Thinking of business ideas - currently interior designer

[Abitfrazzled]

Hi there. I’m reaching out as I’m feeling a bit stuck and would love some outside views. I currently work as an interior designer and lead a department. I’ve been in my role for 13 years and over the years have done many successful large projects - boutique hotels and houses.

I’m in my mid 40s and whilst I love my job, it does have some issues like flexible working not really being allowed (I have a 9 year old daughter) and no scope for any more progression. I do have a lot of autonomy though and think I would struggle after this role to go and work for someone else.

So I’ve been starting to think about possibly setting up some kind of business. One option would be as an interior designer for people’s homes but for some reason that does seem quite scary to me. Possibly because I had a little go at setting up a website etc in the past but did virtually no marketing and then didn’t hear much back and convinced myself it was impossible to find clients. Does anyone actually have experience of hiring a designer for your home or running a successful ID business? I’d love to hear about that.

I’m also wondering about using my trade contacts and knowledge of trends to set up an online homeware store. Again, I’m having difficulty imagining that I’d actually find customers so if anyone has experience of something similar I’d love to hear about it.

Thanks a lot in advance.

I’ve hired an interior designer. I’m not really the type you’d think would, and I think most of her clients are a lot fancier than my DH and I. But I absolutely hate having to make decisions about anything to do with home presentation, don’t have much time and fully acknowledge that left to my own devices I’ll make decisions I’ll live to hate!

i met mine at an academic drinks party - she was there as a plus one. I liked her personal style and that she didn’t expect other people to be interested in interiors so we went to her shop and have used her pretty exclusively for about ten years. She has a team of curtain makers who work in house, and I’ve hired her time for her to go shopping/sourcing furniture etc. I know others hire her to do whole houses post-purchase or post renovation but my level of interest means we are much more occasional.

Things I value: her access to fabric sample books etc; her “eye” for combinations of colour, fabric and texture; her network of electricians, painters, upholsterers etc who actually get the work done; her project management of all of the above; and that she’ll meet us on a Saturday for fast decision making.

Good luck

Thanks so much @Slaistery That’s really helpful. It’s great to understand what you actually valued about working with her. I think I’ve probably got so used to doing these things that I can’t see how it’s of value so that’s really helpful. I’m glad to hear you had a good experience.

@Abitfrazzled how did you get on, did you make any headway with your plans to set up your own business? I’m interested in doing similar but for bathroom remodelling to begin with…