Wednesday April 27, 2011

3:45 – 5:45       Vickie Ayres   QuickBooks Deep Dive

3:45 – 5:15       Vita  Vygovska   Love Your Business Twice as Much—And Get More Done in Half the Time!

 3:45 – 5:45       Melissa Galt    From a Whisper to a Shout: Social Marketing Secrets for Designers

 3:45 – 5:15       DBRX Workshop Consults

QuickBooks Deep Dive – Advanced Tips & Techniques for QuickBooks

Vickie Ayres

Investigate dozens of ideas that will immediately improve your profitability and your financial peace of mind with QuickBooks guru Vickie Ayres. Using a sample company file, follow along as Vickie performs a deep dive into the information stored in QuickBooks that can help you make better decisions for your business, improve revenues and make the “un-fun” aspect of running a business simpler and less stressful. 

This hands- on session will cover:

• Troubleshooting the three most common errors Vickie encounters in her consults
• The top 10 best practices for working in QuickBooks.
• Vickie’s five favorite new features from QuickBooks 2011 that will save you time and make managing your business and finances a breeze.

This session is incredibly useful and profitable for anyone using QuickBooks Pro or Premier, 2008-2011.You’ll leave confident in your QuickBooks acumen—it will be like you’ve just hired on your own CFO!( Those of you who have taken Vickie’s QuickBooks Coaching already know what a difference she can make!) Start compiling your list of questions for this custom session as Vickie will incorporate as many as possible into the class. 

 The Fine Print: Price: $125. This session is 2 hours long .  Maximum 10 per session. Session offered Wednesday April 27, 2011 3:45pm – 5:45 pm. If you are considering an upgrade this is a great opportunity to see the 2011 edition in action.

You’re welcome to bring your laptop with QuickBooks installed and follow along as Vickie demonstrates advanced and complex QuickBooks features, or, if you don’t have a laptop, all the ideas and techniques will be included on a detailed handout complete with screenshots.

Love Your Business Twice as Much—And Get More Done in Half the Time!

Vita Vygovska

 Do you:

•           Wish there were more hours in the day?

•           Need to know how to do MORE with LESS?

•           Wind up frustrated there isn’t enough time to do what you really love?

 In this highly interactive workshop Vita discusses concepts and ideas to help you build a business that will support your creative expression, feed your energy, and grow your bottom line. If you have ever wished you could squeeze more out of every hour, while doing most of what you love and none of what you don’t, then you’ll want to be part of this session! At this workshop, you will discover:

• Easy and effective techniques to see exactly where your time is spent (and wasted).  You’ll walk away with a visual tool Vita uses in her own business to identify and eliminate time-sucks forever.
• The one single, simple improvement you can implement immediately that will double your productivity.
• Powerful time-saving tips you can put into practice right away and use daily, so that you can concentrate on your “genius work”.
• Clever short-cuts and compelling strategies to fend off “bright shiny objects”, master emerging marketing opportunities, and focus on the joys of your craft, creativity, and client interaction.

At the end of the session, you’ll be armed with your own productivity tool-kit (including lists, forms, check-lists, and charts)

Preparation: To ensure your best results and personalized approach, you will be asked to fill out a questionnaire before the session. This will be a true workshop where you will have an opportunity to craft your own action plan, participate in hot-seats, and ask questions. 

Added Bonus: After the session, when you’ve had some time to ‘test-drive’ your new productivity tool kit, take advantage of a 20-minute personal coaching session with Vita (within 30 days of the workshop) where you can ask additional questions and trouble-shoot challenges.

The Fine Print: Price: $125. This session is 1-1/2 hour long .  Maximum 10 per session. Session offered Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at 3:45pm – 5:15pm

From a Whisper to a Shout: Social Marketing Secrets for Designers

©Melissa Galt

Do you:

Struggle to find time for social media?

Think it is just about wasting time and discussing what you had for lunch?

Love connecting with friends and family online, but can’t imagine how it can help your business.

 Social media is powerful and cost effective for building lasting profitable relationships.  Discover the ins and outs of finding your target market and bringing them from a shout online to a paying client. Stop the overwhelm and get a clear understanding of the profit potential you command when you pick and choose which tools to use to creatively trounce your competition.

v  Boost YOUR Online (and Offline) Visibility

v  Get Timesaver Shortcuts to Maximize YOUR Social Media Efforts

v  Establish YOUR Unique Voice and Enhance YOUR Credibility

v  Learn Five Social Media Strategies to Build YOUR Presence

v  Capture Leads Straight from YOUR Competition

You’ll walk away with:

The Fine Print: Price: $150. This session is 2 hours long .  Maximum 12 per session. Session offered Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at 3:45 pm – 5:45 pm.

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Tuesday April 26, 2011                                   

            1:00 – 3:00       Melissa Galt    How to Ignite Demand in YOUR Client Base

            1:00- 2:30        Susan Schultz Fame 101

            3:45 – 5:15       Deb Barrett     Power of Packaging: Bundle Your Services and Build Sales

            3:15 – 5:15       Melissa Galt    Five Marketing Mindsets to Make YOUR Design Business Profitable

            3:45 – 5:15       Vita  Vygovska She Told Two Friends: Developing a Powerful Client Referral Systems

Workshop Descriptions and Details

How to Ignite Demand in YOUR Client Base

©Melissa Galt

Learn the essentials of a strong client relationship that will put you squarely in the driver seat of every project, allowing your talent to shine and your bank account to grow. Explore the keys to taking a budget project and turning it into an investment your clients are thrilled with— and brag to their friends about. (Can you say referral?) Discover how you, your projects and your income can grow by keeping your clients interested, engaged and buying.

v  Dive deep into their lifestyles to uncover not just their needs but their wants.

v  Take every project from a budget to an investment with a return on it.

v  Master the art of reading between the lines and know who the real decision maker is.

v  Get your clients to do homework before you even meet.                                                       

 The Fine Print: Price: $150. This session is 2 hours long .  Maximum 12 per session. Session offered Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 1:00pm– 3:00pm

FAME 101

Susan Schultz

Every industry, in fact, every market, has its own superstars—the broker everyone wants to work with, the chef with the TV show and the book deal, the designer who always has high-value clients waiting. Their professional fame automatically sets them apart from their competition; their name a meaningful brand and their value, implicit. It’s a great position to be—and it can be yours!

We’ll cover:

• Five sure-fire strategies for ramping up your visibility
• The keys to building a compelling image for you and your business
• Transforming hard work into success
• Becoming the “go-to” expert
• Publicity: It’s not a dirty word

By the end of the session you’ll have a your own personal “fame roadmap” laid out—a personal brand to build on, a publicity strategy to implement, elements of new press kit, and tips for avoiding self-imposed momentum-killers.

Preparation: To ensure your best results and personalized approach, you will be asked to fill out and return a questionnaire before the session. There may also be additional contact from Susan prior to the session.

The Fine Print: Price: $125. This session is 1-1/2 hour long .  Maximum 10 per session. Session offered Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 1:00pm– 2:30pm

The Power of Packaging:  Bundle Your Services & Build Your Sales

Deb Barrett

Whether you are a newbie or been in the business for years, how you price your services and charge your customers has changed dramatically with design democracy and the new consumer.

Packaging your products and services is a powerful marketing technique that increases sales, adds value and improves client satisfaction. Plus, if you plan on being in business 10 years from now; how you package your design services will be key to capturing the new markets you’ll need. Developing “design service packages” for your clients allows you to:

• upsell automatically without having to “sell” you clients into it
• provides a higher perceived value to your client
• clarifies and simplifies your marketing
• encourages joint venture opportunities, which benefits both you and your clients

Each attendee will leave with a customized packages suitable for your business plans and your clientele, complete with rough descriptions, pricing, titles and more.

Preparation: To make the most of the scheduled time in this workshop, attendees will be asked to provide in advance your current pricing information, general clientele description and/or preferred clientele description, a list of products and services and, if possible, the profit margins associated with your products and services.

The Fine Print:  Price: $125. This session is 1-1/2 hour long .  Maximum 10 per session. Session offered Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 3:45pm – 5:15pm

Five Marketing Mindsets to Make YOUR Design Business Profitable

©Melissa Galt

Often the greatest difference between a wildly successful designer and one who’s struggling isn’t just talent, or education or background. The difference is mindset and marketing skills. Melissa shares five simple habits that can be quickly and easily learned. When practiced regularly, (the definition of a habit!) these will rocket you to the top. If you want to become a magnetic marketer and THE irresistible design talent in your market, you must have the mindset to take you there.

v  Boost YOUR Confidence and YOUR Value so You Can Charge What You are Really Worth

v  Know How to Clearly and Easily Identify YOUR Preferred Target Market (where to find them)

v  Identify YOUR Key Benefits to Put You Head and Shoulders Above the Competition.

v  Leverage the ROI that YOUR Talent Produces for Each Project

v  Create Lifelong Demand with YOUR Clients 

The Fine Print:  Price: $150. This session is 2 hours long .  Maximum 12 per session. Session offered Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 3:15pm – 5:15pm

She Told Two Friends: Developing a Powerful Client Referral System

 Vita Vygovska

Create a winning referral program that brings new clients every time and is faster and cheaper than any other marketing strategy. Although designers list referrals as a favorite marketing effort, few run a truly successful, consistent, and fully integrated referral program that feeds the pipeline and keeps it full on a consistent basis.

Vita uses a proven referral system as one of the cornerstones of her success. From the moment her first project was underway, she established a system for developing, managing and using referrals that kept her business growing 40% year on year—A strategy that is powerful, cost-effective and extremely easy to implement and maintain. Don’t leave one of your business’ most important sources of new clients and new projects to chance!

In this session, you will learn:

* To ask for a referral even before your first client meeting and train your prospects to give you referrals

* How to easily integrate your referral system into your daily schedule, so that it runs on autopilot, and you’re freed for design and strategic work

* Tips that make asking for the referral easy and authentic, so that you never have to cringe or shy away from it

* Solutions to most common referral “hang-ups” that will increase your comfort level and boost your confidence

You will leave the session with a customized referral game plan that gives you a source of continuous, consistent and profitable revenue.

In the spirit of an interactive workshop, we will conduct role-playing sessions and individual hot-seats, where you can get personal coaching from Vita.  Rest assured, you will know exactly how to ask, cultivate, and nurture a culture of referrals, empowering your customers, prospects, and employees to “always be referring.”

The Fine Print: Price: $125. This session is 1-1/2 hour long .  Maximum 10 per session. Session offered Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 3:45pm – 5:15pm

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The Design Business Rx workshops provide an opportunity for you to receive specific advice and information from acknowledged industry experts based on your interest and needs. You’ll work in sessions with 10 people, at the most, in order to give you the time and expertise necessary. Most sessions will require pre-show and post-show homework on your part. These business-changing strategy sessions are intense, detailed and focused on YOU, allowing you to leave Vegas with pragmatic action plans that will grow your business. 

DBRX Consultations

A business-life-shifting strategy session focused on you and your work in the world.Here’s your chance to access more than 30 years of design, marketing and industry experience, all focused specifically on YOUR business. Sign up now for a 1-1/2-hour Design Business Rx session with Deb & Susan, each strictly limited to six people per session

 You’ll be required to do pre-show and post-show “homework” and depending on your needs and issues, there will be post-show follow up from Deb & Susan.

We’ll talk to you about your responses to the DBRx pre-session questionnaire, analyzing your plans, identifying new opportunities, providing support in areas of particular concern and brainstorming with you on next steps and new ideas. We’ll focus on things that you’re passionate about and that can make you money. Plus, we’ll help you map out a plan to get started and to keep the momentum going. The conversation lasts 1-1/2 hours and you’ll leave with meaningful moneymaking ideas, clear priorities, renewed energy and interest in your business, along with useful connections and resources..

There are only four sessions available, so register now! 

If you need a “big-picture” review of your business—what are your opportunities and what practices may be holding you back—sign up for one of the DBRx consultations. If you know specific areas you want to work on—from marketing, to PR, to business-building, and more—choose one of the eight other DBRx sessions.

For more information, pricing, descriptions and to register visit www.debbarrett.com

 DBRx Schedule

Monday, April 25                              

            1:00- 2:30        DBRx Workshop Consults

            2:45- 4:15        DBRx Workshop Consults

            4:30 – 6:00       DBRx Workshop Consults

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I’ll be speaking in Houston, TX  Saturday,  July 24, 2010  for Design Arts on the following topics:

 Textile Technology 8:00 am – 12:00 pm

Design professionals have a responsibility to their clients to understand how today’s fabrics are produced and how it affects their health, safety and welfare. With a production process involving the use of over 2000 chemicals and thousands of gallons of water, we explore textile production as it relates to building codes, energy codes, GOTS standards, LEED, cradle to cradle certification and sustainability. This seminar also narrows in on weaves, printing processes, dyes and finishes to provide an understanding of the various characteristics and properties that make fabrics appropriate for use in interior environments.

World Tour: The Hottest Designs from Around the World  1:00 pm  – 5:00 pm

Trend watching is more than spotting the next new color, fabric, or hot designer. It’s about observing change and understanding how to transform change into opportunity: Opportunity for higher financial returns and opportunity for increased well-being for the end-user. We first explore trend dynamics, then look at the newest products and trends from some of the world’s leading design shows. We also examine how best practices and transformative changes from other industries can be applied to your designs, your marketing, your sampling and your business. Finally, we look at how social and cultural currents will impact design over the next 5 to 10 years, including advances in information technologies, universal and barrier-free design.

 Visit Design Arts for more details.

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