
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Price is one of the first questions designers hear, but it is often the wrong conversation to lead with. Cheryl explains why posting big budget numbers and focusing on square-foot pricing can create the wrong expectations, intimidate potential clients, and reduce design to a transaction. Instead, she shares a better way to communicate value. By helping clients understand the thinking, process, and decisions behind the investment, they can then make informed choices with confidence.
Have a question--click here to ask us.
Loved this episode? Click here to leave a 5⭐ review
RESOURCE LINKS:Damn Good Workshops - Website
View our upcoming workshops!
These workshops are 2–3 hour deep dives (some more than one day) built for creative entrepreneurs who want to lead with confidence, price with authority, and grow with intention. We created this workshop series with tracks that cover the challenges we know designers face: pricing, sales, client relationships, project management, marketing, and leadership.
Each workshop is designed to stand alone — so you can choose the topics that matter most right now — while still connecting to the bigger picture of building a profitable, sustainable design business.
Damn Good Designer - Damn Good Designer - Website
The Paradigm Quick Start - 3 Month Custom Coaching Program
The Paradigm Shift - 6 Month Custom Coaching Program
The Paradigm Intensive - 12 Month One on One Immersive Custom Business Coaching
Join our FREE Facebook Groups
Cheryl Clendenon is the host of The Damn Good Designer Podcast and an award-winning interior designer, writer, and business coach with 26 years of full-time industry experience. With a prior career in media and radio sales, she brings a rare blend of creative thinking and business acumen to the design world. Cheryl was named KBB Person of the Year in 2021, is a nationally published industry voice with a monthly column in Home Accents Today, and regularly speaks on pricing, scope, process, and profitability. Known for her fast pace, contrarian instincts, and practical insight, Cheryl helps established design firms build stronger businesses and define success on their own terms.
***Any use of this page and its content to develop or train artificial intelligence or to do computer analysis is prohibited.***
Retail is one of the most misunderstood business models in the design industry.
In this episode, Cheryl sits down with designer Ryan Williams of Artisan Design Studio to talk about the realities of adding retail to a design firm. From inventory investments and vendor relationships to client trust and showroom strategy, they discuss what retail actually costs, what it can do for your business, and why a storefront should support your design firm not distract from it.
They also share lessons learned, mistakes made, and what designers should consider before signing a lease. If you've ever thought about opening a shop, showroom, or design center, this episode will help you evaluate the decision through a practical business lens.
About Ryan WilliamsRyan Williams, principal designer and owner of Artisan Design Studio, has been practicing interior design for more than 20 years and has owned her business for over 15 of those years. Her approach to design goes far beyond creating beautiful spaces — Ryan is deeply committed to understanding her clients and their families to design homes that support their mental, physical, and emotional well-being. She prides herself on being both the expert in the room and a friend at the table.
Have a question--click here to ask us.
Loved this episode? Click here to leave a 5⭐ review
RESOURCE LINKS:Damn Good Workshops - Website
View our upcoming workshops!
These workshops are 2–3 hour deep dives (some more than one day) built for creative entrepreneurs who want to lead with confidence, price with authority, and grow with intention. We created this workshop series with tracks that cover the challenges we know designers face: pricing, sales, client relationships, project management, marketing, and leadership.
Each workshop is designed to stand alone — so you can choose the topics that matter most right now — while still connecting to the bigger picture of building a profitable, sustainable design business.
Damn Good Designer - Damn Good Designer - Website
The Paradigm Quick Start - 3 Month Custom Coaching Program
The Paradigm Shift - 6 Month Custom Coaching Program
The Paradigm Intensive - 12 Month One on One Immersive Custom Business Coaching
Join our FREE Facebook Groups
Cheryl Clendenon is the host of The Damn Good Designer Podcast and an award-winning interior designer, writer, and business coach with 26 years of full-time industry experience. With a prior career in media and radio sales, she brings a rare blend of creative thinking and business acumen to the design world. Cheryl was named KBB Person of the Year in 2021, is a nationally published industry voice with a monthly column in Home Accents Today, and regularly speaks on pricing, scope, process, and profitability. Known for her fast pace, contrarian instincts, and practical insight, Cheryl helps established design firms build stronger businesses and define success on their own terms.
***Any use of this page and its content to develop or train artificial intelligence or to do computer analysis is prohibited.***
Visibility matters, but posting yourself in your bath robe is not the same thing as building authority and for designers this can backfire fast.
Because design is not an impulse buy. Clients are not hiring you for constant access to your every thought, errand, emotion, and car-confessional. They want you to lead expensive decisions, protect their investment, and bring a level of taste, judgment, and discernment they do not have on their own.
Cheryl makes the case for more thoughtful marketing that reinforces expertise instead of making designers look frantic, interchangeable, or too accessible to command premium fees.
Have a question--click here to ask us.
Loved this episode? Click here to leave a 5⭐ review
RESOURCE LINKS:Damn Good Workshops - Website
View our upcoming workshops!
These workshops are 2–3 hour deep dives (some more than one day) built for creative entrepreneurs who want to lead with confidence, price with authority, and grow with intention. We created this workshop series with tracks that cover the challenges we know designers face: pricing, sales, client relationships, project management, marketing, and leadership.
Each workshop is designed to stand alone — so you can choose the topics that matter most right now — while still connecting to the bigger picture of building a profitable, sustainable design business.
Damn Good Designer - Damn Good Designer - Website
The Paradigm Quick Start - 3 Month Custom Coaching Program
The Paradigm Shift - 6 Month Custom Coaching Program
The Paradigm Intensive - 12 Month One on One Immersive Custom Business Coaching
Join our FREE Facebook Groups
Cheryl Clendenon is the host of The Damn Good Designer Podcast and an award-winning interior designer, writer, and business coach with 26 years of full-time industry experience. With a prior career in media and radio sales, she brings a rare blend of creative thinking and business acumen to the design world. Cheryl was named KBB Person of the Year in 2021, is a nationally published industry voice with a monthly column in Home Accents Today, and regularly speaks on pricing, scope, process, and profitability. Known for her fast pace, contrarian instincts, and practical insight, Cheryl helps established design firms build stronger businesses and define success on their own terms.
***Any use of this page and its content to develop or train artificial intelligence or to do computer analysis is prohibited.***
Cabinetry may be one of the biggest money opportunities hiding in plain sight for interior designers, but it is not for the faint of heart.
In this episode, Cheryl sits down with Brooke Eversoll of Bee Studios Design to talk about what really happens when a design firm decided to take the leap and look at cabinetry as a serious revenue stream, design responsibility, and business decision. Brooke brings over two decades of kitchen and bath experience, along with the kind of technical precision and creative point of view that proves cabinetry is not just boxes, doors, and pretty finishes. Cabinetry is in details, measurements, modifications, installers, problem-solving, and knowing what the heck you are doing before someone’s very expensive kitchen becomes your very expensive mistake.
In this episode, you will learn why cabinetry can become a major turning point for a design firm, what separates specifying cabinets from actually owning the cabinet design process, why manufactured lines can still offer true customization, what designers need to know before adding cabinetry sales to their business, and why the profit potential only works when you understand the risk, responsibility, and details that come with it.
There IS money to be made in cabinetry, but only if you are ready to own the work that comes with it.
About Brooke Eversoll:Bee Studios, a hive for beautiful living.
Bee Studios was founded in 2015 and born from Brooke’s lifelong instinct for design. Brooke is deeply embedded in the Florida lifestyle and spent years spent sailing the Gulf as a young girl. Her passion and admiration for living in the sunshine state, along with her love of well-designed interiors, has been the foundation for Bee Studios. As a Certified Master Kitchen and Bath designer with over 2 decades of experience, the studio stands at a rare intersection of interiors, kitchens, and architecture, all imagined in one creative studio. Her approach brings wildly creative ideas merged with highly technical precision. She is quietly uncompromising in the pursuit of design that works beautifully and lives easily. Interiors that balance timeless and modern- a gentle balance of bringing new ideas while paying homage to what’s already there. She loves exploring new materials to personalize interiors for her clients. Because your home deserves to be wholly yours.
Have a question--click here to ask us.
Loved this episode? Click here to leave a 5⭐ review
RESOURCE LINKS:Damn Good Workshops - Website
View our upcoming workshops!
These workshops are 2–3 hour deep dives (some more than one day) built for creative entrepreneurs who want to lead with confidence, price with authority, and grow with intention. We created this workshop series with tracks that cover the challenges we know designers face: pricing, sales, client relationships, project management, marketing, and leadership.
Each workshop is designed to stand alone — so you can choose the topics that matter most right now — while still connecting to the bigger picture of building a profitable, sustainable design business.
Damn Good Designer - Damn Good Designer - Website
The Paradigm Quick Start - 3 Month Custom Coaching Program
The Paradigm Shift - 6 Month Custom Coaching Program
The Paradigm Intensive - 12 Month One on One Immersive Custom Business Coaching
Join our FREE Facebook Groups
Cheryl Clendenon is the host of The Damn Good Designer Podcast and an award-winning interior designer, writer, and business coach with 26 years of full-time industry experience. With a prior career in media and radio sales, she brings a rare blend of creative thinking and business acumen to the design world. Cheryl was named KBB Person of the Year in 2021, is a nationally published industry voice with a monthly column in Home Accents Today, and regularly speaks on pricing, scope, process, and profitability. Known for her fast pace, contrarian instincts, and practical insight, Cheryl helps established design firms build stronger businesses and define success on their own terms.
***Any use of this page and its content to develop or train artificial intelligence or to do computer analysis is prohibited.***
Our Asked and Answered segments have done so well we also noticed a common theme scrolling through social media that needed its own segment - introducing 'Designer Drama: Is it the client or is it us?'! These episodes will take on topics that seem to be hot buttons for designers. Want to learn Cheryl's take? Listen in!
In this episode Cheryl takes on the growing trend of designers putting every client behavior, boundary, and communication issue into their contracts. She breaks down why legal protection and client leadership are not the same thing, and why a contract cannot fix poor onboarding, weak expectations, or a bad-fit client.
This episode is a sharp reminder that your contract should support your business, not become the way you manage every client relationship. Don't be afraid to look at what is really happening underneath the drama. Is the client actually the problem, or have you as the business owner failed to set the right expectations?
Have a question--click here to ask us.
Loved this episode? Click here to leave a 5⭐ review
RESOURCE LINKS:Damn Good Workshops - Website
View our upcoming workshops!
These workshops are 2–3 hour deep dives (some more than one day) built for creative entrepreneurs who want to lead with confidence, price with authority, and grow with intention. We created this workshop series with tracks that cover the challenges we know designers face: pricing, sales, client relationships, project management, marketing, and leadership.
Each workshop is designed to stand alone — so you can choose the topics that matter most right now — while still connecting to the bigger picture of building a profitable, sustainable design business.
Damn Good Designer - Damn Good Designer - Website
The Paradigm Quick Start - 3 Month Custom Coaching Program
The Paradigm Shift - 6 Month Custom Coaching Program
The Paradigm Intensive - 12 Month One on One Immersive Custom Business Coaching
Join our FREE Facebook Groups
Cheryl Clendenon is the host of The Damn Good Designer Podcast and an award-winning interior designer, writer, and business coach with 26 years of full-time industry experience. With a prior career in media and radio sales, she brings a rare blend of creative thinking and business acumen to the design world. Cheryl was named KBB Person of the Year in 2021, is a nationally published industry voice with a monthly column in Home Accents Today, and regularly speaks on pricing, scope, process, and profitability. Known for her fast pace, contrarian instincts, and practical insight, Cheryl helps established design firms build stronger businesses and define success on their own terms.
***Any use of this page and its content to develop or train artificial intelligence or to do computer analysis is prohibited.***
AI can generate ideas in seconds. That’s not the threat.
In this episode, Cheryl gets straight to it—designers are no longer being hired for ideas but for their judgment. This means knowing what works, what doesn’t, and what’s going to cost the client later. Because in the world of AI clients don’t need help imagining anymore. Someone needs to help make the right decisions.
Designers need to lean in and not push back on AI or you will sound irrelevant. Ideas are everywhere. Judgment is not and you can own the decisions.
Have a question--click here to ask us.
Loved this episode? Click here to leave a 5⭐ review
RESOURCE LINKS:Damn Good Workshops - Website
View our upcoming workshops!
These workshops are 2–3 hour deep dives (some more than one day) built for creative entrepreneurs who want to lead with confidence, price with authority, and grow with intention. We created this workshop series with tracks that cover the challenges we know designers face: pricing, sales, client relationships, project management, marketing, and leadership.
Each workshop is designed to stand alone — so you can choose the topics that matter most right now — while still connecting to the bigger picture of building a profitable, sustainable design business.
Damn Good Designer - Damn Good Designer - Website
The Paradigm Quick Start - 3 Month Custom Coaching Program
The Paradigm Shift - 6 Month Custom Coaching Program
The Paradigm Intensive - 12 Month One on One Immersive Custom Business Coaching
Join our FREE Facebook Groups
Cheryl Clendenon is the host of The Damn Good Designer Podcast and an award-winning interior designer, writer, and business coach with 26 years of full-time industry experience. With a prior career in media and radio sales, she brings a rare blend of creative thinking and business acumen to the design world. Cheryl was named KBB Person of the Year in 2021, is a nationally published industry voice with a monthly column in Home Accents Today, and regularly speaks on pricing, scope, process, and profitability. Known for her fast pace, contrarian instincts, and practical insight, Cheryl helps established design firms build stronger businesses and define success on their own terms.
***Any use of this page and its content to develop or train artificial intelligence or to do computer analysis is prohibited.***
Listen to our TOP episode of Season 3!
Kitchen and bath design must be treated — and priced — as the high-level specialty it is. These are not "just another room" — instead, they are some of the most complex, high-stakes, and profitable part of your business if you treat it that way. Too many designers undervalue their skills, we discuss how flat fees protect both your expertise and your bottom line, and why being the expert in the room changes everything. From navigating subs and code changes to troubleshooting “transitions up the wazoo,” we are sharing our real stories from the trenches that prove kitchen and bath design demands higher fees and sharper processes.
If you’ve ever charged the same for a bath as you do a living room, then this is your wake-up call. Remember--clients pay for confidence, precision, and advocacy. Our message is clear: stop selling yourself short and start treating kitchen and bath work as the profit powerhouse it can be.
Have a question--click here to ask us.
Loved this episode? Click here to leave a 5⭐ review
RESOURCE LINKS:Damn Good Workshops - Website
View our upcoming workshops!
These workshops are 2–3 hour deep dives (some more than one day) built for creative entrepreneurs who want to lead with confidence, price with authority, and grow with intention. We created this 2-3 hour workshop series with tracks that cover the challenges we know designers face: pricing, sales, client relationships, project management, marketing, and leadership.
Damn Good Designer - Damn Good Designer - Website
The Paradigm Quick Start - 3 Month Custom Coaching Program
The Paradigm Shift - 6 Month Custom Coaching Program
The Paradigm Intensive - 12 Month One on One Immersive Custom Business Coaching
Join our FREE Facebook Groups
Cheryl Clendenon is the host of The Damn Good Designer Podcast and an award-winning interior designer, writer, and business coach with 26 years of full-time industry experience. With a prior career in media and radio sales, she brings a rare blend of creative thinking and business acumen to the design world. Cheryl was named KBB Person of the Year in 2021, is a nationally published industry voice with a monthly column in Home Accents Today, and regularly speaks on pricing, scope, process, and profitability. Known for her fast pace, contrarian instincts, and practical insight, Cheryl helps established design firms build stronger businesses and define success on their own terms.
***Any use of this page and its content to develop or train artificial intelligence or to do computer analysis is prohibited.***
When construction bids come back higher than expected, it can stop a project in its tracks and shake a client’s confidence fast. Cheryl and Liz discuss exactly how to handle that moment without losing the project's momentum and the client’s trust.
They walk through how to review bids against the scope, where designers should step in (and where they should not), and how to guide clients through smart decisions instead of emotional reactions. You’ll learn how to reframe the conversation, prioritize what actually matters in the design, and use strategies like phasing and scope adjustments to keep the project moving forward.
When the numbers don’t match expectations, this episode shows you how to guide the next steps without losing the project.
Have a question--click here to ask us.
Loved this episode? Click here to leave a 5⭐ review
RESOURCE LINKS:Damn Good Workshops - Website
View our upcoming workshops!
These workshops are 2–3 hour deep dives (some more than one day) built for creative entrepreneurs who want to lead with confidence, price with authority, and grow with intention. We created this workshop series with tracks that cover the challenges we know designers face: pricing, sales, client relationships, project management, marketing, and leadership.
Each workshop is designed to stand alone — so you can choose the topics that matter most right now — while still connecting to the bigger picture of building a profitable, sustainable design business.
Damn Good Designer - Damn Good Designer - Website
The Paradigm Quick Start - 3 Month Custom Coaching Program
The Paradigm Shift - 6 Month Custom Coaching Program
The Paradigm Intensive - 12 Month One on One Immersive Custom Business Coaching
Join our FREE Facebook Groups
Cheryl Clendenon is the host of The Damn Good Designer Podcast and an award-winning interior designer, writer, and business coach with 26 years of full-time industry experience. With a prior career in media and radio sales, she brings a rare blend of creative thinking and business acumen to the design world. Cheryl was named KBB Person of the Year in 2021, is a nationally published industry voice with a monthly column in Home Accents Today, and regularly speaks on pricing, scope, process, and profitability. Known for her fast pace, contrarian instincts, and practical insight, Cheryl helps established design firms build stronger businesses and define success on their own terms.
***Any use of this page and its content to develop or train artificial intelligence or to do computer analysis is prohibited.***
Designers think their pricing problem is the number, but the real issue is how that number is positioned.
In this episode, Cheryl breaks down why client pushback isn’t about being too expensive but introducing pricing before the value is fully understood. When designers lead with fees, tie their work to time, or fail to clearly communicate the depth of decisions, coordination, and problem-solving involved, clients default to their own (and very often incorrect) assumptions.
We want you to think about reframing pricing as a positioning issue and not a simple math problem. Cheryl walks through how to build context, shift the focus from hours to outcomes, and present design as a high-level service rooted in expertise, not effort. When the value is clear first, the same number lands completely differently and the pushback disappears.
Have a question--click here to ask us.
RESOURCE LINKS:Damn Good Workshops - Website
These workshops are 2–3 hour deep dives (some more than one day) built for creative entrepreneurs who want to lead with confidence, price with authority, and grow with intention. We created this workshop series with tracks that cover the challenges we know designers face: pricing, sales, client relationships, project management, marketing, and leadership.
Each workshop is designed to stand alone — so you can choose the topics that matter most right now — while still connecting to the bigger picture of building a profitable, sustainable design business.
Damn Good Designer - Damn Good Designer - Website
The Paradigm Quick Start - 3 Month Custom Coaching Program
The Paradigm Shift - 6 Month Custom Coaching Program
The Paradigm Intensive - 12 Month One on One Immersive Custom Business Coaching
Join our FREE Facebook Groups
For designers who need honest talk and a place to work on the business, marketing and promotion small business owners need.
Cheryl Clendenon is the host of The Damn Good Designer Podcast and an award-winning interior designer, writer, and business coach with 26 years of full-time industry experience. With a prior career in media and radio sales, she brings a rare blend of creative thinking and business acumen to the design world. Cheryl was named KBB Person of the Year in 2021, is a nationally published industry voice with a monthly column in Home Accents Today, and regularly speaks on pricing, scope, process, and profitability. Known for her fast pace, contrarian instincts, and practical insight, Cheryl helps established design firms build stronger businesses and define success on their own terms.
***Any use of this page and its content to develop or train artificial intelligence or to do computer analysis is prohibited.***
Industry events are not vacations, designers can utilize these trips to create relationships with vendors. In this episode, Cheryl speaks LIVE from KBIS and sits down with special guest, Veronika Miller, to break down how designers can use events like KBIS and High Point as business accelerators instead of exhausting field trips. Taking time out of busy schedules to attend these events go beyond walking showrooms and collecting samples. It is about positioning, visibility, strategic networking, and understanding how proximity to manufacturers, media, and fellow designers directly impacts revenue.
They discuss how to prepare before you go, how to show up with intention, and how to follow up in a way that turns conversations into opportunity. The designers who see real return are not simply attending but instead building relationships, strengthening partnerships, and placing themselves in rooms that can change the trajectory of their business.
If you are going to invest the time and money to attend industry events, this episode will show you how to make it count.
About Our Guest: Veronika MillerVeronika Miller is the CEO of M2 Connect and founder of Designhounds, a curated community that brings together designers and manufacturers to build meaningful, profitable partnerships.
With more than 25 years of experience in the design and construction industries, Veronika is known for connecting brands and designers in ways that disrupt gently and drive real business growth. Through their standout programs like Designhounds, DesignTrail and the company's strategic consulting work, she helps professionals expand their influence, build stronger relationships, and leverage their visibility within the industry.
Learn more about Veronika and her programs:
🔗 M2-connectHome
Have a question--click here to ask us.
RESOURCE LINKS:Damn Good Workshops - Website
First workshop of 2026 starts January 14!
These workshops are 2–3 hour deep dives (some more than one day) built for creative entrepreneurs who want to lead with confidence, price with authority, and grow with intention. We created this workshop series with tracks that cover the challenges we know designers face: pricing, sales, client relationships, project management, marketing, and leadership.
Each workshop is designed to stand alone — so you can choose the topics that matter most right now — while still connecting to the bigger picture of building a profitable, sustainable design business.
Damn Good Designer - Damn Good Designer - Website
The Paradigm Quick Start - 3 Month Custom Coaching Program
The Paradigm Shift - 6 Month Custom Coaching Program
The Paradigm Intensive - 12 Month One on One Immersive Custom Business Coaching
Join our FREE Facebook Groups
For designers who need honest talk and a place to work on the business, marketing and promotion small business owners need.
Cheryl Clendenon is the host of The Damn Good Designer Podcast and an award-winning interior designer, writer, and business coach with 26 years of full-time industry experience. With a prior career in media and radio sales, she brings a rare blend of creative thinking and business acumen to the design world. Cheryl was named KBB Person of the Year in 2021, is a nationally published industry voice with a monthly column in Home Accents Today, and regularly speaks on pricing, scope, process, and profitability. Known for her fast pace, contrarian instincts, and practical insight, Cheryl helps established design firms build stronger businesses and define success on their own terms.
***Any use of this page and its content to develop or train artificial intelligence or to do computer analysis is prohibited.***
From the publisher's feed
Ranked by our users in the last 21 days

779 Listeners

3,327 Listeners

839 Listeners

205 Listeners

439 Listeners

3,300 Listeners

1,519 Listeners

52 Listeners

74 Listeners

76 Listeners

293 Listeners

18,920 Listeners

71 Listeners

31 Listeners

10 Listeners