Episode 014: What People Never Told You About Business with Niki McNeill
Meet Niki
This time last year, I met Niki McNeill at High Point Market and we became fast design friends. A year later, we were on the Design Bloggers Tour at Market together. So as you can see, a lot can happen in a year…just like in Niki’s business.
Niki is a Raleigh, NC native and has been working in the interior design industry for nearly 10 years. After being fired unexpectedly at the beginning of 2018, she decided to build her own design company, SingleBubblePop Design Studio. In less than a year, she’s grossed well over 6 figures and already starting to build our her team.
Her design company has been profitable from day one because she applied business principles to her design services, creating systems that maximize her profitability.
She’s an entrepreneur first & designer second!
In this conversation, if you hadn’t guessed it from the title, we get into a lot of the things we’re never told when we decide to go into business for ourselves — from how to pay yourself to what it actually takes to get paid. If you’re making the transition into entrepreneurship and self-employment, this is definitely one you’re going to enjoy.
So many yummy nuggets in that conversation, am I right?!
When we decide to start our own businesses, for most of us, we’re going in blind and it’s a lot of trial and error. We can only hope that in those errors, we learn and continue to be better with each new attempt. That’s what Niki did. From starting her blog a decade ago to using previous design experiences to build her own business, nothing is lost in the trenches.
What can you learn, if you’re in the middle of your own season of figuring it out?
What lessons has your transition from just being an interior design to being a business owner taught you?
While you’re listening, be sure to tag Niki and The Design Influence and let us know what could change in a year for you? Where are you currently in your business journey and where do you see yourself a year from now? While you’re at it, we’d love to know where you were a year ago!
