279: Good Management Leads to Profitability 

Joining me on the podcast today is Courtney Bramlett, director of marketing and operations for Scarlet Thread Consulting. We are going to talk about values, how they lead to setting expectations, and having accountability in our firms. It's not every day that we have everything set up so perfectly that everybody comes in and does what they do without questions or confusion about their job. We will talk through some of the things that you can do establish practices that will help your employees or contractors all move forward in the same direction and towards the same goal. So, enjoy and listen in. 

Topics Mentioned:

• Values

• Vision

• Expectations

• Accountability 

Key Thoughts: 

• If we hire the right players, and we can draw the vision for them, they hopefully know what they're getting into, and they're coming in excited and with ideas.  Michele Williams 

   

• As you said, when you can get vulnerable as a business owner with this stuff, I think you get more help and you don't feel alone.  Courtney Bramlett 

   

• The more that people get constructive, positive feedback, the more they can keep going.  Michele Williams 

   

• The only person who suffers when you cannot hold someone accountable or get out of your comfort zone to hold someone accountable, the only one who suffers is you.  Courtney Bramlett 

   

Contact Michele:

• Email: [email protected]

• Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting

• Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL

• Website: ScarletThreadConsulting.com

• LinkedIn: Michele Williams

 

References and Resources:

• Work with Me

• Metrique Solutions The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

• The Designers' Inner Circle - Become a Member Today   

• CFO2Go

• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni

• It's Okay to Be the Boss by Bruce Tulgan

• Who by Geoff Smart and Randy Street

• Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy

Click here to read the transcript for this episode.

278: Creating Productivity in Your Workday 

Today, I'm joined by Leslie Shreve, a workload and productivity expert, and the founder of Productive Day. She’s also the author and creator of Taskology, a comprehensive system designed to help manage tasks, time, email, and information. In our conversation, we’ll explore the distinction between organization and productivity, uncover where time might be slipping away in your workday, and dive into much more. 

Topics Mentioned:

• Organization

• Productivity

• Task Management

• Methodology

Key Thoughts: 

• Any process is only as good as the way that we apply it and stay consistent with it. It's the inconsistencies that usually catch us. It's not the lack of the process itself in most cases.  Michele Williams 

   

• I quickly dispensed with the whole notion of getting organized because that's not it. That's not even the first step. That's not even a step. It's a byproduct. Because when you learn how to become more efficient, effective, and productive, automatically you're going to be more organized.  Leslie Shreve 

   

• A system or a methodology is only as good as we follow it and stay, on top of it.  Michele Williams 

   

• The three places where time and productivity are hiding are in your task management process, your information management process, and your email management process.  Leslie Shreve 

   

Contact Michele:

• Email: [email protected]

• Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting

• Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL

• Website: ScarletThreadConsulting.com

• LinkedIn: Michele Williams

 

Contact Leslie:

• Email: [email protected] 

• Facebook: @ProductiveDayLeslieShreve

• Instagram: @productivedayleslieshreve

• Website: https://productiveday.com/ 

• LinkedIn: @LeslieShreve

• You Tube: @LeslieShreve

 

References and Resources:

• Work with Me

• Metrique Solutions

• The Designers' Inner Circle - Become a Member Today   

• CFO2Go

• Taskology: How to Unleash the Power of Your Most Productive Workday by Leslie Shreve

• What’s Your #1 Productivity Blind Spot on Productive Day

• Productive Day Smart Steps free gift

277: Demystifying Inventory in Your Business

Joining me today is Ciara Stockeland. She is a fractional CFO focusing on inventory-based businesses. She has a podcast called Inventory Genius along with a book by the same name. She also has a new book called Profit Genius that is out soon. Today we're going to demystify inventory. All about inventory, how it works in your financials, why it's so important to find resources and people who understand it and how you can strategize around it.  

Topics Mentioned:

• Inventory

• Resiliency

• Profitability

• Financials 

Key Thoughts: 

• Because every decision, every choice, everything that's sitting on that strategic plan, every product line that we bring in, it is all tied at some point in multiple places all the way down the chain.  Michele Williams  

   

• It's a hard skill, but learning how to edit in your business, how to slow down, that all comes from really understanding what the numbers mean so that you know what you should be focusing on.  Ciara Stockeland 

   

• I think that was a lesson for us too, that you can do it all right, and have things go wrong. There's not a direct cause and effect between right and wrong. But what could we have done differently?  Michele Williams 

   

• Every mess can be cleaned up, every problem can be solved. So even if they feel like it's all out of control, like, we can fix it, it might take some time and some money, but it can be fixed.    Ciara Stockeland 

   

Contact Michele:

• Email: [email protected]

• Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting

• Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL

• Website: ScarletThreadConsulting.com

• LinkedIn: Michele Williams

 

Contact Ciara:

• Email: [email protected]

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inventorygenius/

• Instagram: @ciarastockeland

• Website: www.ciaraastockeland.com 

• LinkedIn: @ciarastockeland

 

References and Resources:

• Work with Me

• Metrique Solutions

• The Designers' Inner Circle - Become a Member Today   

• Understanding Your Financials course

• Inventory Genius podcast

• Inventory Genius by Ciara Stockeland

• Profit Genius by Ciara Stockeland

• Scarlet Thread Origin Story podcast

277: Demystifying Inventory in Your Business

Joining me today is Ciara Stockeland. She is a fractional CFO focusing on inventory-based businesses. She has a podcast called Inventory Genius along with a book by the same name. She also has a new book called Profit Genius that is out soon. Today we're going to demystify inventory. All about inventory, how it works in your financials, why it's so important to find resources and people who understand it and how you can strategize around it.  

Topics Mentioned:

• Inventory

• Resiliency

• Profitability

• Financials 

Key Thoughts: 

• Because every decision, every choice, everything that's sitting on that strategic plan, every product line that we bring in, it is all tied at some point in multiple places all the way down the chain.  Michele Williams  

   

• It's a hard skill, but learning how to edit in your business, how to slow down, that all comes from really understanding what the numbers mean so that you know what you should be focusing on.  Ciara Stockeland 

   

• I think that was a lesson for us too, that you can do it all right, and have things go wrong. There's not a direct cause and effect between right and wrong. But what could we have done differently?  Michele Williams 

   

• Every mess can be cleaned up, every problem can be solved. So even if they feel like it's all out of control, like, we can fix it, it might take some time and some money, but it can be fixed.    Ciara Stockeland 

   

Contact Michele:

• Email: [email protected]

• Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting

• Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL

• Website: ScarletThreadConsulting.com

• LinkedIn: Michele Williams

 

Contact Ciara:

• Email: [email protected]

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inventorygenius/

• Instagram: @ciarastockeland

• Website: www.ciaraastockeland.com 

• LinkedIn: @ciarastockeland

 

References and Resources:

• Work with Me

• Metrique Solutions

• The Designers' Inner Circle - Become a Member Today   

• Understanding Your Financials course

• Inventory Genius podcast

• Inventory Genius by Ciara Stockeland

• Profit Genius by Ciara Stockeland

• Scarlet Thread Origin Story podcast

276: Strategy is Key for Longterm Success

I am so excited about our podcast today. With me is Courtney Bramlett. She is the director of marketing and operations here at Scarlet Thread Consulting and she's also the owner of her own company, The Good Sower. Courtney and I are going to have an in-depth conversation about strategy, why we need to have it, roadblocks that we see when people don't have a strategy, and we will share a little bit about the programs that we have coming this year that are available to help you all with strategy. I hope if nothing else, by the end of our podcast today that you will have a deeper understanding of why strategy is important to the overall long-term success of your company. Enjoy the podcast.  

Topics Mentioned:

• Strategy 

• Intentionality 

• Goal Setting

• Prioritization

Key Thoughts: 

• The true strategy is much, much deeper and more granular. When it's understood and done well, then your day-to-day becomes easy.  Courtney Bramlett

   

• A strategic plan is meant to be over multiple years in most cases. It certainly is going to be the most detailed in the year that you're working in.  Michele Williams 

   

• Business owners get in this rut of feeling like they're never hitting these objectives and goals that they have because they're trying to run in a thousand different paths at one time. So, I think strategic planning helps them with burnout, reducing burnout and decision fatigue too.  Courtney Bramlett

   

• Two words that I see a lot of people run from and I think again, it goes back to education. They run from the word strategy, and they run from the word budget. They run from those because they think they lock them down. What I would say is they actually free you up. Because what a strategy is and what a budget is are decisions that you're making in advance.  Michele Williams 

 

Contact Michele:

• Email: [email protected]

• Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting

• Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL

• Website: ScarletThreadConsulting.com

• LinkedIn: Michele Williams

References and Resources:

• Work with Me

• Metrique Solutions

• The Designers' Inner Circle - Become a Member Today   

• Pricing Without Emotion course

• Financial Health Check Up

• 12 Week Year by Brian P Moran

• The Gap and the Gain by Benjamin Hardy and Dan Sullivan

• Traction by Gino Wickman

• Fix This Next by Mike Michalowicz

My New 8-week Group Coaching Program Kicks Off in January!

Join the waitlist for my newest group coaching program, How to Build, Manage, and Execute on a Business Strategy. Over 8 weeks, you'll learn how to create a business strategy, set key results to track its success, and leverage a decision-making process to ensure every choice drives you toward your ideal future.

 

Register now to know when registration opens

275: Cheers to 2024! 

Every year Ceil DiGuglielmo and I sit down and chat about the prior year. We talk about the books we've read, some of the things that have happened in our lives, and how those experiences have shaped us to be the business owners that we are and that we are becoming. I am excited to, once again, invite you to listen in as Ceil and I discuss the year 2024.

Topics Mentioned:

• Strategy 

•  

  Intentionality 

• Planning 

• MIndset 

 

Key Thoughts: 

• Especially as women, we spend a lot of time waiting because our job is to manage our families and our households and everything else as opposed to being happy in this moment.  Ceil DiGuglielmo 

   

• What I kept seeing is we kind of have an epidemic of we're all doing our jobs, we're working, we're satisfying the client, but we don't have a guide or a path of where we want our business to go.  Michele Williams 

   

• It's almost like we're running this race and we're handed the baton to the next person and I'm looking for that person just like everybody else, who can I hand this baton to that's going to love the industry and who's going to love people?  Michele Williams

   

• There have been enough generous people who have the knowledge and are willing to share it, that we can pull those people up behind us. I think if there's a legacy to be had, something to look towards, is what can I leave behind that will make life easier for other people so they don't have to have those hard knocks?  Ceil DiGuglielmo 

Contact Michele:

• Email: [email protected]

• Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting

• Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL

• Website: ScarletThreadConsulting.com

• LinkedIn: Michele Williams

Contact Ceil:

• Website: The Sew Much More Podcast

• Website: The Curtains and Soft Furnishings Resource Library

• Facebook: The Sew Much More Podcast

• Facebook: The Curtains and Soft Furnishings Resource Library

• Instagram: @ceildi

• Instagram: @csf_resource_library

• Email: [email protected] 

References and Resources:

• CFO2GO

• Work with Me

• Metrique Solutions

• The Designers' Inner Circle - Become a Member Today   

• Pricing Without Emotion course

• It's Okay to be The Boss by Bruce Tulgan

• Price Your Work with Confidence by Kitty Stein

• The Recipe For Empowered Leadership: 25 Ingredients For Creating Value & Empowering Others by Doug Meyer-Cuno

• She Thinks Big by Andrea Liebross

• Atomic Habits by James Clear

• Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy by Patrick Bet-David

My New 8-week Group Coaching Program Kicks Off in January!

Join the waitlist for my newest group coaching program, How to Build, Manage, and Execute on a Business Strategy. Over 8 weeks, you'll learn how to create a business strategy, set key results to track its success, and leverage a decision-making process to ensure every choice drives you toward your ideal future.

Register now to know when registration opens

274: Business Inspiration for Your Design Firm 

Joining me today is Colleen Bennett of CBB design firm and Mimosa Home. Colleen has had a varied career in design working worldwide, and today she's going to share some of her story and how she's created a unique experience for her clients maintaining profitability in the process.

Topics Mentioned:

• Travel

• Profit

• Debt

• Intention  

Key Thoughts: 

• You control the sale with finishes. Because once you get into the finished department and the design department, you control every single aspect from there.  Colleen Bute Bennett 

   

• The beautiful thing is they're levers and we know what we need to make. So, you can go up and down, you can have a higher rate and a lower markup.  Michele Williams 

   

• We have now created this one-stop shop for our clients. So instead of you running around to every single place, you're in one location, and we get your house done in four to six hours. Colleen Bute Bennett 

   

• I love the idea that design can show up in so many different ways. You can reinvent certain things and it just feels like we're not as boxed in sometimes. Michele Williams 

Contact Michele:

• Email: [email protected]

• Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting

• Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL

• Website: ScarletThreadConsulting.com

• LinkedIn: Michele Williams

Contact Colleen:

• Email: [email protected]

• Facebook: @DesignbyColleenBennett

• Instagram: @cbbdesignfirm

• Facebook: @mimosahomenc/

• Facebook: @butecouture

References and Resources:

• CFO2GO

• Work with Me

• Metrique Solutions

• The Designers' Inner Circle - Become a Member Today   

• Pricing Without Emotion course

My New 8-week Group Coaching Program Kicks Off in January!

Join the waitlist for my newest group coaching program, How to Build, Manage, and Execute on a Business Strategy. Over 8 weeks, you'll learn how to create a business strategy, set key results to track its success, and leverage a decision-making process to ensure every choice drives you toward your ideal future.

 

Register now to know when registration opens

273: Construction Management is Profitable  

Welcome to the podcast! Today, I’m joined by the talented Renee Biery, a luxury interior designer, construction expert, and the host of the Only Girl on the Jobsite podcast. We’re diving into an incredible conversation about expanding your design services to include construction management. Whether you’re already doing this or thinking about it, we’ll cover some of the common challenges—pricing, pitfalls, and the essential things to keep an eye on. Renee is an expert in navigating these areas, and we’re excited to share her insights with you. We hope you enjoy the conversation!  

Topics Mentioned:

• Project Management 

• Pricing 

• Confidence 

• Team Work 

 

Key Thoughts: 

• I think that's where designers can trip themselves up unintentionally. They see themselves as the outsider, as the only girl on the job site, and it's very easy to just stay in that role.  Renee Biery

   

• What's interesting is when we show up in a space, already personally aware that we deserve to be in the space, we don't feel like we have something to prove.  Michele Williams

   

• Even those who know what they should be charging, or they already are charging, they aren't charging what they believe they are worth because they're uncertain of their worth.  Renee Biery 

   

• We're looking for this fast track, and the truth of the matter is, we don't need to fast track our pricing.  Michele Williams 

Contact Michele:

• Email: [email protected]

• Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting

• Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL

• Website: ScarletThreadConsulting.com

• LinkedIn: Michele Williams

Contact Renee:

• Email: [email protected] 

• Facebook: @devignierdesign

• Instagram: @devignierdesign

• Website: www.deVignierdesign.com 

• LinkedIn: Renee Biery

References and Resources:

• CFO2GO

• Work with Me

• Metrique Solutions

• The Designers' Inner Circle - Become a Member Today   

• The Interior Designer's Guide to Construction Management

• Only Girl on the Jobsite podcast

Unlocking Financial Freedom with CFO2GO: A Journey Through One-on-One Coaching

One-on-one coaching is my main line of work, and for a good reason. I dive headfirst into my client's business, helping them become strategic with their finances and decision making to be able to lead profitable companies. My ultimate goal and reward is connecting with and helping incredible business owners in the interior design industry. So, I get very excited when my clients come back on my podcast to share their stories so they can, in turn, help others in the design industry.

With CFO2GO you can take your business strategy to the next level with our 4 step process that will help you know your numbers, understand your business position, create a path forward unique to your design experience, skill set, and dream life - plus help you grow your design firm. Click below to find out more!

Learn more

272: Ending the Year Well for Your Design Business   

Have you ever wondered how to end the year well? You'll hear us talk about this in multiple places all around, how do we end our year well? In this podcast, we will discuss how to define what ending the year well for you and your company looks like, how to plan in advance, how to be intentional, and how to create some time to rest and reset. It is so interesting that the fourth quarter of our year is spent not only making sure that we can wrap up the needs of the current year but also doing a lot of planning and heavy lifting so that we can start the next year off well. The way to start in a power position in the new year is to end this year in a power position. Listen in today and determine what that might look like for you and your company. 

Topics Mentioned:

• Strategic Planning 

• Business Metrics 

• Processes 

• Intentionality 

Key Thoughts: 

• Finishing well means to be proud of the effort that was put into these critical items knowing that they set us up for a better future.  Michele Williams 

   

• Take stock of where the company is right now and where you anticipate it being at the end of the year with regard to your financials.  Michele Williams 

   

• Ending well also takes advanced thought and planning.  Michele Williams 

   

• Don't overdo it and go into the new year exhausted.  Michele Williams 

Contact Michele:

• Email: [email protected]

• Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting

• Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL

• Website: ScarletThreadConsulting.com

• LinkedIn: Michele Williams

References and Resources:

• CFO2GO

• Work with Me

• Metrique Solutions

• The Designers' Inner Circle - Become a Member Today   

271: Buying a Commercial Space for Your Business 

Joining me today on the podcast is Paul Neal. He's a financial strategist and author dedicated to transforming the way entrepreneurs view commercial property. He has a book called Un-Lease Your Business: Unlock Wealth, Autonomy and Control by Buying Your Building and Firing Your Landlord and it is a very informative book. He is an amazing speaker who is going to help us understand more about the commercial buying process for our businesses. Enjoy the podcast.

Topics Mentioned:

• Purchasing commercial real estate

• Process

• Financials

Key Thoughts: 

• You don't have to be a world-conquering type of person, but you have to have stability. Paul Neal

   

• You cannot make decisions without your financials in order, or you're making it on a gut feeling and that doesn't always support us. Michele Williams

   

• We always suggest to get in with the least amount of down payment that makes sense, because then you've got your money that you're not putting into the brick and mortar you can use for other things. Paul Neal

   

• The goal here is that we have to be profitable with what we have, and then provide ourselves as a stable business, meaning stable sales, and stable profitability. Michele Williams

Contact Michele:

• Email: [email protected]

• Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting

• Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL

• Website: ScarletThreadConsulting.com

• LinkedIn: Michele Williams

Contact Paul:

• Website: https://www.ownyourbuildingnow.com/ 

• Email: [email protected] 

• LinkedIn: @paul-neal-tea

• YouTube: @theEntrepreneurialAgent

• Facebook: @theentrepreneurialagent

• Instagram: @theentrepreneurialagentpodcast

References and Resources:

• Un-Lease Your Business: Unlock Wealth, Autonomy and Control by Buying Your Building and Firing Your Landlord by Paul Neal 

• CFO2GO

• Work with Me