🌱 What is Hothouse?
Hothouse is an interior design business accelerator where designers come together to build stronger, more profitable businesses through strategic action, collaboration, and accountability.
We don’t just talk about growing our businesses: we take bold, consistent action to make it happen. 🚀
Every month, we focus on a different key area of professional performance, tracking progress and sharing success stories as we go.
🌟 March Intentions and Focus – Supercharging Social Media
March is nearly over, and with it, the first quarter of 2025. It’s time to reflect on your progress so far and get ready to refresh your goals for Q2.
From personal experience, I promise there’s nothing so powerful as a habit of regularly monitoring and measuring key business trends. Hothouse helps you build that habit, keeping you accountable and focused. 💪
There’s still plenty of time to use Hothouse to supercharge your business growth this year.
Our focus for March is Social Media Marketing.
Social media too often feels like a relentless treadmill for interior designers. This month in Hothouse, we’re reclaiming control and preparing for a big push: our first Social Media Race Day is coming up, and it’s set to become a monthly staple.
🎉 Join Us! It’s Free
👉 Click here to join Hothouse on Facebook.
Or search ‘Hothouse - Excellence in Interior Design Business’ on Facebook.
Know a designer who would benefit? Share this newsletter with them, let’s grow together!
📝 New on the Blog – Getting Match-Fit for Social Media Race Day
We’ve been chatting a lot recently about social media feeds and personal branding, now it’s time to look at some real-life examples.
I’ve pulled some inspiration from House & Garden’s Top 100 Designers and Architects list to share screenshots and comments on a few standout Instagram accounts.
These examples highlight how good practice can create a distinct mood and identity. There are no rights or wrongs, just different approaches tailored to unique clients and business models.
📖 Read the full post and see the examples here.
🛠️ Race Day Prep Webinar Two (of Two) Recap
We completed the second Race Day Prep Webinar this week, and it was packed with practical insights.
💡 What we covered:
✅ Planning for Race Day with a downloadable planning spreadsheet (find it - Excel and Numbers versions - under the Files tab in Hothouse).
✅ Building assets and templates for carousels, posts, and reels, ensuring brand consistency.
✅ Scheduling and execution - using simple tools to prepare and auto-share posts.
✅ Marketing strategy - achieving consistency while staying authentic.
📺 Catch up on both webinars here.
🏁 Social Media Race Day - Thursday 27th March, 9.30-3.00pm
It’s time to take control of your marketing with our first Social Media Race Day!
📌 What is Race Day?
A high-energy content creation sprint where we:
✔ Plan, create, and schedule the foundation of a month’s worth of posts in just one day.
✔ Streamline your workflow, eliminating the constant scramble to post.
✔ Build repeatable processes to make next month even easier.
🚀 Prep Checklist (on race day we race, training - below - should be done in advance):
✅ Personalise your planner and choose your content types.
✅ Set your posting schedule: how many per week? (1 or 2 - is fine, just make sure you're consistent)
✅ Plan content types:
• Service-based posts - let the world know what you do, and how to access it
• Personal branding - a warm welcome is so, so important!
• Behind-the-scenes insights
• Design philosophy
• Engaging/interactive content
✅ Be ready to be consistent:
• Covers, fonts, colours, B-roll, photos
• Prep your templates and visuals in advance
📍 Access Race Day via the Hothouse group—see the Events tab.
🎥 B-Roll: What Is It & How to Use It
I’ve had a few questions recently about B-roll footage: what it is and how to use it effectively.
B-roll is the extra footage that enhances your main content, think behind-the-scenes shots, snippets of daily life, or close-ups of hands at work.
I’ve put together a reel on Instagram showcasing a few examples from my own archive.
🌟 Personal Branding Case Study - Tom Hughes
As we continue our push on personal branding, I wanted to share an example I borrowed from interior designer Tom Hughes - see his profile here.
A few weeks ago, Tom posted a story that struck me as pitch-perfect personal branding—informal, authentic, and relatable. It was raw, real, and memorable. (And thank you to Tom for kindly allowing me to use his photo!).
📖 Read my analysis - why I think it's so effective.
📌 Pinterest Webinar – Save the Date!
📅 Wednesday 7th May @ 1.30 PM (UK)
🎙️ Kat Dooney of Stripe Social will be showing us how to harness Pinterest to drive website traffic.
📌 Start now:
• Set up a Pinterest Business account
• Begin a daily habit of adding photos of your work
🚀 My Week in Hothouse – Tracking Growth & Keeping Momentum
As we approach the end of Q1 2025, I’m preparing to review my first three months of business growth.
🌟 Why I love measuring progress weekly:
• It keeps me focused and accountable
• It helps me course-correct immediately if growth stalls
• It motivates me to keep pushing forward
This week wasn't brilliant - I'm ready for a Q2 restart! After hitting my Meta Ads goal in January, I learned a lot but knew they needed improvement. I have paused them temporarily to regroup and strategise with my Meta coach. New ads are coming in Q2, and I’m excited to see how they perform.
Moving forward, my goal is to have a new, more effective suite of ads ready to launch as we kick off the next quarter.
📅 Important Dates for March (and Beyond)
⚡️Thursday 27th March - 9.30am - 3.00pm - Social Media Race Day 1 - see events tab
⚡️Friday 28th March - 9.15am - Bootcampers’ Board Meeting (By invitation only
⚡️Tuesday 1st April - 2.00pm - Hothouse April Kick Off - see events tab
⚡️Thursday 17th April - 9.30am - 3.00pm - Social Media Race Day 2 - see events tab
⚡️Wednesday 7th May @ 1.30pm UK - Pinterest Webinar with Kat Dooney
🎓 Bootcamp is back in April and May
Early Bird Offer - ⭐️ FINAL WEEK ⭐️ - £850 instead of £1,180
📌 What is Bootcamp?
A five-week business growth masterclass for designers with 3+ years in practice.
✔ 5 x 1:1 coaching sessions
✔ Client & project management strategies
✔ Personal branding & social media mastery
✔ Business planning & revenue growth
✔ AI integration for designers
Graduates receive ongoing support through monthly Board Meetings throughout 2025.
📍 Don’t miss the early bird offer—only one week left! BOOK HERE.
✨ Final Thought – Are you ready for Q2?
The end of March means the end of the first quarter of 2025. Now’s the time to reflect on what’s working and refresh your targets for the next three months. I will be.
Join the push for growth in Q2 by getting your April intentions framed and ready! 💪
Let’s make Q2 even stronger than Q1! 🌱
👉 Click here to join Hothouse.
Warmly,
Julia
Founder, Hothouse
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