How Do You Define “Too Much” For Your Firm?

How much is too much? 

During a workshop at AIA National I asked participants to think about how they would answer the question, “How much is enough?” Someone shouted out, “And how much is too much?”

Such a great question.

Too much. Just those two words pretty much sum it up. Too much creates all kinds of challenges: do we hire, or pay overtime? Do we want to grow or are we happy the size we are? How do we keep from a drop in quality of services if our capacity is too low?

And while it’s hard to imagine an architectural firm actually turning off the revenue spigot to preserve its size (I’ve yet to hear that a firm has done that), too much can have unwanted, unplanned consequences.

Choose—wisely and deliberately. And remember this: you don’t have to grow larger to build your business. What if instead of constantly increasing the revenue goals at your yearly business strategy sessions, you instead decided to focus on the same revenue, but increased profitability? What if people just worked smarter, not harder? What if you weren’t juggling more projects, but rather managing the projects you have for a greater return on investment?

These are the choices you can make to grow your businesses without increasing in size.