Business is about managing growth markers. Every growth marker you reach will bring with it a new challenge. The difference between a growing interior design business and a stagnant interior design business is that the growing business owner is creating processes, analyzing data, and continuing to refine the operation at every growth marker. If you’re stuck and stagnant, then we need to figure out what’s not working, streamline in a written system of procedure for that challenge, and then move on to the next one.
When I first started out in this business, I closed anything and everything that came my way. I sold flat fee and would source at no cost if I was marking up a product. I did not charge a consultation fee. I sold at any price or markup. And man, did I offer a TON of my own time for FREE. The logic was inconsistent, but it worked for me. Honestly I was lucky that when I started the business, my pipeline was consistent and lead flow was not a problem. And even with my inconsistent pricing structure, I was making the most money I ever had – with the greatest flexibility. I wasn’t tracking my time to understand what my true hourly rate was. I didn’t organize any sourcing. I just created presentation boards on the fly. Orders were not organized. When issues occurred, everything was urgent and stressful. More times than I’d like to admit, I had to rent a U-Haul truck and drive hours to intercept packages at warehouses in order to hit a deadline.
Why did that work in the beginning? Because I hadn’t hit my first growth marker. It was just me paying myself. Is it true that sometimes I was likely making about $20/hour because a contractor took twice the amount of time he said he would and my flat fee was based on his schedule?… YEP! But that wasn’t the real problem. The real problem came when I hit my first growth marker. When my lead flow exceeded my capacity. In my particular case, that happened when I broke my pelvis and instantly required a team. (Tune into that story if you haven’t heard it. It’s a crazy one.)
When you grow past your own working capacity – whether because of incoming lead flow or needing to minimize your working hours – here is where the first GROWTH MARKER hits. I’ll dive more into the first growth marker, and everything that needs to be worked on during this phase, in my next note.
One final thought nugget to send you into the weekend: Business growth is challenging. It will never end. We need to fall in love with the growth markers and use them as an opportunity to strengthen our operations every time!
