The Profit is a Choice Podcast

Part of the Design Podcast Network

Owning every choice in your business is not for the faint of heart. Each Monday, join Michele Williams, strategic profitability coach for the interior design industry as she interviews guests who are taking control of their business one decision at a time to increase their profits. If you are an entrepreneur who wants to make money while working in your passion, this is the podcast for you.

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218: Strategies for Hiring Well in Your Interior Design Firm

Today we have Jamie Van Cuyk. Jamie is a hiring strategist, a podcast host, and a speaker. And today we are going to dive into all things hiring. I know that hiring a team has been very difficult for many of you, you've probably had some starts and stops along the way. You're wondering what the next right hire is, how to make sure you're choosing the right person. And that's the conversation that we're going to dig into. So welcome to Jamie Van Cuyk.

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201: How to Rethink Your Business

Today we are airing an episode that we launched in 2020. Many of us are seeing changes in buying patterns, budgets, and selections. While the details are different from where we were in early 2020, the rethinking our business part is the same. In this podcast we will examine how to dissect our businesses so that we can analyze them and perhaps put them back together again in a different way. Really knowing the pieces and parts, as well as what we're great at, or core competency, helps us to determine the best ways that we can show up and then serve our ideal client. Let’s focus on how to be nimble in an ever-changing world. How to grow and scale while maintaining our flexibility, which is not always easy. That will allow us to maneuver through any change. I hope you enjoy.

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181: Working With a Recruiting Agency for Your Design Firm

Joining me on the podcast today are Paige Risley and Beth Moffatt of We Recruit Well, both of these women have worked in the online space, both in positions of being virtual assistants. And now they have pulled together their resources and created a company, We Recruit Well, where they help place online resources for your company. And so we're going to talk today about what that process looks like, how to be prepared for hiring, and how to make sure that you are matched with the correct person.

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168: How to Hire an Ops Person for Your Design Firm

Joining me today on the podcast is Kelcee Sparks. Kelcee is the Director of Operations and Success for my company, and we've been together for almost a year. We're going to talk about what it's like to hire an operations person, why you need one, and actually how to hand off the work that sometimes can be very difficult to let go of. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

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157: How to Hire for the Weaknesses in Your Design Firm

At some point we all need to consider hiring. But have you considered hiring for the weaknesses in your firm? In this episode we will look at how to identify the weaknesses of your firm, how to use the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment tool to gain clarity on what is missing, and how to choose between two weak areas to determine which position to hire for first.

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134: How to Hire the Best Assistant for Your Interior Design Business

Laura Licursi is the founder and owner of Elite Virtual Assistants, a virtual staffing agency that helps busy professionals, like all of us listening, go from busy and overwhelmed to productive by helping them delegate work that is keeping them IN their business so that they can work ON their business.

In our time together today, Laura and I will hit some of the following topics surrounding hiring a VA. First, we will talk about what a VA is, how it is different to an OBM – I know, lots of acronyms, but I promise we will make sense of them. We will chat about hiring from an agency vs. straight freelance when to know if the timing is right, and what you need to have in place to do it well.

I have many VA’s and they help support me to run my business. Listen in to see when might be the right time for you to bring on help in this area.

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121: Year End Planning for HR, Marketing and Finances for your Design Firm

This is the third episode I am dedicating to going through a year-end review. I believe this process is instrumental in creating a business plan that we desire and doing it with intention. Today we will focus on some of the review process necessary in the areas of human resources, marketing, and financials.

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119: Building a Leadership Focus for Your Design Firm

On the podcast today is Kris Plachy of Kris Plachy Coaching. Kris’s focus is to guide leaders through the tricky path of learning to lead a team. We talk about her Five-Step Management System on the podcast as well as many other aspects of leading, coaching, and managing a team. This is such a great topic because many of you are growing your teams and focusing on this aspect of your business. Kris and I think alike on these topics so it was fun to dig in.

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115: Managing Business Growth Expectations for Interior Designers

On the podcast today are Chandler and Jeremy Quarles of Peach and Pine Interiors. They were on the podcast back in episode 80 where we talked about them building a business together that integrated their family life and business life. Today we are going to look at a business challenge they are facing. And this is a challenge that many face – the messy middle. What do we mean by this? This is the place where you are not where you were – but also not where you ultimately want to be. The messy middle. And why do I call it that? Because this is the place that we are in the most, and that takes perseverance to get through. This is the dash between when your business starts and when it is done. This is where your business life is lived. Listen in as we look at this place, create a new perspective, and actually celebrate this climbing up the staircase to our business mastery.

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106: 5 Keys to Success that Exceptional Leaders do that Spur Growth and Profitability

Joining me on the podcast today is Eileen Hahn. Eileen is a leadership consultant who partners with organizations to assist them in hiring and leading exceptional people. Today we will be exploring the 5 keys to success that exceptional leaders employ. Eileen joined us on episode 50 where we talked about hiring exceptional people. See the connection? Eileen is all about working in and with the exceptional. Grab a pen and paper and get ready for a great conversation.

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090: How to Rethink Your Business for Maximum Success

On the podcast today we're going to look at how to dissect our businesses so that we can analyze them and perhaps put them back together again in a different way. Really knowing the pieces and parts, as well as what we're great at, or core competency, helps us to determine the best ways that we can show up and then serve our ideal client. And so in the podcast today, we're going to focus on how to be nimble in an ever-changing world. How to grow and scale while keeping flexibility, which is not always easy. That will allow us to maneuver through any change. I hope you enjoy.

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086: Creating a Transition and Restart Plan

Today, I am going to share with you some of the training that I've been offering my private group. I really believe that this is information we should all have. It's also going to be information that you're going to be able to catch in video form in my blog post later this month, and there's a downloadable PDF that will come in the blog post.

In this process, that we're going to look at today, it’s about creating a transition plan and a restart plan. I am an advocate of doing all the planning in advance as much as we can. So that when it comes time to execute, we already know what to do. It’s kind of like where you're thinking about what's the worst-case scenario or even a best case scenario. And then when it's time to do it, you just do it. So, with that we are going to be looking at how to create a transition plan. What is a transition plan? Why do you need one? All of those good details and hopefully it's going to help you not only manage during this time but prepare for what's to come. Stay tuned and enjoy the podcast.

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085: Perspective in a Crisis

Welcome to the podcast today.

You know, most of my podcasts are recorded well in advance of when you are going to hear them. Sometimes one or two months in advance and they're normally planned out. Right now we're in a time of very dynamic changes to information. And what's happening can change in a matter of moments. What we start with in the morning may be something different than that we know or are learning about in the afternoon. I want to make certain that I am being dynamic in our podcast with what is happening and not to miss that. And so we're going to be changing up just a little bit. Feel free to take notes and think about how to create a new perspective for your business as you listen to the podcast today.

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081: AIM with Intent Methodology with Michele Williams

On the podcast today, I'm going to be sharing with you the focus in my company on scaling your business. If you've listened to a lot of the past podcasts and blogs, you've noticed many of them were on scaling. Scaling simply means growing. And there's more than one way to do that. So my goal is to help the businesses, that I work with, implement business principles early on as quickly as they can, so that they scale with intention and not out of control. I hope you enjoy the podcast today.

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073: Scaling Your Interior Design Business

On the podcast today, we're talking all about growing your interior design, business, and scaling. Isn't that a great topic to kick off the year? My hope is that by the end of the podcast, the idea of scaling is not something scary, but something that you feel like you can tackle. I remember the first time I was asked how I was going to scale my business, and honestly, it got a little irritated. In my mind, all I could think of was Dang, I just started this business. While I've already got to start thinking about that. The truth is that earlier you think about it, the better. And so today, we're going to talk about the indicators that it might be time to scale, what scaling might look like, and hence it's not the same for everybody and what are some actionable steps that you can take.

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056: Year One of Profit is a Choice

Wow, I cannot believe that we are a year into this podcast journey of Profit is a choice. I am not sure if you all heard my beginnings in podcasting – but I started investigating a podcast in 2016. At that time, I determined the amount of time it would take was time I did not have available – so I shelved it. Then in 2018, I was able to create sustainable time in my calendar to create and produce the podcast. And now – here we are. On this episode we are going to do a year of review and highlights – so much goodness has happened this year and I was reminded of the value this podcast has brought into the world as I looked back. 

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050: Hiring Exceptional People to Be Profitable

With us today is Eileen Hahn. She is a principal in the San Diego based management consulting firm, Organization Effectiveness Consultants (OEC). She partners with leaders of organizations to establish new levels of performance, financial results, teamwork, and employee work passion. Eileen is a delightful and engaging professional speaker and university instructor. She combines practical knowledge, tools and techniques with warmth and real world examples and experiences.

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016: Building A Profitable Team for the Win

On the podcast today we have Jeanelle Dech. Jeanelle is president and co-founder of Adaptive Textiles, a textile printing company in West Chester, Pa. She’s known for her Fit-Like-a-Glove slipcovers, SPEED sewing method and workroom profitability training, and is the creative force behind The Workroom Channel and the Curtains & Soft Furnishings Resource Library. Jeanelle and I are accountability partners and we can dig into about any topic to discuss. Enjoy our conversation today on the topics of ideal client, our WHY, self-guided couples therapy and team work.

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