How to find your first interior design clients

Here’s how I found clients when I was first starting my business 👇🏻

⭐️ Leveraged my personal network

I told everyone I knew about what I was doing - e.g. friends, family, parents at my kids’ school etc. I felt like a total fraud, but it’s where my first ever clients came from.

⭐️ Used social media

I posted every day to Instagram. This has been one of the main ways I’ve found clients for the 10 + years I’ve been in business.

⭐️ Offered discounted services

I couldn’t believe anyone would pay me to do something I would have happily done for free! I charged almost nothing (due to inexperience) but in return learned a lot about working with clients and got some great project images to use as social proof.

⭐️ Partnerships

I booked meetings with real estate agents, builders and suppliers who were already working with the clients I wanted. I only got a few jobs from these meetings but I built the muscle of getting out of my comfort zone, which was hugely valuable.

⭐️ Content marketing

I wrote a blog every day for the first year of being in business. That was 10 years ago when blogs worked better than they do today. If I were starting today I would do the same thing but with YouTube videos instead.

⭐️ Asked for referrals

I did the best possible job I could with clients and then asked them to refer me to others. This was how I moved from lower paying jobs for friends to higher paying projects with people I didn’t know.

But the main thing I did was get out into the world and try and find business.

I see too many designers posting a few times on Instagram and wondering why no clients are coming to them.

This isn’t how you get clients when you’re first starting - nobody yet knows who you are. It’s your job to make yourself known!

Thanks for reading and catch you in my next post :)

Clare x

Dr Clare Le Roy

PS: If you enjoyed this then don’t forget to follow me @thelittledesigncorner for my daily tips on growing a profitable design or architecture business.

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