Tree decorated by Monica Bunde for her client.

As a home stager you have many creative talents that can help you make money, especially during the holiday season when there are fewer home sellers looking for our home staging services.

Staging Diva Graduate, Monica Bunde of Create Home Staging takes her staging hat off at this time of year and promotes her services decorating for the holiday season.

For example, she just completed a holiday decorating project for a local senior’s home. She says that “A tree, a Santa’s village display, exterior pillars, railings and urns were transformed into a festive winter wonderland. The seniors were so very excited, almost as excited as I was to do it … and it’s those little things that just make this time of year so special.”

You could call Monica an international stager as she runs her staging business in both Ontario and Michigan. This is not as uncommon as you might think! Several Staging Diva Graduates spend part of the year in one location or travel back and forth between cities, states (and even countries), depending on the season, where other family members are, etc. That’s why when you join the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers, you can choose up to 4 states/provinces and 10 locations to serve.

Monica will be continuing to build her home staging business in the new year with a regular home staging column for a local news website, Today’s Windsor. This is an excellent marketing strategy for establishing yourself as a home staging expert and to have your name and company name appear more prominently in Google search results. Way to go Monica, you’re off to a great start for 2012!

Have you had any success marketing your holiday decorating services? How about writing for other publications or websites? Please share you thoughts and experiences here!

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

Debra Gould has been an entrepreneur since 1989 and knows how to make money as a home stager. She developed the Staging Diva Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love. There are now more than 7,000 students in over 20 countries learning from her many products and services for home stagers.

What a journey it is becoming a home stager! Many of us are born home stagers, we just don’t realize it for many years. What I mean here is that it’s a journey discovering who we are and what we are meant to do. Along the way, we take hundreds of baby steps that take our dream and make it tangible by bringing it into the world where we, and others, can see it.

There is something really empowering about manifesting our dreams into something that exists outside of ourselves.

For years I had wanted to be an artist. I used to spend hours at craft shows hanging around the exhibitors, like a groupie hungry for any piece of information that would help me figure out what their secret was. How had they found the courage to create and to put their work out there for the world to see, judge, and hopefully, buy?

Eventually I gave up my six-figure business to find out and do it myself. Everyone said I was crazy, after all I was a single mom with a mortgage! I just realized one day that life is too short and that our passion doesn’t just show up one day and say “Here I am!,” it’s actually something you CHOOSE!

I built my first website to promote my art in 1999. I knew I needed a photo of myself to put up there so I did my makeup, propped my digital camera up on a bunch of books on a table to get the right height, and used the timer to take a bunch of shots of myself.

It took me hours to get it right— running back and forth between the camera and where I would stand, trying to get the angle right and the lighting! How much easier it would have been to have professional lights or a tripod (I couldn’t afford either one) or even someone around to help, but I was new in town and didn’t know a soul (except my kid who was under 4 feet tall)!

After kindergarten pick up that day, I showed her my live website (a project I’d been working on non-stop for about 3 weeks), complete with artist photo.

She burst into happy tears and said, “I’m so proud of you Mommy!”

That was definitely one of those great “Mommy Moments,” not only because she was proud but because I knew I had taught her an important lesson about following your dreams! She had witnessed the power of taking action rather than sitting around complaining or waiting to be rescued by someone else. This is a critical lesson for everyone, but I feel it’s especially important for girls!

I was reminded of this story recently when one of my Staging Diva Graduates took my advice about setting up a Gravatar so that her photo would appear next to her blog comments all over the Internet and she wrote, “Thanks! It was so fun to see my picture pop up everywhere. I didn’t realize how vain I was until I saw my picture and loved it!”

It’s not vanity though! It’s the thrill of seeing a tangible example of your dreams being out in the world. It’s scary at first, but it’s really gratifying and gets easier with every step you take.

Staging Diva Graduate, Traci Sampsell of The Finer Stage wrote, “I saw the first draft of my business cards today and I haven’t felt this proud since I graduated from nursing school! This is completely different, though, because it’s all my own!”

Yes, another step in the journey made tangible by having an actual business card. They cost under $100 but their value is priceless in the confidence boost they give you, and the money-making clients they can bring you!

Staging Diva Graduate Katherine James of Set Sale and Go Home Staging wrote after her first project, “Debra, I had them eating out of the palm of my hand using your tips. The job went incredibly well and I could not tear the smile off my face after I left. I had to strongly resist the urge to skip back to my car in case the clients might be watching from their doorway.”

Staging Diva Graduate Red Barrinuevo of Redesign4More compares the excitement of starting his staging and redesign business to the day he got his first bike from his dad. Special moments we never forget because even as they’re happening we know they are life affirming and life changing.

Staging Diva Graduate Jodi Whalen of Pear Tree Home Designs shares that she realized how far she’d come when she closed her books on her first 3 years as a home stager and realized she tripled her revenue every year!

Perhaps you’re thinking it’s different for us, that this couldn’t be your story too.

Maybe you believe I don’t understand how hard it can be. I’ve never publicly shared my whole story, but I do not lead a charmed life where everything just “falls into place.” I’ve worked my way back from abuse, serious health challenges, and more.

I do know what it’s like to feel hopeless. I also know life is the adventure you make it and that you are the one to choose your adventures.

So the first step is to choose. The next is to find some (even small) way to make your dreams real each day. Whether it’s:

• Taking your professional picture.
• Going out to a networking event to talk about your business as though it exists (even if you’ve never had a client before).
• Learning from others who have already done what you’re trying to accomplish.
• Or any one of a thousand things you could do today, tomorrow, the next day, next week and on and on.

I promise one day (not so long from now) you will look back in delight and amazement at how far you’ve come!

Home stagers, please comment below and share any action you’ve taken this year towards realizing your dreams, I know you’ll get a kick out of seeing the progress you’ve made while inspiring others just starting out.

If you’re totally new to home staging and just beginning this journey, please share what baby steps you plan to take in the months ahead to take your dream and make it tangible by bringing it into the world where we, and others, can see it. You’ll find your transformation begins just by declaring it!

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

Debra Gould has been writing about marketing for small businesses since the early 1990s as a frequent contributor to Profit Magazine. A home stager since 2002, she developed the Staging Diva Training Program to create opportunities for others to grow their own money-making home staging businesses. There are now 4,000 students in more than 20 countries following her formula for business success.

In course 4, Staging Diva Sales & Marketing Secrets to Boost Your Home Staging Business, I provide tons of marketing ideas that you can use with your 4 key target markets for home staging. One of these targets is the media because I’m a big advocate of free marketing (where you can get it) and the media will always get you in front of a larger audience than you can reach yourself.

Imagine what it would have cost me to buy an ad on the front page of The Wall Street Journal‘s Home Section? Yet there I was in a feature article called “Tricks of the Trade: Setting Up a Home for Sale” about how I stage my own homes for sale. This front page story not only raised awareness of home staging in general, but of my services in particular. Now did I get any home staging projects from it? No because it’s The Wall Street Journal, not my local paper. Though I did get contacted by a New York literary agent, which was very cool.

Clearly, being featured in the media also provides a significant boost to your credibility as a home staging expert in your market. Do not under estimate the value of this. You may not get a project immediately that you can directly trace to your media appearance, but if you make sure potential clients know that you were featured, it will help many of them make a decision to hire you.

Here are some recent media appearances for Staging Diva Graduates that I happened to learn about on Facebook. (Note: You can improve the chances of being featured on my blog— which gets your name out there even more— if you send me your success stories!)

Nashville Staging Diva Graduate Gary Baugher of An Eye 4 Change was featured in the Home Improvement section of Hendersonville Star News, with huge photos of one of his home staging projects, a photo of himself and a full article on how staging a house gives home sellers an edge in today’s market. In fact, he’s the only stager quoted in the entire story! Gary writes, “Aside from my own talents and ambition, I attribute my success to the Staging Diva home staging courses and your continued support. Most of all you helped me gain the confidence to put myself out there and follow my dream. Debra, You truly are an inspiration to us all.”

New York Staging Diva Graduate Donna Dazzo of Designed to Appeal is frequently quoted in the media, her latest story is in the Chicago Tribune. By the way, Donna came to home staging after a layoff from her 25+ year career in financial services and I doubt she would have predicted all the magic that lay ahead of her when she decided to follow her passion and use her creative talents! Learn more about how others have reinvented themselves as home stagers.

Wisconsin Staging Diva Graduate Leah Fritz of Perfect Place Home Staging was featured in a full page spread in Kenosha News including 3 sets of before and after shots from her staging projects. What a way to get her home staging portfolio in front of a local audience of potential clients and real estate agents!

I’ve always had the media seek me out which is why a strong online presence is so critical — you need to be easy to find and have a professional web presence that positions you as an expert. In fact, the reporter told Gary Baugher specifically that she found him by Googling “Nashville Home Stager” and loved his website. And when the CNN reporter found me, it was because of my home staging website, SixElements.com.

Please add your comments about any media attention you’re received about your home staging business and let us know how the reporter found you. I know your input will inspire other home stagers. Besides, why not take a moment to pat yourself on the back for your own success?!

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

Discover the ONLY Home Staging Business Training Program taught by a seasoned entrepreneur who has successfully grown her own home staging business. There are many ideas for marketing to real estate agents in course 4, Staging Diva Sales and Marketing Secrets to Boost Your Home Staging Business. Debra has been featured in the media across Canada and the United States and first started writing about marketing as a regular contributor to Profit Magazine in the 1980s.

While I love hearing stories from all of my Staging Diva Graduates, the ones I enjoy most are those that come from men and women who have made drastic changes in their career to pursue their dreams – people like Lori Fischer of Pennsylvania based Rethink Interiors who, before becoming a home stager, worked as a Pharmaceutical Sales Representative.

Lori writes, “I had my first staging job before I finished your  home staging courses and I had to listen to the recordings to coach me through many aspects of it–thank goodness you were here! I successfully staged the home with your help and that of my Staging Diva Network colleagues. Not only were the homeowners thrilled, they said that working with me was transformational. I couldn’t have received a higher compliment.”

From that, her first project, Lori generated four new leads – homeowners and REALTORS® – who saw her work, leading to at least one more home staging project so far.

Comments like this one from Lori make teaching home staging courses so satisfying: “Each morning I wake up and am energized by what I am doing and what the future is going to bring. I honestly could not, and most likely, would not have made this leap to fulfill my dream had I not found the Staging Diva. You not only provide the nuts and bolts, you also provide an incredible amount of support with coaching. You are that voice of confidence in the moments when doubt creeps in that keeps me focused and moving forward. Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

It’s no accident that Lori has had so much success with her home staging business right out of the gate! Besides staying active on the Staging Diva Network and sopping up all the knowledge she can, Lori also has a full listing on the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers so that homeowners and real estate agents searching online for a stager in her area can find her. She also takes time to comment on this blog and she’s quite actively marketing her business using Twitter.

Lori finished her note by saying:

“The Staging Diva Program has given me the road map to fulfill a dream that I have had for years but was too afraid to make happen. Staging Diva training has given me tools to make this passion a lucrative career and at the same time provides outstanding follow-up coaching to achieve the personal growth that needed to happen for me to take this big step. Thanks to you, I have been able to leave a decade-long career that never fit and have replaced it with a passion, joy and zeal that I had craved for so long. I really can’t say enough about the absolutely incredible and generous person that you are.”

Wow, thank you Lori for totally making my week with your feedback!

Readers, I too left a previous career to become a home stager which eventually lead me to creating home staging courses for other creative types, who like myself, struggled to find a way to make money from their talents (perhaps you caught my recent post about working for Mad Men Before Being My Own Boss)! What career did you have before becoming a home stager, or what career are you still in while you get your staging  business established? Please share your comments below, I love to read about the diverse backgrounds home stagers come from!

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

Debra Gould has been a home stager since 2002. She 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. There are more than 4000 Staging Diva Students in the U.S., Canada and 20 other countries. Debra is frequently profiled in the media for her home staging expertise and is the author of 5 guides for home stagers.

Staging Diva Graduate Lavonne Clifford spent years focused on others as a dedicated mother and full-time volunteer. Now that her children are in high school, though, Lavonne is focusing on her career as owner of Atlanta-based Big Dog Staging.

Lavonne wrote to tell me about one of her most impressive home staging success stories which actually took place before she knew staging existed – while selling her own home. (This probably sounds familiar to many of you!)

When Lavonne was speaking to real estate agents to price her home in Kennesaw, Georgia, they all told her she couldn’t expect to get more than $330,000 for it. After she staged her house, it was listed for $350,000 and it sold in less than 10 days in a multiple offer situation, eventually selling for $365,000.

Lavonne says, “Our real estate market is horrendous. A local real estate agent called me last week thanking me for the best neighborhood comp in over a year. As one agent put it, ‘I see 100′s of houses but every year there are one or two that take your breath away.’ I always strive for that ‘take your breath away’ feel. It sells houses!”

About the home staging training Lavonne received from Staging Diva, she says, “The program helped me set some goals which is the first step towards achieving them. Baby steps!”

Like Lavonne, have you been staging homes since before you knew what home staging even was? If so, please leave a comment and tell us about your experiences!

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

Debra Gould has been building her own websites since 1999. She 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. There are more than 4000 Staging Diva Students in the U.S., Canada and 20 other countries. Debra is frequently profiled in the media for her home staging expertise and is the author of 5 guides for home stagers.

I’ve written about Staging Diva Graduate Holly Battaglia before. She has a very inspiring story as she manages to work over 20 hours a week as an Oncology RN on top of running her successful Maryland home staging business, Holly’s Home Matters. She’s also a busy mother of four children aged 9-15! She recently wrote to share the impressive results of one of her latest home staging projects.

Holly was called to do a home staging consultation on a house that had sat on the market for 7 months with 65 showings and no offers despite a $40k price drop.

The home was vacant and in poor condition with old, outdated paint colors, beat up molding and mismatched carpets.

The home was way beyond being tarted up with some new furniture and accessories. Holly recommended some fresh new paint colors, upgraded carpets and hardware and lighting updates throughout the entire home.

Holly selected everything that would be brought into the home except for the granite which was chosen before she arrived on the scene.

She recommended painting the kitchen cabinetry a dark brown color with brushed nickel accents. The clients didn’t want to do that so they elected to spray paint the door hinges, knobs and handles. Holly notes, “I DO NOT recommend doing this – it’s very labor intensive!”

On the final day of staging, the new carpet was being installed while a buyer’s agent came through early in the day to preview the home for his clients. Before he left, he said, “this home is going to sell quickly.”

He was right. That evening while Holly was at the house helping to install new exterior lighting, he returned with his clients who bought the home the next day. There wasn’t even any time to post updated photos online!

Holly’s clients were very grateful as they’d been paying two mortgages for 7 months while waiting for the home to sell. Imagine if they had contacted her before dropping their asking price by $40,000!

About the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, Holly says, “The business aspect of the program has helped me achieve my goals by simplifying how I do business. There are tons of resources available! I feel like Debra is a master marketer and hope to learn more from her.”

If you’re a Staging Diva Graduate I would love to write about you too! Simply click here to submit your story idea.

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. There are more than 4000 Staging Diva Students in the U.S., Canada and over 18 other countries. Debra is frequently profiled in the media for her home staging expertise and is the author of 5 guides for home stagers.

Before becoming a home stager, Staging Diva Graduate Jodi Whalen of New Jersey-based Pear Tree Home Designs had an exciting career as a Marketing Director at the Food Network. As a home stager, though, this mother of a very active toddler has much more flexibility over her schedule.

Despite working part-time as a  home stager, Jodi has been able to triple her staging income every year since she started. And, she’s helping her clients achieve pretty amazing results as the following story demonstrates.

A friend and ex-coworker of Jodi’s called her in December to see if she could help sell her one bedroom Brooklyn apartment after it had sat on the market (vacant and furnished) for nine months without a single offer.

Her friend took the apartment off the market over the holidays for one month. During that time Jodi staged it by taming down the shade and the gloss of the loud paint color, bringing in new furniture on a better scale for the size of the apartment and giving it a sense of style to match the trendy city it was located in.

Website traffic on the listing tripled due to the great new photos and within 7 days of the first open house after staging, the apartment sold for 94% of its asking price.

Jodi writes, “The Staging Diva program was worth every single penny! I made it all back in my very first staging job. And, I would have never had the confidence to charge what I do to make the profit that I’ve been making on my current jobs. I’m now staging homes that are in the $1-2 million range and trust me they still need our help.”

New and aspiring stagers, if you enjoyed this story, you’d probably love my free collection of home stager success stories. Click here to download your copy.

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. There are more than 4000 Staging Diva Students in the U.S., Canada and over 18 other countries. Debra is frequently profiled in the media for her home staging expertise and is the author of 5 guides for home stagers.

When you have a passion for home staging and/or interior design it’s impossible to keep it stifled inside. 

I love hearing from Staging Diva Graduates like Pamela Sholty who have left behind jobs they despised to reinvent themselves as home stagers.

Pamela works from Fresno, California, as “The Color Coach of the Central Valley”.  She always considered color and design to be her first loves but she hasn’t always earned her living from her passion. Pamela spent some time immersed in color application and home renovation for several years but she put design on the back burner when she started what would become a 20 year career as an insurance underwriter.

She always knew she’d return to design and after she’d had enough of the insurance industry, Pamela pursued an education in skin care and image consulting. Next, she renewed her training as a paint color specialist bringing her back to her passion and the world of interior redesign. She chose to round out her design and color selection services by adding real estate staging to her clients and in order to do that, she signed up for the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program.

Pamela writes:

“I wanted to find the very best training so I selected Staging Diva as the jumping off point in my staging education. The training with Debra helped me pull all of my design work together to offer my clients the best in staging, re-design and paint color selection for every stage of their lives.

The Staging Diva Program provided many professional tools that I was able to use to develop both the business side of The Color Coach as well as the staging and design side of my business; everything from marketing ideas to business forms that I could adapt for my own personal needs. I especially appreciated the encouragement to be confident in my talents and skills and to charge fees accordingly.”

Home stagers, do you have a story like Pamela’s to share? If you’re a Staging Diva Graduate, click here and send me the details so I can write about you too!

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. There are more than 4000 Staging Diva Students in over 20 countries. Debra is frequently profiled in the media for her home staging expertise and is the author of 5 guides for home stagers.

In the December issue of my monthly newsletter for home stagers, Staging Diva Dispatch, I featured Susan O’Connor – a recent Staging Diva Graduate who had given her notice to leave her corporate job to focus on building her staging business. At that time, Susan said she had already lined up a consulting job that would bring in some income for her while she got her Wisconsin home staging business, Staged 4 The Sale, off the ground.

I applauded her then for employing such a smart strategy because Susan, unlike many other people, remembered that becoming a stager needn’t be an all-or-nothing decision!

I received a lovely message from Susan last month. Although I rarely do this, I’m going to share it with you as she wrote it (with her permission of course!). I believe the message she wants delivered is much more meaningful when you read it in her own words:

“Well, it finally happened. I had my first staging consultation! So as someone fresh from their very first time, I want to share my experience with those who have yet to get there.

First, I’m sure I’m not the only person who tried to calm down by imagining that initial phone conversation with a potential client.  Although I felt sure about the kind of information I needed to convey, I still had a voice in my head asking, “Can you make this sale?” I imagined having to make the “sales pitch” to persuade them of the benefits of home staging.  Would I sound desperate?  Would they sense my inexperience?  Would I fumble at an answer to a question?  How will I talk them into it?

Now, with that first home staging consultation behind me, I want anyone who is asking themselves the same kinds of questions to RELAX.  What I found was that people call because they’re already interested! I would possibly be the world’s worst sales person but this was NOT sales as you think about it. This was explaining how we help people, how the process works and at the end, the cost.

By the time I got there all she wanted to know was how fast I could get over there! I remembered Debra’s message to “let your passion show through” and that’s exactly what I did. She was so relieved!  I never thought these calls would be fun, in fact I was practically dreading it, but it was fun and I want you to know that.

Then came the consultation. It must be what it feels like to be an actor who has rehearsed their lines, because once I got ‘on stage’ all my home staging training kicked in.  Debra’s program gave me everything I needed to walk in there completely confident that I could handle the job. I left them with a pretty significant ‘to do’ list but today, 2 days later, I received an email thanking me and showing me what they had already done in their living room.  They were so proud of their achievement!

I hope by sharing this as one more example of “you can do this” I help someone feel more confident that they really can pursue their dreams!”

Susan, thank you for sharing this. Your future is so bright, it’s blinding!

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. She is frequently profiled in the media for her home staging expertise and is the author of 5 guides for home stagers.

Being in business for oneself is not as easy as it might look. It’s not easy to work through that feeling of wanting to give up that many entrepreneurs, including home stagers, experience in that first year or two in business.

I came across a quote recently by an unknown author that says:

“Don’t be discouraged.  It’s often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock.”

It reminded me of my own metaphor of giving up a block too soon.

Alaska home stager Stacy Goade is the first Staging Diva Graduate in Alaska and she’s a great example of why you should never give up on your dream. Besides marketing your services you also need a positive mindset and a strong belief in yourself as a home stager to be successful or else you never know what you might miss out on.

Stacy recently wrote me to tell me about the great note her business ended on last year. On December 29, the very day that she was feeling so discouraged that she contemplated giving up the staging business she started a few months ago, her phone rang not once but twice in 20 minutes.

The calls came from two different Realtors®, one wanting Stacy’s help to stage a home that would be listed in the new year and the other asking her to speak at a team meeting in March.

Stacy mentioned that those real estate agents contacted her from her profile page on the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers, and through relentless networking efforts using her professionally designed home staging business cards.

About feeling discouraged, Stacy writes, “I reflect on the advice and insights you have shared with me and other Staging Diva graduates; don’t give up your dream, you can do it, things happen when you least expect it, a web presence is essential, search engine optimization is even more essential, find your opportunities and your niche, keep at it, be business smart, and focus on the positive.”

Stacey adds, “Running your own business is a lot of work and a testimony to your attitude and fortitude! Thank you for your ongoing support and patience, sharing your insights and advice, your incredible business savvy, and for being invested in our success by availing yourself to us for individual help and encouragement through coaching.”

This story proves that you never know where your next home staging project may come from and why you should not be so quick to give up on yourself and your dream.

I can so relate to that feeling of wanting to give up because I had it weekly in my own first year as a stager. Home stagers, have you ever had an experience like Stacy’s where something amazing happened in your business around the same time you were thinking of giving up? 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. She is frequently profiled in the media for her home staging expertise and is the author of 5 guides for home stagers.