Trade Tales
Trade Tales
Business of Home, Kaitlin Petersen
Business of Home's editor in chief Kaitlin Petersen talks to interior designers about nurturing creativity, finding a firm’s financial footing, setting goals and discovering their own version of success as a result.
How Hattie Sparks Collins regained creative control of her firm
Hattie Sparks Collins on the value in hiring for help with procurement, the systems’ approach that accelerated her firm’s growth, and raising her project standards to invest in her firm’s future.
Oct 7
1 hr 6 min
Ask Us Anything: Live with Evan Millard, Melissa Oholendt and Audrey Scheck
Designers Evan Millard, Melissa Oholendt and Audrey Scheck joined host Kaitlin Petersen for a live episode of the show to dish out advice on attracting more qualified leads, investing in photography,understanding profit margins and more.
Sep 30
1 hr 14 min
Jay Jeffers on protecting your firm from a pipeline in flux
Jay Jeffers on how he’s protecting his firm from pipeline volatility, the value in creating a workplace that attracts senior talent, and what he learned from the process of opening his own hotel.
Sep 23
1 hr 6 min
Ask Us Anything: Dan Rak on improving your profit margins
Dan Rak on why the right sourcing strategy is crucial to improving profit margins, levelling up through a designer-friendly accounting software, and the importance of regularly examining your firm’s cost structure.
Sep 16
48 min
Ali Faulkner on building a team that’s passionate about the client experience
Ali Faulkner on the outsourcing efforts that helped her firm grow, the value in hiring employees whose experience outweighs your own, and how being her authentic self helps capture ideal clients.
Sep 9
1 hr 15 min
Ask Us Anything: How Shaun Crha presents product pricing to clients
Interior designer Shaun Crha of Long Beach, California–based firm Wrenstead Interiors offers advice on using a budgeting guide to prepare clients for prospective room costs, an alternative approach to fully itemized pricing, and why some information always remains internal to his firm.
Sep 2
54 min
How Kelly Finley is building a firm that brings her joy
Kelly Finley of Oakland, California, and Atlanta, Georgia–based design firm Joy Street Design on creating a custom database for her firm’s backend, using AI to catch ordering mistakes and why she decided to launch a nonprofit that operates alongside her design firm.
Aug 26
1 hr 2 min
Ask Us Anything: Erica Vassalotti’s guide to photo rights
Interior designer Erica Vassalotti of Philadelphia-based design firm Bergman Vass shares tips on the value in teaming up with your photographer to strategize about media coverage, how usage rights are akin to art commissions, and why it's important to also represent clients in a photo shoot.
Aug 19
49 min
Why Molly Torres Portnof hands every prospective client an investment guide
Molly Torres Portnof on the value of publicity in a changing media landscape, why she sends an investment guide to every prospective client, and the process she swears by to find the most qualified leads.
Aug 12
59 min
Ask Us Anything: Tina Ramchandani on attracting your ideal client
New York-based interior designer Tina Ramchandani on finding the messaging that authentically conveys your firm’s value, tactics for filtering out unqualified leads, and the annual reset that helps crystallize her ideal client.
Aug 5
39 min
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