Meredith founded the “House of Huck” in 2020 as a passion project. She gave herself an ultimatum: If she wasn’t successful in three years, she’d go back to the corporate world. But in one year, she transformed her business into a full-time career.
She’s leveraged her unique background in corporate sales—and some genius social media marketing tactics—to build a thriving business. In this episode of Wingnut Social, Meredith shares some business tips for new interior designers that you just can’t miss!
Connect with Meredith Huck
Resources & People Mentioned
Why House of Huck grew quickly
95% of Meredith’s clients have come from social media. How does she leverage various platforms to gain visibility?
Meredith got in front of the camera. It allowed people to learn about herself and her life. She also embraced a unique social media marketing strategy: Throwing a scavenger hunt.
Meredith chose 5 local businesses, bought gift cards, and hid them around town. You had to follow her on social media and answer a riddle to find the gift card(s). Once someone found one, they had to tag her in a post.
She gained followers, gave back to her community, and it even led to a request for a design consultation.
Why Meredith doesn’t want to grow and scale a team
Meredith is struggling with a great problem to have: Getting too many requests for her design services. She’s learning how to take discovery calls, explaining how her process works, and scheduling out (sometimes weeks or months).
She sets the expectation that it may be weeks before she can connect back to work on their project. But then she communicates via email, notes in the mail, etc. She’ll have those clients work on creating a Pinterest board to fill in the gap during those weeks.
Meredith is busier than ever, but she isn’t interested in growing and scaling a team right now. She loves what she does and chooses to outsource when necessary. She works with a virtual assistant and outsources renderings and sourcing tasks.
Business tips for new interior designers
What has Meredith learned from her first couple of years as a new interior designer?
Tip #1: It’s not just about charging a design fee. Whenever you can, open up wholesale accounts and purchase furnishings directly from them. A large portion of Meredith’s revenue has come from the margin she makes on furnishings.
Tip #2: Trust your gut. Meredith agreed to do some design work for a couple despite seeing numerous red flags. Meredith requires her clients to request revisions within one week of her design presentation. After her design presentation, this client asked for more than a week to decide. Two months later, they asked her for a refund of her design fees.
Tip #3: Don’t take every job that comes your way. Only work with people who appreciate what you’re doing for them.
Meredith shares more tips, tricks, and business strategies in this episode of Wingnut Social. Check it out!
Connect With Darla & Wingnut Social
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PODCAST FAST TRACK
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Jeff Harry: Why You Need to Infuse More Play in Your Day - Episode 199
Betsy Helmuth’s Guide to 10x Your Influence - Episode 198
Social Media Copyright Guidelines: How to Protect Your Content with Jamie Lieberman - Episode 197
How to Fuse Traditional + Digital Marketing with Steven Glaze - Episode 196
Rex Rogosch’s Take on the Future of Hospitality Design - Episode 195
How to Rewire your Mindset [Jarrod Haning’s Nobel-Nominated Process] - Episode 194
Andrea Freeman’s Method: Shift Your Mindset to Scale Your Business - Episode 193
Travel + Interior Design Photography Tips [Pro Ralph Velasco Shares] - Episode 192
Can Writing a Book Catapult Your Career? LuAnn Nigara Shares Her Thoughts - Episode 191
Differentiate Yourself: Amanda Berlin Says to Tell Your Story - Episode 190
Market Your Brand to Land a Licensing Deal [Victoria Larson's Strategy] - Episode 189
WHY the New Facebook Business Suite is Sweet - Episode 188
How to Collaborate with Nano-Influencers [Neal Schaffer’s Take] - Episode 187
The Ins and Outs of Instagram Alt Text - Episode 186
Positioning in Marketing: Create Your Unique Brand with Shannyn Lee - Episode 185
How IGTV Captions Help YOU Capture a Larger Audience - Episode 184
Fall in LOVE with Your Business Again with Kris Plachy - Episode 183
6 Ways YOU can Make Money on Social Media - Episode 182
How to Get Famous on TikTok [Courtesy of Mrs. Space Cadet] - Episode 181
Make Social Media FUN Again - Episode 180
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