Selective Continuing Education Classes

Some interior design firms generously paid for their employees to attend CE classes, but usually those classes are selective, I remember my former employer told me to attend some classes, that classes came with 3 parts, but I was only notified on the 2nd and 3rd part of classes but not the 1st one, so I was wondering why, when I went to the 3rd part of class, the class provider mistakenly handed out the handouts for the 1st part of class, and I quickly read through the handouts and found the 1st class was about teaching interior designers how to run their own interior design firms, then I finally understood why my employer didn't want me to go to the 1st part of class.

Nature Selection in design field

I always thought this economy downturn will wipe out those companies that have bad reputation, well, what I see is many of those good companies are gone and bad ones still there, now I know why. There is a metal shop I used to work with, the owner was a very skilled metal smith who was extremely artistic and skilled, but the reality is that creative and artistic people usually are not business savvy, their artist mind just can't compete with their competitors who are more business minded but not skilled or artistic. So, now, those true craftsmen are all gone but those un-skilled, non creative businessmen all survived. That is freaking sad.

ASID, Dee Dee Dee!!

Most of interior designers in the US are the members of ASID (American Society for Interior Designers), they pay big bucks for the annual membership fee each year ($445 for 2011). However, I think this fee is a little bit too expensive for the interior designers who work for someone else. In the interior design business, the salaries between the interior designers who run their own firms and interior designers who work for someone else are very different, the $445 annual membership fee seems like it was made for those interior designers who own businesses. Most of the intermediate level interior designers who work for someone else make around $40k-$45k/yr, and the beginning level of interior designers' salaries can go as low as $25k/yr, so I wonder how they can feel comfortable to pay $445/yr to pay for something that will take such big chunk of money from their modest pay checks. Moreover, I feel ASID is only helpful for the well established interior designers who own businesses because they can use ASID's website to advertise their firms and network with other well established interior designers. There is no any well established interior designer on ASID's website wants to network with those interior designers who work for someone else because they don't bring them clients. There is no ASID industry member will want to associate with those interior designers who do not have their own firms because they can not sell stuff to those designers who do not have their own firms, of course, there is no any potential client will be willing to hire any interior designer who does not have his/her own business. So, I really do not see the $445 membership fee will do any good to those interior designers who don't run their own businesses. It is not like ASID will introduce wealthy clients to those interior designers who don't have their own businesses and help them establishing their own companies, so my take is - why bother?!! Maybe it is better to take that out from your business card so people will not misunderstood you have AIDS.

LEED Certified

I went "Green" because I realized I pooed green after eating lots of vegetables. 2 years and 5 months after passing the LEED exam, I finally found the purpose of it.

Am I a charity and do everything for free?!

When I just got into design business, there was a client came to me and acted like he was interested in hiring me and asked me whole bunches of interior design related questions and then never heard from him again. Later on, I found out he found a contractor by himself and started to build his house based on the suggestions I gave him just few weeks back. Well, a hard lesson learned, and I have never talking about any design detail until I'm hired since. There are a lot of people out there who are trying to save money by digging as much information as they can from designers and then cutting them off the hook. Low down dirty shame.

Only in South Florida

One of the contractor's sub-contractors arranged a meeting with the clients directly behind the designer's and contractor's backs and tried to pursuede the clients changing the designs. That was a fundamental business portoco screwed-up, and that just happened to me this week.

Students or competitors?

Some people suggested designers taking some interns and mentoring some interior design major students. Personally I think it is not to my business' interests at all. Why should I train my future competitors?! Those people who suggested people hiring interns are asking designers to commit career suicide. They have no idea nowadays where those students come from. A lot of them are from privileged families who have a lot of connections. Those so called "students" can simply open their own design firms without any interior design knowledge, education background, or related working experience by using their parents' money and taking advantage of their rich parents' social connections and generating unlimited client source. Those juniors can easily out-compete any designer out there who is like me who has many years of work experiences, holding an interior designer license, NCIDQ certified, LEED certified, interior design majored in college, and extremely creative. So, mentoring those "students" is like they already can kill me with bare hands and now I'm giving them pistols. It is April 1st, but I'm no fool.