114. Your Business Doesn’t Need You As Much As You Think It Does

Speaker A: Have you ever had that moment when you realized your business technically has clients, A ah, team, projects, systems and momentum. But if you stepped away for one week, everything would start to wobble. The client would need your approval, the contractor would need your opinion, the team would need your answer. And that proposal, it would sit unfinished, the install would stall. And suddenly you realize that something that feels both obvious and overwhelming, your business cannot run without you. And not in a flattering way, in a uh, this isn't sustainable way, in a uh, I built something successful, but I also built myself into the center of every single decision sort of way. Well, today we're talking about that moment. Because that moment right there isn't failure. It is an invitation to leadership. It is the exact point where you stop being just the designer, just the fixer, just the person with all the answers and you begin becoming the CEO of, of a business that can actually grow. Welcome to Success by Design where I give you the real talk and a big reality check about you needing to stop treating your business like a hobby. Let's turn it into a profit generating machine. All while doing it in a way that works for your life. I'm Katie Decker Erickson and I am taking what I learned by building a multimillion dollar coast to coast design business and sharing it with you right here. If you are wanting to generate more profit and not be burnt out and possibly even have a dream design business, you are in the right place. Welcome back to Success by Design. I'm Katie Decker Erickson, interior designer, business owner, coach and founder of Colorworks and Success by Design. And I want to start here today. If your business depends on you, it does not mean you did something wrong. In fact, it really means you did something m right. You built the relationships, created the client experience, developed your eye and solved all the problems. You made the business work. But what gets a design business started is not always what allows it to scale. And that right there is where the tension comes in. The very thing that made you valuable in the beginning can become the exact thing that's going to hold the business back later. And uh, if you're an interior designer listening to this while you're driving to a site, mentally rewriting a proposal, remembering you still need to follow up with that vendor and wondering why your team cannot just handle things without you. I'm so glad you're here. Cause this episode is for you. Because eventually the issue is no longer demand or talent or whether people want what you offer. Instead it's about capacity. Not because you're lazy or bad at business or disorganized, but because your business has become designed around your constant availability. And, uh, when that happens, growth eventually starts to feel like punishment. And most designers do not wake up one morning and say, gee, I'm the bottleneck. It usually shows up in these smaller, sneakier ways. It looks like your team asking quick question and then another quick question and then another. And by 10:30 every morning, you have answered 17 little things and accomplished none of the strategic work that you need to do. And as a CEO, it may look like a client asking your project manager something, and your project manager saying, let me check with Katie, or a vendor needing clarification. And the whole order pauses because no one wants to make the wrong call. Or maybe your calendar is packed with meetings and mostly exists because people need your brain in the room. This is exhausting because every conflict needs your leadership. And the tricky part is that at first, this starts feeling very validating because you're needed, you're respected, you are the expert, and your opinion matters. But I'm going to be really clear at some point, being needed by everyone starts costing everyone. It's costing your team their confidence. Clients lose speed, your business loses profit, and you lose your piece. And I see this all the time in the designers I coach. Your business is growing, the projects are better, the revenue may be higher than it has ever been, but when we really crack that nut and look inside the business, everything still routes directly through you. You are the critical path, and that right there is the moment. Because that's the moment you realize, I'm not leading a business. I'm holding one together. And that can be really painful. But I also want to challenge you because it can be very powerful. Once you see it, then you get to redesign it. Let's make this really real. Maybe you go on vacation, but you're not really on, um, vacation. You set the out of office. You pack the bag, you take the picture. But behind the scenes, you're still checking email, approving things from your phone, and saying, oh, uh, just text me a picture. And then when you get home, you're not refreshed. In fact, you're behind. If this feels at all familiar, this is a sign. Maybe your team is capable but cautious. And you have good people, smart people, really talented people on your team, and they care. And they have been trained, often accidentally, to wait for you. Not because they can't think, but because they are not invested. Somewhere along the way, they learn that the safest decision is no decision until you weigh in and that right there, folks, that's not a team problem. That is a leadership structure problem. Or maybe you just keep saying, it is just faster if I do it myself. And sometimes, don't get me wrong, it totally is. But here is the trap. What is faster today becomes slower forever. Because every time you take something back, instead of teaching, documenting, delegating, or clarifying the standard, you're reinforcing the idea that the work ultimately belongs to you. Okay, maybe the revenue is growing, but your freedom is shrinking. And, ooh, this one's touchy, but it's really important. On paper, the business looks so successful. Bigger projects, more inquiries, more visibility, maybe more money. But in your actual life, you feel like you have less space for creativity and patience and time with your family and less time to really think. And that is when many designers start to quietly wonder, m, is this what success is supposed to feel like? And I want to step into that space today and tell you it is not. That is not success. That is owner dependency dressed up as growth. So let's talk about the misdiagnosis, because when this starts happening, M, most designers diagnose the wrong problem. They think, I need better people. And don't get me wrong. Sometimes you might, but we're still not at the heart of the issue. Or you think, I need more hours in the day, and no, you don't. You need fewer decisions living in your head. Or I need better project management software. Yeah, but software will not fix a business where no one knows who owns the decision. This is hard. And the biggest misdiagnosis is this. I'm overwhelmed because I have too much work. Maybe. But often you're overwhelmed because you have too much unresolved ownership. Too much work means there are too many tasks, whereas too much unresolved ownership means nobody knows where the task should live, who should decide what the standard is, or when. Something needs to come back to you. So as a result, guess what? It's a boomerang. Everything comes back to you. And we, as interior designers are especially vulnerable to this, because our work is personal and creative and full of decisions. Your clients trust you. Your team trusts your judgment. Vendors take your direction. But hear me out. You've built a beautiful dependency machine, and now the work is not to shame yourself. You gotta redesign it. So let's look under the hood. What is really happening when your business cannot run without you? And I usually find there's four things underneath the surface. Your standards are implicit. Number one, they're not explicit. You know what good looks like. You know When a presentation feels elevated, you know when an email has the right tone. But does your team know? And I do not mean have they watched you do it. I mean, is it documented? Is it teachable? Is it repeatable? Because someone else can look at the standard and make a strong decision without needing your live approval, or can they? See, a lot of designers carry the standard internally, and that works great with the businesses small, but once you start growing, the standard has to leave your head and move into the DNA of your company. What does that look like? I'm glad you asked. It may be a presentation checklist, a design review rubric, a client communication guide, an approval process. Uh, what requires my approval list? See, all of these are critical, and they don't sound glamorous. They aren't. But I'll tell you what is glamorous. The freedom they create. Because freedom is not created by having no structure. It's created by having the right structure. If you are listening to this and you are ready to take action and

Speaker B: go all in on getting to work creating a design business that is wildly profitable, then head over to SuccessByDesign, coach and book your call with me. That's SuccessByDesign couch. Okay, back to the show.

Speaker A: Also, number two, your team has tasks but not authority, and this is huge. You have delegated tasks, but have you given your team the authority to go with the tasks? See, there's a big difference between tasks and delegated authority. A team member can be responsible for sending the client update, but if they cannot decide what goes in it without you, guess what? They can't own it. And a project manager can be responsible for that timeline. But if they cannot push back on the client or redirect the vendor or adjust expectations without you, guess what? They can't really own it. See, delegation without authority is just task assignment. And task assignment does not remove you from the center. It just creates a longer line of people waiting for you. So I want you to ask yourself, where have I given someone responsibility without giving them the authority to actually carry it? And that question is going to reveal a lot. Okay, number three, you are solving the same problem repeatedly. Instead of designing a system, every time the same issue shows up more than once, it is asking to become a system. Did you hear me? Every time the same issue shows up more than once, it's asking to become a system. Because if clients are confused after signing, it needs a system. If procurement gets messy, it needs a system. I know. I preach systems and processes. It is a thing because it works. If your install Week always becomes chaos. Guess what it needs. Yeah, you're right. The goal is not to eliminate every problem. This is interior design. We are working with humans and homes and buildings and contractors and budgets and shipping timelines. And most and probably the largest emotions, problems are going to pop up. Right? The goal is to stop treating recurring problems like one off emergencies. A recurring problem, folks, is not an emergency. It's data. And data is a gift if you're willing to look at it. All right, uh, fourth and finally, you are still making decisions at the wrong level. As the owner, you should not be making every decision. You should be making the highest value decisions. Now, back in your early days, you decide everything because there is no one else, right? But hear me out. As you grow, you have to sort decisions into levels. Level one can be made without you. Level two can be made by the team using an agreed upon framework. Level three needs your review. And level four decisions are truly owner level strategic calls. And the problem that I see in my coaching clients is that many designers treat every decision like level four. Right? Should we approve this alternate? Should we move the meeting? Should we send the email? Should we show this option? Should we waive the fee? Be those are not all the same level of decisions. If you do not define the difference between them, guess what? Your team is going to assume everything is a level four, and as a result, everything slows down. Not because they do not care, it's they don't know who gets to decide beyond you. Okay, if this feels relatable, I'm going to give you some action. We're going to talk about five things right now that you can do. I want you to track every decision that comes to you for one week. I know it sounds like tracking your diet, and I'm not going to tell you it's any more fun than doing that, because it's not. Not. But here we go. You're going to get data points. I don't want you to judge it, I just want you to track it. Every approval question, every can I look at this or can you look at this or what do you think? And at the end of the week, we're going to evaluate it. Which of these truly required me? Which ones came to me because no one else had clarity? Which came to me because we do not have a standard, or which came to me because I have not released authority. And this list is going to show you where the business is depending on you unnecessarily. Number two, I want you to create a what needs me filter because not everything should come to you. Decide what truly requires your involvement. Maybe you do need to approve final design direction or large financial decisions or major client relationship issues. Great. Define that. Then, just as importantly, define what does not need you. Because if you do not decide what needs you and what does not need you, everything is going to need you. All right, number three, I want you to turn repeated answers into company standards. If you're answering the same question more than twice, guess what it needs to become a resource. Whether that's a checklist or a template or a policy, a decision tree or a training video, your brain should not be the storage unit for the entire company. And quite frankly, folks, it. It can't be. I tried it. Let me assure you, it doesn't work, nor do you want it to. All right, step number four. You've got to give your team decision rights. And this is where leadership gets real. Because it's not enough to just say, I trust you. You're going to have to define what they can decide. For example, you can approve substitutions under this dollar amount. If they meet these criteria, you can move forward with procurement. Once these three details are confirmed, you can push back on scope creep using this language. Or better yet, write your contract or buy ours. That not only allows for, but encourages scope creep because you make more money on it. See, this is how your team builds confidence. Not by guessing what you do, but by being equipped to make decisions within clear boundaries. Finally, step five. I want you to stop rescuing every uncomfortable moment. And ah, oh, so many of you are people pleasers. Uh, and you are so good at it, but it's not helping you. And it's the hardest part thing to do because many of you are deeply responsible people. You care. You want the client to be taken care of and your team to feel supported and the project to go well. But if you rescue every uncomfortable moment, your team never develops the muscles to handle them. So support them. Yes. And train them. Yes. And debrief with them. But do not automatically take everything back. So see, the goal isn't to abandon them, it's to develop them. And those are two different things. So let's talk about the mindset shift. The old belief is if I'm not involved, it will not be done right. And I understand why you believe that. You've probably had a number of things go sideways. See, the value is not just in your ability to solve problems. It's in your ability to create a company where the same problems do not require you every single day time. This is about creating Standards, your process, your leadership, your ability to make the invisible visible. And this is really important for you as an interior designer because so much of what we do feels intuitive. But I want to blow your mind today. And that intuition can still be taught. Taste can be translated, standards can be documented, and client care can be systemized. In fact, decision making can be clarified. And if that is mind blowing to you, it is the shift that your business is likely begging for. If this feels relatable, where you're saying, my business cannot run without me, I want you to take a breath. That realization is not proof that you failed. It is proof that you are ready for next level leadership. And it's not that you are not important to your business. Of course you are. The problem is when the business is so dependent on you that it cannot move, decide, respond or grow without your constant involvement. And the solution is not to work more. I see you out there who come to me working six and sometimes seven days a week. It's not about caring less. You just need to redesign your business just like you would a home. It's time to clarify ownership, document standards, delegate authority, and create decision filters. If this resonates with you, I want you to take this challenge. Track every decision that comes to you for this week, every question, every approval, and every moment where that business pauses until you respond. And then ask yourself, did this truly require me or did it require a clearer system? And that one question is going to change everything. Then I want you to go over to Fix my design biz with a z.com again fix my design biz with a z.com and I want you to hop on a 15 minute free problem solving call with me so we can talk about what you discovered so where your business is at and where you really want it to grow or go depending on your life stage. And let's figure out how to get there. Because as I always say, your business should be working for you, not you working for it. Until next time, take care. That's your real talk for today. If you found this helpful and you are ready to truly move the needle in your design business, head over to FixMyDesignBiz.com and let's get started. That's FixMyDesign Biz with a Z.com and if you want to stay connected, head over to my Instagram @successbydesigncoachpodcast and give me a follow. Don't forget to mention you came from the podcast because I would love to meet you and I personally respond to every DM until night.