Design for a Living Cruise 2015 is Officially a Success!

I’m going to hit the highlights because I don’t want to rub in how much fun we had. (Don’t worry; I’m going to do it again as per request.)

It was so great to meet this group of enthusiastic designers. We all agreed the energy was so positive, and that we were all brought together by some sort of fate.

I especially loved meeting Carolyn from Chicago, whom I’d coached as a one-on-one client years ago. We’d never actually met in person before, but I heard her speak across the room and I knew in an instant she was here! Imagine meeting a pen pal after 4 years of writing.

Like I said we didn’t waste any time, they were there for one reason, to learn how to sketch like me. What? Yep, that’s what everyone said when I went around the table on that first day of our session.

Of course I heard a few, “get more clients”, “make more money”, the usual stuff. But what they really wanted to know was, could I live up to my promise of being able to teach anyone how to quick-sketch. The answer is YES! (I don’t want to hear it Shelley, you were doing great!)

The other unexpected problem with my Cruise Workshop, was sea sickness. Ugh! Honestly I didn’t think of that. I’ve never felt even slightly ill on a cruise, and apparently that’s just me. I thought I was going to lose one designer on our first day, but she hung in there like a trooper and in the end, she took away more than anyone else.

Day one onboard, I went to secure our meeting spaces and finalize the excursion plans and what do you know? That one task became an amazing teaching tool. The crew member asked me what my group was all about and after I told her she said, “I’m building a house in Italy and I desperately need help choosing my paint colors and furniture layout. I have a copy of my floor plans, do you think they could help?” Well, Of Course!

First of all, I’ve been preaching the “tell everyone what you do” method of marketing for years and the first person aboard I meet, wants to hire me for a design job. Secondly, I usually use a designer for my hypothetical walkthrough as the final exercise. Now I had a real life client to use for demonstrative purposes. I interviewed Biljiana from Slovakia, just as I would a new client on a first house call, then walked her through my contract and “the Chat”, and in the end we were hired! (Actually, we‘re all staying connected on Facebook through our Bootcamp Group, and we’re going to split up the project amongst everyone, and want to plan a trip to Italy to visit her). I couldn’t have planned it better if I tried.

In the end, each and every designer learned that they had more to learn than they thought. They all realized that they weren’t stretching enough when it came to their goals and it was only going to take a few tweaks here and there to make them more money and have less stress. They all have an incredible gift to share with the world. Now they’ve learned how to tap into that gift and take their design businesses to a level that they hadn’t thought possible, and I can’t wait to share their success stories as they unfold. Laura from Utah had such a wonderful time, that she suggested we have this workshop every month! I love it. How about every 4 months Laura, so I can keep planning bigger and better ways to draw out your brilliance. I’m not sure the world could handle all of our talent all at once.