For some of you that I talk to fairly frequently, you know that I’ve been in the middle of a personal project that has been consuming a lot of energy and time. My husband and I are building our “forever home”.
This decision came out of the blue after a big trip to Europe. Literally just three days after we got back, I told my husband Harry that we should strongly consider moving. There were just ten reasons (said with irony). As I’ve said to my husband, I always have reasons for everything… but some may or may not seem clear to others.
We currently live in what I would call a “border” neighborhood – we’re close, but not too close to places we frequent. We chose this neighborhood eight years ago because it was 15 minutes to Cherry Creek for shopping, dining and services. It’s also conveniently near light rail (a 5-minute walk), it’s 20 – 25 minutes from the airport and has easy access to the mountains.
It met our needs except for being in a highly desirable neighborhood. It’s an “emerging neighborhood” which means it’s a little edgy for some people, but it will be a hot area in the future.
Back to the story…
It was a Thursday evening, and I surprised my husband with the idea of moving. One of the key drivers for me was to get into a single-story house for our future. After explaining my reasoning, he said that it made sense to him.
The next day, I reached out to our realtor friend of 30 years and talked with her about the idea. We talked to her mortgage broker that day and started the paperwork.
I had been researching neighborhoods and options for a few days, and on Saturday, we visited three developments. After we left the first development, we viewed two other areas and came back to the first development and wrote a contract to build.
We called our realtor and told her what we’d done and we decided to wait a few months to put our current house on the market so we could do all of the market prep work. That meant painting, touch-ups, carpet cleaning, removing personal items and cleaning out closets.
What we didn’t realize is how much of an impact the interest rates and election would have on our current home. Of course, we found out that a neighbor three doors down put their house on the market at the same time. It’s almost 3 months later, and we’ve had 5 showings and no offers.
We’ve lowered the price twice and have now offered to buy down the interest rates. Who knew we’d picked one of the worst times to sell our home? It’s definitely a buyer’s market, and the prospects are very unamused by the volatile interest rates and our less-than-perfect location. We also know that all of the other realtors are feeling the pressure of few if any showings. It’s not just us… but it is very frustrating. Your pipeline may be a little soft as a result of the same pressures.
We’re making lemonade out of it though. We can move in stages without worrying about a buyer needing us to vacate the day after closing.
On the fun side of this, I’ve returned to my designer roots and customized what I could in the new house. And, because we’re actually upsizing, we (darn) have to order new furniture, window treatments and other decorative items for most of the main floor.
How I am feeling your pain…
You know those demanding clients and deadlines? I’m the worst!
It’s been years since I’ve done such a big project, and I don’t have assistants working for me anymore. So, I had to get a new sales tax license, open accounts and do endless hours of resourcing. Wow! I’d really forgotten how much work it is to manage the details.
What made it work…
Luckily, I was on sabbatical for five weeks from late November to January 2, and I only “worked” three days for Pearl Collective. That’s a first!
If you haven’t taken a sabbatical, I highly recommend it. This was my fourth. Next year as I continue to prepare the business for the future, I’ll be taking two annual sabbaticals (9 weeks total.)
Working as a team…
Since my husband is retired, I asked him if he’d like to be more involved. Of course, he was more than happy to oblige in the A/V department. I gave him free rein to get what he wants since this is our forever home. I had to chuckle when we figured out that we had ordered a 100” media cabinet that we wouldn’t be able to get down the stairs to the basement. We had to quickly cancel our current order and buy modular pieces. Crisis averted!
Shockingly, Harry went to the design center with me to pick finishes. He also suffered through some retail shopping a few times. I promised him he didn’t have to do any more shopping after that, but that I wanted his opinion about the selections. It’s been a lot of fun doing the project as a team. He even had one request – dark walls in his office. I also asked him about fabric choices, and he actually had opinions which I appreciated.
We close on February 6, and then our contractor will paint some rooms and build out the unfinished section of the basement for our gym.
Think good thoughts!
Keep your fingers crossed for us. We hope we can sell our house soon so we can finish our design vision. Meanwhile… we’ll be mostly living in the basement until the house is furnished.
I’m still working full-time, too, so don’t think I have my eyes off of the ball. I can’t wait to see our Boardroom members in March for a visit to Round Top, Texas.
Priorities and Contingency Planning
As we begin 2025, we have an opportunity to wipe the slate clean after two stressful years.
Many of our clients struggled with dry pipelines, and with that, they lost confidence and became somewhat pessimistic. The accompanying financial challenges impacted their enthusiasm and passion, and some found themselves making hard decisions like laying off team members or cutting hours.
Priorities
I often say to my coaching clients that your #1 job is to bring in business, and for some people that struggled the last few years after having lots of business during COVID, they were reminded that they must always be marketing. Any month you miss marketing means that you’ll miss a month of inquiry calls in the future. You can’t be too busy designing to market.
Where you focus your attention determines your results. If you don’t like your results, then figure out where you were focusing prior to that.
Evaluate the ROI for your time and money
It’s time to create a written plan for how you’re going to invest your time and money this year.
- How will you market?
- How much will each initiative cost?
- How many clients did you get from each initiative?
- How much money did you spend on each initiative, and how much did you get back?
- For example, did you invest in Google ads? If so, how much revenue did that generate for you?
- Divide your revenue by the dollars spent to determine your Return on Investment (ROI).
- How much time did you spend on each initiative?
- If you spent hours curating photos, adding hashtags, and scrolling through Instagram, how many clients did you get for that time?
- Did you track your time for marketing? If not, please start.
- What efforts typically result in new leads?
- Are you making your clients happy so they refer you? One of the best means of getting business is taking care of your clients – what can you do to improve your service?
- What other marketing efforts are you investing time and money in?
- Magazine ads (they rarely generate leads)?
- Editorial coverage?
- Networking?
- Gifting?
- Speaking?
Planning is Critically Important
A plan can help you stay true to your goals and navigate the unexpected. Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to make sure you have a foolproof plan in place.
- Do you have a strategic plan for your business?
- Do you know what you need to do and when to create the results you want?
- Do you know specifically what results you want?
- Can you quantify how much you want to earn in a salary, and in profit in your business?
- Do you know how much you can spend on marketing and travel?
- Do you need to hire?
- Do you know who to hire and when?
- Do you have too many people on staff?
- Do you understand that investing in “A” players is much less expensive than investing in “B” or “C” players?
Contingency Plans & Reserves = Less Stress
When things don’t go as planned — which is most of the time, do you have a back-up plan?
If you don’t get a new client at least once a month, then do you have enough money to pay the bills and your team?
We recommend at least 3 months and preferably up to 12 months of reserves to help you manage the ebbs and flows of the business. Reserves mean that you can pay your monthly overhead which includes all salaries, benefits, operating cost, etc.
If you have contingency plans and reserves, you can make it through the challenging times much more easily and with much less stress.
If you don’t have reserves, start saving 10% of every check you bring in to ensure that you start building that cushion.
If you don’t understand your finances, don’t worry! We offer financial classes throughout the year. The more you know the less you’ll stress.
I just spoke with one of my long-time clients who accomplished a new milestone… $1M+ in net profit. She’s the sixth client to have done that.
One of our current coaches went from $1M to $4M in revenue. She was able to provide the downpayment on a new condo from the money she had saved. It wasn’t always like that; she wasn’t profitable at $1M.
We’ve helped many designers go from financially insecure to confident and assured. If you’d like to be one of them, be sure to sign up for a complimentary call with Daniel. He’d love to see how we can help you.