I always wanted to create a beautiful home, I craved beauty and calm around me. I didn’t know that interior design was a career or industry when I was a child but the minute I discovered it as a teenager I was obsessed.

No, I was torn. I was passionate about interior design but my family very much wanted me to pursue something more academic. My mother was a computer programmer in the Eighties and Nineties, and really prioritised academic pursuits over creative ones. I studied International Management and Spanish at University of Bath after taking the IB. My route wasn’t conventional and required me to try and forge my own path without any contacts or experience.

Just establishing myself was a struggle. Getting trade accounts and consistent projects at the beginning and then being brave enough, after five years of doing it all by myself, to hire my first two team members.

It’s very varied – one day I might be doing site visits in London, another day I might be brainstorming new products for our collections or creating design concepts for new projects. I have also started doing talks and podcasts as part of my giving back, along with the interior design course.

The best parts are working with clients who are excited about their homes and seeing their reaction to presentations or unveiling their completed project. I love the design concept stage, as well as site visits when the first fix is done and you start seeing all the finishes being installed.

The worst part is the fact that, as a business owner, the sense of responsibility and thinking about your team, your clients, your projects never switches off. I have now accepted that every day, even when I’m on holiday, I’m most relaxed if I do just one-two hours work in the morning to feel on top of things.

Travel is increasingly important to me. The output of what we are designing across our projects and collections is vast and, to keep fresh ideas and avoid stagnation, I have to change up my experiences, sights and location to stay inspired. I don’t have to travel far – even if it’s just down the road to West Sussex or to a new part of London – I will always see something that I snap a photo of and store away ready to reference for the right project.

Completing our first two projects in the Middle East. In particular, the one in the Gulf will always be a highlight. The scale of the property and the client’s sincere and delighted reaction is something that will stay with me for life. I’m lucky to have become good friends with many clients whose homes I’ve worked on. When a client comes back after their first project with a new or second home, that is the ultimate compliment.

The early days of running a team: finding the right people and letting the wrong ones go. Your team is everything. I’ve always kept ours fairly small, around 15 people, which for our company and the projects we do is perfect. It’s enough people to cope with large, prestigious homes but also not too big that I am just a leader and can’t be hands on.

I find it difficult. The most success I have at switching off is when I travel to the US as the time difference between London and Palm Beach [in Florida] means that I can do two hours of work from bed at 6am and catch up with everything [before] going for breakfast and relaxing for the rest of my day, knowing no one will be emailing.

Exercise. I love Pilates and doing weights. I also go for long walks with our dachshund in the countryside. Mini-breaks with my husband go a long way too. We love staying away for just one night in a hotel or cottage in the UK which feels like a fortnight of holiday when you have children!

There have been several: my mother for her tenacity and independence, and my mother-in-law, who has taught me a lot about entertaining and how to have a beautiful yet relaxed home.

I think kindness is undervalued in business. I treat all my staff how I would want to be treated, and my team encapsulates that with how they treat our suppliers, contractors and clients. They are professional, but also warm and kind. It doesn’t make you less effective – I would say the contrary. When people treat us with kindness and respect we want to do our best for them. We spend so much time around our team that I can’t imagine working in a place of fear or anxiety. Of course, you also must be strong and visionary as you’re guiding your team through new challenges and opportunities, but I like to do it with kindness and encouragement.

I think in interior design there has always been a dominance from women. I am lucky to count many strong women in my industry as close friends, and we lean on each other in hard times as well as inspiring each other with our respective achievements. I think what has changed is the diversity and openness of our industry.

When I first joined, if you didn’t have a network it was hard to gain insights on best practice or discover the best suppliers. It could be quite lonely, but now thanks to the internet and social media, there is a more embracing environment where people can access the industry more easily if you have the talent. You will find your niche. This is something I’m really passionate about; I’m asked daily across our platforms for advice, which is why I set up the Sophie Paterson Academy.

I hope to see the industry continue to open up and become more diverse. I’m proud to be part of United in Design: a charity focused on increasing diversity in the industry, and we will be welcoming an intern this September for several months to help them gain experience and establish their career.

Yes, I think Covid and the new generation have brought a bigger focus on work-life balance, which is something that has always been important to me. As creatives we do our best work when we are well rested and inspired. My team works on a hybrid basis between our studio three days a week and at home for two days.

I think the balance of motherhood and career remains a challenge for every woman that wants children. Even if you have a supportive workplace (and we pride ourselves on being very supportive of our team members returning from maternity leave), I know how difficult it can be to get the balance right. Childcare is so expensive and the guilt is ever-present. I am more at peace with the balance I have now; there will be periods of time when I have a project completing or an international project requiring more input meaning I will have more focus on work, but I know that afterwards I’ll have a period where I need to spend more time at home to be there for my children.

Accepting that you can’t do it all is also liberating. I have given up most of my socialising as at this period of my life my biggest focuses are my family, my health and my career.

You are good enough. Don’t let fear or insecurity hold you back from pursuing your dreams. And don’t let others put limits on what you are capable of. I always had a quiet determination, but confidence has been hard earned and didn’t come easily to me. It’s so freeing not worrying what people think.

Get as much experience as you can before setting up your own company – that is worth more than any degree in my opinion. Also know that you are never 100 per cent ready. There is no point trying to prepare for every eventuality; the landscape of business and design changes constantly and so you will have to adjust and learn as you go.