it looks better on the 
other side. 

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So there's all those last minute
details you want to fine tune 

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00:18:14,440 --> 00:18:15,920
before the client actually sees 
it. 

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So we'll communicate like plan 
to go to coffee while we're 

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00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:22,800
doing the install. 
So so you're not in the way. 

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So things like that. 
So we actually have APDF that we

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00:18:25,360 --> 00:18:28,200
send to our clients for 
installation day. 

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00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:31,600
It's like like what to know and 
what we're expecting of them. 

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So one of the other last things 
you want to work on is 

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leadership through execution. 
So how are you when a problem 

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00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:46,600
arises on site? 
Do you stay calm? 

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00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:50,120
Are you good at being decisive 
or you wishy washy? 

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00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:54,320
Do you lead your team, which 
could be someone who's working 

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00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:56,160
with you or it could be your 
trades? 

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00:18:56,680 --> 00:18:59,000
Are you good at leading them 
through challenges? 

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00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:02,520
So if you're not used to being 
in a leadership position, and 

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00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:06,360
I've talked before, I think a 
couple episodes ago about 

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00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:10,880
designers being leaders, if 
you've never done any leadership

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work, then I would suggest you 
seek out some books, podcasts, 

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00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:19,520
things like that to help with 
your leadership skills. 

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00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:23,120
It's only going to help your 
projects run more smoothly. 

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00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:27,680
So that's about 6 of the areas 
in practical business and 

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00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:30,320
project skills that I'm 
recommending that you work on. 

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00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:34,200
Of course, there's so much more,
but that's all you get in today.

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00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:46,360
So if you loved that list and 
maybe it made you think of of 

338
00:19:46,360 --> 00:19:50,200
some new things, then maybe you 
need to get into My Design 

339
00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:55,200
Mentor where we can really 
explore even more all of the 

340
00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:59,920
business skills and execution 
skills that you might need for a

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00:19:59,920 --> 00:20:01,640
project. 
They didn't realize when you 

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00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:05,440
signed up for the career. 
So go ahead to the show notes. 

343
00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:08,480
There'll be links for My Design 
Mentor in there and also some 

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00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:11,800
free downloads. 
Don't forget on Spotify we have 

345
00:20:12,120 --> 00:20:15,480
some. 
Playlist created for you of our 

346
00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:18,560
favorite episodes depending on 
where you're at in your design 

347
00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:20,160
career. 
So you can find those on 

348
00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:22,640
Spotify. 
So that's it for this week. 

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00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:26,280
Next week we'll have another 
great episode, an interview, and

350
00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:29,160
then after that, we're going to 
wrap all of these design skills 

351
00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:31,920
up together in a final episode 
in the series. 

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00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:35,720
So be looking for that and until
then, stay creative. 

353
00:20:37,360 --> 00:20:40,400
Thanks for listening. 
If you love this episode, please

354
00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:43,160
leave a rating and a review. 
This helps me reach other 

355
00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:46,880
curious creatives like you. 
If you have a topic request or 

356
00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:50,160
would like to contact me, simply
head over to my website, 

357
00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:56,520
awardesign.com or e-mail me at 
podcast@awardesign.com.