136. Reimagine the Way You Work
Is there a part of your business you’re feeling pulled to rethink or do differently? Maybe it’s something you’ve outgrown or a new vision that keeps tugging at your attention. When that “what if” won’t go away, it might be time to reimagine what’s next.
In this episode, I’m sharing a process you can use to make big changes in your business with more clarity and confidence. I’ll walk you through the big change I’m making this summer—scaling back and taking time off—and how you can use the same process to move from an idea to a plan that fits the season you’re in.
You’ll hear how I’ve applied this process in my own business, including the three phases I use: noticing what’s working and what isn’t, creating a vision, implementing through decisions and planning, and iterating based on what’s working. You’ll also learn how to hold space for the emotional challenges and build the self-trust and emotional safety needed to navigate significant change.
If you've been thinking about working with me one-on-one, be sure to get on the private coaching waitlist! Click here to learn more about Design to Thrive and secure your spot to be the first to know when availability opens up.
What You’ll Discover from this Episode:
How to identify when you're ready for a major business change.
The three-phase process for implementing significant transitions in your design business.
Ways to navigate the emotional challenges that come with big changes.
Understanding the importance of self-trust when making bold business moves.
Why creating emotional safety is crucial for successful business transitions.
How to maintain flexibility while implementing your vision.
The power of asking "How could this work?" when facing obstacles.
Listen to the Full Episode:
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Full Episode Transcript:
Hey designer, you're listening to episode 136. In this one, I'm going to be sharing a process you can use when you want to reimagine something big or make a big change in your interior design business. I'm going to be walking you through this process using an example from my own life, a change I'm making this summer in my business. And I know following these steps will help you navigate stepping into whatever your next vision is with more clarity, calm, and confidence.
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. At the time of airing this episode, my kids are going to be out of school and on summer break in just a couple of days. And oh my gosh, do we have another full lineup of friends and family visiting this summer. I guess that is what happens in Minnesota when the state really shines. It's when everyone wants to come to the cabin and play.
With the topic of summer top of mind for me and probably for you too, I wanted to share a big change I'm making and how I'm operating my business over the summer months as a way to share my process for reimagining something in your interior design business and preparing for and executing a big change. It could be opening a studio, modifying your services, shifting your schedule, maybe starting a product line or bringing on a business partner.
It doesn't even have to be growth when it comes to a big change. It could be scaling back to suit the current season you're in. That's what I'm doing this summer. It's anything that you're feeling pulled towards for reasons known, where you can use your mind to make logical sense of it, or when it's more of a subtle intuitive knowing, where you're feeling an invisible thread pulling you towards this next iteration in the business. These are the types of things that are not little tweaks or refinements. They're big changes, and big changes require vision, planning, and emotional safety, which I'll talk about more, especially in my own example.
I'm going to be sharing the process I have used to make a big change over the course of my business, and not just this summer, so that you can navigate these moments of wanting to uplevel with more calm, clarity, and confidence. Because while these types of changes can be really exciting, they can also bring up all sorts of uncertainty, doubt, and logistical obstacles in order to take them from an initial idea to full-blown reality.
For me, the big change I'm making is that I'm taking close to 3 months off over the summer. Now, if you've been around for any length of time, you know that I am all about crafting a business that also supports the life you want to live. And that's very much what I've done in terms of setting up my business to accommodate lots of time off throughout the year with my kids' breaks and the family travel we want to do. But I have never had a solid break like this. And I was even thinking, I don't know that I've had a break like this since when I started working, probably around the age of 15, which is kind of wild to think about.
So, this whole seed of the idea, or this process of reimagining that I'm going to take you through, started last summer when I decided I would create a summer slowdown. I talk about that more in episode 80 if you want to go back and listen to that one.
Now, big changes, big moves, often start just with a simple, what if? What if I did that? What if it was like that? What if I could? And that's what happened to me last summer. I had reduced my schedule, and it worked well for me and my family, and also worked really well for the business. And I started thinking, well, what if I took the whole summer off? That would be a really big change. I've never done that, and it kind of feels drastic with the steadiness and consistency of the business that I've created.
So, I got to thinking, I really wanted to share this process of how to tap into what that big change might be for you that you want to go after, and how you navigate putting that plan into process. Maybe for you, a big change could be related to your schedule, but it really could be anything. Maybe that what if that you have right now is around what if I only offered this type of design service? Or what if I had a showroom or retail space to sell out of? Maybe it's more about getting out of the office and creating an opportunity to go on a solo inspiration trip twice a year to fuel your creativity.
Part of being an interior design business owner and an entrepreneur in general is that we always have the opportunity to think bigger, think differently, and make changes. And often when these "what ifs" pop into our awareness, we can be quick to shut them down or get in our head about how it's not possible or how hard it's going to be or how much effort it might take. And maybe some of those are true. But what if you started to follow those "what ifs"? What if you gave yourself space to reimagine how you've been doing things, or maybe the way you've always done them? And that's really what today's episode is all about.
How do you know what that big change is that you want to make? How do you make it happen? How do you hold yourself steady through the ups and down of a big shiftI want to get started with a little bit of prep work before we dive into the actual process for making that big shift. And that first step really is to just pay attention to what's feeling good in your life and business, and also what isn't feeling so great and why. These are going to give you really great insights into what you want to keep the same and what you want to maybe reimagine.
It might be that your business has been running really smoothly. It's pretty good, but you know that there's more that you want for yourself, for your business, for what it makes possible for your family. Or maybe you're at a point of transition. A key team member moves on, your lease is up, maybe you have a kid who's off to college, and then you have this natural point of evaluation and an invitation to decide, do I want to make some changes? Or you might even be feeling kind of stuck right now. You're not feeling energized by your work. Things that used to work aren't working as well, or the business maybe feels overly complicated as you've grown. These can be all inflection points when it can be time to create a big shift.
The change that I'm making for the summer is a pretty short-term change. And I've also used what I'm going to be sharing for long-term changes, for things that really change the foundation of the business. Like last year when I reimagined my one-on-one coaching process and my business model because of what I had been noticing for me and my clients and what I wanted to do with the business for that year.
What this prep work of noticing what's feeling good, what's not feeling so great, does is it gives yourself permission and space to step back and take a look and ask yourself what it might be like to trade good for great. And that's really kind of what happened for me last summer when I felt like, yeah, this is working pretty well. And what if it could be even better?
And if you want to tap into that idea of trading good for great, I suggest you go back to episode 87. It's part of the CEO Summer School series that I did last summer, and it's definitely a favorite. Good could be this is working, it's working well, it feels solid. And great might be a spark of curiosity, something that lights you up. And you want to take notice of that. And of course, the opposite is true as well. Maybe you're noticing that something no longer feels right, or like you're holding on to a past version of you or a goal that just doesn't match where you're at today. And that is totally fine. That is part of the evolution of a business. And that is when you can really step into this process of creating a big shift.
The very first thing you want to do with whatever it is that you've noticed is to start crafting a vision around what it is that you are taking note of. Where would you like to see yourself and your business in maybe the coming year, the coming 5 years? And what would that change create for you? What could it look like? What are some of the possibilities there?
One of my favorite questions is, what would be amazing? Or what is the best case I could possibly picture? Start to tap into that even when you're just listening to this podcast and see what bubbles up. And if you want to do something a little bit more extensive, you can hop over to desicreswell.com/resources and you can download your free copy of your Business and Life Vision journal. That'll be a great way to help guide some of this thought process.
When you're doing this dreaming, you want to make sure your imagination is fueled by beliefs like, I can have this, I'm capable of this, and this could work. During this part of the process, you don't have to worry about the how or the logistics. You are just so much more creative in tapping into what you really want when you allow yourself to set the doubts and obstacles aside for the time being. You'll definitely address those when you move into the next phase.
Once you're clear on what you want, then it's time to implement. You've decided this is the change I want to make, and then you move into making decisions, planning actions, running different scenarios, making new decisions, and of course, mindset work.
As you look at feasibility of your big change that you want to make, a powerful question you can ask yourself is, how could this work? This is such a great question because it assumes that there is a way. It puts you in the mindset of, there is a way, this is possible, I can do this, and then your brain can get to work on figuring out those solutions.
During this implementation phase, this is really when you're going to run through things like logistics, the financials of whatever is required of this change, the upsides, maybe the downsides, communication that is going to be necessary to help others understand the change. This phase could involve support, maybe with outsourcing or bringing on a consultant or a coach to help you make the change. It'll be planning and project management.
As you run different scenarios, you might even end up making new decisions. So you start heading down a path and realize, oh, actually, I've got some new information, and I'm realizing there's a better way, there's a different way I want to do this. My priorities need to shift a little bit based on what you're finding as you go. It's totally fine for your big change to end up looking different than what you originally envisioned. That's just part of the process.
When I first had the thought that I would take the whole summer off, I had actually envisioned just shutting down completely. But when I started to look at the various pieces of the plan, I realized that actually wasn't what I wanted based on the goals for the business this year, and also the things that I value in my business. This podcast is a great example. There was something attractive about saying, okay, I don't have to create any content for 3 months. But as I started looking at the why and what was behind the decision, possible implications of that decision, what I found was that I actually didn't want to disappear so much that I would then have to have the reactivation energy required to get going again, both from my own internal resources, and then also re-engaging the audience.
And the other big piece of this was I really value supporting the design community through this free resource. What I decided was that I actually wanted to bring back CEO Summer School. That felt in service of me as a business owner, and it also felt in service of those that I want to reach. If you did do CEO Summer School last year, you can start to look forward to that now. And if you don't know what CEO Summer School is, definitely make sure you're subscribed to the podcast because I'm going to be sharing more details next week about what it is and the theme that I have planned.
Okay, so back to this implementation phase with my example. I also had some existing contracts that were going to come into the summer months. And yes, I could have navigated saying we are going on pause or coming up with some other solution. But my internal compass said that I really wanted to honor those commitments as I had originally agreed to. And that felt like the best decision for me. So this does mean I'm going to be working some this summer, but it's going to be very, very reduced. Far greater than last summer and still achieves the goal of taking the time off in a really expansive way.
Where I've landed is that I feel like my overall decisions meet the vision I want to have and the way that I want to do it.
Now, I said earlier that big change requires vision, planning, and emotional safety. An emotional safety really is how you are with yourself. Do you have your own back? Are you going to advocate for yourself and stand up for what you want amid challenges, whether they're internal or external? The emotional piece of this process is absolutely necessary because change can be hard. It can be scary. It can stir up a whole lot of things in you, and it can also stir up things in other people who are being impacted by those changes as well.
Making this decision around the summer months and my time off, let me tell you, friends, this brought up so many fears and doubts in me. And before I could really commit to executing the plan, I had to hold space for all of this. One of the really dramatic things my brain started telling me as I moved toward this vision is that a summer off was really just the beginning of the end for me. I'd become irrelevant. I'd love my time off so much that I would just quit my business and throw away everything I've built. I know, it's kind of dramatic. But you know, sometimes when you make these big shifts, it feels so true. So I really had to coach myself on these things and build even higher levels of self-trust, which is a huge part of that emotional safety that I mentioned, that I could handle whatever comes from making this change.
The mindset and emotional piece of this plan was actually far more difficult than the actual logistics. And I really had to sit with what was coming up for me because I knew that if I didn't clear that and move through it, it was going to block me from really powerfully making some decisions and committing to a plan of action. And even now, mostly I'm excited about what is to come and the space I've created. But still it pops up of like, oh my gosh, what have I done? Is this the wrong move? And I'm stretching myself big time.
It's exactly what I want to be doing. And to be honest, when I was writing my newsletter, Monday Mindset, to talk about some of these changes coming up, I actually started feeling kind of nauseous. It still is an area that's outside of my comfort a little bit. And I think that it's really important to call this out, and I want to normalize this for you that creating a big shift can be exactly what you want, and it can still not feel great 100% of the time.
Once you've worked through the implementation, that's when you move into the final phase, which is to iterate and expand. This is where you're really living and working in the change you've made. It's where you notice what's working, what needs to be tweaked, what could be even better. Essentially, you're continuing to check in with how this change is playing out for you, for your clients, for your staff, whoever's impacted. And also giving yourself permission to redecide based on new information or even double down on what you're loving and lean into it even more.
The iterate and expand phase is also where you're going to be settling into a new self-concept. At this point, you have evolved as a person and as a business owner through this process. And what I see with myself sometimes and with clients is that there can be a lag between being the person or being that future self that you envision, the person who has created this change, and there's a little disconnect sometimes in how we view ourselves versus the actual result we've created. It can feel a little jarring or maybe incongruent until you catch up with your own results. So I want to bring that to your awareness and just know that it's something that is normal and might happen.
This is the phase that I really haven't been in yet with this summer schedule, and I'm really curious to see how it feels, how it plays out. Sometimes the best laid plans with scheduling and kids and life, we'll see. But I think it's going to be pretty good. While I'm also giving myself permission to make changes if I want to, or if I want to create or shift that experience for myself. When you make a big change, you are growing into it. There is sort of this point of change has been made, and it's always an evolution.
So that really is the three-phase process for creating a big change. To recap, you are going to do the prep work of simply noticing what's feeling good and what's feeling off. Then you're going to create vision and follow your what if. And next you're going to implement through decisions, actions, and supporting yourself mentally and emotionally. And of course, this is where it can be really helpful to have a coach like myself to guide you through that process.
Lastly, you're going to iterate and expand. This is really how you move into the next levels of your own personal success and fulfillment. You are meant to evolve as a business owner and your business is going to undergo many changes throughout the course of its existence. And that can be exciting, it can be nerve-wracking, it can be overwhelming. And I really hope that this process is supportive for you.
I've shared a bunch about the big change I'm making. So if you would love to share what your big change is, what you've been dreaming about, what is on the horizon for you, I would love to hear it. You can always reply to one of my emails or send me a DM on Instagram. I'm @DesiCreswell.
Before we wrap up, I want to make sure that you hit that follow button and subscribe to the show so that you can make sure to tune in next week. I'm going to be announcing what you can expect from the podcast over the summer, including the details for CEO Summer School. It's a totally free podcast series with bonus materials when you opt in, and I've got a great theme planned for you. I really can't wait to share more details. The way that you can make sure that you get all of the details and are in the know is to follow the show and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Until next Wednesday, when I'm making that announcement, 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 DesiCreswell.com, where you’ll get immediate access to a variety of free resources to help you take what you learn on the podcast and put it into action. And if you love what you’re hearing, be sure to rate, review, and follow the show wherever you listen to podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode. I’ll talk to you next week.
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. At the time of airing this episode, my kids are going to be out of school and on summer break in just a couple of days. And oh my gosh, do we have another full lineup of friends and family visiting this summer. I guess that is what happens in Minnesota when the state really shines. It's when everyone wants to come to the cabin and play.
With the topic of summer top of mind for me and probably for you too, I wanted to share a big change I'm making and how I'm operating my business over the summer months as a way to share my process for reimagining something in your interior design business and preparing for and executing a big change. It could be opening a studio, modifying your services, shifting your schedule, maybe starting a product line or bringing on a business partner.
It doesn't even have to be growth when it comes to a big change. It could be scaling back to suit the current season you're in. That's what I'm doing this summer. It's anything that you're feeling pulled towards for reasons known, where you can use your mind to make logical sense of it, or when it's more of a subtle intuitive knowing, where you're feeling an invisible thread pulling you towards this next iteration in the business. These are the types of things that are not little tweaks or refinements. They're big changes, and big changes require vision, planning, and emotional safety, which I'll talk about more, especially in my own example.
I'm going to be sharing the process I have used to make a big change over the course of my business, and not just this summer, so that you can navigate these moments of wanting to uplevel with more calm, clarity, and confidence. Because while these types of changes can be really exciting, they can also bring up all sorts of uncertainty, doubt, and logistical obstacles in order to take them from an initial idea to full-blown reality.
For me, the big change I'm making is that I'm taking close to 3 months off over the summer. Now, if you've been around for any length of time, you know that I am all about crafting a business that also supports the life you want to live. And that's very much what I've done in terms of setting up my business to accommodate lots of time off throughout the year with my kids' breaks and the family travel we want to do. But I have never had a solid break like this. And I was even thinking, I don't know that I've had a break like this since when I started working, probably around the age of 15, which is kind of wild to think about.
So, this whole seed of the idea, or this process of reimagining that I'm going to take you through, started last summer when I decided I would create a summer slowdown. I talk about that more in episode 80 if you want to go back and listen to that one.
Now, big changes, big moves, often start just with a simple, what if? What if I did that? What if it was like that? What if I could? And that's what happened to me last summer. I had reduced my schedule, and it worked well for me and my family, and also worked really well for the business. And I started thinking, well, what if I took the whole summer off? That would be a really big change. I've never done that, and it kind of feels drastic with the steadiness and consistency of the business that I've created.
So, I got to thinking, I really wanted to share this process of how to tap into what that big change might be for you that you want to go after, and how you navigate putting that plan into process. Maybe for you, a big change could be related to your schedule, but it really could be anything. Maybe that what if that you have right now is around what if I only offered this type of design service? Or what if I had a showroom or retail space to sell out of? Maybe it's more about getting out of the office and creating an opportunity to go on a solo inspiration trip twice a year to fuel your creativity.
Part of being an interior design business owner and an entrepreneur in general is that we always have the opportunity to think bigger, think differently, and make changes. And often when these "what ifs" pop into our awareness, we can be quick to shut them down or get in our head about how it's not possible or how hard it's going to be or how much effort it might take. And maybe some of those are true. But what if you started to follow those "what ifs"? What if you gave yourself space to reimagine how you've been doing things, or maybe the way you've always done them? And that's really what today's episode is all about.
How do you know what that big change is that you want to make? How do you make it happen? How do you hold yourself steady through the ups and down of a big shiftI want to get started with a little bit of prep work before we dive into the actual process for making that big shift. And that first step really is to just pay attention to what's feeling good in your life and business, and also what isn't feeling so great and why. These are going to give you really great insights into what you want to keep the same and what you want to maybe reimagine.
It might be that your business has been running really smoothly. It's pretty good, but you know that there's more that you want for yourself, for your business, for what it makes possible for your family. Or maybe you're at a point of transition. A key team member moves on, your lease is up, maybe you have a kid who's off to college, and then you have this natural point of evaluation and an invitation to decide, do I want to make some changes? Or you might even be feeling kind of stuck right now. You're not feeling energized by your work. Things that used to work aren't working as well, or the business maybe feels overly complicated as you've grown. These can be all inflection points when it can be time to create a big shift.
The change that I'm making for the summer is a pretty short-term change. And I've also used what I'm going to be sharing for long-term changes, for things that really change the foundation of the business. Like last year when I reimagined my one-on-one coaching process and my business model because of what I had been noticing for me and my clients and what I wanted to do with the business for that year.
What this prep work of noticing what's feeling good, what's not feeling so great, does is it gives yourself permission and space to step back and take a look and ask yourself what it might be like to trade good for great. And that's really kind of what happened for me last summer when I felt like, yeah, this is working pretty well. And what if it could be even better?
And if you want to tap into that idea of trading good for great, I suggest you go back to episode 87. It's part of the CEO Summer School series that I did last summer, and it's definitely a favorite. Good could be this is working, it's working well, it feels solid. And great might be a spark of curiosity, something that lights you up. And you want to take notice of that. And of course, the opposite is true as well. Maybe you're noticing that something no longer feels right, or like you're holding on to a past version of you or a goal that just doesn't match where you're at today. And that is totally fine. That is part of the evolution of a business. And that is when you can really step into this process of creating a big shift.
The very first thing you want to do with whatever it is that you've noticed is to start crafting a vision around what it is that you are taking note of. Where would you like to see yourself and your business in maybe the coming year, the coming 5 years? And what would that change create for you? What could it look like? What are some of the possibilities there?
One of my favorite questions is, what would be amazing? Or what is the best case I could possibly picture? Start to tap into that even when you're just listening to this podcast and see what bubbles up. And if you want to do something a little bit more extensive, you can hop over to desicreswell.com/resources and you can download your free copy of your Business and Life Vision journal. That'll be a great way to help guide some of this thought process.
When you're doing this dreaming, you want to make sure your imagination is fueled by beliefs like, I can have this, I'm capable of this, and this could work. During this part of the process, you don't have to worry about the how or the logistics. You are just so much more creative in tapping into what you really want when you allow yourself to set the doubts and obstacles aside for the time being. You'll definitely address those when you move into the next phase.
Once you're clear on what you want, then it's time to implement. You've decided this is the change I want to make, and then you move into making decisions, planning actions, running different scenarios, making new decisions, and of course, mindset work.
As you look at feasibility of your big change that you want to make, a powerful question you can ask yourself is, how could this work? This is such a great question because it assumes that there is a way. It puts you in the mindset of, there is a way, this is possible, I can do this, and then your brain can get to work on figuring out those solutions.
During this implementation phase, this is really when you're going to run through things like logistics, the financials of whatever is required of this change, the upsides, maybe the downsides, communication that is going to be necessary to help others understand the change. This phase could involve support, maybe with outsourcing or bringing on a consultant or a coach to help you make the change. It'll be planning and project management.
As you run different scenarios, you might even end up making new decisions. So you start heading down a path and realize, oh, actually, I've got some new information, and I'm realizing there's a better way, there's a different way I want to do this. My priorities need to shift a little bit based on what you're finding as you go. It's totally fine for your big change to end up looking different than what you originally envisioned. That's just part of the process.
When I first had the thought that I would take the whole summer off, I had actually envisioned just shutting down completely. But when I started to look at the various pieces of the plan, I realized that actually wasn't what I wanted based on the goals for the business this year, and also the things that I value in my business. This podcast is a great example. There was something attractive about saying, okay, I don't have to create any content for 3 months. But as I started looking at the why and what was behind the decision, possible implications of that decision, what I found was that I actually didn't want to disappear so much that I would then have to have the reactivation energy required to get going again, both from my own internal resources, and then also re-engaging the audience.
And the other big piece of this was I really value supporting the design community through this free resource. What I decided was that I actually wanted to bring back CEO Summer School. That felt in service of me as a business owner, and it also felt in service of those that I want to reach. If you did do CEO Summer School last year, you can start to look forward to that now. And if you don't know what CEO Summer School is, definitely make sure you're subscribed to the podcast because I'm going to be sharing more details next week about what it is and the theme that I have planned.
Okay, so back to this implementation phase with my example. I also had some existing contracts that were going to come into the summer months. And yes, I could have navigated saying we are going on pause or coming up with some other solution. But my internal compass said that I really wanted to honor those commitments as I had originally agreed to. And that felt like the best decision for me. So this does mean I'm going to be working some this summer, but it's going to be very, very reduced. Far greater than last summer and still achieves the goal of taking the time off in a really expansive way.
Where I've landed is that I feel like my overall decisions meet the vision I want to have and the way that I want to do it.
Now, I said earlier that big change requires vision, planning, and emotional safety. An emotional safety really is how you are with yourself. Do you have your own back? Are you going to advocate for yourself and stand up for what you want amid challenges, whether they're internal or external? The emotional piece of this process is absolutely necessary because change can be hard. It can be scary. It can stir up a whole lot of things in you, and it can also stir up things in other people who are being impacted by those changes as well.
Making this decision around the summer months and my time off, let me tell you, friends, this brought up so many fears and doubts in me. And before I could really commit to executing the plan, I had to hold space for all of this. One of the really dramatic things my brain started telling me as I moved toward this vision is that a summer off was really just the beginning of the end for me. I'd become irrelevant. I'd love my time off so much that I would just quit my business and throw away everything I've built. I know, it's kind of dramatic. But you know, sometimes when you make these big shifts, it feels so true. So I really had to coach myself on these things and build even higher levels of self-trust, which is a huge part of that emotional safety that I mentioned, that I could handle whatever comes from making this change.
The mindset and emotional piece of this plan was actually far more difficult than the actual logistics. And I really had to sit with what was coming up for me because I knew that if I didn't clear that and move through it, it was going to block me from really powerfully making some decisions and committing to a plan of action. And even now, mostly I'm excited about what is to come and the space I've created. But still it pops up of like, oh my gosh, what have I done? Is this the wrong move? And I'm stretching myself big time.
It's exactly what I want to be doing. And to be honest, when I was writing my newsletter, Monday Mindset, to talk about some of these changes coming up, I actually started feeling kind of nauseous. It still is an area that's outside of my comfort a little bit. And I think that it's really important to call this out, and I want to normalize this for you that creating a big shift can be exactly what you want, and it can still not feel great 100% of the time.
Once you've worked through the implementation, that's when you move into the final phase, which is to iterate and expand. This is where you're really living and working in the change you've made. It's where you notice what's working, what needs to be tweaked, what could be even better. Essentially, you're continuing to check in with how this change is playing out for you, for your clients, for your staff, whoever's impacted. And also giving yourself permission to redecide based on new information or even double down on what you're loving and lean into it even more.
The iterate and expand phase is also where you're going to be settling into a new self-concept. At this point, you have evolved as a person and as a business owner through this process. And what I see with myself sometimes and with clients is that there can be a lag between being the person or being that future self that you envision, the person who has created this change, and there's a little disconnect sometimes in how we view ourselves versus the actual result we've created. It can feel a little jarring or maybe incongruent until you catch up with your own results. So I want to bring that to your awareness and just know that it's something that is normal and might happen.
This is the phase that I really haven't been in yet with this summer schedule, and I'm really curious to see how it feels, how it plays out. Sometimes the best laid plans with scheduling and kids and life, we'll see. But I think it's going to be pretty good. While I'm also giving myself permission to make changes if I want to, or if I want to create or shift that experience for myself. When you make a big change, you are growing into it. There is sort of this point of change has been made, and it's always an evolution.
So that really is the three-phase process for creating a big change. To recap, you are going to do the prep work of simply noticing what's feeling good and what's feeling off. Then you're going to create vision and follow your what if. And next you're going to implement through decisions, actions, and supporting yourself mentally and emotionally. And of course, this is where it can be really helpful to have a coach like myself to guide you through that process.
Lastly, you're going to iterate and expand. This is really how you move into the next levels of your own personal success and fulfillment. You are meant to evolve as a business owner and your business is going to undergo many changes throughout the course of its existence. And that can be exciting, it can be nerve-wracking, it can be overwhelming. And I really hope that this process is supportive for you.
I've shared a bunch about the big change I'm making. So if you would love to share what your big change is, what you've been dreaming about, what is on the horizon for you, I would love to hear it. You can always reply to one of my emails or send me a DM on Instagram. I'm @DesiCreswell.
Before we wrap up, I want to make sure that you hit that follow button and subscribe to the show so that you can make sure to tune in next week. I'm going to be announcing what you can expect from the podcast over the summer, including the details for CEO Summer School. It's a totally free podcast series with bonus materials when you opt in, and I've got a great theme planned for you. I really can't wait to share more details. The way that you can make sure that you get all of the details and are in the know is to follow the show and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Until next Wednesday, when I'm making that announcement, 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 DesiCreswell.com, where you’ll get immediate access to a variety of free resources to help you take what you learn on the podcast and put it into action. And if you love what you’re hearing, be sure to rate, review, and follow the show wherever you listen to podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode. I’ll talk to you next week.
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