91: What Holds Interior Designers Back: Sourcing Fear, Pricing Pushback, and Building Better Systems with Heather McManus

Interior design can feel isolating, and sourcing can feel risky, especially when clients shop online and question your pricing. In this episode, John McClain sits down with interior designer Heather McManus to talk about what actually holds designers back, how collaboration can change the game, and why transparent systems are the key to better sourcing, better margins, and less burnout.

In this episode, we cover

• Why fear of mistakes keeps designers small, especially with sourcing and procurement
• What to say when a client finds the same item online for less
• How Designers Collaborative started and why buying power matters
• How shared vendor access can increase creative freedom and profitability
• Burnout, inspiration days, and how to recharge without “checking out” of your business

Links and resources

For more information on Heather McManus and The Designer's Collaborative:

https://heathermcmanus.com/

https://thedesignerscollaborative.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thedesignerscollaborative/

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Join this free 39-minute training for interior designers and learn the 3 secrets to building a profitable, stress-free design business without burnout or chaos.

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Transcript

What do you think, in your opinion, are some of the top struggles that hold a designer back from thriving in their business, from thriving in their lives? What do you think is that thing, or things, that maybe hold someone back from just living their best life as a designer?

It’s probably all gonna boil down to getting outta your comfort zone and being afraid to make a mistake. A lot of designers will stay small in many ways of that. Like, I haven’t done this before and I’m afraid to do it.

Yeah.

I’m afraid to source. Going to the store and having my client sit on it, I’m afraid to get into the world where I’m gonna need a receiving warehouse to deliver that furniture to my client. I don’t wanna make a mistake, so therefore I just won’t do anything.

📍 Hey y’all, you’re listening to the McClain Method Podcast, episode number 91.

Welcome to the McClain Method, the podcast for interior designers who are ready to stop hiding and start shining. I’m your host, John McClain, designer, business mentor, author, and your branding bestie. This is not about paint colors or pendant lighting. It’s about building a business that’s both visible and profitable, inside and out.

From marketing and messaging to mindset systems and visibility, we cover the front stage and the backstage of your design business because your brilliance deserves the spotlight, and your business deserves to run like a dream behind the scenes. So if you’re ready to be seen, get recognized, and get booked, it’s time to let it shine.

Welcome to the McClain Method.

Hey everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the McClain Method Podcast. Happy to have all of my regular listeners here, and to all of you who have found me from Instagram or any other place, I’m so happy that you’ve joined us too.

We love sharing information about our industry and the insights and behind the scenes and all the good and the bad and the ugly, every single thing. You will find it here.

So today’s episode is another great one. Today I have Heather McManus on, and Heather is an interior designer of her own company. And despite the challenges of dyslexia, she wrote a book that shares her philosophy of creating homes that are both functional and beautiful. Her book is called Love Where You Live: Dream Homes Made Real.

Heather is also the founder of the Designers Collaborative, which we will discuss in depth today. This is a great group that she has organized that shares the purchasing power of products in our industry.

So I think you’re gonna find this really eye-opening. And if you’ve never heard of anything like this before, I think you’re gonna find it a breath of fresh air, especially solo designers out there. 📍 And you might need some assistance with your purchasing power.

So sit back, put those earbuds in, and enjoy my episode with Heather McManus of the Designers Collaborative.

Hey, Heather, welcome to the McClain Method Podcast.

Hi, how are you?

I’m good. I’m so happy to see you. Thanks for being here today.

Oh, I’m so excited to be here. Thank you.

Yeah, we got a lot to talk about, right? You and I are aligned in a lot of ways on how we want to help designers. It’s kind of in our blood, right? It’s who we are. We are designers and then we have these other arms of our lives and our businesses that want to reach out and help designers better themselves and better their businesses.

So I gave a little bit of info about you before we started here, but let’s start with your journey. What inspired you to create the Designers Collaborative?

I needed it for myself.

Hmm.

An ideal client imploded on me when she shopped me for this one item, and she found it for less than my designer discount was, plus free shipping.

Oh.

We’re wrapping up this whole big house in my town. She has so many connections. She ran two different businesses. She has five children. She has tons of pets. She’s just known in town. So this was supposed to be the job that lined up all these referrals. I was gonna have my professional photography done.

We’re wrapping up the last details and we’re working on the foyer. Priced up the chandelier and I went to the design center in New York. I got my price. I verified my price. I said, this is my designer price, right?

And I said, okay, I’m kind of new to this part. Like, I’ve been doing retail. What do you think I should charge? Because it’s expensive, right? So I only put like 20% on it, which is not a lot.

And then to come find out with her on her cell phone in front of me, like, “Well then how come I can find it here?” It threw the whole project into a series of, “Well, what about the rest of the house? Like, did you overcharge me for everything?” And this was the first piece that I was trying to go and source without using a local little retail showroom for.

So it sent me on a whole journey. And it turned into a whole second business. I was not expecting this path for myself. We learned a lot of hard lessons, so hopefully we don’t have to have everyone learn those hard lessons.

I’ve been in the business in the field since 1999.

Wow.

So a lot of change. Internet definitely was one of those big changes that moved the needle for designers big time. I was just starting out and really learning lessons the hard way.

It led me to go to High Point for the first time. Any designer who has not been, you have to go. It is absolutely worth your time and money. Go to High Point. It will change your business for sure.

I was able to open my first stocking dealer account, upholstery company. It was not an easy feat. You gotta spend $10,000 just to open the account, which you can do with one really good client. You gotta keep it open every year with $20,000 worth of product from that one vendor.

There was a point in time where I was having a hard time with that. I had different jobs the next year. It was more like window treatments and kitchens and other things. It wasn’t necessarily upholstery.

My sales rep for this company said to me, “I have two designers who don’t have $10,000 worth of an order. Would you want to have them buy through you?” And I said, “You know, I’ve been wanting to have a buying group. I’ve been hearing about this, and I’m not able to get into one in my local area because they’re very closed off.”

So I said, “Yeah, let’s do this.” Five people around my dining table is how we all started nine years ago.

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