Cheers on a Winning Wednesday,

Had a festive and fun Thanksgiving, hope you did too! Of course I did eat a bit too much. I had managed to diet earlier in the week and dropped 2.5 pounds, which I promptly gained back all in one lovely afternoon and evening of dining with friends in Highlands! They are still raving about my pumpkin pies with the praline pecan crust. (Don't look so surprised, I can cook really well when I want to and have a reason to! My sweet potatoes are darn delicious also.) Oh and I wasn't going to wear my sequined Turkey, but I couldn't resist.

Holidays means it's Showhouse time! This week I got to join my design colleagues at the Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles Holiday Showhouse! It closes December 7 so hurry up and get over to it. It's loaded with lots of great ideas, fresh looks, and seasonal wonder. And be sure to check out Melissa Recommends! I'm a big advocate of vision boards and possibility books and my friend and colleague Sandy Martini is launching a new program designed make your 2010 the most beautiful ever!

Headed to Naples, FL for the Furniture Today Leadership Conference. I am truly looking forward to three days of events defining the state of the furniture industry and what the outlook for 2010 and beyond is. There is so much that can be done with leveraged branding, co-marketing, and, of course, social media to bring an old school industry into new school success!

Together we all go farther,

Melissa
www.twitter.com/prosperbydesign
www.facebook.com/melissagalt
www.linkedin.com/in/melissagalt

"The greatest conflicts are not between two people,
but between one person and himself."

~ Garth Brooks, Country Singer/Songwriter

Create YOUR Best Year Ever!

Join me next Tuesday, December 8 at 7pm EST when I interview Sandra Martini on your latest success program:

How to Turn Your Vision Board Goals into Reality:
5 Strategies for Creating Your Best Year Ever!

Join us on this FR<E teleclass during which you'll:
www.sandramartini.com/bestyearevermelissa

	Discover how to translate your vision board into daily action items.
	Learn why the strongest businesses put their clients second and what it means for your business.
	Get the simple systems you can put in place right now to ensure that you get, and stay, on track.
	Understand why vision boards and manifesting are only part of the equation and it's the other part which can mean success or failure.

Register for FRE.E. here: www.sandramartini.com/bestyearevermelissa

I've used vision boards and possibility books for the last 10 years and can delightedly say they work brilliantly when you know the 5 winning strategies that truly make them work for you. I hope you'll join me on the call with Sandy. This is the perfect time of year to be establishing your success blueprint for 2010 and beyond!

Getting Out of Your Own Way

Recently I was speaking with the son of a friend of mine, Jim. He bartends for a living and mentioned that he was launching a blog to earn money. Since I follow @problogger and have been studying blog monetization for awhile, I asked a few questions. The answers I got back, amazed me. Jim is half my age and while interestingly he is a rare non-tech in his generation, he is acting as someone twice his age would about technology and how to do this. He has a friend doing this for free (and it sounded like it was the long and hard way.) There is no deadline; he hasn't studied how to make money from it beyond adwords (largely ineffective according to what I've read), and when I offered resources and solid advice he was largely uninterested. This struck me as a classic case of self sabotage.

The reality is that you can set up a blog literally in the space of an hour or two on Wordpress for free. Buying a template is a nominal $60-$160, if you want one (there are several available at no charge.) Jim kept talking about how much this would cost because it is being built on an old school platform. Okay, I digress, this isn't about setting up a blog, but it is about how to avoid and eliminate self sabotage to hasten the arrival of success. Let's dive in!

#1 Be open to new ways of doing things. Tried and true is never the only way to do anything and may not be the best way. With the rapid advent of technology, there are almost always better, faster, and easier ways to do things than there were even 6 months ago. Let go of your resistance to new, be willing to experiment.

#2 Accept help when offered. Too often you are going out there like the Lone Ranger determined to do it all yourself. I know I do. This isn't necessary. There are scores of people, some you know, and some you haven't yet met, that have the knowledge, experience, and generosity to teach you or tell you how to do what you want to do.

#3 Paid is faster than free. This is a tough lesson to learn but how often do you get a friend to do something only to find it either never gets done, they don't share your sense of urgency, they didn't see the finished project the same way you did. Save your friendships and get a professional. They exist at all levels of the market and all levels of expertise. You may not be able to invest in the top of the market but you can surely find a way to afford the best at your level. If you are going to use barter, use a formal and professional barter network.

#4 Set a deadline. Do you find that your projects tend to keep getting pushed back? Setting a hard and fast deadline can be a challenge by yourself. It is often easy to let ourselves slide into oblivion on getting things done. Don't. Establish a deadline and stick to it, break the project down into bite size pieces and keep track of your progress.

#5 Make the world your accountability partner. Now this can be a bit scary but the more people you share your goal with, the more you will be accountable to. Imagine having to tell everyone you didn't get your project done, you missed the deadline. UGH! Letting as many people know as you can is a sure cure. An easy way to do this is online, tell your networks what you are working on (no secrets given away but perhaps you are writing an ebook, knocking out an article, or launching a new program) and then tell them when they can expect to see it!

#6 Mentor Someone. Mentoring is one of the fastest and most effective ways to get ahead in any field. By having a mentor you have an advocate and an example all in one. Modeling success is a superior shortcut to achieving. Don't reinvent the wheel, instead see who else has gotten where you want to go and mentor them.

Now that you know six key ways to stop the train wreck of self sabotage, go forth and succeed! Your feedback and comments are always welcome.

The Community Builder Strategy

The community builder strategy is one of the fastest ways to create a tribe with heart. For the inside scoop on building your own Tribe, I recommend you read Seth Godin's book Tribes. This strategy can be easy to implement when you select a cause or charity and elicit support for them. It can be based around a specific event and have a deadline or simply be what you lead with.

Offline this can be done with flyers, fund raising, raffles and more. Online you can create a Twibbon for use on Twitter to identify supporters of your cause and members of your tribe. You can use the power of the online networks to garner sponsors, raise funds, and increase awareness. By association you will gain goodwill and recognition.

The community builder strategy allows you to build a base of caring individuals and keep them warm for future business opportunities. Often causes that are kid based are most popular, like Make a Wish. Other popular causes include Kiva.org serving entrepreneurialism globally, Susan G. Komen for breast cancer, the Humane Society for animal protection, and Habitat for Humanity, serving welfare recipients globally.

Hi! I'm Melissa Galt and as a successful business creativepreneur and business owner of the last 15+ years I learned that the key to a profitable business is all in the marketing. I was spoiled at the start because corporate America had done it for me so when I jumped into the wild blue yonder of owning my own business I had a lot to learn, and learn it I did! And I've gone from wasting thousands on advertising, direct response mail, expos and more to creating a finally honed marketing machine that regularly delivers perfect prospects whom I convert to ideal clients for lifetime demand. Can I show you how to do the same?

As entrepreneurs we all have the dream of designing a business that is both profitable, passionate, purposeful, and gives us the lifestyle we deserve and want. That means:

But too often that dream gets buried in 15 hour days, 6 days a week, years without vacation and missing friends and family. Marketing makes the difference and from mindset to strategy, Twitter to Facebook, blogging to article marketing, passive revenue products to your own teleseminars I've got the solutions.

Please consider me your marketing success resource to move your business forward and become the thriving profitable opportunity you dreamed of! I welcome and invite your emails, Tweets, Facebook posts, LinkedIN connections, and even phone calls. I'm old fashioned but learned how to harness today's marketing tools for real success. You can too!