Designing Success

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Oula, Em, and Natasha all said the same thing: they didn't expect the business structure side of it, they thought it was going to be more about the AI tools. If you've been on the fence about Studio Build what's the actual question you'd want answered before you'd feel ready to commit?

Emily Bere — Musa Studio

Emily is the founder of Musa Studio, based in Jindabyne in the Snowy Mountains. She works across residential and commercial projects, with a focus on...

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Most interior designers hit 30 June without ever looking down. This episode covers the end of financial year financial habits solo interior design studio owners actually need — from reading your P&L without panic, to auditing subscriptions, pre-purchasing annual software, and having a planning meeting that changes the next 12 months. Practical, no-accountant-jargon, built for Australian designers running their studio like a business.

→ Get 90% off Xero for 6 months (affiliate link): https://referrals.xero.com/2aphqv8q0y59
→ Join the Studio Build waitlist (July 7 cohort): https://rhiann...

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Starting an interior design business with an exit strategy — rather than building it to keep forever — is one of the most overlooked approaches to studio setup. In this episode, regional NSW designer Ewa shares how she built her supply selection and B2B builder service with saleable IP in mind from day one: documented systems, transferable processes, a packaged service model, and zero dependence on her personal creative genius to deliver results.

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CHAPTERS
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0:00 How finding a podcast on a cruise ship changed the trajectory of a grief-filled career pivot
4:30 Why Ewa started her interior design studio wi...

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When an interior design client says "I just need someone to execute my vision," they've already decided they're the designer and you're the logistics coordinator. Rhiannon Lee explains what's actually happening in those moments, how to catch it early in the discovery call, and how to use the parachute cord method to realign — or exit — a project that's drifted into fulfillment-only territory. 

→ Join the Studio Build July cohort https://rhiannonlee.myflodesk.com/betabuild

────────────────────────── CHAPTERS ────────────────────────── 0:00 What does "I just need someone to execute my vision" actually mean? 2:45 Why execution-only projects almost always end badly 6:10 The differenc...

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Interior designers often over-deliver at proposal stage — sharing mood boards, design direction, and creative strategy before a client has signed or paid a deposit. This episode asks whether that's genuinely good service or anxiety dressed up as process. Rhiannon Lee, AI strategist for Australian interior designers, unpacks where the habit comes from, what it costs you, and why simpler proposals might actually convert better.
→ Join the Studio Build waitlist: https://rhiannonlee.myflodesk.com/studiobuild

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CHAPTERS
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0:00 Why are interior designers over-delivering in proposals?
3:20 What happens when you give away the design direction upfront
7:45...

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Value pricing means charging for the outcome your client gets, not the hours it took you to deliver it. In 2026, that distinction matters more than ever — because AI is making designers faster, and if you're still billing by the hour, that efficiency is going quietly to your client's pocket, not yours. Rhiannon Lee, AI strategist for Australian interior designers, breaks down exactly how to calculate, set, and communicate value-based project fees.

→ Join the waitlist for the interior design pricing calculator: rhiannonlee.myflodesk.com/value

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 AI is not replacing interior designers — it's replacing average ones. Rhiannon Lee, AI strategist for Australian interior designers, breaks down why "AI killed my industry" is lazy marketing, how pattern recognition software produces sameness not taste, and what designers need to document right now before AI flattens the industry. Practical, operational, and built for real studios — not theory.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

→ Pre-AI documentation checklist: https://ripple-coat-1f1.notion.site/B...
→ Rhiannon at The Design Show, ICC Sydney, June 2026: https://designshow.com.au/agenda#si...

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Interior designers who feel overwhelmed by AI typically don't have a tool problem — they have a prioritisation problem. Australian AI strategist Rhiannon Lee recommends three starting points: spend four minutes meeting Claude, do a five-minute audit of your most repetitive business tasks, and invest time in free AI literacy resources. Chasing AI image generation is the biggest time drain to avoid.

EPISODE OVERVIEW

The noise around AI is loud right now. Everyone's screaming that Claude killed interior designers, that yo...

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Join the email list to get the business restructure challenge, 'Studio Build'  updates HERE 

The kids are on school holidays, there's a triple bunk being installed, and I'm stealing 20 minutes here and there to talk about the pricing shift that's quietly happening in the interior design industry and why you need to get ahead of it. 

This one's recorded live from the chaos: paint swatches, tent pitching, and small people interrupting every second sentence. It's unpolished, unedited, and exactly the kind of bon...

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AI adoption jumped dramatically in the first quarter of 2026 ... and so did the slop. In this episode Rhiannon gets into the conversation she's been sitting on: what AI-generated content actually looks like, why it keeps happening, and what the real fix is. 

Rhiannon takes a straight-from-the-machine AI caption and edits it in real time, cutting line by line and explaining exactly what to look for. The before:

The AI slop tells to watch for

Negative parallelism it's not be...

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You've probably pasted a client brief into an AI tool this week. 

Maybe a site visit transcript. A proposal draft. A mood board description with the client's full name, address, and renovation budget attached. 

And there's a reasonable chance you've never read the terms of service of the tool you pasted it into. 

This episode is about that gap .. and what to do about it. 

Interior designers hold some of the most sensitive personal data of anyone in a pr...

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I uploaded a six-month-old transcript from a client consult and got a complete Notion project dashboard in about eight seconds.

Find out how HERE 

Every action item, every room, every design direction we discussed — colour-coded, categorised, with checkboxes and notes. I hadn't touched the output. It just built it.

This is for you if you finish a site visit, come home, and three weeks later you're trying to remember whether the client wanted warm oak or white oak on the joi...

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 In this episode of Designing Success, I sit down with interior designer Bradley Montag to talk about the intersection of design, property, and town planning. 

Bradley began his career as a town planning lawyer before transitioning into interior design, giving him a unique perspective on how homes should be renovated, extended, and designed. We explore how understanding planning regulations can influence design decisions, why heritage homes deserve thoughtful renovation, and the common mistakes people make when buying or renovating property. 

We also dis...

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AI is everywhere right now — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Midjourney, Nano Banana — and interior designers are being told they need to learn all of it.

But the real problem isn’t the tools.

It’s the lack of context.

In this episode of Designing Success, I break down how interior designers should actually be using AI inside their design studio, including:

• the AI Studio Stack and what each tool is best for
• why...

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Studio CEO 

Are you running a successful interior design studio but feeling exhausted, undercharging, and stuck in technician mode? In this episode, Rhiannon Lee — founder of Oleander & Finch and business coach for interior designers — breaks down the 12 core personal development principles that transform time-poor, overworked designers into confident, strategic studio CEOs.

Whether you're hitting consistent $10K months or pushing beyond, these are the mindset and business shifts that separate designers who stay busy from those who build genuinely profitable, calm, and s...

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In this honest roundtable episode, Rhiannon Lee is joined by four interior designers and property stylists to talk about pregnancy, maternity leave, cashflow, systems, staffing and what really happens when you mix motherhood with business ownership.

If you are an interior designer who is pregnant, trying to conceive, planning a family, or quietly wondering how maternity leave works when you are self employed, this episode is for you.

We cover:

• How to plan maternity leave as a small business owner

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Studio CEO (formerly Framework Express) is now open for the next cohort. Join the waitlist HERE 

Interior designers keep asking, “Where are the next clients coming from?” 

In this episode, I break down practical local area marketing strategies that actually convert. Not more content. Not more reels. Real positioning. 

We cover:
 – How to get in front of renovation conversations earlier
 – The upstream strategy most designers ignore
 – Strategic partnerships that generate better projects
 – A simple 4-hour weekly plan to attract loc...

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Check out Penelope, the AI powered proposal generator 

In this episode of Designing Success From Study to Studio, Rhiannon Lee breaks down the biggest shift interior designers are missing on Instagram, the move from algorithm-led reach to AI-led understanding.

This is not a posting strategy episode. You will not hear content calendars, trending audio advice, or “post three times a day” nonsense.

Instead, this episode explains why Instagram now rewards clarity, repetition, and relevance, not noise, novelty, or random creativity.

...

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This episode is a reset.

I’m talking honestly about why business feels heavier this year, why motivation is harder to access, and what I actually saw work across 2025 inside real interior design businesses.

I walk through the three business decisions that reduced pressure, improved delivery, and stopped everything feeling so hard. These are the same foundations I teach inside Framework Express.

If you’re listening on release day, Framework Express is open with two places available. Details are below.

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Get the Interior Design Pricing Trend Report HERE

Thanks for listening to this episode of "Designing Success: From Study to Studio"! Connect with me on social media for more business tips, and a real look behind the scenes of my own practicing design business.

 Grab  more insights and updates:

Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/oleander_and_finch
Like Oleander & Finch on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/oleanderandfinch 

For more FREE resources, templates, guides and information, vis...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep.

Thanks for listening to this episode of "Designing Success: From Study to Studio"! Connect with me on social media for more business tips, and a real look behind the scenes of my own practicing design business.

 Grab  more insights and updates:

Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/oleander_and_finch
Like Oleander & Finch on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/oleanderandfinch 

For more FREE resources, templates, guides and information, visit the Designer Resource Hub  on my website ; https://oleanderandfinch.com...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep.

Thanks for listening to this episode of "Designing Success: From Study to Studio"! Connect with me on social media for more business tips, and a real look behind the scenes of my own practicing design business.

 Grab  more insights and updates:

Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/oleander_and_finch
Like Oleander & Finch on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/oleanderandfinch 

For more FREE resources, templates, guides and information, visit the Designer Resource Hub  on my website ; https://oleanderandfinch.com...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep.

Thanks for listening to this episode of "Designing Success: From Study to Studio"! Connect with me on social media for more business tips, and a real look behind the scenes of my own practicing design business.

 Grab  more insights and updates:

Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/oleander_and_finch
Like Oleander & Finch on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/oleanderandfinch 

For more FREE resources, templates, guides and information, visit the Designer Resource Hub  on my website ; https://oleanderandfinch.com...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep.

Thanks for listening to this episode of "Designing Success: From Study to Studio"! Connect with me on social media for more business tips, and a real look behind the scenes of my own practicing design business.

 Grab  more insights and updates:

Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/oleander_and_finch
Like Oleander & Finch on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/oleanderandfinch 

For more FREE resources, templates, guides and information, visit the Designer Resource Hub  on my website ; https://oleanderandfinch.com...

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Reach out to chat about 90 minute strategy sessions HERE

Welcome to an awkward but common moment in studio life. A client ends things with their first designer, then asks you to step in. The gossip itch is real, but the strategy is simple. Keep communications neutral, ask for proof of termination and clarity on IP, and decide if this is a rescue or a full reset. Draw a firm takeover line for liability, reset boundaries with one decision maker and one channel, and price...

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Meet Angie HERE 

Meet Penelope HERE

In this episode of 'Designing Success from Study to Studio,' host Rhiannon Lee, founder of Oleander and Finch Design Studio, delves into the world of property styling with guest Angie, a thriving property stylist and interior designer from Meraki Property Styling and Interior Design in Melbourne. Angie shares her journey from starting with basic stock to now styling high-end homes, emphasizing the importance of pricing, quoting systems, cash flow, and industry networking. The conversation covers t...

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The audio in this one was a little off but on a week where covid is in my house and it's end of term I'm rolling with done is better than Perf. Please stick around it'll be fixed next week! 

Enter HERE to win Penelope 

Click HERE to buy her right now 

Message me via the link at the top that says "message me and tell me what you think" If you want to see the full algorithm analysis in the...

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Join the waitlist for Penelope HERE 

Meet Jane on Instagram HERE 

Find her online HERE

Feng Shui, A homeowners guide to abundance THE BOOK

Thanks for listening to this episode of "Designing Success: From Study to Studio"! Connect with me on social media for more business tips, and a real look behind the scenes of my own practicing design business.

 Grab  more insights and updates:

Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/oleander_and_finc...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep.

Join the waitlist for Penelope HERE 

Thanks for listening to this episode of "Designing Success: From Study to Studio"! Connect with me on social media for more business tips, and a real look behind the scenes of my own practicing design business.

 Grab  more insights and updates:

Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/oleander_and_finch
Like Oleander & Finch on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/oleanderandfinch 

For more FREE resources, templates, guides and information, visit the Desi...

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Find Annuello HERE 

Follow them on Insta, HERE

Thanks for listening to this episode of "Designing Success: From Study to Studio"! Connect with me on social media for more business tips, and a real look behind the scenes of my own practicing design business.

 Grab  more insights and updates:

Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/oleander_and_finch
Like Oleander & Finch on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/oleanderandfinch 

For more FREE resources, templates, guides and...

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Copy this into AI Agent Mode - 

"You are a competitive brand strategist for interior designers.

Your task is to research and deliver a comprehensive competitor intelligence report and SWOT matrix for an interior design business targeting high-income residential clients in the specified region. (replace with your target market or add your brand command) 

Begin by asking whether the user would like to provide a shortlist of known competitors to include. If they don’t, independently identify design studios in the...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep.

Thanks for listening to this episode of "Designing Success: From Study to Studio"! Connect with me on social media for more business tips, and a real look behind the scenes of my own practicing design business.

 Grab  more insights and updates:

Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/oleander_and_finch
Like Oleander & Finch on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/oleanderandfinch 

For more FREE resources, templates, guides and information, visit the Designer Resource Hub  on my website ; https://oleanderandfinch.com...

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In this episode, Rhiannon Lee discusses the transformative potential of AI in the interior design industry, focusing on her creation, Scout, an AI assistant designed to streamline sourcing and design processes. She explores the ethical implications of introducing such technology, the importance of human creativity in design, and the feedback from the design community regarding the use of AI tools. Rhiannon emphasizes the need for designers to articulate their unique value in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.

the Framework express (check it out HERE) 

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep.

In this episode, Rhiannon Lee discusses the transformative potential of AI in the interior design industry, focusing on her creation, Scout, an AI assistant designed to streamline sourcing and design processes. She explores the ethical implications of introducing such technology, the importance of human creativity in design, and the feedback from the design community regarding the use of AI tools. Rhiannon emphasizes the need for designers to articulate their unique value in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.

the Framework express (check it out HERE) 

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep.

Follow Harriot on Instagram HERE 

hurry to grab the last few minutes of entry into the framework before it's gone forever here https://www.oleanderandfinch.com/the-framework-for-emerging-designers/

Thanks for listening to this episode of "Designing Success: From Study to Studio"! Connect with me on social media for more business tips, and a real look behind the scenes of my own practicing design business.

 Grab  more insights and updates:

Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/oleander_and_finch

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep.

Thanks for listening to this episode of "Designing Success: From Study to Studio"! Connect with me on social media for more business tips, and a real look behind the scenes of my own practicing design business.

 Grab  more insights and updates:

Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/oleander_and_finch
Like Oleander & Finch on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/oleanderandfinch 

For more FREE resources, templates, guides and information, visit the Designer Resource Hub  on my website ; https://oleanderandfinch.com...

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take a listen to some real coaching in action and how we are all navigating the Complexities of Interior Design Pricing

If you're looking to learn more about my Industry Trend Report you can DOWNLOAD IT HERE 

In this episode, we delve into the intricacies of pricing in the interior design industry. Our discussion covers the challenges of setting value-based pricing, the importance of understanding your worth, and strategies for dealing with client expectations. We also explore the impact of re...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep.

Thanks for listening to this episode of "Designing Success: From Study to Studio"! Connect with me on social media for more business tips, and a real look behind the scenes of my own practicing design business.

 Grab  more insights and updates:

Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/oleander_and_finch
Like Oleander & Finch on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/oleanderandfinch 

For more FREE resources, templates, guides and information, visit the Designer Resource Hub  on my website ; https://oleanderandfinch.com...

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Join the framework before its gone forever HERE

Read my substack, How to add 5k to your month as an interior designer 

Thanks for listening to this episode of "Designing Success: From Study to Studio"! Connect with me on social media for more business tips, and a real look behind the scenes of my own practicing design business.

 Grab  more insights and updates:

Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/oleander_and_finch
Like Oleander & Finch on Fac...

Text me and tell me what you think of this ep.

Thanks for listening to this episode of "Designing Success: From Study to Studio"! Connect with me on social media for more business tips, and a real look behind the scenes of my own practicing design business.

 Grab  more insights and updates:

Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/oleander_and_finch
Like Oleander & Finch on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/oleanderandfinch 

For more FREE resources, templates, guides and information, visit the Designer Resource Hub  on my website ; https://oleanderandfinch.com...