There is a particular kind of successful interior design firm that is, by any observable measure, thriving. The principal is busy. The projects are good. The clients are happy. The studio looks the part. Revenue is growing. And yet at the end of the year, after everyone has been paid — vendors, s...

Most design firm principals spend a significant portion of their working lives worrying about things they cannot control. The economy. Interest rates. Whether the luxury market softens. Whether a key client decides to renovate or wait. Whether a competitor opens three blocks away. None of that is...

You finished the year with a profit. The accountant confirmed it. The tax bill arrived to prove it. So why is your checking account empty? This is not an unusual question in interior design. It is, in fact, one of the most common — and most demoralizing — experiences a design firm principal can h...

Most design firms that look successful from the outside are quietly stuck. The principal is earning a decent living, paying himself or herself a salary, taking the occasional vacation. By any reasonable measure, the business is working. What it isn't doing is building anything. No excess cash mea...

Too many interior designers are financing their clients' merchandise purchases. Here's how to stop — and get paid your profit upfront. Here's a scenario I see constantly in interior design firms: the client approves a proposal, the designer gets a deposit from the client and orders the merchandis...