Meet Katy Stevenson Bretton 

Now, through her company Design & Align, Katy brings her strategic insights and highly intuitive coaching to support other designers in growing their own successful and profitable businesses.

Katy, tell us about your interior design business

Before starting my interior design business in 2014 I worked in London’s City Hall, managing multi-million pound public sector investments. I loved it, but after having my first son it no longer felt aligned and, after years of renovating my own homes, I realised I was very good at adding value to a property and could see the opportunity to put my construction knowledge and enthusiasm to good use, train in interior design, and start my own business. 

When I reflect on my interior design business, I think of it as being in two parts - 

1 - The early days where I sat at my kitchen table, brought in freelancers to help, and didn’t charge nearly enough!

2 - When I decided it was high time to shift things. I took on a business partner (a brilliant interior architect), moved to a studio, hired a small team and worked with a business coach, a brand strategist and a finance coach to refine everything we were doing and make more money! Which worked, because in this second phase of my business we brought in over £100k in fees in our first full year together.

We worked on all sorts of projects, including several private homes in London, a country bolthole in Suffolk and a huge studio in a converted warehouse for a creative company.  

What lessons can you share from your business journey?

My City Hall days were invaluable for learning how to think long term and strategically. How to look at all the moving parts of a complex organisation, cut through the noise and make swift decisions. As well as how to handle high-profile individuals, including senior politicians, celebrities and business leaders. 

But the biggest learnings have come from running my own business. When you’re the founder of a company - not a part in someone else’s organisation - you can feel very exposed. Everything you thought you knew about yourself and your abilities evaporates and you realise that the success of your business comes down to you.  Your knowledge & skills. Your ability to take risks. Your willingness to lean into the discomfort of stepping outside your comfort zone.   

Everything I have achieved in my business has come down to these two things -

1. Great strategy - learning and implementing proven strategies around positioning, marketing, selling, systems, client management, hiring and leadership.

2. Mindset mastery - doing the inner work that means I keep moving forward. I used to be so held back worrying how others might perceive me. Now I know how to tune into my own internal wisdom and use it to support me in continuously taking courageous action. 

Why do you no longer run your interior design business?

I get asked this question a lot, and the answer is in the work I do now. I can’t imagine anything more misaligned than pouring energy into something you’ve realised is not where your true potential lies. Yes, I’m a good designer… but I am an incredible business strategist and coach. When, in 2021, another designer asked me to help her with her business, I knew that a door had unlocked for me.  Every great company is built on helping people and I understood very clearly from that first experience that this is my contribution to the world. 

What would you say to someone who wants to grow their interior design business?

If you’re in the early stages of business - still figuring out how to market yourself, the systems your business needs, how to get better clients - I have a free masterclass that lets you know the key things to be focusing on right now to grow your interior design business. 

The important thing here is ‘stage of business’. This isn’t about how long you’ve been running your studio. If you haven’t got a clear plan for marketing your business or consistently converting enquiries into high-paying clients, you are still in a ‘survival’ stage of business and you need to get these things right if you want to have more success. 

Click to watch Katy’s interior design business masterclass

OK, you mentioned ‘high-paying clients’ - talk to us about pricing…

When I started my interior design business my pricing was a disaster!  Despite previously managing multi-million pound budgets, I could barely pluck up the courage to charge in the hundreds for my services. So I was working all the hours to prove that I was a success but my bank account said something very different!  However I priced my services, it never seemed to be enough. 

So I committed to learning about pricing strategy and money psychology, and what I’ve learned about pricing interior design services is that it has so much to do with your money mindset and comfort with talking about money with your clients - not simply the numbers you write on a proposal. 

Once I uplevelled my money mindset, learned to stop projecting my own thoughts and beliefs about money onto my clients (e.g. “they will never pay that!”), and started pricing the value of my services, that was when we really started to build momentum.  Projects stopped feeling like a thankless slog and we started seeing more profit and experiencing more joy in the exchange of value between us and our clients.  

Watch Katy’s powerful keynote from Decorex 2023 on what it takes to price your services profitably!  If you are looking for clarity on how to price your interior design services and earn more money, don’t miss this talk - PRICING FOR PROFITABILITY

Tell us about your coaching, Katy

Business is actually pretty straightforward. It’s the fear, procrastination and mindset drama we bring to it that cause us to fail at it. 

My coaching is about providing simple but powerful strategies that help you in attracting dream clients and making more money.  Along with the mindset work that empowers you to feel more confident as a leader and connected to who you are and the vision of what you’re building. 

I offer a range of programs with differing levels of investment, proximity and support to refine and grow your interior design business.  Click here to find out more about how to work with me or drop me a DM on Instagram and tell me about your business; I’m always happy to provide personalised feedback on the best step for you to take.

My clients tell me they love my positive energy, clear-thinking and the confidence I unlock in them.  And of course that I know the interior design industry inside out!  I love seeing them, through the work we do together, making courageous moves, stepping out of their comfort zone, often 2x or 3x their income, and experiencing the freedom that comes when you’re living the fullest and most authentic expression of yourself.

Ultimately, my coaching is about empowering you to create more alignment in the way you’re running your studio - dismantling whatever limitations you’ve been feeling trapped by and growing your business in a way that lights up your soul and your bank account!

What does Decorex mean to you?

I love Decorex!  The show is always so exciting - from the branding reveals, to the design collaborations, the designers who visit, the suppliers who exhibit… there’s such incredible energy. I’m truly honoured to be a part of something so special.

Design & Align  www.design-align.com |  @design__align

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