As interior designers, we often think that more clients automatically means more success. But what happens when the thought of another new inquiry sends a wave of anxiety through you? If the idea of growth feels overwhelming, you’re not alone.
In this episode, Rebecca shares her own story of when new projects felt more stressful than exciting — and the exact shift that changed everything. From winging it with no process to building systems that create ease and confidence, she reveals how to set up your business so it can actually handle growth without burnout.
If you’ve ever felt like you want more clients but dread what that means for your workload, this episode will show you a path forward.
episode highlights
- Why growth feels overwhelming when you don’t have systems in place
- The role of decision fatigue and how to eliminate it
- How to stop “winging it” and start running your business with confidence
- The client experience upgrades that change everything
- Why building processes is the key to attracting the right clients
Read the Full Transcript ⬇️
00;00;00;00 – 00;00;28;24
Rebecca Hay
It’s not that you can’t handle more clients. Is that your business? The way that it’s set up right now can’t handle them. At least it can handle them without you. Probably burning out all right. 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.
00;00;28;26 – 00;00;57;29
Rebecca Hay
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. 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. Hey hey hey, it’s Rebecca, and you’re listening to Resilient by Design.
00;00;58;01 – 00;01;19;20
Rebecca Hay
Today, we’re diving into something that honestly feels a little weird to talk about, but I know many of you are experiencing this, and in fact, I’m actually recording this up at the lake. We’ve been up here for a couple weeks with the kids, and I just I had this hit of inspiration. I’m like, I need to record this train of thought because we’re planning a training that is going to be announced next week, so stay tuned for that.
00;01;19;20 – 00;01;45;02
Rebecca Hay
But we have really been thinking about what the designers need, and I know that we’ve done a lot of trainings about how to track clients, where to find clients, how to get better clients. But then I realized something hit me and I realized, you know what? I bet there’s a lot of designers out there like me who actually, in the early years are like, wanting the clients, and you want to grow, but you’re nervous about it and you want to grow, and you want more clients.
00;01;45;02 – 00;02;09;26
Rebecca Hay
But every time you think about actually getting more people in your inbox, right, answering the phone, starting the project, more projects on your plate, your stomach maybe kind of drops like the anxiety creeps in. And so I thought, this is what we need to talk about. We need to talk about how to help designers who are feeling like excited to grow, but like, truthfully anxious about what it means to take on more.
00;02;09;26 – 00;02;26;23
Rebecca Hay
And so that’s what today’s episode is about. So hang with me. The audio may not be perfect, but I just needed to record. That’s when I had the height of inspiration. So if this is you, first of all, you’re not broken. You’re not lazy. I know some of us feel like, well, am I lazy for not wanting the work?
00;02;26;23 – 00;02;52;03
Rebecca Hay
It’s like I want to work, but I don’t want the work, and you’re definitely not the only one feeling this way. Here’s the thing. There was a time in my business in the early years, probably, I want to say around 2015 when I would literally get an inquiry email, like someone who was reaching out. They’d heard about me through someone or, you know, a past client recommended me, or it was like, I’m a friend of my mom or, you know, whoever it was.
00;02;52;05 – 00;03;10;17
Rebecca Hay
And instead of me being excited, I mean, I feel like there was like a little blip of a moment where I was like, oh my God, this is exciting. Then it was like dread. This sense of dread would wash over me. My stomach would just sink and I would think, oh my God, here we go again. They probably can’t afford what I do.
00;03;10;25 – 00;03;32;28
Rebecca Hay
They probably won’t like my style. They’re just going to want such and such a style that everybody wants. They probably don’t want to invest. Oh, I hate the money conversation. I don’t even know how big this project is going to be. Do I have the right people to manage the project? Like, I was doing a story in my head that was like, this is like a roller coaster jumping through hoops, hoops, I don’t know, hula hooping in my head.
00;03;33;00 – 00;03;59;21
Rebecca Hay
And I convinced myself this was going to be a dead end client. Or the opposite. This is going to be so big I won’t be able to handle it. And you know what? It usually was because I was showing up without confidence, anticipating the worst case scenario. And guess what? What you put out, you get back. And without me really knowing how to serve these clients well, I was really ultimately, I think, nervous.
00;03;59;24 – 00;04;11;20
Rebecca Hay
And I felt like I was starting from scratch with every single project, every single potential client. I was like, oh, here we go. I got to write this email again. Okay, now I got to figure out how I’m going to deliver. And I got to figure out how long do I think it’s going to take me to design.
00;04;11;20 – 00;04;35;02
Rebecca Hay
It was like a constant mental load of thinking, deciding. And honestly, if you’ve ever felt that way about new potential clients, you are in the right place. Today you saw this episode and you were like, I need to hear this. This is a message for me because you’re likely struggling. Stick with me today because we’re going to talk about why this happens and what you can actually do to change it.
00;04;35;02 – 00;04;59;04
Rebecca Hay
So let’s get real. When you don’t have systems in your business, and I mean real actual processes that you follow with every single project, every single time, every new client essentially becomes another thing that you have to figure out from the beginning. Everything lives in your head. Every client experience is totally different. And that’s exhausting, right? It’s in your head.
00;04;59;04 – 00;05;14;19
Rebecca Hay
You’re like, everything’s different. I’m going to have to figure it out. I kind of know how I did it last time. I get it. It’s really tiring though. And it’s not that you can’t handle more clients, it’s that your business, the way that it’s set up right now, can’t handle them. At least it can’t handle them without you.
00;05;14;19 – 00;05;39;10
Rebecca Hay
Probably burning out. And I know there’s many of you listening who can relate. So when you’re customizing everything like that, making exceptions for everyone, or juggling every tiny detail yourself, one more client literally feels like it is going to push you over the edge. And that’s exactly why growth can feel overwhelming instead of exciting.
00;05;39;13 – 00;05;57;26
Rebecca Hay
So let me tell you about my up call, because maybe you’re going to see yourself in this story. Back in 2015, things had started to pick up. I was doing some work in television. I was taking on private clients. I just had my first child and I was trying to juggle it all. But I really had zero systems in place.
00;05;57;26 – 00;06;14;19
Rebecca Hay
Yes, I had hired people to help me. I didn’t even know what to tell them to do. They were just kind of there. Half the time I was thinking, you know what, I’ll just do it myself. It’s faster. I would often show up to client meetings with just scribbling my own notes. I would never bring one of my, I want to say, employees, but they weren’t even on payroll.
00;06;14;19 – 00;06;34;19
Rebecca Hay
I would never bring my assistant with me cause I didn’t want to have to pay her. That seemed crazy. And I would be trying to scribble things on a piece of paper on a clipboard and missing half of the conversation, of course, because I’m doing half the talking. And then also, invoices were super delayed. They were thrown together last minute, or I was like, oh my God, I haven’t invoiced them all month.
00;06;34;19 – 00;06;52;07
Rebecca Hay
I got to go back and figure out I wasn’t even tracking my time. How am I going to figure this out? I basically never had a budget for a client. I had an idea of what I agreed to spend, but we were not tracking it. And then, because I didn’t have a defined process, my clients would often leave meetings feeling like, okay, this sounds great.
00;06;52;07 – 00;07;17;01
Rebecca Hay
Now what? Right? Or asking us like, what’s next? What’s going to happen next? And so one day, this client who I absolutely adored, like I really wanted to do right by them, they sat me down and they said, Rebecca, we love your design ideas. But like, working with you feels like we don’t know what’s coming next. And we’re running out of money and we’re worried that we’re going to go over budget.
00;07;17;03 – 00;07;35;29
Rebecca Hay
That kind of sucks to have a client tell you that. But here’s what’s interesting. My first instinct was to think, and I know many of you can relate to this. These people don’t get it. They are difficult clients. They’ve got all this shit going on. She’s so emotional. She’s unpredicted of all. And maybe some of that was true.
00;07;35;29 – 00;07;51;19
Rebecca Hay
And I do believe some of that was true. But the ultimate bigger truth was that I didn’t have a process. I was totally winging it. And let’s be honest, I’m pretty damn good at winging it. Like if I get into a zoom call and I’m like, oh my God, I can’t find my notes, I can figure it out.
00;07;51;21 – 00;08;25;19
Rebecca Hay
But let’s be honest, that is not sustainable for growth. And my winging it was really showing the day that I decided to start treating my business like a hobby and start treating it like an actual business. Everything’s shifted. I started to create systems for literally everything I did more than once. A proper onboarding sequence that made clients feel confident from day one, a design development process with actual checkpoints for me and my team, a client portal so that they could get set up and get updates without bombarding my inbox.
00;08;25;22 – 00;08;48;09
Rebecca Hay
I could keep things organized. I could tell them where to look. I also started to create templates from everything we did, from proposals to follow up emails to budgets. You name it. That’s what I started to do. And here’s the thing about systems they don’t just make your life easier, they reduce decision fatigue. And that’s what we’re talking about is this idea that a new client is coming my way.
00;08;48;09 – 00;09;04;26
Rebecca Hay
And it’s kind of exciting, but oh my God, all the decisions, all the things I need to do in my brain, your brain feels like it’s going to explode. The systems the process creates consistency. That’s what makes it easier to say no to the wrong clients and say yes to the right ones. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
00;09;04;26 – 00;09;27;27
Rebecca Hay
Most importantly, they are going to make you feel confident and more professional so that when a new client comes your way, you’re not making it up. As you go along. You’re running your business. Instead of letting your business run you. Let me say that again. You are running your business when you have systems. Instead of letting your business run you or letting your client run you.
00;09;27;27 – 00;09;56;29
Rebecca Hay
Let’s be honest, I heard want someone say if you’re not following your process, you’re following your clients. I was like, whoa, that’s so good. And let’s be honest, your client probably has never done this before, so they don’t have any idea what they’re doing. There’s no freaking process. All these little building blocks are going to add up, and before you know it, you’re going to have a business that can handle the growth without you having to completely meltdown, feel anxious, nervous.
00;09;57;00 – 00;10;25;14
Rebecca Hay
Wonder if you need to hire like you will know what to do if this is heading home for you, here’s what I want you to know. You can absolutely feel excited about growing your business again. And actually, next week I’m going to be announcing something pretty special. It’s a four day training where I’m going to walk you through the exact steps to get organized, create more ease into your business, and feel confident taking on larger, bigger, better clients that you actually want to work with.
00;10;25;16 – 00;10;44;22
Rebecca Hay
This is the same foundation that took me from dreading those new inquiries to running a seven figure firm and really reducing my hours to ten 15 hours a week. And I want that for you too. And I know it’s possible. So before you go, I want you to do me a favor. If this episode resonated with you, please, please, please slide into my DMs.
00;10;44;22 – 00;11;04;22
Rebecca Hay
I know I say that all the time, and then sometimes you guys DM me and I’m like, oh, thanks, can you email us? And you’re like, you told me to DM you like, right? Oh my God, I totally did. Please still keep DMing me on Instagram and tell me I listened to this week’s episode of the podcast, and then I want you to tell me, what is one part of your business that you wish felt easier?
00;11;04;28 – 00;11;28;26
Rebecca Hay
I definitely read every message. I’m the one who does all my social right now, so honestly, I love hearing from my listeners because I love to know which episodes resonate. I want to know what you’re struggling with, where you’re at, because I know we can grow your business together. But I wanted to put this episode out into the universe because I realized more clients actually can cause anxiety.
00;11;28;29 – 00;11;49;18
Rebecca Hay
The idea of bigger clients can cause anxiety, and there’s a reason it’s because we don’t have the systems built into our business to handle the new work that comes our way. You know, it’s funny, the transformation that happened to me over the years as I built up my process getting a new client was exciting. I got excited because guess what?
00;11;49;18 – 00;12;11;10
Rebecca Hay
I no longer had to think about what to do next. It was just like, boom, here’s what I do. I have this template, a demo, sending it to here. I’m going to walk them through the process like boom, boom, boom, step by step. And if they decided they didn’t want to work with me, that was on them. But I never felt like I had to sell, defend or jump through hoops to get a client and convince them that we were the right fit.
00;12;11;10 – 00;12;28;06
Rebecca Hay
So I really want that for you. I know you can have it. Thank you for listening today. Please send me a DM if this resonated with you. If you feel like yes, this is me, I’m in this place right now where I want to grow, but honestly, getting a new client stresses me out. Send me a DM. I want to hear from you.
00;12;28;09 – 00;12;41;02
Rebecca Hay
Okay, until next time. Remember, you’ve got this, and I will see you soon.
