Developing Your Brand
Are You an Interior Design CEO or Stuck Wearing the Business Owner Hat?
Interior Design CEO is more than just a title you adopt in your design practice or words you print on your business card, it’s a mindset and way of being. There are 3 core differences between being an interior design business owner and an interior design CEO. #1 Busy vs. Productive The interior design business…
How to Participate in a Decorator Showhouse
Since we reviewed WHY you’d want to participate in a decorator showhouse in a recent blog post, I want to share HOW to make that happen in this post. It takes both digital smarts as well as strategic real time connection and readiness to be selected for a showhouse. (And in case it’s bugging you…
The Best Client Gifts to Grow Your Business
Let’s be honest, every time you think of the best client gifts, you are also thinking about what will make you memorable, irresistible, and referable. I’m just stating what you’re thinking! And there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it makes great business sense to invest in the best client gifts that will absolutely deliver…
How to Make More Money in Interior Design
As an interior designer you got into business with a passion to change people’s lives through design, and now you want to know how to make more money in interior design. The design landscape has changed dramatically in the last decade. The advent of the internet, design centers opening to the public, online design, and…
Small Business Development: 5 Key Questions to Experience Business Naked (not what you think)
Despite technological advances, business today is still, and will always be, about person to person, and relationships. Whether you are connecting by voice to voice, face to face, or keyboard to keyboard, it’s about building trusted relationships that allow your business to deliver the goods and services your clients count on. While being authentic and…
Business Model: Neiman Marcus or Walmart, What’s Your Pick?
I’ve been in business over twenty years and I’ve seen a lot of business models. It always intrigues me to see the difference between those who go after only the high end markets (The Neiman Marcus models), those who only go after the masses and the low end markets (The Walmart models), and those who…
3 Mistakes to Avoid Being a Marketing Meathead (with a Marketing Message Mismatch)
When you’ve got a marketing message mismatch, you are a marketing meathead. I know sometimes my alliterative tendencies go to far, but I couldn’t resist this title. I couldn’t resist because I actually dated a guy a couple of years ago who repeatedly referred to himself as a meathead. Really? This was mismarketing to me.…
Stop Stroking Your Ego, Start Growing Your Bottom Line
This is slick. Maybe you’ve seen it before, but I hadn’t. Now we are being sent awards of complete irrelevance. I’m a professional speaker on social media, relationship marketing, and strategic business growth. I also speak on life design and success architecture. While I do coach and consult with business owners on marketing, customer service,…
Marketing Success Strategies: Does Your Brand Matter?
As I was standing in the grocery store the other day, searching for 9 volt batteries for an outdoor fan, I had a brand break through moment! I was originally scanning prices and reached for the Kroger brand, generic and unknown to me. Suddenly it hit me. This battery was going into the remote for…