The home furnishings and design industry is way behind the curve in the social networking world. More than 50% of designers and decorators still don’t have a website, and less than 20% are active in online networks. This is not about chit chat, though that certainly happens, it is about connecting in the virtual world as a step to connecting real time today. With crazy schedules and global economies becoming one, it is increasingly important to get your head out of just your local market and realize there is money to be made on a grander scale. If you use the networks for nothing but staying in touch, you will be ahead of those that don’t bother, are afraid to try, and simply leave opportunity and money on the table.

• Twitter: http://twitter.com/prosperbydesign
• Facebook: friend me on facebook
• Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/melissagalt

I have done business in design in 7 states to date all while based in Georgia simply because I have a significant internet presence and know how to stay in touch with technology. It doesn’t have to take more than a few minutes every other day or so, or a dedicated hour a week to keep up. You can pick your favorites, and my links to profiles on the most popular sites are shared here. This is about strategic networking, and while you surely want to make it personal and fun, it can garner business connections, resources, and even much needed support at times.

Yes, there are many more sites, but the three above are the most important. Creating a profile takes from 2 minutes on Twitter to 30+ on Face book and an hour on Linked In. It is worth the time and effort. I urge you to climb on board now and be available for the opportunities that are there.
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Are you an interior designer, decorator, stager or redesigner ready to take your business to the next level? Do you need systems for business success so you can work smarter, not harder? Are you stuck in the daily operations and miss doing the design? Check out sixfiguredesigners.com and join others just like you who are taking action today for a brighter tomorrow.

Melissa Galt is the Six Figure Interior Design Professional and Interior Design Success Systems Specialist, she can be found online at yourdesignsuccess.com and on Facebook and Twitter by name. Get in touch, why wait another day to get the success you’ve been missing?

Let’s review the basics of customer service:

1. The customer is always right.
2. When the customer is wrong, refer to rule #1.
3. A happy customer will tell 2 friends.
4. An unhappy customer will tell 2200 friends, associates, and colleagues.

Now, I am not suggesting that you lose your shirt in any deal, or that if your letter of agreement (aka contract) states clearly your terms and they are breached that you should ignore it. I am recommending that there are times when it is better not to fight a client/customer and instead, in the interest of goodwill, make concessions.

I had a recent “incident” with a local furniture company representing a national brand. It had taken me three painful weeks to finally put together an order for me (the most difficult client I have) that was going to be in stock. I had married two lines that ironically were NOT designed compatibly yet had the same finish, same title, and both were Home Office. (I agree, who was out to lunch when this was launched!?) Ironically, within 24 hours of approving the order, my cabinet maker came back to me and said he could do all pieces in the time frame desired at same or better cost. I know him, I love his work, and he is easy to do business with, the vendor had been difficult at best.

I cancelled the order, or so I thought. This led to a flurry of calls and faxes to the store sales person and manager. They argued it could not be cancelled because there were two pieces they weren’t going to carry (for a wholesale total of $400). Long story short, they ate it, but not after creating so much ill will that I have shared the story, will never use or recommend them and ultimately will write the president of the national company a letter regarding the well designed but non-coordinated collections.

Had they been accommodating, reasonable, and avoided the “snarkiness” (only word that fits) on the part of their manager in his final communication to me, I could avoid mentioning never to do business with Eller & Owens in Franklin, NC. And the national company is Bassett. Surprising because the stores I’ve been in are ghost towns, and they seem to want to climb from their discount status to more midrange in the market, this isn’t going to help them.
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Want to Use This Article in Your E-zine or Website? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Interior design entrepreneur, speaker, and coach Melissa Galt publishes the award-winning “Interior Destinations” bi-weekly ezine with 3,500+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, sign up now for your FREE tips and your personal subscription at www.melissagalt.com.

How often do we find that we are losing track of friends without enough time to spend together? It seems easy to say “maybe next month,” “when I get that promotion,” “when the kids are out of school,” or any other myriad of excuses. The bottom line is if we don’t make the time to celebrate our friends we won’t have the time ever. It is all about committing to connect, and creating opportunities to make that happen. Be sure to involve everyone in the fun by asking them to bring a dish or other element. No one likes to show up at a party empty handed and it is easier if you specify.

Here are just a few ways you can celebrate your friends!

Savory Supper Club
This works well with couples or singles but is usually an adult event (without kids). This can be a great way to get to know neighbors or other residents in a subdivision. Often its location is rotated monthly between different homes in a neighborhood. A supper club can be very simply created with each couple or person bringing a dish each time, categories are designated to avoid duplicate dishes or too many salads or appetizers. It is a chance for comradery and fellowship particularly amongst those that live nearby.

The food preparation duties and expense are shared by all, as are the benefits of original recipes and home cooking. Clean up is usually light work with many hands, and everyone relaxes and has a good time.

Super Sporting Event
Make it a real mixed event with singles, couples, and kids if desired. It can be live or on TV. If live, plan a festive tailgate is to bring everyone together before the game. If televised set up a buffet for noshing during the game and it can be pot luck, with everyone bringing a dish. Stick with paper plates and plastic cups and flatware and clean up is a breeze.

Just Girl’s/Guy’s Night Out
This is Mars and Venus’s chance to have some time to themselves with friends. Often a once a month regular event, sometimes once a week, this is a chance to connect with close gal pals or guy buddies and gossip, dish dirt, high five on successes, and commiserate on losses. It can be as easy as establishing a place to meet and regular date and time and everyone just shows up. Or it can rotate at private homes but needs to be understood that it is for just the girls or just the guys. We all share a little differently in mixed company! What is said with this crowd stays with this crowd.

Burning O’ the Troubles Bash
Usually I throw this one just after New Year’s it is a great way to get the New Year off to a truly beneficial beginning. Again who you invite is up to you; generally this is reserved for adults only. You can make it potluck or provide the food yourself. Each person is to bring a listing of their last year’s trials, tribulations, losses, and challenges. You have a fireplace or preferably an outdoor fire (bonfire or chimenaya works really well) and each gets a few minutes alone to literally burn their troubles. Then each party goer gets a New Year’s cracker and that includes a paper crown which they then fill (some write these on the crown itself) proverbially with their hopes for the New Year and burn that as a toast to universal energy. I usually end the festivities with sparklers for everyone to have one last sizzle!

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You have just enjoyed an excerpt from Melissa Galt’s book Celebrate Your Life! The Art of Celebrating Every Day. This can be reprinted with permission only if the following text accompanies: Melissa Galt is a speaker, designer, and marketing consultant. She is best known as America’s Lifestyle Diva and publishes Interior Destinations, a biweekly ezine dedicated to growing your interior design business success. Get your free copy at www.melissagalt.com.

Do you want more exposure to the marketplace? One of the most effective ways I’ve found to make headlines and gain instant credibility is with social networking. Now, for many this means Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Linked In and Ning. I know some of you have never even heard of those! But in the interior design industry check out www.avaliving.com.

It is dedicated to interior design professionals, students, and fans and is all about design. I was delighted when the founder David Bassett-Parkins decided to feature my work! Here is a preview:

Sign up is a breeze and you can load as many portfolio shots as you want to. They do want the details, but as the expert you know all of that! Take advantage of putting up a profile and sharing your talent with colleagues in the field, students with passion, prospective clients, and design aficionados. This is also an invaluable tool if you don’t have a website (I know too many that don’t still!). AVA Living

These quick and effective steps are ones I use regularly to turn prospects easily and quickly into clients (if there is a fit).

1. Listen. It sounds simple and it can be but too often we get caught up in wanting to tell them all about ourselves. This isn’t about us; it is about them, so focus on how much you can learn, not how much you can teach.
    
2. Ask for the details. When a prospect calls and shares that she is moving to a new home, I immediately ask for details about the new house and about the house they are still in. I use this as a chance to dive deep and get involved in their process.
    
3. Get excited. Any business can be stressful; it is your job to make it fun and easy. I share with prospects that my goal is make the design process easy and fun. I offer flexibility to them while still maintaining control of the project and communications.
    
4. Banish the budget. I never ask for their budget, I do ask what they are willing to invest. These are vastly different questions. An investment can be made at any time, in any amount, for any reason, with anyone; while a budget is a limitation, an expense with a lifecycle. (Get the book! Change Your Words, Change Your Results)
    
5. Stop quoting. Too many design professionals jump in with a price or hourly rate when asked. If you are being evaluated on your rate, you are at the bottom of the market! A designer of genuine talent is measured on their portfolio, their references, and their personability to work with. These are intangibles and therefore eliminate the competition rather than encouraging it. Don’t quote until the prospect is ready to be a client.
    
6. Acknowledge their time frame. Often prospects have specific time frames in mind, be sure you are aware of these and that they are reasonable. Always acknowledge by restating what they have shared with you and that you are available and their expectation is realistic. If it isn’t then educate them about why it isn’t. Don’t leave them with a false expectation.
    
7. Give them homework. I always ask prospects to complete a Lifestyle Questionnaire together (if there is a partner or spouse) and to review current design magazines and catalogues for their Wish List. They gladly do this and further become attached to my process. If they aren’t willing to do their homework, I’m not willing to work with them. If they don’t invest, I can’t deliver.

When you take the time on the phone with a prospect to exercise the steps outlined here you will find that you can determine if that prospect is a good fit (and not everyone is) and knock out the competition at the same time. In 15 years as an interior designer, I never bid a job. You don’t have to either!

If you are ready to take your interior design business to the next level, contact Melissa for a complimentary strategy session! melissa@melissagalt.com (and remember, I always reply in 24 hours, or the technology gremlins ate it and you need to try me again!)

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Want to Use This Article in Your E-zine or Website? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Interior design entrepreneur, speaker, and coach Melissa Galt publishes the award-winning “Interior Destinations” bi-weekly ezine with 3,500+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, sign up now for your FREE tips and your personal subscription at www.melissagalt.com.

Being somewhat of a personal and professional development junkie, attending seminars as often as possible, listening in to teleclasses, and checking out webinars, I’ve realized something VITAL. Success is not just about having the right ingredients (which, by the way, we each are born with) but it is also about following the best recipe. This is all about modeling as well as following to the letter some of those manuals picked up, seminars sat through, and calls recorded. Too often we find it easy to listen and view with the attitude that we’ve been there and seen this, so we know it. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

If, in fact, we did “KNOW” it, then we’d be as successful as the person we are watching or listening to. Instead we only understand it and have no “KNOWING” of it. We must open ourselves up to what they are truly saying, demonstrating, and suggesting and follow the example they set. In other words, we have to stop guessing that we “KNOW” it all and genuinely take the time, effort and energy to “LEARN” it so we can surpass understanding and jump to knowledge.

When we truly MODEL another’s success, following their example to the letter, we are guaranteed a more certain success. By duplicating what they have done to succeed we ensure our own accomplishment. This beats running off and creating our own stock pot of various recipes which in fact gives us indigestion (otherwise known as lack of success).

Modeling includes finding out their personal habits. Find a mentor or someone whom you simply admire and research their habits, what they read (brain nourishment), how they eat (body nourishment), and their relationships (heart nourishment), and even about their faith (spiritual nourishment). You’ll find that those who succeed are feeding themselves continually on every level. Are you? Or are you trying to cook up success by omitting critical ingredients and fundamental steps in the recipe.

Every one of us has an award winning Iron Chef of success locked inside, the question is how long will it take you to learn from the masters before you and beside you so that you can go from mere understanding to true knowing and prospering?

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Want to Use This Article in Your E-zine or Website? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Interior design entrepreneur, speaker, and coach Melissa Galt publishes the award-winning “Interior Destinations” bi-weekly ezine with 3,500+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, sign up now for your FREE tips and your personal subscription at www.melissagalt.com.

Home is truly our external heart and as such it needs a lot of care and attention in its decorating and development. Invite friends and family to contribute to the creation of your home. A house is merely a dwelling; it becomes a home when you use your heart to express your environment in a comfortable and inviting manner.

Here are some easy ways to celebrate your home with friends and family.

Housewarming by the Room
So few people it seems remember to throw a housewarming or if they do it is a couple of years after moving in. So, to get this ball rolling, don’t wait for the entire house to be complete; instead, celebrate room by room. Very few folks decorate their entire home at once anyway, and it counts to measure the small successes, even if it is a powder room, not to mention the big successes like a kitchen or bath remodel.

How many entertaining opportunities have you missed by waiting to get your house complete? Remember if your friends are waiting to see your drapery and not you, you might want to consider some new friends! Life is in the connection, not in the stuff. Celebrate every step rather than waiting for just one big one.

Celebrate your home with room by room housewarmings!

Stock the Pantry Party
No one likes to show up at a party empty handed and this is an easy way to get guests to bring what you need and want, while you share the welcome of your home and hospitality.

Create a master list of pantry stockers desired or even register if you are including kitchen appliances like blenders, toasters, and food processors. Let everyone know what you are into, whether it is a pantry full of bottled water, chips and dip or you are a bit more of a cook and want great exotic spices, tins of imported specialty foods, and international flavors. Sure flour and sugar are necessary staples, but I bet you can get more creative.

On appliances and kitchen tools, think hard about what you want and what you’ll use. Sure some are almost required like the blender and even a toaster still, but what about a divine bread maker, the latest ergonomic palm held peeler, a butterfly trash can by Simply Human, or a classic wine rack. You can even suggest gift cards from favorite big box retail kitchen good stores like Bed Bath Beyond, Williams Sonoma, and Crate and Barrel.

Celebrate your home with a stock the pantry party!

Grow the Garden Party
This is one of my favorites as I’ve come relatively late to the realization of a green thumb. The grow the garden party is ideal if you enjoy potting house plants, or dream of a cutting garden, or perhaps harbor visions of growing your own herbs and vegetables. Invite your friends to an outdoor picnic and while you provide the food and drink, ask them to provide a plant or garden tool.

Of course you may want to suggest gift cards from local nurseries for those that are green thumb challenged, and you’ll want to specify full sunshine or shade for desired plants. The point is that you get a more eclectic mix and when all are in bloom, they remind you of each guest and their personal contribution. You could even name each plant with tags after the person that provided it.

Celebrate your home and Mother Nature with a grow the garden party!

Get your copy of Celebrate Your Life! available at www.theartofcelebrating.com or at amazon.com/celebrate. The hardcover is revised with 30 additional pages of Memorable Moments, Lessons in Celebration, and Design Tips! A great gift for friends, family, colleagues, and coworkers.

Text here may be reprinted only if the following text is included: Online entrepreneur, lifestyle designer, mentor and author Melissa Galt publishes her ezine Interior Destinations weekly. For you free subscription, be sure to sign up today at www.melissagalt.com. Better ideas on how to architect your dreams, design your life, build your vision, and decorate your life with rewards all the while prospering by design! Join Melissa.

How often do we focus exclusively on our client in business and forget to talk a bit about ourselves? Don’t underestimate the power of finding those points of connection that will set you apart from your competitors. It can be as simple as gathering any of the following information:

• Where are they from?
• Where did they grow up?
• Who is their favorite sports team?
• Do they have a favorite restaurant or food type (Italian, Mexican, and Chinese)?
• Where is their favorite vacation spot?
• Do they have a fantasy destination?
• What school are their kids in?
• What college did they graduate from, or are the kids headed to college?

Yes, you can include politics and religion though I don’t generally recommend it unless you met at church! Interestingly I have found that most of my clients share my same political views, like attracts like.

By finding out some of these critical factors you will learn how you can connect to your client. I have had clients hire me not only for my portfolio but also because:

• We have the same university as our alma mater, though different majors and years apart.
• We are both from the West Coast, though I was Southern California and she was Northern.
• She attended the same boarding school as my younger sister, years apart.
• I’ve been to Africa on Safari and it was on their list of fantasy adventures.
• We both love Hawaii and can share places to go.
• We share a love of art and museum trips, having met on a bus trip sponsored by a museum.

Personal points of connection set you apart and allow your clients to connect with you beyond business. In this age of hi-tech and low touch, business is all about reaching out and touching in real time, not just cyberspace. It is the same reason everyone watches reality TV shows, they want an inside peek at someone else’s life. Remember women bond over boutiques, so if you can compliment her on something she is wearing, and be genuine in that, you’ll gain a new resource and get that much closer to a new client. Men bond over sports, so if you share a love of the same teams go for it. If, on the other hand you are a rival, be diplomatic and keep your sense of humor. Allow your clients a glimpse of your life beyond business; it will make you much more real and possibly irreplaceable!
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Want to Use This Article in Your E-zine or Website? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Interior design entrepreneur, speaker, and coach Melissa Galt publishes the award-winning “Interior Destinations” bi-weekly ezine with 3,500+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, sign up now for your FREE tips and your personal subscription at www.melissagalt.com.

At the Atlanta Home Furnishings summer market this last Friday I had an unusual experience. I had been checking out showrooms for a few filler pieces for my mountain retreat and found Go Home. It is a resource new to me, which has some great unique pieces. I asked about lead time and the owner replied cheerfully “tomorrow.” This was terrific, as like my design clients, I hate to wait for anything! I asked the sales rep to write up the two pieces I planned on, but hold the order for just 24 hours, as I wanted to get back to my Highlands home and verify the fit. She disappeared for a few minutes and came back looking visibly upset. I asked what was wrong and she said that the owner (yes, you read that right) said that I either had to buy these immediately or not at all; he refused to hold the order.

Now, I hadn’t asked to hold floor samples, this was simply a written order with two pieces of furniture that once I approved would then be scheduled for shipment. I was truly stunned. She was distraught and I assured her I knew she wasn’t the problem, but that he had just made it impossible for me to do business with him. I was disappointed but knew that there would be other resources thrilled to work with me as already that morning I’d been to three showrooms, which were gracious, accommodating, and had ideal pieces.

Go Home may ultimately go out of business with this ludicrous attitude. Sometimes business owners lose touch with what is most important and become rigid in their thinking. They forget that it is customers and clients that drive their wheels and put money in their pockets. As business owners we must be EASY to do business with. We must accommodate every reasonable request (and sometimes unreasonable ones.) Word travels fast in every industry and I shared this story with subsequent showrooms I visited as I wanted to make sure I wasn’t the crazy one! I wasn’t.

In another recent instance I worked with Elite Designer Services on my move to Highlands. I have worked with Elite over the years for design installations and furniture receiving. I was delighted to learn that they take credit cards (this is not well known or advertised.) I had a very significant invoice and put it on American Express as a convenience. About 15 minutes after leaving their offices, their manager called and informed me that I’d either have to write a check or pay 3% handling for the credit card. This was not spelled out or detailed anywhere in their paperwork and while miffed I did pay it. This left a very poor taste and has given me the incentive needed to find another design installation company that is EASY to work with.

Again, if you are going to accept credit cards, you must accept them fully and include those fees as a cost of doing business. If you insist on charging clients and customers you must put that in clear written detail making it obvious and being prepared for lost sales by those that won’t pay it.

Nickel and diming is never a good way to do business. BE EASY TO DO BUSINESS WITH AND BUSINESS WILL BE MUCH EASIER FOR YOU.
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Want to Use This Article in Your E-zine or Website? Simply include the text here, with a link to www.melissagalt.com. Online entrepreneur Melissa Galt, “The Lifestyle Diva,” publishes “Interior Destinations” a monthly ezine with 1500+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, create comfortable and personal home interiors, define your personal image and style, plan exciting travel and adventure, develop the career of your dreams, and pursue your past times and passionate pursuits, learn how now at www.melissagalt.com.

Excerpted from Melissa’s top selling Celebrate Your Life! The Art of Celebrating Every Day

More than a third of our lives are spent in pursuit of our livelihood. Too often this is not a celebration but instead an obligation and a decision by default. We are put on a career track before we even know what we truly want to pursue and by the time we figure it out we have already achieved a level of success and financial reward that to start anew would mean setbacks and sacrifice. Unfortunately without the willingness to take risks and sometimes take a new path, we wind up living our work life by default rather than by our own design.

Regardless of where you find yourself in your career there are ways that you can celebrate that commitment and benefit from your unique skills and abilities (even if your genuine talent rests on another path.)

Strategic Alliances

I have found that as an independent business owner, my business appears much larger and stronger by the strategic alliances I have formed with fellow businesses. The same applies to any corporation that aligns itself with other organizations to create a masterful synergy. As an individual, no matter where you work, you can create strategic alliances that will grow your own career. These can be fellow business people whose business goals complement yours and you regularly work together. It can even be a competitor with whom you are able to mutually appreciate the idea that there is enough pie to go around and the more you work together, the greater the share each of you gets.

Take a look around you both within the organization you work for or have created and outside of it to identify your strategic alliance partners. Usually it is an informal agreement, though at times you both may benefit from a more structured format with scheduled meetings and planned outcomes.

Give to Receive

The old adage “what goes around comes around” is all too true and so it is that by giving of ourselves, our expertise, our talents and abilities that we truly become rich and will receive the bounty of others. Establish charitable goals for your business, your department, or your position. Make your contributions unique and measurable, though it is likely their value will be infinite. Focus on giving and you will be surprised at the gifts that will return to you. Too often we can get caught up in looking for the return. Rarely does it show up as we might expect but bigger and better than imagined.

Mentoring

Not everyone can be an effective mentor but it is an invaluable gift to others when you can. I have sponsored many an intern over the last decade plus and find it incredibly rewarding to be able to show them a true view of my career path and help them see what parts they excel at, where they need further study, and what path they may decide to pursue.

Mentoring can be formal or informal in structure. It can mean a lunch monthly, a phone call twice a year, daily interaction such as with an intern, or a once time meeting of minds to share hopes and dreams, experiences and lessons learned. Mentoring is as much about teaching as it is about learning from those coming up.

For more great ways to celebrate your career, check out Celebrate Your Life! The Art of Celebrating Every Day.
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Want to Use This Article in Your E-zine or Website? Simply include the text here, with a link to www.melissagalt.com. Online entrepreneur Melissa Galt, “The Lifestyle Diva,” publishes “Interior Destinations” a monthly ezine with 1500+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, create comfortable and personal home interiors, define your personal image and style, plan exciting travel and adventure, develop the career of your dreams, and pursue your past times and passionate pursuits, learn how now at www.melissagalt.com.