Near the end of 2024, a layoff pushed Morris to go all-in on her interior design business and focus on historic properties.
Design classes and an Instagram account started the business
Morris, who runs an interior design business, had worked in corporate tech for about 10 years before she started the venture on the side. In 2022, she took interior design classes at The Art Institute of Chicago. The side-business format let her begin putting that training to use while keeping the venture separate from her corporate work. Her path into design began with coursework and a small business, rather than with an immediate full-time change.¹
She earned a certificate from The Art Institute of Chicago and then started an interior design Instagram account. Morris and her husband moved into their 1889 row home in Chicago. The account gave the new business a presence on Instagram, while the row home was part of her personal life in the city. Those details show how the business began: with design training, a social-media account and a home of her own.¹
Historic-hotel experience led to a Colorado project
Before the Colorado hotel work, Morris had experience working on a hotel on the National Register of Historic Places. That experience helped bring her onto another hotel project. Her work history connected a previous historic-hotel assignment to a new commission, giving the project team experience relevant to a property with its own past. The sequence shows how her background in historic buildings became useful beyond her own home and early design business.¹
The account gave the new business a presence on Instagram, while the row home was part of her personal life in the city.
Earlier this year, Morris worked on the St. Elmo Hotel in Ouray, Colorado. The hotel owner’s hospitality group had already done one project in Montrose, Colorado. That earlier project provides context for the group’s work in the state; Morris’s experience with a historic hotel was the reason she was brought into the St. Elmo job. The commission connected her specialist experience with the hospitality group’s existing project work.¹
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Read More →At the St. Elmo Hotel, the team kept as much wallpaper on the walls as they could. The choice made retaining existing material part of the project’s design work, rather than stripping away all of the wallpaper. That detail offers a concrete example of the approach Morris brought to a historic property: the team worked with what was already on the walls and preserved as much of it as possible.¹
Business earnings and take-home pay are separate figures
Morris says she is on track for about $168,000 for the year. That figure describes the annual amount she is tracking for the business; her separate estimate for take-home pay is lower. The distinction matters when comparing the business’s annual performance with what Morris says she personally keeps. The numbers show both the scale she is tracking and the amount she expects to take home.¹
Her take-home pay was around $48,000 in the first year. Morris expects about $100,000 in take-home pay in 2026. These figures give a comparison across the early stage of the business and a later estimate, while keeping the measure specific to personal take-home pay. They are distinct from the annual figure she is tracking for the business.¹
Together, those roles show that the business’s support needs extend beyond the design work itself.
Outside help covers editing and back-office work
Morris has brought on someone to edit social-media reels, a task she describes as a full-time job in itself. That hire moves one recurring part of the business off her own workload. The reels remain part of her social-media presence, but editing them no longer rests solely with Morris. It is one example of her adding help as the business takes on more work and requires time for tasks beyond design.¹
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Read More →She also has a CPA and a bookkeeper, and had an intern over the summer. The support spans accounting, bookkeeping and a temporary internship, alongside the help editing reels. Together, those roles show that the business’s support needs extend beyond the design work itself. Morris has added people for specific functions rather than describing one general assistant role covering every part of the operation.¹
For back-office work, Morris uses Claude and ChatGPT to help organize notes she takes on her iPad while at a job site. The tools support a defined administrative task: turning site notes into organized information. That puts them alongside her human support, but in a narrower role than the people she has brought on for editing, bookkeeping, accounting and the summer internship.¹
Niche skills pay off after layoffs
A layoff can be the push to turn a side skill into a full-time business, but the key is building a specialty. Morris spent about 10 years in corporate tech before taking design classes at The Art Institute of Chicago in 2022, then started a side business. When the 2024 layoff came, she leaned into historic properties, a niche that let her land a hotel project because of prior experience on a National Register hotel. That sequence shows a specific path: gain a credential, practice on the side, and let a narrow expertise open doors after a job loss.¹²
When you evaluate a business or role, separate gross revenue from what you actually take home. Morris tracks about $168,000 for the year, but her take-home pay was around $48,000 in year one and she expects about $100,000 in 2026. That gap matters for your own planning: ask for pay based on what you keep, not what the business brings in. Also, budget for support roles—she hired someone for social media reels, plus a CPA, bookkeeper, and intern—and used Claude and ChatGPT for back-office notes, so factor those costs into your earnings expectations.¹
Niche skills pay off after layoffs A layoff can be the push to turn a side skill into a full-time business, but the key is building a specialty.
Sources
Written by Career Ahead AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify key facts. Report errors to support@careeraheadonline.com
