Do I have to worry about reporting resale tax monthly if I don’t even have a single client yet? Just don’t wanna get in trouble with the IRS. I haven’t reported anything yet and my business started in September.

I currently use Studio Designer but am thinking about switching to Emilee’s recommendation of Design Files. Anyone have pros and cons? I like that clients can see their invoices and portals on Studio Designer of when things are receiving or shipped and also that it integrates invoices and billing.

Happy Monday! Excited to see some new faces inside this lovely community! 💖 I would love to get some feedback from everyone and see what some of your biggest struggles are inside your design journey- whether you have your business up and running, maybe you're doing design projects on the side, maybe you are trying to become a designer!? Everyone is on a unique journey... Drop your insights below and let's chat! 👋

I'm just wondering about collecting payment. You mentioned getting the total all upfront. How do you get the client to trust that they'll like working with you and the design you're going to do for them in order to give you a huge lump sum up front? Shouldn't there be milestones to go through and you collect payment along the way. Say they put a deposit down. Then once they receive the drawings and they're ready to move forward, another lump is paid. Then the project starts and another lump is paid etc... Wouldn't this be a way for the consumer to really trust you and your work vs. taking the risk?

Question: how do I know how much a kitchen remodel would cost a client? I can find the materials and design it, but I have no idea in the end what it’ll cost. How do I design something beautiful and high end looking while sticking to their budget.