87: Your Business Reality Check Starts Here

Episode notes

Send Katie a Text Message!! In this kickoff episode of our two-part series, I’m taking you behind the scenes of the work most designers avoid: facing the truth about what actually happened inside your business this year. Before we can build your 2026 vision (that’s coming in Part 2!), we have to strip away the assumptions, the emotions, the “I think I made money here… maybe?” and look at the real data. I’m talking revenue, margins, client load, time spent, energy, alignment - everything. I know this work is uncomfortable. But this is the difference between running a busy, high-cortisol design business… and building a profitable, strategic, scalable one. In this episode, I dive into: • Why most designers avoid looking at their numbers - and why that avoidance keeps you stuck • The “numerical autopsy” that reveals what actually worked in your business • How assumptions lead to hustle… but truth leads to strategy • The difference between being busy and being profitable , and the real markers of each • The revenue vs.

• 116. Booked Out, Busy, and Still Not Profitable Enough?26 / 100
• 115. A Profitable Design Business Is Not the Same as a Scalable Design Firm35 / 100
• 114. Your Business Doesn’t Need You As Much As You Think It Does26 / 100
• 113. The Art Of The Principle: The Hard Conversations No One Talks About That Will Save Your Business
• 112. The Hidden Cost of Saying Yes to the Wrong Projects