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.

You can get fully certified in Home Staging or Real Estate Staging – or -

if you’ve always just wanted to know and see the process for home staging OR redesign – you can get THAT video online training too!

Check it out at www.certifiedprohomestaging.com for ALL of the info – and let me know what you think!!!

Best,

-Mary Larsen

PS – the actual videos are much more clear and crisp than the samples shown on the page.

Last week as I was standing around wondering what I would write about, I received Jack Canfield’s newsletter – and bang! Here is Part II of the article.

Tomorrow I start presenting my two “Money and Marketing” classes at the International Window Fashions Expo -
and that always leads to some “asking.”

Have a great rest of the week!

Here’s to Designing Your Success™,

-Mary Larsen

The 5 Secrets to Successful Asking

The first stumbling block for most is knowing how to ask. There are five secrets to great asking that can guarantee you results, however big or small.

If you ever find yourself hitting brick walls and coming up short in responses, come back to these five tips:

Ask Clearly: No one likes getting a vague or fuzzy question. Be precise. Think clearly about your request. Take time to prepare. Use a note pad to pick words that have the greatest impact. Words are powerful, so choose them carefully.

For example, if you throw out the “How am I doing?” question without specifics, it may take time for the other person to understand what you’re talking about. Instead, try, “How is my attitude with customers? Do you see room for improvement? Where?”

Ask with Confidence: People who ask confidently get more than those who are hesitant and uncertain. When you’ve figured out what you want to ask for, do it with certainty, boldness and confidence. Practice in the mirror if you have to, or write out your question in advance.

Be prepared to hear the unexpected or the unwanted. Try to have an open mind and heart (it’s okay to feel intimidated by the experience, but don’t show it). Don’t get defensive if you hear something you don’t like or that makes you uncomfortable. It’s good to get a little uneasy once in a while upon the observations or insights of others. They will inspire you to stop, reflect, and take steps to make a shift for the better.

Ask Consistently: Top producers know that they can’t quit if they ask once and don’t get a good response. Keep asking until you find the answers, and try different ways of asking if one doesn’t seem to be working.

In prospecting there are usually four or five “no’s” before you get a “yes.” You may, for example, want to ask a co-worker about your performance on an important team project, but you sense reluctance from that person to offer an opinion.

You can always ask another person who is more receptive to the question, or consider how you are asking it and try again. Because people don’t normally go around asking others for opinions on how well they are doing, it’s not a question typically heard. So be prepared to ask over and over again before you hear a clear–useful–answer.

Ask Creatively: In this age of global competition, your asking may get lost in the crowd, unheard by the decision-makers you hope to reach. There is a way around this. If you want someone’s attention, don’t ask the ordinary way. Use your creativity to dream up a high-impact presentation.

Bear in mind that asking someone to stop and evaluate you can seem awkward or time-consuming. Show respect for them first and find the ideal time to ask the question. Here’s one way to engage the insights of a superior: “I highly value your opinion and honest perspective, and would love to know what you think I could be doing differently on a daily basis that would make your life easier and make our clients happier.”

Ask Sincerely: When you really need help, people will respond. Sincerity means dropping the image facade and showing a willingness to be vulnerable. Tell it the way it is, lumps and all. Don’t worry if your presentation isn’t perfect; ask from your heart. Keep it simple and people will open up to you.

Like speaking a different language, asking takes continual practice until it becomes a regular, reflexive habit. The sooner you build your “Ask Muscle”, the sooner you’ll see the results you’ve been waiting–and searching–for.

Don’t think asking only relates to work-related goals and tasks. Bring this practice home to enrich your relationships with your family members and your friends, too!

I trust you’ll be surprised and delighted at what you discover about yourself in this process.

Happy asking!

Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com

She went on to write a great article that I have adapted here.

The word “but” is simply a great big road block in your business as you try to move forward. An acquaintance described it as a “verbal eraser.”  When you make a point and follow it with “but” – nothing that you said before matters.  Basically, you just erased the first thought you had.

Try it out for yourself. Say you want to go to the next conference so you can learn the next best thing for your business.  Then add “but.”

“I want to go to the next conference cause it will really help my business grow, but….”  Nothing you said before that “but” matters anymore, because you have just erased it with your big but!

Following are a couple of situations you may find familiar  – with some tips on how you might get rid of your “big ole but” for good!

1.  Holding Your Business Back. As the owner of your business, you are constantly being faced with new opportunities that have both positive and negative outcomes.  Consider the conference example used above.  When you consider attending the event very often you state the positives – such as I will learn new business techniques and meet more people I can share ideas with” and then you throw in a “But it will be costly, and I am not sure I will put what I learn to use.”

Suddenly – the reasons why you SHOULD go to the conference are completely erased by the ‘but.”

Consider trying this instead “Going to the conference will allow me to learn new business techniques as well as meet more peers.  It will require an investment and I may need to deal with change within my business. “

No “but” allows you to weigh BOTH the pros and cons of the situation, so you can make the logical choice for your business.

2.  Stopping Growth Cold. You’ve just been presented a great opportunity to speak at a large event that is directly in front of your ideal client – finally a great way to get in front of the perfect people!  And what does your brain say? “But!  I’ve never done that before.  I could fail.”

Immediately you start thinking of all of the reasons why you can’t, shouldn’t, and won’t take the speaking gig.

Get rid of your but!  Replace it with AND.  Now you say “I have a great chance to speak to my ideal  market for great new clients AND I have never done this before.”  All of a sudden this speaking gig kind of looks like a challenge.

Here’s the one way to use BUT to erase a negative – “I’ve never done it before – BUT – I CAN do it!”  Now accept that challenge and do it.

3. Creating unnecessary guilt. You likely have a computer if you’re reading this. And if you have a computer, you’re among the world’s population that has an enormous amount to be grateful for. You might even think to yourself sometimes, “I am so blessed with so many things, BUT, I would really like to have more.”

Look what that ‘but’ did: it erased the thought where you recognized you’re blessed and concentrated on that SELFISHNESS of wanting more. BAM! You feel guilty and bad about wanting more.

Try this: “I am so blessed with so many things, AND I would really like to have more.” That sounds pretty good. And hey, it’s actually right. No guilt. No bad feelings. You are grateful for what you do have AND you’re eager to pursue getting more: More knowledge, more relaxation, more job responsibility, more productivity, and yes, even more money.

Work on eliminating ‘but’ in your conversations. See how much more powerful your ideas will be, and how much more positive your own thinking will be.  I’d love to hear how powerful it is for you.

Here’s to Designing Your Success,

-Mary Larsen

A couple of years ago – 3 to be exact – she launched a daily calendar for woman by woman – daily biz tips to help inspire and encourage.  And I am very proud to say for the 3rd straight year one of my business tips has been featured in the calendar!

You can check it out today at www.womenentrepreneur.com

and learn more about Mary and her work at www.WomansAdvantage.biz/calendar

Hope you enjoy!

Here’s to Designing Your Success,

-Mary Larsen

March 25th – I’ll be giving a live seminar in Atlanta -  and it’s F*r*e*e* – Turn Your Marketing into Money – if you think you’d like to attend, shoot me an email for more information

March 29th – I am one of ten experts hosting a 10 part teleseminar – Marketing that Works for the design field.  You can find out about it and register for it at www.businessofdesigntelesummit.com and again, it’s F*r*e*e*

May 3rd – 7th – 4 day hands on training to learn how to become a redesigner or stager – in Raleigh – shoot me an email for more information

May 12th – 13th – I’ll be teaching at the Window Fashions Expo and teaching 2 classes – one on Money – one on Marketing.  You can learn more about and register for it here.

Let me know if you’ll be able to attend any of these events – I would love to meet up!

Here’s to Designing Your Success,

-Mary Larsen

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

Not surprisingly, the topic that I am most asked to help other designers with is … big drumroll here - “How Can I Make More Money Doing What I Love?” And not surprisingly there are a myriad of ways to answer and address that question.

One of the exercises that I use with a lot of my clients centers around a personal mindset change – and believing that what you are looking for – more profits – is out there for you.  This simple exercise can help you come to believe just that.

This is important because the way you think about things is the way you provide solutions to things.  So getting a new perspective – saying the money you want is there – allows your mind to come up with solutions to getting that money – as opposed to the “solutions” that show up when you don’t believe the money is there.

As “they” say – it’s all in your perspective.

So your challenge:  For just one week – anytime *f.r.e.e.* money shows up in your life – take it. If you see change on the ground, lean down and pick it up.  If a vendor says we are shipping for free this week and you know you need to order someting – do it now.  If a friend says, hey, let me pick up lunch – let them.  For one solid week.

The idea behind this is that you will begin to see that yes, the money is out there.  It is there for you. And that perspective might just be the thing you need to start coming up with new ways to answer the age old question – How Can I Make More Money.

My tiny little present to you this week is for those of you who use Verizon. Maybe you have heard or seen over the past couple of weeks that Verizon has revamped all of their programs and pricing schemes.  After hearing several of their ads, most of which sounded to me like they were for new customers, I got curious enough to call.  And good golly – just for the asking – my service INCREASED AND my monthly cell phone bill DROPPED by a full $30 a month. Because I called looking for that free money.

I am under the impression that Verizon is NOT changing their pricing for people who may already be paying a higher price for the same program – I believe you have to contact them.  So – on your week’s worth of free money - make contacting Verizon a priority – you’ll be glad you did.

I’d love to hear what your week’s worth of free money does for you and your mindset – leave a comment.

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