This is the perfect time of year to be thinking about 2025. In the interest of hoping for the best but preparing for the worst, I’m reviewing some of my favorite tactics for design business management. From goal-setting and time-blocking to mindfully unplugging, here are 6 strategies to set you up for a successful 2025.

1. ADVANCED TIME MANAGEMENT
If you fully track your time (meaning all time including admin, emails, etc.) you also need to categorize how you spend your time. I create a spreadsheet with the typical categories of tasks I’m responsible for during the year, and I include the number of hours devoted to those tasks. Each year, I delegate more tasks to others, so I start with the biggest chunks of time that I’d like to regain. For example, if you spend 1,200 hours on billable time, 300 hours on marketing, 200 hours on emails, 200 hours on finance, 200 hours on hiring and managing your team and another 200 hours on other activities (not really tracked), what tasks can you delegate our outsource to others?

2. MASTER YOUR SCHEDULE
I plan for personal time off before my team books any other appointments on the calendar. For me, I take six weeks of sabbatical from the Saturday before Thanksgiving until January 2. You’re reading this as I’m taking this annual break. I also schedule at least three to four additional weeks of vacation per year.

Next, my admin adds events and markets to the calendar. After that, all regular activities like leadership meetings, direct report meetings, quarterly reviews, annual reviews, team kick-offs, and planning meetings are added to the calendar. Mondays and Fridays are blocked meaning no meetings. Those are project focused days. You should try this for yourself. Once this structure is complete, your admin can schedule client and other meetings.

3. LOOK BACK TO LOOK AHEAD
Take the time to assess the work you’ve completed and consider how the year has been for you and your team—what worked, what didn’t work, and what you’d like to see improve. That meeting is also a good time to review the resources you want to find or add for the year (things like software, books or classes), as well as your budget. and plan your budget for the new year including new hires, salary increases and bonuses.

4. THINK THEMATICALLY
Reflect on what your team accomplished for the year prior. Plan for your annual kick-off. Select a theme for the year. For example, kaizen (a Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement) was our theme for 2023, and Client Love was our theme for 2024.

5. SET YOUR VISION
Set three key goals for the year. Identify projects that need to be completed to improve the business. Who needs to be involved? What does done look like? When should the projects be completed? What mentoring do I need to provide for the team? How do I prepare for succession? (It doesn’t matter what your age is—you’re going to leave at some point, so be sure to plan how you’re going to exit your business.)

6. TAKE SOME YOU TIME
This is my favorite time to dive into self-improvement books, clean the closets, organize for the year and read fun books. I also include some disconnected time with no “Slack or email” so that I can recharge my brain.

Many design firms close between Christmas and New Year’s, and to me, that’s the perfect time to consider what’s next and celebrate the wins. I encourage you to consider at least a few of these activities as we turn the page between 2024 and 2025.

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Gail Doby is co-founder of Pearl Collective (formerly Gail Doby Coaching & Consulting), an interior design business consultancy that helps designers, architects and other creatives increase their profitability. Doby ran her own design firm in Denver for nearly 20 years and has a degree in finance and banking. Since 2008, she has been helping designers scale their businesses profitably and reach financial freedom. As a coach, mentor and business transformation specialist, she shares innovative ways to overcome the roadblocks, challenges and detours creative entrepreneurs face. She is also the bestselling author of Business Breakthrough: Your Creative Value Blueprint to Get Paid What You’re Worth. Her goal is to empower design industry clients to differentiate themselves, drive measurable results, achieve business projections, and create personal satisfaction through game-changing strategies and business practices.