The Kate Show

Can you spot a "bad client" a mile away? For years, I struggled with this and still occasionally let one slip through. After assessing my own misjudgments (late night worrying about how on earth I got my team into such a predicament, basically) and after speaking with many of you who have generously shared your "nightmare client" stories, I thought it was worth an episode. If you are new to the home industry, or if you keep working with PITA clients (that's pain-in-the-ass, in case you're wondering), you might be relieved to know there are clear red flags, and even some yellow caution flags, that should alert you to proceed with caution or simply end the interaction. Let's talk about them.

Guys, SideDoor recently released the best feature ever. You can now embed your collections and products directly into your own website. SideDoor's new iFrame embed feature is so exciting to me as a marketer because it makes implementing and selling products so much easier. If you haven't at least investigated this platform yet, you need to before you get left behind. Today, I'm going over my suggested step-by-step process for selling with SideDoor. It's one thing to have an amazing tool like this at your disposal, and it is quite another to actually start making sales. If you nail it, you can truly set your business up with a brand new income stream that doesn't require hours of unbillable time.

I can't believe how much time I used to spend marketing my business. Before I ran a marketing agency, I ran a copywriting business. A failing one. Looking back, all that wasted time and money was a rite of passage. I didn't know what I didn't know, but now that I know it, I'm sharing it with all of you. I'm that weird marketer who tells you to spend LESS time on your marketing, not more. If you are struggling with marketing overwhelm or flat-out marketing discouragement, you need to hear what I'm about to say today. You might be doing a lot of marketing tasks that you simply don't need to do. And you might be outsourcing tasks that don't even need to be done — by you or by anyone else.

Do you ever feel like you have to use dozens of online tools and platforms just to keep your business organized? If you could bundle all your design business, team management, and project management tools into one tidy package, would you do it? I know I would! Today, I'm chatting with Timothy Murenzi of Indema about why his new platform is an industry-disrupter taking interior designers by storm. Don't miss this goodness!

As an interior designer, home stager, professional organizer, or window treatment business owner, you have too many responsibilities and not enough help (or time) to keep everything moving forward. Because of this, if you're anything like me, you may have started relying on apps for, well, everything. Today I'm sharing 10 amazing and fairly new apps, plus five core apps, that you and your home industry business will love. And they don't involve launching any tech devices across the room.