Dear Sean,

I am a solo operator of a residential and boutique commercial design firm. For years, solo designers have been given a slightly cheeky piece of business advice: Create an email address for an “assistant,” so that scheduling, collections, follow-ups and other administrative communication doesn’t always come directly from the principal/owner. It creates separation between the designer and the business operations, and perhaps more importantly, keeps clients from subconsciously treating a solo practitioner as though she is personally available for everything.

But rather than disguising the fact that I am solo, I want to rebrand around it. I like the intimacy, accountability and creative continuity of clients working directly with me. Plus, AI now gives me the ability to delegate a meaningful amount of the operational work that previously would have required an assistant.

That’s where my question stems from: Where does an AI agent fit into the client-facing structure of a high-touch design business? Should I give it a name and role, and explicitly introduce it as an AI member of the studio? Keep it invisible and simply use it behind the scenes? Or is there a way to use AI to create healthy separation between “the designer” and “the business” without manufacturing the appearance of a larger team?

In a traditional studio, the org chart itself establishes boundaries, and clients intuitively understand that the principal isn’t personally chasing a freight claim or sending the invoice reminder. But in a solo practice, the org chart collapses—and I know for certain that changes client behavior.

Ultimately, I want clients to see a one-woman studio as a feature, not a limitation, but I also don’t want “solo” to translate into “She does everything, so I can text/email/call her about everything.” How would you structure that? How do I make access to me feel more valuable while simultaneously making that access more controlled?

Flying Solo

Dear Flying Solo,

I am not sure that design clients are ready to have an AI “employee” working with them on their project. Remember, a huge part of the technology is not just the expedience, but the fact that it is virtually free for all of us. You will just not be able to prevent questions like, “Why am I paying you for this service and getting AI in return?”

But to pretend is also a mistake. Relying on a client’s ignorance is a horrible business strategy. It is only a matter of time before clients figure it out—and when they do, it is almost always a nuclear event. (Just ask any designer whose clients found out that they were receiving undisclosed commissions from vendors how that conversation went.)

In short, I do not think having AI stand in for a formal employee or hiding AI use is a viable path forward. That said, I am all about solo entrepreneurship, and in no way am I advocating that you give up on celebrating that fact with your clients—and the world for that matter.

I am a solopreneur, and I would not have it any other way. While I know an incredible amount about organizational structure and how to create and manage teams, I just do not want to do it myself anymore. You probably feel the same way. What is clear to me, though, is that you are not yet comfortable establishing who your client is talking to when they are talking to you.

Try thinking of it this way: You wear a beret when you are designing; a green visor when you are estimating budgets, creating purchase orders and doing billing; and a hard hat when you are supervising construction and managing procurement of your design. Then you put on the beret again when finalizing the installation for your reveal. Given that you can only wear one hat at a time—and that, for clarity and effectiveness, it’s helpful for anyone you interact with to know which role you’re embodying from moment to moment—how does your client know who they are talking to, when, where and why?

If you had employees, freelancers, or even AI agents working on your behalf, it would likely be more obvious which role was being played. You do not have that luxury, which means you have double the responsibility.

Let’s switch gears from the hat metaphor to butterflies and caterpillars for a moment. Caterpillars eat all the leaves they can in order to have enough energy to form a chrysalis and morph into a butterfly. Butterflies remember every day of being a caterpillar, but clearly they do not see the world the same way as caterpillars. Oh, and butterflies can’t eat leaves.

Think of that metaphor for your design business. When you started your business—and maybe even now—you gave the impression that you were at your client’s beck and call, ready to do whatever it took to get the job done. You had to prove that you were capable of handling the work. You sacrificed everything to earn the reputation you now have. But today, as an established one-person firm, you are a butterfly, and you no longer get paid to prove your worth; instead, you are paid because of your worth. Literally, your clients pay to access the world you see that they cannot.

In the context of this conversation, this means that you must define who is talking, when and why—including AI, along with the human roles you embody—so that both you and your client can frame the conversation accordingly. This is how you control access rather than creating the illusion of an AI employee.

All of which brings me to the last thought about client dynamics. The only period when you must really care what a client thinks is during the design process: Do they like blue or black tile, and why? Once you have presented your design (no matter how many iterations it takes to get there), there really is no authentic conversation to be had. (I’m defining authentic conversation as what friends and family have—we listen and care about what is being said and respond accordingly.) Communication with your client post-design is about the flow of information you control and responses that are almost entirely scripted. The more power a client has to create and influence a conversation post-design, the worse it is for you, because it typically means they will be the storyteller controlling how and when you do what you do as a business.

I appreciate that my advice might come off a bit pedantic here at first glance, but it is actually anything but. You are the one generating the flow to begin with (or at least you should be), and have to be the one controlling it all the way through. Like a river, it might be harder to control this flow when it is just you and maybe some freelancers, but it is work you have yet to do with timelines, cash flow and client communication tools. If you want to celebrate being the solopreneur you actually are, start with the idea that butterflies cannot eat leaves and that you will starve if you keep thinking that you can. Good luck.

____________

Sean Low is the go-to business coach for interior designers. His clients have included Nate Berkus, Sawyer Berson, Vicente Wolf, Barry Dixon, Kevin Isbell and McGrath II. Low earned his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and as founder-president of The Business of Being Creative, he has long consulted for design businesses. In his Business Advice column for BOH, he answers designers’ most pressing questions. Have a dilemma? Send us an email—and don’t worry, we can keep your details anonymous.