How I created the Design Roadmap System

Hi there! 

Last spring I got a wild hare to finally start clarifying the system I’ve created in my own business to keep things running smoothly. At the time I was thinking, is this even a thing? Would anyone even be interested in this? 

I sat down and just wrote and wrote, reflecting on how I felt before using the system, the story of how I created it, and the difference it made in my business and my life.  I got so fired up writing this, I decided to start teaching the system, and now it’s an actual Masterclass you can take.  

Today I’m sharing it with you to give you some background on the Design Roadmap System.  If you can relate to any of this, you’ll want to check out my Masterclass that’s going on sale October 20th.  I can’t wait to teach more designers  the system this fall so they can head into 2022 with more control over their projects.   

Does any of this sound like you? 

• I’m always feeling behind on my projects.  Even though I know I’m doing good design, I have a nagging sense that I’m not meeting the client’s expectations.  Are things taking too long, or costing too much?  
• Billing is stressful.  When it comes time to do my billing, I hesitate to send my bills out or send them late because I didn’t get everything done I should have during the month.  I feel I need to send along discounts, apologies, or explanations with my bills. 
• I don’t have confidence that I can follow through on my promises about when I’ll get things done.  I’ve even stopped making time commitments at all, and instead use vague promises, like “soon,” because I hate letting myself and my clients down over and over. 
• I jump from fire to fire.  A client will check in and ask about the next step in their project so I’ll scramble to complete the work in a few days, working long hours fueled by adrenaline and caffeine.  The presentation goes great, and I collapse in relief and euphoria - I pulled it off!  I’m a hero!  Meanwhile, I’ve ignored all my other projects and after a brief rest I need to scramble to put out the next fire.  It’s an endless and exhausting cycle of stress.  
• When a potential client asks me if I have time to do their project, I really have no idea.  I know I’m busy, but can’t tell when I will have time to do their project.  I’ll take on new projects based on gut instinct, and usually have either too much on my plate or not enough.  Both are stressful!  
• I’d like to take on help, but I have no idea how I would off-load everything in my brain so someone else could help me.  And how would I know if I have enough work coming up to keep them busy?  

I can understand all of this all too well because it’s how I ran my business for years.   

What is the cost of all of this?

• Thousands of dollars in lost revenue  - I’d calculate I was losing at least a few thousand dollars a month. 
• Damaged or broken relationships with clients - lost testimonials and referral sources
• Damaged or broken relationships with contractors - lost referrals
• Physical and mental toll of constant stress 
• Not being able to grow or take on larger projects
• Not being able to hire or fully utilize help, reinforcing the cycle of stress 

What’s the solution?  

• You need a project management system, but…
• As a small business owner, all the products out there are built for large companies, large teams.  They’re so complicated and take tons of time to set up and maintain.  They really seem to be made for companies that have dedicated project managers, who do that as their full time job.  This is just overkill for me as a solopreneur or small business owner with one assistant.  And as a creative person with all those spreadsheets and gantt charts, forget it!  Why isn’t there something simple and small built just for kitchen and bath designers?  

My Story - Why I built this:

As a designer with my own business, I was trained in design, not project management.  I have a bit of “time blindness,” where I’ll literally feel like a few days have gone by since I met with a client, when it’s actually been a month.  I also have trouble prioritizing, understanding how long things actually take and feel like everything can and must be done NOW. Planning is NOT my strong suit.  

Add to this that I’m also a people pleaser, so when someone asks for something, I want to jump to get it done.  All of this combines in a perfect storm of chaos and stress, reactively trying to meet expectations and feeling constant stress and shame that things are late.

I worked this way for years and was able to keep it together and produce as long as my projects were relatively small and simple and I had understanding clients, but then...  

But then, it finally came to a head

I got a dream kitchen project.  It was a higher-end client than I was used to.  It was a contractor who did amazing work.  It was a higher level of detail and design, and it took much longer than usual.  I remember the contractor talking with me at the beginning about when they wanted to start and how important it was to get this right.  I made promises.  

Then, a few months later (to me it felt like a few weeks), I got that dreaded call from the contractor: “We’re ready to start - where are the drawings?”  I was nowhere near ready, but promised I would have them done in a few days.  I killed myself to get them done, but they were still late. The contractor was pissed!  They bawled me out, said I had delayed the project and I made them look bad in front of the client. 

On top of this, when the design was complete the client let me know they were very unhappy with my fees. They told me flat out that they wouldn’t have minded paying them if they had known in advance what they were going to be, but didn’t appreciate being surprised.  

I did my best to patch up things with the contractor and the client but the damage was done.  Even though I completed a gorgeous design that was everything the homeowner wanted, neither they nor the contractor ever hired or referred me again.  All the future work on the house the client had promised to me vanished.  My disorganization ruined both of those relationships.  I couldn’t even enjoy looking at the gorgeous photos of the project without feelings of shame and embarrassment.  

Another chance to get it right 

Enter stage left, an even bigger project.  This time it was an entire 5,000 sf house, partnering with an amazing Architect and a premium client who was a referral from another great client.  The stakes were high.  I got the project, but I was terrified.  I knew FOR SURE, that if I tried to do things the way I’d always done and hoped for the best, I would blow it, and it was going to be much more dramatic than the last time. 

Excited and terrified, I hired a business coach.  I told her that her only job was to keep me on track with getting this project done in a timely manner.  The first thing she asked me to do was to plan out the project step by step, with timeframes and estimated fees for each task.  Seemed simple enough, but it was a huge task for me. After a lot of thought, working and re-working, I came up with a single document that told the client exactly what the plan was - what we would do, how long it was going to take, and how much it would cost.  Bam.  The Design Roadmap was born.  

The client looked it over and said, “great, let’s get started!”  Then something magical happened that was much larger than the seeming simplicity of this document.  Every week, I was on task knowing exactly what needed to be done.  It was more work than I was used to doing on a consistent basis, but there were no crazy all-nighters either.   I knew in advance when meetings were scheduled, and my super busy client did as well, so they could plan ahead and avoid delays.  The end of the first month came and I felt amazing sending out my bill because I did all the things I promised, and I knew the clients were expecting the fees I charged… !  (This can’t be underestimated, as I was constantly discounting my fees before).  They paid their bill on time and the energy I felt from them was gratitude and excitement. 

Over the course of many months, I kept this up and completed the project on time. Even better, I realized I could give my Design Roadmap to the Architect and the Contractor, so they also knew when everything was going to get done.  They patiently waited for us to complete the work.  There were no phone calls asking where the drawings were, no stress or trying to pull it out at the last minute.  It was, dare I say, calm.  There was a surprising lack of shame or embarrassment on my part.  I just got to feel good about all the hard work I did.  

I’m also proud to say I enjoyed wonderful relationships with the homeowner, the Architect and the Contractor throughout the project.  When the project was complete, we all celebrated together.  Referrals from the contacts we made on this project have become our main source of work these days, have led me to hiring two employees and a virtual assistant, and are causing us to uplevel our work in every way.  This is what I was leaving on the table before when I was so disorganized.  I didn’t even know what I was missing!  

In the years since that project, I’ve continued to use the Design Roadmap on every project.  It’s amazing: whenever I get lazy or skip it, it’s right back to our old disorganization and stress.  It’s like clockwork.  As I’ve continued to refine the Roadmap, it’s led to additional tools that make it even more effective.  I created a Planning Calendar and other trackers that allow me to see not just what’s going on with one project, but how all my projects are working together, for me and my team.  

What is it worth? 

• The first project I used a roadmap on, I immediately stopped discounting my bills, and saved myself thousands of dollars.  I’ve done this every month since then.  
• My business has more than doubled since I started using the roadmaps.  
• The first month I used the planning calendar, I increased my profits by 50%.  Without working more hours.  
• The roadmap allowed me to hire my first employee with confidence, and then a second employee as well as a virtual assistant.  
• The sense of ease and lack of stress I feel on a daily basis are hard to quantify. 
• The ability to show up feeling like a pro and follow through on my commitments is priceless.   

This system is deceptively simple, but has come out of my more than 20 years of design experience.  Unlike a lot of project management systems that are created by naturally organized people, this one came out of my creative designer's brain - my brain that has trouble prioritizing, planning, or understanding the passage of time. This has come out of doing this over and over and over the wrong way and trying countless systems that other people invented but that didn’t work for my kitchen and bath design business.  Then, out of desperation, I came up with something that was simple enough that I could actually follow it on a consistent basis, but powerful enough to make a change in my business.  I’ve been using this system over the course of years, and it has transformed my business and my life in countless ways.  I’d like to help you transform yours as well.

How about you?  What’s driving you crazy right now that would be helped if you could just get your projects under control?  Let me know in the comments!