Dear Sean,

I’m scared that by downsizing, potential clients are less likely to hire my firm, or that we will only get small projects.

Here’s the backstory: In six years, my firm has grown to six employees and worked on projects across the country. I do very little design (aside from outlining the initial ideas and concepts for a project), and way more management. The biggest hurdle is the constant need to find new projects to feed the hopper. In short, I don’t know if this is what I want anymore—but I’m scared that I will lose my competitive advantage against other firms by downsizing, and will be relegated to only participating in small projects. I like big projects that stretch for years, but will I get those if I downsize?

Playing Small

Dear Playing Small,

The short answer to your question: Firm size does not impact your ability to land projects—to a point. The caveat is that you cannot be the only bastion of culture in your firm if you are working in the high-end commercial or luxury residential market. But do you need six employees to communicate that statement about your firm? No.

I have covered the Coase theorem and the power of outsourcing—a framework that holds that if a third-party vendor can do a specific task more efficiently and effectively than a firm’s internal team, the firm should hire out that work. This principle will help you make sense of how you might have to change your business model if you downsize, in order to ensure that you can complete the size and scale of projects you seek with a much smaller team.

By far, though, your biggest hurdle is not about losing your competitive advantage—it is about your addiction to yes and finding yourself further and further away from the designer you wish to be, all in the name of the business. Clearly, you are serving your business, not the other way around, and it is just not sustainable.

Constantly having to find new projects almost always means you are trying to make all incoming leads “fit” into your firm’s framework and pipeline. Except there is just no one-size-fits-all for designers. Instead, how you do what you do, why you do it the way you do, and how you prefer to be paid for that work is entirely unique to you and your business—it’s all about outrageous promises and outrageous demands.

Furthermore, your projects are likely not all the same. Maybe one has significant renovation, one just decor, another is commercial, and yet another a simple refresh for an existing client. And yet you intend to be paid the exact same way for each—likely hourly plus a markup. It just cannot work without turning you into a servant to the business.

Instead—and this is a huge instead—you need to have a look at your business and ask yourself which projects you actually want and how best to serve those clients in a manner that works for you and your firm. I am not saying you need to have only one type of client, but rather that you identify the clients you seek to serve, then identify and avoid whatever work does not fall into those realms, creating “no-fly” zones to ensure clarity and focus in your service offerings.

Think about fashion: Imagine that you were looking for a fantastic outfit and went into Emporio Armani. If Giorgio (who I appreciate has passed, but stick with me for a moment) was in the store, would you want to talk to him or the stylist? Giorgio is the singular visionary who can design a one-of-a-kind couture outfit—and charges a rate that reflects that—while the stylist is the support staff who knows the inventory and can facilitate its custom tailoring and purchase, and their rate reflects that much more replicable, scalable skill set. (Well, the stylist’s services are technically included with an Armani purchase, but you get my drift.) Ultimately, these are two separate business models for two separate clients.

The two axioms for you are these: Great clients pay more, not less, and you need to talk to the smallest viable audience. Ask yourself whom you seek to serve and why, then build your business model (or models) around that idea, rather than reverse-engineering your business to serve any client that comes your way. My guess is that your firm will move away from reductions in staff and toward directed purpose so that the business will finally serve you and your vision first and foremost.

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Sean Low is the go-to business coach for interior designers. His clients have included Nate Berkus, Sawyer Berson, Vicente Wolf, Barry Dixon, Kevin Isbell and McGrath II. Low earned his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and as founder-president of The Business of Being Creative, he has long consulted for design businesses. In his Business Advice column for BOH, he answers designers’ most pressing questions. Have a dilemma? Send us an email—and don’t worry, we can keep your details anonymous.