Designer Recession Strategies

After a very busy week, this afternoon I was able to sit down and recap on what I missed blogging about last week and also read some of my favourite bloggers.

Last Wednesday evening after battling the London traffic (due to a 48 hour train strike) and arriving one hour late, I managed to attend a lecture by Dr Rachel Smart on "Recession strategy: assess, improve and refocus for the future" at the beautiful Clive Christian Furniture Showroom at Chelsea Harbour.

Rachel has a management consultancy company, providing services to design businesses and it was interesting to hear her strategies on how to get "more strategic" in these tough times.

She basically talked about refocusing, looking at the past with the types of clients and problems you've encounted, the fee's you've charged and time you spent on each project, which projects were profitable and which were not.

Being proactive and ready when the market bounces back..... by looking at new markets, new locations, who your contacts are (continue making contact, even though there is not much work around), maintain relationships, reviewing your own processes (in your office and your projects) and being confident and more professional .... by not just sitting in your office and waiting for work to come to you!

There was also an open discussion about being professional and defending your profession, especially when it comes to clients questioning how much you charge as an interior designer.

The message was: Be smart, trim back now, do less work... but make a lot more money!

We also had a tour of the beautiful Clive Christian showroom. I didn't take any photos, but the beautiful book that we received in our gold goodie bag was very inspirational (for the luxury end of the market).




I then read, Vicki Archers blog on Confidence and thought this quote from her was exactly what was needed here:

"Confidence is that quality that makes us walk tall, that gives us the courage to go the extra mile and to change the small things in our lives that can lead to the bigger breakthroughs."

Which got me thinking, that as a blogger (well, I'm only new to this), it takes confidence and self assurance to start one and even tougher (as I'm finding out), to keep one going!
And I guess, a way of starting relationships with other like-minded bloggers .... and a start to being proactive. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
xx