Getting my degree in Interior Architecture and Design was a wonderful experience and I urge anyone who wants to be an interior designer to get their degree in it. The undergraduate programs do a great job at teaching you what it actually means to be a designer and what interior architecture and design truly is. Trust me, there is much more to it than you think! Your year as a freshman is when you start to experience what it truly is and how it conflicts with what your preconceived notion is. Even if you think you know what it is, there is much more to it than that. Even though my undergraduate schooling was detailed and comprehensive, there are many things that I have learned for myself that can only be gained through experience and by doing the job.
One of the first realizations I had is how important it is to have a network of supporters in this business. In school, we learned a lot about developing client and business relations but it was geared towards the career and business scope of things. What I found even more important, is having a support system in place to help you through the hard times is key. There will be hard times and when they roll around, it can be daunting and make you question everything. Having open communication with other professionals in the business who you trust is extremely important because these are the times you will need to draw on them the most. Those trusted allies can help you expand your business if it is slow, they can inform you have the changes they have noticed in the design world and how it might be effecting your business. They can also provide you with tips, introduce you to other professionals or just remind you that just like every slow time before, work picks back up. The key is to find supporters in your network who you can confide in and trust. The business world can be cut throat, so having someone who you know has your best interest at heart is vital.
As a student in an interior architecture and design program, you learn the essentials of what is needed to be in business, whether it is a design firm with others or being the entrepreneur and starting for yourself. Basic business skills are taught and a basic understanding of what is involved is gained. However, unless you are also minoring in business (which I HIGHLY suggest; I did not do so and have kicked myself a few times for it) then upon graduating, you quickly realize that your limited business classes barely scratched the surface! So far, I have learned a lot by trial and error in order to set myself up for success. Many of the actions I have had to take to start my business I knew from hearing it briefly in school, but more so through experience in other areas. Luckily for me, my father owns a business so I have gained experience through working with him and learning about his business. In addition, I learned a lot about business and promoting a business through working as a design consultant. I was able to learn how to build a clientele and healthy relationships with them, how to create/manage a schedule for appointments and deliveries and how to further incorporate the business knowledge I gained in school and through my experiences in my father's business. I have still had to teach myself quite a bit, and have found the learning experience to be challenging but also rewarding. Diving into the process of starting my business was scary and exciting, as I dove into the unknown waters of website building and how to create and verify a domain. At the end of the day, I am happy to have gained this knowledge and expand upon what I had previously learned.
One of the hardest parts of starting a business and that I had to learn/accept was the waiting game. Waiting to get your first client is one of the hardest and scariest times. Starting in this industry is very difficult and requires a lot of promotion, relationship building, continued presence in front of potential clients faces (in a world of everyone connected to their phones, you want to make sure you pop up during some social media scrolling), and overall requires patience. For anyone who knows me, I do not have a lot of patience and I quickly fell into a pit of fear when things started out slow. It is funny, because I knew in the rational part of my mind that it is slow to begin, but the irrational side took over sometimes and would spark worry. I was lucky because I had clients from the past who I was still working with, which helped me upon establishing my business. The waiting game of obtaining your first true client after putting your business officially out into the world is an extremely difficult time. This is the time when you have to learn for yourself if you have the determination and commitment to continue with the endeavor you have started. There were many times I had to push away my own doubts. I knew I had the ability and the knowledge and I also was confident in my ability to design; this is what really drove me to continue. My faith in myself and my expertise. The waiting game is awful but once you get through it, the rewards are tremendous. Of course, there are times when business is slow and it is difficult to drum up knew leads or projects, but there truly is no fear that is comparable to the fear of waiting for the first client. You will always remember the first client; regardless of if the project was easy, hard, fun, a money pit, etc. That first client will always be one to remember!
The last thing I have learned from my experiences after graduation, is that I still needed to find a path for myself. Upon leaving my undergraduate, it was a challenge to realize that even after I had the degree, I still needed to learn what I wanted to do with it. A degree in interior architecture and design opens so many doors, but it can be difficult to pick which door. As I say to my clients, sometimes, there are too many options; too many options means a much more difficult decision. As a designer, I had to find myself again and find what gave me purpose. I had to relearn why I went into the program in the first place and what I wanted to accomplish in my future. A lot of my classmates did not go the route they thought they would upon graduation; many ended up working in commercial design firms when they began their college career with the intention of pursuing residential design. Others ended up in an entirely different category such as landscape design. Some went onto their masters in architecture. Even though we all went through the same program, we all came out of it with different paths to follow and different goals we wanted to go after. My original plan was NOT to start my own business but I found that as I practiced design and worked in the field, it became natural for me to take this step. Or I suppose I can say leap, as it was definitely a leap of faith in myself to take this risk and go after what has become my dream.
I am happy I chose to go after my dream of beginning my own interior design business. Even though I had a lot to learn about what is needed to not only survive in the business world, but to also succeed, I am glad that I went after this dream and made it a reality. I absolutely love what I do! I am inspired every day by what I see, regardless of what type of project I might have at the time. I am able to see the potential in everything and am always itching to get my hands on my next project (or current project depending on how business is!) and start creating and designing. I find fulfillment in my profession, as I am given the amazing opportunity to help people in ways they do not even realize. Designing is more than just creating a pretty space. It is the act of creating a better quality of life and using good design choices to do so. I finally feel as if I have found where I belong in my career and I am so happy to have the opportunity to share that and also share what I have learned along the way!
Thank you,
Colleen Arlet
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