Are you paying yourself consistently from your interior design business?
Many designers aren’t. You might tell yourself that you’re leaving the money in the business so it can grow or that you’ll start taking a paycheck once you’re making more. But when your business depends on you working without being properly compensated, it’s time to look at how your projects are structured.
In this episode, I explain the important difference between your paycheck and your business profit. Your business should pay you for the design work you perform just as it would pay a lead designer, employee, or subcontractor. Then, beyond the cost of that labor, the project should generate additional profit for the business.
This requires a mindset shift. Instead of thinking of your business as simply, “I’m a designer, and this is what I do,” begin viewing it as a separate entity that provides interior design services as its product. You may own the company, but your time still has a cost. As I explain in the episode, just because it’s your business doesn’t mean you’re free.
We also walk through real numbers for both sides of a design business. On the product side, you’ll see how wholesale pricing, freight, receiving, delivery, and markup affect profit margins. On the design side, I demonstrate how your internal hourly rate and time budget can determine your paycheck while leaving gross profit in the business to cover overhead and ultimately create business profit.
The bottom line is simple: profit can’t be an afterthought. Plan your compensation and profit into every project from the beginning, and you can create a business that pays you consistently instead of one that depends on you working for free.
Topics We Cover in This Episode:
- Why every interior designer should pay themselves
- The difference between a paycheck and business profit
- Planning profit into every project from the beginning
- Shifting from a personal design practice to a real business
- Wearing two hats as both business owner and employee
- Including your own labor in the true cost of a project
- Using internal hourly rates and time budgets to protect profit
- Understanding wholesale pricing, markup, and product margins
- Separating gross profit, overhead, and your personal compensation
- Structuring a design business that pays you consistently
🔗 Resources Mentioned:
- Book a Clarity Call
- Learn about the Growth & Structure programs
- IDBA Business Coaching
Additional Resources:
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