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 a theory of interior design business evolution. 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
🌱 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 90-day programme designed to help you launch your new interior design business with clarity, confidence, and strong foundations. Sign up here📍
📈 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. We Are in the ‘Before’ – Even in the Week GPT-5 Launches
The AI tools to transform an interior designer’s workflow already exist - and they’re getting faster, cheaper, and smarter by the day. But - the transformation of our industry is just getting started, you are not (yet) late to the party!
In this week's blogpost, I share:
- the myriad ways that AI can assist in the design process, now and in the future
- the strategies and human qualities that will keep you indispensable
- why now is the moment to set yourself apart before the rules of this new era are written
4. Have you used ChatGPT Agent yet?
Agents are AI systems we can send out into the real world to carry out chores for us.
Last week, I asked ChatGPT Agent to find a gift for my nephew’s new baby, his second child - something original, under £100, in stock, and with delivery options guaranteed before a planned visit next weekend.
In a few minutes, the agent:
- Interpreted my brief and constraints.
- Searched multiple sites for unusual second-baby gift ideas (sensitively finding gifts that would also delight an older sibling).
- Cross-checked prices, UK availability, and delivery timelines.
- Compiled a shortlist of five unique, practical, and in-budget suggestions - with evidence links.
Doing this myself would have meant hours of trawling store websites and review sites, filtering products, and checking delivery times. The Agent did it in one pass (it took about 3 minutes while I did other things) presenting me with only the best options.
It’s like having a capable research assistant who understands your criteria, scours the web, and delivers the answer neatly packaged. I recommend (for entertainment's sake) keep watching the screen while it works - 🤯🤯🤯
5. YOUR BODY IS TELLING YOU: DO THIS DIFFERENTLY!
In among all of this tech talk, I’ve been listening to my body – and it’s reminded me of one of the most overlooked advantages human designers have: embodiment.
Embodiment is the integration of mind and body. It’s when your presence, posture, tone, and movement are as much a part of the design process as your drawings or mood boards. It’s an antidote to our pixel-heavy lives - a reminder that design is ultimately about lived, sensory experience.
It’s also a secret weapon in the battle for design supremacy. No algorithm can feel the way light shifts across a room in late afternoon, or translate the warmth of a space into the reassuring confidence a client feels when you walk into a meeting.
Over the coming weeks, I’ll share my Three Pillars of Embodiment for Interior Designers:
- Embodied Design Insight – as the world digitises, how to turn your sensory awareness into a competitive advantage.
- Somatic Self-Audit – how to read and regulate your body’s cues to stay grounded, confident, and boundaried; and how good business systems liberate and soothe your nervous system.
- Embodied Branding – how to align your presence with your brand so clients feel they’re in the hands of a true professional.
Next week’s blog will take us deeper into each pillar, with practical ways to make yourself uncopyable. Keep your eyes peeled!
6. My Week in Hothouse
I met my mentor – and former boss – Jenny in London this week for tea. We catch up a few times a year, and her insights are always generous and energising. Knowing she’s there, cheering me on and just a phone call away, is a real anchor.
We talk shop, draw on nearly 30 years of shared experience, and swap news of friends and colleagues. It’s another reminder that when the challenges of design work pile up, the warmth, perspective and solidarity of a trusted community can make all the difference.
I finished the first of three planned courses - my chores this summer - it will launch on my website later this week. More news next week.
The making of course number two is now underway. Meanwhile marketing has taken a back seat while I create these – sometimes, focus means pressing pause elsewhere.
7. 🎯 Marketing Brainstorming Session – Free Webinar
Tuesday 12 August, 10.30am UK - link in Hothouse under the Events tab.
Marketing can feel like a minefield - too many options, not enough certainty about which will actually work for you.
This free session is for:
🌱 Designers in the early days (Tier One)
You’re overwhelmed by the scale of the task. You’re not sure what to say, who to say it to, or where or how to start. You want clarity, confidence, and a realistic plan you can stick to.
🚀 Established designers (Tiers Two & Three)
You’ve been in business a while, but…
• You’re attracting the wrong audience.
• You’re not seeing the results you want from marketing.
• Or you want reassurance that the path you’re on is the best one for your business.
In this live brainstorming session, we’ll:
• Pinpoint the right marketing activities for your audience, your style, and your stage of business.
• Learn my Four Filters Framework to narrow your focus and avoid burnout.
• Discover how to adjust your marketing strategy when you’re ready to level up.
• Get inspired by tailored, live feedback during our group brainstorm.
Whether you’re finding your feet or ready to refine your reach, you’ll leave with clarity, energy, and a clear next step for your marketing.
Join Hothouse, and find the link under the 'Events' tab.
8. Business in a Box – Early Bird Ends Soon
If you’re starting your business, this 12-week programme will help you launch with clarity, confidence, and strong foundations. I'm rolling up my sleeves and will be in there with you for the very first run of this hands-on course.
Early bird pricing ends this week – don’t miss your chance to finish 2025 with momentum and start 2026 in growth mode.
Find out more and sign up here📍
9. Final Thought – The Human Advantage
In a world where AI is moving fast, the real edge isn’t keeping pace with the machines – it’s doubling down on the things they can’t do.
Your values, your physical presence, your intuition, your creativity under pressure, the personal brand you intentionally design and create - these are your differentiators. The more you define and live them, the more they’ll shape your business, your client relationships, and your growth.
The future of design belongs to the entrepreneurs who combine smart systems with a deeply human touch.
Til next week,
Julia
Founder - Hothouse
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