LIVE • OCTOBER 21–23 • PRIVATE FOUNDING ACCESS
Inside a $1.3M+
Interior Design Project
A live, behind-the-scenes look over my shoulder as I reopen one real project and show you what actually happened behind the finished photographs.
You’ll watch the project unfold with me, I’ll be in the chat during every training, and I’ll come back live after each session for Q&A. Then you keep the complete recordings with lifetime access.
Sept 28–Oct 4: $497. Then $597 through Oct 12. Final live access is $697 through Oct 20.
JOIN ME LIVE — $497
THIS IS THE PART DESIGNERS USUALLY KEEP TO THEMSELVES
Think less “course.”
Think: pull up a chair.
I want this to feel like you’re sitting beside me at my desk while I pull up the actual project records and say, “Okay. Let me show you what really happened.” Not the polished version we put on Instagram. The decisions, numbers and documentation behind it.
You almost never get access to this part.
The real money trail.
Not just the glamorous project total. I’m showing you how money moved through products, fees, markup, taxes, shipping, trades, discounts, credits and the design firm itself.
The documents behind the decisions.
You’ll see selected real project records in context so you can understand why certain decisions were made and what they protected.
The parts nobody posts.
The no-charge work, difficult moments, repairs, returns, contractor reconciliation, project closeout and the decisions I would handle differently today.
“I’m not giving you a pile of templates. I’m letting you see how the business actually worked.”
THREE PRIVATE VIEWS INTO ONE REAL PROJECT
WHAT I’M
OPENING UP
01
The Project Breakdown
See how a substantial residential engagement grew into a documented $1.3M+ project, how the scope changed, and what the agreement already anticipated.
02
The Money Breakdown
Fees, markup, products, team billing, 815+ hours, 500+ no-charge hours, discounts, trades, credits, shipping, receiving and what those numbers actually mean.
03
The Decision Breakdown
The judgment calls behind the project. What protected us, what got messy, what I would repeat, and what I would handle differently now.
LIVE WITH JOHN • OCTOBER 21–23
Inside a $1.3M+
Interior Design Project
This is not just a course you watch later. We’re going through the project together. I’ll open each day live, stay with you in the chat during the training, then come back on camera for live Q&A.
BE IN THE LIVE ROOM — $497THREE DAYS INSIDE THE PROJECT FILE
You’ll see it the way I see it.
DAY 01
HOW THE PROJECT GREW
The inquiry, original scope, agreement, kitchen evolution, construction growth and the turning points that changed the size and complexity of the project.
DAY 02
THE ACTUAL FINANCIAL RECEIPTS
Products, markup, fees, team rates, 815+ hours, 500+ no-charge hours, discounts, trades, shipping, credits and the difference between client spend and firm revenue.
DAY 03
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED
The problems, repairs, reconciliation, boundaries, documentation, post-installation work, what worked and what I would change today.
LIVE IS THE POINT
The teaching is polished.
The conversation is live.
01
I open each day live
We start together. I’ll tell you what you’re about to see, what matters, and what I want you to watch for.
02
I stay with you during the training
While the polished lesson plays, I’m live in the chat, answering quick questions, noticing what surprises you, and collecting the deeper questions we need to unpack together.
03
Then we talk live
I come back on camera after every training for Q&A. This is the part future evergreen buyers cannot recreate. You get to ask me while the project is open in front of us.
LIVE FOUNDING EXPERIENCE • OCTOBER 21–23
Be there live. Keep it forever.
Your enrollment gives you the live room with me first, then the complete course recordings with lifetime access afterward.
$497 EARLY-BIRD FOUNDING ACCESS ENDS IN
Ends October 4 at 11:59 PM Pacific. Then founding access increases to $597.
Early-Bird Founding Access
$497
LIVE Oct 21–23 + lifetime recordings
JOIN THE LIVE FOUNDING ROOM — $497THIS ISN’T A TEMPLATE BUNDLE
“The value is getting to see what normally stays inside the firm.”
I’ll show selected project documents because they help you understand the decisions. But the real value is the context: why we did what we did, what the numbers meant, what worked, what didn’t, and what I would do now.
YES, YOU KEEP THE COURSE
Live now. Yours afterward.
Your live enrollment includes the complete course recordings after we’re done.
You do not have to take perfect notes or worry about remembering every number. Come to the live room, ask questions, follow along with me, then go back through the masterclasses and founding Q&A on your own time with lifetime access.
Sept 28–Oct 4: $497
Oct 5–12: $597 founders rate
Oct 13–20: $697 final live access
Oct 21–23: LIVE
Evergreen later: $797
By the end, you’ll know how to look at your projects differently.
✓ Separate client spend from firm revenue
Understand why a giant project number tells you very little about what the design firm actually earned.
✓ See where project income really comes from
Recognize how design fees, markup, fulfillment, team billing and other revenue streams work together.
✓ Spot invisible free work
Understand the difference between intentional generosity and work that quietly disappears from your books.
✓ Read scope growth earlier
See how a project can evolve dramatically and why the agreement needs to anticipate what may happen next.
✓ Document the messy middle
See why hours, changes, credits, returns and project decisions need a record long after the reveal photos are taken.
✓ Autopsy your own projects
Leave knowing what to examine in your own jobs so hindsight is not the only place you learn what really happened.
YOUR GUIDE INSIDE THE PROJECT
John McClain
I’ve been running an interior design business for more than 16 years, and I’ve made money a lot of different ways inside that business.
I’m an interior designer, author, educator and founder of The McClain Method. I’ve built projects, teams, systems, products and education around what actually works in a design business.
For this intensive, I’m not interested in pretending every decision I made was perfect. I want to show you the project as it actually happened, including the smart decisions, the messy ones and the things I would change today.
WHY OPEN THIS MUCH?
Because “charge more” is not enough.
Designers need to see what the business actually looks like when a project gets big.
The project was beautiful. It received four ASID design awards. But beautiful is not the lesson. The lesson is what happened underneath the photographs: the agreements, hundreds of hours, scope growth, products, markups, discounts, problems, repairs, credits, contractor coordination and decisions that made the project what it was.
This is for you if:
✓ You already run a real interior design business
✓ You want to understand the economics underneath larger projects
✓ You’ve wondered where time or money quietly leaks
✓ You want to see how another established designer actually handled the work
It is probably not for you if:
✕ You want a beginner course on starting a design business
✕ You only want a standard hourly rate or markup percentage
✕ You want one universal formula that every designer should follow
✕ You only want the pretty project reveal, not the business behind it
LIVE • OCTOBER 21–23
BE IN
THE ROOM.
Watch over my shoulder while I reopen the project. Ask questions while we go. Hear the answers live. Then keep the complete recordings and come back to them whenever you need them.
The recordings will still exist later. The live room will not.
JOIN ME LIVE — $497You’ve got
questions.
Good.
Ask me.
01
Is the training actually live?
The experience is live, but the core teaching is polished in advance so I can show the numbers and documents clearly. I’ll welcome you live, stay in the chat while we watch the training together, then come back live for Q&A.
02
Will I get the recordings?
Yes. Founding students keep lifetime access to the masterclasses and the founding Q&A recordings.
03
Are these real project numbers?
Yes. The teaching is built from the real project agreement, invoices, time records, internal project accounting and other documentation, with client-identifying information removed.
04
Is this a template or agreement course?
No. You will see how the historical agreement functioned inside the project, but the purpose is to understand the business structure and decisions behind the work, not to hand you one document and tell you to copy it.
OPEN THE FILES
FOLLOW THE MONEY
ASK JOHN LIVE
OPEN THE FILES