You don’t last 20-plus years in the interior design industry without learning a few valuable lessons along the way. While every interior design firm is unique, the principles of sound business management and marketing still apply. You can learn them the hard way, or you can learn them from others who’ve learned the hard way. The latter path is less of a steep and bumpy road to long-term growth and success.

In this episode, Gail talks with Katie Decker-Erickson, principal with Color Works Design, a company she founded in 2007. Although she started out focused solely on designing with color, clients kept asking her to include an ever-increasing number of interior design services. After working in residential design for several years, she came to realize she preferred commercial projects. Today, with a team of between 15 and 20, her firm specializes in hospitality, senior living, university facilities and housing, and multifamily housing.

Gail asked Katie what are some of the lessons she’s learned over the years about how to operate and market her business. Katie said first and foremost, you have to let go and be comfortable delegating work to others. To grow, she said, you need a vision and a team to execute on that vision. “It’s all about letting go to the right person for the right reason. You can’t do it all on your own.”

Furthermore, she said, “Figure out who is your target market and go hard. If you’re trying to be everything to everyone, you’re nothing to no one.” Take care of the clients you have, she added. They can become clients for life. Also, take care of your team and they will stay with you over the years.

Your business should not become a burden. “Your business should work for you, not you work for it.” Do some self-introspection, she advised. Figure out where is your happy place—i.e., what fulfills you and gives you joy—and pursue that. Let others do the other stuff.

Over the years, Katie and her firm have experienced some good times and some not-so-good times. Just accept that these are normal business cycles. “Don’t be afraid to let your business expand and contract,” she said.

Gail and Katie also talked about how AI might impact the interior design industry and how Katie is using it now in her firm. They also discussed the importance of curating your firm’s culture. For those insights and more, listen to the entire podcast.

If you’re listening on your favorite podcast platform, view the full shownotes here: https://thepearlcollective.com/s12e6-shownotes

Mentioned in This Podcast

For more information about Katie and her firm, go the website at colorworks.coach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ogr-1u_8e8I

Episode Transcript

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Welcome to the podcast, Katie. I have a special guest today, Katie Decker Erickson, and I am so excited to have a conversation with you today. You and I had a good chat not too long ago and you’ve been doing interior design for a while now and I’d love to know about how you got into it.

That’s so kind of you, Gail. I’m so honored to be here. And yeah, I don’t know a while that’s like a kind way of saying someone is seasoned, right? Which is code for old. And we’re now at the age where we’re giving back in our industry. Yeah. You know, it’s funny. My journey to design was very unique. it wasn’t traditional. Like I woke up my junior year of high school and decided I should do interior design. And that is what I love. And I’m going to go pursue that in college. I actually didn’t come to interior design until I was in. Gosh, early twenties.

It was after I had my master’s degree in business administration that I went I want to start a business and I love creating and I need to use the left and right side of my brains or my brain to feel like satisfied at the end of the day and It was funny. I was actually fixing and flipping houses at the time or condos and I was so frustrated that I couldn’t find somebody who just did color I just only wanted someone to do color. I didn’t need a full design experience and everyone wanted

to sell me on the whole package and I just thought, heaven help, there’s gotta be a better answer. So I reached out to, I started doing some Google research and found the International Association of Color Consultants and said, I wanna reach out, wanna figure out how does this whole thing work? What do we do? And went and got certified and then started helping others. And really that’s how Colorworks was born back in 2007. It was just out of the desire to focus on color. it was for someone who hadn’t,

gone through a four-year formal program. It was the perfect gateway because I wasn’t focusing on every aspect of design. I was focusing on a singular aspect. And that was so lovely because it just gave me a really nice way to dip my toe in the pond. And then as our clients kept coming to us wanting more things, which I’m sure so many people can relate to on your show, you just keep adding to your services until you get where you need to be and what satisfies them.

And so you’re now doing residential as well. Well, great question. So I lasted about three years in residential truthfully, Gail. And then I quit. my gosh. To all you residential designers out there, you have a job a billion times harder than I do. You know, it was really challenging for me because of my MBA. It’s a blessing and a curse, right? But I approach it from a business perspective. And so there were so many wives that wanted a best friend to have.

with and talk about pillows. And I love being a girly girl, but not when I’m on the clock doing eight to five. Like I want to move projects and get things done and have decision makers and no budgets. And I was just like, I didn’t have the emotional bandwidth for it. So to the residential designers in your audience that do, I humbly bow down because, and then you get the spousal component, right? And I’m just like, yeah, I can’t do marital counseling.

I would have gone to school to get a degree in that if that’s what I wanted to do. And like the fact that you’re fighting over the sofa, I think we have bigger problems here. I mean, just a hunch, but it’s just, so was funny. I actually started segueing into commercial about three years in, and then I just kept going down that road until eventually I was just full-time commercial and multifamily, which is what I love. And then that’s now kind of what I coach too and helping other designers who are saying,

Gosh, I can relate to every part of that. And I love hospitality or I love, hotel motel or I love, just figuring out how do we get there and how do we get you into the space you want to play? Cause I think so many times we just think there’s one space and design, right? Like I’m an interior designer. It’s not like I’m a drafter. I’m a space planner. I’m a sorcerer. hear that those exists, but they’re much less hurt. feel like, they’re just as valid, know? Well, that’s interesting. And so because you didn’t have.

a design degree if I heard this correctly. A hundred percent. Okay. And so you have an MBA. Yep. And so obviously you’re smart. that’s all. No, I got really bored. I needed something to do and I hadn’t met my husband yet. Let’s not, let’s be perfectly honest, Gail. Well, you don’t do an MBA just because you’re You’re sweet. You’re very kind.

Okay. So commercial design. that’s a whole different animal and learning how to price that. did you learn how to price? Cause you didn’t come from a design background. Yeah. It’s a very fair question. was a lot of trial and error to be honest with you, but I also had some clients in the beginning who came to me and they’re like, well, we have a quote for this, but we’d rather work with you. Can you make that work? And I’m like, sure. And then a couple of those come across your desk and then you start

talking to your trade partners about what can we do and what accounts can we set up and how do we make this work? And you just kind of navigate your way through it. I will say our model is pretty fluid though, because we’re so economically based. Like right now, interest rates are high. It’s been a hard year to make deals pencil straight up. And so one thing we did as an effort of goodwill to our clients, because we always joke that we love to acquire clients and not lose them. We collect clients.

But as part of goodwill and as part of marketing, we said, we’re not going to raise our rates in 2024. And we did a whole marketing campaign around that and said, hey, we get it’s a hard year for you guys. We get that you’re having a hard time making it pencil. These transactions aren’t going the way you want. The remittals you’re wanting to do on as-builts aren’t quite as advanced as maybe you want. We’re going to work with you because we want to hang with you for the long haul. Things like that, I think, make a huge difference. And so we’re c...