Interior Designers: Stop Doing EVERYTHING Yourself
Find vetted business pros that actually understand your business.
Most interior designers face the same dilemma: you need help, but you don't know who to trust. You finally decide to hire a bookkeeper or marketing expert, only to discover they've never worked with an interior designer before. The result? Costly mistakes, wasted time, and the sinking feeling that it's easier to just do everything yourself.
Interior designer Ronniesha Rivera learned this lesson the hard way; when her bookkeeper filed her sales tax incorrectly, leading to a government audit that cost thousands and nearly destroyed her business. But instead of retreating, she created Vetted by Design - a platform where every business professional is carefully vetted, not only for their skill but their ability & experience working with interior designers.
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CHAPTERS
00:00 - INTRO
02:32 - ORIGIN STORY
13:06 - FINDING THE TALENT
15:26 - NEWBIE BLUES
21:17 - THE TALENT
26:05 - COMPETITION vs COOPERATION
32:28 - WHO'S NOT ON THE PLATFORM?
38:33 - EVOLUTION
48:49 - GROWTH
51:23 - LOCATIONS
52:22 - DESIGNER FEEDBACK
56:33 - WINS
58:40 - ENTREPRENEUR STRUGGLES
1:00:13 - SLAGGING GOOGLE
1:01:15 - BUILDING A TEAM IN 2025
1:11:55 - MONEY, MONEY, MONEY
1:20:25 - HOW'S YOUR FIT?
1:21:48 - OUTRO
Key Takeaways:
Hiring business support without proper vetting is expensive gambling that can cost thousands in corrections
General business experts often lack the interior design industry knowledge needed to serve designers effectively
A government audit doesn't care whose fault the mistake was - your name is on the door and you're responsible
The fear of delegation keeps talented designers trapped doing administrative work instead of design work
Creating systems for finding vetted professionals removes the guesswork from building your support team
Most designers need the same core services: bookkeeping, marketing, virtual assistance, and project management
Read the Transcript:
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: Ronniesha, could you introduce yourself and tell our audience a little bit about how you got into this business and why you started Vetted by Design?
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Yeah. So I'm Ronniesha Rivera, and I am the owner of an interior design studio called Alder and Stone Interiors, and then also the founder of Vetted by Design, as you mentioned. And, gosh, how did I get into all of it? Well, really, Vetted by Design came about through the design studio that I own. So I can't really talk about Vetted by Design without kind of talking about the design studio just because it was so pivotal in starting Vetted by Design. But essentially, I went to design school. Nothing too exciting. Like, went to design school, graduated. I worked for a couple other companies before I started Alder and Stone. And then I worked in Alder and Stone. Gosh, I think I was a year or two in business, and I hired the wrong person. I hired the wrong bookkeeper. And that led to me. She basically filed my sales tax incorrectly. And if anyone's familiar with sales tax, you gotta. You gotta file it. If anyone's listening right now, you have to file it correctly. Your taxes. Don't mess with taxes. Don't mess with sales tax. But my business was experiencing a lot of growth, and so I was very aware of that, and I was like, okay, I'm not gonna do my own bookkeeping anymore. This is getting, like, way too big for me. I don't wanna make a mistake. So I reached out to a, small bookkeeping company that I thought understood interior design and understood my business, and unfortunately, she did not. And so she filed it wrong. Cost my company thousands of dollars, and I, unfortunately, had to be audited. And, I don't really say that lightly, because when you're going through it and you're a new business owner, like the state that you're in, they want answers. They want to know why your numbers were wrong. Especially when you're doing a half a million in sales and you're a new business in their business, like, in their state. So even if you make the mistake, I thought I would just get, like, a slap on the hand because I'm like, wasn't my fault. But they viewed it as my fault, of course, because my name is on the door. And so, through that experience, I really was just like, there has to be like, this cannot happen, like, again, like, I don't want to go through this again. I trusted her. She had access to all of my banking accounts, all of my business stuff she had access to. And she was not new in business, but she had never worked with an interior designer. So it just, it was a very painful experience. And so I just felt like there needs to be this, like, definitely needs to be a thing where designers can go to a specific place and just be able to find the help that they need without the worry of is this person qualified to work with interior designers? Do they actually know what they're talking about? Do they have experience with the designers? That kind of stuff. And so the seed was kind of planted.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: Yeah. No, my next question was going to be to ask you if there was a specific moment when you were struggling that led to this, the concept being born and that. Yeah, bringing up like taxes. Yeah. For Sure. I think everybody at least empathize with that. I mean, nobody wants to go through that. Same thing with. With, you know, breaking up with a business partner. My wife's. When her first. When she left her first job or her job as a designer and went out on her own, she went out with a partner, and they were friends, and they're no longer friends.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Yeah. Yeah. It's not fun. It. Like I said, it feels like a breakup because you spend so much time building a baby, the business with this person, and then, for one reason or another, it just doesn't. It doesn't work. So. But honestly, the breakup with my co founder was, at the time, very hard. But now looking back, it needed to happen, which I think a lot of co founders that break up with will say that.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: So you just looked at. I mean, you know, correct me if I'm wrong. You looked at this. If I'm having this problem of finding, support, then other people have to be having the same problem.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Well, I knew. Yes, correct. I. I knew that if I'm having this, like, problem finding people that I can trust to outsource to. I talk to my interior design because a lot of my friends are interior designers, and I would be having conversations with them, and they would be feeling the same way. I'd like, do you have a bookkeeper that you love, that you can refer to me? And they'd be like, no, but if you find one, let me know, because I need a bookkeeper too. So I was like, okay, I'm experiencing this. My friends are experiencing this. And then I'm a part of a lot of Facebook groups, and I would see so many designers posting in Facebook groups, looking for anything like, hey, I'm finally ready to hire a, PR agency. I don't know who to hire. Do you guys have any recommendations? And if you're lucky, you might get, you know, a couple of people to comment and make some recommendations. But a lot of the times no one responds, you know, like, it's crickets. So. And that takes time. It takes time to, like, sift through Facebook group post and make your own post. And, like, it's just time consuming to do that. So when I took into the. When I just looked at the writing on the wall, I'm like, this needs to happen. I didn't really see anything happening in the market that was like. That. I couldn't really find anything that was, like, vetted by design, where you're truly vetting all of the people that are on the platform. So I was like, yeah, like, this just seems like, why, like, it's 2025. We should not have this pain point. Like, this makes no sense.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: Right. So where. Where do you find the. Are people approaching you to join the platform? I mean, you're still very new, so I'm sure that's not super robust. Or are you actively going out and searching?
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: It's a little bit of a combination of both. Well, three things. So when I very first launched, I launched in January of this year, I, already kind of knew a couple of pros. And pros are just business people. Business to business people about offer services to interior designers. I already knew of a couple people that I wanted to be on the platform because I used them in my own design business. So I had already worked with Rebecca from Seriously Happy Consulting, and then there's a few others that I had already worked with. So I was like, I already already know your process. I already know, like, that you have integrity, that you're going to take my business seriously, that you take your own business seriously. So it was very easy just to kind of reach out to the people that I already was working with. Like, hey, I'm starting this new platform. This is my mission and my vision behind the platform. Does that sound like something that you would want to partake in? And of course they're like, yeah, that sounds awesome. So it started with just people that I already knew. And then from there, there were people that were in the industry that I already knew of as well. So people that I naturally organically followed, and that I found inspiring, that I knew that they had reputable businesses that they truly helped interior designers. So I reached out to them and kind of explained what the platform was about. And then just by the time I did that, those two things, we started getting applications on the platform. So now, like eight months. In nine months. In eight months, we get applications through the platform, which is amazing, because then it's just like people are finally starting to hear about the platform and it's getting out there to more people and people are in alignment with it, so they're apply to be on it.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: No, that's great. And I wonder about some of the people that you wanted to have. I mean, don't name any names, but were there people you approached who basically either ignored you or blew you off?
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Yes. You, the listeners can't see my face, but I'm making so many faces. Yes, yes. There are people that I genuinely like. I said I looked up to them and I just admired their businesses, who they, they are. And, I reached out to them like, hey, would you like to be a part of this? Crickets, I tell you, like. And some of them even gave me the time of day and then told me, like, I don't know, like, that they would never be interested. So, yeah, and that's, that's fine too. But I honestly always just try to remind myself that this is such a resource for interior designers and some pros will be in alignment with it and some won't. That's okay.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: Yeah. And the fact that you're new, I mean, I ran through the same thing when I started up the podcast. Like, you know, I was approaching people who'd been on with, like, Luann Nygara. Right. And I figured, you know, why not? What are they going to do, say no? And most of them, not most of them, I'd say half of them didn't even say no. They just straight up did not respond at all. And I'm like, all right, whatever.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: So, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think, like, when people say, no, that's fine. I'm always like, okay. Or if they say nothing, that's fine. If they say no, that's fine. I draw the line at, people being me. I've had people be actually just downright mean to me and, like, unkind. And that's where I, like, draw the line. I'm like, that's where I'm like, you truly are not somebody who could ever be on the platform, on the podcast, on anything. So. And I'm very, very honest about that because, that's a part of the platform is all the pros that are on there need to be kind people, good people. I don't want any bad seeds on the vetted by design platform. So I'm very, very honest about that. Obviously, I'm not going to, like, name drop anything, but it's just a part of startup. It's just a part of starting a business and growing it. That some people don't see the vision, I guess.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: Yeah. So, I mean, I can. But that's no excuse for people being, you know, cruel or mean hearted about it.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Yeah, yeah. I'm like, just say no.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: Yeah, right. And interior designers should recognize that as well. Because, you know, when you start out your business, almost like the vast majority of residential designers are solo or very, very small team. You start out on your own and you've got all these great designs in your head. Maybe you've worked for somebody for, you know, five or 10 years, you've got some experience, but your name means nothing at that point. And, so it's, you know, how do you find people to take, Take a chance.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: That's very true. Very, very true. And honestly, like, what has worked with people taking a chance on the pro side and then also on the designer side is just me being very candid about my story and just me sharing something that would be otherwise really embarrassing to say, you got audited. That's not cool. Like, that's not something that I want to boast about. But just, sharing my story and sharing why I even started the platform, I think that makes people understanding and it clicks a little bit more. And just knowing that there's an actual person behind the platform. There's a lot of different, like, softwares and platforms and you can't always get access to like, who's behind it, like who is the founder of it. So just making sure that I'm showing up as the founder and sharing that, I'm a designer and I made a lot of mistakes in my interior design business. And Vetted by Design is a resource so that you don't have to make those mistakes.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: Right. Yeah. And with technology now, I mean, if you were trying to do something like this 20 years ago, the amount of money it would take. And how are you going to do all that? But, I mean, you're basically, you're a matchmaker putting things together. And, you know, I'm curious about, some of the people who are on your platform as business, experts, if you could tell some stories about those people, like, you know, who you targeted, what responses they have had from the platform, all of that. Good stuff.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Yeah. So I think I mentioned, Rebecca. And so she has seriously happy consulting. And she was one of, like, the very first pros that we had on the platform. Before I even had a website, before I had anything for vetted by design, I was working with her on, like, a. Basically, like a receiving warehouse business idea that I had, because in my local area, there's not a lot of receiving companies. It's such a pain in the butt. And I was like, I'm gonna start one. And so I hired her on to, like, walk me through the game plan, a business plan for starting that company. She was phenomenal. She was so just ready. Our first meeting, she already had a spreadsheet. She already had, like, logistics worked out. She already had numbers. She already was looking at the market like she was. She came to the very first meeting ready to go. And for me, when I'm investing in something, the investment in these coaches and consultants and all, it's, like, very expensive. It can be very expensive to invest. And so for me, I was like, you respect me and you respect my time. Like, that's what it said to me when I was working with her, is, you respect me and you respect my time. So when I brought her onto the platform as a business coach, I just felt so in alignment about that. I was like, she's amazing. She needs. I want all the designers to work with her because she's so amazing. And so she's been on since the very beginning, and it's actually been pretty fun because not only is, she plugged in on the designer side, she's actually been helping a couple of the other pros that are on the platform with coaching as well. So that's the cool part. Like, not only is this a resource for interior designers, a lot of the pros are hiring other pros because at the end of the day, we all need coaches, we all need bookkeepers and lawyers, and, you know, we all need each other. So I feel like that's something that I wasn't even really expecting about. The platform is for pros to become friends with other pros and Start hiring each other for services, and that being like a little community. We meet once a month. Me and all the pros, meet once a month. And so we get to, like, know each other, and it's familiar. So that has been really fun that has come through the platform. And then I am. I don't know how much I'm allowed to talk about real people and real designers, but I'm friends with Meredith Hock, and she's amazing. She does beautiful designs. She's been able to get connected with a pro for drafting on the platform. So it's just fun. It's fun because I get to help my design friends and just people that I naturally get connected with one way or another, and I get to listen to their pain points. Like, I. She needs help with drafting. A lot of designers, it's the CAD work that is such a bottleneck in their business. And then they ask me, like, who would be a good fit, and they tell me, you know, a couple of things about their business. And then I look into what pros we currently have on the platform, who's working in what spot, software, who has what strong suit, and then I'm able to make the connection. I make the connect. I'll make the connection, but I don't, like, follow it out from there. I don't, like. I don't get into, like, the pricing or, like, contracts between the pro and the designer. Which is something that I probably should clarify, that all of the pros that are on the platform, they're their own business entity. So I don't. I'm not. I don't, you know, I don't keep track of their schedules. I don't keep track of, like, how they run their business, those kinds of things. So. But just the simple fact that, I've been able to help my design friends and even help pros connect with pros tells me that what I'm doing and, like, the passion that I have behind the platform is working and it's helping people. So those are just two, things that came to top of mind.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: Oh, that's pretty cool. My wife, has been running her own design firm for almost, almost 20 years. And it's. It's a small firm. She wants it small. She doesn't want it big. She wants a certain number of clients a year at a certain price point, and that's what she wants to do, and she's happy with it. But a decade ago, if she was to ask somebody, you know, for a referral to somebody else, whether that's an accountant. I mean, there was resistance to that. And I mean, definitely for sourcing, right? Like, if you've got a good contractor, you hold on to them. If you, you've got a good, you know, drapery person, you hold on to them. And I, I mean, I think I've seen where that kind of defensiveness has changed a little bit over the years. And it seems like there's a bit more of a community of designers, residential designers, thinking we're kind of all in this together. It's such a hyper local business. Right. Like, what are the odds you were literally helping somebody who is going to hurt you? Right? Like, my wife's business is in midtown Toronto. The odd time she leaves the area, but. But she doesn't want to and she doesn't need to. Right? So I mean, if she helps somebody from 30 minute drive away, that can't hurt her at all.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: No. And when they say, like, everyone always says, like, there's enough business to go around and there truly is, especially in the realm of like referring out people. I know exactly what you're talking about because when I started my design career seven years ago, it was like that a lot of like, gatekeeping and like, you know, just competitive nature. And if you have a really good sub or if you have a really good bookkeeper, not sharing the contact on that with your other fellow colleagues was super duper normal. It was like industry standard. And I think through really like the online realm of interiors, like through Facebook groups, podcasts, panels, you know, all of these design, conventions and things like that, people like designers, we started talking to each other, you know, and it's like we started becoming more of like the friend side of a colleague and learning from each other's mistakes and learning from each other's wins. And so I think the online realm of interior design has really, really helped that. And then it's trickled down to like local designers. I don't, I feel like people find it weird that a lot of my friends, my close friends are interior designers. And we talk numbers, we talk like there really is no gatekeeping amongst me and my friends. And if a random designer locally reached out to me, like, hey, I need help with this, or can you look at this? I will always say yes. Like, I always start my day with yes. Like, yes to whatever opportunity it is, unless it's something that's like truly kind of like left field and is like not in alignment, like, doesn't even have anything to do with my Business then I would say now. But I think designers are getting so much more open to each other, which is beautiful. And it should, it's, it should have happened a long time ago.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: No, for sure. I, I, I, I kind of identified podcast definitely as a, a vehicle for that. And like there are some people and it's wonderful, like the amount of information that's being shared. Right. And I get like, if somebody is like a super uber successful interior designer, for them to go on a podcast or go to a conference and speak, they're not really worried about all the other designers listening or in the crowd because it's like, you know, we run different businesses. My business pulls in $5 million a year, your business pulls in 250,000. We are not dealing with the same customers. You are not my company. Yeah, yeah, but the fact that like people can be able to do that, I mean, you know, if you knew that somebody was legitimately bidding on the same project as you, then I could see being a little bit more concerned.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: But you're gonna think I'm crazy. I literally have worked on the same house with another designer in my area. Granted, she is my best, she's one of my best friends, but we have worked on the same exact house at the same exact time, believe it or not, and neither of us had a problem with it.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: That's crazy. I think you're lying. I don't believe you. That would be a good story. That would be a good story. You should get your friend on your podcast and talk about that story. That seems really interesting.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: It was. And she called me up and she's like, so I just had a meeting with this client. I'm like, yeah, that's my client. She's like, it's also my client. And the client, yeah, it's a long story, but the client did not mean to do that. But I think it's just more of a testament of Interior design is much more community focused than it is competitor focused. I will never say that that's a hundred percent, like mitigated and over there will always be like a little level of competition. But I also think that that can be healthy as well. Like a little bit of competition can be helpful. And competition's like a trigger word. I know, but I like to think of like other professions, athletes, even like just musicians, model any career field. It helps you level up your game. It, keeps you on your toes. And it just, I think, can be done in a positive, healthy way. But if you're somebody who's not positive and healthy, then it's probably not going to be a good thing. But I just thought that that would be funny to share that. Yeah, I actually am working on a project with another designer at the exact same time.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: That seems crazy. I was also wondering about, people who you have said no to about joining the platform. Has that happened?
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Yes, believe it or not, that has happened. And when I was building out the platform and envisioning how things would go, I knew that there would probably be people who were not, in alignment on the values of Vetted By Design. But I never wanted it to be like, like, you suck. You can't like, set our. Sit out our table. You know, I wanted to feel like maybe your business right now is not in alignment, but here's the things that you can do to get an alignment with Vetted By Design and then you can reapply in six months and some things that would be not in alignment. So we had one pro apply and through their application, application looked great and was seemingly in alignment. But when you went to their website, their website, it was just very obvious that they don't work with interior designers. Like, nowhere on the website did they say anything about interior design. They didn't show any example work of interior design projects. You know, like, it just was very, very obvious. I'm like, you don't work with designers and therefore you are not in alignment with being on the platform. And so how that process looks is, I send an email like, hey, unfortunately you are not in alignment. These are some of the things that I saw. These are some of the things that, you know, are values that you didn't quite hit right on. But if you make adjustments, like, Please apply in 6 months. Make the adjustments, or don't, you know, if. Or don't. And then you. Yeah, so it's not ever like a, No. You know, some things that might make you a no is if you're not nice, if you're an unkind human, then it is a no. Do not reapply in six months. But for the most part, there's only been a handful of pros that have applied and it's just been that they're not quite niched into interiors. So, they might do good work, but the whole like meat and potatoes of the platform is that the people that are on the platform are experts in interior design, like in the design industry. So, really that has been the main thing. And I don't know how they receive it. I just Send the email, and then I never hear anything back. But that's how. That's how I've handled it.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: They probably weren't too invested in getting in the platform in the first place. They're. They're probably trying to get on every possible platform there exists and just, you know, widen their funnel so that eventually, you know.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Yeah. And sometimes people are at the beginning of niching into interior designers. You know, so I'm like, it's fine that you're starting now and you want to move forward with working with only interior designers, but that's just not the value of the platform. Once you've, you know, worked with a couple of interior designers and you put the, you know, put that time in with designers, then come back and we'll have conversation about it. And as part of the vetting process, it's just like this. Like, we're face to face. We hop on a zoom call with all of the. The pros that are on the platform, and we talk about, why do you work with designers? What's your experience working with them? Like, were you previously a designer? Is your business a hobby, something that you do for fun? Or is it something that you do full time and you have a team? What does your business structure look like? Those kinds of things? What is having a healthy business look like for you? What, what are your goals for your business for the next one to five years? So we. I try to have a good mix of, like, I'm finding about out about you as a human being, and I'm also finding out about your business, and the health of your business. So, it's. It's very personal. It's a very personal vetting process.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: Yeah. And it seems like the, the feedback, whether, like going through the vetting process and then getting the feedback from you and talking to you, you, in a way can help people who, like you said, if they're, if they're new to it and they want to niche down for designers, you can say, well, this is what you need to do. You need to do these three things, and they're like, oh, okay, cool. I didn't think of that. I thought of two of them, but I didn't think of the third one. So you are now kind of working almost as a, as a business coach in that if you want to do this and this will help ensure that you're more successful at it, right?
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Yeah. Yeah. And I literally tell them, like, as a consumer, I, I am an interior designer, so I don't have to like, sit and, like, wonder what designers feel. It's like, I work as one. So when you apply to be on the platform and I go onto your website and I experience your website, because it's an experience, and I don't see my struggles on your website. I don't see, like, you talking to me as a designer on your website. Then I just, like, it's just. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense. So I. I don't know if I would call it, like, a coaching thing, or just, like, I don't know, like an alignment thing. And that happens. It happens.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: You are sometimes You are giving them legit feedback, right?
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Yeah, yeah.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: Like, and it's based on. Based on your experience, right? Nobody, I mean, nobody likes, you know, constructive criticism. I. I hate that term because it, you know, it may be constructive, but it. It kind of hurts. And it's like, well, you know, but that's how we. We should learn from that, kind of pushing that same idea forward. I mean, the business has only been live since January, and, when it comes to vetting, I mean, if you fast forward five years or ten years down the road, the number of people on the platform will be significantly higher. And, you know, and you may even pull back from your own design work, depending on how everything goes. What about feedback from designers who use your service? What about feedback from the pros on the platform themselves? I assume you're trying to collect as much of that as you can to hone and tweak and make things better.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Yes, yes. And it's a lot because all of the pros on the platform, obviously, they all offer different services. They're all different people with different backgrounds and different experiences. So sometimes the feedback can be, like, all over the place. You know, one pro might be like, I think the platform should be like this. And then one pro might be like, I like it like this. And one of the things that comes most to mind between designers and pros is the categories. I've gotten so much feedback about the categories that are currently on the platform. And the categories are just what, like, things that I think designers would need to outsource to or, you know, for. So I think one example, I think I had business coaches and consultants in the same category. And then one of the pros on the platform was like, hey, like, actually, there's like, a big difference between a coach and a consultant. And I was like, oh, do tell me. Like, educate me. And she's like, oh, well, A coach is going to be like this more broader spectrum of whatever, a consultant, somebody who's going to go in and do the tasks for you and alongside with you. So it's a little bit more hands on, I guess from like the consulting perspective. The coach is going to tell you what you need to do and then you go forth and do it. And then if you need some help, you come back and, you know, you work with them. And both are great options, but both are going to be different and designers are going to need different things. Some designers, they need you to be accountable. They need you to hold them accountable, hold their hand. They kind of want you to do things for them because they're running a large firm so they can't be bogged down like that. But some designers that are maybe running smaller firms and they maybe do have like a business background, they can handle homework. So a business coach can give them homework and they can execute. But it's two different things. So I had a lovely pro educate me on what the differences are. And then I moved forward with splitting that, category into two separate categories. So, and that happens all the time. I literally just split. I had branding, branding and marketing as one category and I had a pro tell me, actually marketing is its own thing. It should be branding and web design. And then marketing's really, it's its own beast. I was like, okay, that makes sense.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: Yeah. And you might even subdivide further going down. You may split branding and you might have website design, you might have email marketing and, it could go, you. Know, all sorts of directions. Well, what's tricky about that is like most pros have multiple services they offer. They might offer branding, marketing and copywriting. So it's like, okay, I don't want it to be all the same people in all of the categories. That's so redundant and that's confusing for designers. So then I'm like, okay, well you need to choose a base category and then you can, you know, list your other services within your pro profile. But I've gotten that, you know, feedback from designers. Like, the categories need to be fine tuned. So I've been fine tuning the categories, breaking them out in different ways that make more sense. But yeah, that's like one of the things that has been a little challenging is just the categories. Yeah. And everyone kind of has their own desire for what the categories look like.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: Without getting too nerdy. Would there be, an option for. If I'm a designer going onto the platform, platform, say I'm interested in email marketing or, or email automation, like something hyper specific for me to search. Right. And then maybe by using a system of tags or categories or something within, then that would self kind of populate a list so I don't have to go through marketing. And I mean I'm also going forward five years from now when you've got 50m people under marketing and go through all of them and see, okay, do they do this specific thing do. And then. Yeah, I mean I'm sure this will all resolve itself technologically as we move forward.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Absolutely. I've had one designer say she was like, I just wish that like maybe with AI there could be some component like that where it's like I just type in a paragraph of what I'm looking for and what I need help with. My design firm is like how people use ChatGPT but in terms of like connecting with pros, you know, and I was like, that's phenomenal. I am not, I have no clue about technology. I am not a technology person. But if I had to look forward in the future of Vetted by Design, absolutely that needs to happen. Just because it's like it makes sense with how designers are interacting with technology current day. So definitely something like that. But until we get there, how I'm kind of like answering And solving that issue. So in each category I'm only allowing 10 pros per category. And that's for like a couple different reasons. I don't want it to be an overwhelming. I don't want a designer to be looking for a PR agency and they go to the category and there's a thousand people. That's so confusing, you know. And I want it to be very curated and intentional, like very select. Like these are the select few companies that we believe in that we back that we vetted. So within the category I try to make sure that we're vetting for like specialties. So a good example of this is going to be drafting. Drafting is a very broad category. There's so many drafting softwares. There's Chief, there's AutoCAD, there's Revit, there's SketchUp, there's more coming out all the time. And so within the drafting category, it's my job to showcase experts, but showcase experts that have different specialties. So we have Erin with EF Designs and she's all about Revit, like large scale Revit drafting, which Revit is very robust program but she's working on large scale projects for designers. And then we also Have Blue sky Creative, who's AutoCAD, and I think she might do some revit too. But it's just making sure that each pro offers a specialty in different software. So that could even go down to, like, business coaches and making sure that all of the business business coaches that are showcased offer something different. You know, you're not going there and just seeing people who only work in one software and you're okay, well, that's not helpful. I used dubsado. That's not helpful. If everybody works in Studio Designer, I have no clue. But just making sure that all of the pros offer something special within each category and then making sure that they all have good and healthy, I guess, timelines. I would feel very frustrated if I did all this work to go into a category, find my pro that matches my business that I, you know, I like and I want to work with. I reach out to them through the platform, and then I find out that they're not booking in 20 until 20, the end of 2026. That does not work for me. You know, like, okay, I just did all that work and reviewed all the profiles and, you know, all the things, and then to find out that I can't even get on their schedule, you know, So I also try to maintain and make sure that when I'm vetting the pros that are on the platform that they have healthy timelines. I cannot control their schedules. I cannot. You know, I do ask them to prioritize Vetted by Design designers, you know, so I'm like, if you see that somebody's coming to you from Vetted by Design, please at least just touch base. We received your email. We will get back to you in 48 hours. You know, at the very least. But yeah, that's. It's just ongoing massaging. But yes, in the future, I would love to incorporate some form of, like, AI to do some matchmaking. Right now, I do the matchmaking. People DM me, hey, do you know anybody that can help me with this? And then I reach out to the pros and see which one would be a good fit. Like, you should reach out to Jessica, and then we go from there. But in the future, I would like to make that a little bit more.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: Streamlined or maybe if it takes away, you know, eight out of the 10 tasks that you like to do when you're vetting person, take care of the boring stuff, the. The number stuff, and then you can do the face to face and get a read of them as a human being.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Kind of yes, yes. Which I'm definitely building a business that is very centered around me and my expectations of businesses and my business background and what I want for the platform. So as the platform grows at max capacity, we could hold upwards of 300 pros on the platform. That's 300 relationships that I have to maintain. Because it's not like you go through the vetting process and that's it. It's like, no, we are ongoing. I'm ongoing vetting people. Like you've been on the platform, Are you still doing good business? Are you still in business or are you on a break? I'm always making sure that I'm checking back in with our pros to make sure that they're still in alignment with the standards of the platform. That's a lot of facetime.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: Yeah, that's a lot. By that point, if you've got 300 pros on there, that's probably, you're gonna have to have other people or AI agents or whatever checking in all the time. And you're talking about doing like, how do you do a monthly meeting with 300 people? How do you, you can't, you're gonna, you're gonna be doing like 10 monthly meetings. They'll do one monthly meeting each, but you're gonna be in one after the other after the other. That could be like two days of your week gone doing that.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Yes, yes. That's why I'm making sure right now that that that's my favorite part is the people. That's my favorite part is getting to know the business owner, talking finances and talking about their business dreams, talking about what size their team is, what are their business goals, that kind of stuff. So when I think of the platform being to that 300 at that point, that's what I'm doing. I'm not doing all of these, you know, other things, we'll have other systems in place. But I always want to be the touch point. I always want to be connecting with the person on the other end of the camera. So in order to do that they'll need to be changes in the future. But we'll grow into it. That's why I tell myself like, yeah, yeah, we'll grow into it with that.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: But that's the attitude of, of any good entrepreneur. Right? You know, you know that there's a problem, you've got a solution and now it's like, how do we do the logistics to make the solution work? The 300 person limit, right? Is that a technological restriction or have you just said that's the number? I don't want to go any higher than that.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: That's just basically the number of categories, the max amount of people per category. And then in 2026 I'm going to be rolling out with some more location based categories. So say you're an interior designer and you've got a project in Texas, but you live in California and you don't know who, you don't know any photographers in Texas, so you need to find a photographer in Texas. So I want to roll out with interior photographers. That will be location based and so of course it'll be per state, major cities and then maybe we'll grow into other cities. But once we start introducing the location based categories like receiving warehouses and things like that, that's when we're getting towards like the 300 Plus Pros. So yeah, and that's going to be in 2026. So right around the corner.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: No, seriously, I want to hear some super, happy stories and maybe I'm also curious about a designer who are, when people, designers come onto the platform and interact, I'm wondering about hesitancy towards delegating or they, or at that point they're already kind of all in.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: No, I'll answer the second one and then come back to the first one. But I think that designers that are attracted to this platform really are from like any walk of life, any years in business, any level of education, experience. But I think what the through thread is between all of them is that they are comfortable delegating. You could be one in business, one year in business and not be comfortable delegating. Or you could be 25 years in business and not be comfortable delegating. So that's like a key part of a designer who's coming to the platform is like they do have to be comfortable like outsourcing and understand, just the natures of outsourcing. It's a little bit hard because sometimes designers, I think things are happening so fast for us in our businesses and we're managing projects, we're managing client relationships, marriages between clients, you know, it's all kinds of things, subs, everything. So I think it's really easy for us to know that we need help. Like we're very aware that we need help. Like we have this bottleneck that's not working, this is affecting our client experience and we know that we need to bring someone in to help with that. But putting pause on your business sometimes is just not feasible. And so I think it's just hard. It's like you might be comfortable outsourcing, but what if you're, you're. If things are just so jumbled in your business, then when you try to outsource, you're not going to have a good experience if you don't even know what you need, you don't even know how to communicate what you need. Like, do you need a business coach or do you need an online business manager? Like, so for a designer to even be able to identify what they need. But when they come to the platform, say, you know that you need a bookkeeper who is well versed in studio designer. That is what you use, that is what you love. You need a bookkeeper who knows their ish. And so you come to the platform, you go to bookkeeping, we have different pros, and you find one that specializes in studio designer. So that's kind of the experience, if you will. And what kind of designer is going to be attracted to the platform is just somebody who's comfortable with outsourcing. Because if you're not, if you're not able to like, communicate and delegate and give somebody else the baton to take it and run with it, then you might not be the best for outsourcing to another business owner. But I think that the platform just has like, so many different types of designers that it can help and just so much room for growth with the type of designers. It could be the new designer, it could be a designer who's so experienced. But, when they come to the platform, I want it to be streamlined. And I, that's why I say it's centralized, it's streamlined. All of the categories, I feel like, make sense. We're still judging them up and we're still, you know, changing them. But if you need help with something or even if there's a category that a designer doesn't see, reach out, like, literally send me an email. Renisha, I need to outsource this. I need help with this. I don't see it on here. Do you know somebody that can help? Like, you know, and a lot of the times, like, there's pros that are on the platform that, like I said, have other services. So they might not be listed in that category that you're looking for, but they might offer some services for it. So, really it's just robust. It's very, very robust. But I would say that when I think of some wins, of course wins are always going to be that connection. It's always going to be a designer reaching out to me or just going through the platform and saying, I need help with this. Do you know anybody that can help me? And me being like, yes, I got you. Reach out to this person or this person and they're like, okay, thank you. That will always be the win. Because that's what the whole idea is behind the platform is helping interior designers. Who. With the. Who. Who do they hire? And then I think, like, just other wins of the platform are just even the fact that it's, it came into fruition, after dissolving the partnership, I just was like, should I keep going with it or, you know, is it even something that people want or is it just something that I need? And I just kept like, pushing forward with it. Pushing forward with it. When you're building a platform and you've never like built the behind the scenes of a platform before, there's so much learning that has to happen. And mind you, I told you, I had a little baby, so I'm, I was building the platform during nap time late at night while my daughter was sleeping. Just the sheer, like, dedication and grit that it took to go live, was such a long journey. So the second that the platform went live, I just felt like that was a win. That was a win as a working parent, a working mom. It just, I think I was working on it in every little ounce of time that I had for like two months just trying to build it and build it and learn a little bit of code and, you know, tweak things and YouTube channels. I was watching YouTube left and right, trying to figure things out. So the fact that the platform is live and it's helping interior designers, that's a win.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: I'll take that as a win every day. You know what you need? You needed a platform like yours for helping people build platforms. You could have just contacted that person and said, boom, let's go. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't want to learn how to code.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Yep. Believe it or not, I did look for that. I did look for some type. Of course that's like how to start a platform. There's none out there. I could not find any out there. So even like membership based businesses, there's, you know, how do you run a membership based business? What, like CRM system do you use? Like what host system do you use? Those kinds of things. I just, there's nothing really out there that kind of like, helps with that. And if there is and if somebody is listening, reach out to me because.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: Yeah, no, exactly. Right. And if you do a Google search, what are you going to end up with? You're just going to end up with these, the big companies who don't offer you this, curated, you know, service.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Yeah, I have such a bone to pick with Google. Google, for me, searching just is not. It does not. Yeah, it's, just not good. Believe it or not, the largest search engine probably in the world. When you search interior design this, you'll be lucky if you'll find a service provider to like, help, you know, so.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: Yeah, well, you're, you're, you're far younger than I am, so you probably don't even remember, like, when Google first started. And, like everybody in my peer group, like, without a doubt will say, google sucks so bad compared to what it used to be. And it's like now it's like, you know, like I complained about being on page seven of like the podcast charts. It's like the first few pages of Google now, but now people are, are migrating away. They're, they're using chat, GPT or Perplexity.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Yeah.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: And, and they're doing their searches from there, which to me is terrifying because, like, it's like you're gonna trust that's the perfect answer now. Like, maybe it's because, like, I'm a detail guy and I'd rather find out exactly the thing I need, but wow.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: It'S very, very crazy the world that we live in that I agree people are using chat as more of like a Google and less Google as Google.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: So, yeah, for sure. What else? I had, I got so many questions still for you. And we keep going off on little tangents. Okay, let's do a little kind of like predictions of looking into the future, the relationships between designers and the people who are on your platform or any kind of support professionals I see as evolving. Where, ten years ago, a small residential firm was literally just the designer and whoever that they hired locally to assist them. But now, and especially with a platform like yours, you could have people who are integral parts of your company spread out everywhere. Right. Obviously a photographer has to be local. You can't do that virtually. A receiving warehouse and a company that runs that for you, that has to be local. Yep, makes sense. But, all of the other things. So what do you see, you know, going forward two, three, five years, whatever?
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Well, I feel like in order to really think about like, what's in the future, I always look at what's in the past and what has happened in the past. Of course, it's no surprise we had Covid. It was very difficult. I think through Covid, a lot of interior designers lost their teams. Whether it was one or two team members or 10 team members, a lot of designers were not able to bring the team back. And so I think through Covid, a lot of interior designers started figuring like, hey, I can actually just outsource this. I can hire a, virtual design assistant that can act as a junior designer. And that affords you a couple of, like, key specific things that affords you. Obviously you don't. Like, you're not tied to offering like a specific salary to this individual like you would with the junior designer. It's the sal salary you have to obviously provide computer, provide software, membership, subscriptions for different things, benefits you have to offer to your junior. You know, like, there's so much stuff that you have to offer to a hired employee and a lot of designers to discovered through Covid. Like, I can outsource that to another business. I don't have to provide all this stuff to them. And also they're coming in at a higher knowledge and experience level with the junior. When you hire a junior, they might be really experienced, but more than not, they're like, not experienced. As, you know, they're coming from school or wherever. So it's like when you outsource to another business, that business owner has worked with so many design clients, so they just have like a higher level of knowledge when you're outsourcing to them. So I think through Covid, designers got more comfortable with that, with like, that acknowledgement. And they got more like, comfortable with it when they hear other designers go on podcast and talk about like, yeah, my team is outsourced. Like, yeah, I hire, I have a rendering artist, I have somebody who does my CAD work. But they're still your team. Like, you don't have to treat them like they're like, you know, outside business owners. I guess you can speak to them and speak to others as if they are your team, because they are. They're just your, online team, if you will. So when I look at that and just the aftermath from COVID then I look at the future, I feel like it's very clear that that is what the future will become. More and more of is designers outsourcing to other business owners. I don't think there's ever going to truly be a need for like, you to never have another in house employee. We're always going to need in house employees, of course, but I think more of the smaller firms and like solo designers, it just makes it more accessible for us to have a team. I like, for my business, my interior zen business is just myself. But, have I outsourced to people? You bet your bottom of the dollar I have. In business, busy seasons, I know exactly who to outsource to. And I don't feel this pressure to like keep the work coming in because I have a salary that I have to, you know, it's just, I don't have that pressure. I can outsource to literally anybody for anything. And then if business gets slow, business gets slow and I just let that pro know that business is slower. So it just offers designers a little bit more flexibility and less stress and overwhelm, I feel like. So I think the future of the industry is just designers getting more and more comfortable with outsourcing and hiring on the online realm. Also, it's no secret that more and more interior designers are coming to interior design as a second or third career. Like I went to school for it. I have a degree in interior design. I feel like I'm the unicorn now. Like, it used to be the opposite where like, it was more common to have a formal education with a degree and then if, you know, people came in. But now it's, it seems as though it's completely swapped and more designers are coming in with no business background, no school background. And I'll be very honest, for me, in my experience, school was integral to my interior design business. I learned how to render in school. I learned how to do all of the CAD and revit drawings in school. I learned how to present, how to speak. Just literally school taught me everything. And so when designers are more coming from like the second or third career, they need to outsource that some of those things a little bit more. So they, if, you're coming as a second or a third career, you're not going to want to learn how to use revit, you're not going to want to learn how to use SketchUp or like create renderings. You know, you want to design.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: So that was the time in your life when you were dedicated to school and all of your time to go back now and try to learn a specific software. It's like, no, I'm not doing it.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: No, no. And I tell everybody I will never go back to school. You will never catch, me going back to school for anything. But I just think that that's the future is that more designers are coming to the industry as a second or third career and they need help. They can have beautiful businesses and beautiful projects, but they're gonna need to outsource some things. You know, nobody gets out without needing someone. Even if the very, very basic, most entry level thing that you need to outsource is bookkeeping, you still need a bookkeeper. So I think that that's the future is that more and more people are going to be outsourcing or outsourcing.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: I had a friend who ran a headhunting business, for executives. And when Covid hit and everybody was like working virtually and he, we talk about that and he would get so mad, he's like, that is awful. He says, you know, you need to be in the office, you need to have that relationship. And I'm sure to start with a virtual employee at that point was not the same thing as a person in the office. But I just recorded a podcast, with a person who runs an executive assistant service. And my, one of my first questions is like, what's the difference between an executive assistant and a virtual assistant? And she was quite honest. She said when I started up my business, her background had been, in corporate life and she worked with high level CEOs. So that's where she came from. And executive was just that word. And she said, really, on one level it's the same thing, right? You are providing assistance to somebody else. But she says what? The service she provides, like the service you're providing is very curated. She only brings people in that can do a certain thing and then she trains them to be even better at that thing. And, and so the Level of assistance she is providing is an executive. It's like it is the same level of service that the CEO of Microsoft is getting. Right? So like that person is in the business and the personal life of the client she's working for, or he's working for, it was mostly women, but I mean, right. And that is purely. That person does not live anywhere near that person. And so when I go back and talk to my friend who runs, he's like, yeah, well it's evolved obviously. And now their business is an executive assistant business. There are a big part of it now because they read the writing on the wall and they're like, okay, this is not going away.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Yeah, well. And I think it's a beautiful thing. Like I said, it offers flexibility for designers. So if my team is online, I don't even have to have like a studio. So that's like one less overhead. So just offers designers to maybe tailor their business in a way that more suits them as opposed to like having, you know, all of the things that you need. And it's funny because like, that's so true. It's like what? A lot of the times it's like, well, what is this? What is that? Like, what is the difference between a VA and a vda? Like, what are, what are the true differences? And so I think that's another key element of the platform is just educating designers on the difference between everything. I literally, I did a post about the all of the like, acronyms, like business acronyms, because I'm like, there's cfo, cmo, coo, now there's like cxo. Just there's so many different acronyms. And just what are the differences between the acronyms? What does everything mean? Do I need a VA or do I need a vda? Like just answering those questions because the online industry is just evolving so much and there's new names for what people are calling themselves every five seconds. So that does not surprise me. It's like, what's the difference between the executive va? Yeah, that's funny.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: It was funny. Yeah, before I came on with you, I always try to reach out to some of my interior designer friends and you know, say, this is who I'm going to be speaking to. Do you have any questions? And one of the questions they did have was, and I didn't mention this to you before, is where you're kind of a handshake. You're putting these two people together, two companies together, together. How does the platform pay for itself? Right.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Yes. Which was very, like a very ongoing conversation. And honestly something that I had to dig down in my own like, morals and my own values for the platform. I'm very honest with anybody who talks with me that the platform is for interior designers. That is my first and foremost focus. That's not going to change. It's. They're my people. So the platform is designer centric first. With that being said, that means it's free for interior designers. Interior designers don't have to pay anything, don't quote me, could change in the future, but at this point in time it's completely free for interior designers to access as a resource. So like, okay, that's something that's like my own value. What I think is important to me is my people. And so I'm like, okay, well if it's a platform and there's making it's making no money. It's, it's not a business. Just to be very frank, it's not a business. It's a very expensive hobby. So I'm like, okay, well there's two sides of this coin. The other side is the pro side. And so it became very obvious that it needed to be a membership based business in which the pros pay fee to be on the platform. I'm very, very weary about that because I think from like when I put my designer hat on, I'm like, oh, well, people just pay to be on this platform. It's just a pay to play kind of deal. And that's why I'm very, very intentional with my message and explaining to people that it is not a pay to play platform. You cannot pay me money and just get on the platform. You have to go through the vetting process. You have to sit with me and you have to have me ask you invasive questions about your business. And I, you know, it's not anything like that. I think there's a lot of platforms that are like that. You know, there's platforms where you can just pay to be on like a directory, good for them. But for me it's like, it's not, it's way much more than that. And so I don't lead with the membership fee. I lead with my goals, my value, my morals, like what is important with the platform. I talk about how a lot and this is just naturally how the platform has come to be. But a lot of the pros that are offering services on the platform, a lot of them are women. I would say it's like 99.99 women. And that was, that organically happened. That's not something that I forced to happen. And a lot of us are moms. So it's like, it's just important for me to be very forthright with what's my intentions are and like how it's important that the pros are in alignment on a lot of different things. And then if the alignment and if the synergy is there, then we can talk about the membership price and everything that goes into the membership. And if you can be on the platform so free for designers. And then pros do pay a membership fee if they are accepted onto the platform. Very streamlined, very simple. And then once pros are on the platform, I don't take any percentage of any closed contract that they close with the designer. I don't want anything to do with that because that was another part that I asked myself. I'M like, okay, well, if pros are, you know, connecting with designers and forging that relationship and going into contract and agreement and things like that, do I take a portion of that? And for me, that just didn't sit, like, sit well with me. And that just goes back to a profitable business, like, and cutting into their profit as a business. I do not want vetted by design to cut into anybody's profit on their business and when they're signing agreements with designers. So we don't do it that way. It's just the membership fee. We keep it really plain and simple, and really straightforward.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: So, I mean, my feedback when I was asked that question, it was, it was, half a dozen designers that mentioned that to me. And I said, well, she's got to make her money somehow just to pay. Even if it was like a charity, it still has to pay for the technology and, and a certain amount of her time. And I'm like, do you want to pay, do you want to pay a membership? And they're like, well, no, not really. And I'm like, well, somebody's paying. Somebody has to pay, right? And I said like, okay, is it an affiliate arrangement where you get a percentage of a sale? Well, I mean, then you run into, you know, so say on the first sale, right, you get your, your percentage of that. But then the designer and service provider say, hey, we don't want to go through, vetted by design anymore. I'll give you 10% off if we just. And then suddenly you're out of the loop and your whole financial model doesn't work. So what you're doing is like, you know, you keep it up front, everybody knows what it is. And then it's like, and then it's just once they've used the service, if they're happy with the service. Right, and the, and the, the professionals on your, on your roster are happy with the service. You know, and same thing we said before. Three, five years down the line, this will be a non issue. But I can see when you start.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Out, you know, yeah, and like, I am, very. Like I said, I'm. First, we are going to talk about my goals, what I, my expectations of all the pros that are on the platform. That is the conversation we're having. If you're like, yes, I, I can adhere to those expectations, we are in alignment on those expectations, then we'll move into talking about the membership fee, what all is encompassing of the membership and things like that. And some pros or like, see you later, sister. Like, I'm never going to pay any kind of membership fee. No, no, no, no, no. And then I've had other pros who are well established business owners. They're like, okay, that makes sense. Like, and when I have these conversations, they're all circled, like, centered around business and having a profitable business, having a real business. And part of having a real business is making money from your business. So like, if pros or designers or anybody is like, you know, uncomfortable with there's a membership fee, then I just, I'm like, I don't know any other way to do it because I want to maintain that it's free for interior designers, you know, and in order to do that, you are correct, somebody has to pay. There has to be some sort of monetary, I guess investment from someone. So it is from the pro side of things. And like I said, most pros that are like seasoned business owners, they have an allotted amount of money that they put to the side for market, marketing and like, for even like business coaches, they set aside a certain percentage of their profit each year or things like that. So that's the level of pros that.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: We'Re working with and circling it back to you with your, sales, tax problem with your accountant, all that expense. It's a business expense. Yeah, it's a business expense. It's not, it's not right. It's the cost of doing business.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Yep. So some, like I said, some pros get it and some pros, it's just not in alignment with where they're at. So that's fine. Yeah.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: You're looking for the proper fit.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Yes, I'm looking for the proper fit, which is personality fit, A. Business fit, like experience fit, years in business fit. It does, it's a lot of different things. So it's like I said, it's a lot of time. It's a lot. It's a huge time investment as the founder of the platform. But I believe in it and I believe in it being a true resource. And I think that it, if I wasn't going to do it, I'm sure in a year somebody else would have done something similar. So it just needed to happen.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: That somebody hadn't already done it.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: I know. I'm like, this is crazy. That's so crazy. And of course I'm like, well, does that mean that nobody wants it if no one's already started it and we're like 20, 25 and no one's, you know, and I was like, well, let's just move forward with it, and we'll see how it goes, and we'll get feedback and we'll talk to designers. And so far, every designer that I've talked to is like, this is genius. And I'm not just saying that because I'm the founder. Like, truly, Truly, every designer that I've talked to was like, thank you. This is amazing. This is genius.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: Yeah, that sounds good. Well, I can't think of any other questions for you. Is there anything. Is there anything I've missed that you think designers, need to know that we haven't talked about.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: I think I touched on just. If any designers are not seeing something that they're looking for on the platform, you can DM me. You can send me an email, and I can help people get in touch and find what they're looking for. I can add categories. Of course, if the designer is like, I don't see this category. Why is it not there? It's very easy to add. So, yeah, I am, as the founder, I'm very accessible. So if any designers need anything, just DM me.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: Okay. Where are you personally active? Mostly on social.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: I'm definitely most active on the. Vetted by design. Instagram.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: Okay.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Yeah. And it's just Vetted by design.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: Let's see. I'll. I'll include all the. The links and everything like that in the show notes and whatnot. But, yeah, no, I mean, it's such an easy way to, like, just shoot someone a DM or even, you know, into the comments or something like that. But, yeah. Yeah. Another conversation.
Douglas Robb - Interior DesignHer: Okay, well, this has been great. I, I wanted to. I want to thank you because, like, I mean, I learned a ton of. Obviously, I was. I was interested in the platform. I'm glad. I learned a bit more, too. So this is great.
Ronniesha Rivera - Vetted by Design: Yeah, yeah. Thank you for having me.
The Business Benefits
When you stop keeping everything in your head and start building a vetted support team, your business transforms. You're no longer the bottleneck for every administrative task. You can focus on design work while confident professionals handle the operational details. Most importantly, you're building systems that scale with your growth instead of limiting it.
The Blueprint for Better Hiring
Start by identifying which tasks consume your time but don't require your design expertise. Then, instead of posting in Facebook groups hoping for referrals, use a vetting process that evaluates experience with interior design businesses specifically. Ask detailed questions about their interior design client work, request examples, and verify they understand your industry's unique challenges.
The Transformation Result
The goal isn't just to save time - it's to build a business that operates professionally without your constant oversight. When you have vetted professionals handling bookkeeping, marketing, and administration, you're free to focus on creating beautiful spaces while building sustainable growth. Your clients receive better service, you work fewer evenings, and your business scales beyond what you can personally manage.
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