How Outsourcing Design Can Save You Time and Money
As small business owners, it’s all too easy for us to believe we have to handle everything themselves. Invoicing. Web Design. Public Relations.
“Self-employed interior designer” often includes a job description that, on any given day, could resemble administrative assistant, CAD expert, accountant, marketing team, web content director, human resource manager...and it doesn’t stop there.
Outsourcing Design Can Save You Time and Money
We may think that by taking on everything ourselves, we’re saving our hard-earned money. And, sure, on paper, we are spending less. But, that doesn’t mean that we’re actually coming out ahead in the big picture.
Your Billable Hours Are Better Spent Being Billable
For every hour that you’re tallying up expenses, tracking down invoices, and wrangling CSS code on your website, you’re not getting paid. Those are valuable hours that you could spend working on client projects or pursuing new work—and those are the hours that turn into invoices.
To put this into perspective, let’s say you bring in $220/hour working directly with clients on space planning, textile sourcing, and scouring showrooms for the perfect coffee table. And, because of your busy workload, you’re spending one day a week entirely on running your business backend rather than working with clients. You’re turning down new projects because you simply don’t have the time!
Instead of trying to manage everything yourself, it would make more sense to outsource work to a virtual design assistant to help you run your business smoothly. You would win back an entire workday a week to devote to client work and the expense for the design assistant is less than the design fee you’re now able to bring in. The math says it all!
You’re a Designer. You Don’t Need to Also be an HTML Expert, a Marketer, an Accountant.
Now, what exactly can you outsource? In short, everything. A virtual design assistant should be the first place interior designers look to hire. In a virtual design assistant, you’ll find someone who not only has design experience, but can manage documentation and project planning, purchase orders, invoicing, 3D renderings in Chief Architect or Home Designer, and all those items build up while you’re running from client meeting to showroom to contractor and back again.
Other professionals to consider bringing on include a web design whiz to help design your website and make occasional updates, a skilled marketer to work with you on content strategy, and an accountant so that you can pass off the tax time stress.
Where to Find Talented Help
So, where do you begin to look when you make the decision to outsource? Of course, I offer virtual design assistance and 3D rendering services, so I would love to chat if that’s what you need! And, if you’re looking for help in other areas like marketing, web or graphic design, and public relations, check out Facebook groups like Freelancing Females and Create and Cultivate. You’ll discover an amazing resource of talented women at your fingertips.
Finally, as a fellow entrepreneur I also outsource various aspects of my company for assistance. I have listed below some of those professionals who help me on a regular basis, so I can better direct my attention to what I’m good at… like helping fellow Interior Designers.