Profit Is A Choice

Everything we do begins in our minds. Yes, you heard that right. Our work is based on our thoughts about what we can and cannot accomplish. In today’s podcast we will discuss the mindset that allows us to upscale our design firm. Enjoy!

• Fear

• Success

• Intentionality

• Action Oriented

• I've shared in the podcast before that I was greatly impacted by the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, my big takeaway from this book was the simple fact that our actions are predicated on how we see our identity. Michele (0:58)

• Part of the work to get this whole business thing back on track, was for me to stop identifying as a hobbyist and to start identifying as a business owner. And when I changed what I believed about who I was, and what I was doing, everything else changed. Michele (1:54)

• Everybody feels fear. If somebody tells you they feel absolutely no fear, you need to be afraid to them. Michele (2:12)

• Once we make a choice, you hear me make a choice to learn about our financials, and to manage them, some of the fears subsides and it actually becomes replaced with confidence and excitement. Michele (4:34)    

• As we progress in our businesses, we're going to continue to not know everything. That's what growth is all about. Michele (5:27)  

• Email: [email protected]

• Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting

• Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL

• Website: ScarletThreadConsulting.com

• LinkedIn: Michele Williams

• AIM Masterclass - Watch now

• Atomic Habits by James Clear

• Pricing without Emotion®

• Understanding Your Financials™

• Master Your Profit® Course

Joining me on the podcast today is Lane McNab of Lane McNab Interiors based in Berkeley, California. Lane had a very interesting start to her design business and some immediate success right out of the gate. In this podcast we talk about moving forward without knowing everything in advance, managing fear and risk, critical thinking, and how these elements allowed her to move forward with creating her own furniture lines. Such a great conversation and I know you will be encouraged as you listen.

• Fear

• Risk

• Critical Thinking

• Strengths

• One of my mantras, an internal one that I just came up with is, do something before you know too much about it to be afraid to do it. Lane McNab (13:04)  

• I don't necessarily have the skillset, I'm not equipped, and I don't have the grace for six miles down the road, but I have it for that next moment. Michele (14:48) 

• We can't focus attention and energy and effort on everything. Michele (15:56) 

• I think there's so much talk, in society these days of being okay with failure. I know, it's a big tech principle, you have to fail to get better. Lane McNab (18:19) 

• I created three principles that were our guiding lights for decision-making. So the first was the highest quality. The second was sustainability and environmental stewardship. And the third was customization. Lane McNab (40:55) 

• I think it's a good reminder to know our risk tolerance and our failure tolerance and, and our strengths, how far can we go or the strength of those around us, the team that we've built. Michele (52:52) 

• Email: [email protected]

• Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting

• Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL

• Website: ScarletThreadConsulting.com

• LinkedIn: Michele Williams

• Website: lanemcnab.com

• Shop Website: lanemcnab.com/shop

• Instagram: @lanemcnabinteriors

• Email: [email protected]

• AIM Masterclass - Watch now

• StrengthsFinder 2.0 - by Tom Rath

Joining me on the podcast today is Morgan Mostinger of Lot35 Homes. Together, Morgan and her husband, Ryan, own 5 businesses. Morgan and I have coached together for a year, and in that time we discovered her superpower – starting businesses. In this episode, Morgan will share how she made peace with being a starter and how conquering fear allowed her to have more experiences in her personal and professional growth. I hope you enjoy the podcast.

• Entrepreneurship

• Fear

• Strengths Finder

• Implementor

• The thing that was surprising to me too was how much joy and confidence and sureness about my own abilities came with the building of the business. Morgan Motsinger (09:06) 

• People with a growth mindset don't think that you've hit a certain age and you've learned all you can learn. They look at it as if every day is a learning opportunity.  Michele (11:37) 

• Just because it's scary right now, doesn't mean that it's not going to be scary in a little while or that it's going to be less scary in a little while. Morgan Motsinger (13:56) 

• Make your goals or dreams as big as you want them to because, in 50 years, they're still not going to be big enough. Michele (14:39) 

• Email: [email protected]

• Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting

• Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL

• Website: ScarletThreadConsulting.com

• LinkedIn: Michele Williams

• Website: lot35homes.com

• Website: OregonBeachBox

• Instagram: @lot35homes

• Instagram: @oregonbeachbox

• Facebook: Lot35 Homes

• Email: [email protected]

• AIM Masterclass - Watch now

• EP 35: Play to Your Strengths - with Darren Virassammy

• Growth Mindset - by Carol Dweck

I have seen it before. We go through a goal setting process and then move forward without continually checking to see if the goal is truly attainable and realistic. Maybe you have heard of SMART goals: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time bound. Today we are going to talk about stress testing our goals to check for attainable and realistic.

• SMART goals

• Stress test

• Attainable

• Realistic

• Create a SMART goal.  Start with the goal you want to achieve. Write it down and make sure you have mentioned all 5 parts. Michele (02:20) 

• If we don’t ask the hard, tough questions early on, we will stumble later in putting the goal into practice. Michele (06:22) 

• When we are thinking about resources, one of the challenges is that we create a goal as if all the resources are already in place. Michele (06:47) 

• We must be focused on the commitment to do what it takes – and willing to actually do what it takes to get the outcome we desire. Michele (08:38)      

• Email: [email protected]

• Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting

• Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL

• Website: ScarletThreadConsulting.com

• LinkedIn: Michele Williams

• The Designers' Inner Circle - Become a Member Today

Joining me on the podcast today is Diane Diaz, the Lead Speaking Coach and Personal Brand Strategist with Speaking Your Brand. She works with women entrepreneurs to help them create their signature talk so they can speak with clarity, conviction, and confidence. Today we are going to talk about creating your voice, ways to use it in your marketing and personal sales cycle, as well as how to use it as a thought leader creating influence in your industry.

• Brand Voice

• Framework

• Thought Leader

• Influence

• Your voice is kind of a combination of things. It's your personality and sort of the way you come across, but also wrapped into that are your values, what you believe in, what you stand for. Diane Diaz (04:11) 

• I think a pitfall of not having a voice, not defining it, is not knowing who we are. Not having a direction for our company, our brand, our packages, our pricing or decisions. Michele (08:24)  

• Once you modify your messaging, and your voice actually does come through authentically, as who you are, it will push some of the people you don’t want to work with away. Those are not the people you were meant to work with. So, it's okay. Diane Diaz (12:36) 

• When we craft this voice, right, this brand voice, and this message for our firm, it should spark joy. Michele (14:29) 

• It is very simple to make money, you sell the right product and service to the right person at the right price, and then you manage the heck out of it. Michele (16:20) 

• Email: [email protected]

• Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting

• Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL

• Website: ScarletThreadConsulting.com

• LinkedIn: Michele Williams

   

• Contact Diane:

• Website: speakingyourbrand.com

• LinkedIn: Diane Diaz

• Instagram: @dianediazspeaker

• Facebook: Behind the Design

• Email: [email protected]

• AIM Masterclass - Watch now

• speakingyourbrand.com/welcome/michele - Free workbook to develop your Thought Leadership

So, I did a thing. I took my business on vacation. We had such a wonderful time together. Just me and Scarlet Thread Consulting. I had been thinking of this and wanting to do this trip for a while, but the timing was not working. On this podcast, I am going to share the 3 benefits of taking your company on a vacation.

• Rest

• Reflection

• Reset

• I wanted to have no schedule, no guilt about what I was or was not doing, no divided attention. Michele (02:59) 

   

• My biggest goal on my trip was to have some time to think, process and dream. While I took a list of things I wanted to accomplish, I gave myself permission to come home with none of it done if that was what was best for me while on my trip. Michele (05:07) 

• I rededicated myself to the business I am building and the clients I am serving.  Michele (06:36) 

• Taking a dedicated time to reset helped me gain more clarity on how I wanted to create margin, or space in my calendar. Michele (08:39)     

• Email: [email protected]

• Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting

• Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL

• Website: ScarletThreadConsulting..com

• LinkedIn: Michele Williams

• AIM Masterclass - Watch now

With me today is Jessica Harling of Behind the Design. Jessica loves to work with organizations to create training and operational systems to inspire their employees, streamline costs and develop a Rockstar culture. On the podcast today we are going to tackle the topic of client retention. What are the 5 big tips to creating an environment where our employees want to hang around and work for the success of all? Enjoy the podcast.

• Training

• Tools

• Reviews

• Rewards

• Trust

• People leave bad managers, they don't leave bad companies, we can put up with a lot from a company, but you don't put up with as much from your manager. And so that one person who is in front of you can make a huge difference. Michele (06:46) 

• If we want to retain an employee, one of the first ways to retain them is to put them in the right position and onboard them. If we don't on board, you don't even have a chance to keep them past the 30 days. Michele (08:48) 

• You have to establish you know what you need, what you want, and how they're going to interact in your environment. Jessica (14:52) 

• Today, employees like to feel like they're making a difference in the company, and part of that is having interaction with their leadership on a regular basis so that they can feel like they're giving input. Jessica (31:50) 

• We can change what we have ownership over. It starts with us. Michele (49:20)

• Email: [email protected]

• Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting

• Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL

• Website: GoBehindtheDesign.com

• LinkedIn: Behind the Design

• Instagram: @GoBehindtheDesign

• Facebook: Behind the Design

• Email: [email protected]

• The Designers' Inner Circle - Become a Member Today

• The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace - by Gary Chapman

• A Carrot a Day by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton

I am so excited to speak with you today regarding managing the money goals in your business. On our last podcast together, episode 138, we discussed the 5 main money goals that needed to be established in your firm. Now we are going to talk about how and when to manage to them. This time grab your pen, paper and a calendar and let’s get to it.

• Profit and Loss 

• Calendaring 

• Measurements 

• SMART goals 

• We must make the management of our goals as simple as possible if we want to stay on top of them. Michele (02:03) 

• This is what it means to manage. We must look at the area we are measuring. Michele (04:41) 

• Another principle of good management is creating a time to do it. Michele (06:23) 

• Every goal I set needs to be managed which means checking the outcome against the metric and timeline to achieve it. Michele (08:47) 

• Gross profit is a number that will show you what the company is really worth. Michele (11:11)    

• Email: [email protected]

• Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting

• Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL

• The Designers' Inner Circle - Become a Member Today

• How to Easily Set Reachable Money Goals in Your Design Firm - Ep 138 with Michele Williams

• Pricing without Emotion®

• Understanding Your Financials™

• Master Your Profit® Course

With me today is Crista Grasso, creator of the Lean Out Method and the 90 Day Lean Out Planner. Crista helps growing businesses achieve more by doing less through a combination of strategic planning and lean business practices.  

Today we are going to talk about what that looks like for the design industry. There are many actionable activities in this podcast, so get ready to lean out your business. 

• Specialization and Personalization

• Innovation

• Lean Process

• Review

• You may select a different fabric, you may select a different piece of furniture or art. But you still go through a design process, you still go through a fact-finding process, you still go through an ordering process, and then a fabrication process and an install process. Michele (14:18) 

• Your process is what allows you to give a really consistent and really high-quality customer experience, make sure you don't miss anything that's important. Crista (15:26) 

• I have a process that I developed that I work with people on, it's called Chuck. It's called hold, change, keep. And it's really pretty simple. But it's something I tell people to do every single 30 days is every 30 days, you should be going in and just looking across your business, look at the activities that you're doing. Crista (22:07) 

• Sometimes we just get so clouded with who the person is, and we love the person that we're trying to cram our business around the person instead of saying what does the business need, and then hiring for that position. Michele (24:34) 

• If we're not always moving forward, you're moving behind, you're moving backwards. Michele (49:26)

• Email: [email protected]

• Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting

• Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL

• Website: leanoutmethod.com

• Podcast: www.leanoutmethod.com/podcast

• LinkedIn: Crista Grasso

• Instagram: @cristagrasso

• Facebook: Lean Out Circle

• Email: [email protected]

• The Designers' Inner Circle - Become a Member Today

• Building a Profitable Team for the Win - Ep 16 with Jeanelle Dech

• Top Reasons Every Designer Should Know Her Why - Ep 125 with Michele Williams

• How to Easily Understand Your Interior Design Businesses’ Finances - Ep 136 with Jack Tomkins

• The E-Myth Revisited - by Michael E. Gerber

• Start with Why by Simon Sinek

• Profit First and Fix This Next by Mike Michalowicz

• Who's in Your Room: The Secret to Creating Your Best Life by Ivan Misner, Ph.D., Stewart Emery L.H.D., Rick Sapio

Are you feeling overwhelmed with work? Many businesses are right now due to the massive desire our clients are having to control where and how they live since we are spending more time at home. On this podcast, we are going to discuss how to delegate work without dumping it. There is a difference, and you might be surprised to know many of us thought we were delegating work when really, we were just dumping it off on our teammates. Let’s break this down together.

• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) 

• Gross profit 

• Expenses 

• Net Profit 

• You have heard it said before that you get what you inspect, not what you expect. Michele (01:15) 

• Having a number that you are reaching for allows you to break it down into daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly goals. Michele (03:54)

• You have heard it many times on this podcast and in my training, our aim, if product is a large portion of our sales strategy, is for COGS to be 40-60% of total income. Michele (06:16)

• These are starting percentages, and they are attained by being very clear in your decision making about where money will be spent in your business. Michele (10:25)

• Before we can even manage to these numbers, we need to know what they are, if they are attainable, and have clear decision making in our firms that allow us to know what to do and how to do it to get what we need. Management comes after that. Michele (14:17)   

• Email: [email protected]

• Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting

• Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL

• The Designers' Inner Circle - Become a Member Today

• Pricing without Emotion®

• Understanding Your Financials™

• Master Your Profit® Course