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Welcome to episode 9 of design. 
Curious podcast, I'm your host 

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and Mentor Rebecca Ward today we
are talking about the anatomy of

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an interior design firm, whether
you are thinking about applying 

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for a job there, interning or 
even starting your own business.

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It is critical to understand all
the hats that an interior 

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designer needs to wear 
especially if they are a 

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solopreneur like most of them 
are. 

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But if you're thinking you might
want to Grow your firm into a 

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larger company. 
This is a great way to show you 

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all the areas. 
You can expand to who you need 

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to hire. 
And so let's get into it. 

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You're now listening to design, 
curious a place where you 

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creative one are here to learn 
about what it really is. 

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Like, to be an interior designer
and I'm your host and Mentor 

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Rebecca, Ward, if you're worried
about how to succeed in a 

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career, Career, if you're ready 
to learn your next steps to 

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become an Interior Designer. 
And if you want the satisfaction

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of doing something you love 
every day, you are in the right 

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place, grab a coffee, a 
notebook, and let's dig into 

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today's episode. 
All right, let's get into the 

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anatomy of an interior design 
firm. 

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So interior design, firms and 
architecture firms are set up. 

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I would say very similarly to 
some law firms. 

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All of them do likely billable 
hours. 

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The hierarchy of designers is 
similar to the hierarchy of 

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lawyers within a firm so it's 
not dissimilar and all of them 

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are professionals. 
So it Sense. 

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But let's look at it from the 
top down. 

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So at the very top obviously is 
the CEO or the owner often the 

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principal designer. 
So this person is the one who 

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started the from the Visionary 
for the firm often the one 

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calling the shots on how the 
clients design projects are 

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going to run. 
They could also be known as the 

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design director sometimes in 
larger firms. 

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They They are not actually doing
any of the sourcing or drawings 

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themselves, they're only 
dictating where the design goes 

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for that. 
Client setting the vision and 

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then letting the rest of the 
team take care of the details. 

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So that is the owner principal 
designer and design director 

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under that you'll have probably 
the senior designer or lead 

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designer might have an associate
designer or an intermediate. 

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Designer then a junior designer 
so sometimes smaller residential

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firms. 
Might just have a principal and 

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then they'll hire a junior who 
might Elevate to a lead designer

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later on. 
And then under the junior 

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designer, you might also have a 
design assistant and that person

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might not have as much education
or experience as a junior 

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designer or the one that 
designers above them, but they 

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might have some education or 
some experience and so therefore

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they are qualified. 
I lied to, you know, do a little

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bit of research or do some 
drawings. 

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You may also even have a 
draftsperson at the firm who 

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only does the drawings, because 
that's kind of a big job in 

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itself. 
So just depends on the size of 

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the firm. 
You might have all of these. 

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Are you might just have one or 
two, or it could just be, like I

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said, the principal designer at 
the firm. 

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So, even if there is just one 
person, what we call a 

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solopreneur, they're still going
to wear all the other hats that 

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the business needs, Them to 
wear. 

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So, if the firm is larger, 
there's obviously going to be 

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other people that can wear these
hats, but besides just the fun 

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part of Designing and making 
selections and doing the 

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drawings and creating a 
beautiful product for the 

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client, then we get into the 
business and the execution part.

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So, adjacent to the design team 
would probably be the production

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team. 
So this is after the, Design is 

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presented the client loves it. 
Then it goes into production. 

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So you might have a project 
manager who is going to oversee 

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the contractors, make sure that 
the design gets implemented 

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correctly. 
They could also be called a 

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director of production. 
You might have a construction 

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manager, so if you're offering 
design-build, you might have 

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someone who specializes in 
construction details and has a 

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lot of construction knowledge. 
So they might be Construction 

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manager, underneath the project 
manager. 

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They could also be the same 
person. 

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And then if necessary, you could
also have a junior project 

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manager, a project coordinator, 
who could assist those upper 

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levels in the production team. 
And then in that team, I would 

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also put the expediter or the 
procurement coordinator. 

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Now, some firms might call this 
the design assistant, but this 

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person will be placing and 
tracking all the orders. 

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That get placed for, especially 
the furniture and any finishes 

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and accessories, and things like
that. 

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So any purchase orders that get 
made sent to the vendor 

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payments, all that stuff gets 
tracked by the expediter. 

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Then we'll go over to the 
operations team. 

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So the person in charge of 
operations could be called the 

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director of operations or the co
o, the chief operations officer.

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And Under the operation team. 
The also have what I call the 

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client relations manager, so 
this could be the person who is 

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doing your intake calls your 
client onboarding, or we called 

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Discovery calls as well. 
So, having a person dedicated to

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that filtering out the clients 
asking all the questions and 

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then setting up the 
consultations in the calendar. 

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That would be the client 
relations manager. 

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Now, I have one of these who is 
a contractor Works remotely. 

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A couple hours a week and she 
also takes care of other things 

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for the client like gifting 
throughout the project under 

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operations. 
You might also find the HR 

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manager to be the person in 
charge of ensuring that 

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Healthcare and all those things 
get set up. 

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Also the employee handbook and 
anything employee-related would 

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be under HR manager. 
They might have a process and 

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performance manager kind of like
T control to make sure that 

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every project is running 
correctly. 

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That the clients are happy, and 
my also be called a compliance 

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manager. 
And then you would also probably

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put the office administrator 
under here. 

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So it's admin things that just 
for the day-to-day business. 

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Maybe not client related, but 
that would be under the 

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operations of the business. 
Then we go over to the finance 

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team. 
So the finance team, if you are 

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starting out as your own 
business, Maybe your new 

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designer or you have experience 
in, you're starting out just 

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you, I would say you definitely 
have to get a bookkeeper. 

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Next, that's going to be your 
first Tire because that's so 

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important to keeping your books 
straight, keeping them organized

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and ready for taxes at the end 
of the year. 

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So under the finance team, 
you'll have your bookkeeper. 

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The the person in charge of the 
finance team might be called the

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Director of Finance and might be
a CFO Chief Financial Officer 

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and Then under this part of the 
team, you'll include your CPA 

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certified public accountant. 
And any other financial advisors

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could also be under this part, 
they might not work directly for

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you. 
They may not be employees of the

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company, but they are definitely
a part of your business and an 

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integral part of the design 
firm. 

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Okay. 
And then we'll go over to sales 

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and marketing. 
Also a very important part of 

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the design Confirm because 
without sales and marketing, you

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can't get new clients coming in.
You can't get those pretty 

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projects to work on. 
So the person in charge here 

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might be director of sales and 
marketing, then you might also 

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have a marketing manager person 
in charge of promotional 

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advertising. 
The messaging that's being said 

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on your website all those things
and then you might also have a 

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sales manager. 
So a person who is Is educated 

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in sales who might be there to 
help secure and close sales with

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clients and advise on. 
That might have a public 

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relations manager and a branding
manager, someone to manage the 

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website and digital or social 
media manager. 

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So all those parts of the 
marketing and sales team, really

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critical to even getting new 
business. 

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Through the door. 
So if you are a solopreneur you 

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are the one that's wearing all 
of these hats. 

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I didn't count it out but 
there's probably like 20 here. 

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And so so that is quite the job.
So you might not know what 

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you're signing up for when you 
decide to open your own firm. 

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I certainly didn't think of it 
this way and you know, only this

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year did I kind of set up an org
chart for my own company? 

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But I had it so enlightening 
because well, I have two 

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employees. 
I know that my firm will Paul be

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growing a little bit. 
And so I was looking at the 

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places where my name gets put in
there and then maybe I want to 

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hire a couple people to join the
team and I can easily see which 

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areas we had a need in. 
So that is the anatomy of a 

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design firm. 
Hopefully that is explain to you

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clearly and you might be 
surprised to find that all those

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Positions are needed within one 
firm. 

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If you are looking to go work 
for another firm. 

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Now, you can kind of understand 
all the parts that are needed or

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if you're even just going to 
work for one designer. 

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Now, you can understand why 
their time is so important and 

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that they are being pulled in so
many different directions. 

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That as an employee of that 
Designer, you might have to also

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wear several different hats 
whether you like it or not. 

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But, to be honest, this is the 
kind of information. 

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I actually wish I had when I was
starting out. 

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So now you've got it, and you 
can use this to help you as 

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you're starting out in your 
career. 

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So did you find that 
overwhelming all the different 

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hats that Interiors iron does 
where? 

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You know it's not exclusive to 
Interior Design. 

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Really, some of these hats that 
any business owner. 

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Any entrepreneur might have to 
wear all these has for marketing

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and finance and all those 
things. 

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So some of those just come along
with owning your own business 

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and then a lot of it, like the 
design portion and some Other 

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aspects are pertaining 
specifically to Interior Design,

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but hopefully this is helpful 
for you. 

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If you're thinking about going 
on your own, I certainly wasn't 

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aware of all the positions. 
I needed to be in to be a 

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entrepreneur. 
So when I finally did create an 

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org chart as like dang this is a
lot. 

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So I'm hoping that you gained 
some insight a lot earlier in 

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the game before I did. 
And if you find that helpful, 

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Full and you can find a sample 
organizational chart. 

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Like I said in the show notes, 
go to our war design.com for / 

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podcast and you'll find all the 
information there, I'd love for 

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you to reach out to me with any 
information. 

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You'd love for me to discuss on 
the podcast. 

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You can email me podcast at our 
award design.com, and if you 

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would love to work with me a 
little more on getting some 

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insight, as to what the career 
of interior design really is. 

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Is then why don't you join me in
my design Mentor my membership 

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program? 
Where each month, we have a 

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different subject. 
We are discussing on the live 

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call and you can ask me, 
personally, your questions and 

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struggles that you're facing as 
you are starting your career in 

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interior design. 
So if that's interests you, you 

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can also find that on my 
website. 

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Stay tuned, creative one. 
And we'll be back next week with

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another great episode on design.
Curious podcast. 

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Thanks for listening. 
If you loved this episode, 

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00:13:03,700 --> 00:13:05,400
please leave a rating and a 
review. 

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This helps me reach other 
curious creatives. 

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Like you, if you have a topic 
request or would like to contact

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me, simply head over to my 
website, our Ward design.com or 

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email me at podcast at our war 
design.com,