After two action-packed years, the interior design industry is showing some signs of cooling off. Here’s how to know if your business is slowing down, and what to do about it.

In the late aughts, Jared Miller was a great name to have in your Rolodex—but you didn’t want to call him. Years before, Miller had made the unlikely transition from concert promoter to financial adviser. A series of chance encounters had led him to Charlotte Moss’s office, where he ran the financial side of her New York–based design firm. Eventually Miller spun his services out into an independent consulting business, helping other designers get smart about their books. It was just in time for the Great Recession.

His timing was either perfect or terrible, depending on how you look at it. Miller had plenty of clients, but they weren’t coming to him to maximize profits. Instead, they were looking to survive. He spent the next few years traveling the country, helping designers cut back on expenses, tighten their belts and get through a period that tested even those who occupy the highest tiers of the industry. “My consulting business went from building firms to tearing them apart and putting them back together,” he says.