Fluent by Vela
You’ve built your
own design firm.
You're booking projects, managing clients, and running a business most people only dream about. But somewhere between the proposals and the purchase orders, your finances became a black box.
If someone asked you right now how much money you actually have available, could you answer?
What’s actually yours
Not just what's sitting in your bank account.
What's in the bank. What's owed on your credit cards. What's coming in from unpaid invoices. What's already committed to purchase orders. What's reserved for sales tax. How much remains in client retainers. What portion of that cash is truly yours to pay yourself. What your overhead actually costs each month. And whether your firm is generating a profit at all.
Because until you can see all of those pieces together, you're not looking at your financial position. You're looking at a bank balance.
And those are rarely the same thing.
For many design firm owners, the answer isn't clear — not because they're doing anything wrong, but because design firms manage money differently than most businesses. Between procurement, retainers, reimbursements, vendor deposits, and project-based cash flow, a healthy bank balance can create a false sense of security.
The result is constant uncertainty — making decisions without a clear picture of where your money stands today, or where it'll stand thirty days from now.
That's where Fluent comes in.
The Offering
Financial Clarity
Fluent by Vela helps design firm owners understand exactly where their business stands financially.
We start by getting your books accurate and current. Then we build a workflow that fits the way your firm actually operates—one that you or your team can maintain long after we're gone.
Along the way, we create simple reporting that helps you answer the questions that matter:
How much money do we actually have?
What's coming in?
What's going out?
Are we profitable?
BY THE END, YOU’LL HAVE
Clean, current books you can trust
A workflow built for design firms that captures invoices, purchase orders, reimbursements, retainers, and vendor payments
Clear visibility into what's yours, what's committed, and what's coming next
Simple financial reporting that supports better business decisions
Confidence in your numbers and the systems behind them
This isn't software training.
It's financial clarity for design firms.
The Process
How it works
Step 1
Tell us where things stand.
Step 2
Let's talk.
Step 3
We take a real look.
Step 4
We show you what we found.
Step 5
We get to work.
A short survey tells us about your firm, your current systems, and the challenges you’re facing. No commitment- just a chance to see whether we’re a good fit.
We'll meet for a complimentary 30-minute call to discuss your business, answer questions, and explore what greater financial clarity could look like for your firm.
Through a focused paid assessment, we review your books, workflows, and systems to understand what's working, what's missing, and where opportunities exist to give you greater clarity.
You'll receive a written assessment and walkthrough of our findings, recommendations, and implementation options.
Based on what we’ve found, if you need additional help we have the option to tailor our help to your needs and your budget. We might have provided enough tools and information during your assessment for you to strike out on your own. But, if you are in need of additional help, we might help clean up the books, or we might simply build the systems and train your team until you're confident in managing the process moving forward.
Fit Check
Is this you?
Fluent works best for design firm owners who:
Know they're generating revenue but aren't sure how much is actually theirs
Feel like their bank balance doesn't tell the whole story
Are managing procurement, retainers, and vendor payments without a clear financial system
Want visibility into their numbers instead of relying on guesswork
Are tired of scrambling at tax time
Want to understand their business and profits
If that sounds familiar, we'd love to talk.
Who We Are
Fluent by Vela was built by people who’ve lived both sides of the problem—a designer trying to make sense of the numbers, and an operations expert who understands how businesses actually run.
Kimberly and Rebecca first worked together in 2003 in an industry that required rigorous systems, training, and documentation. After leaving that industry, Kimberly built a successful interior design practice, while Rebecca went on to manage and direct touring performing arts ensembles, developing deep experience in business operations, finance, and organizational systems.
In 2022, they decided to combine their skills not only to design beautiful spaces, but also an impeccably run business. Within months, they had a crystal clear financial picture.
That became Fluent.
We’re not generalist bookkeepers. We’re not CPAs.
We’re operators who understand how design firms actually function—the proposals, purchase orders, vendor relationships, procurement cycles, retainers, reimbursements, and the uneven cash flow that comes with project-based work.
Most importantly, our goal isn’t to make you dependent on us.
It’s to make sure you understand your business well enough that you no longer need us for the basics.
That’s what success looks like.
Ready for clarity?
The first step is just a few minutes — a short survey to help us understand where you're starting from.
fluent@velacreative.com
OUR MISSION
We give interior designers clarity over their numbers — so they always know what's truly theirs to spend, and what's already spoken for. Through accurate bookkeeping, thoughtful systems, and reporting that actually makes sense, we help designers trade financial guesswork for confidence, freeing them to build the business and the craft they set out to create.