Passive Income for Interior Designers: YouTube

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A perfect passive income option for designers who also enjoy public speaking and have confidence in front of a camera is creating a YouTube channel. The amount of ideas for interior design video content is endless and it could be a fun way to create another stream of income.

YouTube Video Ideas 

  1. Decorating Tips + Tricks: Viewers would love to see how designers decorate different spaces around their home, such as a bookshelf, a reading corner, or the fireplace mantel. Interior designers can also show how they create cohesive color schemes and choose different patterns that work together. If you have a niche aesthetic, this could be a great way to show viewers how to pick different design items and why.

  2. Behind-The-Scenes Look: Taking viewers behind the scenes of a project, from showing how to create a mood board to creating renders for the project and the big final reveal is a great idea for a YouTube video or even a series of videos. Showing the professional process is really interesting for viewers and potential clients. Designers can showcase how they keep their client’s interests and desires in mind while bringing their vision to life. 

  3. Q & A Video: If you are getting direct messages on social media, a perfect way to answer those questions is through a YouTube video. Questions could vary from being about the design process, how-to questions, or even just about your professional background. This is a personable way to let viewers and potential clients get to know you. 

  4. Design Challenges: Choosing to tackle a realistic design challenge like creating a furniture plan for a studio apartment or decorating a space with a limited budget is a fun way for designers to get creative and showcase how they take on challenging projects. Even more, it’s inspiring for people watching who may be facing those challenges themselves. 

 How To Use YouTube to Create Passive Income 

To get started on YouTube, interior designers should create a YouTube channel where they can create content dedicated to interior design. YouTube provides a monetization feature that allows content creators to earn money through advertising revenue. To be eligible for monetization, a channel must have at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in the past 12 months. Paired with additional affiliate marketing and sponsored products, this could create a substantial additional revenue stream. 

A key tip for anyone getting started with YouTube is to stay consistent. An audience doesn’t grow exponentially overnight. It’s about consistently creating quality content and truly enjoying the process. A major perk of YouTube is letting people get to know the real you, the face behind the brand, and why you’re passionate about interior design. 

xx, Danae

Interior Design Business Check-up: 7 Ways to Boost Your Success

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As an interior designer, it can be easy to get caught up in the day-to-day tasks and lose sight of the big picture. Conducting a business checkup from time to time can help you identify areas that need improvement, stay efficient and relevant, and make an enormous difference in your short-term and long-term growth. It’s a good idea to analyze various aspects of your business monthly or quarterly, and then do a more comprehensive checkup on a yearly basis. You should also revisit these points whenever your business is going through a significant change, such as a new product or service launch.

Here are seven areas to focus on during your checkup:

Technology

Take a look at all of the technology you are currently using in your business. Are there any tools or software that you could update or replace with more efficient options? For example, switching to a cloud-based project management system meant for interior designers could save time by reducing redundant work, as well as improve collaboration with team members. Apps like Canvas can save you time on site surveying.

Stay Current

One of the things interior designers often enjoy the most, yet sometimes don’t seem to have (or make) much time for, is to check out other designers’ work and new vendors or items. Keeping an eye on the latest design trends, materials, and technologies can help you offer fresh, innovative solutions to your clients. Additionally, staying current with industry trends can also help you anticipate changes in the market and adapt to new demands from clients.

Streamline

One important aspect of streamlining internal business processes is to review and organize your design resources. This includes your 2D and 3D block and model libraries, templates, and other design assets. Having a well-organized system with a standardized file naming convention can save time and improve efficiency in the design process. You can also look into automating certain repetitive tasks such as sending invoices.

Accountability

Review the roles and responsibilities of anyone else on your team. Are they clear and well-defined? Are there areas where team members are struggling or not meeting expectations? Identifying and addressing these issues can lead to a more productive and successful team. Encouraging open communication with regular team meetings and a culture of feedback is also vital.

Expense Reduction

Review your business expenses to see if there are any non-essential costs that can be cut. For example, are there memberships or subscriptions that you no longer need? Is there room for negotiating better rates with any of your vendors? Can video calls replace some of your face-to-face meetings, thus reducing travel time and costs?

New Income Streams

Consider adding a new service to your business to increase revenue. For example, many interior designers are now offering e-design services, which allow clients to work with a designer remotely. Otherwise, consider offering a specialized service such as space planning, color consulting, or even outdoor design. Look into what other new revenue streams fit with your passions and your company. You may even set up a lucrative passive income stream, which doesn’t add to your ongoing workload.

More Projects

One way to boost success is to increase the number of profitable projects you take on at once. If you feel you’ve already reached your capacity, this can be done by outsourcing certain tasks that are lower-paying, time-consuming, or not your area of expertise. You can hire a virtual design assistant, whether periodically or on a regular basis, to take some of those responsibilities off your plate. And finding ways to market your services more effectively, such as through social media or networking events, will help you win over more clients.

By gathering these insights, you can identify key areas of strength and areas that need improvement. Stay open to feedback from your team and your clients to help inform your decisions. Remember, even small changes can make a big difference in the long run.

xx, Danae

The Best Ways to Scale Your Interior Design Business

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In the business world, what got you to one stage probably won’t get you to the next. It’s true that changing your structure or way of working, investing, and creating a work team can feel like a lot, especially if you have been working on your own for a while. But it’s a reality that you have to face in order to scale your business and take it to the next level. When you've gained enough traction to expand your team or move to a larger office, that's great news. But how can you start increasing your revenue without significantly increasing costs or effort?

Is it Time to Scale my Interior Design Business?

First, it is important to make moves at the right time. Enlist the help of a financial planner to crunch the numbers and conduct a study of the current market as well as the performance of your business so far. This will help you determine what, if any, changes are in order. A couple of indicators that it may be time to reevaluate things, too, are if you're getting more client requests than you have time to handle or are overwhelmed with administrative tasks. Basically, if you feel maxed out and like you’ve hit a revenue ceiling, take heart. It gets better.

Review Your Business Plan

Scaling can look different for different business models or directions. Write down the aims and values of your company, niche, and target client profile. Write your business goals and get help in mapping out strategic 1, 3, and 5-year plans, even if you later decide to make adjustments. Budget for slow seasons, such as the winter holidays, and be intentional about your investments. Having all of this established will position you to spot the best opportunities.

Renovate Your Service Offering

Evaluate whether any of your current service offerings should be repackaged or repriced. See what complementary services you could add and upsell, creating multiple revenue streams. And, perhaps best of all, establish additional passive income streams that will add to your revenue on an ongoing basis with minimal upfront investment. Some examples are promoting brands on your blog, earning through product affiliate sales, using platforms like Sidedoor or Like To Know It, becoming a brand ambassador, or selling digital products like an ebook or pre-made mood boards.

Be picky about your projects

Since you have already determined what your ideal projects and clients look like, don't waste time on projects that don't fit. Each project involves a certain amount of resources, and there will be projects that will strengthen your portfolio and reinforce your brand better than others. If you filter the requests you receive accordingly, it's another way to get the most out of your efforts.

Put Technology Tools to Work

To level up you will need to improve your digital marketing strategy. It's time to work with online marketing automation and CRMs, and perhaps improve the quality of your social media content. Don't skimp on tools that save you time, and help you organize, improve, and automate processes. There are many project management programs out there designed specifically for interior design studios that could make a real difference in your productivity.

Streamline Your Processes

Your company should have a manual with standard operating procedures outlining the order of tasks and responsibilities for each stage of a project, as well as administrative maintenance and growth initiatives. Analyze and write down what has worked so far, and keep your manual updated with any new insights. This will allow you to stay on top of your company's management, not let leads or other opportunities slip through the cracks, and also keep your team on the same page as part of your ongoing communication with them.

Train and Delegate

Design and administration are equally important to the success of your business, but there will be times when your need for the support of one skill set is greater than the other. Take inventory of the skills that aren’t your strong points and see if they fall into a similar category in order to hire one person to take them on. Start there and expand your team gradually, depending on your company’s needs at each juncture.

Properly training new hires and working side by side with them, especially in the beginning, will save you time in the long run. Keep in mind that the onboarding process can take a few months, so be prepared to invest that time and your salary amount, even before their work really starts to reflect in the company's profits. If you’re not ready to take on a new team member full-time, consider working with a virtual assistant who is able to help you with a wide range of tasks.

As you can see, scaling your business has everything to do with optimizing its various facets. It's about staying open to doing things more efficiently and taking advantage of revenue-generating opportunities while your day-to-day efforts are right where they need to be.

xx, Danae