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Contemplating to start an interior designing firm? - 5 Tips for you Here are five tips that would certainly help you make informed decisions before you traverse.

By Lavina Rodrigues

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For those who are aspiring to be interior designers and contemplating to start their own ventures, don't just jump into the business without understanding the intricacies involved. You need to be patient and plan your path ahead. Here are five tips that would certainly help you make informed decisions before you traverse.

1. Carve your niche; exclusivity reins

For beginners in the field of interior designing, I suggest that before enterprising into a new venture, get a good exposure. For this, you need to work with an organization for some time. Thoroughly understand the modus operandi and then start creating a niche for yourself. Two to three years should ideally be sufficient to crack upon the fundamentals underlying the field of designing. It's not just about learning and how designing is done, but also how the business runs.

During your course of time, try building good networking with different people related to this field — interior designers, supplier vendors and others. Also, it's important to learn from each of the different players the difference or the value that they create.

This will help you learn how exclusivity is paid in this business. After all winners don't do different things they do things differently. This will pay-off when you begin your own venture.

2. Believe in Yourself and Your Dream

You have to give shape to your ideas and for this you need to have the confidence to implement it. Therefore, in your first enterprising year, avoid experimenting and follow the mantra of "Simple Execution." You need to have full confidence and calibre to implement what you envision.

The reason behind this mantra is that you need to prove your competency in independently materialising your customer's desire. This will entrust confidence among your customers and illustrate that you understand your business well. Spend economically so that the customer can feel that they have achieved "value for money" and that they are in the right hands.

When you prepare your work portfolio, simply define what you are capable of delivering and not what you aim to achieve. After you have executed simple projects, you can graduate towards undertaking relatively different or challenging projects that you are capable of delivering. Gradually keep taking up new challenges and keep redefining your expertise.

3. Get Started with ideas and a team, office space can wait

In the initial year, don't think of having an office and a team for executing your ideas. In short, don't think of incurring significant expenditure for your new venture. From your acquaintances, try to get simple projects that can be driven by you.

Give a justified time-line to your client for implementing projects and stick to it strictly. The mantra is to discipline yourself and keep saving out of your earnings so that you can build a startup capital for your bigger interior designing projects where the payment mechanism may not be very smooth and there may be longer gestation period.

4. Brace yourself with latest trends, reading keeps you on your toes

To keep upto date about the interior designing business you need to be really well-read. So for this, subscribe to good magazines, browse through the internet to read some blogs, attend conferences and seminars. You can take some free online courses for designing and also learn to handle various aspects of your interior designing business. Endeavour to improve your designing skills.

5. Fall and Rise, Don't give Up

There might be times, when your work has not earned appreciation. Don't let this pull you back. Keep striving, by taking the feedback in terms of improvising your own work. This is part and parcel of the interior designing journey and a startup.

Lavina Rodrigues

Managing Director, Pyra Build & Designs Pvt. Ltd

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