I hope you are having a relaxing Sunday. My husband and I just went out for breakfast and we were so disappointed that our favorite breakfast place, Annie’s Cafe, was having problems with their grill. Since I had my mouth set for blueberry pancakes, we had to find another restaurant. It was still good, it just didn’t have the atmosphere that we always enjoy at Annie’s. It makes me think about how important ambiance is to me, and for you as an interior designer. We hope to create an “ambiance” on “your” site so you feel comfortable, informed, supported, energized, inspired and challenged to think differently about your business.

We have been in your shoes (maybe not your Manolos) and we understand the challenges you might be feeling with your business. We had lunch with another designer friend on Friday and we shared our vision for DSU. She said “sometimes I feel very alone in my business and it is nice to know that I have someone to talk to.” We want to create that warm and friendly home for you to visit often and find answers and support. Our friend also mentioned that she would love to interact with other designers around the country to share best practices and bounce ideas off of other professionals. We are seriously considering developing a private membership site with a forum just for that. We know that ASID and other sites have forums, but if you are not affiliated with a professional organization, or you want to keep these conversations private, there aren’t too many places to do that. Would you let us know if that would be of interest to you? Just send us a comment – we would love to hear from you.

We are also planning some very exciting events in the next few months. We’re not ready to announce all of them, but we promise that they will motivate, educate and entertain you. Since Erin could be my daughter (she is 25) you will have the fresh voice of a young and talented designer and my experience of 20+ years to give you a broad perspective. It has been so much fun mentoring Erin, and we are so fortunate that we work well together and we both appreciate our close relationship. You will enjoy getting to know her, too. We are having fun creating videos, and you will see a new feature that we call the “Mocha Cafe Highlights” which is a casual conversation between the three of us (that is you watching the video, Erin and me) when we share what is coming up on your site. We’ll be filming the first Mocha Cafe – a sugar-free, caffeine-free energizer for your week this week. The theme for upcoming events, special announcements and conversations with other designer friends will be the format for these frequent updates. We’ll visit our favorite coffee and lunch spot, Andre’s Confisserie, and take the caffeine jolt for you! Some of you are new to DSU, so just in case you didn’t know about our Blogging 101 for Designers, it’s not too late to sign up.

Just go to http://www.designsuccessu.com/classes. This is a terrific class for novice and wannabe bloggers. You will learn all about how to set up your blog. Cathy and I are still offering 30 minute consultations from each of us to decide on your blog strategy or even your marketing strategy. The value of these consultations is $250 and that helps to offset the $297 class fee for this five-part series starting next Wednesday at 11 AM MDT and 1 PM EDT (this is limited to the first 20 students and we only have a few spots left). When you go to this page, you can listen to our free preview call that explains more about what you will learn. Even this recording includes valuable information for experienced bloggers. Also, be sure to check the Replays tab for the Ava Living and Gibson Design Management teleseminars that we sponsored during June and July. Those are both free and are filled with great information to help you grow your business and increase your visibility on the Internet.

We are glad you are here, and we welcome your suggestions and feedback. What we hope to share with you is practical, immediately applicable education and tips to build your practice and reduce stress, and we all need less stress! About Gail Doby, ASID – Gail has been a professional interior designer for over 20 years and her specialty is multi-million dollar new construction design and renovations. She recently realized that many designers are frustrated and stressed with the complexity of the business and the impact of the economy.

Her goal is to share her experience with designers that think, “there has to be a better way to get high-end clients more easily, keep them longer, work less and make more money.” Visit us often, and be sure to tell a friend by clicking on the icons below. PS – If you would like to be a featured designer on Design Success University, be sure to sign up for the newsletter and submit your application with the information we posted just before this one. We will be developing an online profile form that will automate this process in the very near future. There is no charge for this, and we will be enhancing the benefit of your spotlight very shortly. Stay tuned…it’s going to be fun and exciting!

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