Recognizing our current belief systems and considering other options lies at the heart of the mindset work I do with my clients. Our beliefs, or lenses as I'm referring to them this week, impact the way we see the world and how we experience our businesses. The catch is that not all lenses serve us, and we need to be able to identify them so we can replace them with ones that do.

As a designer, you wear lots of different hats in your business. Whether it's streamlining the internal pieces of your business like your systems and processes or navigating the external tasks like marketing or client-facing projects, I've got three strategies that will make you more efficient, effective, and consistent at moving the needle in your business.

Discover the three things that needed to shift internally for me to reclaim five hours per week while continuing to serve my clients, produce weekly content, and execute a full launch for Out of Overwhelm. You'll hear why you have to combine the strategies with the mindset to effectively reclaim more time and how evaluating your self-concept and your relationship with your business will create huge ripple effects.

Clients inside Out of Overwhelm can absolutely reclaim five additional hours per week. Not only does that create a compounding result of time saved over the years and the financial impact of being more effective with their time, but it also impacts how they're able to care for themselves when they aren't stretched so thin.

Whether later means tomorrow, after the summer, or next year, the later habit shows up in the everyday execution of your business tasks as well as in the long-term planning of your business. That’s why shifting out of later and back into now is vital to the overall success of your business, and it’s your job as CEO to remind yourself of the benefits of taking action now.

Whether you charge your design fees by the hour or have a flat fee, this mindset leads you to set your fees in a way that results in overworking and under-earning. No amount of scaling your business, hiring help, or productivity hacks will solve this issue. The good news is, I know what will.

I’ve been brainstorming fun ways to connect with more of you, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to extend the use of Ask Desi to you, just like my clients in Out of Overwhelm. Whether you need guidance on navigating a difficult conversation, saying no to a client that's not the best fit, overcoming procrastination, or any other support you require, this is your chance to receive personalized help directly from me.

Whether you're coming off an intense creative session and need some rest or simply experiencing an unexplained dip in energy, tune in to discover effective strategies to manage low-energy days without sacrificing productivity or peace of mind.

The decision to invest in your business often brings up hesitation and fear, especially as it relates to brand-new investments that seem like unknown risks. Investing both time and money in your business is significant. If all you can think about is what you’re going to sacrifice or how much it’ll cost you, you’re in the right place.

There is a real emotional component to what we do as interior designers, especially as it relates to being an entrepreneur. Stephanie Brown found herself falling out of love with her business and experiencing escapist thoughts, even considering changing industries altogether. She decided things needed to change, and that's when she joined Out of Overwhelm.

Sarah is the owner of Interiors by Sarah Langtry and a residential interior designer based in Ontario, Canada. Sarah was no exception to the experience of feeling out of control over her time and schedule when she first found me. She was overwhelmed and found herself procrastinating without understanding why, but she turned it all around and she’s letting us in on how.

Where are you losing time and energy in your business? It’s common for designers to believe they don’t have enough time, especially when it comes to the more visible tasks in your business like appointments, proposals, invoices, or client communication. There are hidden time and energy leaks everywhere so I’m showing you how to plug these leaks because I no longer want them to drain your precious resources. I’m also giving you an opportunity to get some live help from me on topics just like this one in the coming weeks.

Whether you blame yourself for not doing mindset “right,” find yourself in self-judgment around this work, or think of it as something nice that you’ll get to eventually, this week, I’m showing you why we need to pay attention to the myths about mindset.

Part of being a business owner is the benefit of a flexible schedule, but the habit of always being available can quickly snowball into overwork, overwhelm, and dysfunction in your business. This is the power of setting office hours, it can help you to organize your energy to times you are on and times you are off.

If you’re serving a client and you find yourself going beyond the boundaries of how you typically run your projects, this episode is for you. Of course, we don’t want to upset our clients, but if you’re stepping outside of your process and inconveniencing yourself, that’s something you need to look at.

How often do you avoid doing something that you know is necessary or will be great for your business, but continue to push it off because you think, “It’s going to take so long?” This is a challenge that comes up for my clients frequently so it’s time to tackle it head-on.

In being the Interior Design Business CEO that you are, there are two types of confidence you need to be able to lean on: evidence-based confidence and inherent confidence. Evidence-based confidence will only get you so far, but inherent confidence is always available to you and it’s a real game-changer.

We’re all familiar with decision fatigue in the design process. Your clients get tired from examining options, weighing pros and cons, and looking at the numbers. The exact same thing happens with you in your daily life and in your business. The more decisions you make, the less effective those decisions become. Tune in this week for the solution.

You’re busy, you have a business to run, you want to take things off of your plate, and delegating is a core skill in making that happen. But what is micromanaging and where is the line between delegation and micromanagement?

My clients want to learn how to manage their time and take back control of their schedule, which includes stepping away from their interior design businesses from time to time. However, they’re afraid of telling their clients about taking a break or simply believe it’s impossible to do so as someone who calls the shots.