Planning
Are You Tech Savvy?
By Drue Lawlor, FASID Director of Coaching at Gail Doby Coaching & Consulting 3 Essential Tools to Streamline Your Business The first tool is Google Drive, which is probably the most well-known of the 3 tools. It can be valuable for any document that involves collaboration among your team – internal or external. It can…
Read MoreSimplify Your Business
Running an interior design business involves managing and keeping track of thousands of details, commitments, figures, and dates. Without the proper systems in place, you can easily become overwhelmed by it all. At best, that’s a lot of extra stress to cope with. At worst, it may lead to costly errors. After some years of…
Read MoreLack of Planning = Lack of Results
This is the perfect time of year to establish and plan your strategies to meet your end of year goals in 2018. There are a number of common talking points or recommendations, such as The 5 P’s of Success: “Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance”, or “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” These are both…
Read MoreIs Planning Really Better Than Winging It?
The business environment changes so quickly these days that one might well think “why bother” when it comes to planning. What’s the point of making plans when they have to be revised or scrapped every quarter, possibly every month? Isn’t it better to stay flexible and nimble, keep one’s ear to the ground, and be…
Read MoreAre You Running Your Business On Gut Instincts?
A Fortune Knowledge Group study reported that “62 percent of executives feel it is often necessary to rely on gut feelings and soft factors when making big decisions on partnerships and proposals.” Yet economic history and research shows that solid business data and experience should play heavily into those decisions. I’m not sure how many…
Read MoreDo You Have An Exit Plan?
Have you thought about what you’ll do when you retire from your interior design career? How many of you have been building a successful business with the thought of selling it when you decide to retire. Many small business owners who are 60 simply close their doors, when they could have sold the businesses if…
Read MoreIt’s Never Too Early to Plan a Better Future
Here we are at the peak of summer. I hope you have some well-deserved R&R scheduled. You can’t perform at your best if you’re overworked, stressed and burned out. Even if it’s only for one afternoon a week or a day off on the weekend, take some time to unwind, enjoy the summer, and engage…
Read MoreIt’s Almost A Wrap!
Can you believe that 2016 is over in just two days? We hope you had a great holiday season and that you took some downtime to be with friends and family. Are you ready for 2017? What are your goals (vs. resolutions)? Resolutions sound great in theory, but many are quickly abandoned within weeks of…
Read MoreDoes Your Business Have a Succession Plan?
More than half of practicing interior designers are over the age of 50. About a third have crossed the threshold of 60. If you’re one of them, you may have begun thinking about when you want to retire or sell your business. Even if retirement is some time off or you intend to continue working…
Read MoreThree Keys to Effective Communication
By Drue Lawlor, FASID Director of Coaching, Gail Doby Coaching & Consulting & Design Success University Have you ever had problems during a design job or within your design firm? It would probably be more effective to say, “who hasn’t”, but did you ever think about the crux of the matter? Let’s say you arrive…
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