EP #43 | 7 Money Routines for Interior Designers

Interior design BusinessMoney Matters1-Launching2-Establishing3-ScalingGetting StartedMoney & FinancesOrganizationMindset

Apr 27

Written By Kate Bendewald

“Money doesn’t give you energy, you give it energy.”

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Maybe finances come easy for you or maybe you’re more like me where it needs to be built into your schedule and you need a clear list of what needs to be done, what needs attention, and what to focus on. Over my time as an interior designer, I have found that there are several money habits I have learned, created, and implemented that have helped me and my business immensely.

Building routines around anything that needs to get done, both in business and life are important and the same applies when looking at finances for your business. I’m sharing how I have built money habits around how to make money, how to pay yourself, how to audit your design projects, and more so that you can create for them for your own interior design business.

Make a money date with yourself

One of my most impactful money habits has been to ritualize my time around when I focus on financials. The goal is to make this time a regular recurring part of your week - same day, same time, every single week - during a time that you know you can aside for this task. Making this time a priority is KEY!

Money doesn’t give you energy, you give it energy so I have also ritualized the routine by lighting candles or a meditation, or whatever feels ritualistic for you and can help put you in the headspace to work through your money routines and finance tasks. This doesn’t have to be extravagant but it does help to make the habit stronger.

Start paying yourself!

It is never too early to start paying yourself! Even if it’s just $20, starting the routine and process and increasing the amount over time is so important to keep your business going and help create recurring income. If you are paying yourself sporadically (or not at all), make sure to create the habit that you pay yourself on “x” day each week or month rather than paying yourself here and there when you get a new client or project.

Create separate bank account to keep money separate

Keeping your business money separate from your personal money is a concept from Profit First by Mike Michalowicz that I follow and really helps set up your business with ease and to keep money truly siloed for projects, pay, etc. In Profit First, he discusses keeping several accounts for various things and for me personally, this was overkill but keeping a few accounts has helped my business tremendously. The way I use the concept in my business is:

My business and personal accounts are separate.
My business account is split up into operating expenses and client trust in this way:

1 - A checking account for operating expenses - money in and money out. This is for the money you receive for your interior design services.

2 - A credit card connected to the above account for purchasing protection. Personally, I put recurring expenses and business expenses on the credit card that is connected to the checking account and gets paid off each month.

3 - A client trust account with a checking account and credit card. This is where all of my client money goes when they are paying for a product. I can then purchase for them on this account credit card and pay it off each month with this checking account.

Keeping the 2 separate accounts has made it easier visually and allows my bookkeeper to easily know which type of expense I am making whether it is an operating expense or a client purchasing expense.

Set up Recurring Money Focused Days

When thinking about what you should actually be looking at weekly, monthly, quarterly etc when it comes to your money focus days, I have found that creating a task checklist connected to a calendar appointment is what works for me.

Examples of these tasks for me are:

Weekly

Money in - Following up on unpaid invoices, converting proposals to invoices, checking on accounts
Money Out - Paying bills, moving money

Monthly

Invoicing clients
Reviewing income statements, bank statements

Quarterly

Setting up a meeting with my bookkeeper
Converting proposals to invoices
Transferring bonus money to yourself
Paying taxes

Audit your Interior Design Projects

Auditing your interior design projects is a key to looking at your financials from a big picture perspective. Auditing a project is the act of simply understanding what the total income was for that project. Auditing can help you look back at how long certain project types are taking, if you’re charging enough based on the average time a project takes, and how you can increase or manage your goals based on capacity. Looking at how you bill for various projects, whether you are billing hourly, flat fee or hybrid can help you make decisions on offers you may want to move away from or even add in to your interior design business. I share more on how to price your projects in this blog post.