First Staging Yields Multiple Offers and Projects Melissa Mitchell
3 Secrets Most Stagers Won't Admit
Home Staging Round Table - Your Invited! Karla Mall, Kay Keeton, Stacey Goad, Imogen Brown, Shelly Hughes, Darby Dwyer, Leah Fritz, Maureen Jillain, Donna Dazzo
"You're waiting to be what you already are. You're the only one left in your way." Josh Clayton-Felt
Backstage with Debra
September flew by. I got my daughter settled into her new rental home, which included turning 13 Ikea boxes into furniture. Then I drove up to visit her at college to celebrate her 19th birthday.
Several home staging clients called, most of which I referred to members of the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers. Did you know that if you join, you don't even have to build your own website, plus I personally create a custom brochure for your company?
Do you use Pinterest? I've been building up my Staging Diva page quite a bit lately and hope you enjoy all the home staging images I've shared.
It wasn't all work and travel though, I also succumbed to my Breaking Bad addiction and watched the final season in a Netflix blitz.
My next exciting project is putting together my proposal for a speech at TEDxWomen. I was blown away to receive an invitation to speak at their December event. I'm totally nervous about the whole thing and want to get picked so badly. Keeping my fingers crossed and looking for coaches to help me pull it all together.
In this month's newsletter you'll find out how you can avoid the home staging portfolio chaos I created before I knew better, see a highly successful home staging project, discover 3 secrets most home stagers would never admit, and meet 10 home stagers.
Do you have all the information and tools you need to make your home staging business a success? If not, I hope you'll join me October 17 for our Round Table discussion with home stagers.
Happy Staging!
Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Voice of Possibility™ Group Inc.
How to Avoid a Home Staging Photo Mess
Over the course of my home staging career I've shot over 10,000 before and after photos for my home staging portfolio.
I created a fair amount of chaos and tracking problems because I didn't anticipate how much my collection would grow. I also didn't appreciate how much I would forget about each project as time went on. Let's face it, my memory was much sharper in my early 40s than it is today.
In the article Avoid This Home Staging Photo Mess, I share what I learned the hard way and tips to keep you organized as your own home staging portfolio grows. You'll also learn how this system will help you get your staging photos into magazines and newspapers.
Staging Diva Grad Melissa Mitchell of Restyled Spaces (Illinois), really hit a home run with her first home staging project. Within 24 hours her client had multiple offers and sold for $16,000 over the asking price.
The home sellers, Realtor, and their friends were so impressed Melissa landed multiple referrals from that single project. Now this is just her first staging, which means she's already more than paid for her home staging training.
She writes, "The Staging Diva Program has not only provided me with a huge confidence boost, but also all of the tools and insight to help me build a successful business. It would have taken me much longer to get my business to this point without Debra's training and wisdom. Thank you!"
This is one of the rooms Melissa staged for this real estate sale:
For my 1000th article in Home Staging Business Report I decided to come clean and share 3 secrets most home stagers would never tell you.
You probably look at well-established home stagers and think, "what an expert, I'll never feel be as confident and feel like I know as much as her."
What you may not realize is that no matter how long you've been a home stager, you will never feel like you know everything. You'll also never be 100% confident.
I still have doubts. On my way to a new client, I wonder, "Will this be the house where I won't know what to say?" It's never happened, yet here I am still worrying about it!
Imagine if I'd let that stand in my way for the past 11 years. I would never have the staging business I do. Plus, I wouldn't have helped hundreds of people sell their homes fast and for top dollar. And there wouldn't be thousands of you who learned my formula for starting and growing your own staging business.
So if you're waiting for absolute confidence before getting out there, you might as well give up now. There will never be a morning where you wake up and think, "I know everything there is to know about home staging."
l give you permission to step into who you already are, even if you don't know everything. None of us do.
We are always growing and our skills are constantly being refined through use. All you really need to know about home staging is more than your client knows or has time to do themselves. They are waiting for you to solve their problems, so stop holding yourself back. Besides there is no such thing as home staging perfection.
"Staging Diva Dialog is so helpful and informative. Speaking with other stagers exposed me to topics that I had not yet even considered." Darby Dwyer, Queen Bee Staging Company
"It was great that you shared the mistakes you made when you first started. That saved me a lot of heartache and frustration." Leah Friz, Perfect Place Home Staging
"I always find the Staging Diva Dialog calls jam-packed with extremely useful information— very uplifting as I build my business." Maureen Jillain, Primp My Property
"I just listened to this month's Staging Diva Dialog and got 2 great ideas, one of which I wish I had a few weeks ago. Now I know for next time!" Donna Dazzo, Designed To Appeal
Debra Gould has been a serial entrepreneur since 1989. She is president of Voice of Possibility Group Inc. with a mission of helping entrepreneurs create their ideal businesses and lifestyles.
An internationally recognized home staging expert, Debra created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program with 7,000 students in the U.S., Canada and 20 other countries. She is the author of 5 guides, offers a Directory of Home Stagers to help home sellers and agents locate stagers in their area and is frequently profiled in the media.
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