Designing Profits

A successful design practice requires principals and staff who are creative, technically proficient, and financially savvy. Designing Profits focuses on the last component—the one that is so elusive for many architects, engineers, and construction professionals—the business aspects of practice. Not an ordinary book on practice issues or finance, Designing Profits explains the application of design thinking to guide wise business decisions. It is indeed possible to be as creative in establishing and operating a practice as in designing and constructing a building. The book offers comprehensive guidance and objective tools for design professionals to reap financial rewards from their practices, and to discover innovative strategies to become entrepreneurial and implement creative practice models. An extended case study is woven throughout the book. Witness the trials and tribulations of Michelangelo & Brunelleschi Architects as they engage problematic clients, tight project budgets and schedules, low fees and insufficient profits, marketing issues, quirky staff, technology upgrades, and growth, among other difficult challenges. This mythical firm, a composite of several real-life practices, navigates through these various dilemmas, providing readers with insights into superior financial management and a reimagined services portfolio.

A successful design practice requires principals and staff who are creative, technically proficient, and financially savvy. Designing Profits focuses on the last component—the one that is so elusive for many architects, engineers, and construction professionals—the business aspects of practice. Not an ordinary book on practice issues or finance, Designing Profits explains the application of design thinking to guide wise business decisions. It is indeed possible to be as creative in establishing and operating a practice as in designing and constructing a building. The book offers comprehensive guidance and objective tools for design professionals to reap financial rewards from their practices, and to discover innovative strategies to become entrepreneurial and implement creative practice models. An extended case study is woven throughout the book. Witness the trials and tribulations of Michelangelo & Brunelleschi Architects as they engage problematic clients, tight project budgets and schedules, low fees and insufficient profits, marketing issues, quirky staff, technology upgrades, and growth, among other difficult challenges. This mythical firm, a composite of several real-life practices, navigates through these various dilemmas, providing readers with insights into superior financial management and a reimagined services portfolio.

The book that answers the most fundamental question in business: Where Will I Make a Profit Tomorrow? Why do some companies create sustained, superior profits year after year? Why are they always far ahead of their competitors in discovering the ever-changing profit zones of their industry? Why do others languish as their traditional way of doing business turns into a no-profit zone? The Profit Zone provides the answers. It is a brilliant, original, and practical explanation of how and why high profit happens.

Stop closing sales. Start opening relationships. It's time to design your business for profit. Management practices from last century are no longer enough to grow your business. This book spells out a formula you can use to take a deliberate approach to building a profitable customer portfolio.

Looking for ways to motivate your employees to improve the bottom line, but without spending additional dollars on salaries? Pr???fit Sharing in Canada The Complete Guide to Designing and Implementing Plans that Really Work Profit-sharing plans are a highly effective way to increase profitability and productivity, as well as improve employees’ compensation, without increasing fixed costs. This "nuts-and-bolts" guide focuses on broad-based plans, which include virtually all employees. Profit Sharing in Canada is a practical guide to designing and implementing a profit-sharing plan in your company, with little or no help from external advisers: Explains how to involve, motivate, and reward employees—and improve corporate performance—without increasing fixed costs. Covers types of plans, how to decide which employees are eligible and how to divide up the profits among them, tax advantages and implications, communication to employees, plan administration, and much more. Explains all the issues involved in clear, non-technical language. Includes helpful checklists of topics that need to be discussed and reviewed at each stage of design and implementation. Provides sample plans and a resource list of organizations to contact for further information and professional help. Includes a disk containing spreadsheets of various allocation formulas readers can use to calculate "what-if" scenarios.

The Business of Design debunks the myth that business sense and creative talent are mutually exclusive, showing design professionals that they can pursue their passion and turn a profit. For nearly thirty years, consultant Keith Granet has helped designers create successful businesses, from branding to billing and everything in between. Unlike other business books, The Business of Design is written and illustrated to speak to a visually thinking audience. The book covers all aspects of running a successful design business, including human resources, client management, product development, marketing, and licensing. This timely update on the tenth anniversary of the first edition includes new content on social media, working from home, and understanding and working with different generations, essential tools in today's ultracompetitive marketplace.