Ep 2 Transforming Your Narrative, A Designers Journey

Welcome back to Design Boss Dialogue! In this episode I am going to delve into the critical role of mindset in the interior design business. I emphasise how negative narratives, particularly around money and self-worth, can be significant obstacles to success. Drawing from my personal experiences, I illustrate my journey of overcoming self-limiting beliefs and highlight the importance of reframing thoughts to foster a positive mindset.

You will gain a valuable insight into practical strategies such as affirmations and daily mindset shifts, which are essential for thriving in the interior design industry as we approach 2025. This episode is packed with actionable advice and inspiration to help designers break through mental barriers and achieve their goals.

Join me for an empowering conversation that will set the stage for a successful and transformative year. Let's break through those mental barriers and elevate your interior design business to new heights.

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Transcript

Welcome back to day two of the Design Boss Dialogue Advent Calendar podcast, your go-to source for all things interior design and business. I'm your host, Lisa Marie Elkhadraoui, and over the next 24 days, we will be unwrapping those little gifts of wisdom, parcels of practical tips, and insider secrets to help you grow and thrive in the world of interior design. I cannot wait to delve into today's words of wisdom on the power of mindset in shaping our interior design businesses. I want to guide you through this journey of transforming those negative narratives.

I'm your host Lisa Marie Elkhadraoui and over the next 24 days, we'll be unwrapping those little gifts of wisdom, parcels of practical tips, and insider secrets to help you grow and thrive in the world of interior design. I cannot wait to delve into today's words of wisdom on the power of mindset in how that shapes our interior design businesses.

I want to guide you through this journey of transforming those negative narratives, particularly around money and self-confidence that you may be experiencing in your interior design business because we have all experienced them at one point or another in time. I certainly have. And I know if you're listening, you'll be nodding saying, yep, Lisa, I'm going through it or I'm experiencing it.

I want to let you know that your mindset is a key element in how you price your services, interact with your clients, and ultimately how successful you become in this industry. It's powerful, isn't it? So let's dive right in and explore how a shift in mindset can pave the way for a thriving design business.

Mindset. Now you may be thinking, what does this have to do with how I price my interior design services or attract the right clients? Right? Well, it's got everything to do with it. Your mindset encompasses the beliefs and attitudes that you carry in your daily life. It influences your existence and your success. It's intertwined with your outlook, your intentions, your daily beliefs and your goals. The mindset is such a powerful tool in how we operate on a day-to-day basis. This episode focuses on the mindset because it's such a core element I teach and support my clients within Design Boss Diary, my interior design mentoring company. And when we talk about self-limiting beliefs. Money is often a significant one. It comes up a lot in the conversations I have with women when I start working with them. Now, growing up, many of us were taught that we have to work extremely hard to make money and that money doesn't grow on trees. How many have heard that one? I'm sure you're going, yep, I've heard that time and time again. It's a generational thing.

When we've been deeply rooted with money mindset narratives from a child, they can persist into adulthood affecting how we perceive our worth and our capabilities. For example, I'm going to share one of mine with you. So when I transitioned from the fashion world to construction and interiors, I carried a belief that I wouldn't succeed because I didn't have a formal design school background. And when I say design school background, I have a fashion background. had a bachelor of arts and honour's in fashion, but I didn't have a bachelor of arts or a degree in interior design. I didn't go to university to get my interior design degree. I got a fashion degree and then I transitioned through the creative industry. But

I worked my way up through experience and before opening up my studio, despite spending four and a half years at a prestigious development company, contributing to their awards and running their design department with a strong team around me, I still very much doubted my abilities because I wasn't qualified.

This self-doubt continued even after starting my own design studio. It was also compounded by imposter syndrome and a lack of business support in the very early years. Now you can imagine what my mindset was like at the beginning of my business and most probably several years into business. I would say certainly shifted going into 2019, and 2020, and then became a lot stronger in the later years of my business. But it affected my self-confidence and my self-esteem and held me back until I understood what I needed to shift and work on, which was rewiring my mindset. And this happened two years into my business. Okay.

If I were to describe my first two years in business, it was like most probably being in the middle of a storm out in the ocean and not to throw in. I also had my first child there, which was a heightened emotional roller coaster in general. mean, the hormones were all over the place and as women, you'll completely understand that it was an experience. And I now often wonder

If my mindset had been stronger, how would I have gotten through those early years in business? But then I wouldn't have learned what I have done to this day because of the learnings that I have done. I am the businesswoman I am today, if that makes sense, and what I've gone through. So I don't think I would be the businesswoman I am today if I hadn't experienced what I experienced and gone through and the learnings that I've taken from that. And I am a strong believer that these negative narratives can deeply impact our confidence and self-esteem. And it's such a common story amongst self-taught designers or those that certainly didn't follow a traditional design path. Now I would love to hear from you if you're a self-taught designer or you didn't follow a traditional design path. Do you have that same narrative? And I'd love to hear from you and how many of you are listening feel this self-limiting belief. We do find ourselves saying, I can't call myself a legit interior designer because I didn't go to interior design school or another one sometimes I hear saying is I can't charge higher fees because I'm not experienced enough. And it's this mindset that keeps us stuck. And no matter how many times you try and suppress it until you do the work and you shift it, it will always be there, raising its head time after time until you do something about it. 

It's hard to say, what will hold you back from breaking through those barriers to the next level in your interior design business. Now, going back to the money mindset in the early years, determining what to charge can be extremely challenging. I get it because I was there.

We often lower our rates because we adopt a poor money mindset. Our deeply rooted beliefs around money and we massively doubt our worth. When I started my business and right up until about three and a half years ago, pricing was a real challenge. I have women come to me now saying,

I'm constantly reinventing the pricing wheel. Pricing is so difficult within my business. I change quotations all the time. I put client quotations together and then take money off because I feel it's too much for the client to pay. mean, hello, money mindset blocks right there. If that is not a mindset block, I don't know what it is. This is such

a relatable topic amongst so many of us designers. Each woman I mentor and coach in Design Boss Diary, they answer a specific set of questions before we start working together. Okay, it's my way of really understanding where you are in your business and how we can deepen the way we work together. So I create this bespoke way of working with them to ensure that they get the right information needed for them. And the reason I do this is to understand.

Hello, money mindset blocks right there. It's such a relatable topic. Each woman I mentor and coach in Design Boss Diary answers a set of questions before we start working together. And it's my way of really understanding where they're currently at in their businesses. So I can create a bespoke way of working with them to ensure that they get the right information needed for them and money and mindset around money and beliefs and pricing are always top contenders for their struggles. Nine times out of 10 it's up there. So many designers get into vicious cycles with their pricing and mindset blocks. 

They struggle with their services and design fees. They reinvent their structures with each new client and even pluck figures out of thin air when creating quotations and deduct money off or switch from a flat fee to an hourly back to a flat fee. These are the types of deep-rooted blockages in design businesses that I see and help reframe and work through. 

If you're listening and thinking, my gosh, Lisa, that is me. This happens to me all the time. Then I want you to listen on. I have a few golden nuggets that you do not want to miss. Reach out to me. My podcast email is in the show notes below and I want you to let me know what's resonating with you. Okay. Touch base because this is such a powerful topic and I can help you through this.

Our brains believe what we tell them. If we constantly reinforce negative narratives, we adopt a way of undermining our confidence and business success. I want you to ask yourself, what stories do you tell yourself about money and your worth as an interior designer? Like if you were to generally stop and think about how you conduct yourself around money and your worth in your business, do you find yourself saying I'm not worthy of making that type of money. My parents never made that type of money. So I certainly can't make that type of money or I'm not good enough. I'm not worthy enough to have that money in my design business. And I want you to really reflect on these narratives and how they're currently impacting you. Okay. In the work I do, when we look at mindset shifts around blockages and money,

We always look at reframing them and I want you to adopt these into your daily routine in the form of affirmations over the next 28 days. I want you to explore what these self-limiting beliefs could be and how you can reframe them.

Examples, okay. I can't charge higher rates because clients won't see the value in my work. Instead, I'd like you to start saying, my work is valuable and I deserve to be compensated fairly for my skills and creativity. So can you see how the narrative changes there from, I can't charge higher rates because my clients won't see the value in my work to my work is valuable and I deserve to be compensated fairly for my skills and creativity. That is so powerful when you start saying that. Another is I have to lower my fees to attract more clients. I confidently charge what my work is worth, attracting clients who value my talent, expertise and the transformative impact of my design and work.

Okay, so going from I have to lower my fees to attract more clients to I confidently charge what my work is worth is so much more powerful. We are reframing that blockage around your self-limiting belief on money and self-worth. Another could be I'm not experienced enough to ask for premium rates because I never achieved an interior design qualification. This is one of my own that I actually have had.

And I reframed it to, I own my value and confidently attract high paying clients who recognize the distinct quality and creativity I bring to every project. So I wrote that down and we reframed it so that I could tell myself, I own my value and my worth. I confidently can attract high paying clients who recognise the distinct quality and creativity I bring to every project.

That in itself is so powerful. If you can tell your brain and your subconscious that on a daily basis, you are building up your self-esteem around your confidence and reframing that blockage. Can you see exactly how powerful it is by just adjusting the narrative? Wouldn't you rather say to yourself on a daily basis, am a knowledgeable and skilled designer.

My clients trust me because I confidently deliver quality work. I am capable of learning and mastering new skills, including effective marketing strategies to grow my business. I adopt a cultivated growth mindset and I can adapt to how my business needs me. My confidence comes from within me and I do not need external validation from anyone else or a piece of paper with a design certificate. I trust my instincts and take pride in my work. My design work is valuable and I deserve to be compensated daily for my skills and creativity. How powerful is that? Let's just stop for a second and understand how powerful that narrative is rather than, I can't charge higher rate fees and yeah, my clients won't trust my decisions and expertise and do you know, I really feel like a bit of a fraud because I have changed career and come from other industries. I'm never going to find the right opportunities to showcase my talent. When you have a negative narrative mindset, it brings the energy down. So from today, I want you to acknowledge your blockages and self-limiting beliefs.

Wouldn't you prefer a positive narrative and a healthy mindset shift going into 2025? Because I know I would, and I certainly say to all my girls, all my ladies, all my clients, let's leave behind 2024. Any blockages, negative narratives, we're going to reframe them. 2025 is all about change, powerful change in your interior design business. It is your year to shine and leave. The negative narrative at the door of 2024. Now I know that the power of reframing your mindset can ripple into your personal business life because it certainly has mine. When I started doing my mindset work around reframing negative narratives, I saw a massive shift in my personal life as well. It boosted my self-esteem and my confidence in myself, my businesses, my marriage, my personal life, everything, the lot.

When I realized the impact of what negative narratives were doing to me, I actively went and sought support from mindset coaches, as well as learning from industry leaders, because it was so important for me to change that narrative, reframe that, and start shifting those blockages that I had from deep childhood rooted mindset. It is about making small, consistent changes daily and incorporating affirmations into your morning and evening routines to rewire that narrative. So for 2025, I want you to stay disciplined and elevate that mindset to a higher, more energetic state because I know you have it in you. Everyone has it in you. So if you're listening to this now, I want to ask you this one question before we start to wrap up the podcast. 

• What are you going to change in your mindset now in December so that you're not going to take it into 2025? 
• What two or three things are you going to reframe in your business or maybe in your personal life as we approach the end of 2024? 

I'm going to invite you to write down those top three blockages or self-limiting beliefs that you're experiencing and how are you going to reframe them? 

What is the positive affirmation? 
What's the positive narrative that you're going to tell yourself over the month of December?

Now, please do not do this task whilst driving. I have to caveat that, but I do want you to come back, save the podcast for later, and do this powerful exercise. And if you're looking for mindset support and shifts in your design business,

I would also love for you to head over to our Instagram page, which is @Design_Boss_Diary to see how I can support you create a happier, more confident you in your design business across 2025. Now stay tuned for tomorrow's episode as I have the incredible design

Now stay tuned for tomorrow's episode as I have an incredible business friend, the gorgeous Danielle Hobson will be joining me and we're going to be delving deep into the world of business alignment, elevating your growth and emotional freedom technique tapping.

Join me for tomorrow's conversation. It's gonna be an absolute empowering one. And thank you so much for listening to today's podcast.