What is Hothouse? 🌱
Hothouse is a free professional development group for ambitious interior designers. We’re here to set targets, build habits, and stay accountable. The goal? Clear, confident, commercial progress, made week by week.
Design entrepreneurship is a creative act: Hothouse brings structure and momentum to help your business grow. 🌱
Join us - free of charge - here.
April Intentions and Focus 📈
As ever, this month we’re setting goals, building new habits, and using accountability to drive progress.
April Focus: Fees, Charging, and Business Evolution
In April, we sharpened our focus on Fees and Charging - tackling not just how to price, but how to grow demand, position yourself for higher profitability, and present proposals that win clients. You can rewatch this month's twin webinars here.
Meanwhile, congratulations to our newest Bootcamp cohort who launched this week! Bootcamp will temporarily steal a little of my time through May, but Hothouse will stay open - and I’ll be back at full speed in June, ready for the big push before the summer break.
Spotlight on the Entrepreneur 🔥
In Bootcamp this week we mapped the business growth journey, with a nod to Maslow's Hierarchy:
🟩 YOUR BUSINESS (foundation of triangle): Conceiving the business → Adapting based on market response → Defining your niche
🟦 YOU (top of triangle): Aligning your business and personal branding → Expressing your growing acumen → Recognition as master thought-leader
You cannot separate the success of the business from the quality of its leadership. The most successful design practices are led by impressive, high-profile entrepreneurs.
I shared the diagram above to illustrate this. If you missed it, give it some thought - we are using it in Bootcamp to identify stage of business development, and to guide us on where next to turn business and personal development attention.
Are You a Natural Entrepreneur? Take the Quiz! ✨
Last week I discussed the entrepreneurial qualities that set successful designers apart.
This week, I created a 7-skillset quiz (click here to take it) to help you reflect on where you are strong, and where you could sharpen your edge.
No gimmicks. No email sign-ups. Just something to provoke useful thought.
HELP PLEASE! The quiz is in Beta mode - I'm just testing it at the moment, so I’d love to hear your feedback - email me at [email protected] or send me a message on Instagram to let me know if it helps you with self-development? How could I improve it?
Money Mindset Matters 💷
My latest blog explores why some clients vanish after receiving your fee proposal, while others spend joyfully. It’s often about money stories: unconscious beliefs we (and they) carry about wealth.
We need to understand our own biases and baggage, but above all, we need to:
✅ Respect the emotional weight money might carry.
✅ Avoid projecting baggage where it doesn’t exist.
✅ Always lead boldly - show what’s possible, whatever the budget.
Upcoming Events 📅
ALL JOINING LINKS IN HOTHOUSE!
🔹 Pinterest Webinar with Kat Dooley - 7th May, 1.30pm UK time
After months of trailing this session, it's finally time. Get your Pinterest business account ready - and keep pinning that one photo daily to get the most from her session. On 7th May Kat will share how to optimise Pinterest to drive traffic to your business. Pinterest is evergreen, it doesn't need constant attention, and is more powerful than you think!
🔹 Smartphone Photography and Retouching Webinar with Simon Maxwell - 14th May, 10am UK time
Simon was my go-to interiors photographer. While he agrees with my clients - that professional photography remains must-have for business promotion - his new business helps interior designers optimise their own photos for use in marketing. In this session he'll chat live about:
💡 how to get the most out of smartphone photos, and
💡 how to get your projects featured in the press
🔹 New Designer Catch Up! - 19th May, 10am UK time
I'm looking forward to a chat with our recently launched and pivoting designers - check in with your questions and update us all on how things are going!
🔹 Race Day 3 - 27th May, 9.30–3.00pm
Batch your next month’s social media content live with us. More info to follow - still working on this behind the scenes!
🔹 Bootcampers' Board Meeting - the live, monthly support meeting for graduates of Bootcamp - by invitation only. 30th May, 9.15am.
This Month in Hothouse: The Power of Commitment and Consistency 🚀
Oh dear - April has been very sluggish. I need to work harder on time management, planning, and smarter repurposing of content.
Behind the scenes I am building new products - launching soon - this slowing is only to be expected, but I also need to tackle it with energy and improve.
Growth is rarely instant. Mr Beast uploaded 455 videos before he saw success.
Stephen Covey reminds us: “Begin with the end in mind.” First decide where you're going, then create the plan to get there.
By signing up to Hothouse, we all recognise that planning, commitment to the plan, and consistent application are the hot and sexy principles that separate success from second rate.
In my planning for the year, I identified May as the most challenging month. I have always expected my business growth to kick in in the second half of the year.
Even while Bootcamp absorbs my focus, I am reminded that the businesses that endure are those that stay consistent, stay strategic, and keep moving — even when the energy available is temporarily redirected.
🌟 In Hothouse we set goals publicly, track our data weekly, and reflect on what’s working. That’s our secret weapon.
🌟 And in May, we start fresh: new month, new targets, new energy.
What will you focus on in May, and for the rest of the year? Let us know in the group!
Final Thought: Your Business Needs Your Best Self
Every design practice takes a different path. Some shoot up in one area first, others bring advanced skills and have to patch in foundations.
But make no mistake: at the highest levels, you must excel across the board — or surround yourself with people who fill the gaps. You can outsource, you can collaborate, or you can stretch yourself to become the multi-skilled entrepreneur your future business needs.
Where are you strongest? Where do you need to grow? What currently thwarts your drive to world domination?
👉 Join Hothouse. Bring your energy. Let’s build something remarkable.
(And if you know a talented designer who would thrive here, be sure to invite them to join us! 🌟)
With very best wishes
Julia
Founder, Hothouse.
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