When she joined an architecture firm as its sole designer, Katie Vance’s focus was on creating a place for interiors within the studio. Before long, the practice began eyeing a transition into a design/build studio—and suddenly, the new question became: How can interiors become a cornerstone of this business?

Katie Vance on the secret to synching up a design/build firm

Business of Home's editor in chief Kaitlin Petersen talks to interior designers about nurturing creativity, finding a firm’s financial footing, setting goals and discovering their own version of success as a result.

Arts

Literature

Performing Arts

Design

Food

Fashion & Beauty

Visual Arts

Business

Investing

Careers

Management & Marketing

Business News

Shopping

Entrepreneurship

Brian Paquette on why aesthetics alone won’t make him say yes to a project, what he learned from downsizing his team, and how a focus on simplicity inspired his approach to billing.

How the pursuit of simplicity defines Brian Paquette’s fee structure

Michael Hilal on why he’s not afraid to hire a team with more experience than himself, why he’s rethinking his approach to media after a whirlwind of early press attention, and the fine line between inspiration and copycats in the design industry.

Want to build your brand authority quickly? How Michael Hilal looked abroad

Georgia Zikas on why her whole team is involved in the hiring process; how she manages offices across two cities, and why she hired a CFO to keep her firm’s goals in sight.

Why Georgia Zikas prizes people over process

Christine Lin on the process of finding projects that are more closely aligned with her firm’s aesthetic, why she would never equate her business with a retail store to defend a product markup, and how she established professional development paths within her firm to help her team grow.

Christine Lin on putting client experience first

Wesley Moon on the realization that expanding his team was the key to boosting revenue, why understanding his employees’ strengths and weaknesses guides his approach to building a team; and the changes he made as he reckoned with the fact that his firm’s success had come at the cost of his social life.

Katie Vance on the secret to synching up a design/build firm

Download our free app to listen on your phone