Hi!  Welcome to another episode of A Well-Designed Business! Today is the actual 6- month anniversary of the podcast and I thought I would do a solo show and reflect on The Things I Learned From A Well-Designed Business. And then I am going to share with you, my Top 10 favorite podcasts. Now these are by no means the only things learned in these last 6 months and they are not even necessarily the absolute most important. And as a matter of fact, I have specifically not included the coaches and consultants on this list. Every one of the consultants I have had on has shared extremely valuable advice, but it is straightforward and easy to grasp listening to their interviews. Today I am concentrating on regular designers like you who have discovered something, implemented something and are by doing it have made improvements to their businesses. So are you ready? Sandra Funk Levy- The Importance of Systems for a Profitable Interior Design Business ; Episode # 2.  Sandra is all about the systems, systems, systems. You need to get your systems locked down from hello through goodbye when the project is complete. That's just what Sandra Funk Levy has done at House of Funk. She has implemented very specific daily, weekly, monthly and yearly systems and goals.  She urges us to create processes because she knows 1st hand when you use them consistently you will improve your businesses bottom line. Link:    http://windowworks-nj.com/sandra/ Rachel Moriarty – Message to Solopreneurs- Act As If the World is Watching; Episode #55. Rachel acts as if 1000 eyeballs are on our on you because one day they will be. Rachel implores soloprenuers to do 2 things- handle your image and everything connected to it in the most professional way as if you were a big firm that everyone is watching but also and as important to run your firm as if you were a big guy. Respect your own work hours, implement systems that even if only you are using them will serve you one day when you have employees.Link: http://windowworks-nj.com/rachel/     Stephen Cooper episode # 31 Develop strong personal relationships with your vendors (The Value of a Trusted Vendor )  When you invite ethical vendors into the design process with your clients you have more productive meetings. The expert can in the moment make suggestions, which enhance your vision for the project. And a reliable vendor in the meeting can prevent you from spending hours designing concepts that cannot be executed.  Link: http://windowworks-nj.com/steven/    Susan Brunstrum -Practical Advice for Project Management, episode #36. Susan ends every client project with a three- step process. She sits down with her financial manager and they evaluate the project and runs a profit analysis- looking for errors and ways to be more profitable next time. She has a meeting with our entire staff evaluating the efficiency of the process for that particular project and they discuss what went right what went wrong how can they improve the next time. Lastly, she invites every single client out for lunch or dinner at the completion of the project to get their feedback and to say thank you to them for their business. Link: http://windowworks-nj.com/susanb/   Farrha Hyman Success Story- How I Re-Designed my 15 Year Old Firm, Episode #43. Even a 15-year-old firm can turn around with the help of the right business coach and the biggest Takeaway from Sarah that you have to follow the advice of that business coach even when it pushes you out of your box. Link:  http://windowworks-nj.com/farrha/ Erica Ward Identifying Your Transferrable Skills (Getting real and evaluating yourself and what you bring to the table) episode # 6. Identify what are your transferable skills and hire opposite those skills. Barbara Viteri talked about the same type of thing and they both encourage you making a lists of: the things you’re good at the things you know how to do the things you like to do the thing you’re not good at the things you don’t know