Featured on the Show:

• Only Girl On The Jobsite Designer Edition

What you will learn from this episode: 

• Two areas that are difficult being an interior designer

• How I overcome them and put things in place to avoid them

• Why I love doing what I do!

Over the past few weeks, while promoting the Only Girl On The Jobsite Designer Edition, I have had the opportunity to talk with so many different designers and hear their experiences, hopes and dreams to add construction management to their services or to improve their existing services. 

These are the goals that any interior designer has and ones we constantly strive to achieve. It’s just challenging, like I’m constantly saying, when you’re working alone or in a very small team, which statistically is how interior designers work. 

So, today I wanted to go over two areas that I think are difficult to being an interior designer offering construction management services, and how I overcome them and put things strategically in place to avoid them. 

The first one is obvious, and that is being the only girl. I know I’ve talked about this a lot lately but it really does bear constant repeating because there are inherent issues with being the only anything……like I said in last week’s podcast, which you can find here. 

Being the only girl on a team of possibly 5, 10, 15 guys, can be difficult. You can experience intimidation or fear of the unknown. But the other feelings can be more complex. Because you are an equal on this team, or in some cases, you are leading this team and therefore you not only need to be heard, but you need to be respected.

And in today’s episode, I will tell you what I do, and what has made such a huge difference for me and can for you as well! 

The second issue I deal with on construction sites regardless of gender is being the only interior designer on the project. The profession of interior design has not always been seen as very professional. I believe it comes from the lack of licensing in our country for our profession. While not everybody needs the education to be a successful interior designer, it does make us work harder to prove our worth.

I love doing what I do!

I love that I can offer my clients services that are essentially soup to nuts. If they’re decorating their living room and want to redo their kitchen, I can do both. 

The best thing I love about it though is the creativity it allows me. Construction is full of changes, full of surprises, opportunities to make me think, research, and I just love that component of what I do for a living. 

That’s why I encourage designers to expand their services to include renovation management – because construction allows a level of creativity that designing doesn’t. I highly recommend investing more time and energy into construction management! I really believe the construction side will sustain our industry. It’s full of opportunities and I really want to get that across to designers listening to this episode! 

Like this Episode?

• Be sure to check out Episode #37: Designer’s Realities Being the Only Girl on the Jobsite

• Don’t miss an episode, listen on Spotify, and follow via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or RSS.

• Leave us a review in Apple Podcasts.