Which Tier of Interior Designer Are You? (And How to Move Up)

Are You Building a Tier One, Tier Two, or Tier Three Business? Find Out Here.

In the world of interior design, it’s easy to assume success is linear: get clients, do great work, build a portfolio, repeat. But if you look closer, you’ll see a different picture - one where each stage of growth requires a different business model, a different mindset, and a different way of working.

This isn’t just about growing your client list or raising your prices; it’s about evolving your entire business to reflect the designer - and the leader - you’re becoming.

In my work coaching interior designers, I see three distinct tiers of practice:

• Tier 1: The beginner, building a foundation from nothing.
• Tier 2: The established designer, ready to evolve into a leader.
• Tier 3: The star, operating at the top of the market, attracting premium clients with confidence and mastery.

Each tier brings its own challenges, and each requires a new way of thinking: the things you did to ascend from tier one to two are not the same strategies you need to ascend from tier two to three.

Let’s explore what defines each tier, what might be holding you back, and how to break through.

Tier 1: The Beginner – Building the Business That Will Graduate You to Tier 2

If you’ve just emerged from design school or decided to launch your business, you’re in Tier 1, the scrappy, exhilarating, and often overwhelming phase where you build the foundations of a real business.

At this stage, it’s not at all about having a fully-formed identity or a perfect website - quite the opposite! It’s about discovering, iterating, and building these, on the go, along with the systems, offers, and confidence you'll need to operate as a more established Tier 2 business.

Your business model here is simple: Start before you’re ready.

Offer a minimum viable service.

• Get feedback from the market.
• Learn by doing.

The pain points are familiar:

• You’re overwhelmed and unsure where to focus.
• You’re chasing perfection instead of progress.
• You feel paralysed, waiting for clarity to strike.

But clarity comes from action. Your only job in Tier 1 is to build the business you’ll need for Tier 2: a clear set of services, a basic process, a theory about who your ideal clients are, and the courage to keep going during the long months when not much appears to be happening. 

Trust the process.

🛠️ The Essential Qualities for Thriving at Tier One

🔹 Grit – The sheer determination to keep going, even when things feel fuzzy, slow, or not quite ‘right.’ 

🔹 Patience – Understanding that building a business is a process, not an overnight success story. You won’t know it all at once - and that’s okay. 

🔹 Resilience – Expect setbacks. Expect confusion. Expect days where it feels like nothing is working. But keep going anyway.

🔹 Willingness to Learn – Curiosity is your superpower. When you don’t know something, don’t panic, figure it out. Google it, ask a peer, book a mentor - yes, I can help with that.

🔹 Tolerance for Imperfection – You’ll make mistakes. Your website might not be perfect. Your logo might not be perfect. Your processes might not be perfect. And that’s all fine.

🔹 Resourcefulness – When you lack systems, you rely on scrappy ingenuity. Find the next best way to get things done, even if it’s not perfect or pretty. Learn to use new systems, apps, and software, etc., there are some skills hills still to climb - design school was only half the story. 

🔹 Consistency – Keep showing up. Keep posting, keep emailing, keep talking about your services. Consistency beats brilliance at this stage.

🔹 Humility – You’re learning as you go. Stay open to feedback, and don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know yet.”

🔹 Focus on Action Over Planning – Don’t get stuck making endless lists or reworking your brand palette - you are collecting the data you need to make the right decisions about this later. Take one small action every day that moves you forward.

🔹 Faith – In yourself, in your vision, in the fact that this hard work will pay off if you stay the course.

💡 A Tier One Mindset

At Tier One, you can’t afford to be precious. You have to be scrappy, adaptable, and ready to pivot.

You’re not working in the safety of a fully-formed business yet. You’re building the business as you go, while also marketing it, serving clients, and learning new skills on the fly.

It’s messy, it’s demanding, and it will stretch you…but it’s also the only way through.

You can't go from 0 straight to Tier 2. 

If you can embrace this mindset - showing up every day, chipping away at the work, staying humble, and learning in motion - you will graduate to Tier Two.

My new course, Interior Design Business-in-a-Box, is available on pre-order now, and is designed to accompany you throughout this foundational phase, providing you with guidance, templates, and live support across all facets of business building. The course is self-paced with access starting in early September. 

Tier 2: The Established Designer – Evolving from Generic to Distinctive

Tier 2 is where things get more complex, and more exciting. This is the long, rich middle ground where many designers spend the bulk of their careers.

But Tier 2 is not one-size-fits-all. Within it, I see three distinct developmental stages:

2a – The Young Business: Laying the Groundwork

You’ve got clients, projects, and some wins under your belt. But your business is still a little generic. You might feel like a jack of all trades (although you have a sense of where you represent particular value), you’re doing too much for too little, getting taken advantage of by clients who don’t quite respect your boundaries - let's be honest, perhaps because you still have work to do to reinforce these.

This is the stage where you need to slough off bad habits.

• Tighten up your pricing and processes.
• Get clearer on your ideal clients.
• Imagine a day when you'll say 'no' to work that doesn’t align; it's time to start figuring out what aligned work looks like.

The challenge here is awareness: knowing where you stand, what you want, and what needs to change.

⸻

2b – The Blossoming Business: Loving the Work, Starting to Love the Clients

You’ve moved past the chaos. You’re attracting better clients, charging fairer (to you) fees, and developing your own voice.

At this level, you’re galvanising: finding your distinctive style, refining your offers, and building a brand that feels like you. You can look squarely at the competition without feeling (too) inadequate; and, the ways in which you’re different - the special value you offer - is coming more sharply into focus. 

You are working on consistency:

• Making sure every part of your business - your visuals, your processes, your messaging - feels cohesive and intentional, and representative of your unique proposition.
• Planning for growth: What does the next level look like, and what’s the route to get there?

You are shoring up your solid foundation. There are no significant holes, this is the stage to build strength: develop thought leadership, deepen your expertise, and become known for your point of view. This is the launch pad you’ll ultimately take off from. 

⸻

2c – The Restless Achiever: Yearning for More

You’ve got a solid business. You’re respected in your niche. But there’s a gnawing feeling: Is this it? You see the stars above you, and a little voice says, ‘you could be up there 👆'.

So you sense there’s another level waiting for you: a bigger platform, higher-profile clients, larger fees. You know you could make the leap, but it feels risky.

This is where you need to complete the personal development project:

• Build confidence in your worth.
• Work on your mindset around visibility and pricing.
• Get comfortable with the idea of being seen, and being bold.

🌿 Thriving in Tier Two: The Essential Qualities and Mindset for Growth

Tier Two is when the adult arrives in your business. The scrappy, chaotic energy of Tier One has been replaced by a desire for order, consistency, and refinement. You’ve survived the messy early days, bruised, perhaps, but stronger for it. Now, it’s time to build a business that feels good on the inside, not just one that looks good from the outside.

AND - this is the point to refine that website, to consider your branding, to get a bit more hung up on perfectionism.

In Tier One (equated to ‘human years’) your business was 13 - you thought you were an adult, but the true ‘you’ was yet to emerge. Now (in Tier Two) your business in human years is 18, or 21, maybe even 25. You have the new-found confidence of knowing who you are, where you fit, what you like.  

💪 Essential Qualities for Tier Two

🔸 Self-Reflection – You start asking: What’s working? What’s not? What needs to change? This ability to step back and look critically at your business is what unlocks growth.

🔸 Pride in Progress – You honour how far you’ve come. Tier One taught you a lot, now you respect those lessons and use them as a foundation to build on. 

🔸 Desire for Distinction – You’re no longer content with being a ‘generic’ interior designer. You want to develop a distinct point of view, a signature style, and a unique client experience.

🔸 Commitment to Systems – You see the value of good processes: clear pricing, strong contracts, client management frameworks, and financial controls. You want a business that runs smoothly, because you know the chaos of the alternative.

🔸 Maturity and Discipline – You no longer need to chase every shiny object. You can say no to the wrong clients and yes to the right opportunities.

🔸 Confidence from Experience – You’ve been through enough projects to know you can handle difficult situations. You’re less reactive and more strategic.

🔸 Long-Term Vision – You start thinking in months and years, not just weeks. You want to build a business that will grow steadily, attract the right clients, and give you a sense of control.

🔸 Desire for Consistency and Resilience – You’re ready to calm the storm. The scrappy Tier One energy isn’t sustainable forever, now you crave steady growth, fewer ‘skirmishes,’ and more confident client relationships.

💡 The Tier Two Mindset

In Tier Two, you’re no longer just doing the work. You’re building the machine that delivers the work.

You want to feel proud of what’s behind the scenes: your systems, your processes, your client experience. You understand that growth comes not just from working harder, but from working smarter, by creating a business that feels distinct, robust, and ready to scale.

You know you’ll still face challenges, but you’re determined to make each project, each month, and each client interaction smoother than the last. You want to reduce risk - not by playing small, but by becoming more competent, consistent, and commercially-minded.

You’ve seen the scrappy startup days, and now you’re ready to build a business with a clear identity, better boundaries, and the systems in place to support your long-term goals.

⸻

The majority of my Bootcamp designers have businesses currently in tier 2, an even mix of tiers 2a, 2b, 2c. We work together on business planning, honing, refining. Positioning each business ready to shoot up to the next level - from a solid platform, and with clear-sighted intention and ambition. 

Tier 3: The Star Designer – Leading with Vision, Designing without Limits, and Earning More

Tier 3 is a different world - you need to be a different calibre of designer to enter.

At this level, you’re no longer selling packages or services in the usual way. Your work is bespoke - more like couture than ready-to-wear. Your clients care so much more about quality and vision, about comfort and ease, less about price. We have spoken about Veblen services on this blog - tier 3 designers are 100% Veblen. 

You present a perfectly aligned suite of services. These come at a price. Price is information - of course you remain respectful, but price no longer comes fraught with emotion. 

Your business model shifts again:

• You reveal less on your website (it is pure aspiration).
• You explain less in your marketing (how could you explain: couture is infinitely adaptable).
• You become more visible as a thought leader, just as you are becoming more discreet about your actual business operations.

It’s a paradox: as you step forward in your public profile, you also step back from revealing too much about the inner workings of your studio. Your value is not in the details of your process, it’s in the aura of you, the dream of a perfect home that you represent.

To thrive here, you need:

• A bulletproof money mindset.
• The courage to command your full value.
• The confidence to turn down clients who aren’t the right fit.
• A distinctive voice, something to say.
• The perfect balance between business and personal branding - both are intimidatingly aspirational. 

This is the top tier, so of course it comes with challenges. Staying at this level means continuing to grow, refine, and lead. You become the star of your own brand, and the guardian of its mystery. You need a coach as much as ever, a peer group, but you need them to understand the pressures at the top. 

🌟 Thriving at Tier Three: The Essential Qualities and Mindset

The Quantum Leap from Tier Two to Tier Three

The leap from Tier One to Tier Two is significant but it’s achievable through steady action, learning, and refinement.

The leap from Tier Two to Tier Three, however, is a quantum leap - an order of magnitude greater. It’s not just about doing better work or getting better clients. It’s about becoming an entirely different kind of business, and a different kind of designer.

To make this leap, you must be ready to transform your business model, your marketing, and - most critically - your mindset...and yourself.

💎 Essential Qualities for Tier Three

✅ Visionary Thinking – Tier Three designers aren’t just running projects; they’re building legacies. You need the ability to see far beyond the next client and into the long-term narrative of your career.

✅ Confidence in Your Value – At this level, you must charge high fees, and you must believe you are worth them. This means conquering the last remnants of impostor syndrome and owning your expertise without apology.

✅ Courage – The leap to Tier Three requires bold, sometimes uncomfortable decisions: raising prices dramatically, saying no to ill-fitting clients, and embracing visibility in a way that feels both vulnerable and powerful.

✅ Discernment – You must develop a highly tuned sense of who you serve…and who you don’t. Your client base narrows, your projects become fewer, but each one is exceptional.

✅ Elegance in Leadership – At Tier Three, you’re not just a service provider; you’re a thought leader. You speak less, but every word carries weight. You post less often, but each piece of content lands with impact. Your brand is built on gravitas, and exclusivity.

✅ Strategic Patience – You understand that Tier Three success is crafted over time. You focus on quality over quantity, building an aura that makes clients want to work with you, rather than needing to chase them down.

✅ Resilience Under Pressure – The stakes are higher. The clients are more exacting. The expectations are stratospheric. You must be able to hold your nerve, trust your expertise, and manage high-level relationships with calm authority.

🧠 The Tier Three Mindset

 At Tier Three, you no longer operate like a standard interior designer. You become a cultural figure, a trusted authority, a creative director.

Your marketing shifts dramatically:

You project an air of exclusivity, and while you constantly work at it, you don’t pitch; you attract.

Your website becomes an elegant portfolio, a coffee table book, not a shopfront.

Your business feels like couture, not ready-to-wear.

You have to be willing to let go of the safety nets: the comfort of busy-ness, the reassurance of volume, the fear of saying no. You embrace rarity as your selling point.

You understand business and have reserves in place before you leap, it's a calculated gamble. 

And above all, you know that this level of success isn’t a matter of luck, or timing, or fate. It’s a choice: a decision to show up as the leader you are meant to be.

Final Thought: 

Each tier of your business demands a different model, a different mindset, and a different way of working. It’s not just about growing bigger, it’s about growing smarter, and evolving your business to match your ambitions.

If you’re ready to step up to the next level - whether you’re just starting out, finding your feet in the middle, or preparing to take your place in the top tier - let’s talk. Together, we can chart the path and build the business that will get you there.

I love working with designers at every stage of their journey:

• For those just starting out, there’s Interior Design Business-in-a-Box - everything you need to get your business off the ground.
• For those ready to grow, there’s the Recipe for Success Business Bootcamp (contact me if you'd like to join the waitlist) designed to help you strengthen your business, refine your offer, and attract better clients.
• And for those poised to reach the rarified, fragrant air of the higher stratosphere, I offer one-to-one consultations - bespoke guidance tailored to your unique ambitions. 

Wherever you are now, what’s your plan for tackling the next development step? Let’s make it together.