BEYOND THE MOODBOARD | WHAT EVERY DESIGNER WISHES THEY KNEW
There’s a lot you can learn about becoming an interior designer.
You can learn space planning. Colour theory. Rendering. Sourcing. How to put together a beautiful presentation.
But then you get your first real client.
And suddenly you realize that knowing how to design a beautiful room is only one part of being an interior designer.
You also need to know how to communicate your ideas. Manage expectations. Talk about money. Navigate difficult conversations. Work with contractors and vendors. Solve problems when something inevitably goes sideways. Set boundaries. Make decisions. And somehow find the confidence to stand behind those decisions — even when you don't feel 100% certain yourself.
That is the part of becoming an interior designer we don't talk about nearly enough.
It was also the conversation behind the first webinar in my fall series, Beyond the Mood Board: What Every Interior Designer Wishes They Knew.
I invited the ladies from Poised & Plumb to join me because I go way back with them, and I knew they would be the perfect people to have an honest conversation about what building a career in this industry actually looks like.
No slides. No formal presentation.
Just designers talking about what we've learned along the way.
You Aren't Starting From Zero
One of the biggest things I wanted to explore in this conversation was something I see often with designers who come into the industry as a second — or even third — career.
They think they're starting over.
But they're not.
Your previous career may have taught you how to manage a project, lead a team, create a budget, make a presentation, deal with an unhappy customer, negotiate, sell, organize complicated information or communicate with different personalities.
Your life experience may have taught you how to listen, read a room, make decisions under pressure, advocate for yourself or figure something out when there wasn't an obvious answer.
None of that disappears when you become an interior designer.
You bring it with you.
And some of those skills may ultimately become a bigger advantage in your design career than anything you learned in design school.
What Nobody Tells You About Becoming a Designer
There's a big difference between learning interior design and working as an interior designer.
The second one involves people.
And people are complicated.
Clients change their minds. Contractors disagree with you. Products arrive damaged. Budgets change. Timelines move. Something gets discontinued two days after the client finally approves it.
And sometimes you simply don't know the answer.
One of the most important skills you develop as a designer isn't knowing everything.
It's learning how to confidently say:
“I don't know yet, but I know how to figure it out.”
Clients aren't expecting perfection.
They're looking for someone who can lead them through a process.
That ability to lead, to communicate clearly, manage expectations, solve problems and make decisions — becomes a huge part of the value you provide.
Being a Great Designer and Running a Great Design Business Are Different Skills
This might be one of the biggest lessons of all.
Being incredibly talented at design doesn't automatically mean you'll know how to run a profitable design business.
Those are two completely different skill sets.
Running the business means learning about pricing.
Contracts.
Processes.
Boundaries.
Profitability.
Time management.
Client experience.
Systems.
And eventually, leadership.
Most of us don't enter this industry excited to learn those things.
We enter because we love design.
But eventually, if you want a sustainable career, you have to learn how to design the business behind the beautiful work.
And the good news?
Those skills can be learned too.
If I Were Starting My Design Career Today...
I would worry a lot less about looking established.
I wouldn't wait for the perfect website.
I wouldn't obsess over having a huge portfolio.
I wouldn't assume that someone with thousands of Instagram followers had somehow figured out something I hadn't.
And I definitely wouldn't spend nearly as much time comparing my beginning to someone else's middle.
Instead, I'd focus on getting experience.
I'd learn how long projects actually take me.
I'd track my time.
I'd put good contracts and processes in place much earlier.
I'd build relationships with trades, vendors and other designers.
I'd pay attention to the things that repeatedly frustrated me in my business — because those frustrations were usually pointing directly toward a process or system I needed to create.
And I would trust my previous experience a whole lot more.
Because you don't need to erase who you were before design to become a designer.
You get to bring her with you.
Watch the Conversation
If you missed the live webinar, or you'd simply like to listen again, you can watch the full Beyond the Mood Board: What Every Interior Designer Wishes They Knew conversation below.
Grab a coffee, pull up a chair and watch here.
Download Your Designer Transferable Skills Checklist
I also created a resource to go along with our conversation:
It's designed to help you look at your previous career and life experience differently and recognize the skills you're already bringing into your design business.
Because sometimes we're so focused on everything we still need to learn that we completely overlook everything we already know.
And if there's one thing I hope you take away from this conversation, it's this:
You are not starting from zero.
You're building from experience.
And that experience might just become one of your greatest advantages.
