There’s a saying that the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The next best time is today.

In other words, if you’re thinking it’s too late for you to do work that you love, then I challenge you to fast forward another 20 years and ask yourself whether you shouldn’t have started right now!

As far as I know, Jean Smith is the eldest Staging Diva Graduate—she’s fabulous. Jean lives in Florida in a retirement community and it had always been her dream to have a career related to decorating.

So at 76 she decided to make it happen.

She found me through an Internet search, bought the Staging Diva Home Staging Training Program, downloaded her courses and away she went! Within two weeks, she had two staging projects and she’s having the best time.

Overall, I’d say that most graduates are in their 40s, 50s or 60s, and they come from all types of past careers, many are cancer survivors determined to stop waiting for the “right” time to do something they love and just dive in. There are also tons of mothers in their 30s who are looking for a flexible career that they can manage from home.

Home Stagers are Creative Directors— Not Movers, Painters or Cleaners

Most of the fear of “being too old” to be a home stager comes from the misplaced belief that this is a highly physical job requiring you to move heavy furniture. You might be imagining I’m 6’-3”, but I’m actually only 5’-1”.

I do not move heavy objects around a room, nor do I ever pick up a paintbrush, but I am the first to say where the furniture should go and what color to paint. I also don’t personally clean my clients’ houses.

All of these things need to be done for staging projects, but it doesn’t mean that you’re the one who has to physically do them.

As a home staging professional, you’re the creative visionary. That’s an important distinction to make in your own mind.

You determine what needs to be done, but you’re not the one who is actually doing it. Movers, painters and cleaners earn less than you do as a home stager, so leave the physical labor to them. You’re the thinker!

The only time I’ll roll up my sleeves is for easy-to-move stuff. I might say to a client during a home staging consultation, “This end table would look so much better in the other room,” and we’ll each grab an end and move it since it’s small and not that heavy. Or I might move a lamp from one place to another, or I’ll re-hang their artwork. But I’m not doing really heavy stuff.

Read more in this free article on getting others to do the physical work for you.