Designers, Step Away! How Strategic Breaks Unlock Your Full Potential: Transcript

Katie Decker-Erickson (00:06.55)

Hey everybody, welcome back to Success by Design. I'm Katie Decker-Erickson and today we're diving deep into something essential yet often overlooked by interior designers. Taking meaningful time off, whether your business is at low six figures, high six figures, or even seven figures. Stepping away is critical for sustainable success. Let's start with our two truths and a lie.

Number one, I spent over a decade running my business without taking a significant break. Number two, our entire team takes a two week holiday break every year. Number three, I once stepped away for an entire month and everything did collapse. Stay tuned until the end of this episode and I'll reveal which one is a lie.

Okay, at this stage, you're probably involved in nearly every aspect of your business. According to FreshBooks, 85 % of entrepreneurs face burnout in their early years due to overwork and stress. If you're in those low six figures, you can probably relate to this. Let's talk about some practical tips. First of all, I love automation. Leveraging automation tools like Calendly for scheduling, QuickBooks for invoicing, and you've heard me talk about so many others is deeply important.

Also, clear communication about your upcoming time away to your clients is critical. Reassuring them of their continued support and availability on either side of your break creates the bridge they need emotionally to feel confident in you taking time away. In fact, this should be part of your welcome packet, and if it's not, this is a good time to add it. So make sure and hire.

and train a reliable assistant, whether it's a virtual assistant or someone else, having that person in your tool belt is going to be critical when you do step away. And then this is the big challenge, at least for me, scheduling regular short breaks such as a quarterly long weekend or some way to make sure you have a routine of rest. Now, I realize that may be a foreign term to a lot of you, but a routine of rest is just as important as any other routine in your entrepreneurial journey.

Katie Decker-Erickson (02:20.961)

Taking even brief breaks early in my career revived my creative energy. In fact, some of them were forced when I had babies and had to step away, right? But it was needed. just, my energy went in an entirely different place, which was to my kids. The result though, was it led to some of my most successful projects when I did come back to the table because I was renewed and refreshed and ready to give again. Now let's talk about if you have a high six figure firm.

When your firm is more established and thriving, as you know, your responsibilities multiply and what becomes of this is delegation. Delegation is critical once you start approaching this point. You cannot do it all. And if you try to, you will break. In fact, Harvard Business Review research emphasizes that strategic breaks significantly enhance leaders' productivity and decision-making abilities. So what does this look like practically?

make sure you are hiring strategically. Clearly define your team roles and responsibilities, empowering your staff or your contractors or whoever you're working with to confidently handle those tasks. One story I love is of Jeff Bezos of Amazon. He tells his team that they get to make mistakes up to a certain dollar threshold without fear of penalty.

I found this so inspirational that we implemented this in our firm and I give everyone up to $500 of mistake making if they made a decision that didn't work out the way they thought it would. Okay, what happened? It was a complete game changer. This allowed everyone on our team to have the freedom and flexibility and I had the mental space to not be making every single decision all the time. We implemented it about a year ago.

and we've only had to use any amount of money up to $500 once. Totally money well spent. Also, another practical tip, your SOPs. You gotta have your standard operating procedures. And I know I sound like a broken record when I say this. Creating comprehensive SOPs to streamline your workflows gets you back to doing what you love. This is one of the key reasons why you need them. Because just like

Katie Decker-Erickson (04:39.605)

your team or just like they work when your team is away, they work when you are away too. And that is so incredibly important. So I'm going to challenge you conduct a test break, step away for a few days to identify and fix any weak spots that pop up while you take this little sabbatical. It's kind of like training wheels. You are still there if things begin to fall apart for your team and you can fix the issues before they become large or even reach your client.

Also, challenge for you, commit to scheduling at least one full week off every six months, planning these breaks into your calendar at the start of the year, because otherwise I can speak from personal experience, it's not gonna happen, right? This is for you to fill up your cup during this week, and that's gonna look different for everyone. What does that look like for you? For me, it is spending time at a completely different environment doing something I have been dreaming about, like,

walking a beach or being in nature. Now, if you're a seven figure firm, the challenge is overcoming the belief that you must always be present. In fact, Gallup studies show executives who regularly recharge experience a higher creativity, better innovation and overall satisfaction. How do you do this successfully though? It's all about leadership delegation.

Entrust your second-in-command or leadership team with key decision-making powers. If you can't identify a clear second-in-command in your organization, it is time to find your unicorn. And if you haven't found them, don't give up. This is the person who is a great problem solver. They know when to delegate and they know how to make a decision like you would. When we found this in our firm, it was a complete game changer.

Because I knew that if our unicorn didn't feel confident making a decision, they would find me, but only when they really needed to. That gave me back so much time and space mentally. Back to planning sabbaticals. By the time you're in a seven-figure firm, you should be scheduling your annual sabbaticals of two weeks or more to fully disconnect and recharge. In fact, my college roommate's husband works for a major tech firm and has for 25 years.

Katie Decker-Erickson (06:58.195)

Every seven years, they require their employees to take seven weeks of paid vacation. And they don't just put them on sabbatical. They disconnect their email. They unplug their phone, literally. And when they come back, they have to start in with a whole new email account, a whole new phone number, because they literally and figuratively want them unplugged. How has that worked out? Well, he's still there 25 years later, and I think there's a moral to that story.

When you step away, truly step away. So here's your challenge items. Can you provide quarterly check-ins with your team so you can figure out who wants more responsibility and who doesn't? That was scary to me at first. Just because someone doesn't want more responsibility, it doesn't mean that they are not a team player. It just means that their professional or personal plate is full, and that's okay. Also,

Ask the hard questions of your team at the quarterly check-ins so that you don't lose your contractors, employees, or teammates. Ask them when was the last time they almost quit. And that's a tough question to ask that requires a lot of bravery, but you're gonna learn a lot about what to do and what not to do when helping them walk their career path at your organization.

Also, ask them when was the most recent time that work didn't feel like work, where they got lost in time and space and maybe they were late for a meeting because they were so busy doing something that they absolutely loved. Then you know as a leader, that is where you need to redirect more tasks their way that fall in that vein. Third, what trade-offs are they making to stay in their role? Understand that like they have a work-life balance.

and you're gonna have to help them create that and support that as well if you want them to last long term. And finally, for that quarterly check-in, ask them this question, if this job disappeared tomorrow, what would you choose to do next? These are tough questions. They are not ones I came up with. You can thank the Wall Street Journal for that in a recent publication, but they are deeply important to understanding your people.

Katie Decker-Erickson (09:14.345)

Also another challenge for you. At Colorworks, we close our offices for two full weeks each Christmas, allowing our entire team to unplug and recharge and reconnect with family and friends. In fact, last year, one of our designers traveled to Paris, returning energized and brimming with innovative designs and ideas because she literally left the continent and got to get away for those two weeks. Now I hear you out there going, Katie, Katie, but what about this? And what about that? And I'm not sure this is gonna work.

I wanna dive into that and let's start tackling each of these concerns. Probably the biggest one I hear in my coaching practice is things will fall apart without me. Well, it's time to start documenting everything. I know that sounds tedious and miserable, but thanks to AI, there are so many softwares that document what you were doing while you were doing it. It has never been easier to create a training library, to outline SOPs and create clear communication plans.

make sure that you are doing this so you set your people up for success so they're not always coming to you for all the answers all the time. Another concern I often hear is, I don't think my clients are gonna understand my leaving mid project. First of all, you need to tell them that it's going to happen. Remind them that it is going to happen. Then before you step out, remind them again and let them know when you're gonna be back. The reality is they just need communication because they know that everyone needs a break.

They just don't wanna be surprised when you disappear from their project. In fact, if you use a Gantt chart for client management, like I recommend in most welcome packets or early on in the project, put your break on the chart. I think a lot of times as designers, we feel that we have to be present or take the call on vacation or over the weekend because otherwise the client's gonna be concerned. The client is concerned because they need to know when and how to reach you, not because they think they need to access you all the time.

Another key point is financial constraints can make stepping away impossible for a lot of my coaching clients. I want to tell you, nothing can be further from the truth. Budget proactively, you've got a plan to be gone financially, right? But there's a recognition that short breaks prevent costly burnout and maintain your long-term productivity. Also, back to delegation. Your team should be working and creating billable hours, whether you are there or not. Think about yourself almost like a little kid's windup.

Katie Decker-Erickson (11:42.35)

We can't fly forward until we pull back. And that pullback will come back to you financially as well. Another concern I often hear is my team isn't prepared to function without my direct input. And that's a big red flag to me because that tells me that as a leader, we have either crippled their decision-making power through micromanagement or we've just never given it to our teammates. Regularly invest in training and leadership development to build your team.

And more than that, look inward and ask yourself, what have you done to position your team for your success? Then act on what you discover. I realize that it takes an immense amount of courage, but I often find that many business owners are either afraid to empower their team or they don't have good relationships among the team members themselves to be able to sort through and make decisions together collaboratively.

Another concern I hear is I lack operational processes and this is one that is so common in our industry. Just because we live in a creative industry and work in a creative industry doesn't mean that we shouldn't still have the science of design behind everything we do, which really means having processes in place. That can feel like eating an elephant, right? And as the Chinese proverb says, you can't eat an elephant one bite at a time. The key here is incremental steps to document your procedures.

Like I mentioned, find the right software and get busy creating the processes because those are gonna become the backbone of your business. If you don't know how to do this or it feels overwhelming, please reach out to me and this is why I offer a free 15 minute call. Not because I wanna sell you anything or pitch you on anything. I wanna start problem solving with you and figuring out how to get your business in a better place so you can take time away. If you are still struggling with how...

to get away. I also want you to revisit our episode on inside out interiors and knowing the power of your why. Because aligning your actions, including intentional breaks with your purpose, ensures your authenticity and effectiveness in your design business, which your clients are going to feel. So regardless of your revenue stage, stepping away isn't optional, it's essential. This is why all of Italy goes on break for five weeks every year.

Katie Decker-Erickson (14:01.665)

In fact, research consistently supports the rest periods lead to increased productivity, innovation, and overall satisfaction. If you need a permission to take a break, I am giving it to you today. Make the deliberate decision to rest, recharge, and reignite your passion and creativity. Are you ready to confidently step away or tackling another challenge in your business? Like I said, bring me your biggest business challenge and let's tackle it together.

schedule your complimentary 15 minute problem solve call today. You bring the issue and we'll create the solution together. Now about that two truths and a lie. Number three was the lie. I've never stepped away for a month to find things collapsed, not even when I had babies. Instead, I learned that trusting my team and creating strong processes made time away not just possible, but beneficial. Thank you for joining.

For this episode of Success by Design, until next time, remember, exceptional design starts with intentional choices, especially choosing rest and rejuvenation. Your business should work for you, not you work for it. Until next time, take care.