A Well-Designed Business® | Interior Design Business Podcast

A Well-Designed Business® | Interior Design Business Podcast

In today's world being a talented interior designer isn't enough to ensure that you have a profitable and successful business. Design school curricula doesn't always equip you with the business skills to have your interior design business be everything you imagined it would be! A Well-Designed Business® is here to fill in the gaps and give you real live business skills from some of the top interior designers. Your host, LuAnn Nigara shares her 40 years of success in the interior design industry, and she finds the most successful guests to share their interior design business best practices. This podcast is sponsored by Kravet Inc and Mydoma Studio.

Episodes

October 7, 2025 69 mins
Today with Katie McFarlan: Welcome to a Well-Designed Business. Welcome to a Well-Designed Business. The client experience is something we all think about. How do we elevate the experience for our clients so that they feel like we truly care about them without making ourselves crazy by bending over backwards for each client? The answer just might lie in your processes. Today, I’m joined by Katie McFarlan of Dakota Design Company. ...
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Today with Barclay Butera Sometimes on the show we are fortunate enough to speak with true icons of our day. And today, I am excited to chat with one of those designers—the legendary Barclay Butera. Today Barclay is back on the show to talk about the big picture, from the story of his first big break at a celebrity show house, the lessons he learned from scaling his business up to over 100 employees and then consciously scaling it...
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Today with Reed Humphrey of Dezign Assist Is your team maxed out, or are you stuck doing $10-an-hour tasks when you should be focused on leading your business? In today’s sponsored episode, I’m talking with Reed Humphrey, CEO of Alder & Tweed Interior Design and founder of Dezign Assist, a remote staffing company built specifically for interior designers. Reed created Dezign Assist after solving a bottleneck in his own firm. Whe...
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Today with Nicole Heymer Today on A Well Designed Business, Nicole Heymer returns to discuss the massive shift happening in online search that's changing how potential clients find interior designers. We're living through a pivotal moment where traditional Google searches are being replaced by AI-powered recommendations from ChatGPT, Google's AI mode, and other large language models. Nicole explains why your website information is...
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Today with Kimberly Horton Welcome! Today we’re talking about how to turn client frustrations into actionable change. Kimberly shares the simple but powerful tool she uses — the Frustration Tracker — to capture issues in real time, identify patterns, and make smart adjustments to her processes. From tightening contracts to setting clearer boundaries, Kimberly shows how documenting frustrations can lead to stronger systems, better...
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Today With Megan Molten: Welcome! Today we are really excited to have Megan Molten on the show with us. Megan reached out to LuAnn in an email a while ago, telling her that she learned everything she knows about the business of interior design from this show, and it’s changed her life. She went on to explain that after twelve years of being in health-care sales and having listened to the podcast every day for the last year, she fi...
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Today with Ali Faulkner Welcome to a Well-Designed Business. We’ve talked before about conducting an autopsy of a project—looking back and figuring out exactly what went right, what went wrong, and where to improve.  But what about conducting an autopsy of projects that you didn’t win? My guest today, Ali Faulkner of AEF Interiors, lost several bids in a row, and decided to make a big change; she reached out to those potential ...
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Today With Chelsea Viau: Today with Chelsea Viau of Chelsea Lane & Company, we’re talking about the numbers behind your wallpaper—and why they matter more than you might think. Chelsea shares what every designer needs to know before sourcing wallcoverings, including the costly mistakes that can derail your budget, timeline, and client trust. We also dig into vendor relationships, client education, and the importance of working wit...
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Today With Cheryl Luckett: What does it take to leave behind the security of a corporate job and build a thriving design business? For Cheryl Luckett, principal of Dwell by Cheryl, it took vision, courage, and a commitment to excellence. In this conversation, Cheryl shares how she transitioned from her career as a registered dietitian and HR professional at a Fortune 500 company to becoming one of Charlotte’s most sought-after in...
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Today With Ron Henderson & Kevin Plumb: Today on A Well Designed Business, Ron Henderson from Varaluz and Kevin Plumb from Ciana Lighting share the story behind their recent acquisition—and what it means for designers. This isn't your typical corporate takeover. When their planned 30-minute meeting turned into four and a half hours because they instantly felt like "family," you knew something special was happening. We cover the pr...
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Today With LuAnn Nigara: Right now, the economy feels shaky. Projects are slowing down. And if you're like a lot of business owners, you're wondering: Is it just me? Is something wrong? Should I be doing something—or should I be bracing for impact? In this WWLD episode, LuAnn walks you through what truly separates business owners who ride out uncertainty with strength—and those who quietly slide into chaos. You'll hear: 3 fr...
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Today With Jamie Gasparovic: Welcome to A Well-Designed Business. What comes to mind for you when you think of investing in yourself for the benefit of your business? It’s something we talk about a lot on the show—it’s no secret that I believe every designer, every business owner period, needs to be investing in themselves as soon as possible. But too often, even when business owners do invest in their own growth, it stays behind...
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Today With Joshua Smith: Joshua Smith’s journey from interior designer to high-performance coach is one packed with lessons every business owner needs to hear. In this episode, Joshua pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to design a life and business you love—one that’s profitable, sustainable, and in alignment with your values. We talk mindset, boundaries, and the courage to make big changes when your business model is...
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Today With Juliana Ewer: Today with Juliana Ewer, president of the Houston IDS chapter and owner of J Squared Home Designs, we explore how strategic volunteerism and intentional networking can become your most powerful business-building tools - without spending a dime on marketing budgets. LuAnn Nigara and Juliana Ewer’s Ah-Ha Moments: "If you're gonna go to something, don't be a tourist, jump in, right? Don't just show up to ...
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Today With Laurence Carr: Laurence Carr may have launched her interior design business less than two years before we recorded this conversation, but you’d never know it from the way she runs her firm—with vision, clarity, and purpose. In this episode, Laurence shares how she built a strong business foundation from day one, the intentional strategies she uses to keep her pipeline full, and how her commitment to sustainability and h...
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Today With Brad Leavitt (A Finer Touch Construction Podcast): Join me for a special re-airing of my conversation with Brad Leavitt on the AFT Construction Podcast! We dive deep into the world of entrepreneurship, sharing insights on building strong relationships, setting expectations, and the importance of systems in business. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, this episode is packed with practical advice and a fe...
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Today With Jamie Young Jeter: Today with Jamie Young Jeter, founder and president of Jamie Young Company, we dive deep into what it takes to build a creative business that thrives on "strategic creativity." From selling cement pots out of her truck while pregnant to running a multi-million-dollar home furnishings company, Jamie's 28-year entrepreneurial journey is packed with lessons every designer needs to hear. LuAnn Nigara a...
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Today With Claire Staszak: LuAnn really loves the process of how these designers create blogs to serve as a marketing arm for their business and a lead generator for their design firm. Listen in today to get some really great, actionable tips that you can duplicate. Today we're bringing back Claire Staszak's episode. She won the award at the Conference for the best blog writing of 2017. She is a Chicago-based interior designer wh...
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Today With Dr Colleen Mullen (Coaching Through Chaos Podcast): I’m so excited to re-share this incredible conversation I had with Dr. Colleen Mullen on her podcast, Coaching Through Chaos. Colleen and I dive deep into the journey behind Window Works, what it really takes to build a business that lasts, and the mindset that’s helped me through over 40 years of entrepreneurship. This isn’t just for interior designers—this episode i...
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Today With Jenna Gaidusek: The world of AI is moving at lightning speed, and it's easy to feel left behind. But what if you could ignore the noise and focus on a few core tools that could fundamentally change your workflow for the better? This week on the podcast, I invited AI expert and industry guide Jenna Gaidusek back to the show to do just that. She walks us through the foundational AI strategies that are here to stay. Learn...
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