Happy New Year!

I just love looking at my brand new calendar filled with 365 days of opportunity to learn and grow and enjoy. The trick of course, is to keep that sense of possibility and not let our fears stop us from taking action.

It’s exactly 7 years since my first staging project. I was terrified that at any moment my first client would throw me out and say, “you don’t know what you’re talking about.” Of course they didn’t, because I did know. Why? Because I had bought, decorated and sold 6 of my own homes and I knew what would attract home buyers. The harder part of my first year as a home stager was not how to arrange the furniture, but how to find clients and then get them to pay me enough to earn a living! It took me until year 2 to master that part of the equation.

It’s exactly 5 years ago since I taught the first Staging Diva courses. I decided to focus on the business of home staging since other programs were mostly about where to put the furniture and how to read a color wheel. From everything I’ve heard from my students, many of whom have taken other programs before this one, that’s still the case.

Staging Diva students come to me because they want to learn how to make a living with their talents.

Have you ever had the experience of trying to drive to a new location and then pulling over just before your destination convinced you are going in the wrong direction? This happens to me enough that I’ve coined the phrase “giving up a block too soon.” It strikes me that this applies to business too.

You put your efforts out there and nothing happens. You’re convinced it’s not working so you stop. But how do you know you’re not just giving up a block too soon? It takes time and perseverance to master a new skill and to build a business. Most people give up just before everything would have come together for them.

Related to this idea, I’ve been reading “Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow.” Author Elizabeth Lesser explores how people deal with a death, divorce, job loss or any challenge, and how we can come out of it defeated, or use the experience to blossom into who we were meant to be.

I’m very grateful to the many women and men who have written to me with their stories of transformation. I am blessed to have been part of your journeys as you re-invent yourselves and your careers.

Wishing you a new year of joy, health, creativity and success.