What If I Don’t Have Time to Train Someone To Help My Interior Design Business

SYSTEMS & OPS

Nov 17

Updated September 2023

You don't have time to train someone to help you manage the day-to-day in your interior design firm, yet you know you need help. But at this point, you don’t have time to put together a job description, post the job opportunity, schedule interviews, check references, or prepare a comprehensive offer.

If you’ve felt this way, you know this way of working isn't sustainable. And it’s definitely not getting you any closer to the work-life balance you dreamed of when you started your business.

But how can you bring someone into your business?

YOU HAVE ZERO TIME TO TRAIN SOMEONE

Does that sound familiar? Do you wish you could bring someone on but the thought of interviewing, hiring, onboarding, training, and then managing is just too much to even think about?

I’m sharing two stories about clients who felt this way and how we worked together to alleviate this struggle. This is also why I created the Designed to Scale® Hiring Blueprint so designers can have all the tools, templates, and resources needed to hire with confidence.

CLIENT A:

Business was BLOWING UP.
She had reduced her work hours by 50% and wanted to keep it that way.
She was resistant to bringing someone on even though I had been suggesting a full time employee for a very long time.

FINALLY--she said yes.

So then:

I created the job description.
I posted the job opportunity online.
I interviewed candidates.
I made recommendations to my client so she could move to second round (or I did second round video interviews).
I made the job offer once my client made her decision.
I onboarded the new person and trained them.
I managed all the questions during the training period.

My client was amazed by how well the new hire was able to just "jump right in". She told me "She just speaks the company brand and knows exactly how I like things done."

***WIN WIN WIN***

I was able to manage this whole process for her because I was familiar with her business, her preferences, and the exact type of help she needed. My client spent about an hour on the whole process and now has a fully functional person on her team who has taken tons of work off her plate, and has given her a major sense of comfort and confidence in her ability to take on more clients.

By hiring the right person, she can now take on better projects. In this specific case, the new employee has already provided a 4x return on investment (and that’s just looking at the tangibles). Be sure to check out the Designed to Scale® Hiring Blueprint for all the tools, templates, and resources we use with our 1:1 clients so you can hire with confidence.

Picture of two women with text overlay How to Hire For Your Interior Design Business Hiring Processes and Job Descriptions for Interior Designers by Dakota Design Company

CLIENT B:

Nervous to hire someone
Nervous to manage someone
Nervous to train someone because she wasn't totally sure how to use her system herself
Didn't have time to do any of the above

So then:

I created the job description.
I posted the job opportunity.
I interviewed candidates.
I made the job offer once my client approved.
I trained the new hire and had her funnel all her questions through me.

A few months in, my client received an email from their new hire...let’s call her Megan.

My client forwarded the email to me and said "Who's Megan?"

HAND HIT HEAD.

My client had been so removed from the hiring process she had forgotten for a second that we had brought someone new on. Now, before you go judging my client for not knowing who their new person was, keep in mind this position was remote, and the role was for behind-the-scenes work that my client previously wasn’t handling on her own (someone else was handling it, and that person was leaving).

So, if you are finding yourself saying you don’t have time to hire help and you don’t have time to train someone, invest time in creating standardized processes. Then, identify what needs to be done by you and what can be done by a new hire. Then, clearly detail what needs to be done at those steps and create resources or training videos to communicate the standard for how you’d like it done. This way, when you bring someone new on, everything is already ready, and you don’t have to spend as much time training: your processes will do the work for you.

As a business owner with experience keeping the backend of businesses working in the wedding and interior design industry since 2004, I created the Designed to Scale® Hiring Blueprint for interior designers so you can have all the tools, templates, and resources you need to hire with confidence.

Think: what would be possible for you if you had an extra 2-3 hours/week? What is that worth to you, your family?

Want more tips for managing your interior design business or wedding planning business? Read our guide to time management for a more profitable and efficient business, or sign up below:

Talk soon!