How you manage your business impacts everything you do. While creativity is the foundation of a design studio, strong business management is what keeps the studio sustainable and scalable.

Good business management should ensure projects are priced correctly, cash flow is managed and growth is sustainable.

Strong business management should ensure deadlines are met, resources are allocated correctly and processes are clear.

Good business management should increase your bottom line, not cost you.

Knowing when to scale (up or down) can be tricky. Much depends on both your funnel of work and how you ultimately want your business to operate. Letting staff go prematurely in a slump can affect delivery in the future and conversely, hiring
extra permanent staff through a high period can put undue stress on the business later if the high was temporary.

Spending time to work out what you want your ideal practice to look like can be beneficial in helping structure your resourcing. It is also important to have the right mix of ability within the practice - you don’t want to be either top or bottom heavy as both have their own set of issues.

Approach fees from a place of knowing first. Understand what your bottom line is: Start raising the bar.

A Project Financial Plan is essential for a design project because it provides a comprehensive roadmap for managing a project’s budget, resources and financial risks.