Interior Design Business Administration Tasks – The Big Yuck!
Perhaps the biggest headache for small design firm owners – and small business owners in general – are the administrative tasks that must be handled. After all, you got into this business to explore and put to use your creative side, not to be pulled into interior design business administration tasks every day, instead.
Luckily, there is help available. From services like ADP and Paychex that manage payroll to Virtual Business Support Services and Virtual Assistants (VA), you can get your payroll taken care of, along with a myriad of other admin tasks. From HR to marketing and from helping to put in place policy and procedure manuals to client follow-up, VA support services can handle all of it for you at huge savings over the time you’re spending right now.
De-yucking the Big Yuck
An eye-opening article at BusinessOfHome.com brought clarity to the issues that small design firm owners run into frequently:
“Ten years ago, Penny Francis didn’t think she needed an employee manual—or dedicated HR resources, or a formal goal review process, for that matter. But when interviewing job candidates, the founder of the New Orleans–based firm Eclectic Home found herself reinventing the wheel each time and realized that there had to be a better way. ‘I was lacking consistent policies, procedures, and interview resources,’ says Francis. “I needed steps for documenting and following up with both hired and non-hired job applicants.’
“Francis was already using Paychex to manage payroll; when she realized that the company offered a human resources administration service as an add-on, she signed up. The process required some upfront time and energy but paid off exponentially. ‘After a few days of working with their consultant to help them understand my business’s needs, they created a supervisor’s manual and another manual for staff interviewing and selection. Each manual provides resources, forms, and state-specific compliance laws, along with procedures, sample letters, and forms for easy implementation.’”
Your Time is Your Greatest Asset
Current admin cost: What are your time, energy, training, and talents worth? Because right now, YOU are your greatest business admin expense. In other words, whatever you charge your design clients for your time, be it $150, $200, or $300 per hour, has to be included in the overall project price you quote them.
Now take that number, let’s pick $225 per, and multiply it by the time you spend on these tasks. Spending just 15 hours a month on admin is $3375 a month down the drain. Or, $40,500 per year. (It’s likely closer to 20 hours per month at five a week, but we’ll stick with the number we used.)
Dang! What could any small business owner do with that kind of extra cash every year? Not to mention the time you’ll save for doing what you love – interior design!
From hiring and firing to ordering products, creating estimates, and billing clients, the value of the time you spend on admin currently is almost inestimable. Getting help with the drudgery and time-suck that is business administration can only benefit your design business, and you.
Recall that our guide and mentor, Ted Fall, remains available for business consulting to the trade. He also has contacts with virtual business support firms that are dynamite at helping take the business administration load off the shoulders of small business owners. Feel free to… Get in touch with TD Fall today.