If you’re putting yourself and your business out there to attract customers, you need to be very careful about the image you create. Otherwise you risk actually scaring away the people who might have hired you.

There are 5 common mistakes I see countless home stagers make with their portfolios. At the risk of sounding too negative, I’m going to be very honest here because no amount of subtle hinting seems to convince the people making these mistakes to fix them. I’ll share one mistake today, and you can look for others to be posted over the next couple of weeks.

Home Staging Portfolio Mistake Number 1:

Showing before and after photos that only prove you know how to remove clutter and turn on the lights.

This won’t convince anyone they need your help to do it for them. I see this mistake made most often when showing kitchens in a portfolio. It’s not enough to just clean off the counter tops. Feature a kitchen where you’ve also updated the look by painting cabinet doors and using new hardware for example, like the one shown here by Terri Gunn of Baltimore Home Stagers (MD):

Here Terri Gunn demonstrates how a tired kitchen gets new life by painting the cabinets and updating the hardware. The countertop was also replaced. In the context of the potential costs of renovating a kitchen, these changes are relatively minor but have impact. Many home sellers would imagine they’d need help with changes like this. If all Terri had done was clean off the counters and removed the dish towel from the front of the stove, this would not have been worthy of using in a portfolio.
Another great example of a kitchen transformation where more than just clutter has been removed, by Staging Diva Graduate Susan Vaisler of Refine This House (ON)

If you’d rather not wait for the other 4 common mistakes made in home staging portfolios, you can read about all 5 in the June issue of my monthly newsletter about the business of home staging. If you’re not a subscriber, sign up now by filling in the information at the top left of this screen.

Debra Gould, President Six Elements Inc. Creator of The Staging Diva® Home Staging Training Program

Debra Gould’s mission is to inspire others to follow their dreams and use their innate talents to also earn a living. She has trained over 1000 women and men on five continents how to take their talent for decorating and turn it into a successful home staging business. Learn more about the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program.