What Kind of Interior Design Business Owner Are You?

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Quiz Questions

1.
How do you attract new customers?

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- A.
  
  I learn the pain points of my clients and aim my marketing messages to solve them.
- B.
  
  My marketing could be more effective, but I am too busy to change an approach that kinda works.
- C.
  
  I pit my messages against those of my competition to urge prospects to hire me.
- D.
  
  They find me on The Google so I don't do anything other than pay my SEO expert.
- E.
  
  I just post on social media whenever I think about it.
- F.
  
  I am a Networking Queen so I don't do anything more.
2.
How do you delight your clients?

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- A.
  
  The line is blurred between client and friend.
- B.
  
  I have an extremely client-centric focus. We are here to serve.
- C.
  
  My clients are usually pains-in-the-you-know-what. So demanding.
- D.
  
  Some customers like us while others don’t. You can’t please all the people all the time.
- E.
  
  Our clients are awesome at giving referrals to other cool people.
- F.
  
  Our customers are always wanting something more than we can afford to give. I should charge more.
- G.
  
  We have managed to keep our client satisfaction level quite high overall!
3.
How is your staff performing?

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- A.
  
  My people are awesome. I can leave my business whenever I want for as long as I want without negatively impacting anything.
- B.
  
  I am actively involved in the lives of my staff. It's normal for me to excuse absences or poor performance for personal reasons.
- C.
  
  I like my employees, but if there is a task to be done that is somewhat complicated, I need to do it myself.
- D.
  
  My employees work seamlessly together as a high performing team overlapping responsibilities and covering for each other.
- E.
  
  My employees come to work late and leave early. If I say something, they're likely to find work elsewhere.
- F.
  
  Employees who work for me are like mini-business owners. My people have unlimited earning potential if they produce.
- G.
  
  My staff is all outsourced. I barely know what they look like.
4.
How are your business finances?

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- A.
  
  I am always considering ways to explore new and innovative ideas to grow my company.
- B.
  
  Uh, I have no idea. I'm waiting for my accountant to tell me.
- C.
  
  I'm constantly counting money and concerned about it.
- D.
  
  Money is necessary to realize my vision. While I'm aware of our financial situation, I rarely obsess over money.
5.
What is the growth outlook for your company?

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- A.
  
  I am always looking for opportunities to expand my services.
- B.
  
  Growth will happen as the result of my market domination in the industry.
- C.
  
  The industry is shrinking and I need to downsize in order to stay a viable company.
- D.
  
  If we grow, we grow; if we shrink, we shrink. We will work hard, make good decisions and hope for the best.
- E.
  
  There isn't enough business to go around.
- F.
  
  Hmmm. Haven't really thought about it.
- G.
  
  I don't want to grow. I'm happy just the way it is.
6.
How will you exit your company?

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- A.
  
  I will give it to my employees in equal-ish parts.
- B.
  
  Exit? I'm not going anywhere.
- C.
  
  Hmmm. Hadn't thought about it.
- D.
  
  I know that planning is the right thing to do. I'll get right on that. Later.
- E.
  
  I've positioned the company for acquisition by a larger firm. Just waiting for the bucket of money to be offered.
- F.
  
  The company has my name on the door. I can't go anywhere even if I wanted to.
7.
How's your home life?
- A.
  
  What home life? I'm always working.
- B.
  
  When I'm home, I'm thinking about work.
- C.
  
  I love being home and hate going to work.
- D.
  
  Walking in the door after work is the best part of my day.
- E.
  
  It's a beautiful balance between work & home.
- F.
  
  I look forward to vacations, holidays and special occasions with family and friends.

Quiz Outcomes

1.

Defeated

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You have very low energy to run your business. You feel like no matter what you do, you will lose. You feel as if the world is against you in some way. While others may succeed in business, you are destined to fail... it's only a matter of time. This energy level is eating you up and is evident to your family, friends and employees. If you manage to hire employees they will either need a lot of money to stick around your sinking ship; or they will want to find another employer who has a better outlook on life and business.
2.

Dominant Competitor

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You are a fighter. You have earned most of what you have now as a street fighter and you're not about to give in to anyone. Many of your employees will follow you out of fear or conditional reward, but will leave you as soon as they find a better option from someone else. You are brutal in competition and most likely come out on top even though you create a lot of collateral damage. While this level of competition is working on some level for you as a business leader, you cannot fight forever and will eventually burn out.
3.

Safe Harbor

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You have managed to take calculated risks and have also managed to make reasonable progress in leading your business. You play a middle ground and don't want to get too passionate about anything. You will often use terms like "fine", "did my best", or "it could be better, but". You tend not to get too upset about down times and not to excited about up times. You take responsibility for your actions, but many around you do not. You are afraid to rock the boat with honest criticism of employees; either because you don't know the words to use; or because you are getting some level of performance out of them and don't want to jeopardize your current position.
4.

People Person

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You're a people person. You genuinely care about your employees and your customers. You want to be liked more than you want your company to succeed. In fact, as far as you're concerned, failure to take care of your people would be failure. Your employees will either be extremely loyal in response to your compassion, or they will take advantage of your infinite desire to serve them without repayment. Running a successful business IS about leading people and caring about them, but you may tend to go overboard not knowing where the limit is on earning the loyalty of your people.
5.

Business Opportunist

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You are quite the optimist. Even whey you lose, you win. You are looking at opportunity in everything that happens in your business. You have a great passion for finding success in many little nooks and crannies that tend to elude many other business owners. When you make decisions, you are always looking to create win/win scenarios for your customers, your employees and yourself. You are the ultimate business owner who will tend to grow your business and find new avenues for success. Your employees love following you because they believe you to be fair and can create victory out of defeat. The one challenge you have is being paralyzed by too many options. You sometimes will fail to pick one and embrace it not knowing what could have been with other options.
6.

Holistic Leader

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Wow! You really do think outside the box. Not only do you create success within your own world, you have a world view that extends way beyond the borders of your office walls. You will constantly pull your employees and customers into community and world causes that would otherwise be ignored. You view your business within the broader context of your industry and are able to make decisions that benefit everyone whether they are stake holders in your deals or not. You will quickly consider mergers, acquisitions and expansion where other business owners will be timid. You do sometimes struggle connecting with employees in your business who think differently and more practically than you do.
7.

Business Guru

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Wow! You live in quite rare air at this level. Few if any business owners or CEO's rise to this level of operation while starting, growing, owning or even retiring from business. You have the ability to see yourself from outside of yourself with complete objectivity. You see most of the world without judgment and can make clear decisions because of your clear vision. You create many ideas and concepts that have never existed before and continue to set the standard for every other business. Your employees are impressed with your business foresight, but often consider you to be an outsider and disconnected from their day to day struggles.