Quote of the Month!
"Get in the
game. Consider a situation or project you've wanted to start.
Whatever you've been waiting for, forget it. Begin now from wherever
you are with whatever you've got." T. Harv
Eker
Staging Diva Biz Tip
Stay away from Stock
Images
Many less experienced stagers feel they should use "stock
images" to get work.
They might even rationalize this little portfolio
pick me up by saying "look at how many other stagers and
interior designers do it."
In my opinion, there's no valid
excuse for using someone else's design photos to promote your design
services.
You are selling your staging or decorating talents, so the
photos you use must show your own talent.
Otherwise you are misleading prospective clients and this
will come back to haunt you.
Whether you're caught or not, you'll always know that you
were hired based on the strength of someone else's decorating work.
This does nothing to build your own confidence or pride in what you
do.
We
all start somewhere. Usually in our own house or those of friends
and family.
As
long as you are the one rearranging the rooms, it's your work and
you can stand behind it.
Check out the awesome job Lynn Trostheim of Sassy Grass
Interiors did with her portfolio using her home and a family
member's!
More
about "stock images"
We discuss this and related topics in the Staging Diva
Training Program, course 2,"The
Business of Home Staging: What You Need to Start and How to
Grow"
NOTE
I
do not accept ANY stock images of staged rooms on my sites. If any
photos on your Staging
Diva Directory listing are found elsewhere, your page will be
removed.
The Staging Diva Team!
Peggy, our
Manager of Operations is absolutely fabulous. If you have any
questions, please don't hesitate to email
her.
Sandy is my
Executive Assistant who does a great job getting Graduation
Certificates out to you in a timely fashion, keeping the Staging Diva
Network humming and many other behind the scenes
details.
Peggy and Sandy will
quickly handle your questions about registrations, certificates,
course downloads, memberships and more.
Don't worry, I'm
still accessible but with over 200 emails a day, I need
help!
What's in store for you in
2007?
Did you miss the
Staging Diva 2007 Home Staging Horoscope?
Get
Predictions
Help Clients find you
For all of you who
purchased a listing and haven't sent me your materials yet, get
busy!
The important
spring real estate market is underway and now is the time to get
your portfolio online so they can find you.
Please send your
materials in a series of emails once you have everything ready and
organized.
It's really
difficult for me to keep track of who is missing what when I get
everything in bits and pieces spread over many days and
weeks.
Learn
more!
Are you really feeling
stuck?
Check out some of the most inspiring books I've ever read.
The books that helped me get unstuck and take action. The books that
helped me find my personal power and not run from it
anymore.
Maybe they'll help you too!
My
reading list of inspiring books
So Many Training
Options, how do you know which one is right for
you?
I
get a lot of emails from people completely befuddled by the various
home staging training programs available.
Your first question should be what specifically do you want
to get out of the program and which ones address those specific
needs?
If
you're not clear about what you want and you have not thought about
your own strengths and weaknesses, how can you possibly make an
appropriate choice?
Read
the rest of this story |
Issue 9:
February 2007
You are receiving this newsletter because you
expressed interest in learning about the business of Home Staging.
If you don't want to continue, use the "Preferences" link at the
very bottom of this email.
Hi ,
January flew by before I could get another issue of Staging
Diva Dispatch to you! I've been flooded with emails and phone calls
from homeowners and realtors looking for home stagers or just
wanting more information on how staging
works.
I've referred 20 projects to Staging Diva Graduates in the
last few weeks, plus posted stories of MANY home staging projects at
The
Business Of Home Staging which remain available. You'll find
instructions there for how to be considered for any of
them.
It's also been a busy time building web pages for new
listings in The
Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers. I'm still waiting for
materials from many of you. Don't wait! This is THE season to
promote your services. I'm building the pages in the order in which
I receive all your photos and copy.
Now entering it's second year, The Staging Diva Directory of
Home Stagers will be actively promoted in 2007. I needed to wait
until there were enough listings to launch an advertising campaign
and we'll be there once the latest registrants submit their
material.
I've got as many of my own home staging projects as I can
handle lined up for the next 6 weeks. I'm always looking for Staging
Diva Graduates who can take over Toronto area
projects.
I hope you find the content of this issue of Staging Diva
Dispatch helpful; and I welcome any feedback or story ideas you'd
like to see in 2007!
Best wishes to you for the growth of your business in the
months ahead,
Debra Gould, President Six Elements Inc. Creator of The Staging Diva Program
In this
issue:
Main Section
Getting 2007 Off to a Strong Start
Home Stagers Needed
NEW Home Staging Portfolio Guide
The Hidden Cost of Procrastination
Student/Graduate Success Corner
Staging Diva in the Media |
Left column
Quote of the Month
Staging Diva Biz Tip
The Staging Diva Team
What's in store for 2007
Help Clients Find You
Are You Feeling Stuck?
Which Training is Right for
You? |
Getting 2007 Off To A
Great Start
There
is a saying that "the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, and
the next best time to plant it is today."
What are you
holding yourself back from doing because you think it is too late?
Now is the time to plant the seeds for your future.
Why not
set 5 business building challenges to accomplish this week and next.
You need to go for it. No one will reinvent your life or build your
business for you.
Examples of business building challenges
include:
Book an appointment to make a presentation to a
local real estate office during their weekly meeting. It is a chance
to meet a number of agents all at once.
Find out if your
local real estate board allows home stagers to join as "affiliate
members." Learn what benefits this would entitle you to and what the
costs are. If you are reluctant to make such an investment,
calculate how many projects you would have to get to pay for the
annual fee. Is it reasonable to assume that you would get at least
one project from your membership (YES), if you got 10, how good an
investment would that membership fee be?
Find
out if there is a Mom's group in a neighborhood you want to work in
that is looking for guest speakers. Work out a script for a
15-minute presentation on home staging. Remember questions and
answers take lots of time and you don't need a script for
that!
If you
find yourself saying, "I can't do that," ask yourself "what is the
worst thing that can happen if I try these things?" If your worst
fear is "looking silly," get over it! Teenagers worry about how they
look to everyone else, but we should be past that.
The odds
of having all the business you want land in your lap with no effort
on your part are about equal to winning the lottery! Stop letting
fear hold you back. Just go for it! You will gain confidence with
every new step you take towards your goals. It's only too
late if you don't start now.
This is an excerpt from one of the 21 weekly
lessons in the Staging
Diva Biz Booster eCourse.
This topic is covered in greater detail in the Staging
Diva Training Program.
Home Stagers
Needed for Client Projects and Speaking
Engagements!
It's
incredibly time-consuming playing matchmaker for hundreds of leads
and then finding out who's in that market, contacting them, etc. In
fact yesterday morning I spent over two hours doing nothing but
answering phone calls from homeowners and realtors who need stagers
and wanted to know more about staging and how to find a local
stager. All of these calls were for projects outside my area, so I
referred them on.
If I
don't immediately know who to send a lead to (and that they'll be
ready to handle it), most home staging projects and speaking
engagements are now being posted in "Home Staging Help Wanted" at
The Business of Home Staging. You can read about new home staging projects anytime under
the category Home Staging
Help Wanted, and contact me
directly by email if you're interested.
You must follow the instructions provided for how to apply,
otherwise you won't be considered for the opportunity. Please note that adding a
comment on the blog is not the same as sending an email. Blog
comments should only be used to comment on a story, they are visible
to anyone searching the Internet. That's why an email response is
more appropriate when you're applying for a project.
Worried about missing an opportunity? Sign up in the green box
in the left column to have my posts automatically emailed to
you.
Please note, if I've sent you a number of project
leads and you haven't kept me informed of whether they turned into
projects, you're unlikely to receive future
referrals.
NEW!
Staging Diva
Ultimate Guide: Creating The Perfect Portfolio to Sell Your
Home Staging Services
How you present
yourself is the single most important factor in determining your
success. I want you to go out there and dazzle your community with
your strengths and what you have to offer. With worksheets and
plenty of "how to" information this guide will show you how to get
out there and win business.
Release Date: March 6, 2007 |
Building trust and credibility are key to selling your
home staging services as discussed in The
Staging Diva Home Staging Training Program.
A
key component to establishing your credibility is how polished
your portfolio is.
It's not just what you say, it's how you say it. It's
not just what you show, it's how you show it!
This new Staging Diva
Portfolio Guide will take you through the
steps to building a winning portfolio, from what should go in
it, to how to improve how it looks and sounds.
Order now at the pre-release price and s.av.e.
$25! |
The hidden cost of
procrastination
A graduate who
completed the program almost 6 months ago writes, "I am kicking
myself for procrastinating on getting my material together for the
Staging Diva Directory. There was a home staging article in our
local paper that I wasn't quoted in. While one of the stagers they
quoted is well known, the two others are new and they only got press
because they had websites so the reporter could find them.
Lesson learned! Look for material from me in a week for
sure!"
That was six weeks ago, and still
nothing!
Believe me, I'm
an expert procrastinator myself. But I try to procrastinate on less
important matters like nice-to-do, but non-essential household
chores (and filing which I hate).
Take a look at your "To Do"
list and decide which items can move to your "Stop Doing"
list.
If you put
off the things that will build your business you are seriously
hindering your own success.
Now is the time to get your portfolios together! Get
yourself on the Internet so homeowners, real estate agents and the
media can find you as we head into the busiest real estate season of
the year.
Either build your own site, or give serious thought to
joining The Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers. It is your
easiest way to get this taken care of. You write your copy and send
me your photos and I do the rest, generally within a few
days!
There is a one-time charge of $395 to build your page, set up
all the links and write the code so search engines can find
you.
Hosting your profile page in The Staging Diva Directory
of Home Stagers costs only $45/month (beginning 7 days after you
register), less than the cost of a Yellow Pages ad. You will have a
professional looking Profile on a high traffic home staging website,
doing the selling for you 24 hours a day, 365 days a year! And you
only need one good project to have it pay for
itself.
If
you don't believe that the Internet is the best source of home
staging jobs, check out the over 50 Stager Help Wanted projects I
have posted at The
Business Of Home Staging. I only started posting these at the
end of August.
These are people who already want to hire a
home stager and contacted me because they could not find someone on
their own
Many are visitors to sixelements.com and others
have discovered stagingdiva.com. These home
staging projects are only a fraction of the many I am contacted
about.
Student/Graduate Success
Corner
|
If you're still trying to write your profile for the
Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers, you might want to
check out the listing for Laura Jensen of Lakeshore
Staging(WI).
Laura did a great job of weaving her "success stories"
into her copy and really paid attention to the use of
headlines and sub-heads.
It's important to remember that Internet visitors scan
before reading.
If something catches their eye in a headline or
sub-head, they're more likely to read the
rest. |
Congratulations to Joanne Babynec on
moving Signature
Home Staging to her new
home in Edmonton.
One of the benefits of staging, is that once you've
figured out how to get started, you can relocate anywhere.
Change your contact information on your website (or Staging
Diva Directory Listing), reprint your business cards with a
new phone number, and you're ready to keep
growing!
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Congratulations to Staging Diva Graduate Gina
Dougherty of Fusion Design Consulting (CA) who has a
TV production company coming to tape her in action and
interview her on camera as a candidate for a new Real
Estate/Staging show they're working
on!
|
Debbie McGennis Howe (FL) of Set the
Stage Interiors who contacted The News Press as we talked
about in course 4 and got them to cover her in the business
section of the paper. After one week she got her first two
projects (one of them for a $1.8 million home) with a lead on
a third project. By the way, it's almost impossible to get
those results by running a newspaper ad. Public relations is
WAY more powerful.
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Congratulations to Allegra Shann, Styled
and Sold, LLC (MD) who made a successful home staging
presentation to over 65 local
realtors.
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Bravo Leah Fritz, Perfect
Place Home Staging, LLC (WI) who was chosen over another
local stager to speak on home staging as part of a realtor
training program. Initially another stager had been chosen,
but when the teacher found Leah's profile on The Staging Diva
Directory of Home Stagers, she chose Leah instead!
Read
more
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I'm really proud of Kris O'Neill of A Cents
of Design Inc. (GA) who not only got written up in her
local paper, but is decorating a room for the
HGTV show "My First Place." She completed the
Staging Diva Program only 6 months ago. How her life has
changed! Way to go Kris!
Read
the rest of this
story
|
It's worth
noting that all these graduates have either a profile in the Staging
Diva Directory of Home Stagers, their own website, or both.
There is no better way to let customers and the media find
you!
Staging Diva Students and Graduates, send me your successes so we
can celebrate your triumphs and inspire
others!
Staging Diva In the
Media
For the
third time in 2006, the Staging Diva Home
Staging Business Training Program was THE ONLY home staging
business opportunity featured in Entrepreneur Magazine's Start
Up Guide.
This edition was on newsstands until Jan. 29/07 and I
almost missed it until I went magazine shopping and just
stumbled upon it!
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HomeStyle
Magazine is featuring my bathroom redesign and staging tips
and the stagingdiva.com site in an article in January 2007.
The magazine is distributed in newspapers to about 12
million households in the United States and will
definitely build traffic to The
Staging Diva Directory of Home
Stagers! |
I'm part of a feature article on Home Staging going out
in the Spring issue of USAA Magazine to their 5.6
million members. USAA is the only fully-integrated
financial services company in America and serves the military
community and their families. |
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More Media
Coverage
A growing number of reporters are grabbing
their stories right off my websites without even interviewing me. If
any of you see me in a local paper or magazine, I'd appreciate you
letting me know! I'd be happy to send you a thank you gift in
exchange for a copy of the
story!
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