2025 Goals
2024 Kicked my ass.
In fact, the last four years were marked by intense growth, which brought with it some heavy learning curves on both the business and design sides. It was exciting and exhausting. We went from a team of two to six, then to five. We added then changed bookkeepers and CPAs and started using Studio Designer for purchasing and billing. We brought on a PR rep, re-branded, overhauled the website (twice!), worked with an HR expert and an SEO team, updated our fee structure and contract, started using Asana for project management and Harvest for time tracking, and implemented consistent, branded presentations, specification books and other communication tools. Both Kate and I did private coaching and I participated in a Designer CEO Mastermind. We completed projects and photo shoots in Connecticut, New York, Chicago, Wisconsin, Iowa, San Francisco, and Tahoe, in addition to work locally in the Twin Cities. We went to High Point market, ICFF, and furniture universities. We learned (so much!) through doing.
As we move from growth to maturity as a company, I’m looking at 2025 as the year of deepening and clarifying. As a self-taught designer I have worked in many styles; for a long time it was exciting to flex my creative muscles and try it all on, but this also meant
Focus on the Local
While I have loved the opportunity to work across the country (and continue to welcome projects that are the right fit), it’s just harder. The travel, the zooms that don’t really replace a true site visit, technology fails during construction meetings, all of that is harder. The bigger challenge, however, is that these projects tend to be one-offs, where every team is a brand new relationship. Builders we have worked with in far flung states we have worked with just once. Established relationships require less energy and have the benefit of a sort of short-hand communication. With that in mind, we are really focused on deeper roots in Minnesota and stronger connections with local partners.
Stick to our Signature Style
Over the past few months we have been doing a deep dive into defining our studio’s signature style. This is fun and rewarding. It is also (gulp) pretty vulnerable. When you are focused on practicing a new aesthetic or really leaning in to a look the client loves, you can hide behind them. But signature style by definition means saying, this is what I like. This is what I like even if you don’t like it or it’s not popular or maybe even controversial. This feels especially vulnerable in the current social media landscape, where being in fashion is rewarded. Signature style means standing behind my own values. I have been practicing: Do I love it? Will the client love it? That’s all that matters.
Finalize and Consistently Implement Process changes
Looking back on where I started, it is wild how much we have implemented in terms of process. That said, because we are constantly fine-tuning, there is always room for improvement. This year the goal is to stop re-inventing and instead finalize decisions from ongoing discussions, clarify roles inside the firm and with partners, and automate steps in our processes. We have worked incredibly hard and I’m ready for things to be in flow.
That’s it!
I mean, it’s plenty. And it is some of what is hardest for me. Limiting the options. Consistency. Vulnerability. But it is also what I know is needed to get to a place of greater ease and joy in this work.
So here we go.