“Can I Really Do This?” 4 Real-Life Questions About Starting an Interior Design Business

Interior Design Business Podcast, Interior Design Career Podcast, Interior Design Business Mentor

Have you been dreaming about starting an interior design career, but keep telling yourself you’ll start when the time is right? Maybe you’re balancing a full-time job, raising kids, managing a household, or simply trying to figure out if you’re talented enough to make a creative career shift. I’m here to tell you something important: that perfect season is never coming. And the longer you wait for it, the longer you stay stuck in a career that isn’t feeding your soul.

In this episode, I’m answering the real-life questions aspiring interior designers ask before making a career change. Questions like: Can I build an interior design business while working another job? Can I start a creative career while raising kids? How much time do I realistically need to invest each week? These are practical concerns, and they deserve honest answers.

Whether you’re pursuing interior design as a career shift, launching your first design business, or exploring a more flexible creative lifestyle, this episode will help you understand how to move forward with confidence, professionalism, and purpose.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

How to balance interior design alongside your current job
Starting a design business while raising your children
How many weekly hours do you realistically need
Why intentionality beats hustle culture every time
How structure actually creates more flexibility in your business

4 Real-Life Questions About Starting an Interior Design Business

I get asked these questions all the time — in my Design Mentor community, through Instagram DMs, and from people on the verge of signing up for Launch Your Business Bootcamp but aren’t quite sure the timing is right for them.

So let me walk you through the most common questions and give you the straightforward answers you need to move forward with confidence.

Q: Can I start an interior design business while still working another job?

A: Yes — and honestly, that’s how most designers start.

One of the biggest fears I hear from people making a career switch to interior design is that they have to choose between maintaining their income and starting their dream business. You don’t have to choose. You absolutely can build your interior design business part-time while still working your current job — because that’s exactly what I did.

When I was starting, I kept working for other people while I got my business license and began taking on my own clients. I worked evenings, weekends, and eventually negotiated going part-time so I could meet with my own clients during the day.

If you want to stay connected to the industry while earning income, consider working in a vendor showroom — think tile, plumbing, fabrics, or wallpaper — where you’ll naturally build product knowledge at the same time.

The key mindset shift here is this: you cannot expect full-time business results from part-time business efforts. That’s not a criticism — it’s just honesty. If you’re investing 10 hours a week in your business, your growth will reflect that. And that’s completely okay, as long as you go in with realistic expectations and protect those hours fiercely. Block them on your calendar. Treat them like appointments with your most important client — because they are.

Q: Can I start a business while I’m raising kids?

A: Absolutely — and you might be surprised how many designers do exactly that.

I want to speak directly to all the parents who feel like starting a business or shifting careers has to wait until the kids are grown. It doesn’t.

In the last Launch Your Business Bootcamp cohort I ran, every single designer in the room had kids — including me. We all juggled school drop-offs, pickups, summer schedules, and everything in between. And we made it work.

In fact, for many of the designers I mentor, having kids is what drives them toward entrepreneurship. The desire to ditch the 10-hour workday, eliminate the long commute, and actually be present with their families is the whole point of building a flexible creative business.

Here’s the honesty piece: if you have a family, don’t pretend you have unlimited time. Arrange childcare when you can. Use school hours. Set “do not disturb” work blocks with your older kids. And stop comparing your timeline to designers on social media who seem to be scaling fast with no constraints — you don’t know their full picture. Work with the season you’re in, and build your business foundation from there.

Q: How much time do I really need to get started?

A: A minimum of 10 focused hours per week — and quality matters more than quantity.

My honest recommendation is at least 10 hours of focused work per week if you want to make meaningful progress. Five hours can work too — it just means a slower, steadier build. If you join Launch Your Business Bootcamp to launch in eight weeks, 10 to 15 hours per week is going to keep you on track to complete the program and walk away ready to take on clients.

But here’s what matters more than the number: the quality of those hours. Vague intentions don’t build businesses — intentional, structured time does.

The designers who stay in “dabbling mode” — charging $100 here, doing a favor there, never quite committing — stay stuck in dream mode. Block your time, name it, protect it, and show up for it like the professional you are becoming. Consistent, focused work sessions are what separate the designers who launch from the ones who are still thinking about it two years from now.

Q: How flexible is interior design as a career, really?

A: Very flexible — but flexibility is the result of structure, not the absence of it.

Interior design as a career is genuinely flexible, and that’s one of the things I love most about it. You can offer e-design services, work as a decorator, specialize in CAD drafting and space planning, or take on full-service residential projects. You can work weekends if that works for your life, or design a schedule that keeps them completely off-limits. There’s real customization available to you as a business owner.

That said, flexibility doesn’t mean zero structure. If you’re working on remodel or new build projects, you’ll need to be reachable during business hours for contractors and vendors — that’s just the nature of the trade. So plan for some weekday availability as your business grows.

The key insight I want to leave you with is this: flexibility is not the absence of structure; it’s the result of structure. The designers who feel the freest in their day-to-day are the ones with the clearest boundaries, the most defined schedules, and the most intentional systems. Build your business on a solid foundation — services, pricing, process, client experience, and marketing — and the freedom follows.

Final Thoughts

Starting something new in interior design — whether it’s a full career shift or launching your own business — doesn’t require a perfect season of life. It requires self-awareness, an honest look at the time and energy you have available, and the willingness to treat your creative dream like a real business from day one.

You can be part-time and still be professional.

You can be new and still deliver incredible results for your clients.

You can be raising kids, working another job, or navigating a season of life that isn’t perfectly tidy — and still build something meaningful and successful.

Small does not mean casual. Part-time does not mean uncommitted. What it means is that you’re playing the long game, building intentionally, and designing a career that actually fits the life you want to live.

Your Next Steps

If this helped you realize you’re ready to stop circling your dream and finally start building your interior design business…

Join my free webinar where I’ll walk you through what it really takes to start your interior design business—including costs, expectations, and the foundational tools (like contracts) you need to succeed.

Sign up now >>> Are You Ready to Start Your Interior Design Business? How to Know for Sure (and What It Really Costs to Launch)