New Sourcing Tool Makes Life Easier

Monetizing an interior design business with products is a conversation that is ever evolving in the design industry. Between vendor accounts, affiliate links, buyer clubs and sales tools, at times it can be hard to decide what’s best for you and your business. Using a variety of these options can be very beneficial to your business and today, I’m going to share more information about one sales tool I came across that has become a real game-changer for many independent interior designers.

SideDoor is a sales tool and platform where interior designers can curate shoppable collections of products from their favorite vendors to share with their clients and/or social media followers. This tool gives you the option to create collections and invoices specifically for your clients AND it allows you to create collections in your style and brand to share on your website and social media platforms.

With over 80 popular vendors and average commissions of 33% this sales tool allows you to monetize your business in a much simpler way. So how does this work? Follow the steps below.

1.       Request Access – you can go to www.onsidedoor.com and request to be a part of the program. SideDoor will review your request to see if you’ll be a good fit. Once you are accepted, you will get in on the early access program, which is currently FREE. (Date of this post is 10/20/20)

2.       Curate Collections – After you are accepted, you can start creating collections using products from a vast array of vendors at vendor direct designer net pricing. You can share these collections in client proposals or directly online with your followers.

3.       Share – Once your collections are curated you’ll be able to embed shoppable links on your website, blog and other social media platforms.

4.       Earn Commission – When your clients or followers purchase products from you, you earn the spread between designer net and retail. SideDoor takes care of the rest.

5.       Sit Back – Once your client makes a purchase, SideDoor will fulfill the order, get it to your client and deposit your earned commission.

If you are interested in learning more, you can visit the SideDoor website at www.onsidedoor.com to check out their current vendors, frequently asked questions and apply for access.

For more information on exactly how the sales tool works, you can also sign up for a webinar using the link below. The webinar is Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. EST.

 https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_lOMV7remSQ6Yoc3ctkVEKQ

These webinars are available every Wednesday so you could sign up for another time if this Wednesday is not convenient for you.

SideDoor is a simple and easy to use tool but we know you are busy and actively growing your business. Whether you are currently using SideDoor or you decide to sign up now, we are here to help. There are several VDAs on my team who are able to help you manage your SideDoor account to make sure you are using the tool to its full potential.

Have a wonderful day!

XX, Danae

Self-Hosted Project Management

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

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

MICROSOFT EXCEL

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

PINTEREST

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

GOOGLE DRIVE

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

TRELLO

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

PAYPAL, VENOMO, WAVE

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

HELLO SIGN

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

MAILCHIMP

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

WEBSITE

Some designers even use private pages on their website to communicate with their clients regarding renders, concept boards, selections, etc.

Self-hosted may take a bit more organization but some people are more comfortable using systems they are already familiar with. There are a variety of ways to be successful in this business. It just depends on what works best for you!

Best Project Software for Interior Designers

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

Which one is best for you? Hopefully the information below will help. Mydoma was the only one I was able to locate new updates for 2020.

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

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

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

Key features:

Product Sourcing

Proposals & Invoicing

Room Boards

Project Tracker

Time & Expense Tracker

Online Payments

Reports

Mobile App

QuickBooks Online Sync

Pricing: Free $0/month

Starter $59/month

Essential $49/month when billed annually – Current Special Offer

Ultimate $199/month when billed annually

Try it: They offer a free demo at www.ivy.co. Ivy is owned by Houzz.  

Design Manager

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

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

Key Features:

Project management

Time billing

Enter spec info fees, markups and discounts

Client documents with payment links

Purchase orders

Order tracking

Receipts

Accounting

Reports

Inventory

Pricing:

DM Cloud $39.99/month

Pro Cloud $54.99/month

Save 10% by paying annually

Current offer: Save 50% off first 3 months.

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

Mydoma

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

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

Key features:

Orders, invoices & online payments

Design packages

Product sourcing

Time tracking

Client portal

Designers Toolkit

Pricing: $59 per month for Solo

$79 per month for Team (8 users)

$12 per month for Agency

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

Brand New Features 2020

• Ability to set categories to vendors - Suppliers or Service Provider

• Better organization & management of services

• Comprehensive proposals redesign

• The addition of “Grouped” products

• Ability to create purchase orders & work orders on the same window

• Creation of invoices on a proposal level

• Comprehensive reporting

For more information on Mydoma Studio 3.0 - Tulip

Studio Designer

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

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

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

Key features:

Project management

Studio capture

Time billing

Client portal

Integrated accounting

Reporting

Pricing: Basic - $35/month

Professional - $45/month

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

Self-hosted

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

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!

Get 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

Charge Your Worth!

If you are in any sort of interior design Facebook group I’m sure you’ve noticed what and how interior designers are charging for their services are very popular topics of conversation. With a wide variety of ranges as well as whether to charge hourly, fee based, hybrid, paid consult, commission or whatever other way there is to charge, there are a number of ways to go about making money in this industry.

One of the most popular things I see is how to charge your worth. I’ve seen a number of very experienced designers say that they feel like after the initial consultation clients go running to the hills after they tell them their fees. Why is this? Well, you aren’t attracting the right type of client.

In order to charge your worth and make money, you need to attract the right type of client and by doing so you can demand higher fees. So how do you demand higher fees?

Niche

The number one thing you’ll hear coaches say is niche, niche, niche. And I agree with them. Niche down to offer services that make you different from everyone else. Specialize in the type of design that you are most passionate about and experienced in. But Danae, what happens when I get a client who wants to pay my fees but they aren’t in my niche? You can either help them the best you can – you are a designer after all and if you are comfortable helping them I’m sure you’ll do great. Or you can refer them to another designer – maybe you have a designer friend that you refer business back and forth to each other based on the niche. Or if you want the best of both worlds, hire a virtual design assistant that specializes in the design you prefer not to do in order to keep the client and continue to make money while your assistant helps with the design work, sourcing, etc.

Your niche should be specific. What do you specialize in, where does your experience and passions lie? If you typically only work with coastal homes you have your niche. If you only design coffee shops, you have your niche.

Why should someone hire you? Why would you hire you? What sets you apart from everyone else out there? What problems do you solve? You need to be specific and use your website, social media and brand to connect with your target market.

People are willing to pay for expertise and if they need a home office designed and you specialize in home offices and know all the tips and tricks to make the most efficient use of a home office while making it a breathtakingly beautiful place to work – then you have our niche.

Still stuck on what to specialize in? New niches appear all the time. Besides evaluating your passions and strengths stay on top of interior design trends. Sometimes a niche evolves over time and if you are paying attention you may be able to open yourself up to a whole new target market. For example, right now home offices are a hot trend, as are home school spaces, relaxation spaces, mudrooms and reconfiguring kitchens. Pick your favorite space and run with it … or niche in home remodels for people who suddenly will be spending a lot more time at home.

Once you have your niche create a Facebook group or Instagram channel to better advertise your services and expertise. No matter what your goals are the best way to generate clients is by:

·         Being yourself

·         Being real

·         Being honest

·         Write like you are writing to a friend

·         Be consistent – consistency is one of the most common ways interior designers get tripped up on marketing their services. They get stuck in a vicious cycle of marketing for clients, getting busy, discontinuing their marketing, finishing up with their clients only not to have anyone else in the pipeline and start the process over again. Working with a virtual design assistant can help you with a variety of tasks that can keep your pipeline full, your clients happy and your business prosperous.

If you are still struggling on what to charge – seek out a fellow designer that is also a coach or offers courses on how to charge, what to charge, the best ways to charge, etc. Ironically, I’ve been working on this post for two weeks and yesterday I got an email from Sandra Funk with House of Funk on this very topic. I’ve heard great things about her helping other designers so it’s worth checking out!

I hope this helps you to finally start charging what your worth. Have a great rest of your week!

Danae

Jack of All Trades, Master of None

I’ve always hated the saying – Jack of all trades, master of none. I can do many things really well, so I almost take it as a slap in the face when I hear this. I know many, many people who are masters of a lot of things. Look at interior designers for instance – not only do you have to be good at designing things you have to be good at rendering, drafting, sourcing, social media, marketing, copyrighting, bookkeeping, administration, customer service, web design, graphic design, coordinating schedules and a number of other things I know I’m missing.

There are several interior designers who are really good at every aspect of their business but the real question is are there several interior designers who are passionate about all of it? Most likely not. So, although I don’t agree with the saying – Jack of all trades, master of none – I do think that as individuals we are more passionate about certain aspects of our business, which in turn shows up in our work.

And even though some of us are masters of a lot, we no longer have time to be. This is exactly why at Elite Design Assistants the virtual design assistants (VDA) can specialize in certain areas. They can work on what they are passionate about and it does make them quicker, more efficient and masters of their niche.

If you don’t want to do it all, maybe you don’t need someone else who can do it all, too. Many of my clients are finding great success using multiple VDAs. They might have one who focuses on photorealistic 3d renders, a second that focuses on administration and a third that focuses on social media.

Some of our VDAs are so niched down that they specialize and prefer to do CAD drawings and renders for kitchens only. While some VDAs focus on construction documents and specs, others focus on website design or SEO or branding or sourcing. Since we offer many services, we have a lot of experts in each area of the interior design business.

If you hire a VDA to do QuickBooks, she very likely will not be the same VDA you hire to do your 3d renders. QuickBooks for the interior design industry is a unique skill set due to the multiple moving pieces in that business. Most personality types who do really well in QuickBooks don’t also do well with creating renders.

These options are what make it possible for you to grow your business. You know you’re getting an expert in the tasks that you most need help with.

Maybe the saying should be changed to - Jack of all trades, passionate about one. I could get on board with that. ;)

** Although I do typically recommend getting a VDA for each niche, I do have a few unicorns on my team so I’m never quick to count anyone out. Just as a designer truly can be gifted enough to do it all and love it– on occasion we find a VDA that can, too.

Get More Clients Using SEO

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “work smarter not harder” before and this is exactly what SEO does for you. With proper SEO and digital marketing, you will be surprised at how much business you can drive to your interior design business. Clients seeking your services can literally be pointed in the right direction instead of having too much information to sift through and get lost in.

The great news is SEO doesn't take months of work, usually it takes just a few weeks. Over time, procedures will need to be updated but a little SEO can go a very long way. If you are unfamiliar with SEO it is Search Engine Optimization and it uses keywords placed in your online content to find you when potential clients are doing online searches. A great SEO expert will know the common search words used in your niche and make sure those words are strategically placed in your content.

Let’s say you specialize in mid-century modern design in Austin Texas. All those keywords would need to be placed in your content so when a potential client does a google search for mid-century modern design in Austin Texas your business comes up. Your SEO would also include variations of the keywords such as mid-century mod, mid-century modern interior design, mid-century modern style, mid century mod décor, etc.

There are a number of benefits to having SEO in your online content such as it:

1.     Creates a better experience for your potential clients

2.     Becomes a primary source of leads

3.     Brings a higher close rate and higher conversion rates

4.     Builds brand credibility

5.     Promotes better cost management

6.     Increases your social media following

7.     Can take you a head of the competition

Are you ready to look at how SEO can increase your business? We have a couple of SEO experts here at Elite Design Assistants and they are ready to help you! When working with one of our SEO experts they have some very specific questions you’ll answer and then they get to work making your online content work for you.

If you are interested in learning more about working with a SEO VDA please feel free to email me at danae@elitedesignassistants.com for more information.

Enjoy the day!

Danae

20 Fun & Unique Client Gift Ideas

I’ve found client gifts to be a popular topic in many designer Facebook groups and decided to compile a list of some of the most obvious and most unique ideas I have come across. Many designers do give a smaller gift for perhaps an e-design client or a smaller project and then they may give a larger gift for their larger more lucrative projects. What you decide to do is up to you, but if you are struggling with client gift ideas, hopefully the list below will help!

Also, once you decide what to gift, you may want to consider adding questions to your client survey to help you. For example, if you decide you are going to give restaurant gift certificates, ask what their favorite restaurants are in your survey. Or if you are going to give flowers, ask what their favorite flowers are. And depending on what you decide to give, you may just need to be observant while working on the project. You’ll see some great ideas below!

1.       Coffee gift cards – Often paired with a mug or Yeti these gift cards are perfect for your coffee loving clients.

2.       Small accessory – You’ve designed their home so you know their taste – you can probably come up with an awesome accessory they can display. Buy local or search Etsy for some great finds.

3.       Piece of artwork – Everyone loves a good piece of artwork and your local antique store or Etsy should offer some quality, affordable pieces.

4.       Coaster set – Personalize a set of coaster’s with your client’s favorite quote, saying or something meaningful to them and/or their family.

5.       Bouquet of flowers – Flowers brighten every home.

6.       Granite turntable for kitchen – These are beautiful and useful.

7.       Butcher-block cutting boards – This idea came with a self-promo. Have your design logo engraved or burned into the corner of the board.

8.       Wine, champagne, specialty beer or other favorite beverage - Anyone familiar with Crown Royal Peach? In certain parts of the country, you would become the talk of the town if you gifted this highly sought after seasonal beverage.

9.       Design health check – Some designers offer a design health check once a year for five years. It’s often a two-hour limit for questions and changing things up like décor. This is a fantastic way to get repeat business and referrals.

10.   Chocolates – Specialty chocolates are a very special treat.

11.   Indoor potted plant – Potted plants are a great gift for a client that you just designed a space for.

12.   Chef’s apron – If your clients love being in the kitchen, a personalized chef’s apron make a great gift.

13.   Doormats – Personalized or not, everyone needs a good doormat.

14.   Wall signs – Are your clients the wall sign kind of people? These can be personalized as well.

15.   Doorknocker – Doorknockers make a fun and unique gift.

16.   Unique wooden bowls – Wooden bowls make a great accessory and if they are unique, a great conversation starter.

17.   Restaurant gift certificate – Everyone eats, and even if they aren’t going out during these times they could be doing curbside pickup or ordering in.

18.   Cozy throw – A gorgeous throw is perfect for a living room, sitting room, bedroom or even an office or a den.

19.   Set of kitchen hand towels – These are always needed and well received.

20.   BOXFOX – This is a gift box company were you can customize a personalized box of fun goodies for your clients.

If you are doing your own packaging, a great idea to maximize your marketing efforts is to put the gift in a reusable grocery bag with your design logo on it. People love these bags and a quality one can be used as a tote bag.

Any of these gifts would be a great way to show a client how much you appreciate them.

Enjoy!

Hiring Virtual vs. In-House Assistants

As many interior designers are growing their businesses, I’m seeing the need for quality help increase significantly. Many designers are moving towards hiring virtual help for a number of factors but I do still see some designers who desire in-house help. I decided to highlight the differences between hiring virtual vs. in-house assistants as well as the pros and cons of each.

Virtual

Due to technology, virtual assistants are becoming more and more popular. They are often skilled in specific areas of business and are able to do a wide variety of tasks. Specifically for the interior design industry a skilled virtual design assistant can offer services such as 3d renders, floor plans, construction documents and specs, concept boards, presentations, invoicing, vendor management, client management, product selection and sourcing, bookkeeping, social media management, copyrighting, marketing and SEO and so much more!

Many clients work with their virtual design assistant through Trello, Asana or email and find that even if they are needing help with staying organized, scheduling and/or creating and implementing their processes a virtual design assistant can be a huge asset in terms of business growth.

So what are the pros and cons of working with a virtual design assistant?

PROS

·         Typically work on a 1099, as-needed basis.

·         You don’t have to worry about taxes, benefits or layoffs.

·         They provide their own office equipment, software and workspace.

·         During COVID times, there is no need to worry about social distancing since they work from their own home.

·         The great ones require no training.

·         They can do a wide variety of tasks including some tasks you may think only in-house people can do such as put together material binders, schedule appointments, answer phones or attend meetings.

CONS

·         They are not in-house to run errands – however, I have found some of my clients local virtual assistants that are open to running local errands and doing in-house tasks on an as-needed basis.

·         Not able to communicate face-to-face.

·         May work for more than one interior designer and not have the ability to work with you full-time if that’s what you desire.

In-House

In-house assistants are still desirable to those designers who need a face to welcome clients into a studio or prefer to work with their assistants in person. The most common struggle I see among designers today regarding hiring an in-house assistant is finding quality local candidates. Many designers have to train college interns or people with little industry experience and most designers don’t have time for taking on that type of commitment.

However, there are obviously some positives to hiring in-house if that’s what you prefer.

PROS

·         Able to run errands.

·         Able to communicate face-to-face.

·         You have more control over their time, especially if you are hiring a full-time employee.

·         Able to train an intern or inexperienced assistant if that’s what you desire.

CONS

·         Must provide a workspace, office equipment and supplies.

·         In most cases, must guarantee a certain number of hours per week whether they are part-time or full-time.

·         In most cases, they are hired as an employee and provided benefits.

·         Increased worry about layoffs during our current climate of uncertainty.

·         Is often difficult to find quality local candidates with industry experience.

As you can see there are a variety or pros and cons no matter which route you decide to take. I suggest you take a good look and your business and your goals in order to determine what type of assistant will be best for your business.

As always, feel free to reach out with any questions you may have regarding the subject. I’m always happy to help!

Danae