The Interior DesignHer Podcast
real-world interior design business education
Interior Design Is A Luxury Business. Why Are Most Designers Struggling?
Interior Design Is A Luxury Business. Why Are Most Designers Struggling?
Interior design procurement is costing most designers money they don't know they're losing. Procurement specialist Timala Stewart, a former corporate furniture buyer with a decade of experience at companies including Ashley Furniture, audited a single finished project for one of her clients and found a $2,000 leak in freight and warehousing charges alone. That was one room. Eight rooms would have been $16,000. The designer was experienced. She simply didn't know what to account for.
This is the part of your business nobody taught you. Not design school. Not your first mentor. Not the software platforms you're paying for every month. Procurement, the sourcing, ordering, tracking, coordinating, and documenting that happens from the moment a design concept is approved to the day install is complete, is where the gap between what you think you're making and what you're actually keeping lives.
You're Working Too Hard: Interior Design Procurement Doesn't Have to Be This Way | Brittanie Elms
You're Working Too Hard: Interior Design Procurement Doesn't Have to Be This Way
How successful design firms are scaling their businesses by transforming their procurement systems
If you're like most interior designers, there's a good chance you didn’t start your own business because of your unrequited love of purchase orders, vendor emails, and procurement tracking spreadsheets.
In today’s podcast episode, Brittanie Elms of My Design Assistant reveals why doing everything yourself is not only super stressful, it’s actually costing you money. Her clients are proof that transforming procurement chaos into a streamlined operation actually pays for itself.
And hey, it's not just about procurement...we all know that our businesses should have better systems in place, but who has time to figure that out?
Join us for this candid conversation where Brittanie reveals:
Why sending items to a receiver actually saves you money
The crucial systems every interior design business needs from day one
How to know when your business is ready for outsourcing
Real procurement horror stories (and how to avoid them)
Why retainers are non-negotiable for successful procurement