# 77 | Financial Strategies for Interior Designers with Carla Titus

Interior design BusinessMoney Matters3-ScalingMindset

Apr 4

"It is good for the community when women have economic power and money in their hands because they just tend to be good for the world."

In today's episode, Carla Titus, the founder and CEO of Wealth & Worth Within shares about finances, scaling, profitability, and her mission to empower business owners to take control of their finances to grow profits, have cash in the bank, and pay themselves,so they can build personal wealth. Carla loves working with interior designers to help them achieve financial clarity and peace of mind so they can get back to the work you enjoy doing. Working as a fractional CFO, Carla can consult with interior designers looking to grow their business profitability and scaling their businesses sustainably.

In this episode, we discuss how to use hiring, outsourcing, contractors and more to build additional revenue streams and scale your business in a manageable way.

How a fractional CFO helps support your business

A fractional CFO is an adept financial strategist who collaborates closely with business leaders to steer companies toward their financial objectives. Carla shares her specific expertise in furnishing small businesses with comprehensive financial plans and analyses, bridging the gap between ambition and fiscal prudence. When working with interior designers, she facilitates a deeper comprehension of their financial landscape which helps to empower them to make informed decisions that align with their long-term goals.

Financial decision-making can get extremely complex when it comes to building strategic initiatives and mitigating risk. When working with a CFO, an interior designer can collaborate to problem solve. It's important, as interior designers, that we equip ourselves with the teams and strategies needed to navigate challenges and grow our businesses while also protecting our livelihood.

Hiring for your Interior Design Business

When it comes to scaling your interior design business, there are common challenges as you would imagine with expanding your operations. Hiring is the first step, which is an intricate process and requires a few key considerations including

staffing needs
profitability
project timelines
financial planning
integrating the new employee into the business

Carla's team advises using a plan to integrate an employee into the business utilizing detailed onboarding strategies spanning the initial 30-60-90 days. It's also important to focus on the importance of monitoring performance and adapting strategies as necessary to ensure optimal outcomes for our interior design businesses and our team's success.

A few other things to consider when hiring are the nuances between hiring less experienced designers versus those with higher salary expectations. Navigating the intricacies of business responsibilities can be daunting for interior designers and we often fear losing creative autonomy or oversight when we start building a team. Delegation is important to alleviate the burden on our creative minds while still maintaining control and oversight. There is a delicate balance that can become easier as your team expands and builds trust.

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Outsourcing within your Interior Design Business

Outsourcing is a strategic tool that can help your interior design business scale and grow as well. It's important to understand the unique dynamics and risks inherent to each business when contemplating financial decisions such as bringing on hiring and outsourcing parts of your business. Determining the return on investment (ROI) of outsourcing while also selecting the most suitable contractors for the specific need you have can be a challenge especially when you feel pressed for a certain timeline. It's important to bring intentionality into your hiring practices and one of the ways to do this is to outsource tasks that do not necessitate full-time employment. Outsourcing can allow for a lot of flexibility and project-based engagements which often can attract skilled professionals to do certain tasks.

Utliizing Contractors in your Interior Design Business

Hiring experienced contractors as a means of propelling business expansion is a method that can not only provide additional revenue streams but also offers expertise and efficiency when scaling. It is important to keep your budget and goals in mind while also sorting out what and how you want to scale, however once you have decided these items, utilizing contractors with specialized skill sets allows you to move forward faster.

Financial Guidance, Support, and Building Trust

There is often a struggle among women-owned businesses grappling with trust issues and the absence of adequate guidance. Carla has devised a framework aimed at harnessing our intuition and wisdom when working with our finances.

By fostering self-trust and offering tailored guidance through her business, Carla believes we can unlock the latent potential within female entrepreneurs. Women owned businesses have a capacity to truly effect positive change and provide flexible employment opportunities, especially for working parents.

Financial Health and Creative Expression in Business

Balancing the growth and financial health of your interior design business with the amount of creative work you want to personally do can be a hard topic for interior designers. One key to keep in mind is that while it is a journey, financial stress in a business can start to hinder your creative output as well. The goal is to get to a place where your decisions can be made from a place of tranquility rather than anxiety.

Profitability vs Revenue

Revenue is an often spoken about topic when it comes to your business, but the key is actually to focus on the profitability of your business. Revenue tends to be a vanity metric and if your business is costing you a lot as you build revenue, your profitability is low and cash flow begins to decrease. With interior design, keeping up with invoices, accounting for unforeseen expenses and really being able to dive in and take a look at your finances regularly is going to be key to both profitability and long-term financial stability.

There is transformative potential in taking action towards understanding and managing your business finances. While this require discipline, prudence, and commitment it will help you to cultivate a mindset of financial abundance and resilience. This lays the groundwork for sustained success in your interior design business.

Resources mentioned in this episode: