Interior decorating has grown 11% in the last five years and will continue to grow as more people work outside the home and earn more money. If you are constantly being asked for interior design ideas, this could be an amazing opportunity for you. All you need to do is make some decisions and love creating beautiful home interiors.

The first thing you need to decide is whether you want to be an interior designer or just do interior decoration. It may not seem like a big difference, but it actually is. An interior designer must graduate from an accredited interior design program, and in many states, the person must take an exam and be licensed. However, if you don’t want to attend school now or never, you can choose to be an interior decorator.

Before selling your interior decoration services, you need to practice. Learn some of the tips for decorating on a budget and get ideas about the services you want to provide to your clients. Try these services in your own home and offer them free at the homes of your family and friends. It’s great practice and can help you build your portfolio.

To build your portfolio, take before and after photos of every project you do, big or small. You should have fifteen to twenty photographs in your portfolio and letters of recommendation from satisfied clients. It’s also good practice to create layout boards for each project and store them with your portfolio.

Once you have decided to open an interior decorating business, you need to call different competitors to get an idea of ​​the services they provide and the fees they charge for their services. This is a great way to decide how to charge your customers.

There are several ways to price your interior decorating services. They include the use of a flat rate, hourly rate, percentage rate, additional cost, retail cost, or per square foot rate. Most interior decorating companies use the plus cost method for their rates.

To use the additional cost method, you must contact wholesalers and retailers that offer discounts for interior decorating companies. This way you buy everything for the project, from paint to furniture. Then you sell the products and your services to the customer for the cost of the products plus the prevailing rate of twenty percent.

Now that you have decided what services you will provide and the cost of each, it is time to advertise. Since you’ve contacted the vendors, ask them if you can drop off interior decorating flyers and business cards at their locations. If these vendors have seen your work and are making sure they do, they can also recommend you to their clients.

You should also contact real estate agents, new home builders, business offices, stores, hotels, and just about anywhere that uses an interior that needs to be decorated. Send each a letter announcing the opening of your business, make sure there is a name on the letter and on the envelope, and not a generic “Business Owner” opening. Follow up with a phone call and try to make an appointment to introduce them to information about you and your interior decorating business. Even if they aren’t interested right now, they will be in the future, and you need to make sure they remember you.

You can also offer services in the form of teaching a class on interior decorating at home. Many community colleges offer personal enrichment classes for everyone in the community. In class, have each person choose a room in their house that they want to redecorate. By the end of class, your classroom should be full and you will have more happy clients to spread the word about you and your business.

Once you’ve started your business, you should subscribe to trade periodicals and visit websites for interior decorating tips and ideas from others in the industry. You should buy books on different areas of decorating and techniques that you can use.

Many of the industry associations will only accept members who are Licensed Interior Designers. Keep this in mind when planning your future goals, but remember that there are also many successful interior designers who are not licensed.

With your thoughts now racing over interior decorating, costs, marketing, and keeping up with trends, it seems like you’ve made a decision. Start calling the competition and decorating the homes of friends and family. Open your own interior design business now.