a note from my desk....
Last week, we began working our way through The Thoughtfully Designed Business™ Method, starting with the first pillar: Design the Foundation.
This week, we're moving into the second:
Design the Experience
And this is one I think interior designers understand instinctively.
We spend so much time thinking about how a room will feel.
How someone will move through it.
Where they'll sit.
What they'll see when they walk through the door.
Whether the lighting feels warm.
Whether the furniture placement makes sense.
Whether the space feels effortless to live in.
But have you ever stopped to think about your business the same way?
What does it actually feel like to do business with you?
Not just when you're presenting the beautiful design.
From the very first inquiry.
Through the proposal.
The onboarding.
The inevitable delays and problems.
The weekly communication.
The invoices.
The installation.
And eventually, the goodbye.
Your client is experiencing your business every step of the way.
And sometimes the things we think make us a great service provider, answering emails at 9 PM, responding immediately to every question, accommodating every last-minute request, actually create a less consistent client experience.
I shared a funny story this week about stopping my husband from sending a late-night work email.
"Write it," I told him. "But schedule it to send tomorrow morning."
Because every interaction teaches people how to work with us.
That's what designing the experience is really about.
Not adding more.
Not creating elaborate gifts or expensive welcome boxes.
It's intentionally deciding how you want your clients to experience your business and then designing the journey to deliver it consistently.
Let's dive in! 🌊
This Week Inside the Method
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This Week's Blueprint
📐Stop Making Clients Guess What Happens Next
One of the simplest ways to elevate your client experience is to remove uncertainty.
Your clients shouldn't have to wonder:
Did she receive my email?
When will I hear from her?
What happens after I approve this?
When do I need to make a decision?
You know your process because you live it every day.
Your client doesn't.
At every major stage of a project, tell them what's happening now, what happens next, and what you need from them.
Clarity creates confidence.
📐Create Communication Rhythms
Good communication doesn't mean constant communication.
It means predictable communication.
Perhaps clients receive a project update every Thursday.
Perhaps emails are answered within two business days.
Perhaps all project communication happens through one channel.
Perhaps clients know exactly when they'll hear from you after a presentation.
When clients know when and how communication happens, they don't need to chase you for answers.
And you don't need to spend your day reacting to your inbox.
📐Design Your Boundaries Into the Experience
Your office hours, response times, revision limits, meeting policies, and communication channels aren't separate from your client experience.
They are part of it.
Set those expectations early and reinforce them consistently.
Clients don't need unlimited access to you to feel well cared for.
They need to know what they can expect from you and trust that you'll deliver it.
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This Week's Workshop
🛠️ Walk Through Your Own Client Journey
Grab a piece of paper and start with:
INQUIRY
Then keep going until you reach:
PROJECT COMPLETE
Write down every major interaction in between.
Inquiry → Discovery → Proposal → Contract → Onboarding → Design → Procurement → Installation → Offboarding
Now look at the journey through your client's eyes.
Circle any point where they might wonder:
"What happens now?"
Those circles are opportunities to improve your client experience.
You may not need another process.
Sometimes you simply need better communication around the one you already have.
🛠️ Create a Client Communication Guide
This doesn't have to be complicated.
Create a simple one-page document or add a section to your welcome guide that answers:
Office Hours
When are you available?
Response Time
How quickly can clients expect a response?
Communication
Where should project questions be sent?
Project Updates
When will they hear from you?
Meetings
How are meetings scheduled, changed, or cancelled?
Urgent Issues
What actually constitutes an emergency, and how should they contact you?
The goal isn't to create a list of rules.
It's to remove uncertainty before uncertainty becomes frustration.
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CEO Reflection
☕Think about your current client experience from beginning to end.
Not the design you deliver.
Not the beautiful photography you'll eventually have for your portfolio.
The experience of getting there.
If you were your own client:
Would you always know what was happening next?
Would you know when you'd hear from your designer?
Would you understand what was expected of you?
Would the experience feel calm and organized or would there be moments of uncertainty?
And most importantly:
Does the experience you're creating reflect the level of service you want your business to be known for?
You don't need to redesign everything this week.
Find one moment in the journey that could feel clearer, easier, or more thoughtful.
Start there.
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📐 Keep Building
I've learned over the years that being good at what you do and being good at creating an experience around what you do are two very different things.
And I certainly didn't have all of this figured out when I started my business.
Some things I've learned through experience.
Some through getting it wrong.
And some simply because the way I wanted to work changed as my life changed.
That's one of the things I want you to take from these conversations each week.
You get to decide what working with you looks like.
You don't have to answer emails at night because another designer does.
You don't have to communicate with clients through text because they prefer it.
And you don't have to build your client experience around being endlessly available to prove that you care.
You can be warm, generous and incredibly attentive while still having a business that protects your time and supports your life.
In fact, I believe the two go hand in hand.
My hope is that as we work our way through The Thoughtfully Designed Business™ Method, you aren't simply collecting more things to do.
You're becoming clearer about the kind of business you want to run.
Thank you for spending a little bit of your Friday with me.
Until next Friday, keep building a business that's as thoughtfully designed as the homes you create.
I'm grateful you're here.
Warmly,
Marsha
Helping interior designers build businesses as thoughtfully designed as the homes they create.
