1 00:00:01,160 --> 00:00:04,200 Hey there, it's Rebecca. Before we dive in today's 2 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:06,920 episode, I have something exciting to share. 3 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:09,640 If you've been dreaming about starting your own interior 4 00:00:09,640 --> 00:00:12,480 design business, but you're feeling stuck on what to do 5 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:16,440 first, how to set things up legally, or even how to find 6 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:19,040 your first clients, this is your sign. 7 00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:22,840 Doors are now open for my Launch Your Business Boot Camp, an 8 8 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:25,960 week step by step program designed to help you build a 9 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:28,840 profitable design business from the ground up. 10 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:32,159 You'll learn everything from clarifying your brand and 11 00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:35,040 setting up your systems, to getting your contracts and 12 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:38,080 finances in order so you can start your business with 13 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:41,480 confidence and direction. I'll be walking alongside you 14 00:00:41,480 --> 00:00:44,320 the whole way, mentoring you through each step so you're 15 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:46,400 never left wondering what to do next. 16 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:49,640 And the best part? You'll be part of a community of 17 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:51,960 other designers doing it right alongside you. 18 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:56,400 So if you're ready to stop dreaming and finally launch your 19 00:00:56,400 --> 00:01:00,280 design business the right way, go sign up now at our Ward 20 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:03,280 design.com. You'll also find the link in the 21 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:05,720 show notes. All right, let's get into 22 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:10,920 today's episode. You're now listening to Design 23 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:15,000 Curious, a place where you, creative one, are here to learn 24 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:18,080 about what it really is like to be an interior designer. 25 00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:21,320 And I'm your host and mentor, Rebecca Ward. 26 00:01:21,960 --> 00:01:26,040 If you're worried about how to succeed in a creative career, if 27 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:28,880 you're ready to learn your next steps to become an interior 28 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:33,240 designer, and if you want the satisfaction of doing something 29 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:36,680 you love every day, you are in the right place. 30 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:41,120 Grab a coffee, a notebook, and let's dig into today's episode. 31 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:46,680 Hello and welcome to episode 171 of Design Curious Podcast. 32 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:49,240 I'm your host and mentor, Rebecca Ward. 33 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:52,040 It's the last episode of the year. 34 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:56,560 I don't always do episodes in these two weeks, but here I am. 35 00:01:56,560 --> 00:02:01,960 I wanted to do some reflection on 2025 up to this point and 36 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:05,120 going forward for 2026, I'm going to share my word of the 37 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:09,440 year for both years and kind of my reflection about how I 38 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:13,440 implemented that and my vision for going forward. 39 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:16,400 Have you done your vision planning yet? 40 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:19,200 Do you do a vision board? I, I love doing a vision board 41 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:22,720 each year. Visual representation of how I 42 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:27,040 think I want the year to look and the goals that I have. 43 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:31,680 So like this last year I had a new car on my vision board and 44 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:34,600 it came to fruition. I loved being going along with 45 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:37,560 my vision board and kind of checking off things like, oh, I 46 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:39,600 did that. We went to Disneyland, check, 47 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:41,080 check. And then I had all these things, 48 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:45,480 you know, work and personal related, and it was just so 49 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:49,840 satisfying to have a vision at the beginning of last year that 50 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:53,000 I could see it came. Most of the things I was working 51 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:54,800 towards can do fruition. Some things are going to take a 52 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:56,320 little bit longer. Not a problem. 53 00:02:56,760 --> 00:02:59,480 We'll just move them forward into 2026. 54 00:02:59,960 --> 00:03:05,640 So as I do every year, I love to take time to reflect on what 55 00:03:05,640 --> 00:03:09,640 this past year has brought me, what I've accomplished, what I 56 00:03:09,640 --> 00:03:15,360 can learn, and how I can improve on it for next year to make it 57 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:19,600 even better for me so I can achieve the goals that I have. 58 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:25,000 And I want to thank you all for being here because I really 59 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:30,640 enjoy podcasting and I hear so many positive things, feedback 60 00:03:30,640 --> 00:03:33,320 from you guys listening about the podcast. 61 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:36,440 So I'm going to keep doing it as long as you're enjoying it, as 62 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:40,840 long as I enjoy it, and as long as there's curious creatives out 63 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:44,120 there who want to hear more about interior design. 64 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:49,080 So I hope to expand it and increase our reach next year for 65 00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:51,400 the podcast is always one of my goals. 66 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:54,840 I just love sharing what I'm passionate about with as many 67 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:58,320 people as possible. So of course, you are a big part 68 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:00,360 of that. If you like and share the 69 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:05,200 episodes, If you can leave me reviews, Apple reviews on the 70 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:07,240 podcast, that would be really helpful. 71 00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:13,440 So this year, 2025, my word of the year was centered, and it 72 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:19,000 was definitely something I held in mind as I established what my 73 00:04:19,519 --> 00:04:24,760 goals were for the year. I wanted to be unflappable 74 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:29,240 basically in the face of economic uncertainty. 75 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:33,440 The year before, we had had a lot of things going on. 76 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:37,200 There's been a lot of talk about how after COVID, after that big 77 00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:40,000 boom, then people kind of quieted down. 78 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:44,240 They did so much design work during COVID and the pandemic 79 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:48,840 and the couple of years that followed it that the demand for 80 00:04:48,840 --> 00:04:54,160 new design and remodeling had decreased a lot by 2024. 81 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:59,000 And so that started some economic uncertainty for lots of 82 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:00,960 designers. I didn't like that feeling. 83 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:05,960 So I definitely wanted to be more centered in 2025 and make 84 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:10,920 sure I was establishing financial security and fine 85 00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:15,440 tuning my processes and making sure everything was in place so 86 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:19,160 that I could be more centered. And through that process, I 87 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:22,520 realized that, you know, my company has become so 88 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:28,120 streamlined and efficient that we are able to do things so much 89 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:31,480 quicker, just the two of us, just me and Lily right now. 90 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:36,720 And we can process some projects pretty well on our own. 91 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:41,080 And also I realized that as I cut out a few of the fluffy 92 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:43,680 things I don't need in my business, cut the fat a little 93 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:46,560 bit, that we could run pretty lean. 94 00:05:46,840 --> 00:05:50,880 And so we are in a really good place now to start scaling back 95 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:55,320 up again to establish some more profit and everything. 96 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:59,640 But I love coming from a place now of more financial security 97 00:06:00,280 --> 00:06:03,880 and streamlined so that we can remain centered as we move 98 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:08,680 forward out of 25. We've had a lot of fun projects. 99 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:12,360 Of course, you can go to my website or to my Instagram and 100 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:16,120 look at all the fun things that we've been working on. 101 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:21,240 And I kind of worked on the phrase of everyday luxury, 102 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:24,480 incorporating that concept into my brand. 103 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:30,040 A phrase that I really honed in on as the year progressed, just 104 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:32,720 resonated with me. And I loved the idea of bringing 105 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:36,920 everyday Luxury to every client. What does luxury look like? 106 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:38,880 Right. So I did a whole podcast episode 107 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:41,240 on that. So you can go back and listen to 108 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:43,840 Everyday Luxury. How I define that? 109 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:47,200 And then I did a lot more with the mentorship. 110 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:52,880 We started boot camp and I ran a retreat for some local designers 111 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:55,720 that I'm looking to do again. And I might expand it to even 112 00:06:55,720 --> 00:07:01,200 more people outside of the area. Designers who need to get 113 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:06,920 centered basically and learn how to communicate better with their 114 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:11,320 clients, with their team and learn more about yourself so you 115 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:15,480 can just be the best business owner, best designer, and best 116 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:19,440 leader in your circle, in your sphere of influence. 117 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:25,920 I also had a great trip to Napa that I planned a retreat for my 118 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:29,240 international design group, my design leaders collective group. 119 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:33,680 They all came to California and I hosted them in Napa, which was 120 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:35,800 just so much fun. I love going to Napa. 121 00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:40,440 And so it was a joy to have designers from all over the 122 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:44,960 country, all over the world coming and just taking a few 123 00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:49,120 days to focus on our business in a beautiful environment of Napa 124 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:51,640 Valley. All of these things went 125 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:55,920 together to help really establish more certainty, more 126 00:07:55,920 --> 00:08:00,520 centerness in my business. And then I also implemented, I 127 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:02,800 talked about my personal retreat date. 128 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:08,000 So I took those quarterly and set it aside a whole day so that 129 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:13,480 I could go through what my goals are for the quarter upcoming and 130 00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:17,920 make sure that I have made progress on my annual goals that 131 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:22,200 I was trying to do personally and professionally. 132 00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:25,080 And just having that day of reflection. 133 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:29,200 I would even use ChatGPT to ask me questions to kind of dig 134 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:33,520 deeper into making sure that I was so intentional about that 135 00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:39,120 time that I was setting aside to really work on my business 136 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:42,280 instead of in my business. And then I would, you know, do 137 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:44,560 something fun on that day. So one of my goals for this year 138 00:08:44,560 --> 00:08:47,320 was to give my wardrobe an upgrade. 139 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:51,880 So I started with the color scheme and style and everything 140 00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:53,360 like that towards the beginning of the year. 141 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:57,360 And then I would do a little bit shopping trips on these personal 142 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:00,200 retreat days as well. So that's been a lot of fun this 143 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:03,320 year. And I think next year I'm going 144 00:09:03,320 --> 00:09:05,760 to keep doing it, but I might incorporate, instead of a 145 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:08,800 shopping day now that my wardrobe's a little better 146 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:12,280 established, that I might do maybe a massage or something 147 00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:17,120 like that to help me relax and just be something that I look 148 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:19,800 forward to. That resonates with you Then go 149 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:21,640 ahead and take that for yourself. 150 00:09:22,560 --> 00:09:26,320 AI became a huge player like I talked about using ChatGPT. 151 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:30,800 I use her all the time now it's she's a she for me that's how I 152 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:32,360 talk about her. I call her chatty. 153 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:37,040 I also am aware of her limitations and not overly 154 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:40,520 relying on her, but we've had speakers come to my design 155 00:09:40,520 --> 00:09:43,400 leaders collective monthly meetings to talk about how to 156 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:49,480 incorporate AI, use it to help with emails and different design 157 00:09:49,480 --> 00:09:52,160 things that we need to do. And then also even for 158 00:09:52,160 --> 00:09:55,480 presentations, there's some great apps out there that can 159 00:09:55,480 --> 00:10:00,040 help you put together things so quickly and such a time saver. 160 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:03,560 So yeah, AI is not going away. And it's so I realized that I 161 00:10:03,560 --> 00:10:06,320 definitely have to embrace it. I have to learn how to use it, 162 00:10:06,560 --> 00:10:10,000 stay relevant. It's there to help enhance 163 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:14,440 creativity, not to replace it. Clients seen this year to be 164 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:18,920 wanting a lot of authenticity and longevity and spaces that 165 00:10:18,920 --> 00:10:22,880 feel personal colors returning with confidence. 166 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:27,160 And everyone's voting for timeless over trendy. 167 00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:32,040 We've done a lot of designer for a day consultations this year. 168 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:37,160 It's really something that continue to love and it's just a 169 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:42,840 nice offering for the DIY client who wants professional guidance 170 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:45,920 and wants to be able to implement on their own and 171 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:49,080 doesn't want the full service. And so I love being able to meet 172 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:52,960 clients at all different levels of where they need it. 173 00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:56,280 So we did a lot of those this year and that was a lot of fun 174 00:10:56,280 --> 00:10:58,760 for us. So all these goals and 175 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:02,320 reflections and things. I have continued to use my full 176 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:05,120 focus planner. This is my third year of 177 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:08,840 implementing it and I'm, you know, a full convert. 178 00:11:08,840 --> 00:11:13,920 I, I plan to keep using it as long as I am alive because I 179 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:16,800 think that it's so beneficial to have all your goals, personal 180 00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:20,880 and professional in one place. Always reminded about things, to 181 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:25,680 be grateful for what you did that was best today and helping 182 00:11:25,680 --> 00:11:30,120 you to breakdown your goals into more of a daily application, but 183 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:32,600 then still achieving overall annual goals. 184 00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:35,080 And I just love the whole system. 185 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:38,320 We have episodes on that too, if you want to go back and listen 186 00:11:38,320 --> 00:11:42,760 to that with Sierra Collins. So where do we go from here? 187 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:47,280 Well, after a year of staying centered, I want to bring that 188 00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:50,440 light outward. And so I want to shine it out 189 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:55,280 and uplift and infuse my joy into my work and my mentorship 190 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:57,960 in my home. So I've picked the word radiant 191 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:02,000 for 2026. And I think that it's going to 192 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:07,560 inspire more conversations, have more visibility with designers, 193 00:12:07,880 --> 00:12:13,480 stories, and fresh ways to help you guys take action. 194 00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:16,240 So I'm going to bring Radiance into the podcast. 195 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:19,920 I'm going to bring it into my mentorship community and 196 00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:24,280 stepping confidently into helping others go into 197 00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:26,200 entrepreneurship and into the career. 198 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:30,840 And then I'm going to bring it to my business by continuing to 199 00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:36,680 do design spaces that glow with color and warmth and luxury 200 00:12:36,680 --> 00:12:40,480 rooted in daily living. So there's any radiance and all 201 00:12:40,480 --> 00:12:44,280 that I do. So what feeling or quality do 202 00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:49,080 you want to embody in 26? Write it down and let it guide 203 00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:53,480 you as you are working on your goals for next year. 204 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:57,480 I'm going to continue explore Radiance, and I think that it's 205 00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:01,080 definitely going to throw flow into my personal life as well. 206 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:04,320 When I try to find a word of the year, I write down a bunch of 207 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:07,000 different words that I kind of think of the direction that I'm 208 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:10,760 going and then I'll look through Thesaurus and different things. 209 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:14,000 And I was reading through all similar words to this, but 210 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:16,400 Radiant just popped out to me. And so I knew that that's 211 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:19,680 something I need to hold on to and explore the definition even 212 00:13:19,680 --> 00:13:23,200 more of how it can be applied in 26. 213 00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:29,080 As I'm writing my goals now for 2026, I'm keeping Radiance in 214 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:33,440 mind and I'm sure you'll see it going forward in the episodes, 215 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:38,840 in the offerings, and in my visibility for next year. 216 00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:47,480 OK. And one thing I want you to 217 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:51,320 remember as you're thinking about setting goals and 218 00:13:51,320 --> 00:13:55,640 intentions for 2026 or maybe a word of the year, that these are 219 00:13:55,640 --> 00:14:00,200 here to help you and you can make them what you need them to 220 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:05,520 be, that there's no judgement. If you are not succeeding in all 221 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:09,080 of them by the end of January, you want to set goals that you 222 00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:12,520 can work on over time that are probably going to take you a 223 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:15,960 couple of quarters to implement. I mean, you know, some short 224 00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:19,720 goals are fine too, but you want to have overarching for the year 225 00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:21,480 and you want to have some short goals. 226 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:24,640 And goals are not like even with diet. 227 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:28,080 Say you know, like people like to have a diet start January 1st 228 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:31,600 and then by the 5th day then they're off the diet and they're 229 00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:33,080 like, OK, well that's it for this year. 230 00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:34,760 No, that's not what your goal is. 231 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:37,640 You set a goal because you want to improve yourself. 232 00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:41,720 That's always going to be a work in progress and it always needs 233 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:43,360 to be intentional. And the best way to be 234 00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:48,160 intentional is to set a goal and to break it down in processes to 235 00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:51,280 help you implement it. If anything, Like maybe you make 236 00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:54,720 intentionality your word for 26. You know I dare you. 237 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:58,600 What would happen if you made intention your word for 26? 238 00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:00,000 What does that mean in your life? 239 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:03,160 So think about it. Or if you have another word you 240 00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:05,040 want to share with me, I'd love to hear it. 241 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:10,720 So all the fun things for you in the show notes, I've got free 242 00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:15,000 downloads, we've got the boot camp starting in January, We've 243 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:18,000 got my design mentor. I'm going to have so many great 244 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:23,080 things for you in 2026. So stay tuned for next year, 245 00:15:23,480 --> 00:15:26,360 which is going to be here. Before you know it, we are going 246 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:31,200 to have another great episode. So until then, stay creative and 247 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:34,720 happy New Year. Thanks for listening. 248 00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:38,040 If you love this episode, please leave a rating and a review. 249 00:15:38,320 --> 00:15:41,080 This helps me reach other curious creatives like you. 250 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:45,240 If you have a topic request or would like to contact me, simply 251 00:15:45,240 --> 00:15:50,160 head over to my website awarddesign.com or e-mail me at 252 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:52,880 podcast@awarddesign.com.