We were lucky to catch up with Erin Davis Judkins recently and have shared our conversation below.

Erin, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

The interior design industry has always been split. On one hand you have full-service designers who do everything from design to install. Their work is amazing but not financially feasible for everyone. Then you have the in-store or e-design offerings from large companies. These have their place but they often don’t take into consideration the client’s needs. The outcome is impersonal.

I provide design services for the people who fall in-between these services. The people like me. They can’t afford a full-service designer but their family needs a personalized plan that will help them optimize their space. These families are looking for function-first solutions but they also want a home that’s beautiful.

A virtual interior design offering on a small business scale allows me to do just that. My four step design process gives my clients face-to-face time with me over video chat, a floor plan, concept board, and click-to-buy shopping list so they can build out a space that they love. This is where luxury meets DIY.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I always knew I would be an interior designer. In my 8th grade autobiography I wrote, “I’m going to run my own interior design business.” So for me it was never a question of what I was going to do so much as how I would do it.

After getting my bachelor’s in interior design I wasn’t one of the lucky ones who snagged a job in the industry. I ended up on a curvier path that turned out to be the best gift I could have been given. During the eight years following my graduation I worked a short stint as a retail manager and then headed into the corporate e-commerce world. I wore many hats there, all of which taught me invaluable skills, but in late 2017 I felt there was something missing. I needed a creative outlet, something that was all mine. That’s when I started Erin Davis Design.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Starting a side hustle on top of a full time job is no joke and I struggled at first to find the right balance. At the time virtual interior design, or e-design was having a moment and I wondered if this was my solution. It gave me the opportunity to work with clients all over the country providing custom design plans with little to no overhead. Win-win!

Then another curve in the path—in March of 2020 I was laid off. It didn’t feel so great but it was actually the best thing that could have happened to me. It was the perfect time to take the leap of faith and go all in on my business.

Business was slow for a while as we all navigated our world in lock-down, but as people spent more time at home it became a priority to make it a beautiful, functional place to be. It felt so wonderful as an e-designer to be able to help people who were struggling with their space. They needed a quiet home office in the midst of their open concept or they needed a home-schooling room where they previously had a guest room. The world was changing and I was so grateful to be a part of the solution.

If you have multiple revenue streams in your business, would you mind opening up about what those streams are and how they fit together?

As a designer I’m always recommending furniture and decor to my clients and so I started leveraging affiliate links a few years ago to bolster my income stream. These links give me a small percentage of the sale, paid by the retailer. These easily bring in an additional 10% on a project which is huge.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.erindavisdesign.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erindavisdesign/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erindavisdesign/

Image Credits
Headshots: Trayce Gregoire Photography, Photos of my work: provided by me