Featured on the Show:

• Renovation Management for Interior Designers – Expanding your business with a lucrative service

What you will learn in this episode: 

• The spreadsheet exercise to achieve your 2023 goals

• Why fewer projects in the designer world is actually better

• Different ways designers can structure their fees

As we race to the end of the year, I want to talk about goal setting for 2023, but I want you to take a look at it from the lens of what happened in 2022. Or,A Different Take On Goal Setting for 2023.

I like to do my goal setting at the end of the year, not to put things off but to get a full appreciation and understanding of what the year we just finished actually looked like. 

Over the past couple of weeks, I have had the pleasure of talking to countless designers because of the promotion I was running for my course. In those conversations, goals for the next year inevitably came up. They were looking at the Renovation Management for Interior Designers Course to build and grow their skills in managing renovations, so it was logical that their hopes and dreams for 2023 would come up. 

But what I asked them to do, was to take a step back, and instead of looking forward, I wanted them to look backward and look at how their year played out. We all say we are busy with work and feel swamped….these are words that come up almost in a ‘knee-jerk’ fashion like we don’t even realize we’re saying them. 

So in today’s episode, I’m sharing with you an exercise where I want this to be a reflective time of year where you go back and chart all of your projects. Because again, it comes to that ‘busy.’ How many projects are you working on? “Tons, oh my gosh, I’m overwhelmed with work.” Well…are you really? Or are you overwhelmed with work that’s not paying you effectively?

As you know, I do both decorating and construction management. I create a spreadsheet for each of these. Then I can look at each of those and know if I’m doing more construction based projects or decorating. So instead of creating a higher income goal, you can look at your spreadsheet and determine what kind of projects you want to take on in the coming year to help you reach your goals. This way of doing it is a much more informed and targeted way of looking at the year ahead, and you can ensure that what you are charging is something you can live with. Because for most of you listening to this podcast, this is a business, not a hobby.

Doing this exercise may not always be fun. I know I don’t always enjoy what I see in my spreadsheet, but it is informative and something I can grow from and create goals that are actually attainable and will truly get me where I want to go.

I also share in today’s episode how fewer projects are actually better in our world. If you are working alone and doing 20 projects for the year, as good as that sounds, that actually isn’t what you should be going for. Your goal should be fewer projects, and larger budgets across the board – from decorating to construction. 

I also want to mention the fee structure. There are no standards for how designers can charge. There has never been, and that is super frustrating! So, you don’t hear me talk much about fee structures on this podcast for that reason. I share mine in today’s episode, but I don’t want you to think that mine is the only way to go because I will be changing mine in 2023!

I hope this episode helps you take on your goals in a different way for 2023!

Like this Episode?

• Be sure to check out Episode #96: Setting 2023 Goals Starts with Identifying Your Ideal Client Avatar

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