Mastering the Business of Interior Design: Success by Design

Hosted by Katie Decker-Erickson, Business Coach for Interior Designers

Arts Design Education

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Episodes

137

Latest episode

Nov 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

As an interior designer, do you find yourself caught between your love for design and the realities of running a profitable business? Whether you're launching your firm or scaling to new heights, the business side of interior design can be complex—and often overwhelming. That’s where Katie Decker-Erickson comes in. As a business coach for interior designers and the founder of a multimillion-dollar design firm, she knows firsthand what it takes to build a thriving, sustainable business while staying true to your creative vision. With nearly 20 years in the industry and a Master’s degree in Business Administration, Katie is actively in the trenches—elevating her own firm while helping other designers master the business of design. We’ll answer questions like: How do I get more interior design clients? What should I charge for interior design services? What are the best marketing strategies for interior designers? How can I grow my interior design business? How do I build a brand as an interior designer? How can I scale my interior design business? What systems do I need to run a successful interior design business? How do I create a client onboarding process for my design firm? Is it worth hiring a coach for my interior design business? This show delivers actionable tips on how to grow an interior design business with smart, sustainable strategies. You'll get insights on marketing your interior design services, building a strong brand, streamlining your systems, and scaling your firm—without burning out. If you're an interior designer, firm owner, or creative entrepreneur ready to build a profitable, passion-filled business, you're in the right place. Tune in, and let’s grow your interior design business—together.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

November 11, 202621 min

136. Stop Trying to Fix Everything in Your Interior Design Business

Send Katie a Text Message!! Your pricing needs work. Your marketing is inconsistent. Your systems are a mess. Your website needs updating. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, you're trying to run an actual interior design business. Sound familiar? When you finally get clear about what's wrong in your business, it's tempting to start fixing everything at once. But that approach often leaves you exhausted, overwhelmed, and with very little meaningful progress to show for it. In this episode of Success by Design , I'm talking about why the solution isn't more activity. It's better prioritization. Last week, we talked about moving from diagnosis to prescription. This week, we're adding another essential piece: the right order of operations . I'll walk you through the three questions I use when helping interior designers decide what to address first: impact, urgency, and dependency. In this episode, you'll learn: Why trying to fix everything simultaneously can prevent meaningful progress The difference between being busy improving your business and actually improving it Why you don't necessarily need another planner, CRM, or project management system How task switching contributes to overwhelm and inefficiency Why the loudest business problem isn't always the most important one How to evaluate a problem's potential impact on profitability, revenue, and operations How to distinguish actual urgency from everyday frustration Why the order in which you address business problems matters How to apply impact, urgency, and dependency to competing priorities Why generating more leads won't necessarily fix an unprofitable business model How to balance immediate cash flow needs with longer-term business improvements A practical exercise to identify your five biggest business problems and choose your first priority Why focus is a leadership responsibility, not a form of neglect Your business doesn't need every problem solved this week. It needs the right problem addressed first. If you're struggling to determine what deserves your attention, book a complimentary Business Diagnostic Call at FixMyDesignBiz.com . Together, we'll start identifying the real constraints inside your firm and where to focus first. Connect with Katie LinkedIn Business Strategy Sessions for Interior Designers Free Resources for scaling your interior design firm Website

November 4, 202626 min

135. Why You Keep Fixing the Wrong Problems in Your Interior Design Business

Send Katie a Text Message!! You know something isn't working in your interior design business. Maybe your pipeline is inconsistent, your profitability isn't where it should be, or you're working more hours than you ever intended. But knowing what's wrong and knowing how to fix it are two very different things. After spending October walking through The Design Business Diagnostic, I'm shifting our focus in November from diagnosis to prescription. Because once you've identified what's happening inside your business, the next step isn't grabbing the first solution you see on Instagram. It's determining what actually needs to change. In this episode, I'm walking you through the six components of an effective business prescription and showing you why two designers with the exact same complaint may need completely different solutions. In this episode, I'm talking about: Why identifying a business problem doesn't automatically reveal the right solution The danger of borrowing another designer's business strategy Why “I need more clients” is a symptom, not necessarily a diagnosis How to use business data to identify the actual root cause Why more revenue doesn't always solve profitability problems How to determine which business issue deserves your attention first The six components of a practical business prescription Why measurable outcomes are more useful than vague improvement goals How to turn intentions into specific actions with ownership and deadlines Which metrics to monitor when evaluating whether a solution is working Why the simplest solution is sometimes the most effective How we avoided an unnecessary hire inside my own design firm Why outside perspective can help you identify what you're too close to see You don't need to fix everything in your business this week. You need to stop throwing solutions at symptoms, identify the right problem, and take the next useful action. If you know something needs to change but aren't sure where to begin, book a complimentary 15-minute Business Diagnostic Call at FixMyDesignBiz.com. We'll look at what's happening in your business and begin identifying what actually needs your attention. Connect with Katie LinkedIn Business Strategy Sessions for Interior Designers Free Resources for scaling your interior design firm Website

October 28, 202618 min

134. Why Your Interior Design Business Isn't Changing (Even When You Know What to Fix)

Send Katie a Text Message!! “But Katie, I don't have time.” “But Katie, I can't afford help.” “But Katie, every project is different.” If you've been following The Design Business Diagnostic series, you probably recognize areas of your interior design business that could use attention. But recognizing the problem and actually changing how your company operates are two very different things. In this episode of Success by Design , I'm addressing six of the objections I hear most often from interior designers when we start talking about improving their businesses. Some of these concerns are completely legitimate. But I want to help you distinguish between a real constraint that needs to shape your plan and an assumption that might be preventing you from moving forward. In this episode, I'm talking about: Why knowing what needs to change doesn't automatically lead to action How to make time to work on your business when your calendar is already full Why improving your operations doesn't always require hiring or spending more money How to create repeatable processes without sacrificing customized design Why systems fail when nobody consistently follows them How owners unintentionally reinforce the behaviors they're trying to eliminate Where to begin when multiple areas of your business need attention Why a specific operational problem is more useful than a general feeling of overwhelm How to strengthen your business even when things are going well Why one realistic improvement is more valuable than five unfinished initiatives You don't need perfect circumstances to begin improving your business. You need to understand the resources you actually have, identify the most important constraint, and choose a next step you can realistically implement. If you're ready for help figuring out where to begin, book a complimentary 15-minute Business Diagnostic Call at FixMyDesignBiz.com. We'll look at what's happening inside your firm and determine what deserves your attention first. Connect with Katie LinkedIn Business Strategy Sessions for Interior Designers Free Resources for scaling your interior design firm Website

October 21, 202622 min

133. Your Interior Design Business Needs a Different Plan for 2027

Send Katie a Text Message!! If you want your interior design business to look different in 2027, you can't simply hope the market gets better. You can't control interest rates, economic uncertainty, changing client behavior, or whether the perfect project lands in your inbox. But there is an enormous amount happening inside your business that you can control. In this episode of Success by Design , we're bringing together all five pillars of The Design Business Diagnostic and looking at how to start positioning your company for a stronger, more profitable, and more intentional 2027. Whether you've had a fantastic year financially but feel completely overwhelmed, or 2026 has left you wondering where all your clients went, the answer isn't necessarily another marketing tactic, a new employee, or a pricing increase. The answer starts with understanding what's actually happening inside your business. In this episode, I'm talking about: Why hoping for a better market isn't a business strategy Why you need to diagnose your business before setting 2027 goals How to distinguish visible symptoms from underlying business problems The five pillars I use to evaluate the health of an interior design firm What CEO Leadership should look like as your company grows The financial numbers every design firm owner needs to understand How to identify where your marketing and sales pipeline is breaking Why hiring more people doesn't automatically create more capacity How to determine whether your current services are helping or hurting profitability The difference between accountability and shame when evaluating a difficult year Why your 2027 planning needs to begin before January How to start evaluating your own business using The Design Business Diagnostic Your business isn't a reflection of your worth as a designer. It's a system, and systems can be examined, improved, and built to work better. Join Me Live on October 28! I'm hosting The Design Business Diagnostic Workshop , where we'll work through the five pillars together and help you begin identifying the changes your business needs to make heading into 2027. This is for designers who are overwhelmed with work, designers who need more consistent clients, and everyone in between who's ready to stop guessing and start making more intentional decisions. Seats are limited. Register now at successbydesign.coach/workshop Connect with Katie LinkedIn Business Strategy Sessions for Interior Designers Free Resources for scaling your interior design firm Website

October 14, 202624 min

132. Why More Services Won't Grow Your Interior Design Business | The Design Business Diagnostic, Part 6

Send Katie a Text Message!! When the market slows down or clients start approaching projects differently, it's tempting to respond by adding more services, creating new packages, or changing your pricing. But what if the problem isn't that you need more offerings? What if you need to rethink the ones you already have? In this final pillar of The Design Business Diagnostic , I'm talking about Products & Offerings and why the right service mix isn't necessarily the one generating the most revenue or giving clients the most choices. It's the one that meets real market demand, produces healthy margins, and supports the kind of business you actually want to own. We're seeing clients approach design projects differently. Some are phasing work, reconsidering timelines, or changing how they want to engage a designer. That doesn't automatically mean demand has disappeared. It may mean your offerings need to evolve with the way your clients want to buy. In this episode, I'm talking about: Why adding more services can create confusion instead of opportunity What changing client buying behavior means for your design business Why raising your rates isn't always the right business strategy The difference between revenue and actual service profitability How to evaluate your offerings through market demand, profitability, and emotional ROI Why a service can be profitable and still be wrong for your life How to use my four-part offering audit to evaluate what you're currently selling Why too many packages make it harder for clients to hire you How to accommodate phased projects without automatically discounting When to adjust pricing, scope, staffing, or delivery instead of eliminating an offering Why Products & Offerings is the final pillar of The Design Business Diagnostic How all five pillars work together to create a profitable, sustainable design firm The goal isn't to have the longest list of services or the highest possible revenue. It's to build a business with the right offerings for your clients, your financial goals, and your life. Save the date: October 28! I'm hosting a live Design Business Diagnostic workshop where I'll walk you through the five-pillar framework and help you start identifying what actually needs attention in your business. Seats will be limited, and registration opens soon. Stay tuned for details! Connect with Katie LinkedIn Business Strategy Sessions for Interior Designers Free Resources for scaling your interior design firm Website

October 7, 202618 min

131. Why Your Interior Design Business Can't Grow Without You | The Design Business Diagnostic, Part 5

Send Katie a Text Message!! At some point in the growth of an interior design firm, the problem is no longer your design talent, your clients, or even the number of people on your team. Sometimes the constraint is sitting in the owner's chair. In Part 5 of The Design Business Diagnostic , I'm diving into CEO Leadership and what it actually means to lead a growing design firm without becoming the bottleneck in every decision, project, and process. There's a big difference between staying informed and staying involved in everything. A CEO needs visibility into the company without personally performing every task inside it. In this episode, I'm talking about: Why your interior design business may have outgrown the way you're currently leading it The difference between delegation, micromanagement, and abdication Why visibility doesn't require involvement How to determine your highest-value work as the owner Why “I can do this” doesn't mean “I should do this” The four areas I think about in CEO Leadership: vision, culture, systems and processes, and accountability Why your time, attention, and creative energy have real economic value How to identify the work where your involvement creates disproportionate value How founders accidentally train their teams to ask permission for everything The systems that allow you to maintain visibility without micromanaging How to delegate outcomes and authority—not just tasks Why someone doing something differently doesn't automatically mean they're doing it wrong The five-day CEO time audit I want you to complete this week Why your value isn't measured by how many things require you Strong CEO Leadership doesn't mean disappearing from your company. It means knowing what genuinely requires your judgment, protecting those activities, and building the people and systems that allow everything else to happen without your constant involvement. If you know you're still sitting in the middle of too much inside your firm, book a complimentary Business Diagnostic Call at FixMyDesignBiz.com. We'll diagnose what's actually creating the bottleneck and determine what your business needs to move forward. Connect with Katie LinkedIn Business Strategy Sessions for Interior Designers Free Resources for scaling your interior design firm Website

September 30, 202621 min

130. Why Hiring More People Won’t Fix Your Interior Design Business | The Design Business Diagnostic, Part 4

Send Katie a Text Message!! Being overwhelmed doesn't automatically mean your interior design firm needs another employee. In Part 4 of The Design Business Diagnostic , I'm diving into Human Capital—and one of the biggest mistakes I see growing design firms make. Some owners are dramatically under-invested in people and have made themselves the bottleneck in practically every area of the company. Others have built expensive teams with overlapping responsibilities and still haven't created meaningful capacity. Both situations can leave the owner exhausted. They require very different solutions. Pasted markdown In this episode, I'm talking about: How to tell whether your firm is under-supported or overstaffed Why “I need help” isn't specific enough to make a hiring decision The cost of hiring versus the often-ignored cost of not hiring Why I want you to start with the work instead of the person The three categories I use to audit an owner's workload Why an assistant designer may not be the first hire your firm actually needs How bookkeeping, administrative support, procurement, and operations can create leverage Why hiring doesn't automatically mean adding a full-time employee The difference between giving someone responsibility and giving them authority How vague roles create expensive duplication Why refusing to invest in people can eventually create a revenue ceiling The qualities I value when hiring that go beyond technical skill How to conduct a Human Capital audit of your own firm The goal isn't to build the biggest team. It's to determine what your business needs and create the right combination of people, systems, and outside resources to accomplish it profitably. If you're looking at your team—or lack of one—and aren't sure whether you need to hire, restructure, outsource, or make a different investment, book a complimentary Business Diagnostic Call at FixMyDesignBiz.com. We'll diagnose what your business actually needs instead of starting with a generic org chart. Connect with Katie LinkedIn Business Strategy Sessions for Interior Designers Free Resources for scaling your interior design firm Website

September 23, 202622 min

129. Why Your Interior Design Firm Keeps Running Out of Leads | The Design Business Diagnostic, Part 3

Send Katie a Text Message!! If your interior design firm keeps running out of leads, your problem may have started months before your pipeline went quiet. In Part 3 of The Design Business Diagnostic , I'm diving into the second pillar of a healthy design firm: Predictable Marketing . This isn't about posting more on Instagram, going viral, or chasing vanity metrics. It's about creating a repeatable system that consistently puts your firm in front of the right people and creates enough qualified opportunities that your business isn't riding on whether one or two prospects say yes. In this episode, I'm talking about: Why your lead problem may have been created six months ago The “feast, famine, freak out” cycle that keeps design firms scrambling for clients Why promising prospects shouldn't determine whether you continue marketing How to calculate how many qualified opportunities your firm actually needs Why a healthy pipeline gives you more power to hold boundaries and choose better projects The difference between marketing and selling Why today's marketing activity creates tomorrow's pipeline How to keep marketing when cash is tight without simply spending more money Why relationships can be one of your strongest marketing advantages Which marketing metrics matter more than likes, views, and follower counts The simple pipeline exercise every design firm owner should do this week If you're constantly turning marketing on when you need clients and off when you get busy, the answer probably isn't another random marketing tactic. You need a system capable of creating the right opportunities consistently. If you're not sure whether Predictable Marketing is actually what's constraining your growth, book a complimentary 15-minute Business Diagnostic Call at FixMyDesignBiz.com. We'll look at what's happening across your business and identify what actually needs your attention next. Connect with Katie LinkedIn Business Strategy Sessions for Interior Designers Free Resources for scaling your interior design firm Website

September 16, 202627 min

128. Your Revenue Doesn't Tell Me If Your Design Business Is Healthy | The Design Business Diagnostic Part 2

Send Katie a Text Message!! You can have a $500,000 interior design firm and be broke. You can have a million-dollar firm and still be broke. Revenue alone doesn't tell me whether I'm looking at a financially healthy company. Welcome to Part 2 of The Design Business Diagnostic. Last week, I introduced the five areas I look at when diagnosing the health of an established design firm. Now we're going deeper, starting with Financial Foundation.. This isn't about becoming an accountant. It's about understanding enough about your numbers to financially lead your company and make decisions from information rather than fear, assumptions, or whatever happens to be sitting in your checking account. In this episode: Why revenue alone doesn't tell you whether your design firm is healthy How a financial problem gets misdiagnosed as a marketing, hiring, or growth problem Why more revenue can actually magnify bad business economics How to calculate what your company needs to produce every month Why your salary belongs in the cost of running the business How to evaluate profitability by service rather than revenue alone Why profit and cash are not the same thing How a 90-day cash forecast helps you make decisions before problems happen What belongs on a Financial CEO Dashboard The 10 questions every design firm owner should be able to answer Why financial fluency is leadership—not bookkeeping If you can't answer every question in this episode, that's not a reason to panic. It's information. Now you know where to look. And if you're not sure whether Financial Foundation is actually the constraint in your business, that's why I created the Business Health Diagnostic. Book your complimentary 15-minute Business Diagnostic Call at FixMyDesignBiz.com. Connect with Katie LinkedIn Business Strategy Sessions for Interior Designers Free Resources for scaling your interior design firm Website

September 9, 202619 min

Ep. 127 The 5 Things That Actually Grow an Interior Design Business | The Design Business Diagnostic Part 1

Send Katie a Text Message!! What if the thing you're trying to fix in your interior design business isn't actually the problem? I've had designers tell me they need more clients when the real issue is profitability. I've had designers convinced they need another employee when their business doesn't have the systems, financial capacity, or leadership structure to support one. And I've seen designers try to fix their marketing when the offer underneath it isn't clear enough to market. That's why I'm changing the way I coach—and why I'm introducing The Design Business Diagnostic . In this episode: Why the problem making the most noise isn't always the root problem Why I've moved away from solving business issues in isolation The five areas I diagnose in an established interior design business Financial Foundation: understanding the economics underneath your revenue Predictable Marketing: creating consistent demand before you need it Human Capital: putting the right people into the right structure CEO Leadership: building a company that doesn't depend on you for everything Products & Offerings: creating clear, profitable services the business can deliver well How weaknesses in one area create symptoms somewhere else Why tactics only work when the business underneath them is ready What we're covering throughout the next five episodes This is the beginning of The Design Business Diagnostic , a new series where we're going deeper into each of these five areas. I don't want you simply asking, Do I know this? I want you asking, Is this actually working in my business? That's the distinction Katie makes as she introduces the upcoming series. If you're already wondering which area is actually holding your business back, book your complimentary 15-minute Business Diagnostic Call at FixMyDesignBiz.com. Connect with Katie LinkedIn Business Strategy Sessions for Interior Designers Free Resources for scaling your interior design firm Website

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