Interior designing is a unique industry full of history, change, and tradition all married together in a harmonious balance. But there are a lot of challenges that must be overcome to keep that balance.
Modern interior designers face a brand new playing field of never-before-experienced challenges. In a world where e-commerce has quickly taken over as king of the economy, interior design is, by nature, a hands-on field.
Here are some of the challenges that present times interior designers face by working in a traditional industry in a technological world.
5 Obstacles Interior Designers Must Overcome
#1. Hustle and bustle. There aren’t too many businesses where time management skills are as crucial as interior design. When you’re waiting on furniture to be delivered, paint to dry, cupboards to be installed, and more, time is wasting. Budgeting that time wisely lets you effectively manage your priorities and keep to your schedule while you juggle other jobs, too.
#2. Business expertise. Working in a field where creativity is paramount doesn’t give you an excuse to forget the basics, like filing your taxes. Owning a business means that you have to have a good amount of knowledge of what is required of you, including accounting, payroll, taxes, and budgeting. That’s where living in the 21st century helps – there are lots of computer programs designed to assist the average business owner.
#3. Using technology to demonstrate your vision. Many interior designers still use the traditional canvases, boards, and tactile techniques to showcase their ideas to their clients. But this is cumbersome and time consuming, and your clients probably want to know your thoughts and perspectives on a tight deadline.
This means that the average interior designer must also be proficient in graphic design to project their ideas quickly to their client and demonstrate enough confidence that they don’t look elsewhere for their needs.
#4. Marketing your company. Technology has made it to where your clients don’t need to be in your neighborhood. But it has also increased the competition you have. Marketing is crucial for entrepreneurs to be successful, but marketing for interior design has a high level of expectation for professionalism. It needs to be done right and strategically.
#5. Social media and your online presence. Your marketer is only part of your company’s overall look. If you don’t have an all-inclusive brand and a marketer that covers your social media for you, you’re probably self-promoting even if you don’t realize it.
Be careful what you post on your social media and monitor your online presence diligently. Even the slightest customer complaints or negative feedback can show up on Google’s coveted first page when potential clients do a search for you. Yes, we all want to be on page one, but not for those reasons.
Benefits and Challenges Abound in Interior Design
With so many of the changes that interior designers must face working in today’s society, there are pros and cons. Some of the benefits are also challenges, like expanding your potential client base and learning new programs.
But regardless of the obstacles, the joy of following your passion and designing a room that its owner will fall in love with has been the reason that this industry has existed for over thousands of years, and now it continues with you.
