We work in a seasonal service business, which means we as an interior design firm owner have experienced financial peaks and valleys, so how do we weather this rollercoaster ride?
In today’s shorty episode, I’m sharing a few tips for making money during the slow season (those darn valleys).
Some of these revenue ideas may shock you, but I encourage you to keep an open mind and focus on the goals you have for your business! Each of these possibilities has many benefits beyond generating income during a slow period.
And if you’re looking for additional revenue-generating ideas for the slow season, we’ve got you covered with lots more ideas within Designer’s room.
Episode Resources
Read the Full Transcript ⬇️
Hey hey hey, it’s Rebecca and you are listening to Resilient by Design. Today, I’m diving into ways that you can make money when you don’t have any clients. This is going to be a good one. Get your pen and paper ready because so many designers reach out to me. They’ve just started their business, maybe they’ve had a family friend hire them, and they’re ready to go. Then they’re like, “Oh man, I just don’t have any clients. Where can I find clients?” Or they panic because they’ve been in business for a while and the leads have dried up. They haven’t been paying attention to their marketing or networking, and all of a sudden, projects finish, and they don’t have anything down the pipeline. Also, don’t forget, our business is seasonal. There are going to be peaks and valleys. There are times when people are looking to do work in their homes and times when people are not paying attention, leading to those peaks and valleys.
Here are a couple of out-of-the-box ideas—exactly three ideas—that will help you bring in cash when you don’t have any clients. Oh yeah, by the way, this is a shorty episode, so this is going to be very bite-sized. Here we go.
Number one: This is something that a lot of designers overlook. I think it’s a great opportunity to get experience, make money, and network. There are so many perks to this. If you are slow and you do not have work, number one is freelance for other designers.
“But they’re my competition, Rebecca.” I know what you’re thinking. I hear you. I’m in your brain. Here’s the thing about freelancing: when you freelance for another designer—and by the way, if you’re in Designer’s Room, just put out a post and say, “Hey guys, I’m available. Does anyone need help?” You’ll have people scrambling to hire you, and maybe eventually partner with you—you never know what’s going to come of it. Offer up your services, and I’m going to say services because it doesn’t have to be AutoCAD or 3D renderings. What are you really naturally good at that you know you could help someone else with?
I had a designer who took Power of Process who’s very talented but just starting out. She came to me and said, “I don’t have a lot of work. Would so-and-so be interested in me helping her?” And I said, “Sure, why not? Let me reach out.” Sure enough, I did. This designer is helping another designer that I know while slowly starting to grow her business. She’s helping her select fabrics, put together mood boards, capture all the data. She’s not doing AutoCAD because she doesn’t have that skill set. There are so many opportunities for you to make money and gain experience with someone else’s client without the commitment of being a full-time design assistant or junior or intermediate designer.
I also worked with a girl for many years who did this and it became her business model where she was doing AutoCAD and specialty millwork drawings for other design firms. She was really busy doing that until a time came when she started to get her own clients and decided to do less freelance and more of her own clients. But she still supplemented her income with those freelance projects. I highly recommend, if you are really struggling and cannot find work, go to other designers and offer to help them. They will be more than willing to take the help. If it’s a great relationship, it could be a longer-term fit. You never know. I’ve seen these turn into partnerships where somebody goes to help another designer and a couple of years down the road, they decide to open their own design firm together. You just never know.
That was number one: freelance for other designers.
Number two: If you are struggling to bring in enough revenue or find clients and don’t have anything in the pipeline, find yourself a part-time job at a local showroom. A lot of us as designers think, “Oh, I feel like I’m beyond that. I’m now working on clients, and the showrooms are what help me.” But if you can work part-time or full-time at a showroom, you are going to experience all kinds of benefits.
First of all, money—you are going to get paid. Second, you are going to learn the ins and outs of that particular product. Maybe you’re working at a tile store and you’re going to learn things you didn’t even know you needed to learn. There’s still so much that I need to learn, that if I worked at a showroom part-time, I would know. Oh my goodness, the things I would learn. Maybe you’re learning about countertops, grout lines, tile thickness, and where the supply chain is faltering. You could work at a fabric store and learn so much about fabrics. You could work at a plumbing fixture place. You could work on commission. If you know a lot of designers and want to help that showroom grow and get their clients, maybe you could set up a commission where you get a commission for every client you bring forward.
There are so many vendors out there that also experience peaks and valleys in their business. They might not want full-time help but are happy to have part-time help. So, working in a vendor showroom not only gets you educated on the product but also connects you with potential clients. You are going to see firsthand how vendors interact with designers and clients, and you will really learn what clients need and are looking for. You are going to get a front-row seat while being paid on how the industry works. There’s no reason you can’t do this while also growing your design firm on the side.
The last tip I’m going to leave you with is completely different. I’m not telling you to go and offer your services to other businesses. In this tip, I’m suggesting that you offer a limited-time service. If you’ve been running your business, I’ve seen established businesses do this time and time again, especially as it gets closer to the holidays or during the summer months when things get slower. Figure out a service that you’ve always been asked about but don’t typically offer or something that you get asked about a lot and make it more desirable by putting a limited time on it. Do not discount. I do not believe in discounts. I don’t think that adds value to what you’re doing. In fact, it takes away from you trying to show yourself as a designer who is up and coming and has value. That’s a whole other conversation. But if you can put a limited time, it has the same idea.
Some examples of this would be offering consulting hours—a package of 10 hours of consulting hours. Typically, we offer full-service fixed-fee design, but for the summer months, we wanted to open our services up to more people or help more clients. So, we’re offering packages of 10 hours that you can add to as needed. Or offering to decorate your home for the holidays as a service. I’ve seen designers do this before. It’s a smaller fee, so they don’t have a big commitment, but it gets you in the house, in front of them, and in front of a lot of other people. It gets you some work and makes some money.
So, let your brain spin a little bit on those ideas. Let me know. Send me a DM on Instagram and let me know which of those ideas you liked the most. Which one hit home? Have you tried any of those before? Have they been successful? Is there something I’ve missed? Let me know so I can add value and share more here on the podcast. These are ideas we generate all day long inside Designer’s Room. So, if you’re not in that community, you’re going to want to join us. We’ll share a link in our show notes so you can find out more about Designers Room. That’s where designers connect, freelance for each other, and offer suggestions on things that have worked for them in the past.
There you have it. Find out where you can bring in a little extra revenue for your business. It’s going to be different for everyone. I hope you guys enjoyed that shorty episode, and I’ll see you soon.
