How To Get Your First Interior Design Client Without A College Degree

Have you ever wondered if you can become an interior designer without a degree? You might be dreaming of starting your own residential design business so you can have the freedom and flexibility of working your own hours, choosing which projects you take on, and having total creative freedom. But, what will you say to potential clients who ask where you got your college degree? How can you get your first interior design client if you don’t have any formal training? If this sounds like you, I have fantastic news to share.

To be honest, I was concerned about the same things when I first considered branching out and starting my own interior design business. Like many of you - I also never got a formal college degree in interior design. If you don’t know my story, I was part-way through a college program when my university unexpectedly shut down.

My only options were to move across the country to finish my program at a different Art Institute, or completely start over at a local college because my credits wouldn’t transfer. I didn’t love either one of those options - but I knew I had the skills and talent to become an interior designer even without a degree. So, I took the leap and started my own residential design business.

How could I be so confident when taking such a huge risk? Well, to be frank, I believe you either have an eye-for-design or you don’t. Just because someone went to school for 4 years and left with a formal degree (and tons of debt), doesn’t make that person a better designer than someone who never attended college.

Now, I’ve been doing projects and getting interior design clients since 2020. And I can tell you that not once has a potential client asked about my college degree. It’s not because clients don’t care about your qualifications. It’s due to three critical factors that anyone can have - degree or not.

Read on to learn exactly how to get your first interior design client without a college degree.

Confidence In Your Brand

Your confidence and professionalism as an interior designer are some of the most important attributes that you can have, especially when you are first starting out. Your ability to be organized, prompt, and prepared will set you apart from others who might be stressing out about being a beginner. Potential clients can immediately tell if you are unprepared for a meeting or rambling on with no clear direction when they ask you questions about a project.

However, If you present yourself as a confident business owner with a clean and legitimate-looking brand, people most likely won’t question your abilities. Consistent branding is actually very easy to achieve, even on a super tight budget. As long as your brand photos, website, logos, and other documents appear clean and professional, potential clients won’t think twice about where you went to college. You’ll still be able to get interior design clients without a degree.

If you’re curious about how much money I spent on my own personal branding when I first started my own business (it’s less than you think), check out this post.

Your Interior Design Portfolio

Your portfolio is a crucial part of your business, especially when you are trying to get your first interior design client. People need to see proof that you can deliver on what they are paying you to do - and in my experience, a beautiful portfolio of photos will convince a potential client more than a piece of paper from a university saying that you completed a program.

Interior design is a creative field; we produce beautiful results for our clients. This is similar to an artist. Think of it like this - if someone handed you a gorgeous painting, I don’t think you would ask, “where did you go to college?” or “what degree do you have?”. You can visually see that the artist is talented and has proof that he or she can create a beautiful product.

Let your interior design portfolio act like the painting described above - people won’t ask about your college degree when they see the beautiful and professional projects that you’ve designed. Let your quality of work and your proven results speak for you to help get your first interior design client!

→ If you haven’t officially launched your own interior design business yet, check out this post for the top 5 reasons you should get started.

Professional Interior Design Business Systems

Lastly, your business systems are the third critical factor when becoming an interior designer without a degree. Even when you haven’t worked with any paying clients yet, you can set up professional systems to showcase your attention to detail and organization.

For example: when someone is deciding if they want to work with me, they go to my website, which looks professional. If we make a great fit, I guide the client through a very specific onboarding process, which feels like a luxury service. I also invoice my clients through professional software and follow a consistent sales process. All of these individual business systems work together to position me as the authority and gain the respect of my new client - all without a college degree.

If you follow my advice for creating these professional systems, there is a very slim likelihood that a client would ever ask about your college degree. However, if you don’t have a website, contracts, or a consistent sales process, you won’t be able to make a good first impression. It’s unprofessional to “wing it” and just ramble on and on about what you can do for a client. You need to have the business systems in place to really prove that you are a professional and that you will handle their projects with certainty.

If you feel like your business systems could use an upgrade, or if you’re starting from scratch and you need more support, check out my monthly coaching membership where you’ll get access to priority coaching from me, tons of ready-to-use templates, my “perfect pricing” calculator, the exact systems that I use in my own thriving interior design business, and a growing community of entrepreneurs just like you who are working their way toward earning 6-figures as a designer.

How To Get Your First Interior Design Client

So to wrap up this conversation, I want to be clear in saying that I believe anyone with an eye for design is capable of starting and running their own profitable interior design business - no college degree necessary.

We all share the same goal: to land those high-ticket clients and book our dream interior design projects. And you will achieve this by believing in your own abilities, crafting an amazing portfolio of your work, and creating organized business systems that will impress your clients.

If you feel like your confidence, portfolio, or business systems could use some work, or if you have no idea where to start, check out my monthly coaching program for interior designers, Design Business Secrets+. Inside this exclusive program, I share my proven framework that I’ve used in my own business for years to develop a sense of authority and trust with my clients.

I can teach you exactly how to get your first interior design client and be on your way to earning 6-figures while working part-time doing exactly what you love - designing beautiful spaces for people.

If this sounds like your dream, let’s chat. I’d love to hear from you!