In any design business, there’s money coming and going at a dizzying, sometimes unpredictable rate. That’s why it’s crucial to create systems that allow your business to access a constant stream of income. Here’s how successful design firms do it.

While interior design is a creative pursuit at heart, it is also fundamentally a business. Though it sounds obvious, it can sometimes be easy to forget that if you aren’t profiting from your design work, you probably won’t be doing it for much longer. But for many designers, navigating the highs and lows of their firm’s bank balance can be a constant source of stress.

As with any successful venture, the key to financial stability is structuring your firm so that money is continually flowing into your business. “A peeve of mine is that so many designers are always chasing their next payment,” says Bay Area–based business coach Sean Low, who specializes in advising creative entrepreneurs. “They work and then get paid instead of being ahead. The ideal way to run a business is to have a full bucket where you’re in control of when and how much money comes out, versus constantly draining your bucket and having to fill it back up. You want to be the one turning your fiscal faucet on and off—any other way just sets you up for terrible cash flow and problems down the road.”