On the Ask Us Anything podcast, editor in chief Kaitlin Petersen taps former Trade Tales guests to answer real, confidential designer questions, offering a safe space to discuss business challenges. Have a question of your own to ask? Send an email to start the conversation.

This week, Georgia Zikas joins the show to answer a question from a designer whose firm is experiencing a slowdown in new business. Amid economic uncertainty, she understands that would-be clients are putting the brakes on projects—but where does that leave her firm?

Zikas, whose eponymous design firm has offices in Boston and West Hartford, Connecticut, talks about the importance of conducting regular assessments of your company’s financial health, how to curate a network that produces potential clients, and why slower periods provide an opportunity to fine-tune your business processes.

Crucial insight: While giving an extra edge to your firm’s marketing efforts is essential during slow periods, Zikas says that doesn’t mean those initiatives should fall to the wayside during its successful eras. “One of my business coaches early on always said you should be marketing when you’re the busiest, so I’ve just done that,” she says. “For the last 10 years, I’ve been constantly taking meetings and inviting people into our office and hosting realtors and builders and architects, professional organizers, professional chefs, various fashion stylists—people that are also in touch with a high-net-worth client.”

Key quote: “I’m always pivoting to ingenuity and creating things that might be out of the box, and I think you just have to continue that. You have to be marketing and pulling up your sleeves and ready to do the work, even in the slow times.”

This episode was sponsored by Four Hands and Crypton. If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.