Advice You Should Ignore If You Want To Become An Interior Designer

Somewhere along the way, aspiring interior designers were convinced that they need more before they can begin. More qualifications, more experience, more confidence, more portfolio projects, more connections, more followers and more proof that they are ready.

The result is that many talented people spend years preparing to become an interior designer without ever actually becoming one!

Over the years, both in my own career and through mentoring hundreds of aspiring designers, I’ve noticed something interesting. The people who go on to build successful careers are rarely the people with the most qualifications, the most impressive portfolios, or the longest CVs. More often than not, they are the people who are willing to take the next step before they feel completely ready.

That’s not to say that learning, experience and qualifications have no value. Of course they do. But somewhere along the way, the industry has started treating these things as prerequisites rather than things that can be developed as you build your career.

In this article, I want to challenge some of the most common advice given to aspiring interior designers because, in many cases, it may be the very thing that is stopping you from getting started.

This is probably one of the biggest myths in the industry. Interior designers, universities, large firms all tell aspiring interior designers that they need a degree before they can call themselves a designer or start working with clients. While a degree can be fund and necessary in some areas, it is not the only route into the profession!

What I find interesting is that clients rarely ask where you studied. In fact, many never ask at all. What they really want to know is whether you understand their home, their project, their challenges, and whether you can help them create a solution that works for them.

That’s not to say that education isn’t important, but most designers already have a degree in another field, and it’s just not viable to study for another four years, just for fun! There is also a difference between learning and believing that you need a specific qualification before you are allowed to begin designing.

Some of the best designers I know have followed very different paths into the profession, and I think the industry would be much stronger if we recognised that there is more than one way to become a great interior designer.

If you want to go deeper into this topic or you think you’re in an area that might requrie a degree, have a look at this post and video: Do You Need An Interior Design Degree Or Qualification?

This one always makes me smile because it creates an impossible situation. How exactly are you supposed to gain experience if you’re not allowed to work with clients until you have experience?

Every designer starts somewhere. Every architect starts somewhere. Every builder starts somewhere. Nobody begins their career with a portfolio full of completed projects and years of experience behind them. The first project is never the hundredth project.

One of the biggest mistakes I see aspiring designers make is waiting until they feel experienced enough before they put themselves out there. The problem is that experience doesn’t appear overnight. It comes from doing the work. It comes from helping real people solve real problems, learning lessons along the way and gradually building confidence through action.

That doesn’t mean taking on projects that are beyond your capabilities. It means starting where you are. A colour consultation, an e-design package, a room redesign, or a small residential project can teach you more than months of preparation ever will.

In fact, one of the common themes I’ve noticed after mentoring hundreds of designers is that the people who succeed are rarely the people with the most experience when they start. They’re the people who are willing to start before they feel ready. I explore this idea further in my article Why Some Interior Designers Succeed & Others Don’t. 

This is one of the most damaging beliefs in the interior design industry. Designers and business coaches for that matter, are convinced that success means luxury clients, luxury homes and luxury budgets.

Social media certainly doesn’t help. Every day we’re shown stunning country estates, penthouses, boutique hotels and multi-million-pound renovations, and it’s easy to start believing that this is what a successful design business should look like.

The reality is that many successful interior designers have built fantastic businesses working on ordinary homes for ordinary people. In fact, most of my own early projects were not luxury projects at all. They were everyday people looking for help with everyday challenges.

The problem with chasing luxury clients from day one is that it often stops you seeing the opportunities right in front of you. While you’re waiting for the dream project, somebody else is building experience, earning money, collecting testimonials and developing their portfolio through smaller projects.

If this sounds familiar, you might also enjoy reading Why Luxury Clients Aren’t Calling You, where I explain why most successful designers don’t start with luxury projects, how small and medium projects help you build the experience and systems luxury clients expect, and why the route to high-end work is often very different from what the industry tells you.

This myth creates exactly the same impossible situation as the experience myth. How are you supposed to build a portfolio if you’re not allowed to work with clients until you already have one?

Many aspiring designers spend years worrying about their portfolio before they’ve ever attempted to find a client. They assume they need a website full of professionally photographed projects before anyone will take them seriously.

The reality is that every designer starts with an empty portfolio! The first project creates the second. The second creates the third. The third creates the fourth. Portfolios are built over time, not before you begin.

Some of the strongest portfolio pieces I’ve seen have come from personal projects, e-design schemes, redesigns of existing spaces, family projects and small client projects. What matters isn’t whether the project appeared in a magazine. What matters is whether it demonstrates your thinking, your process and your ability to solve the design problems that your clients are willing to pay for!

A portfolio is not a ticket that grants you permission to start. A portfolio is something that grows as you build your career and it’s only one way of securing clients… not THE way!

Most people imagine confidence arrives first and then they take action. In reality, it’s usually the other way around. Confidence is something that develops as a result of taking action, not before it.

The designers who seem confident today were not born that way. At some point they had to send their first proposal. They had to tell somebody their fees. They had to post on social media for the first time. They had to walk into their first client meeting wondering if they were good enough. I used to faint presenting my work I was so nervous. We all start somewhere.

The difference is not that we all felt confident when we started. The difference is that we didn’t but we did it anyway. If you wait until you feel completely confident, you may end up waiting forever. Most successful designers didn’t start because they felt ready. They started because they decided they were ready enough to take the next step!

If you’ve made it this far, I hope you can see that becoming an interior designer is probably far more achievable than the industry has led you to believe.

A clear understanding of what to learn next, what project to tackle next, and what step to take next. This is exactly why I created IntoDesign.

After mentoring hundreds of aspiring interior designers, I realised that most people weren’t struggling because they lacked talent. They were struggling because they lacked a clear pathway. They were jumping between YouTube videos, social media advice, courses, qualifications and conflicting opinions, never quite knowing what to focus on next.

Inside IntoDesign, everything is designed to help you build a real career in interior design one project at a time. Whether you’re learning technical skills, developing your portfolio, creating your services, finding clients or building confidence, the goal is always the same: helping you move from where you are today to where you want to be tomorrow.

The truth is that no course, mentor or membership can make you feel completely ready. But they can help you stop feeling lost. And sometimes that’s all you need to take the first step!

Jo Chrobak