HOW SAFE ARE YOUR SHADES?

Did you know that in September 2010, Consumer Product Safety Commission released a new version of the standard that outlines requirements for cordless treatments?

You also may have heard a lot of buzz in the news about recent recalls.

But you’re probably thinking “I’m just a small 1-person operation, it doesn’t affect me”.  Right?
Wrong.

I recently listened to a webinar put together by three leading window covering associations that tried to clarify the new standard.  In the spirit of productivity and in an effort to save you time, here is my best summary of the webinar, laced with personal impressions and perceptions.

• The standard is a very long, technical, and confusing document, filled with a lot legal jargon.
• Its goal and purpose is to specify and give best definition of cordless treatments (includes shades, traversing rods, and any other treatment that uses a cord)
• Its function is not to enforce the standard. 
• Unfortunately it falls very short of explaining how to fabricate them and more importantly, how it affects designer’s product offering, now that roman shades as we know them are no longer available.
• Consumer Product Safety Commission has made it clear that compliance is a must
• Target date for compliance is March 3rd, 2011.
• Compliance is a must regardless of whether children are present in the household
• Compliance is a must regardless of the size of the business
• There are consequences for non-compliance, but it was not clear what they were
• It is up to the individual designer (and our lawyers) how to handle customer release forms.  No  form template was given during the call
• Although the standard is old, its recent visibility is new.  Because of this recency, it is not clear what options designers have if they want to specify the “roman-shade” look.
• One thing was pretty clear, this will affect our industry in a pretty big way.

As you can see, this is not a clear-cut situation that gives a lot of direction as to what to do next.  More information will be released as we go along.  And I promise to relay this information in the most clear-cut, understandable, and up-to-date terms.

3 WAYS TO PRIORITIZE & TAKE CONTROL OF THE OVERWHELM

Prioritizing is the key to converting a long, overwhelming to-do list into a well-run business.  But how do we decide what gets prioritized first, second, third, etc.  What criteria do we use to keep ourselves in check and not lose our heads?

My suggested priority categories for you are these: immediate term, short term, and long term.

Immediate priority action items. They are easy. They are fast. You know how to do them. They may be personally interesting and exciting for you. They are no-brainers.

An example of an immediate priority action item would be to create your email signature. You know you should have one, you know it’s important, you know it will take you only a few minutes, but you just haven’t made time for it because other things got in the way.  The timing of an immediate priority action item is about one week.

Short-term priority action items. Your short-term priorities take a bit longer to accomplish, they may be more complex, and they may require planning and research.

How do you decide which items are more important than others? In other words, within this group of priority, how do you prioritize it even further? Here are the criteria I use and advise my clients, as part of my mentoring program.

i.      Which activity will cost the least and bring the biggest result?

ii.      Which one have I been wanting to do for a long time?

iii.      Which one can I execute consistently?

A great example of a short-term priority is doing your email newsletter (e-zine).

Long-term priority action items. Everything that didn’t make it into the immediate and short-term priority lists falls in this list. But long-term doesn’t mean never, or someday. It still needs a date. I recommend that you strive to accomplish your long-term list within 90 to 120 days.

A good example of a long-term priority action item may be booking a speaking engagement.

Those were your three priority categories: immediate, short-term, and long-term. Regardless of when you’ll tackle your priorities, they all fall within the marketing pie. It doesn’t matter whether you are a seasoned designer or just starting out, the marketing pie doesn’t change – what does change is your knowledge and experience with each “slice of the pie.”

_______________

If you enjoyed this article and would like more information about the Marketing Pie and what it takes to successfully marketing your design practice, check out a brand new book Business of Interior Design due out on 8/31.  Join our celebration party on 8/31 at http://www.BusinessOfDesignBook.com