120. Choosing New Design Business Opportunities Without Overload
Do you struggle with knowing when to say yes or no to new opportunities in your interior design business? It's easy to get excited about potential projects, collaborations, or events that come your way. But taking on too much can quickly lead to overload and burnout.
In this episode, I share a powerful process for systematically assessing new opportunities and invitations. By asking yourself a series of key questions, you can gain clarity on whether saying yes or no is the right decision for you and your business.
Whether you're considering a new design project, partnership, conference, or even your own ideas, this episode will give you the tools to make confident decisions without regret or overextending yourself. Get ready to take control of your schedule and ensure that every opportunity you pursue is fully aligned with your goals and values.
If you're interested in working together one-on-one in the fall or winter, now is the time to put your name on the waitlist for private coaching. Click here to secure your spot!
What You’ll Discover from this Episode:
How to pause and intentionally assess new opportunities before saying yes or no.
Why excitement alone shouldn't be the main driver of your business decisions.
The key questions to ask yourself when considering a new project, collaboration, or event.
How to determine if an opportunity aligns with your current goals and overall vision.
Strategies for making trade-offs and adjusting your schedule to accommodate new commitments.
The importance of tuning into your inner wisdom when making decisions.
How to own your choices and avoid overcommitting or blaming yourself later.
Listen to the Full Episode:
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Full Episode Transcript:
Hey designer, you're listening to episode 120. In this one, we're gonna be talking about how to systematically assess new opportunities or invitations that you receive in your interior design business so that you can confidently say yes or no without regret or overloading your schedule. This is a process I've created for myself and using my business. So this is a little bit of behind the scenes. And of course, I'll be applying everything to your own interior design business. Whether your opportunities are enticing project inquiries, your own new ideas, conferences you want to attend, or even opportunities for partnerships and PR, this is going to be a fantastic episode for you to listen to.
Welcome to The Interior Design Business CEO, the only show for designers who are ready to confidently run and grow their businesses without the stress and anxiety. If you're ready to develop a bigger vision for your interior design business, free up your time, and streamline your days for productivity and profit, you're in the right place. I'm Desi Creswell, an award-winning interior designer and certified life and business coach. I help interior designers just like you stop feeling overwhelmed so they can build profitable businesses they love to run. Are you ready to confidently lead your business, clients, and projects? Let's go.
Hello, designer. Welcome back to the podcast. I am recording on yet another incredibly cold day here in Minnesota. We have had so much cold weather. Oh my gosh. It's at least in the single digits right now. I can have that to celebrate. This past weekend, it was very much in the negatives. At one point, it was negative 19. And then one day when I had been issue, it was negative 11.
My daughter, all of you parents out there can probably relate to this, both my daughter and son, they decided that they had wanted to go do some experiments out in the snow with some food coloring. And I said, okay, that sounds messy. And you can definitely do that. All I need you to do is just make sure you stay on the yard where the snow is. Do not use the front steps. The front steps have natural stone, okay? I think you probably know where this is going.
So I took the dog for a quick little walk and I come back and I see my daughter she's up on the front steps and immediately I'm seeing her storing this dish of snow being her little mad scientist self and I see that we have green all over our steps. And granted, this is the second time something like this has happened. We had a sunscreen incident last summer. I guess I didn't really mean to tell you this whole story, but I think it's related.
So anyways, we ended up having to pour hot water on the steps to melt this like snow green concoction she'd created. And because it was so cold, the water started freezing almost immediately. So I was out there and trying to, of course, save the stone from looking green.
But also then I was like madly sweeping away water, which of course was creating this whole other issue of a sheet of ice. Oh my gosh, it just was like such a disaster. And okay, here's how this relates to the podcast. It was one of those moments where I was able to reflect on just how much coaching has impacted my entire life.
Yes, I was very frustrated, specifically because I'd given specific instructions because I foresaw this being a potential issue. And I was still able to keep my cool. Like I could see that there was green everywhere and I could feel the frustration, but not act from the frustration or act out from that frustration.
I think it was just such an amazing point of reflection after we'd resolved some of the issues. And yeah, coaching changes everything. When you work on these types of things that I talk about here on the podcast and that you deal with as a business owner, as you work through and build your emotional capacity, learn to manage your mind, learn to respond in skillful ways. In your business, there's this incredible ripple effect that goes everywhere with you because it's you that's changing, not just the business.
So anyways, that's the little story time for today. Today, what we're going to do is we're going to dive into the topic of how do you know when you should say yes or no to new opportunities or invitations, whether that's design projects, ideas you wanna implement in the business, others who approach your business for collaborations, interviews, panel discussions, workshops, conferences, I could go on and on. Always things that we might want to do or that others might want us to do for them.
This process that I'm gonna share with you today is actually something that I created for myself at the start of the new year. These are questions I've asked myself in the past. When I sat down to do my quarterly planning for quarter one of this year, I decided it would be really supportive of myself and my goals and my wellbeing to get these questions at a more formal outline and then also put them with my quarterly plan so that they were really easy for me to access and reference and be a reminder.
This quarter is especially important where I'm looking at these questions and really being strategic about how I assess opportunities. Of course, that's always true. And it feels especially important. I'm gonna be out of the office quite a bit.
I have quite a few commitments to supporting our family in different ways. And I've set a max hours worked goal. So like, I will not exceed a certain number of hours for the week, and really want to put my focus on one area, which is helping me expand the reach of this podcast, and then also have some space for wrapping up things that I've wanted to do, but haven't really intentionally prioritized, and I feel like now is the time.
And just as a side note, if you want to help support the podcast, if you love it, if you listen to it on a regular basis, one of the ways you can do that is by following the show. What my podcaster producer told me last week is that people who subscribe to the show or follow the show, that is becoming more and more important in terms of the algorithm. And of course, your reviews and ratings and sharing the podcast is always so appreciated.
Going back to what I just said about setting an hours worked goal for this quarter specifically, if you've been listening to the podcast for a while, you might remember episode 36 and 37. It was a two-part series and it was called Reclaim 5 Hours Per Week, Part 1 and 2. And if you haven't listened to those, I cover the strategy and the mindset to cut five hours of work from your week and how I did it for myself as a part of really stretching my edge on some mindset and time management strategies and mindset blocks.
So that was a while ago and it was the last time I set a very specific hours number for hours worked in the business. And more recently, it's been more of a range and that's been working great for me. And I'm not necessarily saying you need to set a specific number per week for yourself. It can be helpful to give yourself parameters because then you bump up against them and figure out what you need to work on, gives great insights.
But doing this little shift for right now, for this quarter, is something that's really gonna support my goals. I can see that it's gonna be a good reset for myself when I look at my capacity and planning in the business. And of course, in relation to what I want in my personal life as well. All that to say, in this process and in this set of questions that I'm gonna share with you today, what they're gonna do is they're gonna help gain clarity for when you're presented with a fun or interesting or potentially impactful opportunity or invitation so that you can make your decisions about what you're doing and not doing with eyes wide open and understanding what you want to do, but also what the implications are of a potential yes, either positive or negative.
And the other thing that this is gonna help you with is gonna really help you understand your decision-making process, which is just going to, speaking of ripple effects from my story, help you in so many ways in the business in terms of helping you make quicker, more confident decisions, where you trust yourself and ensure that what you're saying yes and no to is really in alignment with your current goals and also where you want to go.
I wanted to share this process here on the podcast specifically because I know from experience how amazing it feels when you attract something that you've been wanting, that you desire. And I also know that many of you are busy. I try and not use the word busy, but I know you connect with that word and you can relate. And it's interesting that I am even recording this week because after I did the outline, I've since received four opportunities or invitations. And so it's like perfect timing for me to walk the talk and share this with you.
Now, you might be at capacity, meaning you're working about what you want to be working, and you might also be over capacity. So you might be working more than you want to be working, it might be a period of feeling like you're being stretched thin, there's too much on your plate.
So I want you to have a way to refer back to or use right now to really look at these new loads to your schedule or potential loads and requirements of you because it's gonna require something to really systematically assess what it is that you take as your next step, so that you don't end up overloaded or even more overloaded. And then even if you do decide to take this thing on, even when you know you don't have space, at least you're making it a conscious choice and really own it.
This is really important here because often we'll have things where we know or we're like pretending not to know the truth of taking something on and we're like, "Oh, that'll be fine." And then we're ticked off at ourselves on the opposite side of it. Then we're like, "This is so hard, I shouldn't be doing this, I'm so stressed out." And we forget we made a choice. So this is a way to just really clear the decks and be like, "Yes, this is what I'm doing" and own it. And that level of ownership, even if you decide to do something where you are beyond capacity, it can really help settle yourself and allow you to commit to whatever it is you committed, knowing that it was a choice.
There's so much difference between acting from a place of, "I know this is a choice I made" versus "I have to", or "Look what I got myself into" and blame and shame myself. Like I was saying, it's really excited to feel wanted, to have people taking interest in what you're doing, to see what you've been building that's creating momentum. And if you allow that excitement to be the main driver in your business, it could really take you where you want to go.
This is another reason this process is gonna be really important. Most often clients I'll see are worried about saying no and feeling like they're missing out in some way. If this exciting opportunity comes along and they're like, "I have to do it, I have to do it." And that excitement leads them astray from what they really want. And it can bring up lots of different emotions of scarcity and doubt and all of those things. And so the decisions being made from not wanting to miss out, but we often forget that in either scenario of saying yes or no, there's really the potential of feeling bad available. It probably is going to be there.
So you might say no to the thing and then feel disappointed or have some sadness that you couldn't do it because you really wanted to. But if you say yes, then you might also feel bad too, right? You might feel overextended, you might feel exhausted, maybe you might feel scattered, maybe even disappointment there too, because of what you'll end up missing out on personally if you put in those extra hours.
So don't let your brain trick yourself into feeling like there's gonna be one solution where you're gonna feel more amazing. Now that I've given you sort of some background on how this has come about and what we're talking about today, let's get to the questions. If there's an opportunity you've been trying to make a decision about, I'd love for you to just bring that to mind right now. And you can answer the questions that I'm gonna post to you as we go. And you can definitely also save this episode. The transcripts available on my website too. I don't know if any of you know that, but you can always pull that up and even just copy and paste the questions so that you have them saved. And then you can refer back to them as needed.
And I will make one quick note before I go into the questions. When you're using these questions pertaining to design project inquiries, this would be if you have around your max number of projects that you wanna have at the moment, but a really intriguing opportunity comes up and you're tempted to say yes to that. So this isn't for assessing if this is an ideal client or you should just take the project on in general, that would be really run through what I call a client filter, which could be an entire episode in and of itself. And it's something that I work with my private clients. And If that's something that you're interested in, I could definitely do an episode at some point. And if you wanna work with me privately, I'll just say right now, that definitely get on the wait list. So you can head to https://desicreswell.com/coaching and learn all about private coaching and add your name to that list.
Now let's get into these questions. Some of them might have a little bit of an overlap, but they serve slightly different purposes in awareness and the decision-making process. So just use what supports you best. Here's what I wrote in my quarterly plan. So it's a protocol for assessing new opportunities. And then right under there, it says my commitment to myself. If a new opportunity presents itself, I will ask myself the following questions to create a pause in the decision making process. Pausing is always helpful. All right. So the first question, and I'm going to share some explanation around the question and some examples here too.
First question is do I actually want to do this and why? Sometimes there's things that just feel fun in the moment. It's like a shiny little glittery idea or invitation, or maybe I'm feeling bored or a little stagnant, and that feels like a fun distraction. So we wanna think about, do I actually want to do this? And do I wanna do it in the long run? So if I picture myself when it's time to do the thing, do you think I'm still gonna want to do it? Or does this just feel fun in the moment?
Also gonna look at, does it contribute to my overall vision and then current goals? Or are there any sort of side perks that I want from this? For example, I'm preparing to lead a panel discussion at Las Vegas market with Classic Home. And I thought about, do I actually wanna do this and why? It was a yes for me for a variety of reasons. Like even just the side perks piece of it, like I have a dear friend that lives in Las Vegas. There was like this extra little, yeah, that sounds really fun.
Could also look at, am I wanting to say yes, just so I don't have to feel the awkwardness of saying no. Right, so that could be like, I don't actually wanna do this, I just don't wanna say no. Great to have that insight. And then I love to ask why do I wanna do this? Or why don't I wanna do this? And I can look at my reasons and see if I like those reasons. And if those reasons are really compelling to me and they really align with who I want to be, my values and the vision for where I'm going. So that's the first question.
The second question is what thoughts or feelings are fueling my answer to the above? If you go all the way back and maybe you've heard me talk about it throughout the podcast but in episode three, Overwhelm Is Optional. I talk about the self-coaching model, how we have thoughts that create feelings and feelings drive actions and actions create results. So it's always useful to look at what are the thoughts and feelings leading to the action of you saying yes or no to something. This is definitely where I'm looking for shoulds or have tos. Like I should do this, I have to do this.
Thoughts like I'm missing out, Someone else might get this, someone else is going to get ahead. Probably you're thinking of some other designer or some other person on Instagram you follow that spikes that thought for you. Maybe you're noticing feelings like comparison or scarcity, but you also might notice thoughts and feelings that feel really genuine and purposeful.
With this Las Vegas market opportunity, I knew that I would love to contribute to the design community in that way and I'd love to create those connections with the panelists and the people who are going to show up and the brand. I felt a real internal pull of interest and curiosity that felt very calm and settled. And this is a place that I really like to make decisions from.
So notice what are the thoughts and feelings fueling your yes or no. The next question is, could this wait or be done another time? And a follow up to that is, do I notice any urgency or rush in the commitment? This is like further exploring that question that I just asked about the thoughts and feelings and also challenging our thinking around the timing of the opportunity or the leverage you might have in the situation.
We often tell ourselves it can't be done another time, that the other person wouldn't agree. If I don't say yes now, then it'll be never. That something like this won't come around again. And that might be true, and we do have to come to peace with that being on the table. But what I usually find is that it's typically not true, that there will be more opportunities and that if it really is an aligned invitation or project, there could be a way to make it work.
And this is again, when I'm wanting to check in for those frantic, competitive, scarcity-fueled emotions around the decision coming from those thoughts of this is going to go away, it won't happen again, so that I can pause and really challenge my thinking and also look at, if I really want to do this, what are possible solutions? How could I make this work in a way that is going to work for everyone, which of course includes me?
The next question is, could I do this, if I say yes, while maintaining the schedule I desire? This is where you give yourself a little bit of a reality check with the calendar. You have to look at what is actually involved. How much time and energy is this actually going to take you?
And not just the time and energy to do the actual thing, like the actual action taking, but even just like preparing for it, the mental energy of thinking about it, brainstorming, planning, worrying even, if it's something that's really gonna stretch you and maybe it's gonna cause some anxiety that you're gonna have to work through. We wanna look at what is actually involved. And can this fit in your schedule? Or are you signing up for more work than you really want to?
Going back to my Las Vegas market example with Classic Home, it was over the weekend. So that was another attractive part of this. The panel was on a Sunday. So that really helped me with in terms of my scheduling with my family and being able to keep things running at home. And I also really had to look at, yes, like it is an one hour panel, but what all is involved between the prep and the travel? And it was definitely gonna be more than what I had allotted for in terms of extras to keep everything the same, which then brings me to the next question, right?
So if you find it's going to be over what you were planning on for a certain period of time, that's good to know. It's the reality check, and then we can look at what could be solutions. So that's the next question. If it's not going to allow me to maintain the schedule I desire, what would I be giving up if I said yes? And is the trade worth it?
So of course with this, I was "giving up" time where it's a weekend with my family that I'd be traveling, but I'm also gaining, getting to go to this conference and see my friends. So there's still connection there. I'm still thinking through this process. And of course, it's an opportunity cost of if I'm doing that I'm not doing something else. I had to shift some things on my calendar.
So you just this is another way to help you get clear on what needs to happen for that yes to be supportive. So if the math of your schedule isn't working, meaning like it's going to take you over capacity in what you want to be doing. And that may be fine for short periods of time, depending on what this opportunity is, right?
If it's like a whole new project you're taking on, that's extra capacity for who knows, like an entire year it could be or multiple years versus my example of a weekend. But this question is twofold. So there's what you're giving up. So like I said, time with my family, I'm not focused on some other business priority. But you can also use this question to look at what could you give up or delay that would help balance out the commitments.
So for me, there were a few other things I could push and I decided to give myself less time on a few other things. And it wasn't perfect, but it was going to settle and even things out a little bit. And then you just want to understand is the trade that you're making worth it? Maybe yes, maybe no.
As I was saying before, what I see is often clients will over commit and then use it against themselves, meaning they're mean to themselves or acting like this overload happened to them instead of being the one choosing to take on the work. And if you're going to be in the position of more hours required, then the hours that you have to devote or want to devote, just own it and like your reasons. And then you're probably going to need to remind yourself why you made the decision in the first place when you have a cranky moment down the line and you're feeling a little exhausted.
And you also might find, you know what, this trade actually isn't worth it once I look at all of this. It's a cool opportunity, it's a cool project, it's something I want to attend, and it's just not worth it for me. I've had those in the past too.
The last question that I want you to consider is what would my inner voice want me to know about this? Inner voice being that really calm, still centered in yourself place might be a whisper, might be loud. Sometimes it might present itself in terms of a image or a visual. And sometimes you could even think about this as future self, right? That higher self. So asking, what does that inner wisdom want you to know about this?
We can, of course, pro list and con list until we exhaust ourselves. And sometimes the logistical sorting of things might not bring about a definitive answer.
Or you're looking at these questions and being like, yep, there's a clear answer and I don't like that answer. Might be time to tune inwards and check in with yourself. So that can just be a moment of getting quiet, bringing to mind the opportunity and seeing what bubbles up, see what that inner wisdom has to share. You might be really surprised with what you hear. There might be reassurance. There might be confirmation of what you know to be true. Just get curious and see. This can be another way to explore and get a different perspective on something maybe you're looping on or having a hard time deciding.
Lastly, then of course, you've just got to look at with all the questions that you've asked, whichever ones in this list you've used, how do you want to decide to move forward? You want to make a clear definitive answer either in that moment or give yourself a decision for when you'll have made the decision by. So that way you can either move forward feeling really great about your decision or you can let it go and you can stop letting it take up mental bandwidth.
What these questions do for you and what they do for me is they really give me a chance to pause and a way to be intentional about my decision-making process and my schedule and how I'm using my time, energy and often financial resources as well. The other thing that happens is it keeps opportunities from snowballing and consuming you. As your business continues to grow and your brand becomes more well-known, you're making more connections in the industry, more opportunities and invitations are going to come your way. Which means you're gonna have more opportunities to say yes or no. And you wanna make sure that you stay in the driver's seat of your business, where you keep yourself in the position where you're intentionally choosing what you're saying yes and no to, so that you're supporting the business, you're supporting yourself, and you're supporting your personal life as well.
As I was giving you these questions, I know I was giving you many ways to think about them or explore them and help you understand the intentionality behind the question. So I wanna recap each of these questions just in its most simplest form so that you have them for now and in the future.
Number one, do I actually want to do this and why?
Number two, what thoughts or feelings are fueling my answer to the above?
Number three, could this wait or be done another time? With this, do I notice urgency or rush in making this commitment?
Number four, could I do this while maintaining the schedule I desire?
Number five, if not, what would I be giving up if I said yes, or could I give up to make it work? And is that trade worth it to me? Why or why not?
Number six, what would my inner voice want me to know about this?
And number seven, with what I've explored, how will I move forward? Either making that decision then in that moment, or of course, deciding when you'll make the decision.
You don't have to use all of these questions. They are poking at your decision-making process and helping you understand what makes sense for you in different ways. So they are valuable collectively, individually, you can pick and choose, do a few, whatever you want to do, the ones that just seem to call to you. But I'd really love for you to test this out, it's going to help you get so much clarity. And when you have clarity, then you can take confident action and take next steps forward, which is always going to be a more settled place to be in the business and feeling more confident and more efficient.
I was thinking about some other podcast episodes that could be really helpful for you to take a listen to if this topic is resonating. So I'll list those off here, one of them being Client Capacity, episode number four. If you're wondering, am I at capacity? Could I take on more? I don't even know what she means by that.
I mentioned episode 36 and 37, where I talk about Reclaiming 5 Hours Per Week, and that's a two-parter. Another one is episode 51 on Playing the Long Game. This is very much about making decisions in alignment with your future vision for yourself and for the business.
And another favorite of listeners is episode 67, When to Say No to Yourself.
Lastly, I'll just highlight the Interior Designers Get It Done Daily Planner. And that's a free resource you can grab https://desicreswell.com/resources. This is really going to help you intentionally understand how long things take and how much time you have to devote to the business or want to choose to devote to the business so that you can be realistic with what you can or can't do. Just the simple act of planning your day and answering these questions in the planner will have you creating more time because of the clarity that you'll use to approach your day. So all of those would be great supplemental resources if this topic is hitting the nail on the head for you.
And then next week, I'll be back with a brand new episode. In that one, what I want to share is how to stop those negative thoughts spiral so you can stop looping in the mental drama. You're going to enjoy your day more, feel more confident and be more productive. Who doesn't want that?
Be sure to subscribe or follow the show so you don't miss that episode. As I mentioned, of course, this is helping you so that you get the podcast right in your feed every week. And it also really helps support me and the show because of the algorithm and it'll help get the podcast in front of more designers like yourself.
And of course, if you love the podcast, be sure to share it with a designer friend. I would appreciate it so much. And until then, I'm wishing you a beautiful week.
Thanks for joining me for this week’s episode of The Interior Design Business CEO. If you want more tips, tools and strategies visit www.desicreswell.com. And if you’re ready to take what you’ve learned on the podcast to the next level, I would love for you to check out my signature group coaching program, Out of Overwhelm.
Welcome to The Interior Design Business CEO, the only show for designers who are ready to confidently run and grow their businesses without the stress and anxiety. If you're ready to develop a bigger vision for your interior design business, free up your time, and streamline your days for productivity and profit, you're in the right place. I'm Desi Creswell, an award-winning interior designer and certified life and business coach. I help interior designers just like you stop feeling overwhelmed so they can build profitable businesses they love to run. Are you ready to confidently lead your business, clients, and projects? Let's go.
Hello, designer. Welcome back to the podcast. I am recording on yet another incredibly cold day here in Minnesota. We have had so much cold weather. Oh my gosh. It's at least in the single digits right now. I can have that to celebrate. This past weekend, it was very much in the negatives. At one point, it was negative 19. And then one day when I had been issue, it was negative 11.
My daughter, all of you parents out there can probably relate to this, both my daughter and son, they decided that they had wanted to go do some experiments out in the snow with some food coloring. And I said, okay, that sounds messy. And you can definitely do that. All I need you to do is just make sure you stay on the yard where the snow is. Do not use the front steps. The front steps have natural stone, okay? I think you probably know where this is going.
So I took the dog for a quick little walk and I come back and I see my daughter she's up on the front steps and immediately I'm seeing her storing this dish of snow being her little mad scientist self and I see that we have green all over our steps. And granted, this is the second time something like this has happened. We had a sunscreen incident last summer. I guess I didn't really mean to tell you this whole story, but I think it's related.
So anyways, we ended up having to pour hot water on the steps to melt this like snow green concoction she'd created. And because it was so cold, the water started freezing almost immediately. So I was out there and trying to, of course, save the stone from looking green.
But also then I was like madly sweeping away water, which of course was creating this whole other issue of a sheet of ice. Oh my gosh, it just was like such a disaster. And okay, here's how this relates to the podcast. It was one of those moments where I was able to reflect on just how much coaching has impacted my entire life.
Yes, I was very frustrated, specifically because I'd given specific instructions because I foresaw this being a potential issue. And I was still able to keep my cool. Like I could see that there was green everywhere and I could feel the frustration, but not act from the frustration or act out from that frustration.
I think it was just such an amazing point of reflection after we'd resolved some of the issues. And yeah, coaching changes everything. When you work on these types of things that I talk about here on the podcast and that you deal with as a business owner, as you work through and build your emotional capacity, learn to manage your mind, learn to respond in skillful ways. In your business, there's this incredible ripple effect that goes everywhere with you because it's you that's changing, not just the business.
So anyways, that's the little story time for today. Today, what we're going to do is we're going to dive into the topic of how do you know when you should say yes or no to new opportunities or invitations, whether that's design projects, ideas you wanna implement in the business, others who approach your business for collaborations, interviews, panel discussions, workshops, conferences, I could go on and on. Always things that we might want to do or that others might want us to do for them.
This process that I'm gonna share with you today is actually something that I created for myself at the start of the new year. These are questions I've asked myself in the past. When I sat down to do my quarterly planning for quarter one of this year, I decided it would be really supportive of myself and my goals and my wellbeing to get these questions at a more formal outline and then also put them with my quarterly plan so that they were really easy for me to access and reference and be a reminder.
This quarter is especially important where I'm looking at these questions and really being strategic about how I assess opportunities. Of course, that's always true. And it feels especially important. I'm gonna be out of the office quite a bit.
I have quite a few commitments to supporting our family in different ways. And I've set a max hours worked goal. So like, I will not exceed a certain number of hours for the week, and really want to put my focus on one area, which is helping me expand the reach of this podcast, and then also have some space for wrapping up things that I've wanted to do, but haven't really intentionally prioritized, and I feel like now is the time.
And just as a side note, if you want to help support the podcast, if you love it, if you listen to it on a regular basis, one of the ways you can do that is by following the show. What my podcaster producer told me last week is that people who subscribe to the show or follow the show, that is becoming more and more important in terms of the algorithm. And of course, your reviews and ratings and sharing the podcast is always so appreciated.
Going back to what I just said about setting an hours worked goal for this quarter specifically, if you've been listening to the podcast for a while, you might remember episode 36 and 37. It was a two-part series and it was called Reclaim 5 Hours Per Week, Part 1 and 2. And if you haven't listened to those, I cover the strategy and the mindset to cut five hours of work from your week and how I did it for myself as a part of really stretching my edge on some mindset and time management strategies and mindset blocks.
So that was a while ago and it was the last time I set a very specific hours number for hours worked in the business. And more recently, it's been more of a range and that's been working great for me. And I'm not necessarily saying you need to set a specific number per week for yourself. It can be helpful to give yourself parameters because then you bump up against them and figure out what you need to work on, gives great insights.
But doing this little shift for right now, for this quarter, is something that's really gonna support my goals. I can see that it's gonna be a good reset for myself when I look at my capacity and planning in the business. And of course, in relation to what I want in my personal life as well. All that to say, in this process and in this set of questions that I'm gonna share with you today, what they're gonna do is they're gonna help gain clarity for when you're presented with a fun or interesting or potentially impactful opportunity or invitation so that you can make your decisions about what you're doing and not doing with eyes wide open and understanding what you want to do, but also what the implications are of a potential yes, either positive or negative.
And the other thing that this is gonna help you with is gonna really help you understand your decision-making process, which is just going to, speaking of ripple effects from my story, help you in so many ways in the business in terms of helping you make quicker, more confident decisions, where you trust yourself and ensure that what you're saying yes and no to is really in alignment with your current goals and also where you want to go.
I wanted to share this process here on the podcast specifically because I know from experience how amazing it feels when you attract something that you've been wanting, that you desire. And I also know that many of you are busy. I try and not use the word busy, but I know you connect with that word and you can relate. And it's interesting that I am even recording this week because after I did the outline, I've since received four opportunities or invitations. And so it's like perfect timing for me to walk the talk and share this with you.
Now, you might be at capacity, meaning you're working about what you want to be working, and you might also be over capacity. So you might be working more than you want to be working, it might be a period of feeling like you're being stretched thin, there's too much on your plate.
So I want you to have a way to refer back to or use right now to really look at these new loads to your schedule or potential loads and requirements of you because it's gonna require something to really systematically assess what it is that you take as your next step, so that you don't end up overloaded or even more overloaded. And then even if you do decide to take this thing on, even when you know you don't have space, at least you're making it a conscious choice and really own it.
This is really important here because often we'll have things where we know or we're like pretending not to know the truth of taking something on and we're like, "Oh, that'll be fine." And then we're ticked off at ourselves on the opposite side of it. Then we're like, "This is so hard, I shouldn't be doing this, I'm so stressed out." And we forget we made a choice. So this is a way to just really clear the decks and be like, "Yes, this is what I'm doing" and own it. And that level of ownership, even if you decide to do something where you are beyond capacity, it can really help settle yourself and allow you to commit to whatever it is you committed, knowing that it was a choice.
There's so much difference between acting from a place of, "I know this is a choice I made" versus "I have to", or "Look what I got myself into" and blame and shame myself. Like I was saying, it's really excited to feel wanted, to have people taking interest in what you're doing, to see what you've been building that's creating momentum. And if you allow that excitement to be the main driver in your business, it could really take you where you want to go.
This is another reason this process is gonna be really important. Most often clients I'll see are worried about saying no and feeling like they're missing out in some way. If this exciting opportunity comes along and they're like, "I have to do it, I have to do it." And that excitement leads them astray from what they really want. And it can bring up lots of different emotions of scarcity and doubt and all of those things. And so the decisions being made from not wanting to miss out, but we often forget that in either scenario of saying yes or no, there's really the potential of feeling bad available. It probably is going to be there.
So you might say no to the thing and then feel disappointed or have some sadness that you couldn't do it because you really wanted to. But if you say yes, then you might also feel bad too, right? You might feel overextended, you might feel exhausted, maybe you might feel scattered, maybe even disappointment there too, because of what you'll end up missing out on personally if you put in those extra hours.
So don't let your brain trick yourself into feeling like there's gonna be one solution where you're gonna feel more amazing. Now that I've given you sort of some background on how this has come about and what we're talking about today, let's get to the questions. If there's an opportunity you've been trying to make a decision about, I'd love for you to just bring that to mind right now. And you can answer the questions that I'm gonna post to you as we go. And you can definitely also save this episode. The transcripts available on my website too. I don't know if any of you know that, but you can always pull that up and even just copy and paste the questions so that you have them saved. And then you can refer back to them as needed.
And I will make one quick note before I go into the questions. When you're using these questions pertaining to design project inquiries, this would be if you have around your max number of projects that you wanna have at the moment, but a really intriguing opportunity comes up and you're tempted to say yes to that. So this isn't for assessing if this is an ideal client or you should just take the project on in general, that would be really run through what I call a client filter, which could be an entire episode in and of itself. And it's something that I work with my private clients. And If that's something that you're interested in, I could definitely do an episode at some point. And if you wanna work with me privately, I'll just say right now, that definitely get on the wait list. So you can head to https://desicreswell.com/coaching and learn all about private coaching and add your name to that list.
Now let's get into these questions. Some of them might have a little bit of an overlap, but they serve slightly different purposes in awareness and the decision-making process. So just use what supports you best. Here's what I wrote in my quarterly plan. So it's a protocol for assessing new opportunities. And then right under there, it says my commitment to myself. If a new opportunity presents itself, I will ask myself the following questions to create a pause in the decision making process. Pausing is always helpful. All right. So the first question, and I'm going to share some explanation around the question and some examples here too.
First question is do I actually want to do this and why? Sometimes there's things that just feel fun in the moment. It's like a shiny little glittery idea or invitation, or maybe I'm feeling bored or a little stagnant, and that feels like a fun distraction. So we wanna think about, do I actually want to do this? And do I wanna do it in the long run? So if I picture myself when it's time to do the thing, do you think I'm still gonna want to do it? Or does this just feel fun in the moment?
Also gonna look at, does it contribute to my overall vision and then current goals? Or are there any sort of side perks that I want from this? For example, I'm preparing to lead a panel discussion at Las Vegas market with Classic Home. And I thought about, do I actually wanna do this and why? It was a yes for me for a variety of reasons. Like even just the side perks piece of it, like I have a dear friend that lives in Las Vegas. There was like this extra little, yeah, that sounds really fun.
Could also look at, am I wanting to say yes, just so I don't have to feel the awkwardness of saying no. Right, so that could be like, I don't actually wanna do this, I just don't wanna say no. Great to have that insight. And then I love to ask why do I wanna do this? Or why don't I wanna do this? And I can look at my reasons and see if I like those reasons. And if those reasons are really compelling to me and they really align with who I want to be, my values and the vision for where I'm going. So that's the first question.
The second question is what thoughts or feelings are fueling my answer to the above? If you go all the way back and maybe you've heard me talk about it throughout the podcast but in episode three, Overwhelm Is Optional. I talk about the self-coaching model, how we have thoughts that create feelings and feelings drive actions and actions create results. So it's always useful to look at what are the thoughts and feelings leading to the action of you saying yes or no to something. This is definitely where I'm looking for shoulds or have tos. Like I should do this, I have to do this.
Thoughts like I'm missing out, Someone else might get this, someone else is going to get ahead. Probably you're thinking of some other designer or some other person on Instagram you follow that spikes that thought for you. Maybe you're noticing feelings like comparison or scarcity, but you also might notice thoughts and feelings that feel really genuine and purposeful.
With this Las Vegas market opportunity, I knew that I would love to contribute to the design community in that way and I'd love to create those connections with the panelists and the people who are going to show up and the brand. I felt a real internal pull of interest and curiosity that felt very calm and settled. And this is a place that I really like to make decisions from.
So notice what are the thoughts and feelings fueling your yes or no. The next question is, could this wait or be done another time? And a follow up to that is, do I notice any urgency or rush in the commitment? This is like further exploring that question that I just asked about the thoughts and feelings and also challenging our thinking around the timing of the opportunity or the leverage you might have in the situation.
We often tell ourselves it can't be done another time, that the other person wouldn't agree. If I don't say yes now, then it'll be never. That something like this won't come around again. And that might be true, and we do have to come to peace with that being on the table. But what I usually find is that it's typically not true, that there will be more opportunities and that if it really is an aligned invitation or project, there could be a way to make it work.
And this is again, when I'm wanting to check in for those frantic, competitive, scarcity-fueled emotions around the decision coming from those thoughts of this is going to go away, it won't happen again, so that I can pause and really challenge my thinking and also look at, if I really want to do this, what are possible solutions? How could I make this work in a way that is going to work for everyone, which of course includes me?
The next question is, could I do this, if I say yes, while maintaining the schedule I desire? This is where you give yourself a little bit of a reality check with the calendar. You have to look at what is actually involved. How much time and energy is this actually going to take you?
And not just the time and energy to do the actual thing, like the actual action taking, but even just like preparing for it, the mental energy of thinking about it, brainstorming, planning, worrying even, if it's something that's really gonna stretch you and maybe it's gonna cause some anxiety that you're gonna have to work through. We wanna look at what is actually involved. And can this fit in your schedule? Or are you signing up for more work than you really want to?
Going back to my Las Vegas market example with Classic Home, it was over the weekend. So that was another attractive part of this. The panel was on a Sunday. So that really helped me with in terms of my scheduling with my family and being able to keep things running at home. And I also really had to look at, yes, like it is an one hour panel, but what all is involved between the prep and the travel? And it was definitely gonna be more than what I had allotted for in terms of extras to keep everything the same, which then brings me to the next question, right?
So if you find it's going to be over what you were planning on for a certain period of time, that's good to know. It's the reality check, and then we can look at what could be solutions. So that's the next question. If it's not going to allow me to maintain the schedule I desire, what would I be giving up if I said yes? And is the trade worth it?
So of course with this, I was "giving up" time where it's a weekend with my family that I'd be traveling, but I'm also gaining, getting to go to this conference and see my friends. So there's still connection there. I'm still thinking through this process. And of course, it's an opportunity cost of if I'm doing that I'm not doing something else. I had to shift some things on my calendar.
So you just this is another way to help you get clear on what needs to happen for that yes to be supportive. So if the math of your schedule isn't working, meaning like it's going to take you over capacity in what you want to be doing. And that may be fine for short periods of time, depending on what this opportunity is, right?
If it's like a whole new project you're taking on, that's extra capacity for who knows, like an entire year it could be or multiple years versus my example of a weekend. But this question is twofold. So there's what you're giving up. So like I said, time with my family, I'm not focused on some other business priority. But you can also use this question to look at what could you give up or delay that would help balance out the commitments.
So for me, there were a few other things I could push and I decided to give myself less time on a few other things. And it wasn't perfect, but it was going to settle and even things out a little bit. And then you just want to understand is the trade that you're making worth it? Maybe yes, maybe no.
As I was saying before, what I see is often clients will over commit and then use it against themselves, meaning they're mean to themselves or acting like this overload happened to them instead of being the one choosing to take on the work. And if you're going to be in the position of more hours required, then the hours that you have to devote or want to devote, just own it and like your reasons. And then you're probably going to need to remind yourself why you made the decision in the first place when you have a cranky moment down the line and you're feeling a little exhausted.
And you also might find, you know what, this trade actually isn't worth it once I look at all of this. It's a cool opportunity, it's a cool project, it's something I want to attend, and it's just not worth it for me. I've had those in the past too.
The last question that I want you to consider is what would my inner voice want me to know about this? Inner voice being that really calm, still centered in yourself place might be a whisper, might be loud. Sometimes it might present itself in terms of a image or a visual. And sometimes you could even think about this as future self, right? That higher self. So asking, what does that inner wisdom want you to know about this?
We can, of course, pro list and con list until we exhaust ourselves. And sometimes the logistical sorting of things might not bring about a definitive answer.
Or you're looking at these questions and being like, yep, there's a clear answer and I don't like that answer. Might be time to tune inwards and check in with yourself. So that can just be a moment of getting quiet, bringing to mind the opportunity and seeing what bubbles up, see what that inner wisdom has to share. You might be really surprised with what you hear. There might be reassurance. There might be confirmation of what you know to be true. Just get curious and see. This can be another way to explore and get a different perspective on something maybe you're looping on or having a hard time deciding.
Lastly, then of course, you've just got to look at with all the questions that you've asked, whichever ones in this list you've used, how do you want to decide to move forward? You want to make a clear definitive answer either in that moment or give yourself a decision for when you'll have made the decision by. So that way you can either move forward feeling really great about your decision or you can let it go and you can stop letting it take up mental bandwidth.
What these questions do for you and what they do for me is they really give me a chance to pause and a way to be intentional about my decision-making process and my schedule and how I'm using my time, energy and often financial resources as well. The other thing that happens is it keeps opportunities from snowballing and consuming you. As your business continues to grow and your brand becomes more well-known, you're making more connections in the industry, more opportunities and invitations are going to come your way. Which means you're gonna have more opportunities to say yes or no. And you wanna make sure that you stay in the driver's seat of your business, where you keep yourself in the position where you're intentionally choosing what you're saying yes and no to, so that you're supporting the business, you're supporting yourself, and you're supporting your personal life as well.
As I was giving you these questions, I know I was giving you many ways to think about them or explore them and help you understand the intentionality behind the question. So I wanna recap each of these questions just in its most simplest form so that you have them for now and in the future.
Number one, do I actually want to do this and why?
Number two, what thoughts or feelings are fueling my answer to the above?
Number three, could this wait or be done another time? With this, do I notice urgency or rush in making this commitment?
Number four, could I do this while maintaining the schedule I desire?
Number five, if not, what would I be giving up if I said yes, or could I give up to make it work? And is that trade worth it to me? Why or why not?
Number six, what would my inner voice want me to know about this?
And number seven, with what I've explored, how will I move forward? Either making that decision then in that moment, or of course, deciding when you'll make the decision.
You don't have to use all of these questions. They are poking at your decision-making process and helping you understand what makes sense for you in different ways. So they are valuable collectively, individually, you can pick and choose, do a few, whatever you want to do, the ones that just seem to call to you. But I'd really love for you to test this out, it's going to help you get so much clarity. And when you have clarity, then you can take confident action and take next steps forward, which is always going to be a more settled place to be in the business and feeling more confident and more efficient.
I was thinking about some other podcast episodes that could be really helpful for you to take a listen to if this topic is resonating. So I'll list those off here, one of them being Client Capacity, episode number four. If you're wondering, am I at capacity? Could I take on more? I don't even know what she means by that.
I mentioned episode 36 and 37, where I talk about Reclaiming 5 Hours Per Week, and that's a two-parter. Another one is episode 51 on Playing the Long Game. This is very much about making decisions in alignment with your future vision for yourself and for the business.
And another favorite of listeners is episode 67, When to Say No to Yourself.
Lastly, I'll just highlight the Interior Designers Get It Done Daily Planner. And that's a free resource you can grab https://desicreswell.com/resources. This is really going to help you intentionally understand how long things take and how much time you have to devote to the business or want to choose to devote to the business so that you can be realistic with what you can or can't do. Just the simple act of planning your day and answering these questions in the planner will have you creating more time because of the clarity that you'll use to approach your day. So all of those would be great supplemental resources if this topic is hitting the nail on the head for you.
And then next week, I'll be back with a brand new episode. In that one, what I want to share is how to stop those negative thoughts spiral so you can stop looping in the mental drama. You're going to enjoy your day more, feel more confident and be more productive. Who doesn't want that?
Be sure to subscribe or follow the show so you don't miss that episode. As I mentioned, of course, this is helping you so that you get the podcast right in your feed every week. And it also really helps support me and the show because of the algorithm and it'll help get the podcast in front of more designers like yourself.
And of course, if you love the podcast, be sure to share it with a designer friend. I would appreciate it so much. And until then, I'm wishing you a beautiful week.
Thanks for joining me for this week’s episode of The Interior Design Business CEO. If you want more tips, tools and strategies visit www.desicreswell.com. And if you’re ready to take what you’ve learned on the podcast to the next level, I would love for you to check out my signature group coaching program, Out of Overwhelm.
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