From $70,000 in Debt to Six Figures and Debt-Free in 18 Months

I did not start my design business from a position of strength. I started it $70,000 upside down.

No savings to fall back on. A cramped apartment, too many credit card bills, a whopper of a car payment, and jobless because I had been let go from Ethan Allen.

(A quick aside: never argue with your manager over vacation when you need the job. I was right about the time off. I got my vacation. I also got my final paycheck, and no job to come back to.)

Most people in my position would have scrambled for another job and waited. A year. Maybe three. Until the debt was paid down and the timing felt safe. I did not wait. I decided I was going to make this work, and failure was not an option.

Eighteen months later, I was right side up, debt free, and earning six figures. This is the story of what it took.

Highlights

➜ I launched my design business about six months earlier than I planned, $70,000 in debt, with nothing coming in and no clients in the pipeline.

➜ Most people would have waited for safer conditions. I decided not to wait.

➜ I did whatever it took to stay afloat: supervised a catering kitchen at ten dollars an hour, ran the dish machine after every event, taught decorating classes four nights a week at three local institutions, and worked fifteen hour days before a single check ever cleared.

➜ I taught what I loved, which brought in income and put me in front of the exact clients I wanted.

➜ Eighteen months later I was right side up and earning six figures. Not because the obstacles vanished, but because I refused to let them make the decision for me.

Most People Would Have Waited. I Didn’t.

I had a plan for my startup. A sensible one, with a runway and a start date that was still comfortably in the future. I had the name picked out. I knew what it was going to look like. Every piece of it was mapped for a launch six months down the road.

Then life rearranged my timeline, and I was launching six months early, $70,000 in debt, with none of the cushion I had counted on. So I met the moment with hustle instead of a countdown.

You can wait for the conditions to improve, or you can decide the conditions are not in charge. I decided they were not in charge.

That decision came first. Everything else followed from it. The debt did not shrink because I felt brave. The fear did not lift because I wished it away. I simply stopped letting either one make my decisions for me.

I Did Whatever It Took

Whatever it takes is not a slogan. It is about going beyond your best to get what you most want.

The money did not kick in until around 90 days. I supervised a catering kitchen to keep the lights on, right down to running the hot, sweaty dish machine at the end of every event, at ten dollars an hour, as a Cornell graduate. It was not one of my prouder moments. It was exactly what needed to happen to keep me afloat. I was up before dawn, working fifteen hour days long before a single client check ever cleared.

None of it was glamorous. All of it was necessary. And not one bit of it was beneath me. Resourcefulness is never beneath you. It is the thing that carries you from where you are to where you want to be.

Don’t Let an Old Label Become a Permanent Verdict

Somewhere along the way, someone probably handed you a verdict about what you are capable of. A grade. A label. A moment when a person in authority decided who you were. Be careful what you do with those, because they have a way of following you.

In college, I earned straight C’s in communication arts. I could not break the C no matter what I tried. Today I speak and train for a living. In those same years, I was graded on design tools I simply could not master, and the marks showed it. When I got to design school, the tools had changed. I could master the new ones, and I earned straight A’s.

The old verdict belonged to a time, and a set of tools, that had already moved on. Had I let a stack of C’s decide what I was capable of, I would not be here. Release the labels you picked up early. You are not that person anymore, and the tools are not those tools anymore.

Failure Never Got a Seat at the Table

People assume resilience is something you are born with. Something you either have or you don’t.

It isn’t. Resilience is a decision, and you make it again every single morning. Some mornings I made it before my feet hit the floor. I never gave failure a seat at the table, because the moment you do, it starts voting on everything.

That does not mean I was never afraid. I was. It means I did not let the fear pick up the pen and sign my decisions for me.

The Smartest Thing I Did While Buried in Debt: I Taught

Here is a move I would recommend today without a second thought.

While I was digging my way out of debt, I taught. Local universities, Emory and Oglethorpe, along with the Spruill Arts Center, all picked up my courses, and I taught busy professionals about interior design. Not how to become a designer. How to love and understand the work. At the peak I was running as many as five classes at a time, four nights a week.

One was a Gallery Hopping course, where we explored three local art galleries each week and then enjoyed dinner together afterward. I asked each gallery to bring in a few of their artists so the class could meet the makers, not simply wander the walls. Another was a resources course, where I walked students through my favorite sources. I kept those classes going for years, ten with Emory, five with Oglethorpe, four with Spruill.

The classes brought in income when I needed it most, roughly twelve thousand dollars a year that eventually became my travel money. But they did something worth far more. They put me in a room, week after week, with the exact people I wanted as clients. I was not selling. I was educating. And educating the right people is one of the most resourceful ways there is to build a following before you ever ask for the work.

It helped, too, to have my name and my credentials in their catalogs, which were printed for the first few years and then moved online. That created visibility, week after week, season after season, with an audience I could never have afforded to reach any other way.

Perfect Conditions Don’t Exist; Stop Waiting

The obstacle in front of you is rarely the thing that stops you. Waiting is. Waiting for the debt to clear. The timing to feel right. The fear to pass. The perfect conditions that never actually arrive.

I coach designers now to lead a why not life instead of a what could go wrong life. Deciding, before the proof ever shows up, is where that life begins. Decide first. Then do whatever it takes, refuse to let failure vote, and go beyond your best to get where you want to go.

I started $70,000 upside down. Eighteen months later I was right side up, debt free, and earning six figures. Not because I was special. Because I decided, and then I did the work most people are not willing to do.

You can too.

Ready to Build a Business Worth the Grit?

Grit gets you started. A proven process is what turns it into a business that lasts. When you are ready for that, my book Design Discovery: The Proven Process to Land Ideal Clients and Grow Profit is where I would start you.

FAQ

How did Melissa Galt start her interior design business?

She launched about six months earlier than planned, $70,000 in debt, with no income coming in after being let go from Ethan Allen. Rather than wait for safer conditions, she decided to make it work and treated failure as off the table.

How did she earn six figures in 18 months?

Through resourcefulness and a refusal to quit. She took on humbling work to stay afloat, sold personal items to pay down the debt, worked fifteen hour days, and taught classes that both brought in income and put her in front of her ideal clients.

What does doing whatever it takes actually look like?

For Melissa it meant supervising a catering kitchen at ten dollars an hour, running the dish machine after every event as a Cornell graduate, and teaching up to five classes at a time, four nights a week. Nothing was beneath her when it moved her forward.

What is the biggest lesson from this episode?

The obstacle in front of you is rarely what stops you. Waiting is. Decide first, do the work most people avoid, and refuse to let debt, timing, or fear make your decisions for you.

About Melissa Galt

Melissa Galt is a sought-after business coach, marketing consultant, keynote speaker, and workshop leader who empowers designers to build highly profitable businesses without the burnout. With over three decades as the principal of her namesake residential design firm, Melissa brings firsthand experience and proven strategies that empower creative professionals to earn more in less time, with less stress.

She is the author of four bestselling books: Marketing Luxury Design: Attracting Affluent Clients; The Language of Success: 35 Words to Boost Your Worth & Wealth; Design Discovery: The Proven Process to Land Ideal Clients & Grow Profit; and Proximity to Profits: 50 Strategic Locations to Meet Affluent Clients.

She is also the host of the weekly Design Business Freedom™ podcast. When you are ready to take your practice to the next level, book a complimentary Design Business Assessment with Melissa.

Listen to this episode on Design Business Freedom™ Podcast – Episode 202

Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audacy, Deezer, Podchaser, and Everand.