Launching an interior design career has lots of moving parts, from opening a small business banking account and establishing an LLC to choosing a name for your firm. However, once you’ve nailed down the logistics, it’s time to tackle the most crucial (and difficult) task: landing a new client.
A gorgeous project can put you on the public’s radar. Finding the customer that will trust you with their time, money, and space is the first step to creating one. And, unless they have strong industry connections or previous press coverage, newer designers are likely starting from square one.
But why rely on networking events and cold outreach when thinking outside of the box can work just as well? To spark inspiration, eight designers share with AD PRO the creative ways they landed clients early in their careers. From utilizing the power of social media to embracing your “inner client,” these stories offer plenty of innovative ideas to take your interior design career to the next level.
Become your own client
After eight years working under the helm of New York–based designer Nick Olsen, Tara McCauley was ready to launch her own firm. Though she had plenty of industry know-how and connections, she didn’t have a portfolio of her own work. So, she turned her Brooklyn-based apartment into an outlet for her creative impulse—complete with bold pops of color and a hand-painted terrazzo-patterned wall in the kitchen. “[It was] a laboratory for my boldest design ideas,” McCauley notes. “Surrounding myself with personally meaningful items collected over time makes me feel at home.”
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In addition to developing the project like she would for a paying customer, she also hired a photographer to take some professional shots. “She found a way to capture everything I wanted to get in each angle and knew exactly how to deal with the lack of natural light,” the designer notes.
Fortunately, all of that investment paid off: McCauley’s apartment has since been featured in New York Magazine as well as on NBC’s Open House segment. “I think that having my own space published lent me a bit of credibility at a point in my career where I didn’t have the capacity outside my full-time job to build a portfolio of client work,” she shares. “At the same time, when I speak with potential clients, I do often ask them to keep in mind that in my own apartment I made a lot of bold choices that suited my personal style, but are not representative of what I would do in their spaces.”
If a glossy magazine feature is out of reach, why not throw a party? “After renovating and designing my own personal home, I hosted an open house and invited friends, neighbors, clients, several contractors, one of the home's previous owners, and my hairdresser to tour my home,” says designer Debbie Matthews. “I also continued to host parties—a wedding shower, my husband's 60th birthday party, and more—to get more people to see my work and design aesthetic.”
Leverage your first hustle
Designer Francis Toumbakaris’s first brush with the industry was a side hustle: Between gigs as a ballet dancer and Broadway performer, he took on handyman work. This moonlighting rapidly grew into a general contractor business, complete with his own license and insurance. Toumbakaris had some great design ideas, too, and says that his creative vision and practical know-how became a hallmark of his business.
“Clients began to notice a unique blend of expertise,” recalls the AD PRO Directory designer. “People would say, ‘We’re hiring this amazing general contractor who also has the most incredible ideas for our home.’” Eventually, Toumbakaris says he was balancing a hammer in one hand and fabric swatches in the other.
Whether you’re working part-time at a furniture store or as a muralist like Susan Bohlert Smith once did, your design-related side job can help you see a home from a more holistic vantage point. “I realized how critical it was to select finishes, like flooring and tiles, to complement the home’s final furnishings and décor,” she explains. “I wanted my clients to avoid feeling restricted later because key design decisions hadn’t been made at the start. It’s not just about the ideas—it’s about knowing how to bring those ideas to life.”
Seal the deal with social media
Katie Davis was always her circle’s “token design-savvy friend,” but it wasn’t until she and her husband bought their own house that she realized she could harness her great eye into a prosperous career. Problem was, Davis had a law degree and no industry connections. So she harnessed the power of social media. “I posted a call to action on Facebook, letting family and friends know I could help with design projects—bathroom renovations, nurseries, [and the like],” she says. “This is before I even launched my firm.”
After Davis had a few projects under belt, she turned her Instagram feed into a “living portfolio.” She explains, “By that point, it wasn’t so much ongoing outreach to potential clients, but building a mood board of my work and showcasing my aesthetic so potential clients knew who I was. It gave my firm legitimacy and gave me name recognition to a target audience.”
Not only did her booming social media platform attract new clients, but it also helped her flex her network and design chops by connecting with new vendors. “Recently, we posted the work of a vendor who we ordered a few things from on Instagram; he reached out and inquired about other projects we had and shared other things he had up his sleeve that we might have interest in,” she says. “Instagram really replicates that intimacy between artisan and designer.”
Flaunt your personal style
Don’t have any projects to flaunt on your social media feed? Rebecca Amir, a New York designer who started her career as a Vogue editor, used her account to develop her personal style, and subsequently, build a clientele that resonated with it.
“People in my network came to know me for [my perspective],” she notes. As for what to post, Amir says it’s all about creating the right vibes. “I shared what was inspiring me from my travels, living abroad, and things I would see out and about,” she says. “This aesthetic—sort of bohemian meets English country—has translated into my design style and I think clients still come to me looking for that.”
Posting images of fabric swatches and interiors you admire can not only act as a virtual mood board for you, but it will also give potential clients a deeper understanding of your design eye.
Dare to try a…dating app?
Dating apps like Hinge, Bumble, and Tinder might have revolutionized the modern-day meet-cute, but for designer Kelly Martin those platforms helped her break into bolder projects and a new demographic. “A male friend of mine was talking about how ‘dudes’ apartments’ aren’t usually acceptable for bringing dates home,” she explains. “And that men would probably appreciate a designer’s eye to make them appear to have more taste and sophistication.”
So, with the help of her friend, Martin created a profile to attract new clients. To keep her presence strictly professional, she filled her profile with marketing materials. Though Martin admits many of her suitors were more focused on dating than design, she said the tactic did draw in some prospective clients. “It was worth the ridiculousness for that,” she says.
Conjure a Craigslist listing
Nowadays, Craigslist is a great destination for secondhand furniture and the occasional apartment listing. But over 15 years ago, it was how Dan Mazzarini forayed into residential design. “I was talking to a friend that I was helping with an apartment, and I think he said he had looked and posted for designers on Craigslist,” says the principal and creative director of AD PRO Directory studio BHDM. “When I got home I took a look, and there were all these posts for people looking for weekend warrior kinds of designers. So I tried a few!”
Mazzarini would respond to ads looking for short-term projects—he says Trading Spaces influenced people’s desire for “quick fixes,” but the lack of modern technology made it trickier to DIY—and racked up some clients along the way. “I did help these roommates who lived in Harlem reupholster chairs,” he recalls. “They were in awe of how making the right decisions, and (a lot) of elbow grease totally changed their space. It was fun to work with them, and their gratitude was sincere.”
In addition to getting some clients, these smaller jobs taught Mazzarini important lessons like navigating a tight budget or timeline and communicating with vendors. (Translation? Everything he needed to build his firm.) “My business has grown and evolved, but I still think there is no better reward than a happy residential client,” he says.
Revive rejected clients
A client who might have initially passed on your proposal doesn’t mean it’s a “no” forever—just ask Noelle Harvey of Sunday House Interior Design in Portland, Oregon. Harvey’s AD PRO Directory firm presented a project scheme to a potential customer, who ultimately declined working together. Months later, a member of the design team went to a dental office for a teeth cleaning; the dentist turned out to be that could-have-been client. After chatting for a bit, the employee learned the client was unhappy with the work that had been done by another designer and hired Sunday House to make some updates for her.
“Always remember that anyone could become a client,” Harvey advises. “The client got really comfortable with us and we became more than just a website and an email; it’s important to remember that everyone is human.”
That said, Harvey admits there’s a fine line between persistent and pushy, so tread lightly. She says: “My team member went in with the mindset of not bringing it up if it didn’t come up, but if it did, letting it play out.”
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