Let’s talk about Jane. She’s a naturally talented dessert baker, but she’s new to the business. An acquaintance hires Jane for a party of 50 she’s hosting to make her signature dessert – a triple layer lemon custard buttercream cake. Jane’s excited by the opportunity, agrees and makes mental note of the gig.
But now it’s the morning of, and Jane has run into an unexpected challenge – she’s misplaced her recipe. But she doesn’t panic because she’s made this cake dozens of times. It’s her signature dessert. She’s got this. However, Jane realizes it’s taking longer for the cake to bake than usual because she’s more than tripled its regular size.
It’s getting closer and closer to the time she needs to leave to deliver the cake, but she hasn’t even started icing it. Unsurprisingly, Jane is feeling stressed by the time crunch. She doesn’t want to disappoint her acquaintance and client, and rushes icing the cake. It isn’t her best work, but she decides the cake looks “good enough” – and it’ll be delicious no matter what. So with cake in hand, she packs up and heads out the door.
As she prepares to leave, she is surprised to discover that she doesn’t know the address for her delivery. Embarrassingly, she calls her acquaintance to confirm the address, and comes to the quick realization that she will be considerably late with her delivery because of where they’re located.
Jane arrives 45 minutes later than expected. Not ideal, but Jane’s client is just happy the cake has arrived.
Jane unboxes the cake, and to her horror, finds that the buttercream has dropped because the cake was still warm during the icing.
Her client turns from relieved to frustrated. The cake is late, doesn’t look great, and is a bit drier than she remembers.
Jane is embarrassed and starts coming up with “reasons” to make her client (and really, herself) feel better.
But making excuses only irritates her client more. Jane tries to rationalize a truth she already knows.
And, as a result, she didn’t deliver.
The lesson here is without a process, you will waste time (arguably your most important resource), deliver unexpected results, disappoint clients, and will ultimately receive less referrals. At Mydoma Studio we developed the trusted 5 steps Mydoma Method. A proven design process methodology founded on transparency, collaboration and repetition.
If Jane had done proper intake with her client, she would have better documented her clients needs and taken notes of those needs. She would have planned for enough ingredients (no one likes a dry cake), adjusted her cooking time, and allocated enough time for the cake to cool, get decorated, and be delivered.
Building a successful interior design business is not all that different than baking a cake. Follow the recipe, and you’ll set your clients and business up for success.
Sarah Daniele is the CEO and co-founder of Mydoma Studio.
Starting off her career as an interior designer, the first version of Mydoma Studio was built to fulfill a personal need.
But after some encouragement from friends and colleagues, Sarah traded in swatches for shoulder pads, taking up the mantle of CEO and building up Mydoma Studio for the interior design industry.
Sarah is passionate about building tools and technology to allow interior designers to grow their businesses.
Become part of our design community. Subscribe for updates and insights!
