“I Just Wanted to Get Out of My Inbox”: How One Interior Design Studio Turned Content into a Growth Engine

Claire runs a small interior design studio in York. She started out designing home offices and Airbnb makeovers. Now it’s restaurants, co-working spaces, even a community theatre lobby. The work’s grown. The team’s grown. But Claire’s still the one pulling in most of the business.

Most of their leads came through her personal Instagram. She’d post behind-the-scenes shots, mood boards, bits of joinery coming together on-site. It wasn’t polished - just real. And it worked. People followed, shared, got in touch.

The problem? It was all Claire. Her phone. Her time. And while she loved showing the process, she was also talking to customers, running site visits, and trying to keep the studio ticking. She couldn’t keep up.

Meanwhile, Molly - the studio coordinator - had been quietly posting now and then from the business account. Team photos. Project sign-offs. Some design notes Claire had drafted late at night. The posts were lovely. Just… quiet. No one really saw them. It felt like a nice-to-have, not a growth tool.

Then someone asked Claire:

“What would happen if you treated this content like an actual asset, not just an afterthought?”

That stuck.

She spoke to The Coders Guild. Turns out, Molly could join a Content Creator apprenticeship - fully funded through a levy transfer. No cost to the studio. couple of forms and meetings, sorted in days.

What changed?

Everything.

Molly stopped posting reactively and started planning like a marketer. She turned Claire’s casual phone snaps into branded carousels, newsletters, blog pieces. Took the same five images and spun out ten angles. She built a content calendar around the business pipeline - what work needed showcasing, what messages would help convert.

She also opened up new channels. The team had never even touched LinkedIn. But Molly started sharing project stories there - cleaner visuals, more context, less fluff. Within weeks, they landed their first commercial enquiry through LinkedIn: a shared workspace looking for a full refurb.

Claire didn’t need to write anymore. She just dropped images and voice notes into a shared folder. Molly handled the rest - turning them into thoughtful, strategic content. Each post looked and sounded like Claire, but took none of her time.

Four months in, lead quality was up. Pipeline was stronger. They weren’t just posting pretty pictures. They were building business.

And Claire? She finally got out of her inbox. Started saying no to jobs that weren’t a fit. Started planning a new offer for wellness spaces - a niche she’d never had time to explore before.

Sometimes the right person is already on your team. You just need to invest in their skills - and give them room to grow.

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