1. What is Hothouse?
Hothouse is a free professional development group for ambitious interior designers, built around the Hothouse Method of Business Growth: Design – Declare – Deliver.
✨ Design – we plan our businesses with care and creativity
✨ Declare – we set bold goals and targets in public
✨ Deliver – we track progress and celebrate results
Hothouse is for designers who want more than inspiration – it’s for those ready to take action.
At the heart of my work is the Business Growth Framework™️. Over time, practices move through four distinct tiers – startup, growing pains, maturity, stardom – each with its own challenges, mindset shifts, and growth opportunities.
My coaching is designed to help you level up, to elevate your business with intention, so you’re not simply drifting forward, but actively shaping the next stage of your business.
Wherever you are now – starting out or refining a mature practice – Hothouse brings structure, momentum, and community to help you get to the next level. 🌱
2. How to Work With Me
Whether you’re just starting out or ready to level up, there are several ways we can work together:
🌱 Hothouse (Free Membership Group)
A private Facebook group for practising interior designers. I check in regularly to offer input and answer business questions alongside our brilliant peer community. Join here.
💬 One-to-One Consultations
Book a focused session to tackle a specific challenge or explore a new opportunity in depth. Available via the Coaching page of my website.
📦 Blocks of Consultations
Ideal if you’re working toward a long-term business goal or want consistent support while establishing your studio and working with your first clients. Ask me about my 6 for the price of 5 offer.
🚀 Business in a Box
A structured, supported 12-week programme designed to help you launch your new interior design business with clarity, confidence, and strong foundations. I am so excited about this new course - I'll be in there, giving it my all from 15 September!
📈 Recipe for Success Bootcamp
My flagship business planning course, blending one-to-one coaching with peer group sessions. Designed to help you push up into the next tier of business evolution – with a clear plan, defined targets, and the momentum to grow. Drop me a line if you want to chat about your suitability.
3. 🧭 Why Your Interior Design Business Needs a Stage-Specific Strategy
Not all design businesses are built the same – and they certainly don’t grow the same way.
That’s why I developed my signature Business Growth Framework™, a tiered system that maps out the journey most interior designers take as they build their business. Whether you’re just getting started or eyeing your next big leap, your strategy needs to match your stage of development – not someone else’s.
Here’s how the four tiers work:
Tier One: Startup
You’re full of potential but still setting up the basics – pricing, marketing, client flow, and systems. You need structure, speed, and the courage to start before you’re 'ready.'
Tier Two: Growing Pains
You’ve launched, but you’re overworked and underpaid. You need better boundaries, more consistent income, and clearer business processes.
Tier Three: Maturity
You’re profitable and known for your style. Now you’re refining: getting strategic, raising your fees, attracting your ideal clients, and considering how you want your business to feel and function... and just how big you'd like it to get!
Tier Four: Stardom
You’re in demand - everything you do is tailored to your exceptional clients. You are the rain-maker for your business, the face of your brand. Your team helps you serve your exclusive market, while you focus on scaling, licensing, thought leadership, or curating a legacy that reflects your values and vision.
🎯 Why it matters
Marketing tactics, pricing models, team structures, and mindset shifts aren’t one-size-fits-all. A Tier One business needs a completely different focus than a Tier Three studio. Over the coming months, I’ll be referring to this framework across Hothouse content, events (see details on the marketing event below👇), and paid programmes – so you can choose what’s right for your stage.
You don’t need to race to the top. But you do need a map.
4. 📆 Marketing Brainstorming Session – Monday 12 August at 10.30am (UK)
Where should you be marketing your interior design business – and how?
During this live 90-minute session, we’ll zoom out to answer that question properly. Using the Business Growth Framework™, we’ll explore:
🔍 What’s your 3–5 year vision?
🗺️ What tier is your business in right now?
🎯 Where should you focus your energy – Instagram? LinkedIn? Referrals? PR? Local networking?
This isn’t about doing more. It’s about choosing the right things for your stage of growth.
📍 Save the date – Monday 12 August at 10.30am UK
📍 Join the Hothouse group to access the session
5. 💻 This Week's Blog: Thinking of Hiring Help but Not Ready for Staff?
This week’s blog is for designers who are growing fast but want to stay lean. We cover how to outsource effectively – using freelance designers, VAs, and systems – without hiring permanent staff.
You’ll find practical advice on going rates, legal considerations, and a few wry observations from the freelance front line.
6. 📸 My Business Pivot Story – Shared on Instagram
Last year I made a powerful pivot in my business – and it all started with advice from a designer who helped me see my future direction more clearly. I shared the story this week on Instagram.
The punchline? Carry on, your tribe is out there....and when you find them, everything changes. 🥰
7.🧾 LONG READ: How to Charge Out for Sub-Contractors
Inspired by this week's blog (above), if you’ve started using freelance support or other professional services, how should you pass those costs on to clients?
There are three common approaches – each with different implications for pricing, positioning, and client trust. Options one and two assume your client receives time sheets as part of billing. Here they are:
Option One: One Hourly Rate for Everything, e.g. £120/hour whether you’re designing, admin-ing, or project managing.
Pros
- Simplicity: no confusion, no line-item arguments.
- Reflects the value of your time, not the task.
- Reinforces that everything you do is part of the design process: spreadsheets, emails, drawings, sourcing, even admin support the creative outcome.
- Easier to bill for blended work (e.g. a call that becomes a sourcing session).
Cons
- Clients may question paying top rate for perceived ‘low-value’ tasks.
- Harder to justify outsourcing (e.g. if you pay someone £30/hr for CAD and bill it to the client at £120/hr, some clients may challenge the markup).
Best suited for: Designers with strong positioning, working with clients who understand that value isn’t task-based. Works well when you deliver a high-trust, high-service experience.
Option Two: Tiered Hourly Rates (Design vs Admin/Tech) e.g. £120/hr for design, £60/hr for admin or drafting
Pros
- Feels fairer to price-sensitive clients.
- Easier to explain use of outsourced help.
- Gives flexibility when delegating tasks: you’re not locked into one rate for everything.
Cons
- Encourages clients to pick apart your invoices ('Was this task really design?').
- Can diminish perceived value of vital but less glamorous work.
- Adds complexity to time-tracking and billing.
Best suited for: Studios that work with mid-range clients or on projects with large amounts of technical support (e.g. new builds, extensions). Often used when employing junior staff or freelancers whose work is passed through to the client - particularly when the client regularly liaises with junior staff, and realises that not all their face-to-face time is senior level.
Option Three: Fixed Fees + Tiered Internal Costing (Client never sees the breakdown). Client pays a flat design fee, behind the scenes you pay different rates for team members or freelancers (but you keep timesheets anyway, in case challenged).
Pros
- Clean, simple client experience
- Lets you manage margins in-house
- Makes team scaling easier
- You can still value your time at the top rate without having to defend admin work
Cons
- If the scope isn’t well managed, over-servicing can eat your margins
- Requires confidence in estimating effort correctly
- Doesn’t work well for clients who prefer pay-as-you-go transparency
Best suited for: More mature studios that have clear systems, project packages, and team support. Also works well for luxury clients who expect outcomes, not time-tracking.
Is There a Best Practice?
Not universally. But here’s what’s generally true:
✅ Don’t underprice any task just because it feels ‘admin-y’ - everything you do contributes to the success of the design.
✅ Communicate clearly - if you outsource, be upfront about it and explain that it’s part of a streamlined, professional process.
✅ Protect your margin - don’t let client perceptions override your need to run a profitable business.
✅ Make it easy for clients to say yes - whichever pricing model you choose: clarity and confidence are more important than granularity.
Whichever route you choose, the real win is clarity – and the confidence to protect your profit margins without compromising trust.
8. 📅 What’s Coming Up in Hothouse
🟢 Marketing Brainstorming Session – Monday 12 August, 10.30am (UK) - the link to join this live Zoom meeting will be in Hothouse.
🟢 Bootcampers’ Board Meeting (Group 3) – Monday 4 August, 1pm (UK) - for Bootcamp graduates, by invitation only.
9. 💬 My Week in Hothouse
We moved on from our house-swap in Paris this week after a fantastic stay - it is our favourite city. We arranged the swap through www.homeexchange.com.
When we're travelling we 'budget' around three hours out-and-about each day, and we build our work around the best times of day to go out. I have a well-honed packing list and some firm rules, including: always unpack and put everything away immediately on arrival. That helps you to feel instantly at home, and keeps the 'travelling' bit to the absolute minimum. Otherwise you can feel unsettled for days.
We now have a month in the UK with time seeing family.
During this time I managed to get back up and running on Instagram, and on LinkedIn. Otherwise, I am still working my way through a summer development program - news coming soon!
10. 💡 Final Thought – Values Are Contagious
If there’s one thing I believe every design business should take the time to express, it’s this: your values.
Not just because they shape how you behave - but because they shape how your business feels to work in, to work for, and to work with.
✨ Your values feed directly into your brand messaging
✨ They help you attract clients who share your priorities
✨ They guide the way you lead, delegate, and grow
Whether you’re just starting out or already running a mature practice, your values give you a steady foundation. They remind you what matters - especially when decisions are difficult, feedback is mixed, or the path ahead is unclear.
So yes, they’re worth sweating over.
Because your values aren’t just words on a page - they’re the tone of your business.
And in the long run, that tone will define you.
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