The Importance of Interior Design

Sometimes it’s fun to explore a new angle of interior design. Interior Design isn’t about wanting things to be perfect or providing a beautiful outward appearance to peers or even about having the best of everything. Interior design is about providing a beautiful space to further enhance where a person and/or family spends their time, makes their memories and strives to be their happiest.

As an interior designer I don’t have to tell you about the science behind interior design or the psychology behind color but do your clients know the value you bring to them not only as an interior designer but as an expert in creating a happy space?

I know every interior designer treats their business a little bit different, every interior designer has their own ‘why’ and their own branding.

A post I think you should consider sharing with your target market either as an email or a blog post would be The Value of Using an Interior Designer. This is great for residential and commercial. Commercial spaces need happy people, too.

In addition to writing about the time and money savings involved in using an interior designer include a bit about the science behind design and the benefits interior design can have on mental health. More than ever people are striving to be happy and that starts by waking up in a happy space, eating in a happy space, winding down in a happy space, spending time in a happy space, working in a happy space and making memories in a happy space.

There are several ways to look at the benefits of interior design and at the end of the day which of those benefits most resonates with your target market? Figure it out and promote that benefit or benefits the most and if you are looking for a new angle to promote - promote a beautiful and happy space!

Need a Few New Sources?

Sources for interior designers

I know a lot of interior designers talk about sourcing and where to find great products. I’m sure you have your favorite go-to sources but it’s always great to find a new one now and again. Below are a few great new sources that other interiors designers have been raving about recently, so I had to share!

OKA – www.oka.com

Originating in England, OKA offers exquisite, original collections of furniture and décor that are designed to inspire practical living and effortless entertaining. Synonymous with good taste and excellent style, we have furnished homes all over the world for the past 20 years.

This company does offer an affiliate program with a 6% commission.

Maiden Home – www.maidenhome.com

They offer heritage quality, direct from craftsmen, minus the retail markup. These are timeless pieces that are built to last. Located out of North Carolina they do offer at trade program.

Society 6 – www.society6.com

This source is very popular among designers for artwork, but they offer a variety of items from tapestries, pillows, shower curtains, comforters, window curtains and more.

McGee & Co – www.mcgeeandco.com

Their products are refreshingly modern and endlessly classic. They offer everything from furniture, rugs, décor, bed & bath, wall décor, lighting, kitchen items and even holiday décor. They offer a trade program for interior designers and are actively looking to build their brand.

Is sourcing not your thing? Please let me know if you need help. We have some great virtual design assistants who love helping our clients with sourcing.

How To Hire An Assistant

Business is booming and you need help! I match virtual assistants to help interior designers manage and grow their business but not all interior designers want to work with someone virtually and that’s okay. You need to do what’s best for you and your business. Are you at a point where you could use some help? Are you getting so busy you are overwhelmed? Are there certain aspects of your business that you dread and continue putting on the back burner? Have you recently considered hiring help? If you answered yes, to any of those questions then this post is for you!

You’ve realized you need help, now what? Take a few moments and make a list of the things you need help with – what tasks do you feel would be the easiest for you to let go of, what tasks do you dread doing and what tasks would really make you feel less overwhelmed if you could outsource them.

Now review that list of tasks – is it possible to outsource them to a virtual assistant or should you consider hiring an in-office assistant? Are these tasks going to take someone 40 hours per week or 20 hours per week or are they really on an as-needed basis? If you need a lot of help with renders, floor plans, administration, sourcing, social media and marketing among other things those can all be outsourced to a virtual assistant. However, if you need help with organizing fabric libraries, running errands, site visits and overseeing projects than an in-office assistant is what you’re going to need to hire.

Whichever route you take it’s best to put together a job listing including the required education, experience and details of the job. The clearer you can be on the job description, qualifications and your expectations the better. You are going to need to advertise for the position online, in a local job board, on LinkedIn, in a Facebook group or in the local newspaper to start generating some resume. Review the resumes and set up interviews.

There are pros and cons to hiring both a virtual assistant and in-office assistant.

Virtual assistants are typically 1099 contractors, they work on an as-needed basis and you can either hire one direct or through a virtual assistant agency. You don’t have to worry about providing them a work space, equipment, benefits or keeping them busy for a certain number of hours. The great ones are super reliable, professional and easy to work with.

The con to hiring virtual is that they are virtual – they are not able to run errands, do site visits or organize things in your office. If you don’t need these types of services, then there really isn’t a con to hiring a virtual assistant.

When you hire an in-office assistant, they are typically an employee that is going to need a work space, equipment, set hours and benefits. They are there in person to help with tasks that require them to be in the office or at a job site. Some business owners like knowing they can see their assistant face-to-face on a regular basis.

Along with the tasks you need completed, your personality also plays a big part in whether you hire virtually or not. I’ve worked in the virtual world for thirteen years and am very used to working with people over the phone, email and Skype or Zoom. Some people aren’t comfortable working in that way and that is okay!

Just as becoming an interior designer isn’t for everyone, working with a virtual assistant isn’t for everyone. And sometimes working with an assistant period isn’t for everyone. But if you are struggling and you need help please let me know.

I’m always happy to answer questions about hiring an assistant whether it’s a virtual one or one that’s in your office.

What You Should Consider Including in Your Interior Design Contract

Interior Design contract

When it comes to contracts you should consult an attorney but before you do, what are other interior designers saying you should consider when drawing up your contracts?

Knowing exactly what to include in your interior design contract can be overwhelming. Especially when something comes up that’s not covered. I am NOT a lawyer and I am NOT giving legal advice here but when several interior designers were asked what they would include in their interior design contract, these were some of the answer that they came up with. Of course, all of these may not pertain to you, this list is just to give you some things to think about. When dealing with contracting I suggest you consult with your attorney or purchase legal contracts from a reputable provider. There are a few below that other interior designers have recommended.

What other interior designers say you should consider including in your contract.

1.       If you do not want to hire contractors and be the general on a project add verbiage where the client hires all contractors and is responsible for paying those contractors.

2.       Add a disclaimer that you are not responsible for the quality of items purchased.

3.       Include fees for late payments.

4.       Be sure to include a termination clause where all payment for work already completed and any items ordered will be due in full at time of termination.

5.       If you want to use the photographs of finished work in your marketing, make sure you have a ‘reserve the right to take photos and use those images in your marketing’ clause.

6.       Make sure your fee/payment schedule is clear. Do you require up front payment of any sort, do you bill monthly, do you bill for estimated shipping charges and then reconcile charges at time of delivery? Include everything possible.

7.       Trade sources – This maybe isn’t included in your contract, again consult an attorney, but be careful of sharing your trade resources. There have been instances of clients going directly to the vendors in search of a better deal.

Besides the obvious standard lingo on specifications of work, drawings, etc., what the internet says you should consider when creating a contract.

1.       Consultants and contractors – (similar to above) Some interior designers will oversee the work of contractors and hire their own – others will have the client hire and pay contractors. Be clear about how you run your business in your contract.

2.       Prices guarantees – Be sure to include a clause that does not guarantee the price of goods or other services if you are hiring contractors. Pricing changes can be out of your control and if you quote a client a price today and they decide two weeks from now to purchase that item, the price may have changed. Protect yourself!

3.       Purchasing and Procurement – If you want paid up front for the purchase of goods then put that in the contract and be sure to collect payment at time of order.

4.       Refunds – Be sure to include a clause that states your goods and services are non-refundable. If you are dealing with custom pieces, they are non-refundable.

5.       Cancellations – Like above be sure to have a cancellation clause that states how the payment works upon cancelation/termination.

6.       Reimbursable costs – Be sure to outline what reimbursable charges are such as shipping charges, rendering services, travel, storage, etc.

7.       Payment terms – when is payment due and how often?

8.       Insurance – Be sure to have business insurance to cover your business, liability, commercial auto and possibly even worker’s comp. But also consider in the contracting what the client should have insurance on in regard to their home and goods. Seems silly but who is responsible for all furnishings and materials during delivery, moving and installation?

9.       Photography of completed works – like mentioned above, make sure you make it clear you want photos of the finished product, include that you will not mention the clients name or address in your marketing.

Other things to consider:

·         Revision limitations – you certainly don’t want unlimited revisions, or you may never get a job completed.

·         Fees for interior design work delays – if your client is holding up the project for some reason what are the fees for their delays.

·         Damages

·         Expiration of agreement

·         Access to project

·         Safety on site

·         Ownership of designs – if you own the design make that clear in your contracting so others aren’t able to profit from your designs.

·         Indemnity

·         Site visit and limitations –set a limit of site visits or you may be called to the site frequently by the client for little to no reason at all.

It seems like a lot but the more you have in your contract, the better off you are! There are several great resources for interior design contracts out there. A few that I’ve seen other interior designers recommend are Nancy Ganzekaufer at www.nancyganzekaufer.com or Capella Kincheloe at https://www.capellakincheloe.com.

I am not an affiliate for either one and do not profit from you purchasing anything from them.

At the end of the day you need to be sure that your contract protects yourself from a variety of situations that can come up as an interior designer dealing with clients. The more you outline in the contract the better off you’ll be.

Get your thoughts in order and consult an attorney, it will save you time and headaches in the future!

Let’s Do A Freebie!

Freebie for an email subscriber list

Let’s talk freebies. If you want to start an email subscriber list or grow one a great way to capture email addresses is by offering some sort of freebie to your potential clients. When choosing a freebie to offer consider your target market and what will most likely speak to them.

I’ve looked over many interior designers’ websites and found some of the most popular freebies to offer people for signing up for your email subscriber list.

1.       A Style Quiz – create a quiz that allows your email subscribers to answer a series of questions that will determine their style.

2.       A Guide to Where an Interior Designer Shops – create a guide filled with your affiliate links to where you shop. This is a freebie to your email subscribers but could generate some great passive income for you when they click on your links to shop.

3.       A Guide that solves a problem – think of the most popular questions your clients and potential clients have asked you and create a guide educating them on that subject. Examples would be how to hang curtains, how to create a gallery wall or how to style a dining table.

4.       Color Palettes – some interior designers will give the top 3 most popular color palette or something along those lines to people for signing up for their email.

5.       A Kitchen Remodel checklist – If you are a kitchen designer, create a checklist of things to consider when remodeling a kitchen. Be sure to add a blurb about the benefits of working with an interior designer when remodeling to generate further interest in your services.

6.       Tips for Simplifying & Decluttering Your Home – Everyone wants a beautiful, clean, happy home so how do they achieve that? One of the best ways is to simplify and declutter, but where to start? Create a download on how to simplify and declutter your home.

Now that I gave you ideas on the types of freebies you can offer your potential clients, what kind of freebie would you like to see from me? A free email template for your subscriber list? A guide on how to write the perfect blog post? Let me know and I’ll put it on my website.

Of course, if you are already subscribed to my email, I’ll simply email you the freebie when it’s ready.

Thank you for your continued feedback! It brings me great joy to help you with your business adventures in interior design.

Have a wonderful week!

Connect with Your Target Market Through Video

Connect with target marketing through video

I imagine you’ve been a witness to the increased use of video in business today. As our world continues to gravitate to more of a virtual world video has become a great tool to connect with current and prospective clients. The form of marketing has worked wonders for many businesses including interior designers but as an interior designer how do you best utilize video to engage with your prospective clients?

Here are some great ideas for creating videos your clients will love.

1.       Video a paint consult. Showing your target market your process is a great way to gain trust and start a relationship with them. People may not even realize they need you until they see you in action.

2.       Showcase a finished space you recently designed. People love seeing newly designed spaces. This will showcase your talents as an interior designer.

3.       Bring your target market behind the scenes. Everyone thinks they can be a designer but once they see the multiple moving pieces involved in the day in the life of a designer, they may decide to hire you instead.

4.       Create videos on styling. People love to redesign their spaces so show them great ways to style a bookshelf, coffee table, dining table, fireplace mantel etc.

5.       Video something unexpected and fun such as designing the perfect floral arrangement, creating a one-of-a-kind piece of artwork or adding unique updates to your switch plate and outlet covers.

Video can be fun, but it can also be a little scary for some. Just be yourself and remember, people love bloopers! Video is just like everything else in life … practice makes it easier and more fun.

Please let me know if you need more video ideas. We will have our own videos coming soon!

Email Templates Are HERE!

Email templates are in the Shop portion of the website! It’s super simple - all you do is purchase the email copy you want, download it, copy & paste into your email system and send. They are easy to edit and/or use as a base/outline for your own emails. New email copy will be added weekly and you can request specific topics be added to the shop simply by shooting me an email - danae@elitedesignassistants.com.

Why do you need an email subscriber list?

* Email marketing has become the #1 way a lot of successful business owners are creating profits for their business.

*Less than 6% of your followers online actually see the content that you are posting.

*A message is 5 times more likely to be seen in email than on Facebook.

*72% of people prefer to receive promotional content through email.

*The online marketing world believes that 1 subscriber = $1/month.

Why else does an email list matter?

*You own it! Social media is just like working on borrowed property – you don’t own it and you can’t control it.

*You are reaching people who asked to be reached. This is your target market!           

*You can share products, promotions, news, etc.

*You can build a relationship and trust with your subscriber list. You become the expert.

*You can reach people in a more intimate way.

*With an email list you aren’t working against algorithms, follow for follows, bots, etc.

*You have an opportunity to upsell!

What content should you send?

*Send helpful information that will solve a problem for your target market.

*Send a newsletter, link to other content, promotions, launches and announcements.

*Make sure your content is thoughtfully curated especially for your target market.

Have no idea what to send?

We are here to help!

*Purchase targeted email content at $15 per email. This email content is written specifically for interior designers to send to their subscriber lists.

*Save time and money by following our email sequences and purchase our email templates!

*Inquire about working with a copywriter to write custom content.

*Send me what problems your clients have or topics would’ve love to cover and I’ll write the content and add it to the site for you to purchase and download.

Email Method

1.       Create an email sequence (weekly works best)

2.       Send welcome email

3.       Offer solutions to problems

4.       Turn your subscribers into paying clients

Start tuning into your clients’ needs and focus on generating more profits using email. If Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and all other social media went down for a day – how would you reach your clients and target market?

If you have any questions regarding our email templates or services please don’t hesitate to reach me at danae@elitedesignassistants.com. Also, be sure to sign up for my weekly emails - they are chock full of helpful information!

Getting The best ROI on a Virtual Design Assistant

Interior Designer

One of the best parts of my job is getting to visit with interior designers daily. Many of them use our service and many of them call to pick my brain on how they should be using my service when they are ready.

Billable Hours

The key to using a virtual design assistant is to be organized. Before you can hire an assistant, you need to know what you want that assistant to do.  To get the best return on investment (ROI) some of my clients start using their assistant to do the things they hate but are still billable hours to a client. For example, I have clients who hire a virtual design assistant to do their 3d renders, mood boards, furniture sourcing, floor plans and other tasks that are billable hours to the client. My clients are getting more done per hour and are able to make more money.

Let’s look at this example:

You work for Client A and you put in 10 hours of billable hours at $75 per hour. You made $750 in that 10 hours.

Or you hire an assistant to work for Client A for 10 hours and charge $75 per hour and pay your assistant $30 per hour. You make $45 per hour or $450 but in that same 10 hours you worked on Client B for 10 hours and made $750, therefore the total you made in the same 10 hours is $1200 making your hourly rate for that block of time $120!

Does that make sense? This is how you can get a great return on investment by using a virtual design assistant. You are able to take on more clients and make more money without having to pull more hours out of a hat. Remember, we all get the same number of hours in a day and the only way to increase your income without working an insane number of hours is to increase your hourly rate.

Marketing

Another great way to increase your ROI is to hire your virtual design assistant to do your marketing. This could be your social media posts, blog posts, engagement, etc. The marketing is what drives clients to your business. Hiring someone to post and engage consistently and persistently will really help keep the pipeline full!

I’ve got another example:

You are too busy working on 4 clients this month that you slack on your marketing. You make $1500 per client or $6,000 total for the month. Now that your client work is finished you spend the next two weeks marketing and trying to drum up more clientele. Finally, after three weeks of marketing you drum up another 4 clients. That first $6,000 technically got you through 7 weeks – 4 weeks of client work and 3 weeks of marketing.

Or you hire an assistant and pay her $600 per month to do your marketing and keep your pipeline full. As soon as one client is finished you are able to jump to another – so after 7 weeks of working you’ve now worked on 7 clients and made $10,500 (considering $1500 per client) minus the $600 for your assistant doing your marketing and you’ve made $9,900.

Administrative

Do you spend a lot of time on admin? Admin works similar to marketing – if you hire someone to do your admin and pay them less than you make per hour working on clients it’s a great benefit to you! Let’s say it takes you 8 hours per week to create proposals, send invoicing and schedule appointments. You can pay a virtual assistant $30 per hour to do that while you use that time to work on your client’s projects and bill $75 per hour. You can work 8 hours per week for free or hire an assistant for 8 hours per week at $30 per hour and pay her $240 while you work on a client for 8 hours at $75 per hour and bill $600. In the same 8 hours that you used to make zero dollars you are now making $360 after you pay your assistant.

Those are just three of the ways you can get a great ROI on your virtual design assistant. Please feel free to reach out to me with more questions!

How To Write A Blog Post For Beginners

Blogging for Beginners

One of the most popular requests we get is to help interior designers with their blog posts, emails and website/marketing content. We do offer these services either as a custom copywriting service, an email template you can purchase from my website (coming very soon) or a mini blog writing course (coming soon). All of our services are geared specifically for interior designers so if you are interested in learning more about writing and how we help interior designers in all aspects of their business please subscribe to my weekly email. That was a shameless plug, I know – but I really do give out a lot of free info!

Let’s get to the real reason you’re reading. I’ve been writing since I was a kid, I have a bachelor’s in journalism, and I write blog posts and magazine articles on a weekly basis. Writing didn’t always come easy for me and writing certainly wasn’t always fun but over the years I’ve come up with ways that get me writing on a regular basis with a steady stream of topics.

What to write about?

The first question I often get is – What do I write about? As we all know we need to write great content but what’s considered great content?

The easiest thing to do is to write about what you already know. As an interior designer the best blog posts are the ones where you are answering common questions your clients have. You know … the questions you hear a million times, it’s because your clients are interested in that information. Start brainstorming topics that often explain to your clients or prospective clients. I’ll give you some topics to get started.

1.       How high to hang curtains

2.       How to arrange a gallery wall

3.       How to choose the right paint color

4.       How to mix metals

5.       Popular design rules that are meant to be broken

6.       Hottest trends of 2019

7.       How to design a (pick any room) in 90 days

8.       Timeless design elements

9.       How to select the right size of rug

10.   How to mix old and new items

Another type of post clients love is before and after photos. They love to see transformation so be sure to include your own work in your blog posts. It could be as simple as transforming someone’s master bedroom or entry way. This would work well with the ‘How to design a room in 90 days post’. You could do an entire series on how to design a room in 90 days and just use different spaces each time.

When should I write?

Now that you have a variety of topics how do you go about writing about them. First, set aside time to write! I write for a living but it’s not my entire job, so I still set aside time to write. I’ve discovered my most productive times of the day and days per week and I maximize those times. I can tell you that my least productive writing time is Friday afternoon, so I don’t bother writing during that time because I’ll just end up wasting my time spinning my wheels. By Friday afternoon my brain as already escaped to the weekend. Schedule time, gear up and get to it!

How should I write?

To begin writing first you need to organize your post just like you organize your thoughts. I’m sure you’ve verbally explained many of the topics you’re going to write about so many times you may even have a memorized script in your head. Put that script on paper. Feel free to write like you talk because a blog post should be reflective of who you are. Don’t get caught up with spelling errors or improper grammar … that is what spell check is for.

When I write, my personality is reflected in my writing – I was a journalism major which is very different than an English major. English majors are sophisticated and elegant. Journalist are real and raw – when you write a blog post you are writing for your brand so feel free to be you!

I’m not a psychologist nor do I play one on television, but I think one reason why people dislike writing is because it makes them uncomfortable. Having someone read what you wrote can feel so personal and when you write – even if you are just writing about how to hang curtains - it’s like you are baring a bit of your soul. To get past that feeling just write, edit, post and move on. Who cares what people think – if someone has enough time on their hands to critique your writing than you should feel bad for them. Just as with everything else in life – writing takes practice. The more you write, the more comfortable you’ll be.

How to format a post?

Now you have a topic and you’ve organized your thoughts so how do you format your post?

I’m sure you’ve read enough blog posts to see the different styles of formatting and really it just comes down to how comfortable you are in your writing skills. Some writers do a paragraph by paragraph format broken up with images.

Others do a headline and bullet point format broken up by images.

And some do mostly images with just a sentence or two in between, so as you can see your blog post can be image heavy or copy heavy, whichever works best to get your point across. And some will do a video blog post to bypass the writing all together but talking about video is for another day.

Most common Dos & Don’ts with blog post writing

Do – write good content. The most common good content is actionable and helpful. This is why you should write about all the topics your clients ask you questions about. What do your clients want to know and what do you love to teach?

Do – post frequently and consistently. I do one post per week and find that sufficient for me. The more you write the better and faster you’ll get.

Do – write like you’re having a one-on-one conversation. You are engaging the reader with your words and the goal is to teach them something new. Write your posts as if you are talking to an old friend.

Do – be you! I can’t stress this enough. You can view the most successful bloggers out there and they will all have very different writing styles. The right clients will be drawn to you for your personality.

Don’t – worry. Seriously, take a deep breath – tell yourself that writing will be fun and just do it. One of the reasons why I love writing is because I love researching and learning about new things. Then I turn that research into teaching others about that topic. I love helping others and I know you got into interior design to help others design great spaces. So, use that concept to help others learn about the topics that you can teach them about.

Don’t – procrastinate. Procrastinating something you are already anxious about just creates more anxiety. I promise once you start writing you will get more comfortable with it. There are people out there who hire copywriters because they either don’t have time or they hate writing … anyone who hates writing could learn to appreciate it – it’s all about perception.

Start perceiving writing as a creative tool to engage your clients and increase your business. I am naturally a glass-half-full kind of girl so maybe I’m being overly optimistic on how others can perceive writing. If you are a glass-half-empty kind of person there is still a bright side … you at least have a glass. 😉

If you still have questions, concerns or need more help with how to write a blog post I’d love to hear from you! I’m always happy to help.

Multi-Vendor Affiliate Programs

I’ve written about affiliates before. They are a great way to make some passive income. If you are already writing blog posts about your designs or posting pins on Pinterest with a ‘Shop the Look’ sort of pin then affiliate vendors are the perfect way to makes some extra money.

How does an affiliate work? You sign up for your favorite vendors affiliate program and then you include your affiliate links for your favorite home décor on your social media. When someone clicks on your affiliate link and makes a purchase, you get a commission! Affiliate links are the perfect way to monetize blog posts, Pinterest pins and social media posts.

Although you will get the largest commission going directly to the vendors to get an affiliate link if you are trying to do this on your own it can get very time consuming. Another, easier way to use affiliate links is by signing up with multi-vendor affiliate programs. These programs allow you to have one affiliate account but use multiple vendors. The commission is typically at a lower rate with these programs but for busy designers the simplicity can trump higher commission rates.

Some of the most popular multi-vendor affiliate programs among interior designers are the following:

1.       Share a Sale

2.       Shop Your Likes

3.       Pepperjam

4.       Amazon

5.       Rakuten Marketing

6.       VigLink

7.       CJ Affiliate

8.       Shop Style Collective

Start making more money today! Please let me know if you have any questions or if you’d like information on how you can work with a virtual design assistant to get your affiliate programs set up for you.

3 Popular Email Marketing Services

Email marketing is where it is at! You can have small list and generate a lot of business from that list. Social media is still great but instead of putting content out there for the whole world to see knowing that fewer and fewer people are seeing it every day, put more effort into the content that your target marketing is seeing.

You may have thousands of followers on Instagram, thousands of likes on Facebook and millions of view on Pinterest but even if you only have a couple hundred on your email list you could be making a lot more money with your email list than all of your other social media combined.

After searching the internet, I found that email marketing is one of the most cost-effective marketing tools for small businesses. According to the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing on average sees a 4300 percent return on investment (ROI) for businesses in the United States.

This is because email marketing is easy to manage, gives you full control, and allows you to establish a direct contact with your customers.

Now that you are considering doing more email marketing, what marketing services are out there?

I talked to several interior designers and came up with the 3 most popular email marketing services among interior designers. All three of them were listed in an article at wpbeginner.com.

CONSTANT CONTACT

Constant Contact is one of the largest and fastest growing email marketing services in the world. It is also the easiest to use and beginner friendly.

You can easily manage your email lists, contacts, email templates, marketing calendar, and more.

Each account gives you access to easy tracking and reporting, built-in social media sharing tools, free image library, list segmentation, Facebook ads integration, and a powerful eCommerce integration for Shopify stores. If you sell product from an online store this could be great.

Their Email Plus accounts also come with powerful features like email automation, surveys & polls, coupons, online donations, and subject line A/B testing which helps you send targeted emails to maximize your open rate.

Constant Contact offers unmatched support with live chat, phone calls, email, community support, and a vast library of helpful resources.

Aside from online training, they also offer in-person live seminars across the United States. This allows small businesses to quickly learn the basics of email marketing and start using it to grow their business like a pro.

For all the reasons above, several sites have rated Constant Contact the best email marketing service for small businesses.

Constant Contact has a 60-day free trial (no credit-card required). After that their pricing starts as low as $20/month.

CONVERTKIT

ConvertKit is a robust email marketing platform for professional bloggers, authors, and marketers. It is extremely easy to use and incredibly powerful.

ConvertKit allows you to easily offer content upgrades and incentives with email signup forms. It also comes with easy to manage auto-responders allowing you to send drip emails.

With ConvertKit, you can easily segment subscribers into those who are interested and those who have already purchased. This helps you increase conversions with automated emails that feel more personal. In marketing terms, this is called targeted email marketing.

ConvertKit offers email-based support and has an extensive knowledge base with great learning material.

ConvertKit offers a 14-day free trial, and their pricing starts from $29/month. They also offer a 30-day refund policy.

MAILCHIMP

Mailchimp is one of the most popular email marketing service providers in the world primarily because they offer a forever free email marketing service plan.

Mailchimp comes with an easy email builder, autoresponders, segmenting contacts into groups, and simple tracking for analytics. It also allows you to setup delivery times based on user’s time zones, and you can setup segmenting based on geolocation.

You can easily integrate Mailchimp with WordPress, Magento, Shopify, and many other platforms.

When it comes to marketing automation features, Mailchimp platform is quite limited when compared to other providers such as ConvertKit.

In the recent years, Mailchimp has attempted to add many of the “advanced” features, but I’ve read some you have tested these and don’t feel that they are truly advanced.

Mailchimp support is offered by email, live chat, and a large tutorial knowledge base.

Mailchimp offers a forever free plan which allows you to send 12,000 emails for up to 2,000 subscribers. This plan is limited because you don’t get features like send-time optimization, advanced segmentation, multi-variate testing, etc. You are also required to display their branding in your email. Finally, support is restricted to email only which is fine if you’re a hobbyist but as a serious business, you need reliable support that you can count on.

Their paid plans start from $10/month for up to 500 subscribers, and the pricing increases in the increment of 500 subscribers.

As limited as Mailchimp sounds it’s still a great free option to get you started with your email marketing. As you grow you can upgrade to a different system if you chose. At the end of the day it’s your content that sells.

Please let me know if you have any questions on how you can use email marketing to grow your business!

Project Management Software or Self-hosted, Which is Best?

Many interior designers use project management software such as Ivy, Studio Designer, Mydoma, Design Manager or another software. Last week’s blog post focused on the features of these project management systems.

What happens when you don’t find the right fit, or decide to do it yourself either with free programs or programs you already have? There is a group of interior designers that are doing this and are considered self-hosted. They don’t use any of the software options above to stay organized. So how do they do it?

MICROSOFT EXCEL

Most people already have Microsoft Excel and if you are good at it, it can be used to organize projects, orders, expenses, bookkeeping and a variety of other things in your business.

PINTEREST

You can create private boards to share with your client to house your design ideas and product choices for their design. You can also create a private board to create a library of your favorite and popular products and sources.

GOOGLE DRIVE

You can keep photos, stories, designs, drawings, recording, videos and more in your google drive. Your first 15 GB is free with a google account. This is also great for storing notes, spreadsheets, invoices, documents and correspondence with clients.

TRELLO

This free cloud-based platform is great for working with your clients to collaborate on projects. You can create boards, lists and cards to help you stay organized. Many of my virtual design assistants use Trello when collaborating with designers as well.

PAYPAL, VENOMO, WAVE

Create invoices and collect payments. These are free to use but some fees may apply for processing payments.

HELLO SIGN

Use this free service to collect digital signatures for your client contracts. Collecting signatures with this platform just became a lot easier.

MAILCHIMP

Free for up to a certain number of subscribers this service is a great way to get started with your email subscriber list. As you grow you may want to consider using a paid service for your email campaigns. Next week’s post will be on the best options for your email subscriber list and emails.

Best Project Management Software for Interior Designers

I work with a lot of interior designers and they use a variety of project management software including Ivy, Mydoma, Studio Designer, Design Manager and self-hosted.

Which one is best for you? Hopefully the information below will help.

Ivy
Ivy’s website states - Our platform is designed to take the pain out of administrative tasks and allow designers to focus on the work they love. You don’t just get access to the Ivy platform, but also to our incredible industry resources, and the most powerful and supportive design community.

I’ve been told that Ivy has a low learning curve and is the user-friendlier version of Studio Designer. Ivy works well with direct integration with QuickBooks online including easily accepting credit cards. Ivy allows you to view project timelines without added data entry because estimated ship dates automatically go on the Project Calendar. Ivy will continue to add functionality to make it a strong candidate for the interior designer’s use.

Although it may be user friendly, it does take two programs to do what Studio Designer can do in one. Studio Designer is more customizable; however, Ivy is still very popular among interior designers.  

Pricing: Basic $59/month or $599 paid annually

Essential $99/month or $999 paid annually

Unlimited $149/month or $1,499 paid annually

Plus, QuickBooks fees $40 per month

Try it: Ivy offers a 30-day refund.  www.ivymark.com/

As of March 2018, Ivy sold to Houzz and has some designers questioning their partnership and ethics.  I suggest doing your research on this before taking the plunge into Ivy.  

Design Manager

Design Manager is an all in one software for project management, purchase order tracking, accounting, reports, inventory. Since Design Manager isn’t super user friendly it is often used by established design firms. Their website claims 70% of interior designers prefer Design Manager over QuickBooks.

Design Manager is the leading project management and accounting software for interior designers. Created in 1984 to respond to the requests of local interior design firms, it expanded into a nationwide software company and became one of the first providers of cloud-based design software. Because design firms have specific needs that cannot be answered by conventional software, it is our mission to provide a product that is dedicated to serving the design community. We deliver software that saves time, money, and frustration, while eliminating countless hours of paperwork.

Pricing:

DM Cloud $39.99/month

Pro Cloud $54.99/month

Save 10% by paying annually

Try it: They offer a free trial at https://designmanager.com/

Mydoma

Mydoma is a great organizational tool for your interior design projects.  Many designers love the systems and processes and creating automations so that your business runs easier and Mydoma helps with this.  The Mydoma platform helps with the onboarding process, a place to keep project info (ex: space info, before images, measurements, inspiration images), and a place to collaborate with your clients.  Using Mydoma you are creating an online design studio/project binder to collaborate with your clients.  You can have new clients sign contract, fill out onboarding questionnaire, and send initial payment all within the program.  Great if you do e-design or smaller design packages.

This software is limited if you run a full-service interior design firm.  And the accounting is in QuickBooks, so it requires double entry for products.  

Pricing: $59 per month for Pro, plus QuickBooks fees $40 per month

Try it: Free 30-day trial. www.mydomastudio.com

Studio Designer

Studio Designer claims to be the leading application for interior design professionals. It provides project management and accounting systems for its users. In 2016, it created a Vendor Portal and Client Portal. In 2019, version 2.0 is a new streamline look and efficiencies.

It is a very robust and extensive program for every operation a design firm could face.  This is a one-stop-shop for all your interior designer application needs.  Because of this Studio Designer can feel overwhelming for a novice designer.  It is an accounting program and project management program wrapped up in one.  You can manage your entire business from this program.  Accounting, Expediting, Ordering, Timelines, Reminders, Logistics, Inventory and so much more. 

This program is very technical, and you may need an accountant that specializes in the program.

Pricing: Basic - $35/month

Professional - $45/month

Try it: Studio Designer does not offer a free trial, but they do offer pro-rated refunds, if you wanted to try it for a few days for a few bucks.  www.studiodesigner.com/

DesignDocs

DesignDocs is a total project management and online accounting solution for the interior design industry. Founded by a husband and wife team (a Chartered Accountant and a Designer), DesignDocs provides a full suite of business management tools for interior designers. Additionally, the system gives access to valuable financial reports so designers can gain a strong understanding of their profit margins and identify areas in their business where they can increase revenue. 

The software is ideal for full-service design firms who are looking to increase profits, improve their operational processes, and/or scale their businesses. Pricing: Solo $69/p month or $708 paid annually

Professional: $98/p month or $1,056 paid annually (minimum of 2 users)

Try it: Free 14-day trial. www.designdocs.com

Self-hosted

I know more and more interior designers that are going to a self-hosted type of program. They use landing pages on their websites, Pinterest, spreadsheets and processes to stay organized and on top of their businesses. This isn’t for everyone but if you are looking for a cost-effective way you may be interested in checking out a self-hosted system. Next week, I’ll be writing about how the self-hosted system works and why it might be beneficial to you!

As always, feel free to reach out if you have questions!

Client Facing Emails for Email Subscriber List

In an effort to continue to make my clients’ lives easier I’m always looking for better and more affordable ways to help them. One thing that continues to come up in our businesses is social media. Social media is ever changing and as more and more accounts are added and more and more people jump on the platforms it’s getting harder and harder to be seen. And not only is it getting harder to be seen, the platforms are being bogged down by glitches and days where posting is almost impossible.

I’m not saying that the internet is perfect either, but more and more companies are going to start going to email subscriber lists to stay in front of their target markets. Once you start using an email subscriber list you will be amazed at how quickly you’ll start getting clients. Now it doesn’t happen overnight, but it does happen much more quickly than posting on social media. After two years of posting on Instagram and getting zero clients I decided to start an email subscriber list. Two months after starting that list I got my first client, a few weeks later I got another and so on. The growth potential with a subscriber list is far greater because you are targeting a smaller very specific group of individuals. These are people who asked to be signed up for your emails, they are interested in you and follow you and for some reason are more likely to do business with you when you send them an email versus you putting something on social media.

The best ways to grow an email subscriber list:

1. Get your landing page out there - Whether it’s attached to your website or blog or other, get it out there in Facebook groups and on social media. People will check out your website.

2. Offer a freebie - Some offer a free style quiz or free download on how to choose a paint color or some other helpful tip for signing up for their email newsletter.

3. Write engaging content - This is the place where most designers get tripped up. They either don’t have time to write the content, they don’t like to write, or they struggle to come up with topics to write about.

The engaging content is where we are here to help! I am creating a place on my website where my clients can go to download inexpensive client-facing emails to use in their emails! Yes, that’s right. The emails will be written for you and less expensive than hiring a copywriter to write custom copy.

If you are interested in hiring a copywriter to write custom copy, we do offer that service as well, it’s up to you which you prefer!

Now, does inexpensive client-facing email content sound like something you’d use? If so, let me know. I’ll announce when that portion of my website is ready. I’m so excited to help interior designers get in front of more people and grow their clientele. It’s what I do best!

Establishing Credibility in Interior Design

Establishing credibility is extremely important in growing any business. You want people to know who you are and why you’re the expert. There are several ways to establish credibility in interior design and I’m going to share three of them below.

One of the best ways to establish credibility in any field is getting published.

It may not be as hard as you think to get published. Research your local newspaper, magazines and even regional magazines. I was able to get published in a local magazine called Definitive Woman simply by reaching out and asking if they’d be interested in an article about interior design. Not only were they interested, they were interested in several articles. I wrote articles about creating a home office that inspires and how to refresh your winter décor. I also reached out to a more regional magazine covering a few upper Midwest states called Lake and Home Magazine and they were interested in articles, too. I’ve written several articles for them on refreshing your home’s exterior, hottest new design trends in 2019, creating a master bedroom retreat, the best indoor plants and fireplace styles.

I do not get paid for these articles but I’m also not paying to be in the publications either. Paying to be published in something is called advertising.  I find that publications that do not pay for articles are also easier to get published in. I read both magazines that I reached out to … so what do you read?

I’ve also seen personal interest stories about interior designers in newspapers. Your newspaper is always looking for fun things to write about. What’s your story? Would you be willing to share it with your local reporter? It’s worth a shot to ask.

Another way to establish credibility is by being on a local news or television program. I personally know people in the financial industry, psychiatry and interior design fields who live close enough to a local program to go in and talk about and/or demonstrate things. You could go on television and talk about how to style a coffee table or pick a paint color. With the popularity of interior design shows today I bet you could find a station who would love to have you appear.

The third option is hosting workshops. People who love DIY interior design love workshops. You could host one or do a series of them. You might even be able to partner with a community education program in your town. My town offers a variety of adult education programs on cooking, photography, cake decorating and more. A workshop would be a face-to-face opportunity to really drum up some business.

Being read in publications, seen on television and hosting workshops are all great ways to establish yourself as an expert in interior design. Once people view you as an expert they are more likely to work with you!

Enjoy Summer & Grow Your Business!

Summer is here and it’s a crazy, busy time of year. The kids are out of school, summer vacations are in full swing and everyone has ball games, golf outings, beach days, family reunions and more! It’s a time to enjoy the beautiful weather and take that vacation so you can come back to the office renewed and ready to move mountains. Did you know that summer can also be a great time to grow your business?

With everything else going on don’t just put your business on autopilot to get through the summer. Take advantage of the tips and tricks below to make the summer of 2019 your best summer yet!

1.       Get organized! Take a few hours and get organized for the entire summer, yes it’s possible! Get your schedule on your calendar for the next three months! Carve out some time in your schedule and get it done.

 2.       Prioritize! Now that your calendar is booked solid with everything BUT work, prioritize. Do you really need to do EVERYTHING you have on your calendar? What are the most important things? Leave those and either put the rest as optional or better yet, forget the rest.

3.       Outsource! Summer is a great time to start outsourcing some of your time consuming tasks. Most people don’t realize that there are several things they do that can be outsourced such as 3d renders, cad drawings, social media, presentations, purchase orders, proposals, blog posts, vendor management, etc. The beauty of working with a highly skilled virtual design assistant is they will help you manage your days and weeks. They will help take a lot off your plate. Get more done this summer by hiring a virtual design assistant that can do the dirty work while you take more time for yourself doing what you love whether that’s growing your business or a day at the beach or on the golf course!

4.       Take a day off! I recently read in Inc. magazine that 42% of American workers do NOT take their vacation days! Everyone needs to take days off to relax the mind, body and soul, these days are extremely important if you want to continue to succeed. Your mind and body need rest. I am so relaxed when I’m on vacation that I typically come up with some of my best ideas. Take a journal with you on your vacation and write what comes to mind. This way you won’t stress about forgetting your great ideas and you can truly relax. You don’t have to take a week-long trip somewhere, you just need to get away from work for a few days. Working vacations don’t count – many employers are starting to frown upon those anymore. J

5.       Just do it! You know that thing you’ve been planning and researching and finding every reason in the book why not to pull the trigger? May it’s learning a new language, or taking a trip overseas, perhaps you want to go sky diving or plant a vegetable garden. Whatever it is - just do it! Many people waste time just hem-hawing around and never really do anything about it. There comes a time when you just need to pull the trigger. Why not now?

6.       Have fun with marketing. People are in better moods in the summer – they might get your humor so try that fun marketing campaign you’ve been wanting to try. Summer opens people up to wanting to try new things so why not your service, get out there and make it happen!

I hope you enjoy your summer this year and grow your business! You can do both!

Attract MORE Clients with Your Personality!

I was visiting with a friend the other day about her daughter’s upcoming wedding. Her daughter was trying to find a photographer and so she checked out a couple local photographer’s websites. Both photographers had gorgeous photos so either one would’ve been great – but who did she choose? She chose the photographer who made two references to Michael Scott’s character from The Office on her website. The bride-to-be was a huge fan of The Office and figured that she could get along great with anyone who loved Michael Scott.

There is a lot of great talent out there and so when you offer a great service you also have to offer something of yourself. People want to know who you are, what are your likes and dislikes, they want to resonate with you.

Don’t be shy – be proud of who you are and shout it from the mountain tops. Your spirit animals will find you!

If you are struggling about what to put in your website or marketing copy think about your likes and dislikes – those are easy to convey. Also, think about what you like about other people’s websites. You do business with a lot of people – why do you use that contractor, vendor, client management software or in your personal life why do you use the local services you use?

Think about if you were searching for a service and you found too people who could offer a similar service for a similar price with similar customer service – what would make you choose one over the other? I’ll tell you – the brand. The brand is what you use to choose and the brand is YOU!

Create your own unique brand to stand out from the competition. If you attract people like you – you’ll enjoy working with people like you. 😉

As always, if you need help with copy, let me know! I’m a nerd when it comes to writing creative copy.

Would YOU Use This Service?

As my company grows, we are trying to help even more interior design clients. A lot of our clients use their Elite Design VA for AutoCad drawings, 3d renders, social media management, mood boards, floor plans, affiliate links, administrative tasks and more. In an effort to better help interior designers I’m trying to come up with other beneficial services to make your life easier. Would you be interested in either of the services below?

Email content – these would be client facing emails that you can purchase to use for your subscriber list. You would be able to use these emails as is or edit to your liking and add images or video. They would be inexpensive and assist in your email list planning. If you do not already have an email subscriber list, you need to start one! This is an amazing tool to stay in front of the people who want to hear from you.

Video content – showing your face is becoming more and more important. People want to know who you are, so they feel more comfortable about doing business with you. You would be able to purchase client facing video scripts to use to create your videos. You would then be able to start a video series or video blog, add a video to your website, add videos to your social media or blog posts. I love watching videos of designers on Instagram while I do my treadmill workout in the mornings. It makes the time go so much faster and if you have a love/hate relationship with exercise like I do it’s great!  I hear from so many people that they would love to do videos, but they don’t know what to say or what to talk about.

Both options would be housed on my Elite Design Assistants website in the form of digital downloads. Since I would upload them as I write them, they would be a lot less expensive than hiring a copywriter to write custom copy.

Please let me know if you would be interested in a service like this and let me know if there are any other ways we can help.

Have a great day!

Xx Danae

7 Hot Affiliate Vendors

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to make money just because people purchased products from links you placed in your blog posts and emails? That’s how affiliate marketing works. It’s great passive income and a lot of interior designers are looking for more ways to make money. Affiliate programs are a great way to make money in your sleep. Quite literally, your clients and followers can purchase items you are promoting 24/7.

The companies below have great affiliate programs that your fellow interior designers use and love! I did my own research and am not receiving any compensation from these companies to have them listed here. After visiting with several interior designers these were the Top 7 hot affiliate vendors they shared with me. They are listed in no particular order.

 1. Boutique Rugs- Boutique Rugs is one of the more popular ones I’ve come across. They offer amazing rugs, have great customer service and pay an affiliate commission of 7%. You can get more information at https://boutiquerugs.com/affiliate-program/

2. Amazon – Doesn’t everyone use Amazon, anyway? Why not use it for your business. A few of the interior designers I reached out to loved Amazon. As you can imagine you can find a wide variety of items and with affiliate commissions of up to 10% it’s worth a shot. For more information - https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/

3. Bellacor – Lighting, furniture, décor and more. Bellacor pays up to 8% affiliate commissions when a client purchases from your link. Click for more info - https://www.bellacor.com/affiliate.htm

4. Curtain Works – This company has all the window treatments your clients will ever need. They pay 10% commission and offer a wide variety of ready-made curtains at competitive prices. Here you go - https://www.bellacor.com/affiliate.htm

5. Jonathan Adler – If your target market loves mid-century modern this affiliate program may be the one for you! Think luxury, smart design and colorful optimism with a 6% commission. Check it out here - https://www.jonathanadler.com/affiliate-program.html

6. Lulu & Georgia – This home décor company seems to be a favorite of several of the interior designers I spoke with. They offer a wide variety of super stylish décor and offer a 10% commission. Learn more about their affiliate program - https://www.luluandgeorgia.com/affiliates/

7.  Serena & Lily – This company always makes me think of a breezy California style. Their products are definitely casual coastal. They have a 9% affiliate commission and more information here - https://www.viglink.com/merchants/35595/serena-and-lily-affiliate-program

Let us know if you need help setting up your affiliate vendors. That is one of the many services we offer our interior design clients at Elite Design Assistants!

Make More Money By Outsourcing

Running a business is a challenging career choice and those of us that do it, know that we continuous try to come up with ways to make more money and save more time. I am in the business to make YOU more money and to save YOU more time.

How do I do this? One of the ways is by offering a service to you that you can resell to your clients for a profit. For example, let’s say you want to offer 3d renders but you don’t have time. We can work with you to create a package that you can sell to your client where your Elite design assistant does the renderings for you. The image above is just one example of a 3d render created by one of our virtual design assistants.

This works with floor plans, mood boards, shopping lists, etc.

A second example is to outsource some of your billable hours to your design assistant. This way you can charge your clients for the work your assistant is doing. You are charging your rates and paying assistant fees. See the margin there?

Also look at where your clients are coming from. If you want to grow your business hire an assistant to market in that area, for example – if most of your business is coming from Pinterest, hire an assistant to manage your Pinterest account to grow your business. If you are getting business from your email list but don’t have time to create the email content, hire an assistant to create your email content, schedule and manage your subscriber list.

There are so many ways to generate more income and more time, you just need to be smart about it. Take a look at your business and see where you can increase revenues by hiring an assistant.