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Season 9 starts with reaffirming who does what in the design world. This episode is ideal for those looking to hire a design professional, but also for those in the industry thinking about niching.

Why marketing to one another is great for networking but it won't pay the bills, attract your ideal client or generate great brand awareness. We talk on and off digital means to get the word out about you and your design business.

When you hire an expert, a consultation is the best place to start to unpack your needs for all their years of expertise, without it, it's a road trip without a compass. We unpack what you can expect and what you can do to make the most of this process.

Finding connection to country for some may not be that easy, as Leah's own journey will testify. But we were interested in understanding more about this incredible culture, what Leah has planned in furniture and homewares to share the depth behind First Nation's People and how we can be part of it too!

We loved doing this episode, not only because Deb is a good friend to us both, but because this 27 year journey has a lot of twists of turns in small business that we can all benefit from hearing.

We all have dream clients and some less, but when dealing with the tougher parts of a design relationship, how can you manage those that look to want to skirt around the process?

Mark Hughes has spent 14 years in the Perth design industry and runs two businesses - The Barefoot Renovator and Bauen Projects WA his boutique building arm. Yes, it's an extremely busy time, but Mark lifts the lid on the reality of renovating and offers some sage advice on how to move forward.

We get it, the last thing you want to do is market your business when realistically you only just keeping your head above water, but if you measure your ongoing success by your current your situation you may find it all falling flat if you don't put in place a little planning now to keep the momentum going.

We are not saying that there is never any original design out there, we are simply saying it's very difficult to ever really be the first. In this episode we break down some examples of how this line is forever blurred.

We talk candidly with one of Perth's foremost premier custom home builders, Mark Diedricks of Arklen about everything from the industry standard, to the 'boom', 'what to expect' from your builder, what is a tender process (and why doesn't he subscribe to it) - and much, much more!