Interior design is an art form. It may not be about picking up a guitar, brush, or any conventional art form that we revere, but putting together an entire house to reflect the homeowner’s personality is nothing short of talent. If you have an innate gift from God to do something better than everyone, you cannot let it go to waste.
If you are interested in interior designing and are passionate about it, starting your own business is a great way to achieve success. You don’t need a lot of money to start – this is especially true if you choose to be self-employed! Additionally, there are many ways that you can work from home. Successfully starting and running an interior design business requires more than just an eye for decoration. You’ll also need to have the degree, knowledge, and experience needed to build out a home or business from scratch.
Before moving to the steps, let’s share one thing. If you’re still seeking ways to launch your interior decorating firm and feel overwhelmed by the fear of failure, then don’t turn back. We understand that starting a business can be scary and make you feel out of balance, but if something scares you, that means you want it badly. It is only the fear of success preventing you from taking these actions. This step-by-step guide about how to start an interior design business will help you get started.
Steps To Starting An Interior Design Business
To know how to start an Interior Design Business, follow these essential steps:
Step 1: Determine your brand identity
If you have a clear vision for the work you intend to do, concentrate your time and resources towards building that for your own business. Interior designers might be more lucrative than entire remodelling homes when designing interiors for commercial or rental companies. However, if you live in densely populated cities full of rentals or retail businesses, it might be more profitable to try targeting those mediums. You can refine your marketing strategy by reaching out to specific demographics- people interested in renovation and design instead of just kitchens and baths.
If you don’t have an interior design brand identity that grabs your dream clients’ attention, you’re going to find it challenging to stake your place as the go-to designer. Branding is where your business’s visual and message parts merge to create a promise of an experience with your client. You should associate your brand with who you are- the client’s natural extension! To know more about how to start an interior design business? Read this article carefully.
Step 2: Choose your business name and structure
Business name: Once you are ready to start an interior design business, choosing a business name and deciding what kind of entity you want to use is necessary. Choosing a name can be difficult due to the abundance of choices, but thankfully, most designers use their names as their business names. Check the availability of these names so that you may reserve them for a set amount of time while gathering all other necessary items for registering your new enterprise.
Business Structure: In understanding how to start an interior design business, It is essential to choose a business entity. The business entity you choose will affect the level of risk you’re exposing yourself to if any legal issues arise. It will also depend on whether you’re starting your interior design business as a sole proprietor, a partner, as an LLC or Corporation. We recommend consulting with a business attorney if you’re unsure which entity to choose.
Register your business: Registering your business in each state is slightly different, but the process generally stays the same. You’ll likely deal with state secretaries of state office, while other states have government branches for businesses. It’s essential to register your interior design business with the IRS and apply for an employer identification number or an EIN. Obtaining EIN can take just a few minutes online!
Step 3: Determine what services you’ll offer
When you’re just starting as an interior designer, it’s essential to plan what services you will offer. You don’t want to be taking on too much when you don’t have the resources or experience. Many interior design options are available to designers, some of which are more straightforward than others. The days of a one-size-fits-all approach to interior design services are long gone. Many new services have been introduced to differentiate Interior Designers from their competitors and offer unique services perfect for each client’s needs. To know how to start an interior design business and the services which you can choose to offer for your business, here are a few main options that you can try:
E-Design/Online Interior Design: One of the most critical factors for online interior design is ensuring you get the valuable information often obtained through an initial face-to-face consultation. This way, you can target a wider potential audience and find out what they need or want to make their home feel perfect. If you choose e-design, there are some specific deliverables:
- Paint palettes
- Mood boards
- Shopping lists
- 3D renderings
- Detailed notes
Traditional Interior Design: Traditional interior design is still standard, and it offers a completely turn-key service. However, because it can be more expensive to do this type of work than other interior design services, traditional Interior Design may not be as popular with clients.
Home staging: Home staging is another growing service offered by interior designers who diversify their service portfolio. This approach allows interior designers to charge extra for the added work of styling a property to make it as valuable as possible.
Product sourcing: Product sourcing is a service offered by interior designers to their clients that helps them find the most suitable products to align with their style in their home. Product sourcing can be a repeatable service, as it can vary in size.
Room-specific design: If you enjoy designing in a specific room, don’t be afraid to become focused on that room alone. The most common bedroom-specific designers combine other components than just great design; for example, home office designers and bedroom designers might include sleep maximizing features.
Renters’ room styling: When renting, it is essential to work around any tenant restrictions with the interior design. It would help if you were versatile with the interior design for your clients to enjoy their stay and feel comfortable in their rental space.
Step 4: Know your target audience
To have a successful interior design business, you need to know your focused clients. In other words, How to start an interior design business? Who should be your potential clients? Once you know who you want to work with, it’s easier to determine what kind of designer they are looking for and what services they may need. It’s also helpful if you know their basic demographics to start figuring out how the design could help them solve a problem or keep them up at night. You can know your audience by knowing the types of interior design businesses in high demand by your targeted audience and what they would be looking for from your services. Once you have this information, it’s time to analyze potential customers. You must also have a clear vision for what your ideal customers want from their interior design choices- something specific and measurable, so you can constantly track progress towards this goal.
Step 5: Build a website
A clean website with stunning photography of your design work can help bring attention to your skills as a designer. Not only will this help get attention to your styling capabilities, but it can also be great for expertly crafted mood boards and other professional projects. If you have the ability, publish testimonials from free designs you’ve done on the site to help others find and recommend you as a designer. The more people directed towards your services, the faster your business can get off the ground! Make it clear what kind of services you offer on your website, and make sure all of them fall within an area that customers might want to contact about (rustic style? minimalism?). You could even include some examples of how someone using one of yours specifically solved a problem or completed an assignment- something that would show why clients might choose you over another designer.
Step 6: Build a Portfolio
When starting your own interior design business, you should take the opportunity to build a portfolio of your best and most impressive design projects. This way, potential clients will know what they can expect from you. You don’t need a massive portfolio at the beginning of your career if you have no interior design experience. If, on the other hand, you are fresh out of Interior Design school and don’t have any previous experience with designing halls or interiors – use software programs to help cover all your bases! You can select different layouts and build a portfolio that looks great! You can even create mood boards and 3D presentations to impress new clients!
Step 7: Set up your office
You can either set up shop in a commercial building or start your business with no external aid or former experience. If you’re starting your new business with no external assistance or former experience, you can always begin your design work in your home office. Clients won’t mind visiting your home office, mainly if it provides a glimpse of what you’ve done with the space in your own home. It subliminally reflects personal dedication.
It is unnecessary to rent an expensive area of town until some contracts with assured cash flow have been won by the new business. By doing this, you may achieve cost savings by designing and purchasing office furniture, which you can use for a minimalistic approach to interior design. If looking to keep costs down, one may focus on using an affordable space with lower rent. Simple desks and chairs could also serve as the first project in a minimalist career!
Step 8: Set your rate
After understanding how to start an interior design business, setting your rate becomes crucial for running a successful business. You’ll need to do some research regarding pricing before you set a price for your project. How much do other designers in your area charge? Do you have interior designer friends or colleagues that can help? Are you experienced with designing spaces within a specific budget range?
Here are some common ways to charge customers:
- Hourly Rates: This rate is the easiest way to charge since all you need to do is multiply your hours worked by your hourly rate. This rate will benefit a new interior designer, as they won’t know precisely how long each job will take until they have had a few under their belt. The real challenge is setting your price to be fair to your clients while also ensuring YOUR business is profitable (we’ll come up with an amount soon).
- Project Fee: Project Fee is an excellent way for clients to know what they’ll be paying for the work they’re taking on. You can quickly work out project fees by multiplying your hourly rate by the number of hours you think you will take to complete the project (plus any expenses). However, it’s important to note that underestimating your time or not meeting expectations may lead to losses in some projects; this will quickly put an end to your interior design business.
- Cost Plus: Using this method, you add up all of the costs for the necessary furnishings and materials and any subcontractors to perform the work. You then add a set percentage (agreed with your client) to the total as your fee. Cost-plus is a standard method of charging in interior design. However, it lessens the payment you get for your basic service and purely relies on what you and your client agree on the price-setting.
- Retail: Retail pricing is a common way interior designers charge their clients. This method means that the clients pay you for the products you purchase and not for any services you provide. This type of pricing is especially popular with smaller projects or purely development sourcing projects.
Step 9: Market your business like a Pro
There are hundreds of ways to promote your interior design business. Still, these are the three best opportunities for new interior designers to promote themselves and get some paying clients, as well as protect your business for long-term success.
Learn basic SEO
Learning the basics is critical when it comes to SEO. This means knowing how to optimize your website for search engines and making a few tweaks here, and there can lead you onto an eternal path of success. SEO comprises many different parts, but if you can learn the basics, you will be able to capitalize on this by driving continuous traffic and prospective clients to your website forever!.
Build an email list
Every business needs to follow and interact with potential customers. Building a list is vital for almost every type of business. You will find out what products or services are popular and helpful, so you can start selling those soon!
Ask for Referrals
The best way to get more paying clients is to start as a creator of your work and then ask friends, family, or other professionals for referrals. This way, you can develop a good relationship with them while also receiving rewards for referring to them- such as payment and feedback.
Create a blog
As a website owner, you should consider starting a blog to provide helpful information and insights about interior design. Your readers will appreciate your posts if they are relevant to their interests! You can also use your blog as an opportunity to promote new and innovative designs, SEO optimized, and be consistent with your content releases.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this guide on “how to start an interior design business” has taught you everything you need to start and manage a successful interior design business. Start your own interior design business if you have the talent and confidence to do it independently. The Interior Design market is challenging to break into, but you can succeed with the right plan and enough perseverance. In today’s competitive environment, where everyone is shooting for the same level of success, standing out from the pack is critical. Starting your own interior design business is a daunting task. However, following these nine steps can help you achieve great success. Business owners, especially startup owners, need to hustle and not just sit on their laurels. They should be working hard to increase their revenue to continue functioning at their best!.
