helmuth

Betsy Helmuth (@BetsyHelmuth) is an interior designer & decorator in New York City. Her company, Affordable Interior Design, offers, well, affordable interior design. Over the years, she's designed rooms in over 1,000 apartments, as well as many offices and home offices.

In this conversation, we discuss some simple steps that we creative pros can take to improve our workspaces — both while renting an office and in fixing up our home office. We cover lighting, colour, shelving, storage, and other little "hacks" for setting up shop and enjoying a happy, productive, creative work-day.

Show Notes & Links

• Betsy is the founder of Affordable Interior Design
• She believes you can "maximise your productivity and creativity by changing the atmosphere in which you work"
• When looking for an office, look for the basics — location, space, costs
• Also look for a building with similar businesses for future collaboration
• Many companies overlook their interior office design — they look good online, but it doesn't translate to the real world
• Barbara Corcoran says to "overextend yourself" in terms of rent. It creates hustle.
• "If you build it, they will come." Betsy applies this to empty desks in your office.

"It's more expensive to move than to pay a little bit more each month."

—Betsy Helmuth

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"A rented space needs to have some home-office flavor."

—Betsy Helmuth

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• Noisli.com, plays focus-enhancing background noise
• Prescott and Betsy both have home offices, as do many people in creative businesses.
• Many couples will keep their second bedroom and turn it into a nursery/office. Bad to mix those two.
• Glass desks are terrible, because of their clinking noise for a start
• kabelsalat, the German word for "cable salad" aka the mess of tangled cords & cables
• Bamboo and Plywood desks
• Matt Cremona, a woodworker and furniture maker, appeared on The Busy Creator Podcast, ep. 61
• Task Lighting
• Studies show you shouldn't have too much white (and blue) light into the evening hours.
• Betsy's husband, Jack, is a comedy writer. Their office is "fun."
• Ernst & Young, accounts, probably not a fun office.
• West Elm
• CableOrganizer.com
• Betsy Helmuth on Twitter
• Betsy Helmuth on Facebook
• Affordable Interior Design on Twitter
• Affordable Interior Design on Facebook
• Affordable Interior Design on Instagram
• Affordable Interior Design on Pinterest
• Big Design Small Budget podcast on iTunes

Tools

• Plug-in dimmer switch on Amazon
• Incandescent lightbulbs
• Prescott's desk, a ThermoDesk Elite sit/stand motorised adjustable desk
• Betsy's [dream] desk, a Steelcase Tanker desk (with legs)
• Philips Hue Bulbs (and iPhone app)
• Cable Raceways and Channels

Techniques

• Get an office near the bathroom so people pass by
• Put your logo on the door and welcome visitors
• Add colour, design your space
• Design your office for the people who use it "350 days per year"
• Try to arrange a good view in your work area
• Match your dog bed to your logo — simple colour matching goes a long way
• Turn off your overhead lights and use hanging pendant lights
• Sub-lease empty desks in your office to other creatives and independent pros
• Choose an office that's close to your home — otherwise you'll just want to work from home.
• Arrange your bedroom work area so you're not facing the desk directly from bed
• Keep things tidy to avoid extra stress on your mind
• Reduce glare using diffuse window treatments
• To get true colour, go outside with your paint swatches. To see how it looks in a room, paint a portion of the wall.
• Avoid light blue or sage green for an office, they're too relaxing.
• Use pops of yellow or orange, they're stimulating and energizing.

Habits

• Wear headphones even if you're not listening to anything. That trains co-workers not to interrupt.
• Keep one desk photo or screensaver of your family/pets

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GET THE EPISODE

• Download The Busy Creator Podcast, episode 69 (MP3, 30:54, 15.0 MB)
• Download The Busy Creator Podcast, episode 69 (OGG, 30:54, 15.4 MB)

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Welcome to the show!  On this episode, Betsy shares her podcast’s mission.  Additionally, she reveals the shocking story of how she became a designer and tells you what she is up to today.

Betsy Helmuth (@BetsyHelmuth) is an interior designer & decorator in New York City. Her company, Affordable Interior Design, offers exactly what is says on the tin. Over the years, she’s designed rooms in over 1,000 apartments, allowing her to create a systematic approach to working with busy clients.

Betsy’s latest book, Big Design, Small Budget, is available Dec. 11, 2014. Pre-order a copy and give it this holiday season to the interior design geek in your life.

Big Design, Small Budget by Betsy Helmuth

Our conversation centers on the eccentricities of New York City apartments — and apartment-dwellers — as well as the systems Betsy has used to build a thriving business.

Show Notes & Links

• Betsy is the first Busy Creator representative for the Interior Design industry.
• People who shop at Ikea and Target are Betsy’s key customers
• New Yorkers feel a lot of anxiety about their space, and their storage (or lack thereof)
• New York City apartments can be “insultingly small”
• “Small is a relative term.” ← Click to Tweet
• Betsy has worked with over 1000 apartments; each year she works with 250 clients
• “It’s a cookie-cutter plan, but within that there’s a lot of individuality” ← Click to Tweet
• West Elm
• Betsy has developed a core 20 questions to determined how her clients live in their 
• “After 1000 apartments there’s no judgement. I’ve seen it all.” ← Click to Tweet
• Client On-boarding/Discover Process
• Best business advice Betsy every received: “If the name of your business doesn’t say exactly what you do, change it.”
• The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch
• Clients find Betsy by Googling “Affordable Interior Design”
• The Ikea Effect — If you built it yourself, you create an emotional investment
• “Never ever ever, ever, build your own Ikea (unless you’re a professional)” ← Click to Tweet
• 80/20 rule applied to Ikea (80% crap, 20% gold)
• Japanese school of thought for actors who clean their own stage, it builds awareness of the world
• “Honor your space”, give it attention
• “Your space is like committing to a partner” 
• Multi-variable Differential Equation
• “not-yet-ness”
• “The limitations define ‘the box’, and that’s where the magic happens.” ← Click to Tweet
• Eames Chair with Ottoman
• Cable Management is key; get a “raceway”
• Prescott’s new desk (forthcoming blog post)
• CableOrganizer.com
• Our previous podcast episode about Project Management software and collaboration

Tools

• StarTech 2×2 Open Slot Wiring Raceway Cable channel

Techniques

• Develop a core series of questions to ask your new clients
• Offer plans or packages so clients can choose based on their need 
• Build your room around an “inspiration item”, especially one with three or more colours
• Mix woods within colour families
• Get a storage unit if you need to hold on to something
• Utilise open-close storage, such as a desk with cabinets and drawers
• Staple cables to walls and furniture to keep them out of the way
• Re-evaluate your workflows around your growing and changing business

Habits

• Locate outlets when you enter a room, especially in NYC
• Answer your own phone
• Work late hours, after the kids to go sleep
• Get to the coffee shops where you can get stuff done
• Turn the TV on (in the background) for creative flow

Get The Episode

• Download The Busy Creator Podcast, episode 35
  (MP3, 47:31, 23 MB)
• Download The Busy Creator Podcast, episode 35
  (OGG, 47:31, 38.5 MB)

Subscribe to The Busy Creator Podcast on iTunes

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