4 Bookkeeping Tips for Interior Designers

It’s no secret that running an Interior Design Business involves significant time on business tasks that can sometimes take away from the time spent creating beautiful spaces. While designers like yourself may be fueling your passion, your business is also your primary means of making a living. Successfully managing your bookkeeping can be a key part of your business process that lets you focus on the core of your business – design.

Here are 4 bookkeeping tips to help your interior design business thrive:

 Implement a system for starting each project

Prepare for each project by starting with a project proposal and client agreement that clearly presents the scope of work, design investment, and payment methods. While the bookkeeping activities occur on the back end for actions that have already occurred, organized day-to-day activities must be performed in the correct manner. Better yet, you can even enter all your preliminary project details into a project management system to help properly execute all bookkeeping procedures.

Stay on top of purchase orders and payments

Once your project is underway, you’re most likely more focused on creative goals than bookkeeping items. However, staying on top of purchase orders and payments can help alleviate a source of mistakes. In addition, be sure that necessary payments are collected before completing purchases. Whether your process involves collecting deposits or full payments, consider breaking up proposals by project phase so that all items that are ordered at one time can be completed on one proposal.

Tie up loose ends at the end of your project

Ensure that all bank statements, cash, and credit card statements are reconciled at the end of the project. Utilize reporting tools or other designer programs to run reports to ensure that all your numbers are adding up. Managing an interior design project involves many financial transactions and moving parts, but implementing a plan that you can carry through from start to finish is essential to successful bookkeeping.  

Hire a bookkeeper who knows the business

Hiring a bookkeeper can be incredibly instrumental to your success as a business because bookkeepers have a thorough understanding of business fundamentals. A bookkeeper who is experienced in the interior design industry offers specialized experience and education that allows them to navigate the gap between design and business.

Did you know that Elite Design Assistants offers bookkeeping services for interior designers? Our bookkeepers are experienced and here to help.

If you’d like to work with an experienced bookkeeper who can help with your interior design business, respond to this email and we’ll get you setup with your personal design assistant. We’d love to help you tackle your bookkeeping needs!

 Looking for the perfect client gift or a fun t-shirt for your design team? Don’t forget to check out our new online shop for fun t-shirts for designers, client gifts & more!

The 5 most popular outsourced tasks that an elite design assistant can handle for you

Running an interior design business is no walk in the park. You wear so many hats and end up juggling all of the work...including those pesky tasks you hate!

As a busy designer, you should be focusing on creating content, networking and building relationships, and planning new growth strategies.

Many clients come to us because they’re feeling overwhelmed with all that they need to accomplish in a given day while balancing all of their clients. So we wanted to make you a list of the tasks that you may be doing in your business that we could take off your plate!

These are the 5 most common things that designers hire us for:

1. Administrative tasks. This could be a variety of things but mainly procurement like placing orders, tracking shipments and dealing with vendor.

2. 3D Renderings

3. CAD drafting

4. Sourcing. This is a very common task that designers decide to outsource. Finding the perfect furniture piece, fabric, etc.

5. Blog writing/social media management

*Bonus - Bookkeeping – Our bookkeeping service for interior designers has also taken off and our professionals are experienced in the industry.

The great thing about Elite Design Assistants is that our assistants are actually designers or have design experience themselves, making it easier for them to complete even the most intimate designer tasks like sourcing and writing blog posts.

We match virtual design assistants with designers based on a variety of skillsets, talents, personality and software knowledge. So if you need an assistant to create 3d renders and you aren't choosy on the software, we got you. If you need someone to create 3d renders specifically in Chief Architect or 2020 or Revit or SketchUp or another program, we got you.

If you need administrative help specifically in Ivy or MyDoma or Studio Designer or other, we got you. Let us know what you need and we will find the virtual design assistant to match your specific needs.

If you have a task that’s really weighing you down, respond to this email and we’ll get you setup with your personal design assistant. We’re here to help!

Don’t forget to check out our new online shop for fun t-shirts for designers, client gifts & more!

Online Shops For Interior Designers + A Special Announcement

Happy Small Business Saturday, designers! 

Online shops are increasing in popularity as we move into 2022, so I wanted to use the email this week to go through a few popular ones you may want to use to create for your business. Also, stay tuned for a super special announcement at the bottom of this email.

Let’s jump right into it...

RewardStyle

RewardStyle itself is not a shop, but you can create your own shop and list items through RewardStyle. For example, if you have a website, you can create affiliate links using their link creator (called Link Ninja) and then host those items for purchase on your website using the link. 

There are no fees at all for RewardStyle, since your items will all be hosted on your website. You may, however, need to pay fees to your website. Squarespace for example offers an ecommerce plan directly through your site.

Try it here.

SideDoor

Did you catch our post a few weeks ago all about SideDoor? You can check it out here.

SideDoor allows you to create “collections” on their site of things you like and want to share with your clients/buyers. You can then embed or link those collections to your website depending on what works best for you. 

Clients will buy the items through the SideDoor Website at retail pricing, and you will make the difference between wholesale and retail. 

Try it here.

Etsy:

Etsy shops are hosted on Etsy, meaning that you will pay them to list your items and they will not be on your website. You can of course link them on your website but they will link to your etsy profile. 

Etsy will collect a fee which is usually about 10cents per listing per month. 

You can also pay Etsy to advertise your listing on Google. This is an investment and is priced per listing, however, your listings are getting significantly more eyes on them than they would if you did not sign up for advertising. You can have them advertise these listings with the click of a button and can set a pricing limit based on how many people you would like to see the listing.

Etsy allows you to advertise all sorts of things and they specialize in homemade items. A few  years ago, they made it possible for you to sell digital items as well. With these, you set it up so that your client gets an instant download after paying. You can sell services, digital downloads, or physical decor items. 

Clients are able to leave a review on your item which ultimately brings you more buyers. 

Whether or not you have a listing for everything you offer, having a profile on Etsy will have people messaging you for more info on your other services. 

You are able to remove listings without additional fees if you decide down the road that you don’t want to host items on Etsy.  

Try it here.

Shopify

Shopify is a software that use a monthly subscription model and gives small business owners access to an admin panel where you can enter store data, add products, and process orders. 

Once you choose your pricing plan, you can create and develop an online store to promote your products. 

Shopify is very easy to set up and get things started, and they offer a 14-day free trial if you’re not quite ready to fully commit without trying. 

Shopify is similar in price to most websites, with plans starting as little as $29/month and the highest at $299/mo.

Shopify can be connected to card-readers to accept payments. 

You can also create email marketing campaigns and Facebook ads through the platform. It is full of templates to help you create beautiful looking emails that will sell your products with ease. 

Try it here.

This brings us to our special announcement…..drum roll please….

We now have an online shop of our own! You can check it out here.

What to expect from our shop...

Our online shop carries curated products for interior designer, including a fun selection of stylish t-shirts. Command attention at a job site and make it clear that you’re in charge with the “I’m the person to talk to” T-shirt or browse other fun inspirational designs like the “Created to Create Beautiful Spaces” t-shirt. Our line of t-shirts is available in a variety of colors and sayings.

Whether you’re selecting accessories to add the finishing touches to your client’s home or celebrating the completion of a project with a client gift, we’ve got you covered. Check out our selection of Turkish hand towels, wood cutting boards and trays, and more.

We will be adding more and more items to this shop as we move into the new year, so make sure to check back every couple weeks to see what we’ve added!

Need help creating your own online shop? Contact us so we can pair you with the perfect design assistant. 

XX, Danae

Tips For Getting Along with Contractors

Working with contractors seems to be a major pain point for some interior designers. Contractors and interior designers can have very different work strategies that can cause issues on a project. I’ve visited with a lot of contractors and interior designers over the years and this issue continues to come up.  So I started thinking … what are some best practices when dealing with contractors?

1.       Start off on the right foot. With any relationship, it’s best to lay all your cards on the table from the beginning. When you meet with a contractor, you both need to discuss your goals and expectations for the project. If you want the contractor to be considerate of your time, then you should be considerate of theirs as well. Stay open-minded and flexible … we all know these projects rarely proceed without a hitch.

2.       The squeaky wheel gets the grease. When you are discussing the goals and expectations ask the contractor how they best like to communicate. Some of them need you to stay on top of them, and others hate constant communication. A lot of times you can get a lot done by being ‘top of mind’ and other times an irritated contractor could decide to put your project on the back burner, however, in most cases, I did find that a charming persistence helped move the project along.

3.       Show appreciation. If the contractors you work with feel appreciated, they are most likely to work well with you on your projects. Occasionally drop off their favorite cookies or bring them their favorite coffee. Small appreciative gestures can go a long way.

4.       Ask how you can make their life easier. I’m not saying you should kiss butt, however, life is so much easier when people get along. Maybe there is a minor change you can make in the way you work with a contractor that can make a world of difference, but you won’t know if you don’t ask. Each contractor goes about his/her job differently and let’s face it … we always want to be on the good side of the contractors.

5.       Learn to manage personalities. I’m going to make an educated guess and assume that if you are a great designer you are great at managing your clients. Managing contractors is the same thing. There is a stigma among contractors that interior designers expect them to be miracle workers or that contractors don’t take interior designers seriously. Many contractors feel that interior designers set unrealistic expectations for their clients. If you know something can be done and a contractor is giving you grief over it by all means stick to your guns … the contractor is being paid to do a job. If a contractor is really dragging his/her feet then talk to them about it, come up with some kind of solution … again, the contractor is being paid to do a job.

6.       Create a team-like atmosphere. Contractors don’t like to feel like they are working for an interior designer. The contractor and the designer are working for the client, therefore the contractor and interior designer are a team and if there is a team-like atmosphere where both of you bring something valuable to the table that can go a long way!

At the end of the day, what I’ve learned is certain personality types work well with others and occasionally you can run into a personality type that doesn’t work well with anyone. If you are working with a contractor that is an absolute nightmare then by all means … find another contractor. As long as there is a mutual respect and appreciation you never know what your team can achieve! Or perhaps, contractors and interior designers are like cats and dogs … however, I have seen a lot of cute photos of cats and dogs getting along. 😊

Find Clients with Email Marketing!

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.

Why are email lists so important? Email lists are comprised of people that want to hear from you. They are interested in what you have to say and are interested in updates having to do with your business. Social media is a very valuable tool but unless you are paying for targeted ads it’s not as specific to your target market as your email list is. The email list provides you with a go-to list of people to contact when you decide to run a special, offer a new service or have great news and updates to share.

Starting an email list is fairly simple for someone who knows what they are doing.  I’ll be honest, my virtual design assistant set mine up for me. The easiest way to start one is to create an opt-in on your website. You can attach this opt-in to all your other social media as well. The opt-in is a pop up that will appear when someone visits your website and it will ask for an email address. A lot of designers offer a freebie in exchange for the email address. You can offer a style quiz or a how-to guide for the most commonly asked questions you receive such as how to hang curtains, how to hang a gallery wall, how to choose the appropriate sized rug, etc.

Once you have your freebie and your opt-in ready you will need to link it to an email capture service like MailChimp, ConvertKit, Constant Contact or SquareSpace. These services allow you to keep an email subscriber list and allow you to set up email campaigns. You can create an automatic email campaign or go in and schedule new ones to go out as needed.

The most common thing I hear from designers is they don’t have time to write the emails. We can help you! We can write them for you or you can purchase them directly from our site at https://www.elitedesignassistants.com/eda-emails-for-purchase.

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 4 most popular email marketing services among interior designers. Three of them were listed in an article at wpbeginner.com and one of them is fairly new but it’s becoming a real contender.

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.

SQUARESPACE

Squarespace is a popular website design program for interior designers so when they came out with their email marketing service it made sense that interior designers kept their email marketing in the same space as their website.

It’s super user-friendly, has integrated analytics, responsive design and offers consistent content from your Squarespace website to email, which is super great from an ease and branding perspective. You can start for as little as $5/month (annually) for 3 campaigns per month, 500 emails and unlimited subscribers.

Squarespace doesn’t have as many features as Mailchimp and it’s not free, but most interior designers who have a Squarespace website love the new email marketing feature and are willing to pay a bit per month to be able to have the easy of creating emails directly from their website without having to copy and paste or search for links.

Hopefully you know enough now to feel confident about starting and/or maintain that subscriber list of yours! It’s a great tool to generate clients when you need them and to keep your pipeline full.

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

 XX, Danae

Accepting Credit Cards in Your Interior Design Business

Hello Designers!

Many small businesses, particularly in the interior design field, are hesitant to accept credit card payments from clients. However, in today’s increasing fast-paced and remote world, digital payment is the most common payment method in almost every other industry. Here are a few reasons why accepting credit cards could benefit your business and bring our industry into the modern age. 

It’s Faster 

In today’s market, credit cards are the fastest way to receive payment. Digital payment is almost instant. Gone are the days requiring multiple trips to the bank to deposit cash or interfacing with a client over a bounced check. Online credit card payment systems are more convenient for the client as well, especially with today’s modern merchant service options such as Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, PayPal and Square. 

Programs Are Designed to Help 

Nowadays there are many industry specific programs designed specifically to help your business accept credit card payments. Both Ivy (now HouzzPro) and DesignFiles use the payment processor Stripe to allow businesses to accept online credit card payments. You can invoice your clients, receive payment and automate your books all in the same place and all within hours rather than days. 

Smaller Margin of Error 

With online payments, it’s less likely your client will show up with the wrong amount of cash, or write a check for an incorrect amount. When paying online they are sent an invoice and cannot change the amount billed. Therefore, you spend less time following up if they haven’t paid the full amount. 

Flexibility 

Many designers who are not yet fully comfortable accepting credit card payments opt for only allowing product fees to be paid by card, whereas their design fees must be paid by cash or check (or vice versa). If you’re hesitant to make the switch, this may be a good place to start. 

Speaking About Fees 

Paying with a credit card often requires a processing fee for each transaction, but many programs let you to offset that fee to the client. For instance, in Ivy’s software, the fee will be shown as a separate line on each invoice, providing complete transparency to the customer. If a client prefers to not pay a processing fee, you could then offer them the option to pay by cash or check, allowing for the client to choose whether they prefer convenience with a charge, or a cash transaction. There are only five states that prohibit passing the charge to the customer: Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Maine and Massachusetts. 

Added Bonus of Going Green 

Finally, online credit card transactions have the additional benefit of being the greenest payment option. Your business will lower its environmental impact by decreasing paper and transport usage with less invoice printing and bank trips respectively. Going green is always a good look for small business.  

Contactless

And finally, in a post pandemic world, paying by card is now arguably the safest way to pay. According to overseer.com, “more than 57% of consumers now choose businesses based in part on the payment methods they offer,” bringing necessity to quick and safe transactions. Credit card usage is up by more than 10% post lockdown. Paying by card has never been more in demand. 

Overall, customers are usually happier paying by card. It’s more convenient for them, faster, and greener. It’s also beneficial to you and your business, by saving you time and energy and generally being more convenient for both parties. 

I hope this was helpful for you. See ya next week!

XX, Danae

Best Meal Delivery Services For Interior Designers

Happy Wednesday, designers!

I know you’re all busy busy right now trying to get your clients setup for the holidays, getting your kids ready for the rest of their school year, and trying to just live a normal life with work-life balance. Balancing all of this stuff is hard…..trust me, I get it!

I was thinking that this week I would talk about meal-delivery services, as I’ve heard that they can be an absolute game changer. 

One of my assistants who uses Snap Kitchen has said that it has changed her life for the better. 

Having meals ready so that you can avoid cooking (and cleaning) is something you deserve and so does your business. 

Less cooking and cleaning = more relaxing! I put together a list of the top favorites based on my research. 

All of these services send you food that is microwaveable or just needs a few minutes in the oven. These are not the type where you still have to do the cooking, but everything is pre-portioned. 

SnapKitchen 

• High protein, paleo, Keto, Low-carb, gluten-free, dairy-free, and Whole30  options

• Breakfast options

• 6 meals per week/$12.67 per meal

• 12 meals per week/$10.50 per meal 

• Chef-created, packaged fresh

• Arrives at the beginning of the week 

• Rotating menu

• Skip a week if you leave town

• SnapKitchen App

• Save $20 on each of your first 3 deliveries with a discount code (on site home page)

Try it here.

Factor75

• Keto, Low-carb, low-calorie, and plant-based options

• Breakfast options

• Fresh juice options

• 4 meals per week at $15/meal

• 6 meals per week at $12.83/meal

• 8 meals per week at $12.38/meal

• 12 meals per week at $11.50/meal

• 18 meals per week at $11/meal

• Factor75 App

• Choose your meals each week or let one of their chef’s choose for you

• Delivery Monday through Wednesday 

Try it here.

Freshly

• Gluten free, dairy-free, soy-free plant-based, high-protein, and “freshly fit” options

• More “home-style” options I think kids would love

• If you just want to order meat, like 4 steaks or chicken breasts, you can do that. Sides can be ordered separately as well. Allows for more customization

• 4 meals at $11.79/meal

• 6 meals at $9.99/meal 

• 8 meals at $9.49/meal

• 10 meals at $9.29/meal

• 12 meals at $8.99/meal

• Choose new meals each week if you would like

• Recyclable Packaging

• Skip a week and cancel at any time

• Rate your meals 

Try it here.

These are all great options. If you have food allergies, you’ll want to choose Snapkitchen or Freshly, as Factor75 doesn’t offer much in that department. 

I hope you find a plan you love and that allows you to have a little more time with your family and growing your business. 

We did not compare them here, but a couple other favorites are HomeChef and SunBasket. 

XX, Danae

5 Interior Design Tools That Will Make Your Life Much Easier

Hello and Happy Wednesday from Elite Design Assistants! 

We’ve said it before….as an interior designer you wear a lot of hats. It can be quite overwhelming, but I don’t have to tell you that!

The following tools are going to help you manage several major facets of your business. We have tools for everything from visuals to communicate your design ideas to social media management and in between. 

1. Canva: Canva is an incredible tool. You can create any kind of graphics you want and can even make videos! Anything you make can be saved as any file type you want and you can even have it printed. The best part is that there are really great templates so that you can put things together in a pinch. Just find one you like, customize it by changing color or text, and save! Easy as that. It is free for the basic version and it’s only $9.99 per month to upgrade. Totally worth it for everything it can help you do

2. A floor planning tool:  There are many options for this based on exactly what you’re looking for. If you are putting together detailed floor plans regularly, CAD could be the right option for you. If you don’t have experience with CAD or just want to build basic floor plans, check out Floorplanner, Smart Draw, or RoomSketcher. These are all free options. 

3. Planoly for Instagram + Facebook: Planoly is a free social media scheduling tool for Instagram. To also post on facebook, you can set it up to automatically send it over at the click of a button. Planoly allows you to view what your feed will actually look like visually, and you can easily add captions and hashtags, and schedule your posts in advance. There is an upgraded plan if you want to schedule more than 30 posts at once. $7/month.

4. Tailwind for Pinterest : Tailwind is a social media scheduler for Pinterest! It has several great features, allowing you to schedule in advance, create and check popularity of hashtags, and other awesome things!

5. Photoshop: Edit photos, create moodboards, create other types of visuals for your business.

6. Some kind of note app for your phone: Many designers like to keep notes on their phone. You can create a separate note for each client, so you can write down thoughts, ideas, or requests as they come up throughout the day. If you have an ipad you could keep them there, and there are even sketching apps where you could draw out your floor plan at the consultation. 

7. Business Management Software: there are so many options for this one, so it’s best to do some research and see which one is best for you. If you want to read about some great options, check out our blog post from October, 2020 called Best Project Software for Interior Designers

When it comes to your business, anything you can do to make it run a little more smoothly is a win! Try out some software and tool options for yourself and see which are the most helpful in your day to day!

Have a task you would like to outsource in your business? Contact us today!

XO, Danae

The Most Popular Trade Sources

First of all, what are trade sources? 

Trade sources are vendors that sell wholesale goods directly to designers as opposed to selling to the general public. As an interior designer, you can open an account with a trade vendor and receive a trade discount on your orders. You may choose to add a mark up to this price or offer it to your client at the discounted price as a perk for working with you. In addition to competitive pricing, other benefits of having a trade account are a more streamlined customer service experience and exclusive access to one-of-a kind products. 

Here are the most popular trade sources of the moment.

McGee & Co.

Once you know McGee & Co. you start to see their products everywhere. This company offers a 3 level trade discount, with the discount increasing the more you spend throughout the calendar year. They also offer trade account added benefits such as free shipping and samples. McGee & Co. boasts a full array of products, from vintage pieces to a wide range of textiles; you’ll definitely be able to find the perfect piece for your client.

Four Hands 

 Austin, Texas based brand Four Hands draws inspiration from world travels and the company prides itself on their passion for unique design and furniture. They are one of the top wholesale vendors in the world, with offices all over the globe. They’ve landed themselves on the Inc. 5000 list 13 times. With over 1,000 new products a year, you can find a range of pieces to meet your clients’ style needs. Their newest products can be shopped in their look book. A trade membership will grant discounted rates, increasingly the more you spend. 

 1st Dibs 

Welcome to the Louvre of online shopping. 1st Dibs is home to over a million high-end pieces, from furniture and art to even fashion and jewelry. New pieces are added weekly from trusted vendors around the globe. In addition to shopping prestigious pieces for your clients, 1st Dibs promises a price-match guarantee, buyer protection, insured delivery and dedicated customer support.  

 Lulu and Georgia 

LA based vendor Lulu and Georgia is gaining popularity and with good reason. Being ahead of the trend for them is key.  With pieces being sourced from all over the world as well as designed in-house, you are sure to find something cutting edge for your client.  In addition to the wholesale discount on products, you can also look forward to first chance access to collaborations with popular designers such as Sarah Sherman Samuel and Shea McGee when you join their trade program.  

Rejuvenation

 Rejuvenation has a wide variety of interior design products, from furniture to hardware, you will be able to meet your client’s needs with their catalogue. Owned by Williams-Sonoma Inc. (along with Pottery Barn and West Elm, to name a few) their home goods are “based on the best pieces of the past, designed for today, and made to last for years to come.” Perks of opening a trade vendor account with Rejuvenation include special pricing,  metal and textile samples delivered within 7-10 days, and representatives in every time zone of the mainland U.S. 

 Kelly Wearstler 

Kelly Wearstler is another name that may ring a bell. Started in 1995 as an interior design studio, the LA based company has evolved into a multifaceted lifestyle brand with an impressive line up of home design products. The brand’s style is a mix of sophistication and luxury with vibrant colors and pieces. Trade members receive a 15-30% discount.

Need assistance getting trade accounts setup? I can set you up with an assistant that can take this off your hands. Just visit the contact page to send us an email.

XX, Danae

Sourcing Tips & Tricks

As you are aware, being an Interior Designer means juggling a multitude of things from client meetings, to sourcing, invoicing, proposals, dealing with contractors and the list goes on and on. Streamlining processes are crucial to building and maintaining a successful interior design business and so today I’m going to write about sourcing.

Sourcing can be as simple or as complicated as you like, but to simplify things I’ve got a few great tips and tricks for you below.

1.       Narrow down a list of key vendors. I know many interior designers that only work with their favorite vendors … you know the ones. They are easy to work with, offer great commissions and their shipments come on time and intact. Keep this list in your computer or better yet go to each of their websites and save them to your favorites. This way you can have tabs across the top of your website browser that you can get to easily and quickly. If you need help with a list of key vendors … let me know as this could be a blog post entirely on its own.

2.       Keep an ongoing list of your favorite products. I realize you don’t want all your clients’ homes to look the same but there are a handful of items that even the most successful interior designers’ source for multiple clients. For example, I follow a popular interior designer on the east coast who has a very popular blog and from her portfolio I can tell that she loves tulip tables, X benches, anything leopard print, trays and popular design books. She has her go-to sources and can easily source these items.

3.       Organize your favorite products in libraries on Pinterest, Excel or another area of your computer. This way when you have a client looking for a kitchen table you can go to your kitchen table cheat sheet to see if there is a great kitchen table there. I realize these lists will always be changing but it’s a great time saver if you spend a few minutes updating them as needed.

4. Trust your gut and move on! When you create the design for a client you know what you want and what you’re looking for. Choose a few options for each piece and move on. You could spend hours getting lost down the rabbit hole of products available. If you know you spend way too much time sourcing for your clients, decide ideally how much time you should be spending, set a timer and get to it. Again, pick a few great options and move on!

5.       Outsource your sourcing. I realize this is hard for some people but when you find someone great who understands your style and what you are looking for it can be such a huge benefit to your business. Working with a trusted virtual design assistant can be a huge asset to your business.

Hopefully you’ll find these tips helpful in creating a system for sourcing that will save you time and headaches!

Quick, Easy & Healthy Recipes To Make Your Life Easier

Happy Saturday!

Recipe ideas was one of the most popular requests in the survey we sent out, so I definitely wanted to take the time to put together a little recipe guide for you. 

From what I’ve been hearing, designers are crazy busy right now. Everyone is ready to get their house looking beautiful. 

So what does that mean for you? 

Long hours and not much time to care of the every day stuff, like cooking and cleaning. Is this you? 

I want you spending less time in the kitchen and more time either relaxing (I hope you’re doing this) or creating amazing designs for your clients. 

Here are 10 recipes that you can make quickly and that will make your life a whole lot easier. 

Chicken Fajitas

Lemon Pepper Tilapia

Shrimp and Vegetable Skillet

Greek Chicken Salad Bowls

Mediterranean Chickpea Salad

Overnight Oats (Vegan)

Easy Instant Pot Chicken & Rice

Instant Pot Frittata Breakfast Casserole

Slow-Cooker Basil Chicken in Coconut Curry Sauce

Slow-cooker Sweet potato lentil Chili (Vegan)

If these recipes aren’t your jam, try searching for these types of recipes. 

Types of Recipes that are great when you have a busy schedule

• Sheet Pan 

Everything on one pan in the oven together. Easy & Simple

• Instant Pot 

Super fast and efficient way to cook a healthy meal 

• Crock Pot

Great for starting before you leave home in the morning. Come home to a cooked meal!

• One-pan/Skillet

A healthy meal where you only dirty one pan 

The Power of Prep

Never underestimate the power of meal-prep! Many think that meal-prep means preparing every bit of food for the week, all the lunches, all the dinners, all the snacks or whatever else, all in advance. This is not true at all. In fact, just prepping one meal, one-item, or one type of food can make a huge difference. 

April Firestone (@april_themacromama on Instagram) , fitness coach and full-time mama, suggests prepping your protein only as your first step. This alone is going to help you meet your goals. Take it one step further by prepping all of your veggies or pre-cooking your rice. 

Even just placing snacks in easily grabbable baggies is going to make your life so much easier. 

You can even just chop anything that needs chopping for your meals, so that when you go to cook, it’s already ready. 

Start by taking one hour each weekend (or any day where you can find an extra hour) to cook as much food as you possibly can for the week. Prep 

Are you catching my drift? Don’t get stuck in all-or-nothing mindset. No matter what you do, it’s going to make a difference in your week.  

If you don’t have an instant pot or crock pot, these tools will be your best friend. If you are going to choose between the two, I would definitely choose an instant pot. This is basically a super-advanced and quick version of the crock pot!

This will change your life, I promise.

Happy Cooking! 

5 Reasons To Give SideDoor a Try

Happy Wednesday!

Have you heard of SideDoor? Their popularity has been growing and I’ve been seeing more and more about it over the past 6 months. 

I wanted to put together a post on all the ways that you can utilize Sidedoor and why you might want to do so!

1.To make money on products

This feels like a no-brainer to me! Not only is SideDoor Free, but it’s a great way to bring more money in through your business. 

With SideDoor, you can make your social media and website shoppable. Simply add the links to your website, email, the bio link on instagram or facebook, or anywhere else where you market your business. 

You can also send links directly to your clients for purchase. They will pay for the item and you’ll make the difference between the designer net price and the price the customer pays for it. 

2.One-stop shop

SideDoor is a one-stop shop that carries a bunch of top trade vendor’s products. It’s basically a multi-line showroom. They have negotiated deals with over 100 vendors. 

There’s no need to manage multiple spreadsheets with vendor info (I know you all have one of these!), passwords, requirements, etc. You can find everything you need on SideDoor. 

3.Things are designed to be easy

No need for a receiver! SideDoor handles all the fuss and all of the behind the scenes logistics that must be considered between the time the order is placed and the arrival at your client’s home.  

We all know this is a HUGE win. I know that managing orders for clients can be one of the biggest stressors. No need for any of that. They also handle all damage claims, as long as the issue is identified as soon as possible. 

4.Taxes/Payment

According to SideDoor, they handle the taxes and file them with all appropriate county, state, and federal agencies. “SideDoor will calculate and remit the sales tax burden for items that sell through our tool.” If you invoice your clients outside of the platform, then of course, you will be responsible for handling all filing. 

So how does payment work? Their website states that after the items have been delivered to your client’s home, the commission is directly deposited into your bank account through Stripe Connect. 

All credit card processing fees are also taken care of by SideDoor.

5.No minimums 

As you probably know, some trade vendors require you to meet a minimum in order for you to either join the program at all, keep your account active, or to place an order. With SideDoor, you or your clients can place orders of any size. 

What SideDoor does NOT offer

1.Samples

Samples are not currently offered with SideDoor. You’ll have to go directly through your trade reps in order to receive samples, or you can use a service like Material Bank. 

2.Custom Product

If you want any of the items shown on sideDoor in a different fabric or finish, you’ll have to take that info directly to your trade rep. 

3.Returns

All sales are final and no returns are offered through Sidedoor.

I hope this blog was helpful for you!

XX, Danae

What are the best Project Management & CRM Platforms for Designers

For many designers, being able to take a space and transform it so that it looks and feels entirely new by adding or removing color, accentuating elements with lighting and incorporating beautiful pieces that promote comfort is easy. The challenge comes from being able to effectively manage multiple client projects simultaneously, while simultaneously being able to tackle your own business’ administrative needs.

Fortunately, there are tons of project management, scheduling and CRM tools that are perfect for helping designers like you, stay organized and on task. With all of the options available out there, it can be a bit difficult to decide which tool to use

Here are a few different project management, scheduling and CRM tools that are more popular amongst designers. They are used to assist with everything from onboarding new clients, to sending invoices and tracking orders.

Project Management Tools - These tools are great for helping to organize each of your projects by creating tasks and/or subtasks, keeping sourced items organized and being able to communicate with your clients and/or team members. All of these tools can be utilized for free, but some offer various pricing plans for more capabilities to meet your needs as your business grows.

Asana

Asana allows you to generate projects that can be broken down into tasks and subtasks. It’s also great for delegating by allowing you to assign tasks to team members and set due dates for your projects that can be marked as complete. Each task offers a space for you to add a description and comments. You can also attach documents and images that are no more than 100MB per file.

Projects in Asana can be viewed in list, board, task or calendar view and integrates with a number of other programs including Microsoft Teams, Google Apps Drive, Canva, Slack and more. Asana offers three paid pricing plans but the Basic or free version is still very capable of managing projects for smaller teams.

Trello

Like Asana, Trello makes it easy to help you organize design projects and assign tasks to team members but in a different way. It operates and functions in board view only. Think of the boards as ‘digital sticky notes’. The boards are broken down with cards

Trello allows you to be creative by enabling you to add images and establish a color-coded tagging system. This is great if you want to track sourced items. Each task could be listed as different phases in the order/tracking process and can be checked or marked as complete as the orders move from one phase to the next. Boards can be duplicated and cards can be moved from board to board to show project progression at a glance. Trello also allows you to share specific boards with others without sharing your entire project. There are free Trello board interior design templates available that can be found through a simple online search.

Like Asana, there are three paid plans for Trello but the free plan allows unlimited cards and up to ten boards per workspace for free

Monday

Monday shares similarities with the other project management tools listed here but like the others, it features several different elements that are unique to the platform. Monday operates primarily in the default table view format but you do have the option to change the view of your workflow to Gantt, Board, Timeline, Chart, etc. Like with many other project management tools, Monday allows you to invite external users and assign tasks to those individuals. This way all of the parties involved in the project (including contractors, engineers, architects, etc.) can see the project’s progress as well as their part in it.

Monday makes it easy to create categories to identify the type of task being completed. Team members can also update the status of the tasks that they are working on so that others know if the task is currently ‘Working On It’, ‘Stuck’ or if your task has been ‘Completed’. With the help of basic and more advanced reporting features, Monday enables users to create custom reports.

Monday is also free to start using and has three paid plan options that make it easy for you to continue to track projects without missing a beat as your team grows.

Airtable

Because Airtable is more of a data organizer and project management tool wrapped into one, it can serve as a one-stop shop for your to-do lists, scheduling or tracking your business or project goals. Airtable operates in a spreadsheet format where you can add files, documents, images etc., to your Fields (columns) and Records (rows). Instead of projects being broken down into tasks and subtasks (like Asana), or boards and cards (like Trello), Airtable uses workspaces and bases. Because this is a spreadsheet-based platform, you can easily import CVS files that you exported from a spreadsheet. Into Airtable. Airtable incorporates automation into your workflow, which can be useful for tracking orders or project deadlines.

It’s a robust tool that has tons of features and elements and at first glance can seem overwhelming but there are tons of free templates that can help you get started. While Airtable doesn’t have any templates specifically for interior designers, it does have quite a few that could be modified to fit your particular project need. Some examples are the project planning and management templates.

Airtable is free to start using and offers a free plan in addition to three paid plans. All but one (the customizable) of the paid plans offer a free trial.

Basecamp

Basecamp is a project management tool that is ideal for smaller firms but can handle the demands of larger firms as well. Like Asana Trello and Monday, it offers features that enable you to tackle your to-do lists. You can also invite team members and even grant clients access to your Basecamp account so that they can track project progression for themselves. The best part is that you have complete control over what the client is allowed to see. Some other features include group chats, message boards, scheduling and there is even a file and doc storage feature. You can even create timelines and schedules for each individual project that you are working on.

As with many of the other project management tools, Basecamp allows you to assign tasks to other users and tag team members or clients in threads. You also have the ability to run reports to monitor things like, what people are tasks people are working on, what tasks are due soon and what tasks are late. There is also a feature that allows you to track the progression of a task being completed based on the percentage of the task completed.

Basecamp offers a free 30-Day trial and there is a free version that allows you to create up to three projects there is also one paid plan available for a monthly or annual rate payment option.

ClickUp

ClickUp has very quickly become a fan favorite amongst the interior design/project management community. It has some similarities to Trello, Asana and Monday, but it’s much more robust. ClickUp has an additional layer of organization called spaces. For instance, in Asana, you have Projects then Tasks followed by Subtasks. In ClickUp, you would have Spaces, then Projects, then Tasks, then Subtasks. ClickUp enables you to operate in various different views, including Board, List, Gantt, Map, Box, Calendar, Table, Mind Maps and more.

ClickUp integrates with tons of different programs including your favorite time tracking software where you can track your time or, you can use the time tracking software that comes embedded in the ClickUp platform. Additionally, ClickUp allows you to, generate a checklist, and add tables attachments and docs within a task description window.

Doc is a cool tool that works within ClickUp and is much like Google Docs. This tool is great for generating reports or meeting notes and it’s housed within the Space. ClickUp allows you to attach larger files such as PLAN or DWG files to tasks or subtasks. Comments can be made on attachments and documents and you can also tag people to documents and attachments. There are so many cool ClickUp features and tools that it can almost seem like too much. Fortunately, ClickUp offers many great tutorials, there is even a free interior design template available to use.

ClickUp has three paid plans or if you have a smaller firm, you can use the free version. It allows you up to 100MB of storage.

Milanote

Milanote is a great tool for designers to use because of the visual elements and like Trello, it operated in board view. Not only does Milanote allow for effective communication with your team, but it also enables you to create mood boards, communicate in real-time with clients and team members, and attach documents and files.

One unique thing about Milanote that makes it stand out from the other project management tools listed here is that it offers a downloadable clipper tool. This is great for extracting information from sourced objects. Tasks can be generated in Milanote using To-Do lists to help the team keep up with project progress.

Milanote offers Interior design templates to help you get started and offers a free version along with two paid plans.

Slack

Slack is much different from the other tools listed here; it focuses primarily on communication, not project management. Slack enables team members to communicate and function seamlessly despite their regional or location via the direct messenger and voice recording and video calling features. Slack integrates with many different programs and allows you to set reminders for project deadlines or send documents and files.

With Slack, you can generate different channels and invite specific team members to these channels. Only those within the channel will be able to see the correspondence that transpires between team members. This is ideal for a project that includes subcontractors.

There are three paid Slack pricing plans for Slack as well.

Scheduling Tools- These tools, unlike project management tools, help to keep your calendar organized. They sync with your calendars and make setting up meetings with clients hassle free. These tools allow people to view your availability and select an ideal appointment time. Both of these scheduling tools can be utilized for a fee and offer various pricing plans.

Calendly

Calendly is a fairly simple scheduling tool. It syncs with up to six different calendars at once such as, Google, Outlook, Office 365, and iCloud. It is user friendly and is ideal for smaller or boutique firms. Calendly’s capabilities can be enhanced by using tools like Zapier to integrate with other tools.

Calendly allows you to generate different event types and establish rules for each individual event or group type. Some examples of these rules include establishing a pre-set minimum time in advance to prevent people from scheduling last minute meetings. Certain settings help to keep you from being overwhelmed by setting a maximum number of meetings per day and putting a buffer in place before and after scheduled meetings. Calendly offers a link that is accessible by people in the corresponding group type that enables you to access the calendar.

There are three paid pricing plans available for Calendly, but there is also a free plan that includes one calendar template integration with all calendar services.

Acuity

Accuity, like Calendly, syncs with multiple calendars simultaneously. Some of these include Google, Mailchimp and iCloud. Accuity’s features make it ideal for larger firms with busy schedules but can easily accommodate smaller firms as well. It allows for customization of its features through the use of open API supports. Accuity can be viewed like a personal assistant in that it takes care of reservations, displays available times and then schedules them on the calendar. Like Calendly, you can create rules for appointment types and there is a feature that enables you to block available schedules of the calendar by letting others know that you are busy.

Accuity has capabilities that enable you to send and receive messages. It also sends notifications to the appointment scheduler to remind them of upcoming appointments and confirm ones that were set. If you are working with clients in various time zones, you don’t have to worry about clients potentially missing appointments due to the time difference. Accuity uses the time zone of each client so that they know exactly when their appointment is.

Unlike Calendly, Accuity allows the scheduler to see your calendar and your availability. You can also share your calendar directly through your social media platforms, your email and you can even get a code to publish it directly to your website. Accuity integrates with PayPal, Stripe and Square and enables you to accept payments immediately for paid appointments.

Accuity offers three paid pricing plans but also has a free plan that offers a basic automatic programming calendar scheduler.

CRM - Or Client Relationship Management software is a very useful tool for interior designers and can be seen as a one stop shop when it comes to storing client information, onboarding new clients, invoicing and sending contractual agreements. A solid CRM can really make a difference in organizing client projects and help your business run more smoothly.

Dubsado

While Dubsado requires an involved initial setup, you have the ability to make Dubsado unique to you and your business’ specific needs. Dubsado makes it possible to include your branding and customization in their templates. You can also add file uploads and custom images when generating forms. When it comes to automations, Dubsado takes the cake. It makes accepting and tracking payments and expenses easy because it integrates with other platforms like Stripe, Square, QuickBooks etc.

One cool feature that Dubsado offers when it comes to scheduling, is that you can require that people complete a questionnaire, or pay an invoice before they are allowed to schedule time on your calendar. This rule can be set up by creating a custom workflow and identifying triggers. You will receive an email notification whenever a client has completed a form or a workflow action needs your approval.

Dubsado offers a client portal feature. Your client would be able to access their portal with a passcode and all of the important elements of their project can be viewed and accessed there.

Dubsado does offer a free trial for up to three projects. If you need to add more than four projects to the platform, you would be required to purchase a plan. The plan can be paid monthly or annually.

17Hats

17Hats is user friendly and a much more simple CRM option. This tool connects directly to your business bank account and not only imports your expenses in the bookkeeping dashboard but also could potentially eliminate the need for the use of accounting software for basic reporting.

When it comes to workflow, 17Hats offers some awesome options such as sending invoices and booking reminders automatically. In addition to tracking your time live while completing tasks, 17Hats has a time tracking feature that allows you to record hourly rates based on different services. So if you charge $80 per hour for generating floorplans and $50 per hour for e-design services, you can indicate these rates in your time tracking set up, making future invoicing so much easier.

17Hats has three pricing options to choose from. They don’t offer a free trial for the full platform, but you can access certain features for free. There is also a 30-Day money back guarantee for paid plans.

So, as you can see, there are a ton of options available to help you successfully manage all of your design projects. The key is finding what works best for you and meeting your and your client’s needs. This might take some trial and error, but fortunately, all of these programs have great features and come with a free version so that you can test them out and find the perfect fit.

Happy planning!

Must-see Travel Destinations For Fall

Raise your hand if you need a vacay! Ummm..it’s probably all of you! This has been a very interesting last couple of years, for lack of a better word. Stress has been high and most designers (at least for the last 6 months) have been crazy busy! And while I’m sure we are all happy to have thriving businesses, sometimes we just need a break. 

If you didn’t catch our email from a couple weeks ago, there is a lot of new fun stuff happening with Elite Design Assistants. One of the biggest things is that we have partnered with Travelgistix! 

A little about Travelgistix before we get into the destinations. 

Logistics professional Staci Spittler started Travelgistix as a way to share her passion for travel. She believes there is someplace for everyone and it’s her mission to help clients realize their travel dreams.

Travelgistix specializes in Active & Adventure Travel, All-Inclusive Resorts, Beach/Sun, Family, Food & Wine, Group Travel, Villas, and Yacht Charters.

Product expertise includes Classic Vacations, G Adventures, Globus, Insight Vacations, Monograms, and Travel Impressions.

Travelgistix is SO COOL, you guys. They will plan your whole trip, which we could all use with as busy as we are.  You can read more about Staci and Travelgistix on our website, but for now, let’s get into this juicy blog post!

Ok, so who is pumped to travel?!

Staci put together these great destinations for Fall and I couldn’t be more excited to share them with you!  The first two destinations are great places to check out New England's famous fall foliage. The last two locations are more focused on Relaxation, while still soaking in the beautiful fall foliage. All of these destinations are unique and you may not have even heard of them. 

1. Boston, Massachusetts

Situated in a 1903 Beaux Arts Building that juxtaposes cutting-edge technology with extraordinary Jeffersonian styling, XV Beacon Hotel is a refined landmark hotel that combines peerless personal service with the intimacy of a private residence. The hotel’s restaurant, Mooo.... is a contemporary steakhouse. Guests enjoy all of the luxuries this Bostonian boutique hotel has to offer, including a complimentary in-town chauffeured Lexus car service.

Check out the full details of this destination here.

2. Stowe, Vermont

Located at the base of Mount Mansfield The Lodge at Spruce Peak (formerly Stowe Mountain Lodge) is Stowe, VT's only ski-in, ski-out luxury lodging destination. Be our guest among more than 250 artfully appointed guestrooms, suites and residential offerings ranging from cozy studios overlooking mountain views, to spacious 4-bedroom Penthouse residences complete with all the comforts of home.

The Lodge is your base for year-round adventure and serious relaxation. Featuring a world-class Spa & Wellness Center, 18-holes of elevated mountain golf, adventure concierge team, and a variety of on-property dining and retail options, there's memories to be made at Spruce Peak.

Check out this destination here.

3. Canyon Ranch, Massachusetts

Ready for renewal? Discover your good life at Canyon Ranch all-inclusive wellness resort. Escape to Lenox, Massachusetts for a getaway that goes beyond relaxation. Canyon Ranch is integrated health and wellness. The promise of an enhanced life.

Your Canyon Ranch stay can be anything you want it to be - pleasurably relaxing, intensely active, focused and intentional. We push you outside your comfort zone to explore new ways of moving and nourishing your body.

Challenge yourself with a full range of fitness activities, from guided hikes to stand-up paddle boarding. Savor fresh, organic cuisine. Learn from our leading health experts in one-on-one sessions or group presentations. Enjoy invigorating treatments in the spa.

At Canyon Ranch, we treat you as a whole person, integrating Western and Eastern traditions. From sleep studies to ayurvedic medicine, you'll leave with a new understanding of your body. An enhanced version of yourself.

Nature is key to transformative wellness. The beauty of the Berkshires has nourished generations of artists and poets. Now write your own story of renewal. Taken away from the distractions of your busy life, you'll find room to breathe and explore in New England. To venture forth into nature. To evolve. And get back to what's real.

Check out this destination here.

4. Lenox, Massachusetts

Set among the beautiful Berkshire hills, Miraval Berkshires Resort & Spa welcomes you to observe, and improve your wellbeing. Our seasonal experiences will renew your spirit, and manifest your intention for a new year filled with balance and hope.

Check this destination out here.

The itinerary below is for those of you looking for a complete package (where to stay, what to do, and how to get there) while checking out multiple destinations on the same trip. If you decide to book, you’ll be on a guided tour with some other people also wanting to check out the New England fall foliage! This tour package includes accommodations, some meals, transportation from location to location while on the tour, and tour guides. This package does not include flights. This trip is on a preset schedule but you have a travel director there with you to help set up any additional tours or reservations and answer any questions you might have. 

If you want to work with Staci, please let her know that Danae from Elite Design Assistants sent you, as there is no affiliate link setup at this time. 

Happy Traveling!

How To Prepare For High Point Market

It’s that time of year! High-Point Market is quickly approaching and I’ve been hearing whispers of everyone’s plans. It’s getting exciting!

While I will not be attending this year, I wanted to put together a little guide so that you feel prepared if you’re going!

About High-Point

Let’s start with the basics. What is High-Point and when is it? 

High-Point Market is when designers all gather together in one location, to network, learn about all of the new fantastic products and vendors, and attend trainings and other fun and educational things!

The dates for this event are October 15th through the 20th. 

Some designers choose to stay the whole time and some stay for a shorter amount of time. This is all up to you, there is no right or wrong. 

I do suggest staying through the whole event just so you can make sure to squeeze all of the goodness out of each day, meet as many vendors as possible and learn a bunch of wonderful things that you can take back home with you. 

Prep

So how should you prep for High-Point?

If you haven’t started preparing, it is definitely time.  

Hotels book up quickly for this event. Don’t forget you can also check sites like airbnb and vrbo. If you’re unable to find a place, I suggest reaching out to fellow designers that are attending and see if there is room in any of the places that they are staying. 

It’s also time to book that flight, baby! Get on it fast. 

Don’t forget transportation. Make sure you have transportation to and from the airport, and to and from the market. I suggest renting a car. You can also call the hotel you are staying at and see if there is some sort of shuttle option. This could help out a lot and you could maybe avoid the price of a rental, depending on where you are staying and what is offered. 

You can find more info for transportation and hotels by clicking here. Check out the “planning your trip” section of the highpoint website for all sorts of fun goodies when it comes to planning this trip. 

Planning

I suggest planning out your entire trip from start to finish. Yes, we’re talking about planning again! If you are not a planner, don’t stress. Just having a loose idea of what you want to do each day will help tremendously.

I would start by choosing which events you would like to attend and adding them to your calendar. This should be your first step. You can find a complete list of events here.

Once those are scheduled, I would make a list of all of the showrooms you would like to visit. Think about what products you’ve been having a hard time sourcing for your clients and then check out the complete exhibitor list here. I suggest organizing your list by floor and maybe selecting which floors you would like to go to each day. 

Another suggestion is to do all of the showrooms you absolutely have to or want to visit on the first day. That way you can spend the rest of the time with a little more casual of a schedule. 

Here’s a map of the event center. 

Find your friends

If you want to be a lone wolf, that is totally fine! I prefer to experience these kinds of events with friends, so if you can get a group together to peruse some of the showrooms with you, that would be great! This is another great way to learn. More people in your group + more knowledge to share and more fun to be had. 

Opening accounts/placing orders

If you’re planning on opening accounts and/or placing orders, make sure you have all of the necessary paperwork for doing so. Call individual vendors beforehand to get all the details on what you may need to start an account with them. 

Register

Don’t forget to register! 

You can do that here.

As of now, there is an indoor mask mandate in effect for Guilford County. I’m not sure if that will change before the event starts, so make sure to have a couple on hand. 

One final note: The high-point website has a planning tool to help you with all sorts of things. You can find that here.

Have fun!

XX, Danae

Comfy & Stylish Shoes For Interior Designers

Let’s talk SHOES! I’m not telling you anything you don’t know….but I think Interior designers having the right shoes is something that is so beyond important! Raise your hand if your feet hurt at the end of a long day? 

Well….we did a little research and sourced 8 amazing pairs of comfortable (and cute!) shoes that are going to rock your world...and save your feet!

1. The Royale Pump: I love these classic black pumps. These have a memory-foam footbed and are tall, but not so tall that they will become uncomfortable with long wear. They also come in several great colors that are perfect for fall. Go get you some! 

2. The Royale Pump in Red Plum: Stylish and sexy and according to the reviews, very comfortable! 

3. The Starling in Cheetah Print: Birdies….in cheetah print! I just wanted to add these in because wow they’re cute. These are a bit pricier than the solid ones so if you are looking to spend less, there are some less expensive options to choose from on the website. 

4. The Starling in Black Velvet: Have you seen the advertisements for these? They look so comfy. I may have to order a pair or 2 for myself. These would be a really great option to wear to High Point Market if you are planning on going. I’ve been reading the reviews and you can wear these babies all day long with no pain. 

5. The Glove Boot In Black: -Ok...these boots are making all of my dreams come true. They look so comfy and according to the reviews, they are!

6. The Glove Boot in Toffee: Again...very impressed with these. These are made of 88% recycled polyester which is pretty cool. 

7. Vivaia Flats in Deep Ebony. These are made from knit that is made from plastic bottles. They are also eco-friendly and have a deodorizing insole...woah! So cool!

8. Vivaia Flats in Pale Turquoise: Just another color of these glorious comfy flats. Dress them up or dress them down, these flats are perfect for designers.

I hope this blog post has been super helpful for you, and if you try any of these shoes please let me know!

Need help creating boards or blog posts like this one for your business? Just send me an email at danae@elitedesignassistants.com and I will set you up with a design assistant.

What's New With EDA?

Happy Wednesday, everybody! My team and I have been working working working like busy little bees the last few months pulling together a bunch of new fun stuff for you guys. 

This email will be a little different than the others, because we just want to let you in on all the new things we have to offer and how you can benefit from them. 

Shop The Look

You know those shop the look boards and fashion blogs we’ve been sending out to you. Well, we thought it would be a good idea to get all of those in one place so that you can shop them whenever you want. We’ll be adding to it monthly so make sure you check it out. But, don’t worry, we’ll still be sending new shop the look boards to you via email on a semi-regular basis. You can find these by clicking here. 

Templates

These have been up on the website for a few months but I don’t think we’ve addressed it yet in an email or blog. We have a wonderful template shop where you can find not only email templates but also all sorts of great templates that can help you run your business as smoothly and efficiently as possible. An example of a few of the options are: 

• Client Design Questionnaire

• Interior Finish Schedule

• Client Project Brief

• Client invoice

These are just a few but you can find the rest here.

Resources  

Remember that fun survey we had you fill out a couple months ago? We had lots of requests for help with travel, legal resources, affiliate income, and more...so we put together a place on our website where you can find it all in one spot. We’re even partnered with a company called Travelgistix that provides travel expertise for pretty much any trip you might want to take. 

If you’re interested in any of this, make sure to go and check out the details here.

Passive Income E-book

This has been many months in the works and we are very proud of it! This is a 37 page EBook I wrote that has basically anything you could ever want to know about creating and marketing passive income as interior designer. It even has a fun bonus chapter called “24 Ways To Market Your Business”. For more details, click here.

That’s all for now, but stay tuned for even more great stuff coming later this year!

Looking to hire one of our design assistants? 

Just send us an email!

XX, Danae

Canva for Interior Designers

According to many designers I have talked to, Canva is a DREAM. Canva is a software created originally for graphic designers. It’s a tool that can be used for so many wonderful things and designers are loving it!

For some, it has almost completely replaced photoshop, allowing them to put together beautiful graphics in about a quarter of the time. It does not have all of the capabilities of photoshop, so if you’re looking to do photo editing beyond adding a filter or removing a background, you’ll still want to keep photoshop on your computer. 

Canva does however have many photo editing features, it’s just a very watered down version. 

Things Canva does and things to consider:

1. Graphics quickly. Canva is brilliantly designed to make your life easier. And who doesn’t love that? There are lots of templates that allow you to simply replace the template info with your own and...voila! You have a beautiful graphic that looks like it was made for a professional

2. Moodboards. Canva is great for moodboards. You can easily remove the background of items with the click of a button, and layer things as necessary. Freely move items around the board until they are exactly where you want them to be. I found several articles and videos online that can teach you how to use Canva for moodboards. Check those out if you need a little direction on how to get started.  

3. Enhance. There are a variety of ways to enhance your graphics. You can add fun little sparkles or letters or symbols, all of which can either be found in their graphics library or uploaded by you. 

4. It’s free! Canva is free, unless you want to use the pro plan which I believe is $119.99 when paid annually or $12.95 paid monthly, for up to 5 people. Very reasonable for how often you will use this program. 

5. You can make videos. Want to make a quick video of your portfolio work or share an upcoming event? Choose the mp4 setting when saving your work and you’re good to go! There are also lots of tutorials online, so feel free to research.

6. User-friendly. Canva is very easy to navigate, and if you have used any other kind of design software it shouldn’t take you long to learn. 

Interested in having a design assistant create graphics for you in Canva? 

Just reply to this email. 

XX, Danae

How To Deal With Constantly Having to Give Your Clients Bad News

Where do I even start? I actually don’t think I have to go into detail about how being an interior designer in these uncertain times can cause immense anxiety. Delays are making most interior designer’s lives a little tougher than they need to be…

Are you struggling with this? Do you feel like you just can’t even give your clients good news because things are so chaotic?

While I don’t have all these answers to something so stressful, here are a few things to focus on moving forward that will hopefully make your life at least a little bit easier.

Set the correct expectations. Make sure your clients know exactly what they are getting themselves into. Present this with the most positive attitude you possibly can, and let them know this is a universal issue. Let them know how you are currently handling delays when they happen. Under-promise and over-deliver. Be as realistic with them as you possibly can. They will appreciate your transparency!

1. Contract. Be prepared and have something about delays in your contract. How they are likely to occur and anything else they can expect. 

2. Pad your hours. If you are working hourly (or flat rate) make sure to add a little padding to account for all of the extra time you will be spending handling delays. Let them know that you are doing this, or at the very least, add it to your contract so there are no surprises. 

3. Frequent updates. Update your clients at least once a week, even if there are no changes. This will keep them from feeling left-out and like their project is at a standstill. Make sure they know that they are still a priority, even when a project is put on hold due to delays. 

4. Be open and have a positive attitude. Don’t let your clients see you sweat. You are a professional and you are good at what you do. No little delays can get you down...right? This is not forever. Eventually things will return to normal, or the new normal at least. 

5. Don’t fret. Most clients are going to completely understand, especially if you set the correct expectations. If you have one or two that get impatient, sit them down and have a heart to heart. They will understand that you are doing your very best, and you will go to bat for them if necessary. 

6. Pay attention. If your client is showing you red flag after red flag, or are not responding well to your warning of delays…..bye! They gotta go….

I hope this was helpful for you. Moral of the story, breathe. Breathe, breathe….and breathe some more. 

We are all gonna get through this. 

If there is anything we can do to make this time easier for you, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

XX, Danae

10 Tips to Attracting More Clients

I get this question A LOT. So I took some time to put together this list of ways that you can attract more clients right now.

Below are some ways I’ve seen other interior designers continue to stay in front of clients and continue to offer services that will keep their businesses thriving, even in uncertain times.

1. Nurture that email list! Spend some quality time creating some really heartfelt and genuine emails to send to your contact list. Create emails that let your subscribers know that you understand what they are going through, you are here for them if they need anything and outline the ways you can still help them. Start an email series right now that will help them.

2. Offer virtual consultations. Let clients know how they can work with you. You may be surprised how many people just need a consultation right now, with things opening back up and slowly returning to normal. People are wanting to refresh their homes!

3. Create shoppable concept boards and renders. Share your favorite products and make money using affiliate links. People who shop your style may be more inclined to work with you.

4. Share your portfolio. Start inspiring people with your work and share what makes you happy about what you share.

5. Update and share. It’s time to get caught up on housekeeping issues like updating your portfolio, creating content, organizing your processes and share what you’ve learned. People connect to you and your story … share your story and how you are growing and changing.

6. Share your e-design services. Share how people can work with you, outline this process and make sure your target market is aware that you are open for business. Share your in-person and remote services. However you are working with clients at this time, share it!

7. Create interest. Write a blog post about why now is a great time to update your home, or how interior design can affect your mood or about the psychology of color. Write intriguing posts relevant to the times to get people interested in your brand.

8. Continue to educate yourself. It’s always a great time to start listening to an interior design podcast or to get continuing education through interior design platforms. Many of them are offering free video conferences and webinars at this time. Use what you learn to attract more clients.

9. Create videos. People LOVE video….so try to create some fun videos about refreshing a space, your process, choosing the right rug or something else that you know your target market will love.

10. Be real. You will attract the clients you are looking for just by being yourself. Stick with a positive message, share a sneak peek into your life and use humor (if that’s your thing). Sometimes we are afraid to be ourselves but it’s only when we are ourselves do we find growth.

Our world will forever be changed so we have to adapt and grow. We will be stronger and our industry will thrive.

Stay safe & well!

XX, Danae