It’s been great hearing from so many of my students who are at the point in their businesses where things are really falling into place. It’s so easy to get discouraged after a few months and assume that nothing is working. But then, all of a sudden the phone starts ringing with new projects and your whole perspective shifts. Sometimes this takes a month and sometimes it takes 3, 4 or 6. It depends on how focused you are in your marketing, how well you’ve positioned your company, and what time of year you started since there is a seasonality to home staging.
Having heard from so many stagers who are intimidated by the thought of writing a marketing plan, I decided to create a guide that would save time and make the whole process easier. You’ll read about the new Simple Marketing Plan Companion in a future post with a special opportunity to pre-order this new guide at $10 off and receive it in time to fine-tune your marketing for the key spring real estate season.
I just read the results of a survey of 800 professionals for the book “The Cost of Bad Behavior.” The authors found that 80% of workers had been insulted or bullied in a workplace! That’s an incredibly high statistic, but one that doesn’t surprise me having come from the corporate world myself. If you’re in that unhappy situation, and thinking of taking up home staging on the side with the goal of eventually having your own full-time business, I know you’ll enjoy this month’s feature article on Wow Moments as a Home Stager.
January flew by with lots of calls from potential clients for my home staging help, and many of these projects were referred to Staging Diva Graduates. Amazingly I didn’t hear from any stagers in the San Francisco Bay area who were interested in staging 5 vacant high-end homes for a local builder. This shocked me considering that the income from this single client would be enough for many people to live on for the year!
If you’re not on my list to be notified about staging projects in your area as soon as they become available, make sure you subscribe to my blog by filling out the green box in the left column at Home Staging Business Report. Also keep in mind that members of the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers get automatic no-fee project leads.
A group of Staging Diva Students joined me for 5 hours of Take-Action Training in January, during which I laid out the first 20 steps needed to start a home staging business. We had in-depth discussions about a number of topics, like choosing whether to incorporate, establishing the personality of your brand, creating a solid logo and staging portfolio, and more. It was great to see the members taking action with their businesses during the 3 weeks of special training.
January wrapped up with the Toronto Interior Design Show, where I caught up with some of my students and reconnected with suppliers I first met at the show when I was starting my own staging and redesign business over 8 years ago. Luckily, I also ran into Canada’s 2011 Home Stager of the Year, and I’ll introduce you to her in a future post.
If you’re a Staging Diva Student or Graduate and you’d like me to write a free article about you, all you have to do is submit your info at this link. Why not take advantage of this opportunity to increase awareness for your staging business?
I hope you enjoy this month’s posts. Please keep your opinions and story ideas coming! My goal is to share inspiring ideas and tips that will help you in your staging business— whether you’re totally new at this or you’ve been a home stager for a while.