Taking Your Design Business Digital
“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new” -Socrates
Okay…so not to get all philosophical on you here…but whether you’re an interior designer, real estate agent, home stager or any other creative, home professional I have no doubt, that the recent global pandemic, has opened your eyes to the importance of conducting business online versus in-person. Maybe the pandemic has even FORCED you to conduct some of your design business digitally? But instead of seeing this as something to stress about, look at it as an opportunity to hire global team members, or not feel obligated to go into the office to conduct business.
I know it can be a scary thought, to abandon everything you know about ‘pencil and paper’ design, and in-person meetings. But think about all of the awesome opportunities, taking your business operations online will bring you:
- Flexibility
- A broader range of clients and/or business partners
- Documentation that is backed up digitally
- The ability to share important documents with just the click of a button
…just to name a few! If the prospect of these possibilities excites you, keep reading to hear more about why taking your design business digital is sure to take it to the next level!
Flexibility
Long gone are the days of having to work around several different schedules to get an in-person showing of a house (whether for interior design, real estate, or staging purposes.) Now, you can simply take a picture or shoot a video, upload it and send it off to be viewed at the convenience of the recipient.
Having the ability to share pictures or videos of spaces online, allows creative, home professionals to seamlessly work across time zones. Imagine how much wider your audience reach can be when you can allow people to view downloads and work at their own convenience. Or, if you or your team work more in the design realm, there are tons of digital software programs that have simplified design and made sharing those designs easier than ever before.
With online processes and workflows in place, it’s easier than ever to complete ales transactions with the click of a button. You can send a contract and get paid within MINUTES vs. meeting in person with a client to get a paper check PLUS having to wait for it to clear. I mean who doesn’t love quicker and easier money?
Worldwide Team & Clients
The flexibility of an online business, also means that your team members don’t have to be limited to one geographical area. If you find an amazing team member, but they’re located on the other side of the world, cloud based project management systems can help you to work together.
Now, you can put an advertisement out for a team member and conduct interviews on Zoom. Not to mention, meetings moving forward. You can also use tools such as Asana, Monday or Trello to keep track of projects and tasks (for both team members AND clients.)
Additionally, if your portfolio is housed online think of all the potential WORLDWIDE clients you can attract! A killer website with SEO optimization is sure to attract your ideal client avatars and we all know what that translates to….MORE SALES & MORE PROFIT.
Is there a vendor that you would love to work with, but getting to a showroom or getting their pieces into your space is complicated by time and/or geography? If you have online business capabilities already in place, you can easily work with your favorite vendors, without having to worry about where they’re (or you’re) located.
Backing Up Your Business Digitally
Now don’t get me wrong, pencil and paper don’t have to be completely obsolete. But with all of the technology advancements these days, you can even continue with paper and pencil in the areas of your business that you prefer, and then scan them for safe-keeping.
If you’re an iPhone user, this can be as simple as making a new ‘note’ on your phone, then instead of taking a picture of your pencil-and-paper documents, select the ‘scan documents’ option after clicking on the camera icon.
There are so many different ways to backup your documents, that truly, there’s no excuse NOT to have everything backed up in some form or fashion.
Easy Sharing
When documents, SOPs, workflows…really ANYTHING pertaining to your business is digital, not only does this ensure you have an easy ‘backup’ system for your files; It also makes sharing information incredibly easy. Instead of having to hope you remember to send documents to clients or team members, you can easily share documents with the click of a button. Or ‘ping’ team members to send you vital documents you may need for meetings. Slack or Voxer are great tools to use to communicate with clients and team members.
Is the majority of your design business already digital? What are your favorite aspects of conducting business online? Are you partially online with your design business, but looking for ways to strategically simplify your online business aspects, to increase efficiency and profit?
If you’re a creative, home professional, interested in developing a more strategic plan for your online business, or to finally take your design business digital, I would love to chat. Schedule a free, no-commitment call here. We can chat more about the advantages of hiring remote team members, and putting digital workflows and SOPs in place, that will skyrocket your business.
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