An interview with Nicole Burnett of Wise Owl Interiors: An insider look of how designers run their business

My aim for Decor Blueprint involves providing you with insights from other interior design professionals and industry experts. I believe this will inspire you and facilitate the launching, operating, and growth of your individual design ventures.

To help you on your journey of building your own interior design business I’m going to start interviewing designers to give an insight into how they started their business, grew it to where they are today and their tips and tricks for new designers.

I start with Nicole of Wise Owl Interiors, who I’ve followed for a while, has a fantastic blog and a super-cool niche she is carving out for herself.

Let’s kick off with you telling us about yourself, what do you do?

Hey, I’m Nicole! Founder and designer of Wise Owl Interiors, an interior design service & blog focused around High Street design that’s affordable. I set up Wise Owl Interiors after previously working in the property industry and at a high-end interior design studio.

I had a mission to offer high street items to create an affordable interior design service to all, I offer two different types of services E-Design and traditional design service.

E-design is all about creating your dream home all at an affordable cost which is done remotely! I’ll bring to you a package where everything is laid out in front of you, it’s ideally for someone who needs a little help when it comes to designing but is happy to take part and be more active in the process.

While the traditional design service is if you want more of a traditional hands-on approach when it comes to designing your home, from managing your design through to liaising with tradesmen so your home can look amazing!

What do you enjoy the most about being an interior designer?

I love being able to help bring someone’s vision to life! There is nothing better than seeing a client get super excited over helping them achieve their goals when it comes to their home. Also, the fact that no day is ever the same and every client is different, you never know what one day will be like to the next and that’s super exciting.

How would you describe your signature style?

It’s a bit of a mishmash of Scandi, contemporary modern sometimes with a boho twist!

How do you find your clients?

I find my clients from social media platforms, mainly Instagram or just from word of mouth! Super powerful tool but I also use sites like people per hour to send proposals to potential leads.

What mistakes have you made? How did you go about fixing them?

I wouldn’t say this was a mistake more of a learning curve but at the start, I didn’t invest in a project management software like Houzz which saves so much time.

At the start, I was doing everything manually on Excel sheets which took so much time I wish I just invested in software that took away that pressure.

Where do you draw your inspiration from?

I get my inspiration from all over the place, but mainly I tend to be drawn to nature and fashion because of the textures and colour palettes. Of course, I head over for a sneaky peek on Pinterest and Instagram as it’s full of amazing things. Trade shows are another place to see the latest styles to gain inspiration.

What advice would you give to interior designers just starting out?

I would say really work on finding out what your USP (unique selling point) is, what sets you apart from other designers? What can you offer? What makes you stand out? and you can then align all your content with that.

Once you have that in the bag you can really start showcasing what you are about.

A massive thank you to Nicole for taking the time to answer the questions and give an insight into her business. You can also follow Nicole on Instagram.