Joining me today is Katie Menon of Stephenson House in Edmonton, Canada. Katie has had impressive growth and has been willing to take some risks to do things, perhaps, before their time. Listen in as she shares her business trajectory.

On the podcast today is Katie O’Brien. Katie is a brand and website designer for the interior design industry. We are going to talk about the 5 website essentials that are needed, how to tell if you have outgrown your website, and the most common portfolio mistakes that people make. Enjoy!

Scott Beebe is the founder and head coach of My Business on Purpose and he's the host of the My Business on Purpose podcast. He loves to liberate small business owners from the chaos of working in their business and helps to get their lives back by assisting them in articulating and implementing intentional vision mission values, systems and processes.

As owners, we build and build and work and work on our business. But what happens when we need to step away for a time? Can the business move on without us? What if we are out for a hot minute and someone needs to step in on our behalf, have we established a company that they can move into? On the podcast today, we will look at the areas we need to consider for continuity of service if we, the owner, need to take a sabbatical.

I am so excited to have Carol Lang, of Carol Lang Interiors in NJ, on the podcast with me today. Carol is an excellent designer who has really learned to create her own path forward in this industry. We will be sharing her journey of discovery to clarify what she wants out of her business, and how that work is iterative and ongoing. I hope you enjoy!

On the podcast today with me, again is Kelcee Sparks. And she is the Director of Operations and Success for Scarlet Thread Consulting. You might remember that Kelcee and I did Episode 168, together on how to hire an operations person for your design firm. And in that episode, if you haven't listened you may want to go check it out. We discussed operations, building trust, working within your zone of genius and process, we really focused on what an operations person did and why you might need one. Today, we're going to go a little bit deeper. And we're going to really focus on the details of being ready, creating the first steps to move in the direction of hiring an operations person, we're going to talk 30-60-90 day plans. And we're also going to talk about creating a hybrid, so that sometimes the person may be in the office, and sometimes they may be working remotely. And so I hope that you gather a lot from this and are able to put it into practice.

Each year we go through a process of setting our financial goals for the following year, or at least we should. And I don’t use the “should” word without consideration. Many of us hate to be told what to do, so my hope is that in this podcast you understand the why behind it and you decide for yourself that you ‘should’ create financial goals.

Welcome to 2022! This year we are going to focus on metrics in our companies. Identifying what metrics are, what we need, and how to go about monitoring them. Last year it was all about strategy – and this year all about how to make the strategy work. Listen in for tips and tricks that will help you determine if you are still on task or not.

Can we just talk for a few minutes about what it means to end the year well? Does it mean to have every job go our way? Does it mean to make more money than ever? Does it mean to barely get through it but still be standing? On today’s podcast we are going to chat about ending the year well – defining that – and using the little time we have left to do it.

Joining me on the podcast today are Debra Scarpa and Ashley Blaesing of Home Designer Marketing. We are going to talk systems and processes which you all know by now is a favorite topic of mine. We will look at the benefits of having systems, which areas of the company we need to create them in and go over an idea of the types of systems that will make our work more efficient. Enjoy the podcast.

John Warrillow is the founder of The Value Builder System™, a simple software for building the value of a company used by thousands of businesses worldwide. He is the author of Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You, The Automatic Customer: Creating a Subscription Business in Any Industry, and The Art of Selling Your Business: Winning Strategies & Secret Hacks for Exiting on Top. John also hosts the popular podcast, Built to Sell Radio. Today, we are talking about how to create a business to sell, the difference between a job and a business, and who needs to be on your team.

Joining me on the podcast today are Jenny and Ben Slingerland of Black Ink Interiors. Jenny and Ben are clients of mine who have had tremendous growth over the last year. Today they are going to share their story of how they began working together in the company, how their business has morphed over the years, and how they each have their area of specialty that makes it all work.

With me today on the podcast is Sarah Walker of Nuance Interiors in Washington State. Sarah has just opened a high-end showroom in the Pacific Northwest catering to builders and other designers. We are going to discuss her journey in design, how she chose to step out of the comfortable and take a risk, and what she would do differently next time.

There comes a time for every business owner where they know a cursory glance over their business is not enough. They must do a deep dive into the company to check for workflows, profitability, products, services and more. And this deep dive can be overwhelming if not done methodically – because there are rabbit trails that quickly show up! On today’s podcast I am going to share with you my recent deep dive strategies, how they worked, and what could be improved. Enjoy!

If you are following along with my newsletter challenges, then you are working to determine what is critical for you and your team to complete this year. (By the way, if you don’t get my newsletter, go to www.scarletthreadconsulting.com and sign up or download any of my free offerings.) And as you are focusing on what is really critical you may be looking at a task list that is longer than your calendar has months left in the year.

Today we are going to talk about fitting your business into your life instead of fitting your life into your business. I hope you find some great take-aways to lighten the load.

When I started my podcast journey in September of 2018, I knew I would only do it if I could have the time and resources to do it well and consistently. I have now wrapped up 3 full years of podcasting and this is the start of year 4. Thank you all for continuing to be willing to listen, share, and talk about the choices that make our businesses and lives profitable. I would love for you to leave a review of the podcast on your favorite listening device. I believe there is more to be done and uncovered – so cheers to the beginning of year 4 of Profit Is A Choice.

With me today on the podcast is Desi Creswell. Desi is a coach focused on helping Interior Designers get out of the overwhelm and learning to live with more freedom and fulfillment. Desi is a co-author in the second edition of The Power Talk Friday Experts book produced by LuAnn Nigara and A Well-Designed Business.

Desi and I will be talking about finding focus in your business, not only in the day to day, but in the longer term as well. Stay tuned for a great conversation.

Joining me on the podcast today is Lane McNab of Lane McNab Interiors based in Berkeley, California. Lane had a very interesting start to her design business and some immediate success right out of the gate. In this podcast we talk about moving forward without knowing everything in advance, managing fear and risk, critical thinking, and how these elements allowed her to move forward with creating her own furniture lines. Such a great conversation and I know you will be encouraged as you listen.

I have seen it before. We go through a goal setting process and then move forward without continually checking to see if the goal is truly attainable and realistic. Maybe you have heard of SMART goals: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time bound. Today we are going to talk about stress testing our goals to check for attainable and realistic.

So, I did a thing. I took my business on vacation. We had such a wonderful time together. Just me and Scarlet Thread Consulting. I had been thinking of this and wanting to do this trip for a while, but the timing was not working. On this podcast I am going to share the 3 benefits of taking your company on a vacation.