🌟 What is Hothouse?
Hothouse is an interior design business accelerator, designed to help you grow your business faster through collaboration, intentional action, and goal-setting. Each month, we focus on strengthening a key area of professional performance, tracking progress as we go.
📌 Join Us! It’s Free
👉 Click here to join Hothouse on Facebook.
Or search ‘Hothouse - Excellence in Interior Design Business’ on Facebook.
Know someone who would benefit? Please share this newsletter with them - everyone is welcome!
🎯 What happened in January - Intentions and Focus
In January, we set goals, built new habits, and used accountability to drive progress.
Many members worked on refining their websites, improving their social media presence, and making meaningful new business connections. Others set internal business goals, such as creating better systems or setting up terms and conditions to protect their business.
January was about learning by doing, and together, we have already started to see results!
🎉 The End of Our First Month in Hothouse!
January flew by, and it’s time to celebrate some of the group’s achievements:
✅ Websites
• 3 new websites launched
• 2 websites nearly complete and due for launch in February
• 3 websites revamped and improved
✅ Networking Wins
• One designer set a goal to connect with one new business contact per day - they succeeded 19 times in 22 days!
• Another designer formalised their terms and conditions and successfully used them four times in January.
• A number of members tightened their approach to social media posting with one designer posting on Instagram for the very first time, encouraged by the concept that 'done is better than perfect'.
• Collaborations have begun to form - between website creators, social media strategists, and designers supporting each other’s work.
📢 My Month in Hothouse
My goal for January was to launch my first Meta Ads using the Facebook Ad Manager. Thanks to the accountability and structure of Hothouse, I hit my goal! 🚀 I know I would NOT have achieved this on my own!
This process has been a huge learning curve, but as a result:
✅ I feel more confident because I've stepped out of my comfort zone and done something I wasn't sure I could do.
✅ My mailing list has started to grow - even while I’m busy elsewhere.
✅ I am now working with Bootcamp graduates to explore Meta Ads’ potential for some interior designers.
My ultimate goal for 2025 is to grow my mailing list to 1,000 names. To stay focused, I’ve been setting weekly targets across key metrics and reporting them to the group. You can see last week's results above (plus, monthly data in bright red), and my video journal for the week is in the group).
This consistent data collection has been incredibly powerful - tracking small gains has made all the difference. I’d love others to join this exercise!
🕒 February’s Focus – Time Management
January’s focus was AI (see the mini-course 'Integrating AI Into Your Design Business' here), giving us tools to save time for business development.
February is all about Time Management. If you don’t have an urgent goal for the month, here are three great habits to develop:
✔ Start weekly planning (Sunday night or Monday morning).
✔ Use a To-Do list to stay on track.
✔ Try time-blocking in your calendar.
If you’re unsure where to start, don’t worry - I’ll be sharing resources and strategies in the group throughout the month. I’m testing Morgen.so and Notion as possible tools for better organisation...let us know what you’re using? We would love your tips!
FIND OUT MORE - about Time Management materials in the group next week.
👉 HOTHOUSE MEMBERS - PLEASE! IT'S TIME!
Post your February goals in the group under the ‘FEBRUARY GOALS’ thread!
📅 Dates for the Month
📅 Wednesday 5th February @ 2pm (UK) – Live Launch for February (including an overview of time management strategies).
📅 Wednesday 12th February @ 2pm (UK) – New Designers’ Meeting.
📅 Friday 28th February @ 9:15am (UK) – Bootcampers’ Board Meeting.
📅 Monday 3rd March @ 6:30pm (UK) – Live Wrap-Up for February & March Kick-Off!
🏆 Bootcampers’ Board Meeting
Every month, graduates of the Recipe for Success Bootcamp gather for a structured, live strategy session. This group knows each other well, having worked together intensively for five weeks. Each member reports on their progress, shares challenges, and gets targeted advice from the group.
Here are some of the key themes from January’s meeting:
✔ The best platforms for scheduling and sharing social media content.
✔ New SEO strategies for better online visibility.
✔ The critical importance of personal branding and how to strengthen it.
✔ How to use and embed video effectively.
✔ Setting up paid consultancy bookings via websites and social media.
✔ Time management hacks for busy design entrepreneurs.
✔ The benefits of boosting posts with paid advertising.
✔ Recommended professionals for tech, marketing, and branding.
✔ The AI tools that are currently most useful.
✔ The need for sales training - this will be a future area of focus.
Bootcamp is back in April & May!
🎓 Bootcamp Returns – April 22 to May 23, 2025
Recipe for Success Bootcamp is a five-week, intensive business-planning programme for residential interior designers with 3+ years of experience running their own practice. Designers devote 5-6 hours per week for five weeks.
What’s included?
🔹 Five one-to-one strategy sessions with me - one per week.
🔹 Deep dive into your business model, USPs, and ideal client strategy.
🔹 A clear business and marketing plan for growth.
🔹 A structured plan for new and existing revenue streams.
🔹 Continued monthly accountability with fellow graduates throughout 2025.
💥 A special offer will be launching in February!💥 If you’d like to chat about whether Bootcamp is the right fit for you, let me know :-)
🤝 Let’s Grow the Group Together!
This journey is so much better with company. If you know an interior designer who would benefit from joining Hothouse, invite them to join our Facebook group and share this newsletter with them!
👉 Click here to join the Hothouse Facebook Group.
Together, we’re building a positive, supportive, inspiring community of designers who are ready to grow, learn, and thrive.
🤗 Let’s make 2025 extraordinary - for all of us.
✨ Final Thought
At the end of January, it was fantastic to see the group becoming more interactive, with members starting collaborations and working groups.
Now that we’ve completed one full month together, we’re building a new habit of being attentive to our businesses - and the commitments no longer feel quite so overwhelming.
Now...imagine the benefits of another 11 months of this!
Let’s keep going, one step at a time.
Warmly,
Julia
Founder, Hothouse
P.S. Share this newsletter with a friend or colleague who’s ready to take their interior design business to the next level. Let’s grow our community and make 2025 unforgettable!
Responses