You’ve done the work: your systems are in place, your proposals are organized, and your processes are running smoothly. But what happens next? In this episode, Rebecca shares the next phase of growth for established interior designers—how to move from structure to scalability.
Discover how to elevate your business beyond efficiency and build a thriving, profitable studio that runs smoothly and sustainably. Rebecca dives into the four key areas every designer should focus on once their systems are solid: client experience, team growth, financial clarity, and mentorship.
If you’re ready to step into your CEO role, reclaim your time, and scale with strategy—not stress—this episode is for you. Listen now to learn how to scale your interior design business with structure, strategy, and confidence.
episode highlights
- Why systems are just the foundation—not the finish line.
- How to transform consistency into an unforgettable client experience.
- Simple ways to audit your client touchpoints for premium-level service.
- When (and how) to hire help so you can stop doing it all yourself.
- Creating a “dread list” to identify what to delegate first.
- The one financial KPI you should start tracking this month.
- Why mentorship and community are the ultimate accelerators for growth.
- Behind the scenes of Rebecca’s new Mastermind for established designers.
Episode Resources
Learn more about my Mastermind here
Read the Full Transcript ⬇️
00;00;00;02 – 00;00;29;06
Rebecca Hay
Systems aren’t the finish line. They’re the foundation. Because once you have those systems in place, you unlock this whole new level of possibility in your business. You can elevate your client experience in ways that feel totally effortless. 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.
00;00;29;08 – 00;00;59;19
Rebecca Hay
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. 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;00;59;21 – 00;01;22;07
Rebecca Hay
Hey hey hey, it’s Rebecca and you are listening to Resilient by Design. Welcome back to another episode, and if you’re new here, welcome. This episode is going to be a little different. And when I say that, it’s because I’m going to be speaking to those designers who were a little bit more established, the ones who are a little further along.
00;01;22;07 – 00;01;42;10
Rebecca Hay
And I don’t do that a lot here. And I want to say thank you to all of you for being a part of this community. If you’ve been hanging out here for a while, I started this podcast in 2020. So it’s been a hot minute. And today I really wanted to talk about something that I don’t talk about here, and it’s something that I think a lot of designers don’t talk about enough.
00;01;42;12 – 00;02;04;05
Rebecca Hay
And that’s what comes after you get your systems in place. Listen, if you’re sitting here first of all and you are like, I don’t have my systems in place, that’s cool. There’s time. But if you’re here and you’ve got your processes documented and you’ve got your contracts buttoned up and your proposals are organized, first of all, can we just celebrate that for a second?
00;02;04;08 – 00;02;31;09
Rebecca Hay
Because that’s huge. I know how hard it is to get there. And I’ve I’ve resisted it so long in my business, I thought, I’m creative. I don’t want structure. But then burnout hit me over and over again like a freight train. And I realized that if I didn’t document everything and start to get serious about the back end of my business, I was going to be stuck doing every single freaking task forever by myself.
00;02;31;11 – 00;02;50;00
Rebecca Hay
So, as you guys know, if you’ve been here for a while, you know, I did the work, I created the systems, I got organized, and it changed everything. But here’s what I realized. Systems aren’t the finish line. They’re the foundation. Because once you have those systems in place, you unlock this whole new level of possibility in your business.
00;02;50;02 – 00;03;18;26
Rebecca Hay
You can elevate your client experience in ways that feel totally effortless. You can bring on team members, yes, support without losing your freaking mind, and you can actually understand your numbers and make strategic decisions. You can scale without sacrificing your sanity. You don’t need to just keep doing more to make more money. So if you’re sitting here thinking, okay, I’ve got my processes down now what then this episode is for you.
00;03;18;28 – 00;03;37;05
Rebecca Hay
So we’re going to talk about four key areas elevating your client experience, growing your team, getting financial clarity, and why mentorship matters when you’re scaling. And I’m going to share some of my own stories along the way because trust me, I’ve made plenty of mistakes in all the areas. You know, I love to share those. So let’s dive in.
00;03;37;12 – 00;03;59;19
Rebecca Hay
First, let’s talk about elevating the client experience. So let’s start here because this is where your systems really start to shine. When I first got my processes organized I was so focused on efficiency. And believe me, I was obsessed with efficiency. I must have been driving my team crazy. I wanted everything documented. I wanted everything to run smoothly behind the scenes.
00;03;59;24 – 00;04;21;29
Rebecca Hay
I wanted to know exactly what happened at every stage of the project, and that was great. But what I didn’t realize at first was that the systems alone don’t create an exceptional client experience. They create a consistent one and consistency is important. Don’t get me wrong, you need that to start and your clients need to know what to expect.
00;04;22;01 – 00;04;45;13
Rebecca Hay
They need to know that you have a handle on things, but you’re waiting for it, right? If you want to scale your business, if you want clients who rave about you and refer their friends, you need to go beyond consistency. You need to create moments that surprise and delight them. Let me give you an example. A few years ago I created a welcome guide for new clients.
00;04;45;13 – 00;05;09;29
Rebecca Hay
It wasn’t just a contract and a timeline. It was beautiful. It was branded. It was a document to walk them through the entire process. Like, welcome. This is going to be so magical. I introduced them to the team and pictures of all my team members and it explained how we communicate. I set expectations for timelines for all the varying parts of their project and decision making, and I even included tips on how to prepare for our design presentation days or the times we’re going to be together.
00;05;10;04 – 00;05;34;23
Rebecca Hay
And the response was incredible. Clients would e-mail me after receiving it and say, this is so professional, I feel taken care of. I can’t wait to work with you. That one document shifted everything. It built trust before we even started the project. It reduced questions and confusion. It set the tone for a new premium level experience, and it made my life easier because clients knew what was coming ahead.
00;05;34;23 – 00;05;58;20
Rebecca Hay
They knew what to expect. So here’s my challenge for you. If you’ve got your systems in place, I want you to audit three key touchpoints in your client experience your onboarding, which is the welcome guide, right. What happens once they sign the contract and they give you the check right after that. Then your presentation process and what happens at the end your project wrap up.
00;05;58;23 – 00;06;23;22
Rebecca Hay
These are three pivotal moments in the life span of a design project. And I want you to ask yourself, what can I add? One small wow factor. Maybe it’s a personalized note in your onboarding package. Maybe it’s sending a card in the mail with flowers. Maybe it’s how you present your designs. What’s laid out on the table? The branding that you use, the food.
00;06;23;25 – 00;06;40;00
Rebecca Hay
Maybe you go to their house or if they come to you. Do you have a beautiful presentation template you’re using? Does it need to get updated? Do you walk clients through it in a way that feels special? Do you want to use VR headsets? I don’t know. The world’s your oyster. You pick. It’s not necessary to do that.
00;06;40;01 – 00;07;02;26
Rebecca Hay
I’m just throwing out ideas here. Maybe it’s a closing gift at the end of the project, or it’s a follow up check in on a specific date after the project’s complete. These are the little moments that matter. That’s where you’re going to turn those clients into raving fans. This is truthfully what takes those processes. Once you get them established and you have consistency.
00;07;02;28 – 00;07;21;26
Rebecca Hay
Now how do you elevate it? You know, one thing that we love to do in our business is we would do the reveal day. So whatever reveal day was, we’d put it in our calendar as a recurring annual event to celebrate with our clients. So that approaching that anniversary, we would either send them an email or send them a card and we would say, Happy anniversary.
00;07;21;26 – 00;07;37;02
Rebecca Hay
It was a year ago today we revealed your project. It’s a little, hey, we haven’t forgotten about you and it would often open up the doors to, oh, my friend’s looking for a designer election. I’ve been meaning to reach out to you. I need a couple of chairs or whatever it was. Okay? And of course, I would love your ideas.
00;07;37;02 – 00;07;56;08
Rebecca Hay
If you’re working on elevating one of these touchpoints and you’ve got some cool ideas, or you have something you’ve tried and it’s worked. DM me on Instagram. Please tell me what you’re doing. I love celebrating these wins with you, and I promise to read over every single message. The next stage is growing your team, and it’s not something I talk a lot about inside power of process.
00;07;56;08 – 00;08;15;15
Rebecca Hay
Because let’s face it, a lot of designers who take that course aren’t ready to grow their team. Maybe they have a part time assistant, or maybe they have freelance help, but they’re really not talking about team building. However, if you’re listening to this episode today and you’re loving it, you might be one of those people looking to grow your team as I was.
00;08;15;18 – 00;08;32;17
Rebecca Hay
This is a big one. So once your systems are in place. You’re in a really good position to start delegating. And maybe some of you have already seen this. For those of you who’ve already mapped out your process, if you’ve taken pop. But I’m going to be honest with you, this was one of the hardest parts of scaling for me.
00;08;32;19 – 00;08;57;06
Rebecca Hay
Pole was it ever? My first hire was someone to help with everything. She didn’t stay very long. And then I hired the next person to help with everything admin and design and everything. And even though I desperately needed the help, I had no idea how to communicate what I needed. Half the time I would just take over and do the task myself.
00;08;57;08 – 00;09;19;19
Rebecca Hay
And I kept thinking like, they’re not going to do it the way I do it. Well, no shit, they aren’t. Because I didn’t have process written down. I didn’t have anything. I kept thinking, I’m spending more time managing them than I am just doing it myself. I’m losing precious hours in the week. I can’t imagine ever being at a place where these people are going to be able to do something, and I can do something else.
00;09;19;21 – 00;09;36;06
Rebecca Hay
Can anyone relate? Also, money. Money was a massive fear of mine. Always. And I’ll be honest, I still have that right. Like I’m bringing on people to help on the team, and then I get to a point where I’m like, oh, can I even afford this? I felt like I could afford it in June. But now, like, our finances have changed.
00;09;36;08 – 00;09;53;20
Rebecca Hay
That is just a normal part of doing business, and you get better and better at it as you get better at forecasting. But there was that fear. What if I can’t afford to keep them on? Is it even worth bringing them out in the first place? All those fears were real. But here’s what I learned. Delegating isn’t about finding someone who does things exactly like you.
00;09;53;23 – 00;10;18;06
Rebecca Hay
It’s about finding someone who can take tasks off your plate so that you have more space for the things that only you can do like client relationships, creative direction, business strategy. You know, talking to the bookkeeper, it’s not always going to be the fun stuff. You know, you got to do it. You’re the CEO. But the magic of having systems, it makes delegation so much easier when you have everything document it on paper in Google Drive, wherever you keep it.
00;10;18;06 – 00;10;38;04
Rebecca Hay
You’re not trying to explain a process off the top of your head. You can literally hand someone your SOPs, your standard operating procedures, or a checklist and say, here’s how we do this. Ask me if I have any questions. It’s a total game changer. And so for me, growing my team became easier. The more I established those processes.
00;10;38;07 – 00;10;54;28
Rebecca Hay
So if you are listening today and you’re one of these designers, it’s like, okay, I’m pretty good with my process. It might be the best time for you to hire. So here’s what I want you to do. If you are like, oh, I kind of want to hire, but you still have some of those fears, even though maybe you already have your process in place.
00;10;55;00 – 00;11;20;12
Rebecca Hay
I want you to make a dread list. What do you dread? And I know that sounds dramatic, but trust me, this is a great place to start. It could be things I hate doing. Things I’m not good at. Whatever you want to label the list, sit down and write out every single task in your business that drains you, the things you put off, the things that make you groan when you think about them.
00;11;20;15 – 00;11;37;18
Rebecca Hay
You know those things. We all have them. I still have them to this day in my coaching business. Right? Mostly related to tech. In fact, now that I’m recording this episode, I think I might do this list again for myself where I’m at today, because there’s always something that I could take off my plate and give it to somebody else.
00;11;37;21 – 00;11;57;11
Rebecca Hay
So sit down, write out every single task in your business that drains you the things you put off, right? For me, a lot of the times it was procurement. It was placing the orders. It was sending the invoices. I hated chasing down lead times, tracking orders, dealing with deficiencies. I’m a creative. I want to design beautiful spaces. I want to be with the people.
00;11;57;13 – 00;12;17;24
Rebecca Hay
I don’t want spend my days on the phone with vendors tracking, making sure, double checking quantities like that. Maybe that’s how we should call it the Met List. So I realized I could hire someone for this, and I did that. I hired someone to take that off my plate. And no, there wasn’t one silver bullet. One awesome person that I hired.
00;12;17;24 – 00;12;41;14
Rebecca Hay
It stayed forever. I had various people in this role over the years, but it gave me back so much creative energy. It came off my plate. And your drug list might be different. Maybe it’s bookkeeping. Maybe it’s social media. Maybe it’s scheduling. Maybe it’s meeting with the clients. Like no judgment. Whatever it is, though, that’s your roadmap for your first hire.
00;12;41;16 – 00;12;59;22
Rebecca Hay
And listen, I know hiring feels like a big investment. And I’ve had this conversation a lot lately with designers, interestingly enough. Here’s the truth that I’ve been sharing with them is like, you can’t scale if you’re doing everything yourself. You’re going to burn out and then you’re going to burnout again. And I’ve been there and it’s so not worth it.
00;12;59;25 – 00;13;19;09
Rebecca Hay
It might feel like a big investment, but just remember, you don’t have to bring somebody on full time. You don’t owe them benefits. There’s a lot of virtual help out there. Virtual assistants, freelancers who can help a few hours a week, a few hours a month start somewhere. So if you’re sitting there thinking, I’m not ready to hire yet, no project.
00;13;19;09 – 00;13;41;10
Rebecca Hay
Not for me. I’m not ready. I don’t have everything and have all my ducks in a row. Progress over perfection. I want you to ask yourself, what would it feel like if you didn’t have to do? Fill in the blank. Insert the dread task right here. What would it feel like if you didn’t have to do blank anymore?
00;13;41;13 – 00;14;01;22
Rebecca Hay
Do you feel lighter? What would you do with that time and energy? I would love to hear from you. Tell me what your dread list is. Seriously. Send it over. DM me. Send me an email. I want to know what’s holding you back. Because sometimes just naming it is truly the first step to letting it go. You’re ready.
00;14;01;24 – 00;14;24;01
Rebecca Hay
The third area is financial clarity. So let’s talk about money. Let’s talk about the money, honey. Money money money money. I know this is a part. Or some of you want to skip ahead or say, man, I’m getting out of the car. I’ll listen to next week’s episode. Stick with me here, please. Because this is so important. In the early days of my business, I used to check my bank balance.
00;14;24;06 – 00;14;41;03
Rebecca Hay
Actually, I didn’t even check it that frequently. To be honest, I almost was like an in avoidance mentality. When I did check it, I’d be like, okay, are we good? Oh, I was like waiting to like, see something so awful. But I had no idea if my projects were actually profitable. I didn’t know how much I was spending on each job.
00;14;41;06 – 00;15;03;03
Rebecca Hay
I wasn’t tracking it. Like gross numbers, money, spreadsheets. Sparse? No. I didn’t know if my pricing structure made sense. I don’t know if I was billing enough per hour. I didn’t know if I was charging enough out for my assistant like I was flying blind. And that works for a little while. But if you want to scale, you need real financial visibility.
00;15;03;05 – 00;15;26;24
Rebecca Hay
And here’s the thing. Systems help you run projects efficiently. But financial clarity helps you run a profitable business. And there is a difference. So let me give you one simple action that you can take this month. This week. Heck, even pick one key performance indicator KPI and start tracking it every month. And some of you are like, what the what is she talking about?
00;15;26;24 – 00;15;52;03
Rebecca Hay
I’m going to tell you. So a key performance indicator, something that indicates your performance financially as a business. Here’s some examples okay. Maybe it’s your profit margin. Maybe it’s what percent of the revenue coming in is profit. Maybe that’s it. That’s just what you’re going to track. Or maybe it’s your design fee and maybe your design fee as a percentage of the total project cost.
00;15;52;06 – 00;16;12;25
Rebecca Hay
Maybe it’s your average project value. I don’t really care what the number is. It doesn’t really matter. The point of this exercise is to start tracking something and to start doing it on a regular basis. So pick one number that tells you something important about the health of your business and track it. For me, I started tracking project profitability.
00;16;12;27 – 00;16;37;01
Rebecca Hay
I wanted to know on each project after I paid my team all the time, I owed them and covered my expenses and paid myself. How much was I actually making? How much was the business actually profiting? And once I started tracking that, oh boy, could I see patterns. I could see where we were not profitable, even though I for some reason thought we were.
00;16;37;04 – 00;16;58;14
Rebecca Hay
Just because you charge a big number doesn’t guarantee you make a profit. I could see which types of projects were more profitable. Spoiler alert the ones that had decorating and I could see where I was under charging for our time, and I was able to start making smarter decisions. I was able to hold a nope, I can’t go below this number.
00;16;58;17 – 00;17;18;24
Rebecca Hay
When I would put proposals together, and I’m not going to lie, it was very uncomfortable. It was actually disheartening at first to see that, and I shared it with my team, which was a bit embarrassing if you think about it. But it was important and necessary to do. I had to face some really hard truths, but truthfully, it was also super empowering because once I understood my numbers, I could actually improve them.
00;17;18;26 – 00;17;38;24
Rebecca Hay
I felt kind of like a savvy business bitch, not going to lie. So here’s my challenge to you in this area. If you’re not tracking anything, pick one thing to track. If you’re already tracking something, I’d love to know what it is. Send me a DM, but pick one number and start paying attention to it. You don’t have to be a math person to do that.
00;17;38;25 – 00;17;58;15
Rebecca Hay
Trust me, I would not consider myself a math person. Definitely don’t need a finance degree. You don’t need a bookkeeper to do this for you. Don’t have them do it for you. You need to do this for yourself and you. Just like, honestly, you just got to open your eyes. And I promise you, once you start tracking your numbers, it might get a little bit exciting and it’s going to get a lot easier.
00;17;58;22 – 00;18;26;11
Rebecca Hay
So the last area that I want to touch on, for those of you who are making waves and you’re building out your systems, is I want to talk about mentorship and why mentorship matters. And this is the last thing we’re going to talk about today. And this is really important to me. I realize now more than ever how much it has shaped my success, because I’ve invested a lot of money over the years in courses, in coaching, in masterminds.
00;18;26;13 – 00;18;54;01
Rebecca Hay
And if I were to sit down and add it all up, it would be at least $150,000 that I have invested. But guess what? Every single time it is worth it. Here’s why. Systems are going to give you structure. They help you run your business efficiently. But mentor your ship gives you perspective. It gives you also accountability and a roadmap usually for growth that you can’t see on your own because you’re so busy being in it.
00;18;54;03 – 00;19;13;14
Rebecca Hay
When I was a few years into my business, I felt very stuck. I was trying to grow my team. I was feeling very frustrated. I felt like I was managing high school kids and I was like, oh my God, I’ve got to find a better way. I had clients, I had systems were following our process. It was very exciting and I was making okay money, but I couldn’t get to the next level.
00;19;13;14 – 00;19;36;11
Rebecca Hay
I felt like I was I kept hitting a wall. And I also felt like I was working all the time, and I couldn’t figure out how to scale without adding more hours to my week, or like, incurring the cost of an additional person. It’s like the never ending cycle of like, okay, well, I need more projects, but then that means I need more people to serve them, and then I said, you know, more people than I have to pay those people any more projects.
00;19;36;11 – 00;20;01;04
Rebecca Hay
And it’s like, oh my goodness, this cycle. So I hired a business coach and she helped. She met me with my team. She gave me tools, and I was like, oh, this business coach. Things kind of brilliant. Who else can I find to help me? And over the years I’ve done so many different variations of it. But when I joined a mastermind and it’s funny, all these years I’d heard about masterminds, I was like, how do you get into these mastermind things?
00;20;01;09 – 00;20;32;26
Rebecca Hay
Like who? I don’t have friends that do this. Like, what is this world of masterminds? Like, I want the the ahas that happen from these masterminds. And so finally, I had the opportunity to join a mastermind list, and it was not cheap. My first mastermind cost me $17,000 for six months. But who? Being in a room with other designers, with other business owners who were just a few steps ahead of me, who had already solve the problems that I was facing?
00;20;32;29 – 00;20;52;16
Rebecca Hay
Holy heck, did it shorten my learning curve by years. Also, I was able to see in them. It reflected in oh shoot, I actually more figure it out than I thought I did. It gave me confidence. I also learned how to price my services better. I learned how to hire and manage a team. I learned how to create offers that attract higher end clients.
00;20;52;20 – 00;21;14;16
Rebecca Hay
I learned how to market myself in a way that felt authentic. And then and then and then and then. But above all else, I had this community of other women. Let’s be honest, the ones I’ve been involved in, women, it doesn’t mean that you can’t have it with men. But I had this community of women who understood exactly what I was going through because they were either there themselves or approaching it, or they just been there.
00;21;14;21 – 00;21;40;05
Rebecca Hay
And that’s what I want to offer to established designers who are ready to scale. So if you’re listening to this and you’re thinking, yes, Rebecca, I’ve got two systems. I’m elevating my client experience. I’m starting to build a team, and I’m looking at my numbers maybe not as frequently as I probably should, but I’m, you know, I know that I need to and maybe even thinking like, okay, I am so ready for the next level.
00;21;40;07 – 00;22;01;21
Rebecca Hay
That’s the exact type of work I’m going to do inside my brand new mastermind. I have created a very small group of established designers who are ready to scale. We are opening it up for the first time ever by application only, and we are going to work on a high level strategy for you and your business. We’re going to talk about pricing.
00;22;01;23 – 00;22;22;12
Rebecca Hay
We’re going to talk about team building. We’re going to look at where you need to hire. Are the hires you have working for you. Is it the right combo? Can you afford to hire? What would make it possible? We’re going to look at your marketing. How are you showing up? What is the copy on your website saying? How does your Instagram look?
00;22;22;17 – 00;22;44;14
Rebecca Hay
What are you saying in public? How are you showing up in a call or in a consultation? And we’re going to dive into financial clarity because that is really the core of any successful business. We’re going to troubleshoot challenges together, and you’re going to get direct support from me and the community of peers who are all working together towards the same goals.
00;22;44;16 – 00;23;07;16
Rebecca Hay
And you might be in very different places in your business, and you’re likely in very different geographic locations. But there’s so much beauty and learning from each other. So if this sounds like exactly what you need, the application link is in the show notes. I would love to hear from you. You can also find it if you go to rebecca.com/mastermind.
00;23;07;19 – 00;23;23;26
Rebecca Hay
We are sharing it here first at the time of this recording, I’m not planning on announcing this publicly on Instagram. This is really meant for my insiders. If you’ve been in my world for the last few years and you’re like, I just want to go to the next level and I want Rebecca to guide me. That’s what this is.
00;23;23;29 – 00;23;46;02
Rebecca Hay
We’re doing it. Finally, people have been asking me for years, and finally I’m like, okay, I’m ready. All right, so let’s wrap this up today. If you’ve got your systems in place, that is huge. Please celebrate that. But remember, that is the foundation of your business. It’s not the finish line. And you probably already know that. So from here you can elevate your client experience.
00;23;46;02 – 00;24;04;03
Rebecca Hay
Right. You can delegate and build a team. You can now start getting clear on your numbers. And you can invest in mentorship that helps you scale strategically. So here’s what I want you to do after listening to this podcast. First, share where you’re at. Are you working on elevating your client experience? What are you doing? Have you tried something?
00;24;04;08 – 00;24;28;05
Rebecca Hay
What about your first hire? I want to hear from you. Send me an email, please. Where are you at? Are you committing to tracking your numbers? Whatever it is, I want to hear about it in a DM on Instagram or in an email. Please let me know. I read every single message and I love connecting with you. And then secondly, if you’re an established designer who is totally ready for that next level growth, please I encourage you to apply for the mastermind.
00;24;28;07 – 00;24;45;20
Rebecca Hay
All the details will be at that link I gave you. Rebecca A.com forward slash mastermind. There’s also a link to the show notes, and this is for designers who are serious about scaling in a sustainable, strategic way. And so if that’s you, I would love to have a conversation. Wherever you guys are out on your journey, I’m cheering you on.
00;24;45;21 – 00;24;57;09
Rebecca Hay
You got this and I’ll see you soon.
