The Hidden Costs of the Wrong Software

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I’m Brandy Lawson and this is Elevated, the snackable, weekly podcast helping Kitchen & Bath Designers build a better business. In this episode you’ll learn about the real cost of not using the right software in your business.

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Episode Transcript

(00:05):
I'm Brandy Lawson and this isElevated, the snackable weekly
podcast helping kitchen and bathdesigners build a better
business.
In this episode, you'll learnabout the real cost of not using
the right software in yourbusiness.
Among the things that keep me upat night is watching amazing
design firms bleed money withouteven realizing it.

(00:25):
Owners and staff furiouslyworking, stressing about
projects and feeling Very sadand frustrated when looking at
the profit.
And no, I'm not talking aboutyour material costs or labor
rates.
I'm talking about something waysneakier, the hidden costs of
lumping along with the wrongsoftware or no software at all.
Recently, a designer told me,Brandy.
I cannot afford to invest in newsoftware right now.

(00:47):
Meanwhile, she's paying herdesigners and drafters to
manually enter the same productspecs into three different
documents.
That's not being frugal! That'slike insisting on washing dishes
by hand while paying for thedishwasher you never install.
Let me share an aha moment thathappened for another business
owner.
Lisa thought she was savingmoney by sticking with her, uh,
free project management setup.

(01:07):
You know.
Spreadsheets, emails, and about17 different note taking apps.
And by app, I mean sticky notes.
But when we actually sat downand did the math, her team was
spending 12 hours every weekjust trying to find information.
12 hours! At her team's billingrate, that was costing her over
48, 000 a year in lostproductive time.

(01:27):
But here's the thing.
It's not just about obvious timewaste.
Let's talk about the sneakycosts that are probably eating
away at your business.
right now.
First up, the I'll just rememberthat tax.
Every time you keep importantproject details in your head,
instead of in a system, you'regambling with your business.
Like the designer who lost aslam dunk 25, 000 project

(01:48):
because he forgot to follow upwith the client.
And by the time he remembered,they'd gone with another
designer.
Ooh.
Then there's, uh, what I callthe, where the heck is that,
that file fee.
You know, that s sinking feelingwhen a client asks for the
specific rendering version fromthree weeks ago?
And you've gotta dig throughfour different folders in your
email to find it.
That's not just frustrating.
It's costing you credibilitywith your clients and adding

(02:10):
hours to your week.
And last, not forget my leastfavorite, the, we've always done
it that way.
Surcharge Alicia's firm.
was manually scheduling everymeeting because that's just how
we do it.
When she finally started usingscheduling links and automated
meeting reminders, they savedsix hours per project with five
projects a month.
That's basically getting anextra week of work every month.

(02:31):
The biggest hidden cost.
It's the opportunities you'remissing out on.
I worked with a firm that was sobogged down by their paper based
system that they could onlyhandle 16 projects at once.
After we got their softwaresorted out.
They scaled to 60 projects andonly added an additional
drafter.
Not only were they able to growtheir revenue, they also
increased their profitability.

(02:52):
Now I know what you're thinking.
But Brandy, switching softwareis such a pain! And you're
right! It can be.
But you know what's morepainful?
Realizing that you've beenleaving hundreds of thousands of
dollars on the table becauseyou're too busy fighting with
your current systems to growyour business.
Here's a quick reality check foryou.
Pull out your calculator or grabthat worksheet I mentioned last
week from fieryfx.

(03:13):
com slash choose and add up Howmany hours your team spends
searching for information eachweek?
How much time you spend manuallydoing tasks that could be
automated?
How many follow ups you'vemissed in the last month?
How many hours you spendcreating documents that could be
templated and that includesemails now multiply that by your

(03:36):
hourly rate I'll wait Yeah, thatnumber hurts, doesn't it?
In the next episode, we'll getinto the first step in our
software selection framework.
But for now, I want you to starttracking those hidden costs.
Knowledge is power, and once youknow what staying stuck is
really costing you, making achange becomes a lot less scary.

(03:56):
Want to calculate your ownhidden software costs?
Head over to FieryEffects.
com slash choose and downloadthat worksheet.
Your future self will thank you.