EP 142 | How Interior Designers Can Work ON Their Business with Annie Elliott

What separates overwhelmed interior designers from profitable, well-run firms?

In this episode, Kimberley Seldon is joined by Washington DC designer Annie Elliott to discuss why working ON your business — not just in it — is essential for long-term success.

By improving systems, refining operations, and analyzing business performance, Annie transformed her design firm one process at a time. This conversation explores the practical steps interior designers can take to improve efficiency, profitability, and project management while creating a more sustainable business.

In this episode, we learn:
• Why making time to work ON your business is critical for growth
• How a strong bookkeeper becomes an essential financial partner
• Why tracking gross revenue, net revenue, and profit margins improves decision-making
• How following your own systems and rules creates consistency and efficiency
• Why small projects often require as much effort as larger, more profitable jobs
• How reviewing job descriptions strengthens team performance and accountability
• Why analyzing past project income helps identify profitable patterns
• How planting seeds with the press can support long-term marketing and visibility
• Why better systems and financial awareness lead to stronger interior design businesses

Design Intervention

The best piece of advice I ever received was, “Don’t make decisions for your clients.” I’m an overthinker. Too often, I try and anticipate what the client will agree to rather than what the best solution is. Almost every time I’ve taken a risk and proposed a crazy-but-awesome fabric, wallpaper, or piece of furniture, the client has gone for it. Even if it was budget-busting.

Take Aways

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It

Stemper & Associates

Annie Elliott is a recovering art historian who developed her eye and aesthetic sensibilities studying 20th-century art and working in some of the nation’s top museums. After her thousandth exhibition sponsorship pitch, Annie threw caution to the wind and decided to pursue the career she always wanted: interior design. She did some coursework at the Corcoran College of Art + Design, then she took her love of color and pattern and her art history training in matters of scale, balance, and proportion, and opened for business in 2004. When she was 3 months pregnant with twins. Because that’s how she rolls.

Annie is an Associate Member of ASID, and her design work and insights have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Washingtonian, The Wall Street Journal, and other local and national publications.

www.annieelliottdesign.com 

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