Hey,

Apparently I escaped Opryland and Nashville just in time to miss the big flood, yikes! Mother Nature really is up to her old tricks this year. While we've had great rains in the mountains, it is making everything green beautifully and my garden is coming up nicely.

In fact, each time I weed and feed, I think of business and how important it is for us each to prune any dead wood from our businesses. This might take the form of reviewing subscriptions you get monthly and determining what to keep and what to cancel. It could also mean reviewing your real bookcases and your electronic files for clutter that you can dump or pass on to a colleague who hasn't read it yet. As fast as the world is moving, I've learned that if I don't read it within 30 days, it isn't relevant any longer, something new has come along. Take time this week to prune the dead wood and you'll find yourself feeling lighter and more energized.

Heading to Atlanta today for the Atlanta Bloggers Meetup tonite at Hudson Grill downtown, if you want to join us. It is an awesome group of about 80 peeps and over 50% don't even blog, lol. Tomorrow night is a big one at Beverly Hall Furniture, I'm going to check out their Grand Reopening.

Going farther together,

Melissa
Your Success Catalyst and Profit Designer
www.twitter.com/prosperbydesign
www.facebook.com/prosperbydesign
www.linkedin.com/in/melissagalt

The Shadow Effect

Three of my favorite authors have combined their wisdom to bring you a new guide to personal transformation. Is your shadow side making your choices and driving your behavior? Is your past and the parts of yourself that you have hidden away keeping you from delivering your gifts to the world? Join Deepak Chopra, Debbie Ford and Marianne Williamson on a journey of transformation in THE SHADOW EFFECT. For the first time ever, these three New York Times bestselling authors have joined together to shine light onthis most provocative issue. You will find courage and compassion as you illuminate the power of your hidden self.

http://www.theshadoweffect.com/book
(not an affiliate link)

How to Charge What You Are Worth!

I run into this so often, I finally had to do an article on it. For some reason, I've never had the challenge of not being able to charge what I am worth. In fact, I am very comfortable with my rates, packages and programs because I know that the value I bring is easily 5x and 10x that of the price, sometimes much greater. Yet so many creatives I know struggle mightily with this issue. This is particularly challenging for design professionals, stagers, organizers, coaches, and service based professionals. Here are three simple techniques to get what you are worth!

#1 KNOW YOUR ROI:

Get very clear on the benefits and outcomes of the service you provide. List these clearly and succinctly and rarely are they what you think. I urge you to dig deeply on this and really look at what your service brings at the end of the day. What is the Return on Investment for your clients and customers? Is it security? Is it peace of mind? Is it time with family and friends? Is it an environment that fosters loving relationships, great health, and career success? Detail these on a sheet of paper and keep it handy for daily reading and use in your sales copy.

Read two more techniques ...

It's all in the FACE!

Okay, here goes, I'm going to rant a bit. If you don't want read further, then don't, but I've had enough. Why on earth would you climb aboard the social networks for either social fun or business contacts and be unwilling to share your face? Why would you share the face of your pet? Your child? Your car? Your home? It is social media for a reason. We connect by FACE FIRST, voice second, and name third. If you don't believe me go test this out.

Oh and yes it does need to be a recognizable pic because the whole point of social media is for you to ultimately be face to face with your peeps and tweeps. Sure you may not meet many of them, but you will many others at expos, conferences, in the neighborhood, at live events, and more. Think how embarrassed you will be when no one recognizes you because you had a picture up that was 10 years younger and 30 pounds lighter. This isn't online dating where lying is expected (unfortunately, I have way to much experience in this arena, though I don't lie and have the references to prove it!)

Want more? Read on ...

Yes, you can get my full story, testimonials, topics and more over at www.melissagalt.com, along with my blog. What you really need to know is that I am here to serve and support your success. My greatest joy is to strip obstacles from your path, make marketing easy, motivate you toward your big dream, and show you that you deserve the life that you design. This can take different forms.

I invite you to get in touch to find out more about how I can close the gap between where you are now and where you want to be. I know I didn't get on my path with purpose until I was coached. As a creativepreneur, I am much like you, we like to chase bright shiny objects, ideas, and gurus. Allow me to show you the benefit of focus, planning, goal setting, strategy and the right tools. Allow me to work with you to bring your dream closer faster, and shave years off an otherwise long and winding road.

Going farther together,

www.theultimatetrafficsummit.com
www.marketingtomakeyoumoney.com
www.sixfigureprofessionals.com