Posts by Melissa Galt

When a team member leaves your interior design firm, it can feel like the ground shifts under your feet. There is the operational disruption you cannot ignore and the emotional impact you may not expect. Projects do not pause. Clients do not wait. And suddenly, the principal interior designer is holding everything again—quietly, constantly, and…

Leadership Focus, Clarity, and Decision-Making at the Principal Level  By the time you reach the principal seat, motivation is not the problem. Focus is. When you are running a profitable interior design firm, the issue is not ideas, creativity, or ambition. It is the sheer volume of decisions coming at you every day. Client expectations.…

Interior design contracts are more than legal protection. They are behavioral frameworks. They define how clients engage, how decisions are made, and whether the interior designer leads the process or loses months reacting to it. When you feel drained, resentful, or chronically overextended, the cause is rarely lack of talent or demand. More often, it…

If your interior design pipeline feels light heading into the new year, you’re not alone, and you’re not behind. What you are is in the perfect place to shift your strategy from chasing to planting. It’s easy to feel the pressure to end the year with a bang or start the new one with a…

Success is supposed to feel good. But what if your growing interior design firm is leaving you more overwhelmed than ever? You’re not alone, and it doesn’t mean you’ve done anything wrong. It means your business is asking you to evolve. This post is for the interior design principal who’s done everything “right”: you’ve built…

If you’re in your first or second year as an interior designer and haven’t crossed $250K in revenue yet, you’re carrying beliefs that feel strategic but are actually sabotaging your success. These are the same limiting thoughts I hear over and over from talented designers inside my coaching programs. When you challenge and replace them,…