Recently I’ve been asking my interior designer clients what they most want right now in their interior design business and there are two words that come up again and again:

STABILITY & CONSISTENCY

I’ve been providing mindset and business coaching to interior designers for several years now; supporting my clients to build their business in a way that is aligned, predictable and profitable.

There are common business questions interior designers bring to me –

 
…How to find interior design clients
…How to price interior design services
…How to stop saying yes to everyone and everything

 
And I can and do help with all of these things with the powerful combination of strategy and mindset work that runs through all of my coaching. 

 
But recently, when I talk to designers, it’s these two words that I’ve been hearing again and again:

 
STABILITY & CONSISTENCY

 
“I want my interior design business to feel more stable”
“I want my project pipeline and income to feel more consistent”

 
And, to be clear, we’re talking about business – 

 
Consistent leads means more opportunities to sell which means more chances to sign new clients which keeps the money flowing, which makes us feel stable and above all SAFE.

 
But this need for stability and consistency is not unique to business. As humans we are hard-wired to crave these things and the sense of safety they give us. 

 
Inconsistency and unpredictability make us feel anxious… helpless… overwhelmed with fear about the possible consequences of the instability we’re experiencing.

 
But if there’s one thing that is reliably predictable about business…

 
…it’s entirely unpredictable.  

 
Interest rates go up and down.
Economies move.
Buyer behaviour ebbs and flows.

 
Add in the multitude of moving parts, and the opportunity for any number of things to derail inside any one of your interior design projects, and you have a perfect storm of instability and inconsistency.

So how can you bring more stability and consistency to your interior design business?

• Create a routine that gives you space to think and time to work ON your business. If you’re devoting 100% of your working hours to running around on the hamster wheel of delivering one client project to the next it’s going to be hard to do the things that bring stability and consistency to your business.  Even when things shift (like the summer holidays come around and throw everything out of whack) find a new routine in your changed circumstances. 
  
• Be kind to yourself.  Seriously.  We can say the meanest things to ourselves but telling yourself you’re an idiot and that your business is probably going to fail is going to do nothing to move you out of overwhelm; you’re only reinforcing your belief that you don’t have the intelligence, skill or capability to navigate things. Which I know, because you’re here reading this, is not true. 
  
• Get support with learning how to market your interior design business. There are so many potential marketing channels available to you. When you know who you’re here to serve and what they desire this simply becomes about showing up in the right place with the right message. Both things I support my interior design studio clients with that lead to consistency in enquiries, projects and cash flow.
  
• Get comfortable with discomfort. This is less about bringing stability and more about becoming ok with instability. One of the key traits that will underpin your success is your ability to keep moving forward, despite having zero certainty that what you’re doing will work. On this point, I love to refer back to brilliant Educator & Author Steven Covey and his concept of the circle of influence:
  

Steven Covey’s Circle of Influence

In the outer circle, you have things that you have zero control or influence over. There is literally nothing you can do about any of these things; all you can do is accept them.  When we’re overwhelmed we’re likely to spend too much time here, worrying and reacting to things we have no control over – the economy, what our client thinks about us, whether the dining chairs will arrive in time for installation. 

 
The middle circle shows concerns which you can influence. You might not be able to fully control them, and there may be a certain acceptance that things aren’t exactly as you would like them to be, but you can influence them and stack the odds in favour of your success.

 
The inner core shows the things you can directly control. These are the things you should be proactively investing your time and energy towards because these are the things that will influence the extent to which you experience inconsistency, and your ability to cope with the instability and uncertainty.

 
By shifting from passive reactivity, to proactive aligned action you can take back your power and control in any situation and focus your time and energy on the things that you can influence and will improve your chances of success. 

For example:

• Letting go of ”nothing ever works out for me” thinking by getting outside and going for a walk to shift your energy and your mood.
  
• Being intentional about creating “thinking time” in your day so allowing new ideas to land to market your business / connect with potential clients / create a valuable new service. 
  
• Creating an email list and committing to regularly communicate with your email audience (therefore reminding them you exist and can help them, and thereby lining up new enquiries).
  
• Committing to posting on social media. Posting the images from your latest interior design photoshoot then disappearing for 3 months is not the vibe. You need to show up consistently to connect with new people, grow your visibility and start the process of nurturing your audience and turning eyeballs into enquiries.

 
One of the reasons my interior design clients’ shift things so fast in their businesses is because I teach them both the essential business strategies they need to bring more consistency and predictability to their lead generation…

… And because I teach them the vital mindset shifts that will underpin their success.

Just because your friends / parents / partner generally operate in victim energy, doesn’t mean YOU need to.

Just because you don’t know how to find interior design clients right now, doesn’t mean you can’t learn and take action.

Just because where you are right now isn’t the dream interior design business you wanted, it doesn’t mean you aren’t entirely capable of building it.

Once you start noticing where you’re operating from a place of victim mentality or defaulting into old beliefs like “I’m not good enough to do/ have that” you instantly have the self awareness you need to shift things and take the action that mean you’ll stack the deck in your favour by creating new opportunities, becoming more visible and BEING someone who people desire to partner with on their interior design project. 

If you would like to be supported by me in doing this, then check out the links below for the ways I can support you 🤩

Liked this?

Watch my free interior design business masterclass here

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Read more insights on how to grow your interior design here 

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Let’s Refine & Grow Your Interior Design Business

​Katy x