023: Success with Systems to Alleviate Stress

with Matt Malouf

Matt Malouf is a passionate business coach, entrepreneur, speaker, author, and podcast host on a mission to help entrepreneurs around the world break the shackles of mediocrity and reach new levels of personal and business success. On the podcast today we focus on the mindsets that keep us stuck and unable to delegate and work in our zone of genius. Matt has lots to share on this topic and it is so important for us to consider as we are business building.

• Mindset
• Business Development
• Clarity
• Delegation

Thoughts from Matt:

• There are four negative mindsets that decrease productivity.
• Negative mindset 1: Others can’t do it as well as I can.
• Negative mindset 2: I don’t want to give up control.
• Negative mindset 3: I can’t afford it.
• Negative mindset 4: I don’t have time to implement.
• We should be working 60-70% in our genius zone.
• If you do a task more than twice, create a system for it.
• Create a system to create systems.
• Ask yourself what you really want - and why.

Books:

• The Stop Doing List by Matt Malouf

Socials:

• Website: www.wisdomcg.com.au
• Facebook: Leap Business Accelerator, Wisdom Coaching
• LinkedIn: maloufmatt
• Podcast: Virtual Success Show

022: Diving Into the Deep End of Business

with Lindsey Cheek

Lindsey Cheek is the owner, principal designer, and creative director for Gathered Group located in Wilmington, North Carolina. Lindsey’s work has been featured in Southern Living, HGTV magazine, Martha Stewart Magazine, The Huffington Post and many more. Lindsey shares with us how her business took off quickly after using photos of her personal home renovation and how this meant diving into the deep end of business quickly!

• Quick growth
• Business not hobby
• Staffing and Leadership
• Planning

Thoughts from Lindsey:

• There was grace in the mistakes of the first project because it was large and the family was flexible and encouraging.  Also with the family living in China, they were hands off and didn’t care about the details in between; they just wanted a beautiful home when they moved to California.
• My business is a “gathered collection of professionals”.
• My biggest challenge with the company was realizing it was a business and not a hobby.  I was challenged as a leader and learned to be decisive in what I wanted for my firm and my clients.
• I want the space I own to be where my team feels inspired and cared for and where they can do their best work.
• Being unclear is being unkind.
• Some great advice I was given from the Vice President of Ballard Designs is don’t name your business with your own name because you’ll struggle to be able to grow it or sell it and there might be resentment from employees.
• The quality of the design work from anyone on the team should be the same no matter what name is on the door.
• I look to hire staff that have the strengths that I don’t have. We should complement each other.

Socials:

• Website: https://gatheredgroup.com
• Facebook: Gathered
• Instagram: @gatheredgroup, @fificheek

021: Possibility Understood

with Diane Preston

Diane Preston, Owner of Diane’s Interior Creations, has over 23 years of experience creating custom window treatments and soft home furnishings. She values customer service and educating her designers to be successful in the workroom and with their clients. Preston lives in Murfreesboro, Tennessee and enjoys having her son and daughter in the business with her. Diane shares with us the possibilities for success in a workroom that she did not know were even reasonable when she started.

• Value
• Efficiency and Productivity
• Education
• Possibility

• I first thought profitably meant meeting certain goals within our budget and working toward the process of getting out of debt. But today I can confidently define it as two-fold, monetary and time.  I now know my numbers with the help of the Profit First and Pricing Without Emotion courses and can continue to look at profit as succeeding and sustainability.
• In 2014, I took Pricing without Emotion and it changed my business and my life. To know that understanding my numbers clicked was a sickening feeling and then an empowering feeling. I took value in knowing my skills and knowledge were powerful and that I really had something in the marketplace that was of value.
• The time spent in taking courses, going to the conferences, and learning is valuable and empowers me to be able to charge what I need to charge – and be okay with it.
• It is important to know little hidden fees do accumulate. Keep an eye on those little expenses that add up by the end of the year.
• By working efficiently and productively I am always looking for ways to make an excellent product more efficiently without compromising quality one ounce. That is super important to me and I have found ways to just be more proficient and more effective in the time I am in the workroom.
• Once I started educating designers and showing them all of the details that go into products and the high quality and proficient ways of putting things together with excellence, light bulb moments started coming on, and I started seeing them in the clients home showing the details to show off the pieces of art.

LINKS AND RESOURCES:

• Understanding Your Financials
• Passion for Profit

• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress- Free Productivity by David Allen
• Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
• The Fred Factor by Mark Sanborn
• Love Does by Bob Goff
• Everybody Always by Bob Goff

• Website: http://www.dianesinteriorcreations.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/diane.preston.94
• Instagram: @dianesinteriorcreations

BONUS: Setting Goals that Matter

with Jennifer Dawn

Jennifer is joining us again on the podcast to talk about goal setting. As the creator of The Best Planner Ever, Jennifer specializes in productivity, strategy and mindset surrounding goals and planning and moving business forward. Enjoy this freeing conversation and then go set some goals!

• Blue Monday
• Mindset
• Vision
• Planning
• Prioritization

• You can make it through Blue Monday, the most depressing day of the year.
• 93% of new year’s resolutions are not met.
• Lowering the bar can be a great strategy.
• A daily planning tool is crucial - one that supports you.
• Having a strategy means planning and having a prioritized list of what needs to happen.
• Once you are in the groove, planning does not have to take up a lot of your time.

• Best Planner Ever  www.bestplannerever.com/profitisachoice/       Use promo code PROFIT for 20% off of a planner.

• Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy
• 212 The Extra Degree by Sam Parker and Mac Anderson
• Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod

• Facebook: JenniferDawn8
• Instagram: @JenniferDawn8
• Email: [email protected]

020: Year in Review with a Look Forward

with Ceil DiGuglielmo

Ceil DiGuglielmo of The Sew Much More Podcast and I join forces (and podcasts) to review our year, share our strategies, look forward, and create space to understand our businesses in a new light. Listen in and maybe create your own action plan for review and forward dreaming and planning.

Topics Mentioned:

• Yearly Review
• Business Development
• Time Chunking
• Awareness
• Dreaming

Thoughts from Ceil and Michele:

• Make note of all accomplishments, no matter how small.
• Connect to your goals and really care about the outcome.
• Remove the goal if it no longer serves you or the timing is not best.
• Make time for business development throughout the year. Consider planning early for the next year.
• Set boundaries for year end that give you peace and fit your business and life.
• Make time to dream. Planning should involve fun and space, not be so regimented and strict.

• Dare to Lead by Brene’ Brown

• Better Business Coaching System
• Understanding Your Financials
• https://ej152.infusionsoft.com/app/orderForms/Solid-Foundation-Builder
• https://ej152.infusionsoft.com/app/orderForms/Mindset-Maximizer
• https://ej152.infusionsoft.com/app/orderForms/Goal-Planning-Formula
• Contact Ceil for Evernote training http://ceildi.com/contact.html

• Website: www.sewmuchmorepodcast.com, www.scarletthreadconsulting.com
• Facebook: Sew Much More Podcast, Profit Is A Choice
• Instagram: @ceildi, @scarletthreadatl

019: Sourcing and Procuring with Efficiency

with Heather Gillette

Heather Gillette is the Founder and CEO of Designer Inc. and has over 25+ years in online start ups. Heather previously worked at YouTube as the Founder and Head of Content Review, Copyright Enforcement, Abuse & User Support Teams as well as localized YouTube operations in 13 countries. A fun fact about Heather is if you Google ‘Heather Gillette YouTube’ you can find interesting case studies and articles about the work she did at YouTube. Her expertise is in building teams, automation and scale, localization and leveraging user community. She loves solving the impossible challenges and we learn in this episode what happened when she turned her attention to the interior design industry.

Topics Mentioned:

• Problem Solving
• Efficiency
• Technology
• Sourcing and Procuring

Thoughts from Heather:

• With Designer Inc. I was trying to create a more affordable option for professional design. Sourcing was our biggest time cost. To be able to make that efficient and profitable, we needed to look at how to bring in other technologies we could adopt or leverage.
• It was validating to see the flood of requests that started coming in that this software is needed and has been needed for a long time. The purchasing service came in from designer demand and it wasn’t just a search engine, but a market place.
• Technology has helped solve many problems on the consumer side making things so incredibly easy in their own lives. However, manufacturers haven’t modernized their systems because they haven’t had to and the consumer market didn’t push them to.
• I absolutely love having a smooth process after knowing it wasn’t a great process to begin with. We’re not perfect and we’re still building all these systems and making these processes smooth which takes money and time.
• Integrity is critical in this industry because it is based on relationships.
• One of the fears that we hear the most is designers don’t want to alienate their existing relationships with manufacturers. Designer Inc. buys through sales reps and showrooms so we aren’t cutting anyone out. We really try to honor that relationship between the client and their sales rep.

Socials:

• Website, www.designerinc.com
• LinkedIn Company Page, https://www.linkedin.com/company/designer-inc./
• LinkedIn Personal Page, https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-gillette-7687451/
• Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/godesignerinc/, https://www.facebook.com/heathergillette
• Twitter, @designerinc
• Instagram,@designerinc

018: Sustainable Design Through Connectedness

with Renee Carman

Designing in balance with nature, Mandeville Canyon Designs, carefully weaves a refreshing collection of color into the five earth elements further reinforcing a unique style by using renewable resources and tapping into the wealth of local artistry. Since 2004 they have specialized in interior and exterior design with a special emphasis on biophilic design. The company also has a strong social conscience and looks for opportunities to volunteer in the local community and beyond. Listen in as Renee shares how she formed a co-op with other like-minded creatives in her area.

Topics Mentioned:

• Sustainable and Responsible Design
• Biophilic Design
• Education
• Strengths and Values
• Sabbatical

Thoughts from Renee:

• It’s important for me to empower my clients and further a strong partnership between them and me. I want to educate them on what their expectations may be and try to help broaden their picture of what green may mean.
• Biophilic design is the idea that we naturally want to commune with nature and that we are surrounded, involved and grounded in nature. This type of design is seen a lot in healthcare and corporate design to help with results such as reducing patient stays and an enhanced overall wellbeing.  
• With design it’s asking how we can bring outside in and in the simplest form bringing plants inside. A great example of this is New York City and the concrete jungle that the city is – and the use of plants.
• I love the phrase:“If it excites you and scares you all at the same time, you should probably say yes”. 
• I want to encourage everyone to take the Strengths Finder test. It might validate what you are already doing or it might make you realize how many more things you could do based on your strengths.
• I try to create an atmosphere that is nonthreatening. My goal is to set an environment of collaboration but I also realize that not everyone’s strength is ‘includer'.

Links and Resources:

• Better Business Coaching System
• Episode 5 of Profit Is a Choice - Shame

Books:

• Forged in Crisis by Nancy Koehn
• Failing Forward by John C. Maxwell

Socials:

• Website, www.mandevillecanyondesigns.com
• Blog, www.mandevillecanyondesigns/blogspot
• LinkedIn, www.linkedin.com/renee-carmen-65344313
• Facebook, www.facebook.com/mandevillecanyondesigns/
• Houzz, www.houzz.com/pro/mandeville-canyon-designs
• Pinterest, www.pinterest.com/reneebcarman.com
• Google, www.google.com/+ReneeCarman
• Instagram, www.instagram.com/mandevillecanyondesignsh/

Ann K. Johnson is the owner of Sew Easy Windows specializing in decorative soft goods such as panels and draperies, cushions and pillows, tablecloths and napkins and much more. Ann is also a speaker, author and instructor known for creating ways to be efficient in the workroom. She is the author of a two volume book series, The Professional Workroom Handbook of Swags. Listen in as she shares how her business accidentally started but how she moved towards intentionality to keep it going.

• Efficiency
• Investing in Your Business
• Consistency
• Education

Thoughts from Ann:

• To have open communication we will always be better in the long run.
• Efficiency is extremely important because it rolls the jobs through but it is also important to be aware to not freeze up making custom items.
• It is important to keep consistency in product development and fabrication choices.  They all contribute to how the product looks in the end and what the clients are buying.
• I look at achieving maximum efficiency by thinking about how I would train an employee.
• When I write I book or create a class, I give them everything they need. I strive to be as clear and concise as possible but to give enough information that they can make educated decisions going forward.
• Be teachable and willing to learn. Continue learning and taking classes.

• https://www.theworkroomchannel.com
• https://www.curtainsandsoftfurnishingspro.org/
• https://www.workroomtech.com

• The Curtain Maker’s Handbook by Frank Moreland
• Price Your Work With Confidence by Kitty Stein
• The Professional Workroom Handbook of Swags Vol. 1 & 2 by Ann K. Johnson

• Facebook: Sew Easy Windows
• Website: www.annkjohnson.com
• Instagram: @AKJWorkroom

On the podcast today we have Jeanelle Dech. Jeanelle is president and co-founder of Adaptive Textiles, a textile printing company in West Chester, Pa. She’s known for her Fit-Like-a-Glove slipcovers, SPEED sewing method and workroom profitability training, and is the creative force behind The Workroom Channel and the Curtains & Soft Furnishings Resource Library. Jeanelle and I are accountability partners and we can dig into about any topic to discuss. Enjoy our conversation today on the topics of ideal client, our WHY, self-guided couples therapy and team work.

• Ideal Client
• WHY
• Marriage Counseling
• Team Work

• Profitability has to be in the equation right off the bat, which includes learning to do the forecasting and presenting it to investors to fund the business if necessary.
• I have something to learn from people that are strong in any other business. It doesn’t matter what the product is, good business advice is good business advice.
• Hire character and train skill.
• My whys are my love of textiles, the thrill of uncertainty and risk, and the thrill of build and creativity for both products and teams. I love collaborative efforts.
• It’s important to document your why. This can help with awareness of opportunities and writing it down can put dimension to it.
• Probability is the resource I can use to serve my why, and financial profitability is the goal of the business and the business serves my why.

• https://www.theworkroomchannel.com
• https://www.curtainsandsoftfurnishingspro.org/

SOCIALS:

• Website: www.theworkroomchannel.com
• Facebook:  Jeanelle Dech and Adaptive Textiles

015: Confidence by Design in Year One

with Sarah Lynn Brennan

Sara Brennan is a nationally published interior and floral designer, calling her style “Romantic Transitional”. She is an award-winning entrepreneur, author and lover of collecting all things vintage. Sara has been published in Romantic Homes and Traditional Home magazines highlighting her romantic and fall looks for the home and outdoor spaces. Only one year in business, Sara shares what she has done and is working on to be where she is today.

Topics Mentioned:

• Doubt
• Confidence
• Therapy
• Marketing

Thoughts from Sara:

• Staying at home with my children was what I was supposed to do, but I knew I had other ventures to explore. I began my wreath décor business as a creative expression and this soon became the foundation of my interior design business.
• A friend asked to photograph my home and this is when I saw the creativity and décor from a different perspective. This triggered the light bulb!
• In the beginning, my version of profitability was validation. I wanted to hear that I was good at this from people that weren’t my family or best friends.
• After achieving my goal of being published in magazines, I knew I had to do events to follow up with the publications. Publication was a great marketing tool to show to clients.
• It is important to value yourself.
• I started out connecting on Instagram with wreath makers and made my page similar to what an ETSY shop looks like. I found my style was different from the typical farmhouse pictures or the ‘ fixer upper’ genre like others.
• I love Instagram stories so much because I’m an introvert, so it allows me to talk indirectly to people and it is something I just feel comfortable doing.

• Mom Set Free by Jeannie Cunnion

• Instagram: @saralynnbrennan
• Facebook: Sara Lynn Brennan Interiors
• Website: www.saralynnbrennan.com