Alas, there is no magic formula or time-tested blueprint for running a successful interior design business. One reason is that, despite a number of similarities, each interior design business is unique. Yet, struggling business owners often look to their competition to try to figure out what they should be doing. Instead, they should be asking themselves what will make their particular business profitable.

In this episode, Gail talks with Ali Faulkner, principal designer, AEF Interiors in Orange County, California. Ali opened her firm only five years ago, not long before the COVID pandemic rocked the industry. She’s had a lot of ups and downs, but has managed to hold on and grow her business into a highly successful firm with a team of seven in a relatively short period of time.

Ali explained that when she first started operating her business she made a lot of mistakes. A major one was that she kept turning down smaller projects in the hope of landing some really big ones, because that's what other firms in her area were doing. But, those big projects didn’t materialize. Finding her business on the ropes with little money in the bank, she realized that she could be a lot more successful doing many small but profitable projects.

Ali says owners need to ask themselves, What does my business need to be profitable? “It’s crucial for you to have an understanding of what size project you need and how many you need.”

To do that, Ali said, you have to pay attention to the business side of the firm. Know how it operates and know your numbers. “If you have the interior design skills and you know the business, you have a double whammy,” she said.

Another important component is to have a clear vision for your firm. She said she knew early on that her vision was to use interior design to help people better. “Getting clear on our vision is what has propelled our growth,” she said. “What makes us all different at the end of the day is who we are and the level of service we provide.”

Gail asked Ali what advice she had for other design business owners.  She said,

Lean on your resources. Use whatever is available to learn on the fly.

Know your data and know your business.

Hire people who are smarter than you and then get out of their way.

To hear how Ali got stays motivated despite her setbacks, and more, listen to the entire podcast.

If you're listening on your favorite podcast platform, view the full shownotes here: https://thepearlcollective.com/s11e2-shownotes

Mentioned in This Podcast

To learn more about Ali’s firm, go to the website at aef-interiors.com.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV3lT2vcZ3M&pp=ygUQcGVhcmwgY29sbGVjdGl2ZQ%3D%3D

Episode Transcript

Note: Transcript is created automatically and may contain errors.

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Allie, it's so great to have you on Creative Genius Podcast. Welcome. Thanks for having me, Gail. it's our pleasure. So.

I would love for you to tell your story. How in the world did you get started with interior design and tell us about your story in Orange County, just a little bit about you. Gosh, okay. Never very good at making a long story short, but I'll try my best here to give you the spark note version. I used to work in luxury hospitality and consulting. So I used to come from a service -based background and worked in operations. I moved to Orange County six years ago.

for another job. It was my first opportunity in being a part of a startup and actually building a company. I was with them for two years and life happens. Unfortunately, I was a part of a layoff. You take the chance by going to a startup and I had the opportunity, this was like early 2019,

where I started to think to myself, I really enjoy building and a lot of the startup companies I wanted to work for, they were all located up in San Francisco and remote work like wasn't a thing. My husband being the like amazing person he was, like, Ali,