From Chaos to Clarity: Systems for Interior Designers That Actually Work

Running an interior design business without systems can feel like chaos — endless emails, indecisive clients, scope creep, and late-night texts that leave you exhausted. In this episode, Rebecca Hay breaks down why systems for interior designers aren’t about being rigid, but about creating a framework that supports growth, protects your boundaries, and delivers a consistent client experience.

Whether you’re just starting out or scaling to a team, these strategies will help you move from reaction mode to running a business that feels calm, professional, and profitable.

Tune in now to learn how to create systems that let you serve more clients, with less overwhelm.

episode highlights

1. How to know if you need systems in your business right now
2. The 5 biggest pain points that systems solve for interior designers
3. Why clear processes build client trust and confidence
4. Simple steps to start creating systems that work for your studio

Episode Resources

• Learn more about Power of Process

Read the Full Transcript ⬇️

00;00;00;03 – 00;00;23;08
Rebecca Hay
It’s not about turning your business into a machine. You’re not necessarily going to franchise your company, but it’s about creating a framework that’s going to support you so that you can actually grow. You can protect your boundaries with clients, with trades, with employees, contractors, so that you can deliver consistently amazing results for your clients. All right.

00;00;23;11 – 00;00;52;12
Rebecca Hay
I’m Rebecca Hay, and I’ve built a successful interior design business by trial and error. Podcast online courses and so many freaking books. Over the last decade, I’ve grown from an insecure student to having false starts to careers. And now I’m finally in the place where I want to be. Throughout my journey, it’s been pretty obvious that I’m passionate about business and helping other entrepreneurs do the same.

00;00;52;15 – 00;01;04;27
Rebecca Hay
Each week, I’ll share tangible takeaways from my own experience and the experiences of other badass women to help you build your confidence and change your business.

00;01;05;00 – 00;01;27;20
Rebecca Hay
Hey hey hey, it’s Rebecca, and you’re listening to Resilient by Design. Today, I want to have a real talk about something. I know that many of you are wondering, and that is, do I actually need a process in my business right now? Because it’s possible that many of you are new or earlier on in your business, and you’re thinking, I don’t have enough clients yet to need a process.

00;01;27;20 – 00;01;50;15
Rebecca Hay
Or maybe you’re like, I hear Rebecca talk about this all the time. One day I’ll be ready for it, right? It’s possible that, like, you’re in the messy middle right now and you feel like you can’t take on one more thing. I’m having this conversation today because I’ve been here, and I just really want to share with you specifically why this is going to help you.

00;01;50;17 – 00;02;19;10
Rebecca Hay
And even if it is just baby steps. Because when you’re juggling so many projects, I know that working on your business meaning creating systems, checklists, a process, updating anything, documenting anything, it kind of feels like just another thing to do, even when you’re more established. Actually, I would say that you could also have this experience where you’re like, well, we’ve been doing fine up until now.

00;02;19;11 – 00;02;44;03
Rebecca Hay
Like, yes, I’d like to make things a bit better, but, you know, it just feels like who has the time? How would I do it? Where would I even start? And I’m here to tell you that wherever you are in your journey, whether you’ve been wanting to create a process for your business and create some structure, or you’re like, I’m feeling overwhelmed and I don’t know why, I’m going to tell you that in establishing and following a process is worth it.

00;02;44;03 – 00;03;10;28
Rebecca Hay
And this is going to be the episode for you. Because here’s the truth process isn’t about being fancy or buttoned up. Uber professional. It’s not about rigid rules. And this is something that took me a while to figure out, but it is about a bit of structure. It’s not about turning your business into a machine. You’re not necessarily going to franchise your company, but it’s about creating a framework that’s going to support you so that you can actually grow.

00;03;11;00 – 00;03;38;06
Rebecca Hay
You can protect your boundaries with clients, but trade with employees, contractors so that you can deliver consistently amazing results for your clients. Let’s talk about what life is like when you do not have a process. Here’s the easiest way to tell if you need a process. If your projects are feeling like they’re running you instead of you running them, that is number one sign that you are lacking in a solid process.

00;03;38;08 – 00;04;16;05
Rebecca Hay
When I first started out, every project I did was a one off. I was customizing everything for everyone and yes, clients thought I had a personal touch, but let’s be honest, it was a little disorganized and I was so freaking exhausted without a process. Every new client means you are probably reinventing the wheel just a little bit. Every time a hiccup happens or something goes a little sideways, it sometimes feels personal instead of procedural, and you also are constantly reacting instead of leading.

00;04;16;08 – 00;04;42;09
Rebecca Hay
Being in the reaction. Hamster wheel is exhausting, I can tell you, because I’ve been there and there is a way out of it. Part of why many designers dread getting new inquiries, even though I know I get it. We want more work is that you’re afraid you won’t be able to handle more work. If you’re afraid you won’t be able to handle more clients, and it’s very likely that your current set up can’t handle them either.

00;04;42;09 – 00;05;13;06
Rebecca Hay
And you know it. Let’s talk about some of the most common pain points that I see designers face and why. Having a process will help you solve them. So number one, clients delaying decisions when you don’t have a decision deadline baked into your process. Heck, it could be multiple decision deadlines. That’s one project’s drag on forever. You know, they’ve ever had that project where you’re like, okay, it’s going to take us so many weeks to design and then, you know, double that time later, you’re like, why are we still not there yet?

00;05;13;09 – 00;05;33;09
Rebecca Hay
Sometimes it’s your fault, sometimes it’s the client’s fault. Sometimes it’s just like life has happened. It doesn’t have to be that way. When you have a process, you’re telling your clients, here’s how we work. Here’s when decisions are made, and here’s what happens if they’re late. That’s leadership. And it might sound like, oh, that sounds like a little tough for America.

00;05;33;10 – 00;05;53;18
Rebecca Hay
Like, I can’t imagine. Guys, I am not tough. I’m not a hard ball, and I’m not standing up to my clients being like, it’s my way or the highway. I am not that person. And this is why I teach process, because it is what made me feel like I had more of a backbone. It made me feel more professional.

00;05;53;20 – 00;06;21;20
Rebecca Hay
Clients start making decisions when you need the decisions by and that is a game changer in and of itself. Okay, here’s the second most common area that I see designers face when it comes to running their business. And that is having unclear budgets or constant scope changes, or what we like to call scope creep. When do you have a process?

00;06;21;20 – 00;06;50;03
Rebecca Hay
It forces you to set a firm scope of work. At the start, you document it and you refer back to it. And when I say scope of work, I don’t just mean, you know, what items am I picking, what it’s like, what is my involvement in this project, and what’s that going to look like when you document it and you refer back to it, you stop having those same awkward, oh, that’s out of scope conversation 12 times in a project or you stop just just doing it.

00;06;50;03 – 00;07;15;05
Rebecca Hay
You know, I’ll just source an extra light or I’ll just, you know, you know, while we’re at it, let me just grab I’ll find a card. But you can also. Yeah, we’ll throw that in or. Sure, I’ll come to site and help you troubleshoot a situation in a room that wasn’t in our scope, whatever it might be. I would say most designers that I’m in contact with through my community are really the ones who are like, they’re just doing a little bit extra.

00;07;15;09 – 00;07;39;12
Rebecca Hay
Here’s the thing. You think when you’re going above and beyond that, you’re doing it in a way that the client sees values? I had a designer say to me recently, I always go above and beyond for my clients, but the way that she interpreted it was she does more than they’ve paid her for. I actually think it does you a disservice.

00;07;39;14 – 00;08;04;05
Rebecca Hay
You get clients who are not as grateful. You get clients who expect more. You can go above and beyond by giving a great level of service, sending a thank you note, doing a little extra touches, but you don’t have to work for free. And so unfortunately, I think most of us are people pleasers. I know I am, and so we tend to do more than they’ve contracted us for because we’re nice.

00;08;04;07 – 00;08;28;07
Rebecca Hay
But nice doesn’t really make you money, and it makes you feel stressed and it makes you feel resentful. And so when you have a process and you have a clear budget and you have clear scope of work, it means things are going to go smoother. And then number three, this is one thing I see a lot when you don’t have a process, clients questioning your pricing or asking for discounts.

00;08;28;10 – 00;08;47;14
Rebecca Hay
And you might be like, well, what does that do to the process? When you have a defined procurement process, you know exactly who buys what and what that looks like. And your pricing is clear. Your value to your client is obvious, and you’re not scrambling to justify yourself because you’ve laid it all out for them right from the get go.

00;08;47;20 – 00;09;16;01
Rebecca Hay
That is super important. Nobody wants the surprise question when you’re presenting to a client. Oh, okay. Well, I assume we get your discount right? That needs to have all been either discussed or laid out or presented ahead of time. And that is what process can help you do. Number four and this was probably one of the biggest pain points for me when I was sort of fumbling through, just kind of making shit up as I went along was always wondering like, how are others doing it?

00;09;16;03 – 00;09;40;26
Rebecca Hay
Number four is that coordination chaos of your trades. You know, when you’re like getting hauled to site out of nowhere, or you feel like you’ve been on site multiple times or people keep calling you, where’s the electrical placement? How high above the ground is this going to be? Or there’s no timeline. Like all of the chaos that comes with running construction project, that happens when you don’t have a process.

00;09;40;26 – 00;10;15;20
Rebecca Hay
It doesn’t have to be chaotic if you can take the lead when dates, measurements, and schedules live in your head, you’re going to be the one who’s double booking and honestly causing a disaster. A process is going to help you create systems that everyone can follow a shared calendar, a communication plan so that everybody knows what’s happening. When I always say to my team, if a client or a contractor reaches out to us asking for something that we haven’t given them in advance, we have failed at our jobs.

00;10;15;22 – 00;10;44;24
Rebecca Hay
That sounds harsh, but the idea is that you want to constantly be letting your clients know what’s coming next, without it all living in your head. The fifth major pain point that I see designers experienced, especially designers who do not have a process, is endless. Client communication, email and after hours text messages. I remember early in my career running my firm, having a nightmare client.

00;10;45;01 – 00;11;09;05
Rebecca Hay
I thought I was going to be the best project and it was a really big job. So many things went wrong, but one of the biggest ones was that I didn’t have boundaries with client communication. This client would text me at all hours of the night, but they wouldn’t just text with like a question. They would send me essays like a rant complaining about the contractor, a total emotional brain dump if you will.

00;11;09;05 – 00;11;36;20
Rebecca Hay
In text message to me, I would be in bed sitting next to my husband, maybe breastfeeding my baby, thinking, oh my God, I failed. Oh my God. And I would feel upset, I would cry, I cried a lot. I had no control over how clients and I communicated when you have a process, it’s set the expectation from day one about how and when you communicate and you execute according to that process.

00;11;36;22 – 00;12;07;27
Rebecca Hay
It’s not about being inflexible and being unavailable. That’s not what I’m saying. You need to make sure that you’re available when needed, but you need to protect your time and you need to protect your focus so that you can do your best work. If you’re constantly like answering phone messages or phone calls, text messages, checking your email because you feel like something’s going to be missed or someone needs something from you because there’s you’re in the deep depths of like, I don’t know, install or whatever it is, you are lost when it comes to focus.

00;12;07;27 – 00;12;32;28
Rebecca Hay
You’re not going to have time to focus on that next project or do your best work. So these are the differences, these five examples hopefully expressed to you that they’re not nice to have, that they are the difference between running a business that feels calm and professional versus one that’s held together by late night emails and crossed fingers holding our breath.

00;12;33;02 – 00;13;01;00
Rebecca Hay
Who has been there? Here’s the thing the right process for you depends on where you’re at. I am not a proponent of one size fits all. I often say there is no one size fits all to running an interior design business. The reason I say that is because I now have seen from coaching over the last five years, hundreds of designers that everyone’s business is slightly different.

00;13;01;05 – 00;13;24;05
Rebecca Hay
We also have different strengths. Some of us love decorating, some of us love construction, some of us want to do e design. Some of us like to shop with our clients. Some of us don’t. You need to find the right process for you and that’s what I help you do inside. Power of process. My process is just the beginning, sharing exactly how I do it with every checklist, step by step of the way, is my way of saying, here’s how I did it.

00;13;24;07 – 00;13;45;00
Rebecca Hay
Let’s now encourage you to look at how you could tweak what you do to make yours stronger, or even to start one in the first place. At the beginning of your business journey, process is going to give you structure so that you look more professional and you avoid rookie mistakes. Even a simple checklist can help you lead clients instead of them leading you.

00;13;45;04 – 00;14;06;28
Rebecca Hay
I watched her and I don’t remember who said this, and experts say if you’re not following your own process, you’re following your clients. But guess what? Your clients likely have no idea what they’re doing. Your clients have probably never done this before. They are going to lead with chaos. And ultimately, in the end, they’re not going to be as happy.

00;14;06;28 – 00;14;33;22
Rebecca Hay
You’re going to be frustrated. A process for you, though, maybe at the middle of your career or you’re a few years in, not only is it going to give you the structure so you look more professional, but now you’re ready to scale. Process helps you scale. It’s hard to scale higher, take on bigger projects without a process. It lets you manage more projects all at once without losing control or without losing your sanity.

00;14;33;25 – 00;15;05;00
Rebecca Hay
Right? And it allows you to take on more while working less. That, to me was the biggest game changer. Once I established a process and I started to use it. Yes, I had structure. Yes, I felt more professional, I looked more professional, I could show up, I could sell so much easier. But then I was able to scale and then I scaled back the number of hours I was putting into a design project and my firm every week, because it was all there in front of people.

00;15;05;00 – 00;15;26;26
Rebecca Hay
So the people who brought them brought onto my team knew exactly what to do. They didn’t need to get inside my brain. And then when you’re later on in your business journey process is going to help protect your reputation, it’s going to ensure that that team that you’re starting to build, that that team delivers consistent results. And it keeps the client experience on brand, which is really important as you start to take a step back in your business.

00;15;26;29 – 00;15;56;13
Rebecca Hay
A lot of us are afraid to hire. We’re afraid to take a step back. We’re afraid to work less. Were afraid to go on vacation because then we can’t control the outcome. We can’t control what’s happening onsite. We can’t control how the client experiences. But if you have a process that your team is following your trades, no, you’re still going to give your clients that experience even if you’re not involved in every step, no matter the stage you’re out in, business process is going to create confidence for you and for your clients.

00;15;56;15 – 00;16;23;02
Rebecca Hay
One last thought sometimes when a client pushes back, we assume, oh, red flag. Nope, they don’t trust me. This isn’t going to be right. But here’s what I’ve learned. Push back actually can sometimes be feedback. It’s showing you exactly where your process is, possibly unclear or even non-existent. So here’s an example. Maybe you have a client who keeps going dark.

00;16;23;08 – 00;16;40;01
Rebecca Hay
We recently had this question come in for my Ask Rebecca podcast series. So a client keeps going dark on you, right? Not making a decision you can’t get hold of them. You can’t get them to respond and get them answer like it could be for weeks in the middle of a project without a process. That can just be so frustrating.

00;16;40;01 – 00;17;13;08
Rebecca Hay
You’re sending in questions to Rebecca’s podcast being like, what do I do? But with a process in place, you have already built in, what happens when timelines stall? Maybe there’s a holding fee or a project pause clause. You also take it personally less often, and as a result you’re leading more. If you’re listening to this and you’re thinking, okay, maybe I need a process, or maybe you have a process, but you’re not actively implementing it with every project, because I know that that happens to you and you might be thinking, shoot, okay, where do I begin?

00;17;13;08 – 00;17;31;00
Rebecca Hay
Or how do I take back control of this? My advice to you is to start small, even if it’s just one point of friction in your business right now, it could be decision delays, clients taking too long to make a decision. It could be budget confusion. The clients have a different idea of how much is supposed to be.

00;17;31;02 – 00;17;49;29
Rebecca Hay
Maybe you thought it was something else. Maybe it’s endless revisions. This is a common one. This could be a point of friction where we revise it and I just want one more change. Oh, and then another email came through. Could also just be something as simple as scheduling headaches. Spending so much time scheduling and rescheduling. Pick one and create one repeatable step to address it.

00;17;50;02 – 00;18;10;23
Rebecca Hay
Then do it every single time. Write it down on a piece of paper. Stick it on the wall. Put it in your contract. That’s it. That’s how process is built. It’s literally like one solved problem at a time. But we’re learning from that solve problem so that it doesn’t reoccur. And so that you have the confidence when you go to talk to the next project, the next client.

00;18;11;00 – 00;18;37;11
Rebecca Hay
This is how we do things. So do you need a process? Yes. The question is an if you need a process is how much process you need for where you are at right now. But when you have it, everything is going to get so much easier. Clients are going to trust you, projects are going to flow smoother, and you actually are going to have space to think, sleep, rest and take on the kind of work that you want to do.

00;18;37;14 – 00;18;59;23
Rebecca Hay
If this episode got you thinking, send me a DM on Instagram and tell me what is the number one thing in your business that you wish felt easier? I would love to hear from you. Until next time, remember you’ve got this and I’ll see you soon.