m21 has had the "business of design" on our nightstand for about a month now, and we were literally too skurrd to crack it open. it looked just too much like a textbook, you see, and while m21 was always a pretty good student, he hated reading dry and boring textbooks, so sadly the "business of design" remained untouched due to residual school-age antipathy.
but the subtitle of the book kept nagging my subconscious: "'balancing profitability and creativity' is surely an area we could use some outside input about, right?" my sub-conscious implored, "creativity, we gots in spades, but that profitability thingymabob? well, a little practical advice in
that area certainly couldn't hurt!" (especially if we want to put some of those increased profits to work by opening up a real, live, brick and mortar store sometime in the near future). also, the interior design world is a small world, and the los angeles interior design community is an even smaller subset, so author,
keith granet's reputation as a design business builder has
far preceded him. while maison21 might not be a big enough fish to get a meeting with him at the current time (his client list includes household names like barbra barry, rose tarlow and charlotte moss), we would certainly love to pick his brain for some of practical advice for our small, but hopefully growing business, so our free advance copy of the book suddenly seemed an attractive and "profitable" way to get some of keith's wisdom at a bargain price. in essence, by finally cracking the book for some of that free advice, we're already halfway to that whole "balancing profitability and creativity" thing by not having to pay a
granet and associates consulting fee. woo hoo, making money already!
after we finally gathered up our courage to start reading, we were left wondering why the hell didn't we get around to this sooner? (isn't that the way with so much of life?) the book is an easy read, full of practical advice, delivered in a way that you are constantly reminded this book was written by a
real person with a wealth of
real experience, and not merely a dry, dull, textbook written by a faceless committee. is my business more profitable yet? well, maybe those extra dollar signs aren't raining down
just yet, but we also haven't finished the darn thing either, so there is definitely hope for the future! in the meantime, the book has certainly already given me some great insights about how to make some improvements to my present business plan (like the ability to say "no" to clients who you know aren't going to be a good fit for your business- always good advice to remember!)
you can get your own copy of "the business of design" at
amazon for a really low price- maybe not as low as our free copy, but we guarantee that you'll get more than your money's worth, and then
you too will be on the way to balancing your creativity with more of that elusive
profitability stuff, just like m21!
