I’m about to take a short, two-week break from my regular newsletter over Christmas. I’ll be back in your inbox in early January.

Rather than send a “festive edition” that adds to the noise, I wanted to use this final note of the year to share something that feels genuinely useful, and very aligned with how I’m spending this quiet, reflective period myself.

Like many of you, I’m currently reviewing the year just gone and beginning to think carefully about the year ahead (see last week's blog on writing your annual review). Not in a frantic, goal-stuffed way, but more deliberately.

I’m interested in clarity, focus, and plans that actually survive contact with real life.

That’s why, in January, I’m running a live, online Hothouse 2026 Planning Event  ...it's free, and I’d love to invite you!

An Invitation To Join The Hothouse 2026 Planning Event

Five Days. One Hour a Day. A Plan You Can Actually Deliver.

📅 12–16 January | 11.00–12.00 (UK time) | Live Online

PUT IT IN YOUR DIARY

Most designers don’t fail because they lack ambition.

They fail because they don’t have a plan, or because their plans are overloaded, disconnected, or impossible to deliver alongside real life.

The Hothouse 2026 Planning Event is a five-day, live, guided planning intensive designed to help you create a focused, values-led, realistic plan for the year ahead - and, crucially, one you’ll still believe in by March.

This is not about doing more.

It’s about choosing better.

What Makes This Planning Event Different

• We start with values, not targets
• We plan top-down, then bottom-up
• We eliminate “multiple-target panic”
• We distribute effort intelligently across the year
• We design plans that respect learning curves, energy, and capacity
• We use AI as a thinking partner, not a gimmick

You will leave with clarity, direction, and a delivery structure that holds up under pressure.

The Five-Day Structure

Day One: Vision Before Motion

We begin by reframing vision boards - this is not just an exercise in manifestation - and introducing five distinct types.

For this event, we focus on the Values Vision Board - establishing your governing values so every decision that follows is filtered through what actually matters to you.

Outcome: Clear governing values and a shared language for decision-making.

Day Two: Business Clarity Before Marketing

We define the shape of your business for 2026: services, revenue streams, capacity and constraints. No marketing until the business itself makes sense.

Outcome: A coherent, values-aligned business plan with fewer moving parts.

Day Three: Targets With Spine

We set meaningful goals and address the biggest red flag in planning: multiple-target mode - the anxious collection of unconnected goals that guarantees overwhelm.

Outcome: One clear headline goal, supported by aligned metrics you can actually track.

Day Four: Marketing as a Consequence

Marketing is planned as a response to your business strategy, not a performance. We focus on sustainable visibility, consistency, and platforms that fit your life and values, and connect with your ideal client. 

Outcome: A realistic marketing plan that supports your business instead of draining it.

Day Five: From Vision to Delivery

We take your annual goal and distribute responsibility across the four quarters intelligently, recognising that growth must be back-end loaded when learning new skills.

You’ll then zoom in:

• Annual → Quarters
• Q1 → Months
• Month 1 → Weeks

This is where I introduce my Boss Julia vs Worker Julia framework:

• Boss reviews and recalibrates at the quarters
• Worker executes at the weeks and months

Outcome: A delivery plan that is ambitious, humane, and repeatable.

Mindset & AI (Threaded Throughout)

This event weaves in:

• grit, focus, courage and consistency
• how to chart a course and stick to it
• how to use AI for:
  • journalling and reflection
  • business and marketing planning
  • revenue modelling
  • mindset support

AI is treated as a thinking partner that reduces friction and supports clarity - not as a shortcut.

Who This Is For

• Residential interior designers and creative business owners - please share with friends 
• Those who want a calmer, more intentional 2026
• Anyone tired of planning that looks good on paper but collapses in real life

What You’ll Leave With

• Clear governing values
• A focused business plan
• One meaningful annual goal
• A realistic marketing strategy
• A quarter-by-quarter delivery structure
• A repeatable planning rhythm you can return to all year

The Hothouse 2026 Planning Event - How To Join:

To take part, you'll need to join our free business hub on Facebook, and sign up by clicking ‘going’ under the ‘Events’ tab.

Wishing you and your family a very happy Christmas, and a healthy and prosperous New Year! 

With very best wishes from 

Julia 

Founder - Hothouse