Dane Austin on bringing a theatrical edge to big-picture design planning, a strategy for physically packaging ideas that invokes the world of luxury shopping, and the value of refining the decision-making process through three levels of presentations. Plus: Ask Us Anything is going live! Join host Kaitlin Petersen at High Point Market this month as she sits down with two former guests of the show to workshop designers’ business questions in real time. To RSVP, visit fourhands.com/event-rsvp.

Isabel Ladd on how she knows when it’s time to raise her rates, why her team includes a dedicated social media expert, and what it took to put together the handbook that guides her firm’s processes.

Clara Jung on mentally preparing for large industry events, networking from a place of sincerity, and how introversion can be a superpower when it comes to building relationships with clients.

Arianne Bellizaire on the books that helped her imagine a new future for her firm, why she no longer hires out of desperation, and how she finally abandoned the idea that she needed a large team to achieve her dreams.

On this episode of Ask Us Anything, San Francisco–based designer Regan Baker joins the show to answer a question from a fellow designer whose five-person firm is going through some growing pains when it comes to scaling.

Jae Joo on how she builds demand for her work by taking a strategic approach to getting published, how she’s prioritized structuring her fees in the most digestible way for clients, and why she now insists on building her own team of tradespeople to executive her visual vocabulary.

For the debut episode of the Ask Us Anything podcast, New York designer Courtney McLeod answers an anonymous question about how to establish systems within your firm.

Caroline Gidiere on what it took to secure her first workroom relationship, how she’s preparing for the launch of her new book, and how to adopt the mindset to charge for the client you want.

Cortney Bishop on the path she took to level up her clientele, why she thinks of her projects as marketing campaigns, how hiring a business manager is one of the best decisions she ever made—and what you should look for in a candidate if you want to hire one, too.

Jenna Chused on honing her marketing efforts to achieve better exposure, how she overcame a fear of delegation in order to grow, and the real costs of project photography in order to get published today.

After some early career confusion, Michel Smith’s Boyd’s rise to success was swift—so swift that he was landing swanky clients while still in design school. Now, he’s taking a moment to go back and button up the basics he missed at the beginning.

As college roommates, Aly Morford and Leigh Lincoln never guessed their fast friendship would one day become a business partnership. After launching their design firm, they discovered another shared ambition: the desire to turn their budding business into a brand empire.

Jenna Gross on the showhouse that helped her embrace her design aesthetic, how she uses social media to forge connections with future clients, and how her business had to level up before she could take on a more elevated clientele.

Mandy Cheng on why she’s not delegating the firm’s finances, the best methods for decoding a client’s taste, and the client education document that’s transformed the way she vets potential new projects.

Hannah Oravec on her first foray into retail, why the best new hires have their own personal taste, and how her careful approach to pricing a job balances overbidding for the work without scaring clients away.

Jean Liu on why she’s capping her firm at a certain size, the importance a retainer plays in gauging a client’s level of commitment, and how she helps prepare her team for their next chapter.

Josh Greene on how he shaped his firm’s back office after going solo; why better bookkeeping practices helped him understand the rhythms of his business; the fee structure he has implemented to better align with how the design industry operates today; and the best strategies for bringing clients into the decision-making process without inviting overwhelm.

Swati Goorha on why she doesn’t conduct discovery calls, how she set herself up to work on higher quality projects, and the billing adjustment that made clients more respectful of her time.

Chloe Redmond Warner on the employee who pushed her to improve the firm’s processes, the lengths she’s go to to determine a client’s aesthetic sensibility, and how taking a sabbatical ultimately helped her discover a new way of working that preserved her time and mental energy.

Leann Conquer on why she sees their entire discovery phase as a test run—and a sales process—before the job truly commences; why the firm has developed not one, but two tried-and-true approaches to building a budget; and the importance of shifting the way the firm communicates depending on a client’s personality type.