Ep. 11: From Intern To Studio Owner: Rachel Went From ‘I Know Nothing’ to Running a Successful Studio

What does it actually takes to go from “wide-eyed intern” to confident design-firm owner? What does it feel like to be two years into running your own studio?

In this very special episode of Stuff Interior Designers Need To Know Rebecca sits down with her former Seriously Happy Homes team member, Rachel Poe, to unpack the real-world lessons she carried from her early days into running her own thriving firm.

She spills the specifics—from realizing she knew absolutely nothing at the beginning (her words!), to navigating client meltdowns with grace, rebuilding trust when things go sideways, setting boundaries that stick, and marketing herself in a way that attracts the right people.

If you’ve ever wondered what actually goes into becoming a confident, capable design business owner—this conversation is your shortcut, your pep talk, and your reality check all in one.

And if you’re thinking about opening your own interior design firm, or wondering if you're where you should be now that you're a couple of years in, this is the episode for you! You’ll nod, laugh, cringe, and walk away with fresh ideas to keep you grounded and growing.

Enjoy!

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About Rachel:

Rachel Poe is the founder and principal designer of Rachel Poe Design, a design-only firm based in Everett, Washington. She excels at everything from whole-home interior design to home styling, loves creating extremely colorful homes, and is known for her uber-efficient approach that helps clients get happy at home as quickly as possible.

To connect with Rachel and Rachel Poe Design:

• Instagram
• Website

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Transcript

 "I didn't realize how very little I knew.  One of the, the early days as an intern that really sticks out to me was that you tasked me with a cabinet layout and I did not know the first thing about cabinet layouts, and I didn't realize that I didn't know the first thing about it. From the very, very beginning you were just such a teacher to me."

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Welcome to stuff interior designers need to know.  If you're a residential interior designer, this is the place to find out all the things you need to know to succeed in business and create a business that makes you seriously happy. This is a particularly special episode for me because I'm about to interview a past employee of mine who started out as my intern and now runs her own firm. I'm so excited because I don't think a lot of bosses get the opportunity to interview a past employee and find out how the journey continued after you said your goodbyes.

Rachel shares so much wisdom in this episode and insight that will give you not just a clue about what it might look like to learn from me, but also practical, actionable tips that you can employ in your business today. Let's dive in. 

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 Hi Rachel.  

Hello. So good to see you. 

I am so curious about you back when I hired you versus you now, what you've learned. This is really just about your journey.  

Cool. Okay. Sounds good.

Let's start at the beginning.

So your first job as an interior designer right out of school was in staging and then you came to Seriously Happy Homes and now you run your own studio. That's all true, correct? 

Yes. Well, I was staging while I was in college. It was a really good, um, a really good gig to fill in the, the gaps between classes and all that. Got it. 

But it was your first job within our industry. Yes. And then you came over to Seriously Happy Homes where you were doing full on remodel design. We do  kitchens and baths and furnishings and stuff.  

So the first question is, what did that journey teach you about being an interior designer?

You can start where you'd like.  Mm. 

It's a big question.  I learned so much from staging and I am really glad that I had that start. Staging taught me so much about how to just do even basic furnishings for so many different shaped spaces.  

One of the trickiest spaces that I did was a dome house. I don't know if I ever told you about this. No. I did an actual dome house. Um, and the furniture arrived and I was the only person there to figure out how to lay out the furniture.  It was so challenging to figure out how do I create a space that doesn't just feel like it's floating in the middle of this, um, this dome, it was so wild

because there were no straight walls, I'm guessing.

There were no straight walls, and it was this enormous living room space. And I didn't want to, to stage it in a way that highlighted how odd it was.  Um,  yeah, so anyway, staging was super, super valuable. It was also really helpful to see, like how, from a buyer's perspective, how a space could be interpreted, and how the furnishings in a space have so much influence over how you could potentially use it.

 I've met with so many homeowners that have just purchased a house and want to furnish it, and they say, well, it was staged like this, and I like how it was staged.  That first impression is just so, so very valuable because that's how a homeowner perceives that they're going to use an area.

Getting them out of that thinking and showing them, okay, well this is how it was staged and this is how you thought you were going to use it, but what if you did this instead? Um,  that there's a bigger hurdle there.

 So I'm very glad that I came from that staging world, and even though I'm not doing that anymore,  and I'm very thankful to be doing what I'm doing now it was very helpful. 

It's one of the reasons I hired you because, Yes, I knew the owner of that staging firm, which obviously gave you an in, in terms of me paying attention to your resume.

But I loved that you came from staging because I made some assumptions that, number one, you would've already worked in an environment where speed and efficiency mattered, which was a big part of our brand,  and you would've had to problem solve a lot, and it would be very practical problem solving. And so even though you weren't technically, you didn't technically have a job as an interior designer in quotes, the skills that I hoped you were bringing to my company were very valuable to my company.

And I knew that I could teach you what I needed in terms of how we did what we did. So  I'm sure you weren't thinking this when you chose the job, but it actually was very appealing to me as an employer.  

Yeah. Yeah. And that was actually on my part anyway, purely coincidental.  I knew that my bosses at the time were doing some sort of business coaching, but I had no idea that it would be Seriously Happy Homes.

The way that I found Seriously Happy Homes was I drove by the office and the name really caught my eye. So Way to go, you,  branding Genius. Um, I saw Seriously Happy Homes and that name sticks out so much more than so many other interior design or architecture firm names. 

Yeah, it was a stroke of Genius. I'll, I'll take that Gold Star.  So now you come over to Seriously Happy Homes. How did that inform you?  

Well, geez, I didn't realize when I was coming in how, how very little I knew.  One of the, the early days as an intern that really sticks out to me was I was learning how to use, um, home designer, the modeling program.

And I think that you tasked me with a cabinet layout and I did not know the first thing about cabinet layouts, and I didn't realize that I didn't know the first thing about it.   You very kindly guided me toward a resource that had standard cabinet sizes. Um, and you know, from the very, very beginning you were just such a teacher to me.

And, um, I think maybe you didn't realize how much I didn't know when I came in, so, oh, no, no. 

I had hired enough people by that point that I always know that my new designers know diddly squat. 

Yeah. I knew so very little, but I really appreciated that you were always willing to teach me and really from the beginning, coach me. 

 It also really stuck out to me from the beginning that you had a system for everything... and at first that was kind of overwhelming,  especially because, I wasn't used to that from a lot of employers. Like before this, when I was a high school teacher, yes, there were systems, but I wasn't necessarily always held to those systems. Or rather, I didn't need to necessarily like operate within those systems. I had some more flexibility.

But the systems, while they were rigid, in a sense, they were all so valuable. And now as a business owner, having a system for how I do each thing,  it makes me more efficient. It makes me come off as more professional for sure to my clients. It helps me to stay on track, and know what I need to do next.  So yes, the systems really stuck out to me and all of the learning, like the deluge of information really sticks out to me from the beginning. 

 When you think about the systems, I'm curious if there's one that sticks out to you in your memory as being particularly rigid.

Mm-hmm. And I'm curious to know, um, a like a specific example of one that you've really adopted in your company that works extremely well.  

Oh, that's a great question. Well, just using Asana, um, and having step-by-step tasks for every bigger task is so helpful because rather than having to remember, oh, it says in my contract that I'm invoicing a person on this day, I, I don't have to hold that in my brain.

I just have a daily email that says Invoice goes out today.  So having a to-do list of to-do lists  is a system that I have implemented and that is monumentally valuable. 

That's awesome. Especially 'cause you are a mom of two young children. And so without that, I don't know how you would hold it together at all. 

I don't know either.  I don't know either. Yeah. 

 I am curious about the ones where you were like, yeah, that policy was silly and you didn't adopt it. What is different about how you're running your company from how we ran Seriously, Happy Homes?  

Ooh, that's a great question. Well, I don't have employees and so I think that, you know, if I were to, at some point down the line, hopefully hire someone at least to help me with like the administrative burden, um, I think I would better understand some of the  the employee management piece. Yeah. So.  

Like the number of evaluations I think would really, will really make sense, um, down the line to me. Um, 

would you like to give people who are listening some insight into why you're laughing about that? 

I think I got evaluated four times a year. Yeah. Which seems like a lot.

Um, especially because as a teacher, I, I think I was only evaluated twice. Twice a year. Yeah. Um, but e even like not having employees after time, I could see how it was so valuable. Um, and having conversations with, with my friends about how they are evaluated or how they are able to get a raise at their own job, um, I am retrospectively very thankful that I was able to advocate for myself on very regular intervals.  

I have a friend who told me that every time she wants to advocate for a raise, she has to reinterview for her job. Um, wow. And I'm so glad that I did not have to do that. That would be crazy. 

 Another one of my friends, whenever she wants a raise, she has to schedule, uh, she has to schedule a meeting with her boss. And there's, there's so much, um, there's so much of a psychological element in the first place to asking for a promotion or to asking for a raise.  And your process really took that psychological element off of my plate because I already knew when  my next meeting with you was coming. So I didn't have to play the whole, is this a good time to talk to Rebecca Game?  Because you told me when I was going to talk to you.  

 It's funny 'cause we spent a lot of time in the company on evals, but it was really important to me to make  so, so oftentimes when we come up to an eval, there's all this like angst and pressure and formality and I wanted to make sure that my team felt supported and that I also had an avenue for saying things aren't going the way I need them to be going and not have to wait like a year until some formal review  thing.

Like that's by, by the time you have an eval once a year, whatever problems you're having are so embedded that they're hard to untangle. 

Yeah. 

And by meeting every quarter. It made it a lot more informal and it allowed us to course correct really quickly and, and I was able to say, okay, yeah, you are doing a great job, but we haven't gotten through enough projects.

You know, we had whole metrics matrices where I, as the owner could say, yeah, you have hit your milestones. I don't have to think about whether or not you get a raise. We've built this in. And it took as much pressure off of me as I hope it did you.  

 Absolutely.  

Now you are an owner. What else has surprised you about running a firm compared to how you saw things as an employee?  

Mm, yes. I, one of the big things is just how much goes on in a company that a client never sees and should never see.  Um,  like the amount of administration time and the amount of thought that comes into what that administration looks like is sometimes a very overwhelming burden.

I have on more than one occasion said, when do I get to actually do the design work? 

Yeah. 

Um, so a lot of time is spent emailing, so much time is spent emailing, um, and it's all very valuable and it all needs to come off in a way that conveys my professionalism.  

So much word crafting.  

Yes. It's so much word crafting.  Um, and with some word crafting tasks I've been able to employ AI, and I'm very, very thankful for that.   

I'm trying to get faster at administrative tasks and the marketing tasks and then the, 

oh, well, don't gloss over that. Talk about marketing tasks.

Yes. Well, for just a blip of time, I did marketing, um, as a facet of my job at Seriously Happy Homes. And I remember at that point you had me listen to a couple podcasts about having a marketing angle, um, or having a marketing message. And it did not dawn on me. I did not really understand what that meant for too long. And now I see that that is a very,  very, very important thing. And also for me not being, you know, I, I didn't, I don't wanna wear that hat, but I have to wear that hat.

Yeah. And that I, I'd say almost every business owner out there has that feeling like, I didn't sign up to become the chief marketing officer, but there's nobody else here to do the job.  

Yes, exactly. Yes. Having to do my own marketing and having to figure out what is my marketing message and, um, what is my niche and  is the niche that I have right now, because so much of what I've built is modeled off of Seriously Happy Homes, right? Is that the niche that I work best with or is it just the niche that I'm used to? Is it the niche that I would most enjoy? I ask a lot of those questions and thankfully over the last two years of running my own business, I've been able to step into different types of projects that have taught me, and I've stepped into a couple where I'm like, wow, I am not yet equipped to do that.

Um, and then I've stepped into a couple others that have just gone so smoothly and been so straightforward. Um, and even though they've been smooth and straightforward, they haven't really been very fun.  

Interesting. 

So finding that blend of what is fun to me and what has the element of ease that I feel like I could do this all the time.

I, I think that's where I'm at now, down the road of my own marketing. 

Yeah. Well, obviously we'll have to do another interview in two years and be like, so how, where did you end up? Yeah, yeah.  

All right, so let's go. Let's think about some of the specific lessons. 'cause you said in the sweetest email that you were so glad that you learned from me. Mm. So what is it that you really took away from your time with Seriously Happy Homes that has shaped the decisions you are making on a day-to-day basis with your clients?  What I'm wondering is, you know, you have to make decisions every single day as a business owner  who you're gonna say yes to, what you are or aren't going to do. How, how far you're going to take something, how, how much you're gonna charge.

Right. So many decisions.  What are those nuggets where you're like, if I didn't have that, I wouldn't be where I'm at right now? 

Yeah. Okay. A couple come to mind immediately.  one thing is to frame my response to clients, specifically thinking about email, frame my response to clients whenever things are kind of going off track or off the rails, um, to frame that response in a very confident and positive way to instill their own confidence back in me. 

I had a project earlier this year where my client was upset about one thing or another, and they were a client that definitely needed more reassurance and some more handholding, and they were frustrated about something I can't even remember at this point, thank goodness. But I spent a long time doing that word crafting, crafting this email to them where I wasn't apologizing for something, because that is my inclination, is to say sorry, but there was nothing I needed to be sorry about.

Um,  and showing them we are on the right track and you don't need to be worried about this. We, we have this time baked into the process and you can trust the process. I have this very clear outlined process for how we're going to get from A to Z in your design, and it's okay that you, you don't see right now, um, that we are on that path, but I can tell you very confidently that we are on that path.

Um, yeah. And I just felt like whenever, whenever I was handling this situation, I really thought, how would Rebecca respond to this email? Okay, well, she wouldn't apologize. She wouldn't say sorry because, because there's nothing to say sorry for. Right. We 

always apologize if there's something to apologize for.

Yes. 

Yeah, exactly. Know when to apologize is the best way to phrase that. Um, and if there's nothing to say sorry for then don't say sorry. And what does this client need to hear right now that is going to show them, you made the decision to walk with me down this path and I am going to do a really great job.

 Do you feel like they responded immediately from that one email? Like that calmed everything 'cause that email was so powerful, or did it take a couple of steps to get them back on track? 

Well, I think it took a couple of, a couple of back and forth emails. Um, there was one very pivotal email where it was helpful. And then, um, one of the very helpful things that happened within that design process was because there was this tension over email over the course of two weeks. Um, whenever I next saw them, I started off the meeting in what I thought was a very Rebecca way.

Um, and I said, you know, there's an elephant in the room and I just wanna address you. Were unhappy and I would love to make some space for us to just  chat about that before we get started. Um, and I know that they really appreciated that. They told me after the fact that they really appreciated that instead of just having this like tense meeting where they know they're upset, I know they're upset. I was just like, Hey, let's talk about it in person. Let's just clear the air. Um, and then we were able to have this really wonderful meeting.

That takes courage that most people don't seem to have. Mm-hmm. And I mean, I love that it's coming from you channeling me, yay!  But do you feel like,  do you feel like you were doing this as much for the client's benefit as for your own? Like where did the courage come from? 

Mm-hmm.   I think that it was twofold. Um, I felt this  desire for things to just go back to how they were, to have this happy client designer relationship, but I also knew that my clients are kind of anxious clients... this particular set, most of my clients are not anxious clients... Um, but these particular clients were, were pretty anxious, and I knew that clearing the air was going to help us bring back the atmosphere of we're on the right track. Rachel knows what she's doing. She has our investment, like our financial investment, which we care about so greatly. she has a really great grasp on what we want to spend and what we want to do with that investment.  

Thinking back to when we were at Seriously Happy Homes, do you remember any particularly sticky moments that we navigated together and, and that they turned out well? 

Hmm. I do have one, uh, that comes to mind. It was in our final meeting with this client  they just got really excited about redesigning the whole space even though we had spent a lot of time going down this path, um, of how a family room was going to look, and you very confidently told them, okay, well we can't just scrap everything.

Like some of the things need to stay the same. And if we want to pivot around those anchors in the space, we can in order to achieve more of the vibe that you're after. But we can't just start over. And I think that you were very much wearing your business owner hat when you said that.

I don't think that it was just from an artistic standpoint that you were like, no.  Um, but I think you very much had in mind how many hours we had already put into this design. and now as a business owner, if somebody were to tell me that, I would very much be thinking about the number of hours that I put into something and how can I keep those hours from being a total loss?

Because as a business owner, oh, there is nothing more frustrating than, you know, 40 hours sunk into something and then it just. Poof. The, the client changes their mind. 

Yeah. Which of course brings to mind just the concept of boundaries in general. Yeah. We spend a lot of time in the company trying to figure out our capacity, how many clients could we help in a year and at one time, and how are we going to bring these projects to a close so that the clients felt like they got the service they wanted, but so that it didn't drag on for freaking ever.

Yeah. Because it's not good for anybody. They get overwhelmed. The budget ends up getting completely forgotten and, and we hate it and we make no money. And that's not how you keep business open. Yeah. What boundaries and kind of policies have you employed at your company and how do they work for you? 

Yeah, well, over the past two years I've gotten quicker at telling a client, Hey, if you wanna chat more about this, we can do a design consultation over Zoom.

Because I cannot tell you how many times, especially at the beginning of owning my own business, I felt like, oh, they need this answer and it's a long answer and there's no way around just spending an hour writing this email. But now I more have the boundary, um, or now I am employing the boundary of, Hey, this is my quick answer and if you wanna chat about this lane further, if, if you want to explore altering your design together, then we can do that in a design consultation.

That way I am actually being paid for the time that I'm putting into something.  

Oh, that's beautiful. Yeah.  Anything else that you wanna share on like real gems that other people could really put to use that you've learned and employed in your company?  

Yes. Well, the other big lesson that comes to mind from my time at Seriously Happy Homes is the power of saying no to the wrong client.

Uh, tell us more about that. 

Yeah. Well, it's something that I've been scared to do  as a business owner because if I say no to the wrong client, but then the right client doesn't come along, then I'm making no money. It's not like I don't have things to be doing in my own business, but it takes money to,  you have to have money to spend money and so  um, I think I have said yes to the wrong client just a handful of times, but I also have had the opportunity, thankfully, to tell a couple clients, uh, or potential clients, rather, this is not my, that's not really my wheelhouse. And I think you would be better served with a different designer.

Um,  and saying no to someone really is a very, a very powerful thing. 

It is. Yeah. Yeah.  

Just the other day I was meeting with, with the right client, they were ideal in every way, but they asked me if I was able to work on their design just behind the scenes. Just work for them hourly, essentially. And at the beginning of owning my business, that is totally something that I would've been like, yeah, sure, you can pay me hourly. But the longer I do this, the more I realize that my earnings are higher and where I want them to be if I just schedule another meeting. And then I don't have this nebulous deadline of, oh, I told them that I'm going to do this and now I need to do this, and now I need to figure out when am I going to fit this into my schedule?  How am I going to send an invoice for this particular task? Now I am able to say, and I told them just the other day, well, if you wanna do that, we can schedule another design consultation. 

Outstanding. 

Yeah. The power of no, or the power of here is how I operate and these are the boundaries that I will operate within. Yeah, absolutely. So it's yes, no, it's more like yes, this way.  

Yeah. Yes. And is my improv tool that I always employ. Yeah. 

 Now that you've got clarity on some of the things that make a great project for you and some of the things that don't, what are those differences? 

Ooh, that's a great question.   I struggle with clients who really don't enjoy color. I really do love a very, very colorful space. And I think that it can be surrounded by neutrals if the color has enough of a voice in the room to say like, this is the standout. And if a client is really struggling with like, why does the space not feel balanced? And my answer is, it's because you don't have enough color in this aspect of it, but they're really resistant to that color. That's a very tricky,  tricky line for me to walk. 

 It's sort of like if somebody's saying, I want my pasta to taste better, but I don't wanna put salt in my pasta water. You're like, but that's what this requires. 

Exactly. Yes. if they're not willing to like step into the world of some color, yeah, I'm, I, I don't quite know how best to navigate that. Life is more fun with color.

 What else makes a project really fun for you?  

I think projects are really fun for me whenever a client is on board with the timeline from the very beginning.

That's an unusual answer,  tell me what that means for you. 

Yeah, if a client knows that I have a speedy process, well all clients know that I have a speedy process from the start  to the end, and they understand and are on board with the amount of time that they need to put in on the backend, you know, if they have any homework between meetings to set aside that time and get me timely answers.

And if they are quick communicators, then I just have so much more fun. 'cause I'm not waiting around and heaven forbid I'm not making design decisions that then have to be undone because they send me a late email,  then I just have a lot more fun doing what I'm doing. So, so you 

have kept that uber efficiency aspect of the Seriously Happy Homes model and you like it. 

I do, I do like it. I have taken on bigger projects than Seriously Happy Homes really did. And in those projects I have extended the timeline just so that I'm not asking my clients to make decisions for their whole house in three meetings,  but I am doing things on the same sort of timeline that Seriously Happy Homes did.

And are you finding that your clients respond really well to that efficient timeline?  

Yeah, I think they do. What I really like about the efficiency is that, you know, if a project were to last six or seven months, or like a year, by the end of that project, I think they would be so fatigued that they wouldn't really wanna then go execute the project, or they would be second guessing decisions that we made months and months and months ago, or they wouldn't remember why we made that very deliberate decision months and months and months ago.

 It's really helpful to say, okay, well when we met two weeks ago, we said this and the reason was this, and so we're going to make a decision accordingly.

 And as you said a second ago, the products we source might not be available if we take too long to create the designs too. 

Yeah, yeah. absolutely.

So are you doing flat fees and are you doing design only and no execution? Are you still following those two models? 

Yes, when I first started my business, I was doing hourly. Um, and I did that for two or three projects and I ended up going to flat fee, partly because I was giving clients an estimate at the beginning of their project.

It will be between like 50 to 60 hours. And, and this is my hourly rate. And with both of those projects, I went slightly over what I had estimated, which is, you know, I'm still a new designer and so I'm not shocked by that. But the, the feeling of having to tell a client this is going to cost even just a little bit more, you know, even like $300 more than I said it would, um, was just so uncomfortable for me.

And so I really did it for me.  

Yeah, I relate to that a hundred percent. To me, having a flat fee, number one is exactly what you just said. I never had to go back to my client and ask for money that they weren't expecting me to ask for. I, yeah, hated that.  And I didn't do it for this reason, but I discovered that it made sales so much easier because even though I had to say a bigger number to somebody up front, once they got over the sticker shock,  they could do the math in their head. Yes, I can or can't afford that. Yeah. Whereas the hourly just left so many questions and so much awkwardness every single time I would have to send an invoice. I hated it. 

Yeah. And by giving clients back when I did hourly, by giving them a range, they always, I always at least assume it'll be in the middle or the bottom of that range, right?

So to get even at the top of that range or like I did twice over that range,  it doesn't instill a whole lot of confidence.  And, too, I think that clients start to wonder why is this taking her 60 hours? 60 hours for a given project might be very reasonable, but if you don't have the skillset, if you're not in the world, then you won't, you won't see why it took me 60 hours to do a kitchen and a bathroom.

Yeah. 

And then just to give one, one more plugged to flat fee pricing, because I'm a fan.  As you get better, you can still charge the same flat fee, but you get more efficient, and so you actually have the opportunity to make more profit for the same output to the client, but for less work. Yeah.  Like that's a sweet moment when it finally starts to happen.

Yeah, yeah. Yes. There was one project this year where I actually, um, overestimated a project like I charged more than it took me to do. Congratulations, and it was a miracle. I don't know how long it will be until I do that again, but to actually do a project for 20 hours when I estimated 26 was amazing. 

That's awesome. Yeah. What about being design only? Are you still handing off the design for them to execute on their own? And how's that working for you?  

Yes. So I'm mostly design only, but I am stepping into the world of partnering with contractors.  I've had, um, one project in particular where I partnered with a contractor to do a very small house flip. I haven't yet been able to go back and check my hours for, you know, how much money I made on that compared to how much would I have charged if it were a typical project for me. So I, I don't know yet if that's a lane that I plan to go down farther. But it was a very fun project for me. I will say that. Because, like the contractor was essentially my client for this project, and whenever a contractor is your client they don't have as many opinions, they just have the practical opinion of how much will that be to install. It's, it's honestly a lot of fun. Like, I kind of got to do what I wanted on this space. It was awesome. 

That's great. Yeah. And you also said you're getting into styling, that's one of your favorite services. Am I remembering that right?  

Yeah, I am working on revamping my styling service so that it is more approachable to clients. Going back to the, my staging days, I really loved getting to spend three hours in a space and make it just feel totally transformed.  There are so many logistical hurdles for stepping into that styling world, and things that I  don't have answers for, but I hope at some point next year to really make that one of my, one of my core services.

When you say logistical challenges, what comes to my mind are things like,  um, are you only gonna work with what they already have or do you have to also source other things? And where are they gonna be sourced from and at what price point? And then do we have to return them when we don't use them? That stuff. 

Exactly. Yep. You summed it up perfectly. And, um, if, if I'm selling product to my clients, how does that work from a tax perspective? Do I just say Absolutely no returns? Like I think that's what I would have to do is just say absolutely no returns. Um, and then I have to stick to that boundary and how profitable will this be for me versus the amount of time that it will take me and yada, yada, yada yada.

Yeah. 'cause you can only do a quick pickup and return if we're talking about like home goods level quality. 

Exactly. 

Which, you know, that serves some purposes, but for people who are really trying to fit out their house, most people want things that'll be a little bit more long lasting. 

Yeah.  It's like you read my mind.   Those are the hurdles. You know it   

A piece of encouragement though, redesign, working with what people already have on site. I did offer that as a service for a while, and it worked really, really, really well. And then at the end of the redesign, I could say, there are some gaps here, and here's how I think we should fill them.

And so I didn't have to solve for both things at the same time. I started with almost like, let's figure out what we're working with. Let's make it look as great as it can. Yeah. And then we can figure out what we need to bring in. 

Yeah.  I think that's where I'm headed. Yeah.  

 So let's go back to marketing for a second. Um, because you did help create our Instagram posts back in the day, and you did a nice job with them,  but now you're having to do posting  with intention.  How are you approaching it? How are you trying to market your services?

Are you boots on the ground? Are you networking? Are you Instagraming? Like, what is your approach as a two year in designer?  

Okay. Whenever you first brought up marketing, my mind was only on Instagram, um, but now I see that you're talking Yes, about the, the bigger umbrella. Um. 

So last night I actually went to a networking event. CFM had a networking event and I wasn't necessarily expecting it to be, um, you know, I wasn't necessarily expecting to get business directly from this networking event. But  I realized as I was there and as I was leaving, that getting to know more of the folks at CFM on a personal level, they're automatically more likely to refer someone, uh, to refer me to someone who needs a designer. Like if I am the go-to designer, in their mind... that's amazing. 

Yeah. 

And so the, the longer I do this, the more I realize that the umbrella of marketing is quite large and doing things like getting to know the reps at, um, at a store in a way that I'm the first person on their mind is so valuable.

That's very smart. Really, really smart. 

Yeah. So there's that aspect,  but I would say more of my marketing lives in sending out newsletters. Um, I would say that this is a system that I learned from Seriously Happy Homes, which is every single lead that I get, whether they ghost me or they book or  they decide that I'm not the right designer. Everyone goes on a spreadsheet, and no lead ever floats away. 

That's awesome.  

Yeah, I realized pretty early on that there is an awkwardness to asking someone, have we talked before?  I'm like, that name is familiar, but I definitely can't pinpoint where  because, you know, I've worked with hundreds of people. I can just go back  to my spreadsheet and see, oh yeah, I worked with them back in 2023 and here is what I talked with them about. And if I, if I did work with them, then I have more intensive notes, which is a Seriously Happy Homes process that I implemented  so that if they were to book me again... you know, they remember me. They remember me so fully, they remember what we talked about. They might remember what I wore... and I don't remember them.  If I have notes and if I have some of those key, um, key aspects of our time together or what their home looked like, it really helps jog my memory. 

Um,  so anyway. Okay. So back to marketing.  Keeping track of my leads and adding them to my newsletter is a way that I market. Um, and thankfully whenever I send out a newsletter, I often get a couple intakes, um, or at least one intake after that marketing push.

 Uh, let's see. I have in the works, let's see if I ever find time to implement it. Um, but I have in the works some marketing content to go into the local Benjamin Moores because every Benjamin Moore has a table, like a design table. And every Benjamin Moore that I've been in, the marketing content could be a lot... stronger. That's the way that I will best phrase that. And so if I can be like the best designer on that interior design table, then hopefully that will lead to some new, some new leads.

Yeah. Doing a lot of real life work. This isn't just posting on Instagram and "hoping." You are putting work into trying to get people to know that you exist. 

Yeah. Yeah. I also have, um, I have a magnet on my car, which Yes, makes me feel very much like Rebecca.  Yes. I have a magnet on my car.

Um, because again, I just had this realization that I was spending time at client's houses and sometimes like several times over the course of a few months and my car could be doing my marketing for me. Like neighbors could see my car and they're friends with the client and then they say, Hey, I saw that you had an interior designer over.

Tell me about that. Um, yes. Yeah, 

it's the equivalency of a construction company having their yard sign. I never felt as an interior designer, like I could just be like,  can I just put a sign outside of your house? Like, it just felt odd. 'cause I'm an interior designer, it's kind of private. Mm-hmm. But a car sign does the same work.

It's funny that you say that because I have gotten some yard signs and the  the way that I've used those is specifically if a client has a remodel project. I just put it in their contract when the remodel is actually happening, your yard is going to be a mess. There's going be a porta-potty and a dumpster and there's go, it's going to be so obvious. Can I just add, can you put this in your yard? Whenever clients have so much going on in their yard in the first place, they don't mind.   

 That's a wait point. 

There's nothing like the chaos of a remodel for the neighbors to turn heads and to see, who's doing this? And then my sign is right there for them to, for them to see. 

I am so glad you brought that up because like I said, I never did it. And I think that is a perfect way of addressing it. 

And it's a very cheap way, a very low maintenance way, like a, I think I got 10 yard signs and it cost me less than a hundred bucks.

That's awesome. And they're reusable if they don't get destroyed. 

Yep, exactly.  

So let's wrap this back to when you were a brand new designer. You got your first job while you were in college, and then you got your second job with me, and now you're an owner.  For new designers, a lot of them do ask me like, how can I get my first job?

They have the dream of owning their own studio, but they don't wanna go out on their own first. They wanna work for somebody else, which obviously you did.  What advice do you have for new designers who wanna get a new job or a job first before they start their own studio? Should they do it? And how would you recommend they  approach this journey? 'cause it can be really hard to get your first job as an interior designer.  

Mm-hmm. I absolutely have no idea how I would be in business if I did not have a job first. I know that people do it all the time, but I think that having a job in the industry and learning from someone else who's doing what they do really well is the best route.  I mean, yes, this was my own experience and so possibly I'm biased, but  let's see. How would I go about getting a job? 

Well, I will say what I did was I emailed Seriously Happy Homes and I said, hi, I'm looking for an internship. And I was willing to start small.  I was willing to be very honest about the experience that I had.

Um, and I also was confident enough to say, but I wanna be paid to do it.  I was not, I was not willing to do it for free. Um,  let's see, what, what advice would I give them? 

I think I would look for some, some company that more or less aligns with your aesthetics, um, that is approachable  in some ways. Like to me, a very high-end luxury design place would not necessarily be approachable, but maybe that's my own personality. 

 And then what I would really look for, perhaps more in an interview setting is what sort of systems does this place have set up to teach me? Because I have several friends that work for companies that their company is not set up in a teaching way at all. If you have the dream of starting your own business, then it is invaluable to work for someone who has  that, that teaching heart, that teaching atmosphere in their company. And not just to say, well, this is the way we do it because the way we do it, and stop asking questions, but rather to say, I am doing this because I learned X, Y, Z and I know that this is the best process for how I do things, and that's willing to take the time to explain.  

Now, to be fair, I wasn't your first job within the industry. So do you also feel that it was important to get that staging job? Would that be a good first step for people or was that.  It doesn't, to me as the employer, it certainly didn't feel like a waste of time, but what's your perspective on that particular job? 

I think that is very valuable. I think that there are lots of interior design adjacent industries like you could go get, go find very, very valuable business in an aspect of the trade, like working at a fabric store or working at a window treatment store, or working at a tile store. And gaining so much wisdom just from learning a facet of the industry will really prepare you for implementing that facet in the broader interior design world.

I came in and I definitely could not identify the difference between marble and porcelain. Like I remember one of the first times that we were tile shopping together and I kept bringing ideas to you and you were like, that's marble, that's marble, that's marble. And I remember saying, how can you tell?

And now it's so obvious to me,  but I could not tell. And if I had had some sort of background, working with the materials that interior designers work with, then I would've had that knowledge. And so, yeah, 

And I'll say as an employer, practical knowledge is hireable.  When somebody would come into my company with an area of specialty knowledge, I got really excited about them and I'm, and I wanted them to put it to use.

Yeah. So I would say that if folks are out there getting a job that doesn't feel like their dream job,  take the opportunity, even if it's not a learning environment, to learn as much as you can about where things are sourced from. What they cost wholesale. What's a good product versus a bad product and what the criteria are for that within that specialty niche that will serve you, even if it's obscure, it will serve you, it'll make you more hireable.

And then once you have your own firm, you will have knowledge that will astound your clients and help them feel confident in you. 

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I think my very, very first little tiptoe into designing homes was years ago I started making front door wreaths. And that's right it  this tiny, itty bitty part of, um, a home, right? And it's not even on the interior of a home, but it taught me a lot about the balance of color. And because I was selling those wreaths, it taught me just a sliver about finances and,  how to really wrap my mind around time spent. Profit versus revenue. The money spent advertising... like selling things on Etsy really taught me a hefty amount about finances.

Yeah, I imagine. My goodness.

Yeah,  

I love it. I love it. I'm so happy for you. I'm so excited for you. I find you very easy to refer because you are talented and skilled, but also confident. The young woman who came to my studio and said, I wanna be your intern and I also wanna be paid. I will admit I was a little taken aback by that because nobody had ever done that before  and it was great 'cause it gave us a chance to have that heart to heart conversation.

Like, okay, if I'm gonna pay you. Then you can't phone this in. I actually have to treat you as an employee, and my expectations for you went from meh whatever to Okay, she better deliver. And then of course you did. Yeah. 

Yeah. 

It spoke volumes to me of you and I immediately from that moment, saw you ultimately owning your own firm. I, I saw this as the inevitable outcome.  

Thanks. Yeah. Yeah. I remember in that conversation you said, okay, well if I'm going to pay you, then you actually have to like do things for me. And I was like, well, yeah, of course I want to do things like I want to actually be a valuable contributor. Um, and again, you were just very wisely wearing your business hat and thinking, okay, I'm not just going to be hanging out with this girl. Like, I actually need to employ her even if they're smaller tasks. And thankfully I was able to prove to you that I am capable. and  yeah, I'm just so thankful. I,  I just wanna say thank you and show you, like,  how much your, your business and your personhood has impacted me. 

And here we are now. 

And here we are now. 

Well, uh, so that people can find you. If they listened to all of this and went, oh my gosh, Rachel sounds amazing. Tell us what your company name is, where you work out of. What your territory is, what do you want people to know about you and your company?  

Yes, so my name is Rachel Poe. My company is Rachel Poe Design. I, am based out of Everett and I really love the North Seattle, north of Seattle territory. I basically design 25 miles in each direction around Everett.

Um, I do design projects much in the Seriously Happy Homes manner, so lots of kitchen and bath remodel and furnishings projects. And then I also do design consultations and soon incoming is a styling service. You can expect that next year.  

I look forward to it. 

Thank you so much for giving us your time today, and I'm so excited to have this conversation in the future when you are just, you know, on the cover of all the magazines, just make it. 

Thanks one day. It would be really cool to be in a magazine or to get like highlighted in some sort of, I don't know.  I don't know. 

 These are very achievable goals. We could talk more about that on a different conversation. Yeah.  

 📍 Friends, I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Rachel, and it gives you insight into what it takes to build a business and what it's gonna feel like during those first couple of years. Yes, it's hard work, but I promise it pays off. If you're looking for an interior design business coach to help you through all this stuff, remember, I'm just a Zoom call away at seriouslyhappy.com. Just wanna be friends? Come find me on Instagram at be seriously happy.  Till next time.