1. 🌱 What is Hothouse?
Hothouse is a free professional development group for positive, confident, and 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 a theory of interior design business evolution, my Business Growth Framework™️. Over time, practices move through four distinct tiers – Tier One: startup, Tier Two: growing pains, Tier Three: maturity, Tier Four: 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.
💬 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. Learn more.
📈 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’d like to join the waitlist.
3. 👀 Who’s There? Part I
During Monday’s Bootcampers’ Board Meeting, we found ourselves circling back to one of the topics I return to again and again: founder presence.
It began with a story I’ve lived through more times than you might think:
A designer contacts me anonymously, wanting guidance. I’d love to reply personally, but I have no idea who they are, and their business name gives no clue. So I go sleuthing - Instagram, website, Google. And what do I find?
Nothing. No name. No face. No voice. No person.
Just a logo, a handful of projects, maybe some generic captions.
There’s nobody home.
Now, I won’t bang on (again) about the rise of digital design tools and AI-powered interiors apps… but if your online presence doesn’t convey the human being behind the business, you’re in trouble. Because when the offer looks similar and the price is lower, it’s you that makes the difference. And if we can’t see you, you’ve already lost.
This is why we all need to practise stepping forward. Yes, I said practise. Confidence comes through repetition. But first, you need to start!
4. 👀 Who’s There? Part II
💬 So, back to our conversation on Monday.
We were talking about photos and face-to-camera videos - and of course, nobody loved the idea.
The same themes come up each time I have this conversation with designers: body image, age, weight, skin, hair, accents… all the reasons people feel reluctant to show themselves. And honestly? I really get it - I’m 58 with a few pounds to lose, the internet can feel harsh.
But here’s the thing:
A while back I was researching a subject and found a brilliant explainer on YouTube. The creator was eccentric - oddly dressed, unconventional manner, harking back to a different era really, not someone you’d expect to have millions of views. And yet, he was utterly brilliant. Once I got used to his manner (after a minute or two) his content was gold. Now adore his style - genius! - If I met him, I’d feel like I know him. I have become loyal to him and his offering.
Why? Because he showed up as himself - imperfect, but so interesting, so original.
This is what clients want. Not Kim K - but a sense of you. A clue about the human they’re about to invite into their home.
Here’s my take (also shared on Instagram this week):
Start practising now. Speak. Show. Share. You don’t have to be everyone’s cup of tea. But you do need to show you’re in the building. Read this earlier blog post for suggestions on how to show up without the dreaded video monologue!
5. 🖼️ How to Animate Images in Midjourney to Create 5-Second Instagram Reels - This Week’s Blog
Camera-shy but keen to harness the power of Reels? This week’s blog shows you how to use Midjourney’s new Animate tool to transform portfolio images into elegant 5-second videos.
Why video outperforms photography on social media:
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Videos attract 5x more engagement
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Viewers retain 95% of a video message
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video generates 1200% more shares than text and image content combined.
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Instagram Reels are currently given maximum algorithmic reach, meaning even small accounts can go viral with the right video.
This is perfect for interior designers and creatives who don’t want to appear on camera all of the time - you know I'm going to tell you you have to do this some of the time! - you can now create Reels without showing your face or filming anything.
6. 🚀 Just One Week to Go – Business in a Box
I’m so excited about how Business in a Box is coming together - and especially about the White Label Design Studio that underpins it all.
Think of it as a complete, ready-to-go interior design practice: every folder, every system, every process already mapped out for you to copy and adopt.
When I first qualified, I had the privilege of working for two successful studios, learning the ropes from the inside. Later, as Director of KLC, I even built a dummy design business to give students a taste of real practice. Now I’ve combined all of that experience - working for others, running my own studio, and teaching textbook practice - to create the ultimate foundation for you.
And in just one week, it could be yours.
7. 🖋 Fee Proposals Are Presentations, Not PDFs
Too many designers hit send on a fee proposal… then cross their fingers and go quiet.
But a fee proposal isn’t just a document - it’s a sales presentation. A moment of persuasion. A not-to-be-missed opportunity to show your client exactly why they can’t do this without you!
This week on Instagram I shared a sketch storyboard of how to plan your fee proposal like a pitch - building the case, step by step, with clarity and confidence.
This approach is core to my Fees & Charging Course (launching soon 🎉), but if you’re curious to learn more now, I also walk through the art of presenting proposals in this YouTube video (from minute 37.07)
8. A Favour 🙏
Your feedback makes all the difference. Once you’ve browsed this copy, could you hit reply and tell me: what in today’s edition did you find most useful or interesting? And what didn’t resonate? Your thoughts will help me shape content that genuinely supports you.
9. Coming to Hothouse in September ✨
September is always a month of fresh starts - and this year feels especially exciting. Two big things are happening in Hothouse, and I can’t wait to share them with you.
1. Business in a Box 🚀 Launching 15 September
The first cohort is ready to roll, and I’m so excited for the journey ahead. With weekly live teaching and coaching, and Mon-Fri Q&A, if you’re a new designer, or you know one, this is a chance to fast-track years of trial and error and get straight into action. DM me if you’d like more info.
2. The Big Push 🏁
I want us all in pole position for the start of 2026. Whether that’s unblocking a bottleneck, finishing a rebrand, restarting a habit, or stepping up your visibility. In the second half of September, our focus turns to momentum. Together in Hothouse, we’ll set unique goals and measurable targets for the final quarter of 2025.
It’s about finishing the year strong and setting up the best possible start to the next one.
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✨ September in Hothouse is about launch and lift-off. Business in a Box provides the structure, and The Big Push brings the momentum. I couldn’t be more excited for what’s ahead.
10. 🌱 My Week in Hothouse
Getting out there, mixing and mingling, is giving me clarity about what I do and who I do it for. That alignment is feeding into social media – my network is growing, and LinkedIn is starting to feel easier as I find my tribe.
This summer's family commitments are easing, freeing up time to focus. The result? Organic growth this week and a renewed belief that if I keep this focus through December, it will pay off in a big way 🤗.
11. ✨ Final Thought
Stepping into founder identity isn’t about ego – it’s about presence. When you show up, with your values, your vision, and your voice, you transform from 'service provider' into 'brand leader.'
That shift changes everything – for you, for your clients, and for the future of your business.
Have a great week,
Julia
Founder - Hothouse
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