Dear Melissa,

International Success! I had a terrific engagement with Lifestyle Selling: Making More With Less at the recent Certified Staging Professionals conference in Toronto. I sold out of my newly released manual and took orders to ship! The insights shared are practices I've used to build my own design business with great success and I'm excited to have created a manual that now details how others can do the same with their design, staging and retail home furnishings businesses.

Masters of Manifestation! I'm headed this week to New Hampshire for five days with Marcia Weider and her latest program release. I'm looking forward to learning even more on the Law of Attraction and making my own desired experiences a reality this year and beyond.

Live Well and By Design,
MG

"I’m grateful for all my problems. As each of them was overcome I became stronger and more able to meet those yet to come. I grew in my difficulties."
~ J.C. Penney, Retailer

The State of Business When You Are State of the Art

I have a tendency to pick up on the latest technology a little on the too early side. While I was one of the first in the interior design field to have a website back in 1994 and it has served me invaluably, I am also one of the pioneers to adopt VOIP (voice over internet phone service) and this first is way too soon. Often it makes more sense not to be a leader in implementing new technology but instead allow the marketplace a chance to work out the kinks, develop the necessary support systems, and thoroughly investigate providers. My phone service is down more often than up, and having to do continual resetting to the boxes is irritating and often fruitless. I'm actually seriously entertaining a return to land lines despite the increased investment. Reliability is often priceless!

Similarly, I recall an instance, about three years ago, when I was introduced to video business cards and told that within a few mere months they'd be all the rage. Fortunately I didn't bite that bait as they are yet to truly catch on. But rumor has it, they are still going to be the latest technology craze!

Lifestyle Selling: Making More With Less, The Manual

Lifestyle Selling: Making More With Less, the how-to guide to limitless sales growth in the interior design, staging and retail home furnishings industries, just released! I share my insights, experiences, and best practices for growing business with a limited number of clients. Less really does mean more in this case and it isn't about all you can grab, but how deep you can reach with each project. Working smarter, not harder is what it is all about. Truly climbing inside client's lives and knowing their lifestyle means a depth of service and success unparalleled.

Change Your Interiors, Change Your Life

Those that know me well, know I've not yet married and been online dating (yes, I have a book full of stories!). When I want to change direction in a life area whether personal or professional, the first thing I do is examine my environment. For example, when I want to add clients, I clean out my client files, making room for new additions (simple, and incredibly effective!) I applied the same technique coupled with some new meditations and affirmations to my romance life. (Researching and writing my manual, Designing Your Signature Life, really proved to be an invaluable catalyst.)

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Black Magic

There is an old decorator's rule of thumb that alleges that every room needs a bit of black. Nonsense! Only if you want it. I do tend to include it in kitchens, great rooms, living rooms, dining and foyers, but not in bedrooms or baths. Black is the elegant neutral without necessarily being formal. But oh does it show the dust!

It is the one shade that picks up all emotions going on around it, which is why it is used by custom and tradition at funerals and memorial services. It is a “look don't touch” color, which is why the gal in the red dress and the man in the blue cummerbund always have more fun at the black tie gala than all the folks hanging about in black!

Black is a nonnegotiable color and is rarely used in corporate environments. And I have found that people generally communicate less in the presence of a lot of black than other colors. I rarely wear full black with clients but instead opt for carefully selected color designed to elicit communication and feedback. Communication demands color!