Becoming a home stager was a natural evolution for Debbie Fiskum who worked with her husband doing "fix n flips" and rentals in Denver, Colorado before taking the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program and starting her business, Perfect Home Staging Denver. It didn't take long for Debbie to learn that there was a future in home staging because through successful staging projects she was steadily educating her market that staging works.
A year or two ago, if you thought things like Facebook and instant messaging were only for teenagers, you might have been right. But if you still have that same attitude in 2010, you have a lot of learning to do about the power of social media! As a home stager, or any type of business owner, social media is the ideal way to grow your business.
In the hundreds of homes I've staged, I have yet to see a house that has absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever. But I have been in many real estate properties where it was a challenge to find the good features! If you're worried about what to do if you find yourself in a home like that, first of all, remember the current owners decided to make that home theirs at some point. So you have to assume there are at least a few good things about the property and it's your job as a home stager to find them.
If you take nothing else from the Tiger Woods PR disaster, realize that there is very little that is private anymore. While you may not be famous, any time you send an email, Facebook message, Twitter status update or 'Direct Message' you're essentially leaving a trail of digital communication. That applies to all those Facebook quizzes you might be tempted to take too.
It's rare today for anyone to keep the same career for a lifetime. And since we're all living much longer than our parents' generation, many people at the traditional retirement age realize they still have many years ahead that they'd like to be productive, not to mention doing work they would love.
For an innately creative soul, feeling stuck in a non-creative, non-inspiring job is a terrible fate. And it usually only gets worse coming on the end of a year when you get a few days off for the holidays because as soon as the break starts you're dreading your return to that job you hate. If you're thinking of starting a home staging business what better time to make the transition than the start of a New Year which coincidentally kicks off a new decade?
It's a great freedom being able to work from home. If you work as a home stager, interior designer or in another type of profession where you visit your clients in their homes for consultations and projects, there's never any reason why a client would need to visit you at your home office.
Home staging expert, Staging Diva, advises those constantly decorating and redecorating their homes to take lots of before and after photos. It's never too early to start your home staging portfolio.
Internationally recognized home stager, Staging Diva, reminds home stagers that they must never stop marketing no matter how afraid they are of becoming too busy. She offers suggestions of how to structure your business so you can easily take on more home staging clients.
If you find yourself meeting with homeowners who should be on an Oprah episode about compulsive hoarders, you're not alone. I've found myself in similar situations and just like you, when this happens, my first instinct is to turn and run! Instead of running, though, you should fight that impulse and remember one important thing about home staging - no two projects are the same and every home staging consultation will happen on a different level depending on the clients and the property.
As soon as you come up with a name for your home staging business, you should waste no time in grabbing the domain name for it. If you don't know what a domain name is, it's the technical term for your website address or URL. If the domain name for your business isn't available, that means someone else is probably already using that name for their own business. If you're tossing around different ideas for names, checking if the domains are available can actually help you make your final decision.
If you're trying to start a home staging business, you might be wondering how you are actually going to get paid. This is one of the important steps in setting up a business - determining whether you'll take checks, cash and/or credit cards. The ability to accept credit card payments is appealing to home stagers, especially since the amounts you're getting paid are usually quite high. Setting up a merchant account, however, is very expensive. Not only do you have to pay a large sum to the bank just to apply for and then set up the account, you also have to pay a certain amount each month regardless of whether or not you have any transactions.
Colette Smith has always had an entrepreneurial spirit. This former owner and operator of a picture framing and gallery shop is now using her business acumen and talent for decorating to help homeowners in the Perth Metropolitan area of Australia sell their homes fast.
I get approximately five calls a week from people interested in shadowing me for a day to see how I work as a home stager. I have yet to say yes, and if you're trying to find a successful home stager to shadow before you start your own business, you're not making a good use of your time.
Becoming a home stager doesn't mean you have to get yourself into credit card debt stocking up on art, accessories, towels and bedding. If you've been putting off your desire to learn home staging because you're not prepared for these expenses, you should know you have other options. When it comes to accessories, towels and bedding - those types of things - when I need to purchase them for a client, I use their money and everything ends up belonging to my clients.
You know that kitchens and bathrooms sell houses, but that doesn’t mean you can ignore other parts of a house when it comes to staging it to sell. One of the most neglected yet biggest selling features of a home is the garage. Many homeowners think they can simply close the garage door when they put their house on the market and hope potential buyers won’t notice the clutter or hope they will forgive the mess.
Part of the reason for the current foreclosure situation is that people were buying homes they just couldn’t afford. This was due in no small part to the fact that home prices were increasing at unprecedented rates, and salaries could in no way keep up with these inflated prices. If the real estate market becomes more realistically priced, is that really a bad thing?
If you’re trying to find out everything you can about being in the home staging business, you’ve probably heard of a program guaranteeing employment as a home stager at a rate of $24-$30 per hour. While that might sound like a lot if you’re used to earning minimum wage, it’s actually a very low salary for a home stager.
Many moms are feeling like it’s time to do something for themselves. Especially in these tough economic times, many are also looking for ways to contribute to the household income. When the kids head back to school after March or Spring Break, is it time for Mom to look at new ways to spend the time while they are at school?
When you aspire to be a successful home stager, drowning in debt is not a good place to be. You should only borrow money to pay for things that will help you make money. In other words, borrow only to invest in your success. You already know that it’s not a good idea to drown yourself in debt, but when you borrow money to improve your future, it is not a debt so much as an investment.
