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This can be an excellent time to start an interior design business, or take an existing one to the next level. Especially if you have the right team supporting you.

Why might this be a good time? Well, partly because people have spent so much time in their homes the last few months.

Consider these excerpts from home furnishings expert Jerry Epperson’s most recent issue of the authoritative Furnishings Digest Newsletter:

“Retail sales have been strong since mid-May. Not many expected the vigor of the consumer spending on the home that we have experienced… Our consumers are recognizing the need for home furnishings and giving it a higher spending priority… The housing sector is showing growth most of us have never experienced before. We are excited about this and its implication for the furniture industry… Looking at 2021, it will benefit from the housing turnover that is rebounding in terms of creating demand for home furnishings.”

Mr.…

The foundation of any interior design business is building one’s personal reputation in your local market. An important building block in that foundation can be being part of something bigger.

For example, when window treatments expert Charles Randall was beginning work on his newest book, Designer Window Fashions, an interior design writer he knows suggested a way for him to have access to large library of photos of window treatment designs. That library represents the work of some 300 design professionals who are Decorating Den Interiors franchise partner or designers who work in those businesses.

“My writer friend introduced me to Ross Feltz, who does public relations for those design business owners,” said Randall. “That began a year of working with Ross looking at hundreds of photos from several years of entries in the company’s annual Dream Room competition. The result was that nearly 100 photos from about 40 Decorating Den Interiors were used in m…

How do you build a marketing team for a sole proprietor interior design business? What tools do you have for differentiating yourself in your local market? How can you build your personal reputation as a “go-to” interior designer? For example, could you easily and cost-effectively form a team that could produce monthly Complete Marketing Packages that include a social media posts, a personalized email, a ready-made blog post, an article to submit to a local publication, direct mail and a design seminar power point—all on the same timely topic?

For Valentine’s Day, for example, the Complete Marketing Package our franchisee interior design businesses were provided was built around the theme: Is Your Home Romancing You?

In March, the Complete Marketing Package was timed for St. Patrick’s Day with the theme: A Shamrock Guide to Interior Design. For tax season, the theme was Working with an Interior Designer Need Not be Taxing. In the works are packages …

“It’s like having my own staff, even though I run my business solo.” —Interior design business owner Marva Don Card.

Some who have their own business aspirations explore owning a franchise. Some of them, however, are hesitant about whether it’s worthwhile to pay the ongoing royalty or service fee that is involved with a franchise.

Most of our interior design franchise owners operate a home-based business and do almost all of it on their own. Marketing and public relations. Financial management. Business planning. Choosing from our vast array of suppliers. Ordering product. Scheduling installations. Hiring independent contractors. And somehow squeezing in time to create custom interior designs for clients.

During our monthly Marketing Monday Zoom conferences for all of our franchisees, we often have other franchisees share experiences. Recently, Marva Don Card of Idaho shared how being a franchisee gave her a head start in getting her business r…