Meet The Go-To Business Coach for Profitable Interior Designers, Melissa Galt
An interior design business strategist & success coach with the expertise, passion, and drive to get you where you want to go.
Marketing Luxury Design: Attracting Affluent Clients
The Design Trade’s One-of-a-Kind Guide to Working with the Best
the language
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Your One-Of-A-Kind Guide To Greater Confidence and More Success
You're more than an interior designer and design firm principal, you’re a creative leader with so much to offer your clients and the world.
And you’re ready for (and worthy of!) affluent clients, bigger projects, and talented team members who not only get you leaping out of bed in the morning, they also help you grow your business to a level beyond what you even imagined was possible.
You know, the one where your design firm is regularly earning multiple 6-7-figures and you’re also…
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Getting home at 6pm nightly for dinner with your family,
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Investing in activities you love (that will also likely grow your business), plus
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Enjoying regular vacations and romantic date nights with your spouse or partner
[insert dreamy sigh here]
Well, I’m here to tell you – that big, audacious vision of yours is far more achievable than you realize. It just takes the right strategy, systems, and support.
Hi There
I’m Melissa
Interior design business strategist and success coach, here to provide the smart strategies, smooth systems, and proven processes that will help you achieve your goals faster than you’ve ever imagined.
Beyond my last 15 years working with countless talented design firm principals, architects, and creative home industry leaders to make their big, audacious vision a reality –
I’m also an interior designer myself, having founded and led my own residential design firm for nearly 3 decades, and I come from a long line of recognized creatives and designers too.
I refer to them as my famous dead relatives — and you may know some of them like my late great grandfather, architect and icon Frank Lloyd Wright, and my late Oscar-winning mother, actress Anne Baxter... and they inspire me every day.
Your interior design firm isn’t just a business.
It’s an art.
A way of life.
A creative passion.
A unique way of serving the world that only YOU can offer.
From the perfect floor plans to the ideal architectural accents… from the sublime finishes to the elegant lighting… and from the custom upholstery to the bespoke casegoods… from getting to know your clients and really listening to their needs to watching their eyes light up like a Christmas tree, glowing with sheer delight at their Grand Reveal…
You, my oh-so-talented designer, make dreams come true.
And that tingle of joy when all of those pieces you creatively assembled click into place to bring a vision to life, and your client experiences the breathtaking impact of their interior transformation.
That moment is nothing short of magic.
Which is exactly why you don’t need to be stressed about where your next leads are coming from, charging hourly rates that leave you undervalued and profit-impaired, or struggling to find talent that will take your brand and business to the big vision you have for it.
Your clients are fortunate to work with you, and you and I both know it.
Which is why I want you to really hear this –
You design spectacular interiors so you can absolutely renovate your design practice to deliver the lifestyle you truly want.
Your creative power doesn’t need to stop at executing the perfect layout, sourcing the right furniture, or leading a team through the interiors process –
You can use your creative force for your entire business and life to build exactly what you want, not just for your clients or your team, but for YOU.
I’ll guide you through the essential but important decisions so you can build your design business the smart way.
I’m talking about the way that delivers the freedom you want and the resources you deserve to invest your time the way you want to – whether that’s finally going kayaking, buying a horse like one of my clients did (yup, his name was Ernie), or spending every weekend with your family.
That’s what I call Design Business Freedom™.
Whether your Design Business
Freedom™ looks like...
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$250K+ per year in profit so you can pay yourself more than enough to live well and still have plenty to invest in the business routinely
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Getting to be selective about the projects you accept because you enjoy a VIP paid waitlist of ideal design clients you both really want and who truly deserve you, because you are the #1 option
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Hitting the $1M mark in annual revenue, then doubling and tripling that number, all while you are in your zone of genius, creatively engaged, and building a business of sustainable impact and profit
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Growing beyond $2M per year and exploring new avenues of revenue and impact, from licensed lines of product to influencer opportunities to share your wisdom and build your legacy.
You can have it.
And I’ll guide you step-by-step on exactly how to get there without wasting time, energy, or money on tactics, resources, or team members that won’t help you increase your profit margins, free up your time, or reduce your stress.
Working with me,
you'll experience that priceless sense of fulfillment from your design firm, and the joy in your impact with your clients, your team, and your family.
That’s what I stand for, and what I’ll work fiercely with you to create.
You can have the life of your dreams with a design business that you love.
See What’s Possible
Increased my monthly billables by nearly 40% in just the first month of coaching!
Stopped sacrificing my life to my business.
I had my design firm for a little over 10 years, and with several new home builds and published projects, I felt like I had ‘made it’. However, all I seemed to be doing was working. There was no work-life balance, and I was turning down projects, even repeat clients. Instead of me being an entrepreneur, my business was running me.
Melissa was the taskmaster who held my feet to the fire and helped me prioritize myself and identify the three key activities I love doing most in my design practice. She also identified ways I was losing valuable time billing hours. After instituting her recommendations, I increased my monthly billables by nearly 40%. Thanks to Melissa, my financials are getting stronger. My gross margin is now above 40% and my net income as a percentage of revenue exceed 30%. Melissa paid for herself 5x over!
I hired Melissa to take me to the next level. That was a game-changer!
After running my interior design business for 15 years, I hired Melissa to take me to the next level. One of the things she convinced me to do was to take the first of many business retreats for some deep thinking without the distractions of my work and family. That was a game-changer!
She showed me how to create a comprehensive proposal with specific timelines and deliverables that has given me the confidence to pursue larger jobs. I now do time blocking and she consistently holds me accountable. Melissa is always to the point, calling me out on my excuses and keeping me from overthinking things.
We’ve gone through a complete rebrand, expanded with a second location, grown the team, and are winning more awards, serving more clients, and increasing our revenues and profits with every project.
I didn’t start growing until I started working with Melissa. Our revenues are soaring, team is growing, and we’re winning awards!
Even though I’ve been in business for seven years and had a senior designer and office manager on board, I didn’t start growing until I started working with Melissa.
Melissa has an amazing background and experience. She’s warm and open and sets expectations that hold me accountable. She showed me what was going on in the industry and what I was worth. I rebranded with a new logo and website, invested in professional photographs, and changed the way I price my projects.
The clear letter of agreement Melissa provided covers all design and legal bases so there are no costly assumptions. I’m now attracting my ideal clients—those who want a luxury lifestyle and often have more than one home.
With Melissa on my team, I’m making the right decisions to grow my business.
Some people might think coaching is an expense but, when you find the right coach, it’s an investment in your growth. With Melissa, it’s a no-brainer.
She empowers me to do my best and I’m excited about the future. I am extremely grateful for her and am always recommending her to others.
After working as an interior designer at Lee Meier for four years, I purchased it. In the past, we offered design services for free, as a complement to the furniture and accessories our clients bought.
Melissa coached me into charging a separate design fee. That first client project paid for Melissa’s six-month coaching program and then some. I would never have had the confidence to do that on my own. I now understand the time-saving, money-making value of outsourcing jobs to qualified individuals who can efficiently complete certain tasks while freeing up my time to focus on other details.
Melissa is so dynamic, and her positive energy is infectious. She’s also patient and sensitive to when I have too much going on and need a break, so I never feel pushed. She loves what she does and enthusiastically welcomes the opportunity to help me solve any of my problems.
If you’re an interior designer who’s ready to prioritize growth in your business and confidence in your worth, Melissa is the coach for you.
Melissa is a great role model. She validated a lot of what we were considering doing, like charging flat rates, and helped us implement a model for this that worked. It saved us valuable hours on invoicing.
Since working with her, we have the confidence to ask for more money and are more selective about our clients. We have expanded our team, enabling us to provide an even better client experience. Our updated contract is thorough and organized, leaving nothing to chance.
Accountability with Melissa is key. She pushes you to find the time to focus on your business and growth, not only the day-to-day of project management. Every meeting together is productive. She has good business sense and conveys a level of professionalism and expectations that gets results. We never want to disappoint her.
Melissa has given me the tools to manage, grow and sustainably move my business forward.
I had been working hard as an interior designer of luxury homes in the Naples market for almost 20 years. I realized I wanted to work less, make more and enjoy my life. Melissa gave me the confidence and courage to do it.
Melissa looks at things differently. Melissa’s network of expert resources, including a copywriter and a website designer, have been invaluable. My beautiful, new website speaks to the ideal clients I want to attract.
Our minimum project investment is $350K. By working with ideal clients, I can attract and retain a team of top designers who appreciate the more rewarding, larger projects.
My clients trust me. I now charge a flat fee, instead of tracking and wasting time on detailed invoices. Since working with Melissa, I’ve had my best year yet, with a 25% revenue growth.
She’s caring and understanding, another set of eyes, a true partner, and friend who swoops in with the answers when I face challenges. I have more weekends and nights off and I’m spending more time with my friends. I have a sense of calm and peace. Melissa has given me the tools to manage, grow and sustainably move my business forward.
Melissa is no-nonsense but so supportive, always challenging our limiting beliefs. Since working with Melissa, we’ve tripled our clients and revenue.
As soon as we started working with Melissa, we made more money. She showed us how to rework our structure and processes. And the transformation was much more than professional. We now work better together personally because we understand our separate strengths and roles.
We finally defined our ideal clients, and she guided us on how to find them in our relatively small town by pursuing our own personal interests. We were working 60 hours a week and making little money. Always busy but couldn’t grow. She convinced us of our value and got us to increase our hourly rate by 50% right away. We’ve also added several people to our team. The vision we had for this company has become reality.
I added over $100K in my business and reduced my client load by 75%.
I have been in business full time for five, five years. And I just was getting to a point where I was burnt out, I had a lot of small jobs, and just trying to keep up and play catch up, and just had lost passion for doing what I was doing.
I was just in a particularly dark and desperate place, I think, and looking for some change, which came along in the shape of Melissa. She helped me set things straight.
The biggest obstacle I had to overcome was my own mindset, where I was undervaluing myself in my work. Out of all the things we worked on, that was my biggest takeaway.
I’m now making twice as much and still working, probably about the same, but it’s not as it’s such a hectic pace. And I feel more in control. I feel better about every client, because I’m able to give them more of my time and focus. And I feel like I’m getting compensated fairly.
I've got my life back and we've grown more than 2x in revenue year over year.
Even beyond the numbers, but the fact that I know what those numbers are is such a milestone for me to move from just a principal designer to owner of what I now would say is a beautifully run business. The catalyst for where I’m at today was Melissa.
Melissa's coaching skills were top-notch. I was able to double my rates and find more time in my life to do the things that matter to me.
She really helped me to establish my actual worth with my clients and allowed me to raise my rates and hone in on my ideal client, and ultimately what that did was help me to double my rates and find the time to travel the world.
I sold a $200K Design Fee Contract, moved into my dream home with my husband, and I work with incredible clients... all because of Melissa.
Hiring Melissa as my business coach was the best decision I’ve ever made. Someone contacted me, a Letter of Agreement was signed and almost a $200K design fee! Yes, that was because of Melissa 100%. And I have continued to get more clients because of her.
I landed a multiple 6-figure fee project, my largest to date, and quadrupled my revenues in 9 months.
The support was unreal! She was always pushing me outside of that comfort piece but helping me carry so much too. She’s worth every penny. She will change your life, she will change your business. You will create a friend that is for a lifetime.
Went from severely undervaluing myself to charging premium prices and crossing $1M in revenues in less than 12 months.
Melissa is my business partner, as far as I’m concerned, in that she is there shoulder to shoulder with me. I know she has my best interest at heart and I never had anyone that was my coach, my cheerleader, and it’s invaluable. Best decision that I’ve ever made.