2025 Thoughts from Design Finance Solutions

Lessons Learned

April 1st always feels like the beginning of the New Year for me. This is because January through March is usually a whirlwind of tax and reporting deadlines, my busiest time of year, and April 1st is when I finally feel like I can focus on the new year.

So, as usual, the first week of April, I conducted a year-end “lessons learned” review. One thing my team and I noticed is that this year’s tax season was noticeably easier than previous years, which have been nothing short of a marathon.

I credit this improvement to our focus in 2024 on improving all aspects of our business, but most importantly, on our processes and systems.

During 2024, we implemented new processes, tweaked existing ones, added in some key client communication touch-points and templates, set up new security software and protocols, and generally tried to anticipate future log-jams and problems. In 2024, I blocked out weekly administrative time on my calendar to work on implementing new systems. My focus on administrative tasks last year often felt like I was taking away time from direct client work, but it has proven well worth it in the long run.

The concept of “Lessons Learned” has been a tremendous asset in my business life. I encourage each of you to implement a regular “lessons learned” session into your business. Whether it be a team review after a major installation, or an annual review of what went right and what went wrong last year, looking at your business with an eye to improvement can be game-changing.

Company Culture AKA “Vibes”

Years ago, I worked for a very structured Swiss company, managing a team of 30 people. But although I was successful in my role, I didn’t quite fit into the corporate culture. I dressed casually when others wore business attire, I sat on the floor to sort through files, and I always took my shoes off at work. My employees jokingly teased me about being a hippie. However, as part of the management team, part of my job was to instill corporate excellence in my team. I did this through implementing structured processes, along with other team management tools. I gave my employees ample opportunity to tell me what wasn’t working, and to offer suggestions on how to make things work more smoothly. My “vibe” might have been casual, but our systems worked within a highly structured corporate world.

I keep coming back to systems, processes, and structure. This is the basis of any successful business. Systems and structure can be flexible and can evolve, as your business grows, and as you accumulate “lessons learned” year after year.

Why I Love Studio Designer

Which brings me around to why I love Studio Designer for any growing design firm.   This software provides the structure for a design firm to easily implement and follow industry time-honored processes while allowing for the flexibility of creativity. The development teams have considered how designers work and continue to address all the moving parts of the business inside of the software system.  

I often work with designers who are struggling to put systems in place, and my starting point is always to follow the Studio Designer process. Proposals, client approvals, budgets, inspiration collections, timesheets, inventory management, project financials – every aspect of the design firm business model has been considered and addressed.

And Studio Designer is continually improving, adding features, tweaking and refreshing old ones, and taking customer feedback on how to improve. Truly their version of implementing “lessons learned”.

I hope that each of you look at how you are using your resources, including Studio Designer, to help you in your business. Are there features which you haven’t used that can help your processes? Are you using the date fields and expediting reports? What about the color status buttons? Are you following the correct process to close out projects?

Lastly, I know most of you got into this business because of a passion for design. But business is business, and the purpose of any business is to make money. If I can encourage you to do any one thing differently in 2025, it is to take the financial component of Studio Designer seriously. Check your open PO balances, check your client work in progress reports, learn to read your financial reports, and check them periodically.

As always, we are here to help with any of the above – systems, processes, understanding how to use Studio Designer features, understanding your financials – feel free to reach out to me if I can support you in any way.