Understanding Your Numbers: Pipelines, Planners, & Process Outlines with Renee Bush and Brooke Stoll

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. [00:00:07] Speaker B: Hi, welcome back to the Interior Collective. I'm your host Anastasia Casey and today's bonus episode marks the beginning of something truly game changing for interior designers. Today I'm joined by two of the most trusted experts in the business of design Studio growth strategist Renee Bush of Tandem and Brooke Stoll, operations and profitability strategist for Interior Designers. When we had tapped out all possible ideas for products at Ideco Studio, I called the best in the business to create something truly extraordinary. Together we have developed a brand new suite of tools created specifically for the way interior design studios operate and how they scale. Renee brings years of experience leading creative teams including her time as Director of Design operations at Studio McGee and now consults studios across the country through her firm, Tandem and Brooke has spent nearly a decade inside high performing firms building systems that help designers grow their businesses intentionally without sacrificing creative control or burning out. This collaboration was built from the ground up to solve real day to day challenges designers face. Inside this new collection you'll find three powerful a financial toolkit that brings clarity to your numbers in a beautiful way A project pipeline system that helps you forecast and convert the right clients and a comprehensive process outline that maps out every detail in your step by step process from inquiry to install. In today's episode, we're breaking down what each tool does, how to implement it, and why it has the power to completely transform how you lead your business. These aren't just spreadsheets, they are decision making systems. They're clarity tools, they're calculators and they're here to help you scale your design firm with purpose, confidence and a whole lot less stress. Let's welcome the girls. We are so excited to invite you to dive deeper into the Interior Collective. Podcast episodes now on Patreon unlock access to in depth analysis, helpful downloads and worksheets created with each podcast episode. Subscribers gain behind the scenes access to additional resources like examples and screenshots of guest spreadsheets, construction documents, and so much more. Your subscription also gets you immediate access to our private community of interior designers and our team of industry experts ready to answer your questions? Subscribe [email protected] the Interior Collective or Linked in the Show Notes Join the Interior Collective Patreon community and let's continue this conversation. If you've been listening to the Interior Collective for a while, you probably have heard all kinds of software recommendations and maybe even tried a few. But if your system still feels kind of all over the place, I totally get it. That's exactly Why I wanted to share Materio. That's M a T E R I o. It's an all in one platform built just for interior designers from concept to insert, install, and everything in between. You can try it for free at getmaterio.com and Interior Collective. Listeners get 50% off their first month. Hi, ladies. Welcome to the show. Renee, welcome back. It's so great to have you back. Hi. And Brooke. Hello. This is your big moment. [00:03:10] Speaker A: I am so excited. This is such a pinch me moment. I am so, so excited to be here and chat with you too. [00:03:16] Speaker B: Well, we already have you on the books for a private session next season, but I'm really excited to have you guys both here to talk about what is such an exciting, huge, huge achievement collaboration that I'm just so grateful that you guys said yes to. And. And we're grateful to have you guys here to really talk about it. So I'm really honored to have you both here for this special bonus episode. Some of you listening will remember the amazing mind bending interview we had with Renee Bush from Tandem back in I guess that was season two. But if you haven't heard those that episode yet, I will l link it in the show notes. But can you each please briefly introduce yourselves what you do and how you work with design firms across the country? [00:04:03] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. This is Renee. My company is named Tandem. We do custom business and brand strategies for interior designers specifically focused on helping them figure out their business vision, develop a strategy for how to achieve that vision. What does success look like? How do you want your business to grow? You know, growth is not always bigger, bigger, bigger. Sometimes it's better, better. And so I think really digging in into, like, people's just goals, what they want to accomplish personally, professionally help them take their business to the next level and figure out actionable things that they can do to achieve those goals. So lots of strategy sessions and then also helping, you know, make their business look better inside and out as much as we can. [00:04:47] Speaker B: Brooke, break down your genius. [00:04:49] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm Brooke. I'm an operations and profitability strategist, really dedicated to helping interior designers get out of the weeds and build wildly successful design firms, which starts by defining what success looks like to them. Kind of what Renee said. I really serve as a fractional CEO for many of my clients, allowing me to partner with them to optimize their operations, strengthen their teams, and ultimately drive lasting profitability for their firms. So ultimately, my focus is really on transforming the back end of the business so so my clients can have clarity, capacity, and confidence to do their highest level creative work. [00:05:26] Speaker B: Okay, Brooke, can you break down what your work as a financial and operations consultant for interior designers like actually means when someone books a call with you and Renee, I'm gonna ask you the same question from a strategy perspective, but like, what are your actual magical superpowers in the sense of when working with you, what are the takeaways that like the tangible takeaways that someone will get after having a one on one or a series of strategy intensives with you? [00:05:55] Speaker A: Yeah, I love that question. So I, I truly operate as a fractional coo, so I'm a trusted partner. Think of me as like a business partner, an extension of your business on the operations side of things, who not only advises, but I get in the weeds to optimize how everything runs both internally and in the client experience. So my magical powers, if you will, are truly creating those systems and processes that match the high end design my clients deliver. So what that can look like in terms of deliverables is writing out every single step in their process as far as email templates, recording loom videos so people know what to do when, you know, building out all of those workflows and into a CRM meeting with their teams to refine roles and responsibilities. I get to have really, really honest conversations with my clients team members about making sure they feel supported, making sure their goals are met and they're feeling fulfilled in their roles. And then my favorite is digging into their numbers to improve pricing and uncover hidden Prof. Profitability opportunities. Everything I do is truly about moving the needle towards each client's version of success, which often means providing relief on the business side so they can stay focused on the creative and really in their zone of genius. [00:07:03] Speaker B: I love that basically you do everything I absolutely don't want to do. So we are a perfect, a perfect marriage. Can you tell me bro, like what type of designer is the right fit to work with you? Like at what point in someone's business is it like, okay, Brooke could really help us, like, do you have to have a big team? Does it work? Well, if you're like designing on your own, where's kind of the sweet spot? [00:07:29] Speaker A: Yeah. So I work with designers in two different capacities. So I do strategy sessions which can be a great fit for designers at any point in their journey. Because no matter whether you're still at your full time job or you're just getting started, having systems and organization and processes and clarity and confidence in how you're going to grow is extremely important. However, most of My retainer clients, the designers I work best with in that capacity, are truly exceptional at their craft. They know what they're doing as far as design and they have a strong pipeline of projects. They're thriving creatively, but often feel the business side of running the firm is overwhelming, chaotic, and ultimately doesn't allow them the balance or freedom they originally started their own business to get. They're ready to invest in personalized support and a true partner in their business. Not just a kind of one size fits all solution or course, really to streamline their people, processes and profitability. I like to say that 90% of the client work I do falls into one of those three zones of genius and ultimately allowing them to focus on design and build a business that runs like a well oiled machine. And a lot of my clients, you know, have success in other areas like pr, getting published or, you know, local events or anything like that. Because we're able to free up this space, both time wise and financial wise, to give them the room and capacity to go after those other goals. [00:08:45] Speaker B: I love that. I had a really good conversation with Hillary Matt yesterday for we're already recording next season and she was just talking about how she's in the last two years had to shift from this startup mentality to this company mentality and like, what does that really mean? And for a lot of designers that leap or what can feel like a leap might be more than what they're like comfortable doing. So the fact that this is like a fractional opportunity, you can have someone who can help someone set up those operations and put pen to paper and get that down so your team can run like a company and not always be running like a startup, I think is just magical. So it's just this conversation is so poignant because I was just talking about it with Hillary yesterday. Okay, Renee, let's talk about your incredible, magical. I mean your episode just went crazy. I still have people saying that your episode blew their mind. I still refer back to it personally often. So let's talk about what strategy with you looks like. I really love how you just described sometimes the dream is not bigger, it's better. Can you break that down a little bit more and what someone can expect when working with you? [00:10:00] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:10:01] Speaker C: I think that for me, like when a client comes to me and says either I know what I want, but I have no idea how to get there, or I don't even know what I want, you know, I, I'm just starting out and I, I really can't see beyond my Own nose or I'm, you know, I've been doing this for eight years, and I've achieved everything I set out to achieve. And I don't know what's next. Those are usually, like, green flags for me of, like, where I can dig in. And Brooke and I have talked a lot that, like, we often. While there is, like, sometimes, like, slight overlap, I feel like a lot of times we're kind of standing back to back looking different directions. Like, she's looking really into the business and. And really into, like, every single teeny tiny detail. And while I'm looking at a lot of that stuff, I would say I'm kind of facing outwardly and thinking more big picture and vision and like, you know, how do we look at, like this from a bird's eye view or how do we map out where this can go in the future? So, yeah, I think that, like, ideal clients for me are ones who are like, you know, I need help figuring out where I'm even heading. I think that it's really difficult to create a plan, a strategy, a map, or really even find success if you don't really know what that looks like for you and what you know, and then on top of that, what your specific strengths are. I'm a big believer in the power of individuality and how every single person is really unique and special. And, like, when they lean into their own strengths and, like, look inside them for, like, you know, I guess, like, what's. How best they can work, that's when the magic really comes out. And that's when, like, you get an aligned business that can be really successful. [00:11:36] Speaker B: When I think of you two, I think of Renee as helping me figure out where I'm going, and Brooke is helping me figure out how I'm getting there. [00:11:46] Speaker C: Yeah, I think that's very true. And we actually will refer each other sometimes with clients and work with similar people just because it's exactly like that. Where, you know, sometimes I think there are so many of us business owners that it is just really hard to figure out how I'm doing everything. What am I trying to do? Why am I trying to do it, Deal with all the clients, where am I going? And figure all that out on your. Your own. And I think that a lot of what us outside consultants can offer is the, you know, outside perspective from an unemotional place. [00:12:16] Speaker A: Right. [00:12:16] Speaker C: And then also I think a lot of what I do is hold up the mirror. And I think not many people get to see really deeply into so many other businesses, and they only see themselves and they only see their own flaws or their own lack or their own whatever. And because we get to get inside so many people's businesses and see behind the curtain, we are able to hold up a really, you know, helpful mirror that says, hey, this is actually something about you that not everybody is doing the same way that you are. This is something about you that makes you really special and unique. And, you know, we can see the value and we can help you, you know, sell that value confidently, market it, and then build systems around it. [00:12:54] Speaker B: So for those listening, it was like a month ago, I guess it was like two months ago that I reached out to you guys and was like, we are sinking. We need help. We have served designers in every capacity we think that we can and our clients love us and are read to do more. I just don't know what I don't know. And so a month ago, y' all flew out and saved me. We had a really fun weekend together in Austin building up these bundles that we're going to get into. But one thing that I think sitting there when we'd been, you know, cross eyed as we'd been on spreadsheets for 12 hours straight was, was actually the incredible amount of proprietary information that the three of us collectively have together. I mean, individually it's incredible what we know about people's businesses, but then collectively what we know about people's businesses, I feel pretty confident in saying it's probably one of the first times where someone, an individual or a group can say we have a pretty collective understanding of an industry standard in an industry that has no standards. And so what are big, huge goal with this collaboration and these products was let's try to put out there a benchmark for people to see. What are other studios doing, what are people tracking, what are people charging, how are they putting their operations together and allowing it to be a tool for someone to use to then tweak to their individual process. But to see what, what is the starting line, how can we be on an even playing field? Like, what is the benchmark? [00:14:35] Speaker C: And I think on top of that, all of us coming from, you know, Anastasia, you've worked with some of the biggest firms. We've worked with so many firms across the nation, Brooke and I, from small to medium to large, and, and I think being able to look at all of that and really try to create tools that can work for any size business at any stage, and being able to really compare all of our notes for like, what are we seeing across the board that like you said, is that standard that almost everyone should or you know, would be doing if they knew how. [00:15:05] Speaker B: One of my favorite things when we were working on this is we were talking about, okay, what do we want to create? And then both Renee and Brooke would be like, oh, I have that, I have a version of that. And then they put their notes together and created like this hybrid version where maybe one thing was pulling more from Brooke and one thing was pulling more from Renee, but it was like, it really doubled down and was like, wait, this, this does matter. This is going to make a difference for people because you guys have both individually created this. Now how do we make it accessible to everyone? [00:15:36] Speaker A: I think the best part about it too is Renee and I would build these great spreadsheets that we use with our clients and then we would hand them over to Anastasia and say, can you make this beautiful? And I think I, I've never realized how non beautiful my spreadsheets are. You were able to give them the idco beautiful touch. And they're, they're absolutely gorgeous, but also extremely functional. [00:15:55] Speaker B: I literally can't look at a spreadsheet until it's made pretty because my brain just doesn't process numbers that way. Like it still has to be aesthetic. So. Okay. Before we dive into the new bundles, I want to set the stage and let people listening understand that they are not alone in the struggles that they're having. I think that the industry as a whole is in a very particular state right now and it is challenging for Brooke. As you were saying before we started recording, unless you have a very established, well published portfolio, the client intake right now and the pipeline for people is slower. And I mean we have amazing clients right now who are calling to say, hey, that client just paused this project and we're talking five to $10 million projects that they're like things are on pause. So Brooke, can you share with us why you think the business side of design continues to be just such a sticking point for creative entrepreneurs? [00:16:57] Speaker A: Yeah, I love this question. And you know, Anastasia, you spoke to this earlier. Simply put, we don't know what we don't know. Right? So from an operations perspective, running a design firm is extremely complex and every single firm is different. Just to give a little background, I'm in a mastermind that's run by my business coach with eight other service based business owners and we're all in different industries. I'm the only one in the interior design industry. And when my business coach was introducing me, she said, everything you know about the Business, in the world of business, throw it out the window doesn't apply to Brooks clients. Right. This industry is so complex and to be a strong creative and be able to deliver an incredible design is already amazing. But to be able to do that while having a well thought out process, a supportive team and being profitable is something very few people know how to do. They don't teach this in school. If you went to school, if you don't go to school, there's very few resources out there. Which is part of why this collaboration is such a dream come true for me. Because I get to collaborate with two people who are considering consistently striving to bring this knowledge and education to the design world. I think we come from an industry that's traditionally a bit more closed off, but this new wave of designers and service providers is trying to be more open and collaborative and truly pull back the curtain on what it takes to run a profitable design firm. Because there's very few people talking about it, in my opinion. [00:18:15] Speaker B: At the top of this episode, before I let you guys on the call, I explained a bit of the backstory behind how this collaboration came to be through my eyes. I'd love to know, like, what inspired each of you to say yes when I reached out a desperate for help. And also with just this idea of, like, how do we create something that doesn't exist yet? And what gaps in the industry were you each really hoping to fill? Renee, we'll start with you. [00:18:44] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, I think Anastasia, you and I have met throughout the years and I mean, I just feel so lucky to get to do anything with you. I love the people that you attract. I think that was a huge, huge reason why it's an immediate yes for me is that the people who, you know, I've done a lot of events or works with, work with lots of different people. And consistently the people I find through you are always like the best of the best. And I think that's because you just attract such amazing designers who are always pushing to learn, always pushing to be better and so community minded. So I think that part in and of itself was like an obvious, like, yes, dream for me. But I also really, really believe in the power of, like, putting three of our minds together. I knew that this would be so much better doing it together than if we were to do it, you know, if I was to do it on my own or we were to do it each on our own and being able to, like, pool this information. And I think something is that, you know, there are so Many complex solutions out there, you know, like software systems and all kinds of, like, there's so many tools. But I think what I find consistently with my clients is that we really need the simplest solution. These are. While these are complicated multimillion dollar businesses, they also sometimes only have five people working in them. Like, we don't need the most complicated thing in the world. Sometimes we need something that is simple and easy to use but has thought through so many different, like examples or like kind of case studies or things. And so for me, being able to come together to create something that's beautiful and functional, that has all of our experience behind it, but then it is also simple enough for people to actually use was like, is something I'm really passionate about, about. And I feel like you guys all believe something, like believe the same thing. So values aligned and that is like a no brainer. [00:20:31] Speaker B: That was so sweet. You're gonna make me cry. Thank you and I love you so much. Brooke, I'm also curious for the same question for you because a lot of what we're putting out there is what you offer in your one on ones and like, it's so, so generous that you are putting that out there. But like, why did it make sense for you to be like, sure, let me go ahead and pack up and sell what my job is essentially? Yeah, yeah. [00:20:56] Speaker A: I mean, similar to Renee, you know, I got to meet Renee when she lived in Raleigh. I'm in Raleigh, North Carolina, and we really got to form a close relationship and I, I love the way our brands collaborate because we really push each other and we really say, oh, I think about it this way. Oh, I think about it this way and I think that's really beautiful. And then Anastasia, when I got to meet you on the Jay Z Boxwood Avenue retreat and the Cotswolds was such a treat. And then I got to see you at High Point Market when you were moderating the Moe's Home panel. And I think what was so beautiful about that, you were sitting on a panel of really well established designers who were all saying, yeah, I learned that from your podcast. Or like, oh, I listened to your podcast two or three times to learn this. And then after the panel there was more, you know, emerging up and coming designers coming up to you and taking the time to say, wow, thank you so much for sharing this knowledge. Wow, I had no idea about X, Y or Z. I love your podcast and you really took the time and space to give to every single person. And I think it just goes to show that we're all learning. Right. No matter what stage of business we're at, we can all take from this advice. And we don't know what we don't know. And we haven't seen the back ends of thousands of businesses like consultants get to. And so when you reach out to Renee and I, it was such a. Oh, my gosh, she trusts me with her business and it was such an honor and a privilege. And then getting to be in Austin with the two of you, and I think one of my favorite things about it was we were not. Yes. Women to each other. Right. Like, we. We really push where we need to push and say, my perspective is this, like, let me hear you out and let's see what's best for the industry as a whole. And agreeing with Renee, I think we all have the same mission. We want women and, you know, entrepreneurs to be able to make money. Right. So money is not a bad thing. I think that the most successful businesses are in the middle of the Venn diagram of joy and profit. So they make you happy and they bring you joy, but they also make you money. And so we want to be able to, you know, give these tools to people that can provide the clarity and confidence to move forward. And then, of course, if they're looking for a more individualized, long term strategic approach, that's when they can work with one of us one on one. But at least this provides a toe in the water, really getting some of that strategy and clarity in a customizable format that can actually be for your firm. Yeah. [00:23:04] Speaker C: These are things that Brooke and I like. We kind of built on our own, then brought the best of the ideas together. And again, they're simple, but they're effective. And it's what we use with our clients. You know, every single strategy session, I'm pulling out one of these tools to get a baseline, to get information, to get data, to outline something and. And being able to share that is, you know, really valuable. [00:23:24] Speaker B: This is kind of a side. Side note, but I had to have been three, if not four years ago already, Renee, that I had booked a strategy intensive with you. Yeah, it was a long time ago. And on that call, you asked me questions that I never asked myself. And I was able. You held a mirror up to me to help me figure out, like, what is my actual why in all of the different businesses that I have. And it just was so clear to me that, like, every single. That I do is helping women, in particular men. You are welcome to, but women never have to make a Decision out of financial fear, out of a lack for financial freedom. And so everything we do, whether it's like the free podcast conversations or getting everybody in a room together at design camp or having these tools at Idygo, everything is always a thread in that vein. So that no woman ever has to make a decision based off of financial fear because they don't have the tools that they need. And like the fact that you guys give everyone exact pathways to that is. It was just such a yes for me. So as we start to dig into actually what are these things that we're talking about, what kind of transformation? I know, Brooke, you just said this is like a toe in the water for like what we can do together. I would argue it's like a good lower half of your body. I think it's a lot more how I think you could take these and it could solve a lot, provide a lot of clarity for your business. But what kind of transformation could a design firm expect after implementing one or all three of these tools? [00:25:02] Speaker A: Yeah, I think the common thread throughout these tools, you know, when Renee and I were reviewing everything a few days ago and kind of prepping for this, it's confidence and it's clarity. And I think you're totally right. I. It's, it is the lower half of the body in the water. It's really showing you what to track. It's showing you how to track it. It's. It's allowing you to make decisions from a point of data, from a point of abundance, and not just from an emotional scarcity mindset. Again, you. All of these tools are built to allow you to stay in your creative zone of genius and for your business to run a little bit more like a well oiled machine. Right. One of my sweet clients, she always says when we get on our calls, I feel like I don't have to worry about my business because you're worrying about it for me. Right. So allow these tools to worry about your business for you. Allow these tools. You put all of your data in that's super unemotional. Right. It's just data. And then allow these tools and the benchmarks that we've set the industry standards that we're sharing in these tools to give you an idea of like, oh wow, I'm actually doing really great, or oh wow, I need a tweak here and there. Oh, wow. I had no idea that, yeah, 80% of my leads come from Instagram, but of the ones that convert, only 10% of those come from Instagram. We are digging A little bit deeper into your data. You know, like Renee, and you have said holding up a mirror and making you look deeper to really make data driven decisions in your business so you can move the needle towards those goals, towards those freedoms, towards those financial successes that you're striving for. [00:26:29] Speaker B: I feel like in this moment in the industry, this is truly revolutionary because so many people listening started their business in Covid or had launched right before COVID and inquiries and work were just coming in flowing and you'd look at your bank account and there was money in it and you're like, we're doing great. And if someone asked you actually how profitable are you? You could probably answer, we're profitable. Like, we're making money, we're doing great. But when things are maybe slower or you have to be more strategic and to truly be able to answer that question, I think that a lot of people would be surprised. Oh, maybe we weren't as profitable as we thought we were. Or, or we were. And it's like, what was it that was making that happen? And so right now, when we're just hearing from so, so many studios that things are slower under being able to understand and truly dissect where your money is so that you can make wise decisions on where to invest more, where to cut. [00:27:39] Speaker C: Excuse me. [00:27:40] Speaker B: And where to hire, or if we were hiring, how would that, how would that affect our bottom line? I think that right now these tools are honestly needed more than probably ever before. And so I am just so grateful for you guys to drop everything and help me create this to solve a pretty universal problem that people are having right now. So let's get into it. Let's talk about bundle one, which is the Interior Design financial toolkit. Each of these bundles truly is a bundle. There's a lot that comes in it. And it's not a spreadsheet, it's multiple spreadsheets. It's additional email templates, it's additional scripts. There's a lot that goes into all of this. But let's go ahead and start with the revenue calculator because I feel like this is like fundamental first and foremost. Okay, so, Renee, this revenue calculator helps set sales goals based on your team rates and hours. So this is going to help you understand what you need to do based off of how much your team can work and what it costs for them to be working. So can you explain how a designer might use this tool to, for instance, reverse engineer their ideal workload for the year? [00:28:49] Speaker C: Absolutely. So I like to use this Tool to see based on how many people there are, what your hourly rates are, how often people work. You know, some of my clients have half their team members are part time. Half of them are more billable than others. And so based on all these variables, how, if. If everything was working perfectly, how much should the studio be making? Then from there, I can look at the data of the past, the P and ls, and say, well, are we making much less than that? If So I need to start digging in to figure out where Are we missing out on opportunities, are we not hitting our billable goals, or et cetera. So that helps me know that if we're making way more than what the calculator is saying, are we maybe overworking? Are we maybe heading toward burnout? Are we maybe, like, are we paying attention? Is it sustainable? Are we maybe taking on way more projects and we could raise our prices and take on less projects and still make the same amount of money? So, yeah, I think with this tool, I love to use it just to. To get a baseline. And then I also run numbers a couple different ways. Like, some of my clients will do a. A certain hourly rate for the principal and then different hourly rates for different team members. [00:29:59] Speaker A: Right. [00:29:59] Speaker C: Well, I can take this calculator, run the numbers that way, and then I can also run the numbers as if there was a studio aggregate rate and say, which would make me more money. I can also sit there and say, okay, does it make me more money if I raise the principal rate by $50 or if I raise the junior designer rate by $25? [00:30:19] Speaker A: Right. [00:30:19] Speaker C: I can play around with these different things. So then I can make the best possible pricing model for me without really impacting the client in a negative way. So I like to just run a lot of that kind of stuff just to give me information. And I can make sure that the way I'm pricing is the best possible one for my studio and my team. So, yeah, so many different ways that I use it just to. To make sure things are as. As good as they possibly can be. [00:30:45] Speaker B: Brooke, pop quiz. Can you talk us through what, you know, we're talking about this being a calculator. Can you talk us through, like, what does this product actually look like? Like, I need to understand what it is that. How much information is already in there, how much I need to be providing, and if there are examples. [00:31:01] Speaker A: Yeah, I love that question. So basically, I'm going to try to lay this out in the simplest way possible. You're going to list all of your current team members Their role and what their billable rate is. Right. The other cool part about this is you could look at, well, what if I hired another designer? Well, what if I change this person's billable rate? Kind of what Renee was talking about. Right. So you're putting in your team members their billable rates. And then at what capacity are they, are they billing? Right. Maybe they're working a 40 hour week. And for example, the senior designer might be 60% billable. Right. So we're putting kind of in the ideal scenario. The really cool thing about this tool, which is where our three minds got to come together, was what is the industry standard? What should a senior designer be billing? You know, I thought they should be 70. Renee said 50, so we settled on 60. Right. [00:31:45] Speaker C: But. [00:31:46] Speaker A: But between that, like 50 to 70%. If they're 70% billable, your senior designers, a rock star. If they're 50% billable, they're still doing a pretty great job. Right? Yeah. So we're kind of, we're giving those ranges and benchmarks per every single position, and then that is giving you how much revenue that position is bringing in on an annual basis. So that will tell you how much service revenue you're bringing in on an annual basis. And then we also give you industry benchmarks of, you know, if you are a heavy construction firm, if you're mostly a furnishings firm, this is how much product revenue you should be bringing in compared to your service revenue to give you kind of a 1 number of total revenue you can expect to bring in with ideal conditions. Now, Renee and I both talked about this. Nothing's ideal. Right. The number one thing this tool does for me, and I was using it with a really successful designer the other day, is the tool was telling us that she should be bringing in about a million dollars a year in simply purely service revenue. Well, the last 12 months, she brought in 600K. That's a big delta. Right. So we need to, like, Renee said to go back and dig through the data and understand are people not tracking? Right. Are we marking things buil billable or not billable when they shouldn't be? Did someone have a mat leave that we didn't account for? Like, those are the things that this calculator can kind of steer you in the direction, but also help you forecast with, you know, making new hires and new decisions and changing rates. [00:33:10] Speaker B: Okay, and Renee, on a granule level, this is a spreadsheet. Yes. Okay, talk to us through what exactly? It's a spreadsheet in. This is built in A Google sheet, not Excel. So I do think that that's an important. It's so much easier. It's accessible for your whole team. You don't have to have special software. Okay, talk us through. You know, you guys both said, we're listing out all of these different people. Is there a place for us to like, are we prompted to fill this in? Or like, how much are we having to come up with out of thin air versus like is already in there? [00:33:41] Speaker C: Good question. Okay, so you should, everyone should know all their team members and like, the different titles and then approximately how many hours that they work. As far as like billable percentages, we did do a helpful like key just so that way for different titles or different roles, we kind of gave you a baseline of here's what the target should be and then also what a range and kind of an explanation of like, if you're a principal but you have a large team, you're probably not spending as much time on specifically billable hours. So you should be between this range. If you're a principal that has maybe no team members or very few team members, you're going to be spending most likely at least 50% of your time on billable hours for clients because you're doing the majority of the work. So we did kind of give examples of like, what it should be. And I think this is the beauty of it, is being able to play with it. A lot of these tools are built to help you project out, not just see what's happened in the past. And when people talk about data, it's almost always like your P and L, your past data, the hours you've already tracked. What we want to do and what is strategic is being able to project that out so that we can make smart choices today that that will affect, like, what happens in the future. And I think one other good point here is that if you're running your studio on a flat rate bill billing model, you're pricing yourself flat rate. You should be making more than you would hourly. There's no reason to be billing flat rate if you're making less than you would hourly. The main reason you want to be at a flat rate is because you're able to benefit the client by saying, hey, I am pretty much guaranteeing you that I'm going to get it done with this within this amount of money. And also that you're basing more on the value and not just the time. So run your numbers based on the time, make sure that you know what it should be and Then look at how much you're bringing up flat rate and say, am I actually making more than I would be if I was hourly? So I think it works both if you're hybrid hourly or flat rate. But yes, spreadsheet, it's very easy to put the things in. We do have a key that helps you know, what it should be in Target. But then the whole point is play around with it a little bit and ask yourself, wow, if I sell, you know, this much more furnishings like this is going to affect my revenue on my bottom line this much. If I were to hire one more senior designer, I would actually in another $150,000 this next year. If I, you know something I see a lot with clients is the principal's billing 275, and then the junior's at a hundred. And I'm like, don't raise that high hourly rate. That's what your client is looking at. Your client is judging your pricing based on the principal design rate. Instead, bump up the lowest rate. So, you know, bump that up to 175 and look at how much money that will make you. And your clients are still valuing you the same as they did before because they're looking at that 275, whether your juniors are at, you know, 225, 175 or 105. So those kind of things, just playing with those numbers is so helpful. [00:36:30] Speaker B: A couple things that us on the heideco side have gone in to make these tools particularly helpful. If you're spreadsheet adverse like I am, we have painstakingly gone through and locked every single formula so that there's no chance of you messing up the calculators that are built in. We have it. It's so clear that if it's a green box, that's where you are inputting information. And there are notations throughout the spreadsheet that remind you what it is you're inputting. And anything that is automatically populated and automatically calculated, that's already just a white, white background and it's locked, so you and your team cannot mess it up. Now, that's not to say that it can't be totally customizable. And if that is something that you're looking to customize, you always have the option of duplicating the sheet and. And then those locked permissions are released, and so you can tweak it the way that you want. But this tool in particular, you can still be adding in as many team members as you have or as few without having to duplicate the spreadsheet that that variability is already built into it. So I really, really, really needed this to work for people who don't have the brains of Renee and Brooke. I needed it to work for my brain. And so with them coming up with all these amazing formulas, we've been able to make it pretty foolproof that you can play with this, see, tweak it, see what it changes, see how it affects you, but then also not mess it up when you put in something that you're like, wait, wait, wait. I was just testing that. Okay, ladies, I completely comprehend how this works for a team, but can either of you walk us through a specific example of how a solo designer could use this tool versus a team of five? [00:38:14] Speaker A: Yeah, Renee spoke to this a little bit, But I think the common thread you're going to see across all these tools is you get to shift from being reactive in your business to being proactive in your business. So this tool specifically allows a designer to map out what growth looks like. Right. That could mean starting with a VA, 10 hours a month, or hiring a bookkeeper. Right. A bookkeeper is a great first hire for someone growing their firm. So if you are not ready for growth at all, or if you even maybe just want to look at growing your hourly rate just for a solopreneur, this tool allows you to do that and shows you what kind of revenue those small tweaks in your business will generate. And in my experience, this tool's biggest strength is showing you what is possible from a financial and capacity perspective, no matter the size of the firm, which ultimately leads to more confidence and clarity in growing and scaling your business. [00:39:08] Speaker C: Like, for example, I feel like, would I make. Like, this would answer the question for me. Would I make more money if I raise my hourly rate by $25 or if I do 5 extra billable hours a week, which one's going to make me more money? This calculator would tell me that. And then I can play around with, like, okay, how much more money would I make if I raised my hourly rate by 15. What about my 25? Sometimes I run the numbers and I'm like, it's pretty negligible. Like, I don't know if I really want to raise my rate from 195 to 215, because it's really going to make me an extra, which I don't know the math on. I'd need the calculator. But, like, it's only going to make me this much more. And in the grand scheme, of things. I think I'd rather kind of stay just below that 200 an hour mark for my clients to kind of like, you know, to really convert them or. But at least I'm making that based on the information and not just my gut. I think what Brooke and I see so often is that people who are highly creative tend to do so much intuitively, and that's the beauty and the power of the work that they're doing. They walk into a space, and it's an intuitive experience. You know, it's not just all analytical and logical. There's a. Yeah. Just. Yeah. And. And I think that a lot of people run their business that way, and I think that there is beauty and power in that and being able to have the other side where you can look at the information and say, okay, my gut is telling me this, and the data is telling me this. Now I get to decide what I want to do. [00:40:25] Speaker B: Yeah. I also think in this one in particular, the examples and the key that you guys have put in with your collective proprietary information, Even if you are a designer running your own operation and you don't have a team yet. Understanding, okay, how much should my product be bringing in in comparison to my hourly rate? I mean, just having that proprietary information alone, I think, is super invaluable. So, okay, that's one of a gajillion. We gotta move on. Okay, so the studio finance sheet. This is like the bulkiest, meatiest, I feel like, of this particular bundle. This sheet includes net profit and owner draw calculations. How does this empower studio owners to pay themselves consistently? [00:41:11] Speaker C: Okay, so what we were saying before, where so much of the information that we're given as business owners, P and L balance sheets, you know, even like, bookkeeper reports and stuff, it's all past data. What this sheet can do is it can help you see into the future. It can help you put in all of your expected income, all of your expected expenses. So, you know, budgeting everything. Something even like, oh, I spend about 200 bucks on gas or 200 bucks on meals, or I'm planning to go to design camp. And so I want to budget out that money. Or I've got a photo shoot coming up. You can just put in what you expect and then see how the numbers will play. So what it does is, again, I think so many people can only see 2 inches in front of their nose, and they're trying to, like, hurdle through space with absolutely no vision into, like, where they're headed. What I want to do is help give you this tool so that you can put in how much money you're bringing in, know what's going out, feel confident paying yourself and be able to see. Like if I don't take on a single other project for the rest of the year, my money takes me through the end of October. I'm going to make different business decisions when I know that I'm going to feel more confident to bump up my, bump up my pricing and if someone doesn't book, it's okay. You know, I've got months to, to take on the next project. And I think I see people get a lot into feast and famine or kind of this hoarding mentality of I have no idea how much money is mine, I have no idea how much money I'm allowed to spend. I'm gonna just take on as much work and hoard as much money as I can and then see where it lands at the end of the year. This allows you to be a lot more stress free. You know, I use this tool in my own business. I check it daily. I'm like a crazy person about it. But like, I feel like it really helps help smooth out all those like peaks and valleys so that you can just run. Like when you're looking at your money, you know how much is yours, you know what you can pay yourself, you know how much Runway you have, and you can just like see everything in one place, big picture. Rather than like, like I said, hoarding and just kind of waiting to the end and just kind of like hoping you had a good year or pulling money out willy nilly and just kind of being like, I hope that's fine or I need it. So we'll see. And that's what I see a lot of my clients doing. And I want to give them them more clarity. [00:43:20] Speaker B: Brooke, is this all strictly forecasting or what information are we putting in? Does it include actual, you know, past data and how have we broken it? Like, how much do I need to know going into this versus how much is kind of spelled out for me? [00:43:36] Speaker A: Great question. So on the first tab of all of these Google sheet templates, we've written out instructions. So like Anastasia mentioned, the green cells on, on all of these sheets are going to be where you put in data. And all of our formulas are locked. The really other few great things on the instruction page is we're telling you what data you need to put in, we're telling you what it's going to spit out. But then we're also giving you some helpful hints and industry knowledge. Right. So, yes, you are putting in past data. So right now we're halfway through the year. Right. We're in July when we're filming this. So we could put in data from January through through June, considering maybe it's probably not reconciled yet. But January through May have actual data. Right. And then maybe in a different colors, maybe that is red text, maybe in green text. I'm going to predict out. Right. So I think that when Renee and I were talking about this, and something I like to say to my clients sometimes is I like to use the analogy of interior designers speak French and bookkeepers speak German. Right. You can use any language. It doesn't matter. But oftentimes they're not really speaking the same language. So Renee, a lot of Renee and I's job is to kind of come in there and bridge the gap, right? This tool bridges the gap. This tool gives you the confidence to. You don't have to go to your cfo. You don't have to go to your CEO. You don't have to go to your business strategist. You can learn your numbers. You can empower yourself to pay yourself more. If you have been in business for two, three years and you cannot afford to pay yourself a salary that you could get at a firm, if that is your goal. Right. Some. Some designers strategically choose to invest all the profit back into their business. But if you can barely pay your bills after a few years in business, you've got to dig into your numbers. Right. You have to get financial clarity. And so this tool not only allows you to look at what happened and spot trends and spot, you know, uncover things like, oh, why I'm actually paying for one too many seats in a sauna or a studio, or, oh, wow. I actually, you know, that that photographer that I loved using six months ago was actually made more sense financially, and I loved their product or whatever. It may be like you're looking at past data to spot trends, but you're also forecasting out so you can start to get some of that confidence and clarity to really understand your financials. [00:45:48] Speaker B: Yeah. So we've broken down an outline. You know, there's a row for what we collectively have felt are pretty typical expenses for a studio. So there certainly will be things that you want to add in if they're super unique. Spends for your studio. [00:46:04] Speaker A: Studio. [00:46:04] Speaker B: But like, we've broken down everything from piece by piece marketing spends, to your team's salaries, their hourly rates, to the 401k contributions you make to all of those things that roll into that all the way down to photoshoot, props, and photography. So that in itself just understanding what am I, like, what am I spending? What am I supposed to be spending? Not even necessarily as, as much as what that amount is, but like, these are the things that I need to be considering when I am coming up with a budget. These are things that I am paying for that I'm probably not thinking of off the top of my head. [00:46:41] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, when I was filling this out for my own business, I started seeing, oh, wow, the credit card fees I'm paying were like, it started. It was starting to get to like over a thousand dollars, like more than thousands of dollars every single month. And once I took a look at that and then I just, I started budgeting for it. But then I literally clicked, clicked the little thing in dubsado that was like, oh, have the client pay the credit card fees. And then all of a sudden I was saving like 1500 plus dollars a month just because I didn't even know that I was spending that I was paying for that, you know, until I start filling it out and seeing, oh, wow, I'm spending quite a bit on this, I'm spending quite a bit on that. And I think that again, I think simple is so valuable. We don't want it to be overly complicated. But a lot of people don't force themselves to even look at this stuff. And having a sheet like this can just force you to sit down and look at those big categories and fill in the information. And then from that you learn so much information. [00:47:34] Speaker B: Okay, serious question. And I did not prep you guys for this, so you might not want to answer, but do you feel like this is a spreadsheet template that you could give to your bookkeeper and say, I need you to fill this in for me because this is how my brain works? [00:47:49] Speaker C: Yes. I mean, that's what I do in my business as well. [00:47:51] Speaker B: Well, and you feel like that's a reasonable request? [00:47:54] Speaker C: Yeah, because a lot of times it's matched to the P and L categories. What were you gonna say, Brooke? [00:47:58] Speaker A: Yeah, for my clients, it's so funny. I have a client who I call them a legacy client. They were my literal first consulting client. I've worked with them for so long. And I was like, I feel like you guys are running like such a well oiled machine. We were on a call with their bookkeeper and their bookkeeper was like, wait, you can't leave. Because I reconcile what happened, but I don't know how to forecast out kind of what Renee was Speaking on like, oh, if you don't take on a client client until October, you're good. Or like, oh, you need to take on, you know, X, Y or Z because those are the most profitable. This spreadsheet allows you to do that. So it really can very well be used in conjunction with your bookkeeper or cpa. If you're working with a cfo, they might have a similar tool maybe that they use for projections. But a hundred percent, this is something that in my experience, a lot of bookkeepers who even specialize in this industry are. They're not really providing those type of forecasting and really in depth education experiences for their clients. [00:48:52] Speaker B: And we are definitely going to get into pipeline and understanding when you should be taking on work later. That's a separate bundle. But I want to make sure that we get through everything that's in this amazing financial toolkit. We have a KPI dashboard. Brooke, before we get into this, can you tell us, for someone who's never tracked KPIs, what does KPI even mean? And, and where's kind of the best place to start as an interior designer? [00:49:16] Speaker A: Yeah. So KPI is a key performance indicator. It's essentially just data. It's numbers, it's written data, it's numerical data, it's financial data, social data, marketing data. So I always say, don't track data, just track data. Right. We want to know where you want to go in your business, what are your goals, which is what Renee is so good at helping you figure out. Right. So where do you want to go? What is the biggest, scariest dream you can put out there? And then let's figure out what data we need to be tracking to make sure we're getting there and making sure that we're making data informed decisions in our business. So examples of some KPIs that every single interior designer should be tracking would be net profit, which is the amount of money you have left after you subtract your cost of goods sold and all of your expenses. New leads and what amount of those leads converted and then written KPIs. I love written KPIs because our purely numerical KPIs may show we are doing amazing. It may show we've got so many leads and we're getting published and we're getting press hits and our website traffic is up and we're making so much money. But what if we're extremely overwhelmed and we're working 60 hour weeks and we're burnt out and we're, you know, crying every week? Right. Something's gotta change. So in addition to marketing and social KPIs, your financial KPIs, this tool also has a tab for written KPIs where we can ask ourselves, what was our biggest lesson this month? What was our biggest win? Like, do we need to make changes to our contract based on what we learned this past month? Kind of that gut check to do on a monthly basis. [00:50:47] Speaker B: Renee. So this dashboard, which again is a Google spreadsheet, it has multiple tabs in it. It's got the instructions. Wait, that might be a lie. This one. Did we do instructions on this one? Okay, great. Yep, it's got instructions on this one. [00:50:59] Speaker C: Although we love instructions. We want to make it as easy as possible. [00:51:03] Speaker B: But it is super clear. Green boxes are where you fill in. So it's tracking marketing and studio health alongside finances. What kinds of decisions can a designer make by tracking these monthly trends? [00:51:17] Speaker C: I mean, I think that's something that's so interesting about data, is that, you know, you. If you're not looking at it, you don't even know what it can tell you. So, I mean, looking at how your followers increased, you know, have you been boosting any posts? Have you been paying for, you know, any marketing? And then did you get more leads from that? Let's say you paid for a magazine ad. I mean, that's something, well, people will do sometimes. And then they'll say, you know, I didn't really get anything from that placement. Or maybe you're, I don't know, just like, like certain things where if you're not looking, you can't necessarily tie your actions to something. So as we were talking about, when you're in a place in your business where you need to tighten up, this is where strategy is so important. You want everything you're doing to be as impactful as possible. You don't have the buffer to just waste, you know, energy, decisions, and resources. And so the more you can take a look at that data, the more you can know. You know what? Maybe I don't need to pay for that magazine placement. Or I got three of my biggest projects from that last year, so I know I need to do this, that, or you know, those important things. So I think sometimes we don't even know what the data will tell us until we track it. And that's why it's so important just to start and see what it tells you. [00:52:22] Speaker B: I think that as entrepreneurs and business owners and, and designers, because Yalls projects take so long to complete, it's so natural. And I Do this all the time. Some big milestone happens and I'm. And the project, you know, completed. And you finished designing that two years ago. And so, like, you're already mentally onto the next thing or the, this, this press that came out and you're like, yeah, well, we photographed that, you know, 10 months ago and you're already onto the next. And so I, for me personally, this is a tool that I've started using as we're going through such a transitional phase at idco to be like, okay, we need to a celebrate these wins, but also like, actually take the time to put it down so that I can go back and say, okay, that press hit came out and we didn't see anything that month happen, but we did get. Get four leads two months later. It'll also help you predict. Okay, if I do want to run that ad in the local magazine, I know from last time it took three months for it to actually see, so I need to run that in the spring issue if summer is my slower time. So it really helps you kind of see what those trends are on a. Really, what I like about these tools is that you can look at them quickly from a very macro scale and be like, great, we're up, we're in the green. I can look at this again tomorrow. And then you can also break it down on a really micro scale as well. [00:53:50] Speaker C: Yeah, I think, like, seasonality is a thing in this industry too. So when you start doing it year over year, like, it's very. It's beneficial immediately after three months, I would say of. Of data. But like, year over year, I. We see an uptick in often January, February of inquiries and then again in like the spring, April, May, and then again like, like when everyone gets out of when crazy May is over and June, July, and then when people go back to school. And I think when we see these upticks, when we start to understand year over year what our business looks like, it also helps us just calm those fears of, like, oh, well, there's not a lot of inquiries in March. That happens every year, you know, okay. [00:54:25] Speaker B: So the last piece to this financial toolkit puzzle, or I should say solution, not puzzle, is the end of project review sheet. Why is it so important to review profitability after a project writing wraps up? And what should designers be looking for in the sheet? [00:54:42] Speaker A: This is one of my favorite tools in this bundle, but also all together, it's something that I've used with my clients for a long time. And if you're one of my clients, you probably have the ugly version and I need to send you the more beautiful version that Anastasia made. [00:54:57] Speaker B: Beautiful. [00:54:58] Speaker A: But when we get to the end of a project, you just spoke on this, sometimes we're really fatigued. Right. And we're on to the next one. We don't often carve out the time to really reflect back on what went well in the project. How profitable were we? What vendors were great to work with, what was our actual cost per square foot did we go over in budget? What about timeline? How much did the living room cost? How much of the dining room cost? How much of the bedroom cost? Right. So I love to give my clients this spreadsheet and I say, let's put all of your data in from your past projects. And then anytime they say, hey, can you look over this proposal for me? Or hey, can you help me price them? This, this is the first tool I bring up because I don't know, I don't sit in studio with, you know, 95% of my clients. I have no idea how long it takes them to design a living room. I have no idea, you know, their past five projects. What was the cost per square foot? Right. This tool not only helps me reflect, but I think the number one most powerful thing about this is it helps you price. It helps you say, you know, on average, our living rooms cost between 45 to $55,000 dollars. On average, our clients have a furnishings budget of $50 per square foot, whatever it may be. Right. But then it's also like timeline variance. It's going to dig into that. It's going to dig into your product markup. What was your actual product markup? If you. One thing I love about this tool is we have an hourly tab and then we have a flat fee tab. So if you do a hybrid, you can do whichever one feels better for you. But we have a tab that's for clients, or, excuse me, for designers that bill hourly and then one for designers that bill via flat fee. So it's going to give you the time that you didn' what was that expense? What was that opportunity cost? And what was your actual hourly rate when we take in that loss? So I love this tool. I could talk about it for days. [00:56:42] Speaker B: How do you feel like this? She could double as a tool as the team debriefs. Like, how might you structure that meeting to fill in this information? [00:56:54] Speaker C: Yeah, I think just again, looking at the data and then helping your team know what to do because of the that. So I would recommend filling it out and looking at it prior to A meeting. For example, if your design team knows that typically we spend, like Brooke said, 40 to $50,000 on a living room. And then that is, like their general budget, you know, Like, I think that can help them know when they're sourcing. Like, hey, if this living room budget is only 30, that's going to be lower than our average. So I already know that I need to be, like, a little bit more mindful as I'm selecting things for this project so that they're not selecting, getting to the end and saying, oh, shoot, this is over. That's just a waste of time and money. [00:57:32] Speaker A: Right. [00:57:32] Speaker C: So I think thinking about where should they be sourcing from, thinking about, hey, we didn't track our time that well on this. This, we had a bunch of errors on this project. It's a really. I think anytime you're giving feedback to people, the more you can tie it to something objective. And it's not, I don't like what you did. And instead it's, hey, you did this. And here is the consequences of the ramifications and here's what we'd like to do moving forward, and we take the emotion out of. [00:57:56] Speaker A: And it. It. [00:57:56] Speaker C: You're going to get a lot better response. And like, it's just easier to be receptive of that. So I think being able to look at data when giving feedback, so valuable. [00:58:05] Speaker B: I think it also, as an employee, it makes it a lot easier to see. Like, oh, yeah, that's super clear. I totally get that. I mean, a lot of the times it's not an intentional choice. Like, they just don't know us as principals and as business owners. Like, so much of this information, as you start to put it in, is new to you, so how could you expect your team to know it either? [00:58:26] Speaker C: Totally. I think people don't always. That's why you need to track things is. I mean, I work with people and I try to convince them to track their time all the time. Like, that's such a great data point. [00:58:34] Speaker A: Right. [00:58:34] Speaker C: And people will feel like they're working full time. They feel like they're working even extra. And then they'll track their time and realize, oh, I only really work 30 to 35 hours a week now that you're still making the same amount of money, you're still getting the same amount of work done. But, you know, maybe then that can remove a little bit of resentment just having the information, knowing what's actually happening, like the way that our brains work, we can't know exactly how much time we Spent on something like, our perception's always gonna be skewed. So being able to really look at it, I feel like, you know, if, you know, you're only working 35 hours a week, there might be, like, when something does come up and you need to work extra, you're doing it, you know, not so stressed or more grateful because you're like, oh, this is an outlier. Which your team could also feel as well. [00:59:17] Speaker B: Amazing. Okay, so that was bundle one. That was was everything in the financial toolkit for interior designers. So this next product we put together is prospective client Pipeline Bundle. And right now, so many of us are feeling this deep. People are like, where are the leads? Where are they coming from? I'm coming off of all those Covid projects. And now I'm like, what's coming next? Let's talk about the pipeline planner. This one was, is a bit of a mind fuck. It took us a while to get this one together, but I just believed in this so much. And it's so interesting to hear from all three of us, like, what it was that we saw this being used for and how. I was like, we need to figure out how to solve all of these problems in one place. So, Renee, this visual Gantt style planner maps out every project phase. First question, what the heck is a Gantt style planner? Like, what does that mean visually? [01:00:19] Speaker C: Okay, awesome. What you're looking at is you're going to input your data on one tab and then on the second tab, it's going to kind of create the visual. So you've got each of your projects in a line and then all of the project phases are named and then color coded in a, in a straight line out based on the weeks. So again, we went back and forth between the three of us to figure out kind of the sweet spot of how much detail versus how little detail. [01:00:45] Speaker A: Right? [01:00:46] Speaker C: So with this one, I think what we really wanted is we wanted to be able to get a bird's eye view, a big picture view view. Most of my clients are using Asana, are using, you know, a material or using some type of system that is all their project management. And they've got all their, like, details in there. But what they don't have is a bird's eye view of all of their projects stacked on top of one another to know when they start, when they end, what phase is happening, when, which can then very clearly tell you what are going to be your busy seasons, your busy weeks, what are going to be your not so busy weeks, and when can you clearly and easily take on your next project. So rather than being like, I think I could take one in October, this way you put in each project with the start and end of every single phase. So we kind of did general phases like onboarding, concept, design development, and then like project management. So you put those in and then it will line item all of those out so that you can see again, like, oh, wow, I've got four projects that are all in design concept at the exact same time. I need to be prepared for that ahead of time. Oh, I've got these mini projects that are wrapping right around Thanksgiving that's gonna then give me the foresight to say maybe I need to wrap some of these a little sooner and then start talking to the client to push some of those out so it's not landing right on that holiday. I love to also combine this with like looking at when I'm gonna be out of office, if any of my team members are on mat leave. Yeah, I mean, I think just it's a bird's eye view of every single project and it's like the point of the project where you can see out for literally 18 months, like not just a few weeks, but like over a year and know what the workload's gonna look like. [01:02:22] Speaker B: So it's literally a color coded visual timeline that stacks each project on top of each other that becomes automatically populated after you've input those project timelines, or we'll call them due dates, but timeline dates on the first tab. So it's so clear. Okay, we've got three projects. Of our five projects, three of them are in construction phase and we're going to be pretty light right then, which means our billable hours are pretty light right then. So that would be really great to get a project in that we could be doing design development to overlap those those times. So not only is it helping you with a workload understanding, but it's also helping you with billable time. Or we also have designations of when there's phases that are more lucrative than others. So you can really see where that cash flow is going to be higher or lower. What's the ROI of visualizing your pipeline this way versus keeping it in your head or inbox? Like how I think a lot of designers thrive in a bit of chaos and thrive in keeping things organized in their brain. Why are we going to convince them that it needs to be. We'll say on paper, but like in a, in a visual location, I think. [01:03:41] Speaker A: As you start to scale your business, your scaling can mean you know, 5, 10, 15, 20 team members or scaling can mean you're working 20 hours a week and you have a VA, you know, halfway across the country. Right? Scaling can mean anything. But as you start to scale your business, you have to shift the mindset from, I need to do all the things. I need to keep everything in house. I need to know it all. I need to have my hands, hands in all of it too. How can I continue to remove myself and allow my business to work really, really well while I stay in my zone of genius? This tool allows you to do that. This tool gives you the. A very clear, simple visual of what's going on in your business. And every. Almost every single designer I work with, and especially every single team I work with meets this tool. They can use this tool tool their team needs to see when projects are timelined for. This also holds the designer accountable. I mean, a lot of times in my work with clients and I, I know Renee does this as well. We're pushing our designers to like, hey, you need to timeline projects earlier, right? Like, you, you don't want to tell the client, okay, we're in concept. Okay, now we're going to detailed. It's like, no, when are you going to concept? When are you going to detail? When are you estimated to go into procurement? They should know all of that when they sign on or shortly thereafter. Or at least, least. [01:04:55] Speaker C: Yeah, at least have like a decent view where you can say, oh, based on, if everything goes according to plan, this is when it will happen. I think also just creatively. Anyone who works in a creative industry, there is no endpoint. This is not data entry. This is not an assembly line. This is not like everything always takes this exact amount of time. There is always going to be a certain element of chaos in a creative business. And I think something I'm passionate about is like, how do we build structure around the chaos for the best results? [01:05:24] Speaker B: As you have been listening to this podcast, you have heard a wide range of software recommendations, tools for sourcing, invoicing, time tracking, and beyond. But if you've tried piecing them all together, you've likely ended up with a system that can feel disjointed. And you are not alone. The truth is, it is not you. What you needed just didn't exist until now. Meet Materio M A T E R I O, a powerful operating system built specifically for interior design firms. From the first mood board to the final installation, Materio brings every phase of your project into one streamlined, intuitive platform. Procurement, client billing, task Management. It's all connected and it actually makes sense. Design smarter, stress less. Try it for free at getmaterio.com Interior Collective listeners receive 50% off their first month. One of the trickiest parts in actually developing this and thank you to Renee's team for actually figuring out how to make it happen is that, you know, you'll have a project that you're just doing first floor and it's light remodel and furnishings and then you've got projects that are full brand new construction and those timelines for those phases are different. So we were able to figure out a way to have this populate where you are able to put in different lengths of time for each of these phases per project so that you're looking at a, at the most accurate possible representation of your workflow and that it's not assuming that design is always going to be six weeks and project management is always going to be eight months. Because every project is different and we want to be really cognizant of that. [01:07:05] Speaker C: Yeah. And I think people can pull this up weekly and adjust it weekly where they're looking at it and they're constantly aware of how, how the project's going and. Yeah. And just kind of give themselves the deadline because then they can be more efficient if most of us get things done faster and better when we know when it's supposed to be done. Right. If we have a deadline. [01:07:22] Speaker B: I also think that this can hold clients a little bit more accountable as well. Like between you and me, because you can have this timeline. Because we can give them this timeline and say if, if this is how long our process takes. [01:07:37] Speaker C: Takes. [01:07:37] Speaker B: And sticking to this timeline is really dependent on your ability to give us feedback. The amount of revisions you're going to ask for. The team that you're putting us on board with. And you can also be giving this to your colleagues in the architects and the builders to say this is how long our process takes. Where does this fit into your timeline? So I think that this can be, be a great confidence building tool when you are talking to your clients to say in order for us to stick to this timeline, which is what I promised you, you need to be able to deliver me these things. Yeah. [01:08:13] Speaker C: And that even when you're wrapping up a project at the end, you know, being able to say, hey, we need to be bringing on our next project by the end of next month. So we need to finish these punch items, you know, punch list items by this date in order because we've got another project coming on that's going to need our full attention. I think just giving you that confidence, that's like, that's how it's working out, can help you, like, wrap things up quicker and faster. We can do business. The more effective and efficient we can be in, the more profitable we can be. [01:08:39] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so. Love that one. Amazing. I am so proud of how that came together. You guys are magic. I know. [01:08:46] Speaker C: Becca's getting a free lunch, please. Yes. [01:08:49] Speaker B: I'll get her a manny. She's getting something better. Okay, so next up in the same pipeline bundle is the referral and testimonial generator. So, Brooke, you have said before that referrals are. Are just the most overlooked growth channel. And I'd say, particularly in this market. Can you explain that a bit more? What you mean by that? [01:09:09] Speaker A: Yeah, I think we often forget that as interior designers. Interior designers are service providers, but we are truly in the love. In the business of intimacy, there is nothing more intimate than someone's home in my mind. And being in someone's home and someone trusting you with their home takes a tremendous amount of trust to me. And I'm sure Renee and Anastasia, you guys could both speak to this because you're such geniuses with perception and marketing. The onboarding process should really be built around how do we get this client to trust us, Right? Like, how do we show them that we are trustworthy both with their home, with their family, and with their investment? We're going to be a good steward of their investment. Referrals do that. Right? Referrals, you know, allow someone to show up to that initial call, show up to that initial meeting, and they usually already trust you because someone that they love trusted you. And I think, you know, just to speak to our very dear friend Tiffany. When we were in the Cotswolds, Tiffany was talking about the book Unreasonable Hospitality and about all the ways that she finds in her process to go above and beyond for her clients. And to me, that is how one of the best ways to build a legacy business is to deliver exceptional customer experience, to go in above and beyond, to be unreasonably hospitable. And then you get those testimonials, and then that generates more business of the same type of clients that you want to continue working with. [01:10:30] Speaker B: Okay, so in this product we have how to ask for referrals. Where in your project workflow are you actually specifically. And yes, you should be specifically asking for a testimonial. What avenues we like to collect those testimonials in? Just like, as a little Hot tip. I love to link directly to a Google review because you can always copy and paste a Google review onto your website, onto your investment guide. You can move that elsewhere. But when someone just sends you an email, you can't get it onto Google for them. So we're explaining exactly how to ask. We have exact scripts on how to get that information from them. We have all the lovey dovey, touchy feely, professional polished way of wording that at to wrap up a project really, really well. We're also sharing candidly how to ask them to refer you to someone else. So not just to get that testimonial, but to tell them, hey, we have availability coming up in October. If you have anybody looking for a remodel, looking to refresh their furnishings, I would love if you could give them our name. And I think that asking for referrals specifically is something that people shy away from. And in a market that is slower, people are suddenly trapped in their home and busting at the seams looking for designers. I think it's something that people have to do a lot and I. People love to help. If you had a great client experience as a client of a designer, when a designer says, hey, I'm looking for more work, people love to be able to give that help. So these tools just walk you through exactly how to ask for that, how it can feel really polished and professional, but while still feeling very friendly and not feeling salesy. So we have the exact copy and paste scripts for you, the emails and kind of the formulas as to where it is we like to collect this information. So what are some of. I'm going to skip this question. We're moving on. Renee, how do you advise designers use these testimonials once they've been collected? [01:12:38] Speaker C: Testimonials to me are some of the best PR you can get. I think people focus on, on, you know, PR press all the time and they forget that the things your past clients have said is some of the best press you can have. So putting them all over your website, on your investment guide, putting them in, you know, on Instagram, you know, when someone gets referred, you know, I always want to think about with Instagram, you want to set it up to be kind of optimized for when someone is referred to come and land there and get all the information they need. So you should be be putting those in your stories and then have a highlight bubble that says, these are my testimonials. Create a post that's got the testimonial. Maybe it's a beautiful picture of the finished space. And then when you swipe a carousel, then you've got the testimonial. You really want to try to pull out the things that people are saying too, that align with your strengths so the ideas and the things you want to reinforce. So, for example, like, you know, if you just say, hey, could you give me a testimonial? They'll be like, oh, they were great, great. But if you're more thoughtful about the language, and I think that's where this really differentiates, then you can get testimonials that go beyond, oh, Anastasia was awesome. Loved her. Instead, we want, like, this process was amazing. The experience was incredible. I got something I never even knew that I could. I never could have come up with it on my own. And those things build so much trust. Anytime we go to work with anyone, I guarantee you most of us read the reviews and read the testimonials and. And it's almost more powerful than like a Forbes article, you know, so use them to your advantage. [01:14:08] Speaker B: Another interesting way, just being on the receiving end of things that come in from publicists. Obviously we get pitched to be on the show many times a day, and then we're also getting home tour submissions from designers or their publicists are sending them in to go on the Interior Collective. And one thing I've seen that has been really powerful in my deciding factor whether I'm gonna invite someone to be on the show or not is in the pitch. If there are testimonials, they're pulled out quotes. I think traditionally people. People would like, only pull quotes that an editor had put in a press article about someone. But when someone can include a really interesting testimonial about what a client experienced when working with someone, it tells a lot more for me about the project, whether we're deciding to run it on the website. And also it tells me a lot more about the designer's knowledge and if they're going to be a great guest on the show. So I think that that's another way that you can. Could be thinking about, how am I going to use this testimonial, so how am I going to ask for it? [01:15:04] Speaker C: Yeah, like pitching. I think that to kind of piggy off of that, it's like piggyback, I guess, the talking to architects and builders. Like being able to say, I have consistently delivered excellent results to past clients, and you can feel confident that if you refer me that your clients are going to have a great experience, I think that that's so, so valuable. We all want to refer great people and we don't want to refer someone that becomes a problem or a headache for other people that we care about. [01:15:28] Speaker A: About. [01:15:28] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so let's talk about the lead tracker with data analysis again. This is in the client pipeline bundle. This is another one of the tools. These, like, these bundles are so packed with stuff. So. Okay, the lead tracker with data analysis. Brooke, this one's for you. It shows lead sources, conversions, channel performance. It's so beautiful. Of course I color coded it. It's so easy. Each cell has a drop down, so you can easily select select things. This is not just data entry, it's formulated for you. How can this influence marketing spend or partnership strategy as you're analyzing where your leads are coming from? [01:16:07] Speaker A: Yeah, so this was a tool that was created out of a need. So when I would first start working with clients, I would say, where do your best clients come from? Or, you know, where did this come from? Or how did that pay off? And sometimes they would know and sometimes they wouldn't, but sometimes they would even say, say, oh my gosh, I get all my greatest leads from Instagram. And then when I would actually look at the data, maybe 80% of their leads did come from Instagram, but of their converted leads that they enjoyed working with, 10% came from Instagram. Right. So why am I spending time on energy on Instagram When 90% of the people that I actually like working with aren't coming from there? Right. So this takes the data and digs even deeper. Right. This tells us not only where our leads coming from, but there's these really great donuts charts that are beautiful that you can filter. So you can not just see where my leads are coming from and what status they're at in the, you know, customer journey. But you can filter by just my converted leads. You can filter by my leads that didn't convert. You can filter by the people that are in proposal right now. Right. But taking it even one step further, you can look at your conversion rate as people go through the customer journey. So what percent of people convert? From initial inquiry to discovery call, from discovery call to onsite consultation, from onsite consultation to proposal. Right, right. So you should really use this as a compass for a lot of things in your business, but especially for marketing spin and partnership, because you can see truly where your best, highest ROI clients are coming from. And this is something that I use in my business in conjunction with a CRM. So I use Dubsado in my business. I use this yeah. With Dubsado. So you can use it with a CRM or without a CRM. Because I often forget, right. Like, I'm. I'm busy. We're all really busy entrepreneurs. And. And so, you know, just the other day I went in and I was like, oh, my gosh, I just signed this great new client. I totally forgot this was a referral from another client. I need to send a thank you. Right. So it helps you be more thoughtful and intentional with that partnership and marketing spend. [01:18:03] Speaker C: And I think also with pricing, if you're converting a hundred percent of the people or 90% of the people you're talking to, you should probably be raising those prices, you know? So I think a lot of times we forget that, like. Like, that waterfall of, like, from what step to what step is so valuable, because if you're like, like, oh, I got 15 inquiries and I only booked seven of them. But are you considering the fact that maybe you only did a discovery call with nine of those people, and out of that you booked seven of them? That is totally different information that would have me do something different. [01:18:34] Speaker B: Yeah. I also think in that example, you have 15 leads come in. You only got as far as nine discovery calls. I think it also allows you to look at your workflow and say, who's actually taking the discovery calls? Do you have someone else? Like, do you have an initial point of contact before you get on a call? Do you need to be the one who's on the call? This is something we're analyzing literally every day at idco, like, do I need to be on every single initial cold call? And a lot of the times the answer may be yes or it might be no. And, Brooke, to your example, I also feel like this tool can be the Sleep Easier at night tool, because if you are thinking that you have to put so much time and energy and just emotional weight into Instagram, and then you find out that actually it's not where you're getting your best leads. And that 1500, $1500 ad that you ran in the quarterly publication locally got you six clients. Then like, hey, maybe we can slow down on the Instagram and not stress about it so much. So I think that this is fantastic for tracking that and also for your ability to follow up. I feel like we are so used to getting so many. Any leads, and then we take them through the process, we get started on the project. Hey, when leads are a little bit slower right now or people are slower, to make that decision, you needed to have that lead documented somewhere. So that you can follow up, even if that means that you're following up three months from now when maybe they took some time after seeing what an initial investment with you might be that they needed to, you know, find more money, save up a little bit, adjust their scope expectations, you need to be able to go back and reach back out to them. And we will get in, into a kind of workflow that's included in this product as well to help you do that. But I think a lot of the times an inquiry, if it didn't lead to something right away, they didn't book a call immediately, you let that go cold and that's a real lost opportunity. Okay. Email pitch templates. This is another thing that's included in this bundle. So in this bundle we have written out pitch templates for driving business, for getting new leads. And it includes includes reaching out to builders, architects, realtors, and also directly to potential clients. I am curious, Renee. I can speak to this as well, but if you have thoughts on like, what is the difference between pitching a builder, a realtor, a client, and why is it not going to be processed the same way? Like, why is there a different approach? [01:21:04] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, I think they all have different priorities, right? A builder not only personalities, but priorities as well. So, you know, a realtor might be easier to get a meeting with because their network people, people they are happy to meet with, people they want to know, the more people they know, that's really great for their business. A builder, you might be really hard to get time with them. And I think you want to go. Anytime you're pitching someone, you want to try to understand what are their priorities and what do I have to offer them? What can I offer them and not just take and not just say, hey, if you know anyone that needs a designer, I'm a designer. Instead, how can you say, hey, I noticed that you are working on this project or you work in this neighborhood. So do I. Hi. Seems like we have aligned clientele. I'd love to talk about how we can collaborate anytime. You can really put yourself on the same footing and then showcase like yourself and your brand, you know, and build that trust. You know, I get, I get emails. I'm sure we all do as business owners. And if the document attached is beautiful and looks really great, you're going to be way more likely to talk to that person than if what's attached is like, you know, not up to your design standards or, or doesn't seem like it's very thoughtfully written. So. Yeah, I mean, I think building any of this stuff from scratch is a huge lift. And anything that you can take to, like, get you going 80% there and then customize for each person, it's just. I mean, just makes it infinitely easier. So, yeah, I just think they all have different priorities. And then being able to take what. What we are offering and what we've built and being able to make those tiny customizations to make it feel personal and warm is so much easier than, you know, having to invent the wheel yourself. [01:22:37] Speaker B: I think one of the things that idea has always done uniquely, even with our contracts with Elise, is that we do write things in a warm, professional tone. And the way that things are presented by us, I write them as if I was speaking directly to someone. And so you kind of get this analysis paralysis when you're like, how do I even write this? Cold email? And cold emails are scary. I mean. I mean, it's. It's probably not anybody here's favorite part of their job, if it's even something that they've had to implement yet. So to have these ready to go, you can just be a lot more confident. And I can say with pretty. Pretty extreme confidence that the emails that we are preparing for you to send after you've tweaked it specifically to the person receiving it are going to be written a lot better than the person Sally Sue's down the street, and I just always want to help you guys be presenting yourselves, like, in the best possible way. [01:23:30] Speaker C: Light. [01:23:30] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:23:31] Speaker C: I think another point here is just to remember that, you know, with marketing, it takes seven to 20 touch points for somebody to really be converted, Right? So even if you send this email and you don't hear anything back, I think I'm always trying to. To really coach my clients to focus on what you can control. You can control sending the email. You can't control who responds that we're planting seeds and we don't know which of those seeds is going to fruit, and our job is just to plant as many seeds as we can. And so, like, that's what we can do. And I think keep in mind that even if you send that email and you never hear anything, they've heard of you now. And when they hear about you again and again and again, they're gonna be like, oh, yeah, I remember them, or I've heard of them, or when a need does arise, they're gonna be like, what was the name of that person who emailed me a while ago? That's what happens. And it's. It's about planting seeds, not about like trying to get immediate results. This is consistent work we do to create consistent pipeline line. [01:24:24] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. I've talked about this extensively at Design Camp, but I know I've talked about it on episodes with Kelly Lamb and also with Lydia from Domino. After these emails have sent and really before these emails are sent to local realtors, builders, architects, great referral networks for you, make sure that you are planting seeds genuinely, authentically. Before and after sending these emails, make sure you're following them on Instagram, make sure you are actively engaging with them. And I don't just sure make mean liking a post, I mean commenting on a post. Because when this email does come in, you aren't necessarily a completely cold email at this point. They have seen your name or at least if they do choose to look you up, they now remember, oh, your profile pic. I have seen that before and it feels warmer. So email pitch templates are a great tool to get you started and to help you feel confident in doing those initial cold emails, we've also got a Project Inquiry email system. This is is a workflow from the time that someone first inquires exactly what that first email says, what it should, what should be included, how much information you are giving them, and then we also have it walk through all the way to a three to five part system, assuming that they have not booked that initial call. So this is again something that can sync up with what you have on that lead tracker and data analysis. After someone's gotten inputted, you can send this first email after you haven't heard back from them, it tells you when to send that next email, exactly what's in that email, and it just helps you be more active with your outbound sales pitch. Okay, that is a pipeline planner that is going to help you get better quality, more frequent leads. And I really hope that you guys find that that tool does what we've designed it for. So then the last bundle, which is a little less cumbersome in the sense of how many different tools it is, it's is sweet, simple, clear, concise and actionable. And that is our interior design process outline. This is amazing because we took all of our proprietary knowledge from working with literally tens of thousands of studios at this point across the three of our businesses and put together what we feel is a standard interior design process, start to finish. And we have outlined it in a very easy to follow Google sheet, which in my mind is something that is then handed to the team. Everybody has a standard operating procedure to start from and it can be totally customizable. You can add in as many granular steps as you'd like between each line item, or you can keep it as outlined as we have it. And you would just duplicate this sheet per project. That's how I see this happening. So you can look at all of your projects and understand where they are in this process so that there's never a guess as to who's doing what at what time. So, Renee, when it comes to process structure and implementation, can you walk us through how the sheet maps out every task literally from inquiry to install? How do you see this replacing scattered documents, Asanas, Dubsado workflows and kind of, you know, ingrained knowledge that everybody just holds these things in their brain. [01:27:40] Speaker C: Yeah, totally. I think that this is kind of the, the like central point that everything comes back to. Like we always have all these different systems. There's internal things that we don't even tell each other that we're doing. We've got things in Asana, we've got things in Dubsado. This is one sheet where you can organize all of that step by step, step so that it's very clear what's happening when and who's doing it or where it's happening. So I see this as something that you could use on the daily to actually track your projects or you could use as a tool to map out your process and then copy and paste this into Asana. You know, super easy to just highlight the different rows and just drop them into a different software like Asana, but like going through and saying, okay, first the client's going to fill out the intake form and then link to the intake form and review that. Then they get an email that's going to be, be including the investment guide, link the investment guide and just link your canva1 and then know who on the team is going to be sending that? What's the expectation? Should that be spent, sent within 24 or 48 hours? Do they, does the client get a confirmation? So it goes through every single step. And then Brooke and I have gone through with every step and given our notes and thoughts of like, you know, we really recommend doing a video call for the discovery, the discovery call and kind of saying why? And so we've done like all of our tips, tricks, things we've learned that have made processes better just with working with so many people. And we tried to really make this something that again, no matter the size, scale, scope of your team, this is an excellent like backbone to start from. And then you can add in any customizations that you want. But I mean, I've gone through this outline with, you know, dozens, hundreds of designers at this point and almost every designer for follows the same general process. It's just the small details that change. So where you can like, you know, where you can like bring together all that scattered stuff is being able to have one place where you can link it, assign it, map out what's the trigger from each step to the next step and kind of build out your SOPs without needing it to be, you know, in a simple, in a simple way like it, it doesn't, it wouldn't have to take, you know, months and weeks to do this. I really see this as something that you could do in a one day off site with your, your team, you know, and then from there everyone has clarity on what is their responsibility, what is their job. And then you as the business owner isn't sitting there saying, hey, did you follow up after the presentation to send the presentation and ask for feedback because the designer already knows this is their job and it needs to be done within this amount of time. We're setting clear expectations for every single step of the process. [01:30:09] Speaker B: Brooke, I know that setting up SOPs explain to us what SOPs are, but I know that that is a big part of what you can provide designers and that's like really where you shine. How is this tool kind of the first step for that? [01:30:23] Speaker A: Yeah, so SOPs are standard operating procedures. I like to write SOPs. They're essentially extremely detailed process documents. I like to write them so detailed and so easy to understand that I could give them to, you know, my waitress at a restaurant and she would know how I ran my process. Right. Like someone that has no know, you know, doesn't know all the nuances of platforms and processes and all the things with processes we want to assume nothing and communicate everything. Right. And so my stance on SOPs has always been the more detailed, the better. I want all the training videos, I want all the email templates, I want all the things. And that's amazing, right? There's a time and a place for that, but transparently that takes usually at least a six month retainer consulting container to complete. What Renee just said, that you can customize this in a one day off so site is pretty incredible, right? So yes, there is a time and a place for these extremely detailed cumbersome SOPs where we audit and uncover every single part of your business. But that's not necessary. Sometimes, sometimes we need a high level process outline that we can customize in a day, that we can give our team members so they have clarity and confidence of how to move forward so we can figure out what needs to be automated in our process and what needs to be switched from a phone call to a video call or, you know, who's responsible for what, what this tool does that it's simplicity. It allows you to be more efficient. It allows you to move forward with confidence and clarity in your process. You know, when that much detail is not needed. [01:31:50] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:31:50] Speaker C: And I think looking and saying, oh, this is kind of how my process goes. I'm going to customize a few things. But, like, my hope is that people take away from this that like the way they're doing it makes sense and is right. [01:32:01] Speaker B: You know, I love that. That's always my goal. I'm like, when people are, you know, they've been in business for 20 years and they want to come to design camp, they're like, what will I get out of it? Like, if I've already been running all of these things, I'm like, even if you just know that the way you're doing it is right, that that is a huge win. A couple things that I really like about this because getting as intense with your SOPs the way Brooke does is a lengthy time investment and can feel overwhelming, especially if you are just learning your numbers. Like, you're just figuring out all this stuff. What I really like about this is that you can create a column with where this task can have a link to your screen recording of you doing that task. So essentially, this can be an incredible training tool for your team as well. So even if you haven't gotten as far as writing out every single step of like, how do we create our proposals? Where are we creating those proposals? You could literally just drop in a link to the screen recording of the next time you're doing it and you can start building this out organically without having to dedicate more additional time to it because it's things that you're already doing. I also really like that we have put in tags here. We've notated when it's something that can be automated versus something that has to be manually done. I think that there's probably quite a few things in your process that could be automated that you aren't yet. And what I mean by automated is it's an email that can be pre scheduled out in your workflow using Dubsado. It could be automated in the sense that there's a canned email for it and we've linked to the canned email for you. So it's also there's different places where we've linked to really relevant podcast updates, episodes for you to listen to. There's a lot of free additional tools that we're directing you directly to in this process outline so that when you're ready to focus on that particular task, we have more information for you. Lastly, when we're talking about this, I think that there's a lot of value in the client transparency that comes from this. I think you can charge more whether you're charging hourly or flat rate. If you can clearly outline your product process for someone and that it's always clear what's coming next for them. If you can talk about this in that initial call and really walk someone through your process, there is a lot more confidence in someone booking with you than someone who can't really talk about it or can really just say, you know, first we'll go through the design and then we're going to project manage and make sure that it gets built out. And then at the end we're going to install and you're going to get that HGTV reveal. I mean when you're charging someone 250, $300 an hour that I do think you're capable of charging, outlining all of these steps helps explain why you are. I also think that this is built to scale. So I think if either of you could talk to how this helps both a solo designer, but also as your team grows, how is it customizable as you are adding team members? [01:34:44] Speaker A: Yeah, I love this question. I think it's, it's a Google sheet again. Right. So it's very easy in Google sheets sheets to add rows, take away columns, switch things up. We've made it really simple where we have drop downs for the assignee so who's actually doing the task and everything is, you know, separated by the stage of the process that it's in. Right. So I think that like Renee said, this could be done. I mean if you're a solo designer, you could probably sit down with your favorite dinner and a glass of wine and like knock this out in an hour or two. I love romanticizing this. Tasks that maybe don't seem as seem so fun if you are a team of three to five, you could do a team off site and knock this out in a day. Right. So but processes are meant to be fluid and that's why even my extremely detailed SOPs, I write them in Google Docs. Right. Because I processes are made to Be. Yeah, they're going to evolve as you grow and change. And you should be revisiting these processes on a quarterly, biannually. I would prefer quarterly basis to update them so they can grow and evolve as you scale and change and as you review all your data that we've been talking about, you know, this whole podcast, that data should impact process changes. [01:35:56] Speaker C: When you run into a sticky point for like two, like let's say you're doing a postmortem after a project and you guys go, oh, I, I just wish that we had had the client do a actual signature on this design before we moved into this. Okay, great. Now go back to the project process, pull that up, add that in, decide how you want that to be, you know, included in the process. Yeah, exactly. Maybe it's Docusign, maybe it's Dubsado, maybe it's just an email that says, do you approve? You know, please let us write us back. Do it the way that feels right for you, but just add that into your process and over time they get refined and updated and evolve just like your business. [01:36:28] Speaker B: I think if that if you are a one person operation right now and you have big goals to be growing your team, the way you could set this up where it currently has as like who's doing it, it's a drop down. You could be setting that up as departments even though you're the one who's doing all of those tasks. When it's a procurement type thing, mark that procurement. Because then when you have a procurement person then they can automatically just take that over. So think about it as like, okay, if I was to be building my, yeah, what hats am I wearing? How do I want my studio to look in the future? Or I always want to be just me and maybe I'm contracting out, you know, technical drawings and I have a virtual assistant in marketing. So those things can all be color coded to be going outlined, but at least you know what those next steps are. So I think that's how you can really scale with this. If you are a smaller team, think about it from like a department size or what you would call a department. And then maybe there's people on your team who, who span departments, but it'll be really clear as to where this falls in your operations. Okay, those are the three bundles and they are extensive. It's just so much knowledge. And it was like, where do we stop with this? Where do we add more? How do we make it simple so that someone can actually utilize it while also being incredibly valuable? I'm so proud of how these look because I've never seen spreadsheets that look as beautiful as this. And we've looked. We did a pretty extensive competitive market analysis. But how do you, you ladies feel like, how do you advise someone to be able to get their team to buy into them? Like, now that we have spreadsheets that, sure, they look great, how are you? How do you get your team to say, fine, we will input this data for you? [01:38:11] Speaker C: Yeah, I think for me, I mean, I come at everything from like that strategic vision standpoint. So I think that's why my answer is what it is. But when anytime I'm trying to get team buy in, I'm trying to buy them into the vision vision, hey, guys, we want to work smarter and not harder. Hey, we want to be making more money. I want to be able to pay you guys more. I want to be able to take you to High Point. I want to be able to go on an inspiration trip this year. I want to be able to, you know, tell them what they're going to get from it. From a vision standpoint that aligns with your values and your goals. And it's not about like over promising or like, you know, it's not even really dangling a carrot. You're just saying if we can be more productive and if we can be more profitable, everyone wins. One team, one dream, we all win. And then kind of bringing it back to, like, if we can implement this, if we can really do this, well, these are the rewards that we're going to see and people can get excited about that. [01:39:04] Speaker B: Yeah, I also have to play bad cop a little bit because I think some people need to hear this. It is your business, and if it is something that you need your team to do, you can add that to their workload. I think that I hear from a lot of clients that they're like, like, oh, you know, my team doesn't like to time track or they're not the best at it, so I don't enforce it. There are things that you need to be able to collect in order to run your business. And if, if this getting this information from them or having the one day, a quarter where you guys go over this all together is something that you need to implement. I, I want to give you the permission to enforce it and that it is well within your rights and your reason to ask for this. That. So I also want to give you the permission to carve out that time for you to do it yourself, to say that this does matter. And this is going to make a difference to the bottom line and my well being as a human being to do these things. Even if it isn't the sexy, glamorous side of being an interior designer. Brooke, for a designer who wants to start slow, maybe they financially can't go buy all three products or maybe they're like, this is a lot of information and I am not going to be able to dig into into it. Where do you think they should begin across the three bundles? [01:40:20] Speaker A: I think they should look at what the biggest pain point is in their business. So what is causing you the most stress? What is keeping you up at night? What is, you know, I like to ask potential clients when I'm on discovery calls, if I were to wave a magic wand in your business, what would things look like a year from now? Right? Ask yourself that question and then look at these three bundles and say, okay, which of these is going to move the needle towards that ideal life for myself, towards that ideal business for myself. [01:40:49] Speaker B: Yourself? [01:40:50] Speaker A: Start there. Don't. I mean, listen, Rome wasn't built in a day. We've talked, you know, for an hour and a half about how amazing and jam packed these bundles are. But they take input, they take, you know, customization and personalization. So start with the one that feels like it's going to move the needle most towards your version of success and then continue to build from there. [01:41:10] Speaker B: Renee, we talked a lot about price points for this and I, I always believe in the premium that IDCO puts out. But I also do know that there's, that it's a different landscape for people right now and to put a premium price on a spreadsheet feels, feels like a lot. And so we talked a lot about where we feel that we wanted this to be a more accessible price point for people even though the return is incredible. But alongside that, we both have like super generously offered 60 minute intensives with people who have purchased these products with a booking link that's directly available in their product download. When someone does need more help when they get in here, they're like, I've put in my information. I'm still not understanding where I'm going. I still don't have that clear vision. Brooke, I don't know what to do with this information. Talk to us about what someone could do with you after they purchased the this in that 60 minutes. What, what could they get out of that? [01:42:13] Speaker C: I think something Brooke and I have so much experience in is looking at different, looking at different data and being able to gather insights from that. And I think I can imagine that people download the worksheets or like the spreadsheets, and then they're inputting info and they're maybe getting some things from it, but they're like, am I seeing everything that I could see from this? And I think being able to do a session, whereas someone else, like broker me, can come in and say, say, oh, here's the insights that we're seeing. You know, this is. I feel like maybe you are spending a little bit too much on marketing here based on how much money you're making. Like, do you really have that much money to spend? I think maybe you are like, your pipeline. Like, can your team really only take three projects and you're only making this much money? Like, maybe you're doing too much for too little. You know, is there a way that you could pull back a little bit and maybe take five projects? Or if you're really only gonna take three, you need to be charging more? Like, this is not making sense. Or I think being able to help people see, you know, so much of what Brooke and I do is we use all these resources for people. So helping people see, how can we use them together for even more exponential results? So, like the pipeline planner combined with the finance sheet and being able to look at when can I take projects on from like a capacity standpoint, but then also, what does that match with my cash flow? And how can I, like, look back and forth at these things and know, you know, and know what the best decisions are for me. And. And I think overall the goal here is simple, easily implementable, but giving you that bird's eye view that I feel, you know, part of the reason why Brooke and I built these is because there is no software system out there that is doing it this way. But being able to give people that big picture view that they really can't get elsewhere and where we can come in is maybe help you interpret that if you're not used to interpreting these types of numbers. [01:44:00] Speaker B: Literally. People, clients have been asking IDCO to build a software. [01:44:03] Speaker A: I still want you to build a software. I'm still. I'm still pro that idea. [01:44:08] Speaker B: As Renee mentioned at the top of the show, there are so many softwares out there. There's so many different tools needed to run a successful business. Having a simple, beautiful place that doesn't cost additional monthly fees, that doesn't need 10 seats for your team is invaluable. And I. I am so proud, so proud of what you guys have built, and I'm so grateful for you? Because I think it's going to be to truly transform businesses. I think people will sleep better at night because they have this information. And I mean that wholeheartedly. Because once I started to understand this information in my own business, I wasn't waking up at 3am Brooke, I'm curious if someone wants to book a call with you or Renee, if you feel like to best utilize that time, whichever product it was that they purchased or combination of, should that information be filled out before they get on a call? Or do you feel like. Like you'll sit there and walk through how to put that information in? Or do you feel like that information is. Those instructions are provided. Come to us with the data so I can help you take it to the next level. [01:45:16] Speaker A: Definitely. I think that use, you know, put as much in there as you can. Dump as much data in there as you can. Because sometimes data collection takes time, Right. We're providing you with centralized dashboards, which means that your data might be scattered across eight platforms. Might half of it be in your head? Right. So using that time with Rene or I to input the data would probably not be a great use of your investment. Rather, use our strengths, use our brains, right? Like, let us help you analyze. Let us help hold you accountable. Like, hey, you know, this is tracking higher. This is tracking low. Or, you know, your p. L. Sundays you made 600, but the revenue calculator saying you can make a million. Like, we need to have a conversation, right? Like, let's talk about this delta here. And if you're feeling really overwhelmed by just the input side of it, I would say still, still reach out and ask us, because maybe the instructions we didn't write clear enough. But we've been testing these with our clients. We've been giving these to our clients, and we've been saying, let us know what roadblocks you run into. You know, these instructions and all of these tools were built out of a necessity. They weren't just built to be built. They were built because Renee, Anastasia and myself had a pain point that we needed these for. And we've tried them and tested them with a lot of our clients, and we still continue to. But yeah, put as much in there as you can and then come with your targeted questions or your targeted pain points points. So we can really deliver as much value as we possibly can, which I know is something that all three of us are very passionate about before we sign off. [01:46:38] Speaker B: I know, girls, your heads are about to explode. I kept you on way longer than I promised to I'd love if each of us could leave like one pro tip on them. I will leave the pro tip of once you get it, it'll automatically Once you get your download, it'll automatically open in Google Sheets or Google Docs depending on which product it is and it'll automatically make a copy. Once you have gone in and customized it to your site, make sure to duplicate that so you have an original copy that hasn't had other data input, hasn't changed your processes. Once it is locked and loaded customized to you, make sure that you save that master document. You'll always be able to go back to your product download to get our version of the original template, but I want to make sure that you are not working over your own master document over and over again. [01:47:25] Speaker A: Yeah, I love that. My tip, which I shared a little bit would be romanticize the these spreadsheets can make us go a little cross eyed sometimes and Anastasia's done an incredible job of making these as beautiful and as approachable as possible. But you know, get a glass of wine, order your favorite dinner, take yourself out to lunch, you know, go to a team off site and really carve out the time and space to do these so that you can approach them with the attention that you deserve to get the out, you know, the output that you want from these. [01:47:53] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm, I'm a big fan of that. I think that's great. I would say my pro tip would be look at them weekly. You may not see them every single day, but quarterly is not enough. You should be looking at your pipeline, you should be looking at your money, you should be looking at your leads, you should be looking at, you know, process. Obviously that's one that you're going to want to like dig deep into. But like that spreadsheet should be getting opened at least once a week or every two weeks for a small little tweak, a small little note, something else that you can add. You updated your investment guide, relink it. These things should be something that you're regularly opening and working with and not just doing once and then hoping that it magically changes things. The change comes from consistently reflecting back on them and putting new information in and keeping them updated. [01:48:36] Speaker B: Ladies, thank you so much for your time today. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your knowledge and your time and dropping everything to come save me when I was flailing about. I am so proud of what you guys have put together. I'm so proud to have my name next to yours. I am so excited to see how everyone implements this. Thank you for your time and I can't wait to work on our next round release. [01:49:01] Speaker C: I know. [01:49:01] Speaker A: Thank you. We're so happy too already. I love it. [01:49:04] Speaker B: All right, ladies, I'll talk to you soon. Thank you. For more in depth analysis of this interview, including exclusive downloads, examples and more, don't forget to subscribe to the Interior Collective on Patreon. We are building an amazing private community of interior designers and industry experts open to a candid conversation, conversations and answering questions. Join us on Patreon in the show notes [email protected] the Interior Collective thank you so, so much for tuning into this episode. Producing this show has truly been the honor of my career and I cannot believe I get to have these conversations. A big huge thank you to our production team at IDCO Studio and Quinn made your contribution literally makes this podcast feasible and the biggest thank you to you, our listeners. Your sweet notes, DMs and reviews mean so much to us as we work to keep our show free and always accessible. Until next time, I'm Anastasia Casey and this is the Interior Collective, a podcast for the business of beautiful living.