Getting started wasn’t as easy as it may sound. I had planned to start my own business in fall of 1994, but found myself head to head with my boss over some vacation pay in March and I walked! Granted two weeks later I got the check for the vacation pay (thank goodness I was right!). But in the meantime I had jumped into the proverbial wild blue yonder without a client in the world.
I couldn’t pilfer clients from my last position, so I had to start literally from scratch. I contacted Emory University and investigated my options for teaching in their evening programs for adult continuing education. I developed a series of classes on interior design, including Decorating on a Shoestring, Gallery Hopping, Design Resources, and Change Your Interiors, Change Your Life, based on Feng Shui. They were a big hit and kept me on staff for a decade. Teaching also proved to be a great way to attract clients. In addition to Emory, I crafted programs at Oglethorpe University and at Spruill Arts Center in Dunwoody, creating new classes and filling the gap for entertaining education about design and decorating.
Getting launched also meant I had to put up for auction a handful of pieces inherited from my Mother. I contacted Leslie Hindman Auctioneers in Chicago (now bought out by Sotheby’s) and they handled the art pieces and decorative elements I let go to enable me to invest in my new venture and much needed technology. (This was the days when establishing a computerized presence cost $10K+.) I like to think of it as Mom being there to help. And, while I have thought often of those pieces now treasured by someone else, I don’t ever regret making the decision.
While teaching and hunting for clients, I also worked weekends and the odd evening for a catering company. They had three historical properties and with my Cornell experience in food service, I often supervised the kitchen and ran the dish room. Not as exciting as it sounds, but we did have fun and on occasion great leftovers!
Early in my design venture, I landed an overseas assignment. It was in Greece for a commercial firm that required spaceplanning for the entire company being moved into new offices. It was an amazing adventure necessitating a crash course in metric and enough Greek words to get me through. Too boot I got to travel twice to Greece and managed to sneak in some great side trips to the historical sights of Athens, Thessalonica, the coast, and even an island jaunt to Santorini. The travel bug had bit again!
Once the business had been up and running for 18 months, I adjusted my Feng Shui and things really took off. I was able to give up the catering and devote myself exclusively to design and teaching. I also contributed regularly to publications needing design articles or simply seeking quotes from a design professional in the know.
From a two bedroom apartment in Alpharetta, I moved to a three bedroom townhome in Dunwoody and hired an assistant. I soon outgrew that location and bought a townhome in Dunwoody with an ideal home office on the ground floor (these days the terrace level!) I had room for my extensive design library, two assistants, and even a client conference area. It was perfect.
With a really strong second in command on board I took the adventure of a lifetime, heading to Australia and New Zealand for 5 weeks. It was awesome! I had the most unforgettable sensation of stepping off the plane in Sydney and feeling as if I was home. (That never happens in L.A.) Must be attributable to some ingrained experience from when I was a one year old and had been taken back to live on my parent’s cattle ranch for just a year. WOW!
Australia was fantastic! It is as you might imagine the States to be before we became overgovernmentalized. They don’t believe in pennies (that heavy stuff at the bottom of your purse!) And they give change on buses, what a concept. (You can try to ride a bus in NYC with a $100 in your pocket, but without exact change they won’t let you on!) Everyone was enormously friendly and helpful. I climbed the Sidney Harbour Bridge, toured the Rocks of Sydney Harbour, explored the botanical garden, and wandered downtown. I safaried to the Blue Mountains (the mist from the eucalyptus trees turns the air blue), and enjoyed a day trip to the wine country, where all tasting is free as this is how the Aussies buy their wine. I have wanted to return ever since. . . . . . .
New Zealand was also spectacular but in a very different way. It is known as the land of natural wonders and adventure sports. Not one to miss out on the country’s callings, I managed a hot air balloon ride over Christchurch and bungee jumping in Queenstown. I toured the hot springs at Rotorura, and tandem hanglided. It is breathtaking country, but I missed the city of Sydney.
Of course, the highlights were the wonderful art pieces I picked up along the way and still showcase as my favorite treasures here at home. From boomerangs to bark pictures, from watercolors of the outback to papier mache sculptures of doorways, the memories will last until I can return.
Travel must have set off the wild hair I had to open a retail shop. I was forever bringing clients unique and different pieces that they couldn’t find anywhere else and decided there would be a demand. So, winging it once again, and conveniently, though lethally, forgetting that I had hated retail and the staying in one place all day requirement . . . I launched Interior Destinations.
Our opening ironically and sadly coordinated with September 11. We did experience a brief spike in sales following that event. (Everyone stayed home, and the dollars for travel were reallocated to home décor and improvement.) But too soon, the fact that I was the first kid on the block in a new part of Roswell, it became clear I was facing an uphill battle for traffic of monumental proportions. I hung in there for two years. Despite direct mailings, advertising, and much more, we simply couldn’t get enough folks in the door and buying. I realized that I missed just the design and made the decision warehouse remaining inventory and scale down to my home office once again. It was the best move possible, in spite of being saddled with inventory in storage. (It is still unique and wonderful and often placed on projects!)
Business is once again booming and I have the good fortune of wonderful clients both new and existing. Clients that often become friends and we share time at parties and events. I always have a place to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. And having completed a client’s mountain getaway in Highlands, NC, she has been gracious and generous in extending me an invitation anytime. Another client recently purchased in Big Canoe, and has made a similar invitation. It is very rewarding to be able to make such a positive difference in other people’s lives, making them not only more beautiful, but more comfortable, and functional, and then be invited to share in that experience.
Next step, NOW, is for me to get back to the empowering and inspiring of others through national speaking on designing your signature lifestyle. It isn’t just about design anymore, but about the whole ball of wax . . . . It’s about interior design both at home and at the office; it is about career choices; it is about entertaining and cooking; it is about personal image and fashion; it is about vacation plans, and travel adventures; it is about passion and finding your personal pursuits; it is about relationships. My next step is to show you how to discover what you really want, and how to have it all!!! Yes, you can.
MG
Birmingham, AL - Magic City Art Festival, April 2005
Atlanta, GA - Inman Park Art Festival, April 2005