Q3 Series | Small On Purpose Part 2 | Buy Back Your Time Without Building a Team
Today on Window Treatments for Profit
This is Part 2 of Small on Purpose, a WTFP series for the window treatment professional who is choosing to stay solo, on purpose, and is also choosing to run that business profitably.
Last week, LuAnn made the case for choosing small on purpose. This week she gets into the mechanics that actually make it work, starting with the fear most solo owners never say out loud: what if bringing in help means losing control over how my business gets represented?
This episode makes the case that it doesn’t have to. LuAnn breaks down 3 categories of help every solo operator can lean on without ever adding a name to payroll:
Subcontracted installers and commission salespeople, where the real risk isn’t hiring the wrong person, it’s skipping the conversation where you define your standards upfront. LuAnn shares detailed, real-world checklists for both roles, pulled straight from decades running Window Works, and the story of Georgiana Schwandt (episode 78), who built her install side around exactly this approach.
Repeatable work, using a framework LuAnn credits to industry consultant Madeleine MacRae, sorting every task into $10, $100, $1,000, and $10,000 an hour tiers, and protecting your time for the tiers only you can fill.
Expertise you don’t need to own, where the standard changes entirely, you can’t grade a bookkeeper or an attorney the way you grade an installer, so you learn to define the deliverable instead. Designer Tanna Elder’s story (AWDB 818) shows exactly what that looks like in practice.
The episode closes with a concrete 3-part action step, and a special invite to a free Zoom preview of the 2026 Exciting Windows CEO Conference, plus details on the upcoming Managing For Profits seminar with LuAnn and Vin Nigara, coming to New Jersey this September and Atlanta this November.
Our Favorite Links
Windowworksnj.com
Exciting Windows
What’s new with LuAnn Nigara
The Power Talk Friday Tour 2025
Watch the Docuseries!
https://www.luannnigara.com/cob
Purchase LuAnn’s Books Here:
Book 1: The Making of A Well – Designed Business: Turn Inspiration into Action
Audiobook: The Making of A Well – Designed Business: Turn Inspiration into Action
Book 2: A Well-Designed Business – The Power Talk Friday Experts
Book 3: A Well-Designed Business – The Power Talk Friday Experts Volume 2
Connect with LuAnn Nigara
LuAnn’s Website
LuAnn’s Blog
Like Us: Facebook | Tweet Us: Twitter | Follow Us: Instagram | Listen Here: Podcast
Other Shows and Resources Mentioned:
C-Suite Talks with Madeleine MacRae Episodes
Episode 818: Tanna Edler: Seven Strategic Solutions that Saved a Spinning Interior Design Solopreneur
