Meredith founded the “House of Huck” in 2020 as a passion project. She gave herself an ultimatum: If she wasn’t successful in three years, she’d go back to the corporate world. But in one year, she transformed her business into a full-time career.
She’s leveraged her unique background in corporate sales—and some genius social media marketing tactics—to build a thriving business. In this episode of Wingnut Social, Meredith shares some business tips for new interior designers that you just can’t miss!
Connect with Meredith Huck
Resources & People Mentioned
Why House of Huck grew quickly
95% of Meredith’s clients have come from social media. How does she leverage various platforms to gain visibility?
Meredith got in front of the camera. It allowed people to learn about herself and her life. She also embraced a unique social media marketing strategy: Throwing a scavenger hunt.
Meredith chose 5 local businesses, bought gift cards, and hid them around town. You had to follow her on social media and answer a riddle to find the gift card(s). Once someone found one, they had to tag her in a post.
She gained followers, gave back to her community, and it even led to a request for a design consultation.
Why Meredith doesn’t want to grow and scale a team
Meredith is struggling with a great problem to have: Getting too many requests for her design services. She’s learning how to take discovery calls, explaining how her process works, and scheduling out (sometimes weeks or months).
She sets the expectation that it may be weeks before she can connect back to work on their project. But then she communicates via email, notes in the mail, etc. She’ll have those clients work on creating a Pinterest board to fill in the gap during those weeks.
Meredith is busier than ever, but she isn’t interested in growing and scaling a team right now. She loves what she does and chooses to outsource when necessary. She works with a virtual assistant and outsources renderings and sourcing tasks.
Business tips for new interior designers
What has Meredith learned from her first couple of years as a new interior designer?
Tip #1: It’s not just about charging a design fee. Whenever you can, open up wholesale accounts and purchase furnishings directly from them. A large portion of Meredith’s revenue has come from the margin she makes on furnishings.
Tip #2: Trust your gut. Meredith agreed to do some design work for a couple despite seeing numerous red flags. Meredith requires her clients to request revisions within one week of her design presentation. After her design presentation, this client asked for more than a week to decide. Two months later, they asked her for a refund of her design fees.
Tip #3: Don’t take every job that comes your way. Only work with people who appreciate what you’re doing for them.
Meredith shares more tips, tricks, and business strategies in this episode of Wingnut Social. Check it out!
Connect With Darla & Wingnut Social
Subscribe to The Wingnut Social Podcast on iTunes, Google Podcasts, or TuneIn
Audio Production and Show notes by
PODCAST FAST TRACK
https://www.podcastfasttrack.com
Why Interior Designers Need Systems and Processes - Episode 281
Goal-Setting Strategies for Interior Designers - Episode 280
How to Apply the Profit First Mindset with Mike Michalowicz - Episode 279
Business Tips for New Interior Designers - Episode 278
The Interior Designer’s Guide to the Remote Hiring Process - Episode 277
How Maria Killam Grew to 100k+ Instagram Followers - Episode 276
How Lisa Gilmore Built a Multi-Million-Dollar Interior Design Firm - Episode 275
Why Interior Designers Need Ongoing SEO to Remain Competitive - Episode 274
Perfecting Your Interior Design Niche - Episode 273
The Secret to Getting Your Interior Design Work Published - Episode 272
How to Start an Online Coaching Business - Episode 271
Sell the Way You Buy with David Priemer - Episode 270
Interior Design as a Second Career - Episode 269
Break Out of Your Comfort Zone for Success - Episode 268
How to Drive the RIGHT Traffic to Your Interior Design Website - 267
Building Your Interior Design Team with Shelli Warren
Profit First for Interior Designers - Episode 265
5 Signs It’s Time to Revamp Your Interior Design Website - Episode 264
How to ’Shock and Awe’ Potential Interior Design Clients - Episode 263
How to Leverage Amazon to Grow Your Interior Design Business - Episode 262
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Dear Alice | Interior Design
99% Invisible
The John Clay Wolfe Show
The Turn of the Screw
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Art + Audience
How to Decorate