Scale Your Kitchen Design Business: Choosing Software That Grows With Your Success

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Hey there, Elevated listeners! I'm Brandy Lawson, and today we're talking about that moment when your business starts outgrowing your systems.

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Episode Transcript

(00:05):
Hey there, elevated listeners.
I'm Brandi Lawson, and todaywe're talking about that moment
when your business starts outgrowing your systems.
Most business owners choosesoftware for the business as it
stands today, not for thebusiness they want in the
future.
Today, we're mapping your 12month growth trajectory against
your software capabilities tomake sure your systems can keep
pace with your success.

(00:26):
Growth in a kitchen and bathbusiness happens across multiple
dimensions, and your softwareneeds to expand across all of
them.
Let's break down the key scalingfactors you need to evaluate
first user scaling.
This isn't just about addingmore logins, it's about how the
system handles multipleconcurrent users.
Sure, the software mighttechnically allow unlimited
users, but performance may tankat a certain point, especially

(00:49):
with simultaneous users.
Ask yourself, does the pricingstructure accommodate your
projected team growth withoutbreaking the bank?
Does performance remainconsistent as users increase?
Can the permission structurehandle the specialized roles
you'll add as you grow?
Next, there's volume, scaling,handling, more projects, more

(01:10):
clients, and more data.
Your customer database, projectfiles and design libraries will
grow exponentially, notlinearly.
You don't wanna be gettingstorage limit warnings,
mid-project.
Okay, consider, are therestorage limitations?
Do search functions remainefficient with larger databases?
Do dashboards and reports becomeunwieldy with increased volume?

(01:33):
Third capability scaling thefeatures that become necessary
only at certain business sizes.
A team of three might managewith a basic task list, but a
team of 10 needs sophisticatedworkflow management.
Resource allocation andbottleneck identification.
The project management needs ofa firm handling 15 Concurrent
projects are fundamentallydifferent than one managing 40.

(01:56):
So questions to ask.
Does the software offer advancedfeatures you can grow into?
Can it handle complex approvalworkflows as your processes
mature?
Does it provide the analysistools needed to manage a larger
operation?
Finally, there's integration.
Scaling your software ecosystemmay become more complex.
As your business expands, you'lladd specialized tools, need more

(02:19):
sophisticated data sharing andrequire streamlined processes
between systems.
That basic QuickBooks setupmight need to evolve into an
integrated financial ecosystemwith job costing and advanced
reporting.
Ask, does the software connectwith the wider ecosystem you're
building?
Does it have an open API forcustom integrations?

(02:39):
Will it play nicely withenterprise level systems if you
reach that stage?
Let's look at an example of howto evaluate scalability for ai.
Meeting recording softwarecreate a simple growth
projection matrix with threecolumns.
Current state, so let's say it's20 client meetings per month,
and four designers 12 monthtarget, let's say that's 35

(03:01):
meetings per month, and sixdesigners and 24 month vision.
That's 50 plus meetings permonth and eight plus designers
for each AI recording softwareoption.
First run multiple simultaneousrecording sessions to match the
12 month target volume.
This can reveal performanceissues, especially with
recording concurrently.

(03:22):
Next test the software's abilityto handle evolving workflow.
That is like meeting recorded todesigner extracts key
requirements to design teamreviews, insights to client
receives annotated summary.
Third, evaluate pricing tiersagainst growth projections.
Some options may have attractivestarter pricing, but could

(03:45):
become prohibitively expensiveat your 12 month meeting volume
due to per recording orstorage-based pricing.
Fourth, assess the analyticscapability with larger data
sets.
Which type of clientinteractions led to successful
projects, which presentationtechniques yielded fewer
revision requests?
The simple insights sufficientfor individual designers may not

(04:08):
be robust enough for managingand training a growing team.
The software you ultimatelyselect may offer more features
than are immediately needed.
But having room to grow featuresthat reduce manual actions and a
pricing structure that scalesreasonably might better align
with your business projectionsthis week, you can create your
own 12 month growth projection.

(04:30):
Head to fiery effects.com/chooseand download the worksheet.
Map out where your business isheaded across four dimensions,
team growth, how many people,and what new roles.
Project volume, how manyconcurrent and annual projects
service expansion, what newofferings might you add?
Process complexity.

(04:50):
How will your workflows evolve?
Remember, the most expensivemistake isn't paying a bit more
for software with room to grow.
It's having to migrate yourentire business to a new
platform during your busy seasonbecause you've hit a scaling
wall.
Next week we'll explore the AIfactor in your software choices,
how to evaluate whichtechnologies are revolutionary

(05:10):
and which are just shiny objectswith good marketing.
If you found this helpful, shareit with another design
professional who's consideringbusiness growth.