245: Investing in Yourself to Build Your Business
Michele 00:00
Hello, my name is Michele, and you're listening to Profit is a Choice. Joining me on the podcast today is Amanda Scotto, principal designer and owner of AMA Designs and Interiors in New Jersey. Amanda is a client of mine, and she is going to be sharing her journey starting with where she began, some of her early successes and pivots that she's had in her business, and challenges that she's encountered. She is very transparent, and freely shares with us, giving us an opportunity to learn about resilience, planning, and raising our hand when we need help. It was an awesome conversation and I invite you to listen in.
Michele 00:53
Every day, empowered entrepreneurs are taking ownership of their company financial health and enjoying the rewards of reduced stress and more creativity. With my background as a financial software developer, owner of multiple businesses, and the interior design, industry, educator, and speaker, I coach women in the interior design industry to increase their profits, regain ownership of their bottom line, and to have fun again in their business. Welcome to Profit is a Choice.
Michele 01:29
Hey, Amanda, welcome to the podcast.
Amanda 01:31
Hi, Michele, thanks for having me.
Michele 01:33
I am excited to talk to you today. We're going to share a little bit of your journey, what you've learned, and how you've pivoted. You have not been in business for an extremely long time, but you've really gone through a lot and had a lot of opportunities. A lot of ups, a lot of downs, and a lot of movement, just trying to figure out who you are in business and how you want to show up in the world. You're in a really great place and have held on as you've worked through some of the challenges of being a brand-new business, and we're going to get into that. Let's start with your background, what did you do and what brought you to open your own firm?
Amanda 02:09
I was always inspired by design, architecture, and construction from a very young age. My father and grandfather owned a construction business. I basically grew up on the sites, my mom would drive me to visit, and I would have lunch in the trailer with my dad and grandpa. It was at that point where my grandpa sat me on his lap, and he taught me how to read the blueprints and then he showed me how the sketches became the framework, and the framework became the building. So, from those early beginnings, I was drawing rooms and rearranging my bedroom constantly. I followed that passion. And here I am today.
Michele 02:53
What a gift for a young girl! I can't tell you how many women who are especially my age, I'm in my 50s, that have come on this podcast and said I didn't even know interior design was an option. It wasn't pushed. I didn't even know an interior designer. It never even came into my way of understanding anything. Yes, architecture, but not design. And for you, as a young girl to even know how all these pieces, the architecture, the idea of the building, then the layout of the building, and then here is the building, and then now we have to put something in the building is amazing. To have that as a gift, an opportunity to connect with your dad and your granddad and to be pulled into that world, it's different and it's not what we hear very often. We could go past that and even look at the gender conversation in that, but just you being invited into that as part of a family conversation is beautiful.
Amanda 03:56
Absolutely. It truly is a gift because a lot of the designers that I'm friends with have entered the field through career changes. I always had that ‘knowingness’ that this is what I want to do and I never had another career in my mind, I'm just going to be a designer. That's it. My parents wanted me to be a doctor, telling me not to go into interior design. It's too competitive. It's too this. You're not going to make money. It's too artistic. And yes, you tell me ‘no’ and you tell me not to do something I'm going to do it!
Michele 04:31
Okay, as a parent, I think we've all learned that. Keep that in mind. You have a very young one right now, but the day is coming. I can remember even telling mine don't eat that. Don't eat that. You know that you don't want to eat that, and they’d turn around and eat it. Sometimes we have to use psychology against them. You know, now that I think about it, you made me just kind of like think about my own childhood, and what was interesting was my dad loved math. My dad was in computers, my dad, you know, did a lot of those things. And a lot of my core memories were about balancing checkbooks, learning math, doing base, a base, 16, and things like that, that none of my peer group was doing. But my dad loved it. I loved math and showed an affinity for it. And it was the thing that kind of drew us together that very logical math thinking. Then my mother is creative, and she sewed clothing and things like that, and I was pulled into both sides. Now looking at some of the things that I love and I enjoy, I see a merging of the two. As kids, we don’t even know what we're picking up. I guess Barbie Playhouse is along the lines of what your daughter could have, right? All the different little doll houses, and now they have wallpaper, and you can fix them so you can pass along your love of interiors and of design and all things texture and textile to her.
Amanda 05:59
Well, it's already being passed down to her because I have already noticed her, she's going to be two and she's been moving furniture throughout the house since she could walk at one. I remember asking other people like, is this normal? Is your child moving furniture or is it just mine?
Michele 06:22
It was just yours. One more quick thing that I think is really interesting. I've not really thought about it this way before, Amanda, until you shared that, but my husband loves building things, and he loves construction. He works in computer software for a tech company, but he did drafting in school and he really enjoys that. We've always had a part of that going on at our home. Both of my boys understand texture, they understand every single part of a window treatment, they started building with Legos and blocks and K’NEX and then Lincoln Logs and over time they were drawing out plans for a bookcase. They might draw out plans for their own desk, they were drawing those kinds of things. Now fast forward, both of them are in construction, they build some of their own furniture, they are cutting out walls in their house and putting in closets and using extra space. So, it's so interesting to see them now in a commercial building environment or in their own home environment taking those same skills. I guess what that really goes to show in some ways is yes, there's maybe an affinity because we see it, but this is nurturing. This talent was nurtured by your dad and your granddad then it was nurtured by your teachers at school. You're nurturing it with Antonia, and then you're actually having to constantly nurture it in your own business.
Amanda 07:46
Yes, I'm a forever student. I have signed up for so many courses and coaches and really continuing my education, whether that be in marketing business or new software, I'm constantly learning to improve my craft and also just streamline my business and make it more profitable.
Michele 08:06
So, when did you officially start your business, Amanda?
Amanda 08:09
In 2014.
Michele 08:12
Okay. And tell me what it looked like at that point in time. What were you doing?
Amanda 08:16
Ooh.
Michele 08:17
Yeah, ooh. Alright, let me set the stage, I'm going to set the stage.
Amanda 08:20
It was a baby business.
Michele 08:22
That's totally okay. And that's the stage I'm setting. Everybody has to start somewhere. I want to invite you as we take a moment to look back at where you started, let's look back with grace. Let's look back with appreciation. Let's look back without embarrassment. I mean, we all start somewhere. If anybody listening to this podcast hears anything, I want them to not be afraid of their own origin story or embarrassed of their own even when it takes twists and turns, knocks you down, and skins your knees. It's your story and it is part of what has you in the wonderful position that you are in today. Okay, so here's your permission to share your origin from 2014.
Amanda 09:09
Sure. So, in 2014, it was a small business, I was solo, and I was freelancing. I was also working full-time at another company. And before 2014, I also had clients and I was freelancing, and then I picked up speed. I said, okay, I need to make this a real established business. There came a point in 2019, where I reached that fork in the road where I was attracting very large jobs, and I either had to turn them away and recommend them to another local designer, or that was my opportunity to go full-time with my business and hope for the best. So, in 2000 that's when I left my security blanket of my full-time job and that's when I went full-time headfirst into entrepreneurship. 2019 is not that far away.
Michele 10:08
Let me ask you this, Amanda, when you made that switch, and you were like, Alright, yes, I've started a business, maybe it started a little bit as a side household freelancing at the beginning, that's a very common refrain that we hear from people that are working in some type of a corporate environment, or somebody else, they have one or two clients on the side, as they're starting to get started, I would say 9.9 times out of 10, it would not have been a client for the company that they were working for. So, it's a different ideal client, if you like, they're not stealing from the company. It's a different type of client, a different type of work. And then it starts to pick up speed. And then they think, oh, this could be a business on its own. Do I want to be a business owner? Or do I want to be a designer, two different things. So, you started making the decision, I'm going to own my own business and do some of these things. And in 2019, if I am hearing you correctly, that's when things really came together and you realized, this is more than a side hustle. This is more than freelance, this is more than I'm serving the client, and these are becoming large projects, larger budgets, larger demands higher expectations. And I've got to be even more serious about, you know, how I'm showing up my brand, what I'm doing, how I'm engaging with clients. So, in 2019, can you think about or pinpoint any changes that you made, that you put into play or into practice, to move you forward that were different than the way that perhaps you had run the business from 2014 up until that point?
Amanda 11:36
Sure, in 2019, there were a lot of personal factors that drove my motivation to make my business successful. I did have an exit plan from my current job. And my goal was to sign five clients. I had a newsletter, which I was actively nurturing monthly. I would put out a promotion that like, if you sign now my rate is going to go up for the following year to like, lock in now and it worked. So having those five clients just gave me the security and peace of mind that, okay, this is good, for the next few months. And personally, during this year, I moved into my first home with my husband. Well, he was my fiancée at the time, and we were renovating that place. I was also getting married that year. Those two factors. I'm like, I don't have time for a full-time job if I'm moving and renovating a new place and planning a wedding and getting married.
Michele 12:42
Right. So, you really wanted some more control over the work that you were doing during the time that you were investing, and they became your security blanket. And usually, it's thinking, like for me, one of the things I always think of is if I sell something, the first one could be a fluke, but if I can sell two or three, I've got something now can run with it. That first one gives me a little bit of confidence, but two or three makes it feel solid. So, your number for you at that time was five projects. I'm assuming that at the time, it wasn't just five projects, but it was five projects with some let’s say some financial bucket that they were filling.
Amanda 13:23
Yes, it was definitely linked, I wanted to supplement what I was making at my job. So, I wanted to make sure I was covering that for at least a six-month period, and prior to that, I was aggressively saving and aggressively building up my accounts to cover my expenses.
Michele 13:40
That's right. So, you went into this with a plan to save up so that you are not just starting and you're not just draining the money you had been building.
Amanda 13:49
It was actively a year exit plan and strategy before I jumped.
Michele 13:54
Yes, and I love that because sometimes people think just jump and it's not always that easy. I know even when I was doing you know drapery workroom and working the Custom Home Furnishings Academy and doing all those things, exiting one thing, and entering another. It really is to transition. And there were times that I was running businesses parallel so that I could dwindle one down and raise the other one up. Whether it was corporate or not. That's kind of the way that that works. But it does give you the ability to flex until you get to that tension point that says I cannot do both. Like you know I can't work full-time and renovate a home and try to plan a wedding at the same time. What I can do though, is become master of my own schedule. By having my own business and launching that, I can build security in because I've been saving in advance, I have five clients now if I can give them X amount of time, and then I have time to get married and all the things I can make this a go. So, one thing though that's a lot of changes in one year, they say some of the most stressful things are like buying a house, getting married, having a child, or experiencing a death. You did a large portion of those all at once.
Amanda 15:13
Yes. And 2019 was actually the best year. I feel like I beat the statistic. You know, they always say there are always problems in your marriage, the first year of our marriage was amazing, and business was amazing. During that year, I tripled what I was making at the firm my first year. So, I'm very proud of that, but as you know, 2020 was the following year.
Michele 15:42
Yes. So I want to ask you this, though, before we move into 2020. Yes, if you could look back now. That's been, gosh, almost four years? That's a little crazy to think, isn't it? If you could look back at those four years, what were the lessons, or what were the things that you feel like perhaps you learned in 2019 that had you poised to go into 2020?
Amanda 16:07
I think my main lesson was the financial piece. This piece has evolved, as you know, because I have been working with you. But I knew that if I wanted to be successful, I had to manage my cash flow correctly, I would always have anxiety when it came to sales tax, and I had to file that. So immediately, I worked with a bookkeeper. I knew that was my first hire, I didn't want to do anything wrong. I was so terrified. So that was my first piece and immediately, I had separate buckets or separate accounts for my cost of goods, for profit, by building all of these accounts really set me up for success, and also helped me in 2020.
Michele 16:57
Okay, now, if we look back at 2019, so that's what you had foresight to do. I mean, let's be honest, the fact that you knew going into even starting your own thing, save up in advance, get things right, you already were somewhat financially aware, you just kind of honed that skill, even more in 2019 without knowing what was coming. Nobody knew that this was coming. I can remember it was the January market of 2020 and it was in Las Vegas, and I cannot even tell you how many people online kept saying how sick they got, we had hardly heard of COVID at that point. Yep, everybody was with us. Right?
They were there for both. And everybody kept talking about how sick they were. I had friends who went to Disney in January that year and ended up having to leave, they were also sick. It was almost all likely COVID, but we didn't know it yet. So, in other words, we didn't know this was getting ready to come. We didn't know that he hit us. We didn't even know it hit us till after it hit us. Right. So, you know what you did financially to get you ready just for the next, just like in general to get you ready for the next place your business is going to go. Looking back now, though, what happened in 2020 and forward and where you were in 2019, where do you think if you could go back, you would tell yourself, sweet girl, get this ready or tighten up this process or know this, because you're getting ready, potentially to be smacked? Where was the gap if you could go back to yourself and say, close this gap, it might not stop everything, but it'll at least prepare you. So, you prepared with the financial buckets, where do you think you were ill-prepared?
Amanda 18:45
I wish I had more of a cushion. Because in 2020, I had several projects, and then those ended. Then radio silence for I don't know, 4-6, four to six months and I was terrified. I was terrified. Because at that point, I had different responsibilities. I've already been living in my home, and I just didn't see how I could make ends meet. Aside from building a cushion, the second piece would be that marketing puzzle piece and get that in order. I feel like I was probably, I don't want to say desperately, messaging people, but there was a little bit of urgency because I had to pay my bills. I did lock in a lot of online design projects, and I was doing that the entire year. So, I managed to stay afloat. I'm also very thankful that at that time, I actually didn't hire my intern. So, in 2019 I did have an intern helping me and I was thinking of hiring her, and I say you know what, let's see how the year goes. And I'm just glad I took that pause because I usually put the carriage before the horse and I'm just glad that happened because if I had more of an overhead. I was working from home, I didn't have an office space or didn't have employees. So thankfully, I was okay.
Michele 20:11
It's funny, I'm actually in my own body and head, re-feeling the feelings of 2020. And I know how it felt on my side for my clients. Kind of some of the desperation of, oh, my gosh, what's going to happen now? Especially my clients that were newer in business and didn't have the deep bench that there are projects already out there, we can keep them moving, and we just won’t all be on-site at the same time. There was some of that, but there was a lot of anxiety around carrying an employee load, carrying an office load, and just the overhead in general that they had, and how to keep all the money flowing. And the biggest challenge that a lot of people had was not having a big enough cushion. I think we are seeing that even right now moving into some of our economic changes that are happening. I usually tell people a minimum of three months, if not six, and even at that time, I was saying some of these things, and people were like, oh, you're overestimating, you’re overestimating. And I'm like, no, I am not. I'm telling you.
What's interesting, Amanda is I, especially the designers that I work with that are multi-million dollars and let's say that their monthly numbers are $40,000, that's $120,000, at a minimum for three months, that we need to have that we can get to quickly that is outside of the day to day. So, imagine what it takes to save $120,000 that is not money that is taken out and paid to the owner, not money that is taken out and paid to other people, not paid to cover bills, and not paid to cover products. That means the company has to have been successful financially for a while with a plan to save that money to weather the storm for what is coming. It also means that a company has to be able to watch what is happening in real-time, not in 20-20 vision. A lot of companies got caught and continued to get caught because they're managing their financials in 20-20 hindsight, not I am managing with detailed empirical data today. Or I'm managing with today's data, but I don't have enough of a cushion like you said. So that makes every decision of higher importance in some ways than if you have cushion I mean, think about that I have 20 bucks in my pocket, I go out, I buy a piece of gum I buy, it doesn't really matter. I've got 10 cents in my pocket, and I have to make a purchase. I'm going to think very carefully about that purchase. It's just what we do. Okay, so we move into 2020, I want to applaud you for going online, for being scrappy, like, here's the deal, we own our own companies, this stuff is not easy. Anybody who tells you owning your own business is easy or if anybody listening thinks I work for a design firm and it's just so easy, I'll go do it myself and make all this money. That is not the lesson here.
Amanda 23:09
That is so far from the truth and 2020. I worked nonstop. Now, I may not have had a client within the first few months, but I was innovating. I was doing SEO; I was redoing my website. I was learning I've stayed up past midnight, I'm working. I'm coming up with my next idea. My next service, my next package, I even had a trial membership at one point. I was like, I need like reoccurring income, I need something.
Michele 23:45
I love it.
Amanda 23:46
So, I threw spaghetti at the walls until something stuck. I did make my commitments, my financial commitments, but man, it was very hard. It was very hard. But I think everything that I actually put in place redoing my website, learning SEO, learning all these different platforms actually made my 2021 extremely successful. So, while that was probably the worst year financially 2020 and also mentally like that was that was hard. Putting all those little things in place and planting the seeds, I got to see the fruits of the labor the following year.
Michele 24:29
Yes, that's beautiful. You know what's so interesting is I've shared this before when people asked me back in the day, or I would ask how much money can you make in this, how much money can you make in window treatment sales, how much money can you make in design, how much money, and people weren't answering me. I always thought they weren't answering me because they were being rude like you're so rude. But it wasn’t, it was that they did not know they didn't know their numbers, they really just took what came, they made what they made but they didn't know potential. When we are looking at things like that, we don't know our potential. When I figured out what the potential was, people would ask me, hey, Michele, can you make money at this? You know what I would always say back to them? Are you hungry? Not ‘yes’, not ‘no’, but are you hungry, because if you're hungry, then you're going to hunger for education, you're going to hunger for a better process, you're going to hunger for your ideal clients, you're going to hunger to have a great atmosphere in your business, you're going to hunger for good employees who can bring the vision to life. In other words, you're not going to be complacent, you're not going to sit and wait on it to come to you. You're going to actively invest in yourself and your team, in your craft and your industry to get it done. That's what I feel from your experience in 2020.
Certainly, maybe the money didn't come in as quickly, and it went out faster than you would have loved. But you were making investments, you weren't drinking wine and eating bonbons, you might have been a little bit that but you're not drinking your wine and eating bonbons during the day and not working. You weren't sitting and counting all the people who weren't coming to the door and trying to have a design plan done. You were saying I can't do anything about this, but I can do something about this. And that means let me go dig into SEO, let me be willing to try some different things instead of pigeonholing myself, let me see how I can be uncomfortable. Let me see what might work. Some things did, some things didn't. But the Amanda, this is the point I want to make the Amanda that walked into 2021 was not the Amanda that walked into 2020, which was not the Amanda that walked into 2019. So tell me about your 2021, where you started to see the fruits of that labor, where all of those investments in you and your business, in your craft in your tech deck, right in the stack of technology that you were using to support your company, you really went deep in a lot of areas, you're a super smart woman, tell me how that played out for you in ‘ 21?
Amanda 27:00
Well, in 2020, I feel like I had a wish list of projects and things I wanted to do when I had time, you know. So finally, like, I got my website in order, and I was just every day or every week, I was just checking through all those passion projects that I wanted to do. When I went into 2021, I had the systems in place, I had my marketing dialed in, I knew who I was talking to, and I was reaching out to them monthly. So, I had the consistency. I also had automated a lot because I was working from home by myself at that time. I have a scheduling system that sends out automatic reminders. Even in Gmail, I would draft out emails and schedule that so I wasn't sending emails at 3 a.m to people. I'm trying to think what else I had automated, mostly it was scheduling and reminders, and also using Asana for all of the ‘to does’ and tasks for every single client and project and setting reminders to follow up with that person and really managing myself because I am a post-it note girl, and I will tile my whole desk which post-it. So, I had to get myself organized because the Post-it note was not going to remind me to do the thing. So, Asana has changed my life.
Michele 28:30
Yep, technology. I am a huge fan of my Google calendar. And I have like four or five calendars all synced together, and they all show things in different colors. It's interesting because when I look at the color, like for me, if I'm going to do a podcast, the color is navy. If I am going to do a coaching call, it's green. I can look at the color and go ahead and know what is going to be expected of me in terms of how I think and do in that next hour. So just color coding it was huge. And then I as well use Asana to keep up with all of that and the combo of the two is what allows me to work through my day with ease and to know when things are scheduled and walk away. I love that. Tell me this, in 2021 you were dialed in the client started coming the business started growing, what was your next big Okay, here we grow again.
Amanda 29:29
Well, in 2021 I was continuing with the fruits of my labor, and I was growing a little melon of my own, I was pregnant. So, this was a huge pivot for me because I actually had a very sick pregnancy, I had hyperemesis which only happens in like 1% of women. I was extremely ill for the entire nine months of my pregnancy. I had to figure out how I was doing business because I signed all these lovely clients, and I couldn't physically see them. I was too sick to go to their house. I was going to the hospital three times a week for infusion treatments that were three hours each. I was doing a lot of FaceTime. At this point, I said, okay, I need to if I can't physically be there, yes, I could be there by Zoom, but I do need a representative of my company to be on site. So, I hired a designer, and I also had an intern at that time. This was a big leap for me to hire two people from going from just myself.
Michele 30:42
And being ill at the same time. My sister-in-law had that. She had it with more than one of her pregnancies but not all of her pregnancies. But more than one, that's it was rough.
Amanda 30:51
Yes. And the medication that they gave me would basically put me in a coma. I was like, you don't understand I have to run a company. I can't sleep all day, I got people I got jobs and projects to run, I can't be sleeping. So, it was a huge challenge, and the jobs that I happened to sign were two from-the-ground-up new builds, which, thankfully, were year-long to two-year-long projects. But it was a massive undertaking, and to have two new people under my belt, who I'm technically training, I just threw them in they said, hey, we're doing this.
Michele 31:40
Yes, and you probably had to really hire at that time the right people that could come in under that and know, and so that pulled you through. You have a beautiful little girl now, and that brought you into 2022 and 2023. Tell me about what you've shifted and pivoted and where you are now.
Amanda 32:02
Yes. After I had her, there was an adjustment period to the type of jobs I was taking when I was working, and really what I stood for, as a business owner, as a mom, like being pregnant. Also becoming a mother has put so much into perspective, like what I'm going to tolerate, like I no longer tolerate that, I no longer stand for that. I put a lot of strong boundaries in place where when I was working alone, yes, I would answer a client at 9 p.m., I would go to their house on a Saturday or Sunday, and I had no life. And now that I have a little one, I can't just show up to somebody's house willy-nilly on a Saturday or Sunday, like I have a life on the side that I need to take care of. The boundaries are so firm and in place in my business, and it's helped me bring more joy back to my own life.
Michele 33:03
Right, right. So, a couple of things we've mentioned that we're working together and have been, but one of the things that I always ask, and you go through too is I say, tell me what the life is that you want. You know, this may be counterintuitive, for some, but let's start your strategic plan. Let's start your visioning. Let's start your ideas about your future with what is the life that you want. How much time do you want to be with the people that you love? What do you need out of that life? Now what's left? How do we take that and use that for the business? What is the boundary around that time, because it doesn't matter whether it's your family, whether it's the business, or whether it's a client, anything can suck up our time and attention if we let it, anything. I have this big need.
We were in the middle of a kitchen renovation. We were supposed to start it in 2020 and we kept putting it off putting it off putting it off, and finally, this year, I was like I am done. I cannot put this off anymore. Rip this thing out, it is 26 years old, please can I have a new kitchen? And it wasn't that my husband was saying no, it was the market and all the things, and I was like I'm willing. So, we started it all the way in March for it to be finished in November, just with the planning and the organization and us having to take a pause for family time. But I say that because I knew what I needed in my home and in my life. And then we built it back into the company. Right? And if you think about it, that's what you've done too. Remember when I said the Amanda of 2019 wasn't the Amanda of 2020, where she's not the Amanda of ‘23? She's not the Amanda of ‘24. One of the things I've encouraged you to do and my clients to do and encourage the listeners to do is every year think about as the owner, what is your job description for the next year. Because it shifts. These things are moving. The strategic plan, I had somebody tell me today on Michele that makes me feel overwhelmed, just write down what you want next year to look like in your business. That's what I'm trying to get you to do. Nothing super structured that feels like it's tying or weighing you down. I just want you to say, here's what I want it to look like next year, and here's how I want to show up for my family and friends, and here's how I want to show up in my business. Like, what is that? I don't know that you've done this yet, but I know we're going to be working on it, write the job description for the Amanda of 2024, because what we might see is if you have your description from this year, and you have it for from next year, if there are things that you no longer want to do, want to tolerate, or want to be active in and it comes off your list, somebody might need to pick that up. And that gives us an understanding of who to hire, who to educate, and who to offload that to.
Amanda 35:52
I love how you worded that, because I was one of those people when you gave me the assignment of creating a strategic plan, like I have never done this. I don't even know what it entails, I have the goals and I write them down and I might loosely like write the steps to get there or what I'm going to do, but I never had an actual document with all those pieces. It was more of a loose vision board with some pretty pictures, and some daily tasks to get there. I got there, but it wasn't as organized and professional as the strategic plan that we've come up with. But I do agree with starting with the vision and starting with the life you want to live first. It gave me the why, and it made me realize, okay, this is what I'm working for, this is what I want. So how do I get there?
Michele 36:44
That's right. That's right. Sometimes I've gone through business myself, where I just took what came. I guess that's what I'll do versus going after what I want. I've even spoken to people who are in corporate who say I don't love my job. I'm like, great, what do you want to do? I don't know, I'm just waiting to see if something comes up. I'm like, why would you not figure out what you love to do and go look for it? Do you really think your ideal job is going to come to your house, ring the doorbell, and say here I am? It doesn't work doesn't normally work that way. I think that many of us creatives, we can pivot, we can shift, we can change, we can do, but in the changing in the shifting and doing we don't always have brand clarity, we talk about, and you hear that on every podcast all over the place, mine included. What is your brand? Brands are great, but how does that translate into who you are, and who your employees are? How does that translate into what are the financials that are needed to run this company that you need? One of the things I asked you is what does the company need to show up and do for Amanda. Not just what is Amanda going to put into the company, but what do we need the company to do for Amanda? I know even in Metrique when we were doing modeling, that's the beauty of what Metrique is, what do we need the company to do and provide for Amanda and for her home? Let's put that in. Now what does it need to provide for the company? Now what does it need to provide for the client, then we're able to see a financial model that supports the vision that supports what you want to do, your new perspective, as a mom and as a wife.
Amanda 38:26
I think the big pivot for me was that I was taking any job that came my way because I was trying to make up for the previous year so, I was saying yes to everything. Then in 2021, I found that me and my new team were running around like our chickens or heads cut off. Like we're doing everything. We were very, very busy. And then after I had her, I said this is not sustainable. There was no way I could run around and drive like I was here there and everywhere across New Jersey with a newborn, and there was just no way I could sustain that pace. So, I realized that, okay, I need to look at my services, my offerings, see what is successful, what is bringing in the most money, what are the jobs that I liked doing and how can I get more of that. My goal really was to attract larger jobs and take less of them. And I think that's everybody's going to be honest.
Michele 39:29
Yes! So, what is your goal? Here's the thing I’ll say, not only have you been hungry, but you’ve also been scrappy, and you've been willing to take input. I have to tell you from the very beginning, one of the things that I was really impressed with by you was when we started working together, you're like, I'm an open book. I admit there are some areas where I could have done some things differently. Here's some things here's some areas where maybe I did it all right. I it was outside of my control, or you know, and maybe a hybrid here, some things I did really, really well and didn't even know I did them well or didn't have a process to replicate that. But you were very open in saying, like you said earlier, I want to learn, and I want to engage, that combination of I'm hungry, I'm scrappy. I'm open to learning. I'm open to new ways or better ways, and digging into that, I think that honestly, Amanda is what is going to continue to sustain you and I do believe that is what is going to continue to make you unprofitable and more profitable. We've talked about it multiple times, how many times have I said to you, you are poised like you are doing the things? Even in our time together, you’ve seen blips and dips, like everybody has, but you have seen how it can come together, when the attention is put like, don’t ever stop marketing, we've learned the lesson. Always keep your finances in order. We've learned the lesson, the things we hear you experienced through the bumps up and down, you know, like businesses do. But you learned the lesson. I think the big point is taking in and learning the lesson and then applying it forward not just having it happen and not doing anything about it.
Amanda 41:13
Yes, and I will say prior to working with you, I knew that my financials weren't quite up to par, or not where I felt super confident running a business. Like I always wanted an office space. I had all these other goals, but I never had the confidence in my numbers to make those decisions. So, I implemented it.
Michele 41:38
You had good numbers, that's the thing, you had good numbers. But it was the understanding of how I now use those numbers to grow for the next thing, like an office space or another hire or whatever, right?
Amanda 41:51
Yes, I was always operating from a place of scarcity because I had all this money and I didn't know what was mine, what were the clients, or for cost of goods. I was just squirreling away money and I wasn't actively making smart decisions. I got very lucky. I felt like in the financial aspect. Yes, I had my buckets, but it wasn't until after you and I started working together, that I realized a really big issue financially and that made me nosedive in 2022. So, I will get vulnerable here. You know, I was at the point where I thought I had to file for bankruptcy. I went from, 2020 to barely any clients and 2021 killing it in business, scaling up and hiring multiple people, I had these massive jobs I did so well financially, and then 2022 just hit a nosedive. And what I realized was that it was poor financial planning. Yes, I implemented the Profit First method, but what happened was, it was that things were taking so long to shift. So, while I thought I had the money in my account, I was willy-nilly spending, then I see like six to seven months later, everything hitting my statement. I'm like, what is this? What is this? What is this? Like why is the credit card bill so high? I realized all these things had shifted, and then my card got charged. Then I was like, oh no, the money is not there. Because I mistakenly overspent because I hired all these people. That is when I started working with you and we've corrected the problem. I made it through. I'm doing so much better than before and now I have the confidence in my numbers. I am a totally different person than I was a year ago. I'm pulling reports. I'm analyzing my numbers. I'm sitting down with my accountant. we're having these educated conversations on making decisions based on numbers, margins, percentages, like all these things that I did not have the competence or the knowingness and I can actually happily say that I'm getting my new office space soon.
Michele 44:08
Awesome. Awesome. You know, it's one of those things again, and I love vulnerability, thank you for sharing that. But I mean, I've shared it, we all go through seasons and times where we can get things right for so long that we assume that we know what's happening, but we don't. It was just this perfect match of when are things coming in and then they hit at the wrong time and there you were. But the other thing that we learned through this even together was again, sometimes understanding what the number is but understanding what the number needs to do for you. I think that's what a lot of people miss is the net profit. They look at net profit and think that's profit, I can take it home or look in the bank account and think is there I've paid everything I can take it home instead of saying but what does that bucket of money need to do in the future and have I set it up to do that? And that's a big question to ask. What is the job responsibility of your net profit? Tell me what the job responsibilities are for that number, and then we can look at it. Digging into some of that, because it can be different for everybody, and looking at what your company needs it to do, and then setting up processes to protect it, and once you know what we needed to do, and we set up boundaries around it to protect it. You had created such beautiful boundaries, and in all these other places, but that was like one of the last areas that maybe didn't have as clear a boundary around it as we needed to. I know it's been a challenge for you and I know it because it brings up a lot of emotion, we've had a lot of hard looks into numbers and looks into things, but again, you've been scrappy, you've been open, you are in a healthy financial place, you're getting an office space, you have your team, you did everything that I asked you to do, and more. And you should feel so great because now you have tools in a toolbox, the next pivot is coming, it's coming for all of us, we all are going to have that opportunity to take what we have learned and apply it in a new way. That's what all of education is, what have you learned, and how to apply it forward. I just want to encourage you that you have a really healthy toolbox to apply forward.
Amanda 46:20
I feel so much more confident and I'm so grateful for you for your help because without your teaching, I wouldn't have noticed that problem until I was probably too far along. Like I was able to catch it and slow down the train, but there have been many times where I've cried to you, and you've picked me up and I needed that, but we made it through.
Michele 46:48
We made it through, you know, the willingness to reach out for help, let's not miss that point. Because that can be a hard place and a vulnerable place. But you did two things, you recognized it, but you also invested in a solution. You were having trouble, and I'm not free, so you were willing to invest in a solution to the problem to get you out of it because the lessons will carry you forever.
Amanda 47:15
Yes, definitely.
Michele 47:16
You were willing to raise your hand in class, excuse me, I have a problem over here. You know what, not everybody that calls me has that exact same problem or that exact same challenge, but what I do want you to know, and you do know this, we're all just people just trying to make it through. So, if you have got a problem, ask somebody. If your problems are in marketing, get a marketing coach, if your problem is in sales, get a sales coach, if your problem is in process, get a process coach, right? If your problem is in financial and CFO-type work and not understanding your numbers, get Metrique Solutions and call me. Like there are answers out there for everybody and just not be afraid to raise your hand and ask the question. So, Amanda, tell people where they can find you. Where are you hanging out online?
Amanda 48:00
I mostly hang out on Instagram so you can find me there at AMA Designs Interiors. You can also find me on Facebook from there and threads and what's the other one?
Michele 48:13
Your website, tell us your website.
Amanda 48:15
That's all right the website is byamadesigns.com.
Michele 48:19
Perfect, and we'll put all that in the show notes so everybody can follow you. And then thank you so much for sharing your journey. It's really it was kind of what was it kind of, it was very fun to look back and you've now documented your origin story, think about that, that's pretty cool.
Amanda 48:34
That is cool.
Michele 48:36
That is cool. Well, thank you so much for sharing. Thank you so much, Amanda, for joining us. I appreciate just your honesty and sharing the great things and also the areas that you had the opportunity to learn and to grow and to do things differently. You know, if you're listening to this, and you're like you, you see yourself or your business and some way in the conversation that we had or some aspect of your business and you're thinking, you know, it's time I want to throw up my hand and say I need help, too, I would love to be on your call list. So, you can reach out to me at ScarletThreadConsulting.com Go to the Work with Me page and fill out a form, and let's talk let's just see. Here's the deal, if I can't help you, I probably know somebody who can, and I will point you in that direction. But we don't have to do business or life alone, we weren't meant to. So don't feel like you have to sit there and not look back over your past history and growth with anything other than with love, kindness, and grace and with an opportunity to learn to move forward. So be intentional about asking for help because profit doesn't happen by accident.
Michele 49:57
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