A home stager will struggle to make money when they don’t charge enough for their staging services. Here are 3 tips to help you establish your home staging fees:

1. Consider all the time you don’t get paid for.

If you think $75 or even $200 per hour is too much to charge a client for home staging, remember the many hours you put into your business that no one pays for.

As a home stager, you spend time on many other non-paying tasks, like:

• researching decorating and design trends
• understanding the local real estate market
• writing home staging blog posts and newsletters
• networking with real estate agents, home owners and home sellers
• negotiating with suppliers
• preparing for client appointments
• answering potential clients’ questions in advance
• scheduling and re-scheduling appointments
• travel time to and from meetings and running business errands
• follow up calls (before, during and after the staging or redesign project)
• keeping track of client expenses and time on each staging or redesign project
• bookkeeping
• standing in line at the bank
• shopping for office supplies
• maintaining your home staging website

2. Consider the many benefits you bring to your home staging clients.

Do you believe you provide real value to your clients? If you don’t believe this, it will be very difficult to convince them. It might help to think about the many benefits you can bring to a client if you do the job well.

Don’t fall into the trap of feeling embarrassed about your rates. Done well, a home staging project should generate anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000 profit for the homeowner.

So, why shouldn’t a professional home stager be paid well?

This was my home staging client’s house. It sold for $71,000 over the asking price.

The client invested about $950 in my advice during a home staging consultation.

Someone could easily say, “wow, $950 just for advice, that’s a lot of money!”

But if you asked them, “what if you could invest $950 and make $71,000?”, few people would consider that too expensive.

Perhaps you’re thinking, “it’s a slow real estate market, my clients aren’t going to make that kind of profit on my services.”

There are thousands of “proof home staging works” examples of homes that have languished on the slow real estate market for months (or years) until they were decorated to sell. If home staging can save a client from the costs of carrying a house they don’t want, not to mention saving them from the emotional costs of having their lives on hold waiting to sell, how much is that worth?

Home Staging is an investment in a potentially significant return for the client. Consider this when determining your rates.

3. Remember that when you’re in a service business you are  selling  your time.

You have a limited “inventory” of your time.  Since you can’t manufacture more hours in a week, the only way to earn more is to charge more for your time. You will never make real money as a home stager until you get your pricing strategy right!

The Staging Diva course “The Business of Home Staging: What you need to start and how to grow” includes a detailed discussion of how to properly charge for your home staging services.

If you’ve already taken the course, now is a great time to review your notes so you make sure you earn what you’re worth this fall real estate season. Would you believe people start hiring home stagers for the fall market in only 3 weeks?

If you haven’t taken course 2, you can order a recording of it right now for only $249. You’ll make that back easily on your first client because I share with you everything I’ve learned about pricing based on my MBA training and the real world experience of being an independent entrepreneur since 1989.

I have also built a lucrative home staging business from scratch in a very competitive market.

In Staging Diva course 2, you’ll learn what I charged clients when I started in 2002 and how I systematically increased my rates over time. I’ll share the single biggest discovery I made in how to best price home staging services for profit.

You’ll also learn what home stagers charge all over North America and how to avoid the mistakes most of them are making!

Discover the ONLY Home Staging Business Training Program taught by a seasoned entrepreneur who has successfully grown her own home staging business (not as a side-line to selling real estate). With an MBA in marketing and hundreds of home staging clients, internationally recognized home staging expert Debra Gould, The Staging Diva, is uniquely qualified to train others how to make money as a home stager.

I often hear form aspiring home stagers who say, “There are no home stagers in my area, so there must not be a demand for this service.” Just as often, I am told the exact opposite by others, “There are already home stagers in my area. I’m sure there will be too much competition for me to enter this market.”

In both cases, these notions become excuses for not going forward. You can talk yourself out of anything with the right arguments, but you may be jumping to a whole bunch of conclusions that are not justified. If you really have a dream of becoming a home stager, you owe it to yourself to verify these negative assumptions before just giving up.

If there are no home stagers in your area and there are also no homes for sale, then you’re right there is probably no demand for home staging in your area. You need to live in (or within driving distance of) an actual real estate market for there to be any potential demand for your home staging services.

I guarantee that your market isn’t saturated with home stagers, I don’t care where you live.

Compare for a moment how many real estate agents there are in the same area! Then research how many homes sell in your real estate market in a year. How many of these properties will you have to get as clients to make a living? An incredibly small percentage if you learn how to price your staging services correctly which is something I cover in detail in course 2 of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program.

If you fear there is already a lot of home staging competition in your area, you need to find out if this is really the case. More importantly, you also need to find out the calibre of the competition. I don’t mean how well they arrange furniture (though this is important), I mean how well they market themselves. For example:

• Do they come across as real professionals?
• Do they sound confident about what they do?
• Are they able to explain what they do for clients in a compelling way?
• Are they easy to find when you’re ready to hire a home stager?
• Are they easy to speak to?
• Do they listen well?
• Are they likeable?

Don’t just look at their websites and assume all these great qualities if it’s a great site.

The competitive picture might look a whole lot different if you actually pick up the phone and speak to them.

There are a lot of “home stagers” who aren’t actually serious about their businesses. It’s more of a creative hobby for them, and you’ll be able to spot them as soon as they open their mouths to explain what they do!

And if your “competitors” have unprofessional, do-it-yourself-and-I’ve-never-done-it-before-websites, you’ve learned you don’t need to worry about competition from them as long as you market your own home staging business the right way.

One of the first homework assignments I have Staging Diva students complete during my home staging courses, is an assessment of their competition. This is not homework they have to submit for marking. It’s homework they should be doing as part of starting up a home staging business, which is why I make it homework. It’s my little way of nudging new home stagers to focus on the tasks that will be the biggest boost to their businesses.

I’ve taught thousands of students and they consistently discover that the home staging competition is not as intimidating as they first thought. If you’d like more tips on how to measure the need for home staging in your local real estate market, download this FREE report, Ask Staging Diva: Can I Grow a Home Staging Business in a Depressed Economy?

So what if the competition does look tough?

Then you have to resolve to step up to the plate and give it all you’ve got if you truly want to make money as a home stager. I’ve learned from experience over the years that a lack of serious competition can make you a bit lazy. It’s human nature to start taking it easy once we’ve mastered something. One sharp competitor and it’s amazing how much better you get at boosting your own home staging business! I always fine-tune my own game when I look at what others are doing. And if you’re in the lead, it pays to look over your shoulder occasionally to see what the newcomers are up to.

The cool thing is that home staging is a growing industry and the sooner you jump in and establish yourself as THE local expert, the better you will stand up to any competitors coming up behind you.

Home stagers, how has the competition affected your staging business? If you’re just starting to think about home staging, has worrying about the competition stopped you? Please share by leaving a comment below.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love.

Technorati Tags: home stagers, staging diva, home staging courses, home staging business, home staging competition, home staging training, debra gould

Do you imagine yourself scrimping, saving and starving during your first and second year in business as a home stager?

While it’s true that you may have to make some adjustments in your lifestyle when you set out to be your own boss, it’s important to remember that it’s all relative to what you were earning before.

When I started my home staging business in 2002, I was living in a very expensive city and I had just come from a career where I was making more than $100,000 per year. In a situation like that, with those variables, it is almost impossible to maintain your previous lifestyle and income level in year one – whether you’re talking about staging or any other new business.

In that first year, I made about $40,000 as a home stager. Since that was about the same as the median household income in the US, and I was earning that in my first year of a new business on my own, it was pretty good. I also hadn’t yet figured out how to properly charge for my home staging services, something I teach my students in the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, so they can have a better first year than I did.

Given that the average minimum wage in the US is about $7/hour, most people who earn $20 an hour figure they’re doing pretty well. If you’re used to making about $20 an hour, you’ll probably make as much in a single day of home staging as you currently earn working full time for an entire week (likely doing something less enjoyable).

If you’ll be leaving a full time job where you make $50 an hour (or $100,000 a year), sure it will take awhile to get back to that level but then again, you won’t have all of the typical costs of being an employee in that salary range. After all, you won’t have to worry about many expenses including:

• Buying lunch everyday
• Dry cleaning
• Taxis
• Parking
• Maintaining an expensive wardrobe
• Manicures
• Hiring a nanny, gardener, house cleaner, etc. (As an exec you don’t have time for these things but your schedule is more flexible as a home stager.)
• Takeout dinners
• Expensive morning coffees

Essentially, if you’re wondering if starting a home staging business will mean major lifestyle changes, it depends on your previous financial situation and where you live.

But of course there’s more to “lifestyle” than how much money you earn. Many people earn less, but are way happier because they have a more balanced lifestyle working in their own business. Many find, like I do, that their actual cost of living goes down because they don’t have to buy all the things that are required of a high-paying career in an office tower.

Above all else, remember that the more you invest in your learning about the proper set up and pricing of a home staging business, and in marketing your services, the more you will get out of it! You’ll find lots of financial advice in the free downloadable report Ask Staging Diva: Can I grow a home staging business in a depressed economy?

Home stagers, how has your lifestyle changed now that you’re working for yourself? Please share by leaving a comment below.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the Staging Diva Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love.

Technorati Tags: home stager income, home stagers, home stager lifestyle, home staging, home staging expenses, home staging course, home staging program, staging diva

Not everyone who has the desire to start a home staging business has the luxury of quitting their full time job to do so. Some people enjoy their day jobs but feel they’d like to use a staging business as a sort of creative outlet while they continue to work full time.

The good news is, it’s very possible to have a successful part-time home staging business that operates alongside a full time job and Staging Diva Graduates are proving it.

Amuradha Rathore of Wisconsin had always wanted to start her own business but she didn’t know where to start. A public relations consultant working full time as a banker, she loved her career but had a constant nagging feeling of creative discontent. However, with the uncertainty of job security and the poor economy she was reluctant to give up her job to start a business.

One day, Amuradha came across StagingDiva.com and discovered that starting a home staging business was exactly what she needed to do considering she’d been helping family and friends decorate their homes for years and she was already a qualified consultant.

Amuradha combined her talent and flair for decorating with her education, experience and what she learned in the Saging Diva Program to start her home staging business, Nine Dimensions. Not only does her home staging business serve as a financial safety net but she also gets a tremendous sense of creative freedom from it which makes her enjoy her full time job even more.

She writes, “As of now, I am working full time, raising my family and running my own business and it’s possible because I love my job, my business is my hobby and my family keeps me going. Home staging has helped me turn my passion and talent for decorating into a real business and Staging Diva, Debra Gould made it happen.”

Remember, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. You can keep your job and work at your home staging business on the side and have a very satisfying life! If you would like to read more about how having a home staging business on the side can really help you whether you currently have another job or not, check out my free report, “Ask Staging Diva: Can I grow a home staging business in a depressed economy?”

Home stagers, have you found a way to operate a home staging business around a job you love or are afraid to give up? Please share your story by leaving a comment below.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the Staging Diva Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love.

Technorati Tags: home staging, home staging business, home staging course, home staging program, staging diva

This time last year, I released a special report called, “Can I grow a home staging business in a depressed economy?” with the intention of helping aspiring stagers who were feeling defeated by friends, family members and negative news headlines.

Thousands of you downloaded that free report but between now and then there have been some changes in market conditions. That’s why I thoroughly scoured that original report and updated it with current research, up-to-date statistics and some recent real-life examples from Staging Diva Graduates about how the economy is (or isn’t!) hurting their businesses.

If you’re feeling discouraged by a spouse saying this is the wrong economy in which to start a business, you should have the facts you need to make an informed decision. That’s what this report is for and that’s why I decided to make it free for everyone to download, despite the significant amount of hours I’ve put into researching and putting it all together!

If you still haven’t downloaded your own free copy of “Can I grow a home staging business in a depressed economy?” now’s the time to do so because you’re getting the most current information available about the real estate market and how your staging business may be affected.

Some of the topics you’ll learn about include:

• Why you must stay positive even in the face of adversity
• The 3 rules key to a home stager’s financial survival
• 16 ways to get money NOW to build your staging business
• 3 common myths about the economy
• The silver lining behind the cloud of the downturn
• 4 reasons why home staging works in any economy
• 6 reasons why home staging actually thrives in a slow real estate market
• Much more!

>Download this free economic report for home stagers now and share it with anyone in your life making you doubt your choice to start a staging business!

To those of you who have read this report, did it help you forge ahead despite what you were seeing in the newspapers? What was your best takeaway after reading it? Please share your thoughts and let’s discuss!

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould developed the Staging Diva Training Program to create opportunities for others to grow their own profitable home staging businesses. More than 4000 Staging Diva Students around the world have been trained by Debra, who encourages anyone concerned about starting or growing a staging business in this economy to download her special report: “Ask Staging Diva: Can I grow a home staging business in a depressed economy?”

Technorati Tags: home stager, home stagers, home staging, economic report, home staging training, home staging courses, home staging business, staging diva

Last week I wrote a post called, “Stagers, don’t let real estate agents discourage you”. I was motivated to write it because for the 7 years I’ve been staging homes I’ve been running into real estate agents who:

• don’t understand why an empty, disorganized or ugly home is harder to sell
• list it as is, put a few bad pictures on MLS and then talk their client into subsequent price reductions when the property doesn’t sell
• are afraid they’ll have to pay for our services if they recommend them, or worse, feel threatened by what home stagers do instead of realizing we make them look good and their selling jobs easier
• want to be proud of a listing that has their name on it because they know it reflects on their reputation and who know if they have great MLS photos they’ll attract more showings and quicker and higher offers.

Sadly, that last group is harder to find. The good new is that the “unaware” or “fearful” real estate agents can be educated and many of them do come around to understanding the benefits of home staging to themselves as well as their clients, as you’ll see from the comments from home stagers on my original post. That’s why I emphasize the messages and selling points you should use with real estate agents when selling your home staging services in course 4 of the Staging Diva Program.

I was also motivated to write that post because for the 5 years I’ve been teaching home staging courses, I’ve watched too many really talented stagers feel they should give up on following their dreams because they let the discouragement of real estate agents stop them in their tracks.

It’s important to note that in the past, most of a real estate agent’s power came from the control of information.

Before the Internet, you couldn’t get any details about a house for sale without using a licensed real estate agent. I’m old enough to remember when listings were printed out and carried around in binders and the only way to see them was through an agent. Then MLS was available by computer, but the public couldn’t access it. There was no way to tell how fast homes sold or for how much, without a real estate agent.

As the gate keepers of all information about real estate, agents had tremendous power to establish asking prices, sway buyers and to convince their sellers to accept certain offers.

They still have power and influence of course (which is not a bad thing as a good real estate agent has an important role to play), but the rest of us no longer exist in an information vacuum.

With 90% of buyers in Canada, and 70% in the US doing their own online search for properties before even calling a real estate agent, the competitive environment agents operate in is completely different. Not all agents have woken up to the paradigm shift in their industry. That’s where a lot of the resistance home stagers run into comes from.

Not to mention that change always brings up fear. For agents old enough to remember when they controlled all information, it’s hard to let go of habits that came with that. For newer agents who flooded the industry when the market was booming, it’s hard to recover from the giant reality check the last 12 to 18 months have brought, and look for ways to change how they sell properties.

All this is to say, home stagers and aspiring home stagers: don’t give up your power to real estate agents. Many of them will discourage you, but keep on going anyways.

We offer a tremendous and valuable service to home sellers that makes a huge difference in their lives. If you have any doubt of that, please read the many examples of what Staging Diva Graduates have done for their clients here.

I welcome your comments to this story. Let’s keep this conversation going!

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love while helping others at the same time.

Last week, I discussed how home sales in the United States are at their highest level since 2007, but things are also looking up in the Canadian real estate market.

Though the economy in Canada has not been hit as hard as its US counterpart, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) will be adjusting its forecasts for 2009 and 2010 based on recent sales activity.

Sales records have been set every month since July and national sales in average are up 6.6% from last year. CREA is now forecasting sales activity for 2009 to be on par with the healthy levels seen in 2004. MLS sales activity has been forecast by CREA to go up an additional 7% in 2010 which would make 2010 the second highest year for sales on record.

According to CREA President, Dale, Ripplinger, buyers late in 2008 and earlier this year were putting off buying or selling until the economy improved. In a recent report released by CREA, Ripplinger states, “With the economic outlook having improved since then, the release of that pent-up demand will boost activity over the rest of the year and in 2010.”

Many sellers were taking their homes off the market in late 2008 waiting for market conditions to improve. Others who might have listed their homes in 2009 held back. At the same time many first time buyers were jumping into the market due to low interest rates, the fact that prices had dipped, and bidding wars were no longer the norm.

With higher demand and lower supply, of course home prices started to rise again. In fact based on results to date, the year is forecast to be up 4.2 per cent in 2009 and a further 4.7 percent in 2010.  With strong price increases, new listings are likely to continue to increase as well.

Naturally this increases the demand for home stagers as more homes come onto the market. As a home stager it’s critical to educate home sellers about the importance of staging and especially why it’s most effective with first-time buyers. For more information on why this is true and a more detailed explanation of how demand and supply in the real estate market effects a home staging business, download my free Ask Staging Diva report: “Can I grow a home staging business in a depressed economy?”

Are you a Canadian home stager? Can you share what your experience has been as the market has been shifting? Please leave your story in a comment below.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould developed the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program to create opportunities for others to grow their own profitable home staging businesses. Debra encourages anyone concerned about starting or growing a home staging business in today’s economy to download her free special report: “Ask Staging Diva: Can I grow a home staging business in a depressed economy?”

Technorati Tags: home stagers, canadian real estate market, CREA, real estate news, home staging, debra gould, staging diva

Earlier this week, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that sales of existing homes are at their highest level in over two years which bodes well for home stagers.

It is believed that Obama’s $8,000 tax credit for qualified first-time home buyers has been a driving force behind these high sales levels. The tax credit deadline, which was supposed to be at the end of November, has been extended to April 30 which will give more first-time buyers the chance to dive into the real estate market and take advantage of this tax credit. And that is great news for home stagers because it will help boost demand for staging in the new year.

The group of buyers home staging has the greatest impact on is the first-time home buyer.

These buyers often have the strongest emotional response to homes that have been staged. Since they’ve never had the experience of buying a home before, this is the group most worried about the responsibilities that come with being a homeowner. They are also the least realistic about how great a house they can get in whatever their price range is.

A well-staged home is not plagued by a bunch of repair projects, ugly wallpaper or an abundance of clutter that would scare off many first time buyers. Home staging helps them see the home in its best light and it helps them imagine themselves living there. Not only that, it creates the “I can just move right in” feeling that would comfort a nervous first-time buyer.

On Monday, I’ll post some information on what’s happening with the Canadian real estate market. In the meantime, for more information about the economy and how it can affect your home staging business, please download my free Ask Staging Diva report: Can I grow a home staging business in a depressed economy?

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould developed the Staging Diva Training Program to create opportunities for others to grow their own profitable home staging businesses. Debra encourages anyone concerned about starting or growing a home staging business in today’s economy to download her free special report: “Ask Staging Diva: Can I grow a home staging business in a depressed economy?”

Technorati Tags: real estate, home stagers, home staging, first time buyers, real estate news, staging diva, debra gould

One thing many aspiring home stagers have in common is that they need to continue working while they start up their home staging business on a part-time basis. In an ideal world, everyone could quit their job and work on starting their business full time, but this is not an ideal world and this isn’t possible for everyone.

The biggest concern for someone in this position is that they’re not going to be seen as professional since they’re “only” part-time home stagers.

When aspiring stagers come to me with this concern, I tell them the same thing:

Nobody needs to know you’re doing this part-time.

If I had a full-time job and was doing home staging on the side, I would still set up my business. I would have my business phone number, business cards, a home staging website and a page on the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers. If someone were to call me, they would get a professional sounding greeting. It’s not going to say, “Hi you’ve reached Debra and by the way, I’m a part-time home stager and I only work on weekends.”

When you get a call from a potential client and they want to meet with you, you don’t have to tell them you can only meet them on Wednesday after work. If that’s the only time you have available, tell them you happen to have an opening on Wednesday night at seven.

If that doesn’t work for the homeowner, just keep going back and forth until you find a time that works for both of you. Unless you tell them you’re trying to do home staging around your full-time job, they’re likely going to assume you’re a very sought after, heavily booked home stager.

Remember it’s all about perception. If you have a professional looking website and home staging portfolio, and carry yourself with confidence, nobody is going to question whether or not you’re doing this part-time or not. It won’t even cross their minds.

If you’re a home stager who started your business on a part-time basis and have a success story to share, please let us hear it by leaving a comment below!

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the Staging Diva Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love.

Technorati Tags: part-time home stager, home stagers, aspiring home stager, home staging business, staging diva, debra gould

Staging Diva Graduate Patricia Ebrahimi of Show-Smart! Home Staging in Washington DC is the featured home staging expert in the Washington Post providing her real estate staging tips to home sellers.

Patricia, who started her company in 2005 writes, “Things are great for in DC for staging! Five of the homes I staged in May either sold the first day or went under contract withing the first week or so. Thanks for all your help Debra in getting me there!”

As a home staging trainer and mentor I’m so proud of Patricia’s business success and that she’s out there helping home sellers realize the difference staging can make in the speedy sale of their home.

With so much sad real estate news out there, and the general feeling of hopelessness that is often promoted by the media, it’s great to continue to give the public proof that home staging works, in both fast and slow real estate markets.

Patricia’s excellent tips in the Washington Post article include:

Using a product called Goof Off to remove latext paint splatters from floorboards, cabinets or chair rails and Downy Fabric Softener mixed with hot water sprayed on walls to help remove ugly wallpaper.

For home staging design tips, check out the Staging Diva Ultimate Design Guide: Home Staging Tips, Tricks and Floor Plans.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould developed the Staging Diva Training Program to create opportunities for others to grow their own profitable home staging businesses. There are currently over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates around the world.

Technorati Tags: home staging, real estate staging, Staging Diva, staging Washington, decorated to sell, proof staging works