Beside the fact that the show makes me laugh and laugh, I love seeing the completely different homes the main characters live in – and lucky for them, they all have style!

Not everyone is so lucky – which is good for business!  Nothing is more fun than meeting someone who says they can’t decorate, and all they want is for you to make their home beautiful – my favorite kind of client!

This is especially true for “non-decorator” types who need to get their home ready for resale – they just can’t “see” what needs to happen.

If you aren’t offering Home Staging to your clients – you really want to consider it.  And if you have “stage fright” – For the past year I have been working on an online training program that can be accessed immediately to help you add Home Staging and Redesign to the services that you offer.

I am very pleased to say that the training is now available, and at a GREAT introductory price!

I am offering full blown all out business training that comes with a certification, but also very specific “LIVE” video training on how to stage a home for sale, including the walk through and evaluation, AND specific “LIVE” video training on how to redesign a client’s room using what they already have.

I sincerely do not believe that there is any training like this available any where else!

In a hurry? Go here.

In honor of the launch of this training, I will be spending the next several newsletters going over some of the most important aspects of running a successful business – and as you know, I think sending newsletters to your clients is one of those important things!

So enjoy the article below on “Stage Fright Part II” and please let me know if you have any questions by contacting me directly – mary@ Marylarsendesigns.com or just hitting reply to this newsletter.

Enjoy your TV “home tour”!!!
Here’s to Designing Your Success™,

-Mary

PS – welcome to all my new readers!

PS. If you’re worried about your business outlook, consider adding home staging or redesign to your business – learn how by clicking HERE.

Stage Fright?! – Part II

Stage Fright can most commonly be defined as “the fear of performing in front of an audience or group”.   Now, I know you aren’t exactly “performing” in front of an audience or a group when you are staging a home for sale but you are performing for an audience, that audience being the potential buyers of the home.

So why do we have “Stage Fright” when we first start staging homes?  It’s because you have been hired as a professional to help your client prepare their home for sale and you are a key player in the first impression a potential buyer has of the home.  This is a big responsibility and can be a little frightening in the beginning, especially if you’ve never actually taken part in a real, live home staging before.

That’s why I created my “Live” Staging videos; to help take some of the fear out of the home staging process and to give you tips and ideas.  Put yourself in Sterling’s shoes as you watch the “Live” videos of her and me staging a home.

Speaking of tips and ideas…as promised, I am going to share more of my tips and tricks of home staging with you.  In Stage Fright – Part I, we talked about Location, Location, Location.  Well, it is such an important topic that I am going to give you a few more ideas and suggestions on “Location” as it relates to staging a home.

Nothing makes more of an impact on a room than the placement of the furniture and accessories. While in business, you are going to see rooms filled with beautiful individual items, yet the arrangement, and therefore the overall feel, diminishes these elements.  You also will see rooms filled with dated and ugly furniture and accessories, and with the help of your correct placement, they will end up looking amazingly good.

The key to a successful room is achieving a sense of balance and proportion with furniture and accessories.  Your goal is to create a room that feels harmonious, balanced and connected.  The secret is to work with the pre-existing planes, lines, and angles of the space and your items to create your great look.  The following tips will help you achieve this goal:

Hard and Soft – When placing furniture in a living or family room, try to alternate hard pieces, such as tables and armoires, with soft pieces, such as upholstered chairs and ottomans.  Too many hard pieces together will make the room feel hard.  If hard pieces must be placed next to each other, greenery and plants can be used to soften the edges.

Magic Number Three and the Pleasing Triangle – When placing accessories and lighting, your eyes like sets of three.  That is why so many accessories you can buy today already come in a set of three.  And just like three, your eyes like triangles.  You will see this in shapes with high, medium, and low, as well as in lighting, having three points that can create the shape of a triangle throughout the room.

Too Much of a Good Thing – As you work on putting like things with like things, do not go overboard.  If you have a wall with three doors in it and two tall windows, placing an armoire on that wall that is virtually of the same shape will just be too much.  Try to break up the hard lines of the doors and windows with shaped draperies and strategically placed artwork to help move the eye up and down.

Follow these tips when staging your client’s home, and your work will surely impress your client – and all of the people who come to view the home!

For training, be sure to visit www.certifiedprohomestaging.com !!

Here’s to Designing Your Success,

-Mary Larsen

The weather has been beautiful, my customers have their wallets open, and I am really looking forward to a great holiday season!

For the past year I have been working on an online training program that can be accessed immediately to help people add Home Staging and Redesign to the services that they offer.

I am very pleased to say that the training is now available, and at a GREAT introductory price!

I am offering full blown all out business training that comes with a certification, but also very specific “LIVE” video training on how to stage a home for sale, including the walk through and evaluation, AND specific “LIVE” video training on how to redesign a client’s room using what they already have.

I sincerely do not believe that there is any training like this available any where else!

In a hurry? Go here.

In honor of the launch of this training, I will be spending the next several newsletters going over some of the most important aspects of running a successful business – and as you know, I think sending newsletters to your clients is one of those important things!

So enjoy the article below on “Stage Fright” and please let me know if you have any questions by contacting me directly – mary@ Marylarsendesigns.com or just hitting reply to this newsletter.

Happy Happy Fall!!!
Here’s to Designing Your Success™,

-Mary

PS – welcome to all my new readers!

PS. If you’re worried about your business outlook, consider adding home staging or redesign to your business – learn how by clicking HERE.

Stage Fright?! – Part I

We’ve all had it; our first school play, first spelling bee, first time speaking in public….  Stage Fright is a difficult obstacle to overcome.  But I’m not talking about the fear of being on stage; I’m talking about the fear of staging…Home Staging.

Even if you’ve been in the design business for years and feel comfortable and confident talking to clients, even if you’ve taken training classes and become certified in Home Staging, you know what to do, you know how to do it, but your “Stage Fright” is stopping you.

I heard this from so many of my Home Staging and Redesign students that I decided to come up with a solution; a solution that brings you as close as you can to get to a “real, live” home staging without actually being there.

Walk with me and Sterling, a Home Staging student, as we stage a home for sale.  We take a look at everything from curb appeal, the exterior of the home and then move inside and begin the transformation.

You have heard that Location, Location, Location is important in selling real estate, well, we as Home Stagers can’t do anything about the location of the home but we can place furniture and accessories inside the home in a manner that shows off its features.  In the “Live” videos, watch me and Sterling as we discuss and decide upon furniture and accessory placement in order to draw the potential buyer’s eyes to the focal point and highlights of the room.

While we’re on the subject of Location, Location, Location, let me share one of my favorite trade tips…It is not what you have – it is where you put it. A successfully staged home will have a sense of balance and proportion with the furniture and accessories.  Here are a few tips to help you achieve that goal:

Reading the Room – You read the room from left to right, just as you read a book.  Keep your eyes moving smoothly around the room by creating highs and lows, much like an undulating wave or the shape of an S curve on its side.  Use accessories, artwork, and window treatments to help build the highs and lows.

Let Shapes Lead You – Use the shapes of the room and the shapes of the items in the room to help guide you in your design process.  For example, an angle built into a room, such as a fireplace built into a corner, dictates that you place a piece of furniture in the room on a corresponding angle in order to achieve a sense of balance so the room can “feel” right.

Like with Like – Similar shapes work best when they are together.  If you have a short wall and a tall wall, typically your short furniture piece will go on your short wall, and your tall furniture will go on your tall wall.  This also works with a horizontal piece of art over a long sofa or using small accessories in a small room and large accessories in a large room.  Think tall with tall, small with small, narrow with narrow, wide with wide.

You will learn even more tips and tricks of Home Staging in the “Live” Home Staging videos.  Learn why we do the things we do and most of all, gain the confidence that you need to stage a home on your own.  And, just like the fancy TV shows, we even captured the homeowner’s reaction when they walked in to see their newly transformed space.

When these moments happen, it reassures me that I am where I am supposed to be, doing the things I am supposed to be doing.

This week my moment was about – of all things – making phone calls! And yes, it can apply to you too.  It all started with a phone call of my own.

1. Last Thursday I called a past client and was very happy when she was ready to start another series of consulting calls with me.

2. The next day my handyman called to tell me he didn’t have any work, and what should he do.  I often coach him on business practices, and I often tell him he needs to reach out to past happy clients – those clients are your best source for new work or new referrals.  I asked him how many past clients he had reached out to (this is an ongoing discussion with us, so I knew the answer) and yep, not one.  I told him I wasn’t going to talk to him anymore until he called 3 past happy clients. I also told him this call was easy to do – ask about their past work, and ask if they have any new work.

3. Jokingly he says to me – So Mrs. Larsen, I know you love your backsplash, do you have any other work around the house, cabinetry, handyman, painting that you might want to have done?

4.  And I DID – I had been meaning to call him for several weeks about some cracks in my ceiling – and had totally forgotten so I lined up some work for him that weekend.

5. About 30 minutes later he called me back and said - it worked, it worked! The very first client he called said she didn’t know he did all those things, and she had a whole list for him to do.

6. Then one of my consulting clients called for her weekly call.  I asked her what she had done since our last call to try to get some work and she said – you mean besides pull my hair out? So we talked about the fact that she has never not once in her 6 years of business – beyond initial follow up right after a project – called a client to see how they were doing and was there anything she could do for them or was there someone “just like them” that they would introduce her to by facebook or email to see if she could help them.  I told her the handyman story for encouragement.

7. All of these things took place between Thursday and Tuesday.

8. And Tuesday morning I received a marketing newsletter from one of my favorite marketers - Art Sobczak – titled “Here’s the Best Time to Call a Prospect.” I swear I burst out laughing. A list of the BEST TIME to call someone.    Talk about reassurance that I am in the right place, doing the thing I am supposed to do!  Here is a link to his newsletter – you might want to check it out for even more ideas. And here’s a little secret – the real answer for calling a past great client is any time – because you need to take action to make action happen in your business.

9. My favorite tip from his list – A buyer wishes they could find a vendor (replace designer for the word vendor) who “gets it right the first time”. Ah, I love that!!!

So.  How long has it been since you CALLED a past client? How long has it been since you reached out rather than waited for someone to call you?  Don’t overthink it -just pick up the phone and call. Really. That simple.  And comment below and let me and everyone else know how it goes – I’m confident it will be great.

Here’s to Designing Your Success,

-Mary Larsen

I am very pleased to say that I was recently featured in the latest issue of Window Fashion Vision magazine.  It was on my favorite topic – helping women in the design field make more money – and not just give all of their talents away.

This was one of those great articles where I was asked to submit the article, went to bed that night, and woke up with a whole LIST of things that can be done.  I love it when that happens.

In fact, that was one of the reasons I went into consulting with people in the design field.  I started having ideas about how to make my business better and more profitable show up  in the middle of the night - and -those ideas worked. It’s very cool.

Just click HERE to enjoy the article in full – I know you’ll like it.  And please leave me a comment and share what you think!

Here’s to Designing Your Success,

-Mary Larsen

This has been an incredible week!

Surely it was the amazing vacation last week – and maybe it’s because I’m taking another vacation NEXT week (not to an exotic island but to Idaho – a very different and good destination!) – but things have just been flying along and man does it feel good!

I’m a big believer that when things are cranking you need to GO with it – and that’s what has been happening today.  I still have to finish up some tiny details for the EXPO in Atlanta next week, but other than that everything I am working on is fun and exciting.

I have a big SAVE THE DATE for you!

Please mark Wednesday, May 27th at 7pm for a f*r.e.e teleconference call “7 Steps to Kick Up Your Earnings THIS Summer” The call will be done in the same format as my Designing Your Success Mastermind Program that starts in June!I hope you will be so inspired by what we share and what you learn that of COURSE you will become a part of the program. Plus, I will give you a great “monetary” incentive to join on the call, so please join me.  I know you will love it.  I’ll have more info out to you soon, but please save the date!

And if you are not yet offering custom window treatments to your clients I am also hosting a webinar about adding Window Treatments to your decorating business - Wednesday May 20th at 4pm - it is going to be a great topic -  learn more about it and register HERE. We’ll also have a couple of great prizes for registrants from Window Vision Magazine and Minutes Matter Studio - you don’t want to miss it!

Because I will be at the Expo next week, today I am going to talk about one of my favorite topics – how to get the most out of a conference.  Enjoy and see you there!

Here’s to Designing Your Success™,

-Mary Larsen

You are attending conferences, right? Nothing can replace continuing education – and nothing can replace taking that new knowledge and putting it into action. Here are my top favorite tips for you to use the next time you attend a conference.

1. Meet the people sitting next to you.  Every time you sit down. Just stick out your hand, say hi, I’m Mary Larsen (okay, use your name)- it’s that easy! Everyone wants to meet new people – you can put everyone at ease by starting the conversation with your own introduction.

2. Take copious notes! There is a direct correlation between writing things down and the ability for the brain to recall the information – even just writing down key points will benefit you later.

3. Every evening review the day and write down the 2 things that you WILL do when you return home. Again, writing things down will keep you connected.

4. Ask your favorite speaker to lunch – you just never know what great things could come out of that relationship. And the speaker will appreciate it, too.

5. Go home and DO at least TWO of the things that inspired you at the conference. Take action. Knowledge coupled with INaction leads to frustration – so don’t get frustrated – DO something!

BONUS #6 – CONTACT the people that you met by e-mail or phone – again, relationships are everything!

Have a GREAT action packed week!  And don’t forget to come by and say hello!

WE Magazine for Women named me as a “Top 101 Women Bloggers to Watch” in 2009 – and I was really thrilled to receive the honor. If you haven’t read my previous blog posts – you should. Lots of helpful information here from me AND your peers – good stuff!

What was funny/not about this honor is that WE Magazine caters to women in their 40s – and I don’t turn 40 til NEXT WEEK! HA! But really, just like everyone else, I am looking around saying – how did 40 happen already???

At the end of May I am hosting a webinar in conjunction with the ADE on “The Art of Window Treatments: How to Add a Proven Revenue Stream to Your Staging, Redesign and Decorating Business.” This will be a great introductory look at adding window treatments to your business if it is not something you are doing already. I’ll keep you posted with more details as they develop.

Don’t forget I will be at the EXPO in Atlanta May 13-16! Here is a little blurb about the redesign class I am teaching – you might want to check it out.

And I have big plans for a retreat this fall for a lucky handful of you – and the topic is “money.” As in “how to make it work for you, and how to make more of it.” Just getting started on the details, but will keep you posted.

And for today’s Marketing Minute I am going a bit off of the beaten path – I am hosting 19 of my family for an Easter/Big FOUR-OH (before the big trip with my siblings to the Dominican Republic to REALLY celebrate) dinner and I thought these tips from Southern Accent Magazine on how to host a dinner party were really helpful - and beautiful, too.

Happy Easter!

Here’s to Designing Your Success™,

-Mary Larsen

Leadership Matters
By Nancy McGuire, McGuire Consulting, Inc
(Be sure to contact Nancy by clicking above if you need any help with leadership development!)There is no one way to be a perfect leader, but there are many ways to be a great one. If you have leadership responsibility, even simple actions can mean the difference between outstanding and poor results. Here are the first five of 10 of the most basic ways to ensure that you’re being an effective leader:

6. If you love somebody, set them free. When you have terrific people who have great developmental opportunities elsewhere, you need to let them move on. This can be especially hard when they are your top performers. What’s worse, you sometimes have to do this knowing you won’t be able to replace them in the short term. Still, you need to do the right thing and let them move on to their next opportunity. Trap: Some managers will hold on to their best people under the guise of “the needs of the business.” Although in the short term this can appear to be a good justification, it hurts you and your employee in the long term. Your organization will gain a reputation for being a trap; your good people may leave anyway, and the best people from other organizations will be reluctant to join your team. Tip: When you take a short term personnel loss, involve the rest of the team in handling his or her responsibilities until you have the ability to bring in a replacement. You may find a diamond-in-the-rough out there who was overshadowed by this top performer.

7. Take a look at yourself: Do people get you?It is essential that your team members understand you. So, your written word and verbal word must be equally clear. Trap: One of your responsibilities as a leader is to give performance feedback. If your feedback is too general, the recipient has a low probability of getting the message. Tip: Listen more than you talk. [Mary's Note: This is always a tough one for me, but it is so worth doing!]Ask your team members for their impressions of a person’s contributions.

8. Look at your team’s progress: Are they still storming when they should be performing? Teams often remain stuck in formulating plans rather than implementing them. [Another one of my favorites! Decide and DO!] Trap: Teams that continue to argue or follow competing or disconnected objectives are not likely to meet the end game. Look for warning signs such as continually re-visiting old decisions, missed deadlines, and lack of esprit-de-corps. Tip: If the team isn’t moving past the storming phase, consider changing the power structure or leadership within the team.

9. Get out of the way. As the leader, you need to keep an eye on the big picture. If you’re nitpicking small details and “adding value” where none was needed, your team will slow down. Trap: Many leaders think they need to add something. After all, isn’t that why you’re in charge? In fact, unless you need to alter significantly the direction or decision, you’re better off leaving well enough alone. Tip: Ask questions of the team concerning outlook for completion, rather than auditing progress at each individual step.

10.  Say thank you. And mean it. 

I am sure you found some inspiration here for you and your business – Which tips are you using now or will start using in your business today???

Have a great rest of the week!
-Mary

I am so proud of everyone who jumped on board twitter last week – and you might have noticed – I haven’t done any tweeting! Turns out I am new at it too!  But we will all get there.

I have had a ton of ideas this week for the Marketing Minute, and decided to share a version of my sister’s newsletter – she is a corporate consultant on leadership and her stuff is good (she’s really funny too, but it probably doesn’t show up here.)

Even if you are only leading yourself, there are a lot of tips you can put into practice – in fact, the article was filled with so many great tips today you are only getting tips 1 -5 – you’ll have to wait til next week for the rest.

Leadership Matters

By Nancy McGuire, McGuire Consulting, Inc
(Be sure to contact Nancy by clicking above if you need any help with leadership development!)

There is no one way to be a perfect leader, but there are many ways to be a great one. If you have leadership responsibility, even simple actions can mean the difference between outstanding and poor results. Here are the first five of 10 of the most basic ways to ensure that you’re being an effective leader:

1. Ensure everyone knows why you are there. Whether you’re running a meeting or leading a large organization, make certain that everyone knows your purpose. Say it aloud. What do you want to accomplish? Trap: Don’t become so fixated with your objectives that you don’t recognize when they need to change. Evaluate your environment and assess whether the objective needs to be altered. Tip: When things run off-course, which they invariably will, use your objective as a means of getting the team re-focused.

2. This is work — expect people to do something. If someone has agreed to do something, hold her to it. Trap: If you are working with people from other organizations, you may not be aware of their own workload and priorities. However, if your project is dependent on their contribution, you still need them to deliver as expected. Don’t let that work dump into your lap. Tip: Check on the status of the work, and reinforce its value. People actually enjoy sharing their progress and seeing how they contribute to the end result.

3. Don’t just simply track progress — offer help. When your team hits stumbling blocks, help to overcome them. Trap: This doesn’t mean you have to determine all of the potential solutions. Part of your role as a leader is to help your team members find their own answers. Tip: When the solution requires you to help (get funding, gain executive decisions, hire additional resources), make it clear that you own that action.

4. Be known as someone who actually makes a decision. Teams need direction and decisions to be made. Trap: Consensus management isn’t always the best leadership style. Many decisions need to be made by the leader alone. Tip: To facilitate your decision-making, encourage your team to provide alternatives with associated pros and cons. This increases the chances of buy-in on the team, even if the members didn’t make the decision themselves. [Mary's Note: I think you all know how strongly I feel about decision making - make the decision - and move on!]

5. Follow up and follow through. Track progress. Deliver what you say you will. Trap: Many projects fail because milestones weren’t measured along the way. Look at your own deliverables to the team, and ensure that you are making your own commitments. Tip: Reflect back on the history of the project. Are there areas where deadlines are repeatedly missed? These may be areas where you, as the leader, need to intervene.

The truth of the matter is – I love all of these tips!  Which tips are you using in your business today???

Have a great rest of the week!

-Mary

Twitter is everywhere – everyone is talking about it! But what I want to know is – can it work for OUR industry?

Since it is everywhere – today’s Marketing Minute is going to explore it a little bit – enjoy.
Twitter – For You and Me

Let’s get right to the details!

1. Twitter is – a micro-blogging platform. It is a cross between a blog and a public “instant message.” You have 140 characters to “tweet” your message.

2. You have followers. People sign up to “follow you” and get your tweets. They find you by searching for you on twitter.com, or by someone else forwarding your tweet – “re-tweeting”.

3. You only need a computer. When twitter came out I was sure you needed a blackberry or some kind of handheld – turns out you just need a computer, and be logged in to twitter.

4. What it’s good for. The idea is to directly connect with your customers and clients. Think “conversation” not sales pitch.

5. Why it might help your business. Your “brand” is being seen everytime you tweet – helps expand your network beyond your current friends – you can pose a question to get realtime feedback if you are doing research for products, etc – you can notify customers of sales and promotions or having new pix up on your portfolio

6. Is it worth it? Like all social media – this is a “try it – you just might like it” situation. It is SIMPLE. Go to twitter.com and sign up – it is that simple. Sign up to follow a couple of people and see what THEY tweet about – that will help you get ideas.

7. Follow ME! I have just started tweeting – and am not a regular by any means – but I plan on giving it a try and will keep you posted.

So what do you think? Are you going to try it? If you do – follow me and I will follow you – that’s how to get things going! You can find me at twitter.com/marylarsenor search for me at twitter.com under the name marylarsen
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Let me know how twitter works out for you!