The History
Kelly Farrell is CEO and Founder of designRoom, an award-winning, national branding and design firm, well known for helping clients build and promote healthy, sustainable brands. Before reaching out to a One Page Business Plan consultant, Kelly conceded that she had previously suffered from consultant fatigue… “We were chasing every shiny object there was to figure out how to focus on what was important and share that with our team. But my staff would usually respond by saying… here we go again, using another system with yet another set of goals that will probably not get accomplished anyway. But things became much different when we began using the One Page Business Plan.”
The Problem
Before using the One Page System, designRoom had never used a simple tool for their company’s planning process. Kelly’s team was excellent at planning and delivering outstanding work to their clients, but the challenge was getting the team connected to the internal planning needs of the organization. They had no practical way of taking their ideas for the firm and breaking them down over a year long process to ensure they would get done on time and within budget.
The Solution
According to Kelly… “In the beginning, it was baby steps for us. But now, after six years of using The One Page Business Plan, it’s been a game changer for our company. With our consultant’s guidance, our One Page Plans have allowed us to evolve into the company we are today. We peel off everything that is not important which allows us to focus on what we’ve targeted in our plan. It’s all part of being intentional and focusing on the right things.”
Once designRoom had clearly identified their mission and vision statements for the plan, they built a solid market strategy around their behavioral health niche. This allowed them to build specific action plans around that strategy.
Farrell continued… “It was a pivotal shift for us. Now, we have things in one place and use our One Page Planning System to keep us on track. It was really helpful to pull all the Strategies, Objectives, and Action plans together in one place and have it right at my fingertips. We have made huge progress in how we run our company. It doesn’t take that long for us to keep our scorecard and progress reports up to date. It’s easy to navigate once you begin to use it. Now, everyone on our staff has access to it and they have a stake in it.”
Currently
According to Kelly, “without Jeanne Coughlin, our consultant, as our guide and The One Page Business Plan tool, I probably would not be in business today. Instead, we’ve grown in our niche. Now we do work all over the country, not just here in the Cleveland area. We have grown in our ability to focus as a team. We have been able to change our organization completely. We’re now more operationally efficient and have a clear strategic outlook for what is now a growing and sustainable business.”.