by Debra Gould, The Staging Diva on February 8, 2010
Check out what’s happening for home stagers this month. Please remember, times indicated are Eastern (NY time) so you’ll need to adjust for your own time zone.
Ask Staging Diva Live – FREE
Wednesday, February 10 8PM – 9:30PM
If you’ve subscribed to Staging Diva Dispatch in the last 3 months, you’ll get an invitation to join this 90 minute group conference call with home staging expert Debra Gould. Find out what it’s really like to be a home stager, ask your own questions about starting or growing a home staging business and hear an overview of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program .
Sign up right now for this event!
Open Coaching Day with Staging Diva – FREE (by invitation only, $75 value)
Tuesday, February 16 11 AM to 3:30 PM
Staging Diva Quiz Challenge Winners get a 15 minute one-on-one coaching session with Debra Gould.
Staging Diva Graduates get a 15 minute one-on-one laser coaching session with Debra Gould.
Invitations are sent to Staging Diva Directory members.
Staging Diva Dialog (Graduate Members Only)
Thursday, February 18 noon to 1 PM
Staging Diva Graduates have a chance to ask Debra Gould questions in a small group on this regular, monthly coaching call.
Here’s what was discussed on the last call:
- Rules for using press releases
- How to charge for project management
- How to get paid by third party suppliers
- How to create a vignette for your portfolio
- 3 key benefits of customer follow up
- ASID, RESA and other associations
- Dangers of overhead and how to avoid it
- Faulty assumptions that sideline you
- Keeping going when “life” gets in the way
- Managing client expectations
- 3 important ways to use open house visits
Find out how you can join the February Staging Diva Dialog. Just $47 gets you the live call with Debra Gould to ask your questions!
Staging Diva Accelerator Coaching (Members Only)
Every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday by appointment
If you’re interested in business coaching with Debra Gould, schedule an Accelerator Coaching session. It’s not a prerequisite to have taken the Staging Diva Training Program to purchase a session. When you’ve registered, you’ll get special access to Debra Gould’s online calendar to book an appointment at your convenience.
Learn more about how to get Staging Diva Business Accelerator Coaching
Technorati Tags: home stager, starting a home staging business Staging Diva Dialog, Ask Staging Diva Live, home staging Business Coaching, debra gould
by Debra Gould, The Staging Diva on February 4, 2010
Congratulations to Belgium Staging Diva student Marleen Marini who was in two newspapers in the same week in addition to have been on 3 radio shows. Getting media attention can make a real difference in your business because it gives you credibility and gets the word out to far more people than you can ever reach on your own. Learn how to get the media working for you in Course 4 Staging Diva Sales and Marketing Secrets to Boost Your Staging Business.
by Debra Gould, The Staging Diva on February 3, 2010
Here we are heading into the next big chocolate holiday, and I’ve just managed to work off the Christmas shortbread cookies. I’m still getting to the gym three times a week, but it’s mighty tough to fit it. As much as I’m tempted to skip it, I know that exercise helps keep my stress level in check. I also come up with new business ideas when I’m not actively focused on work.
I continue to look for ways to enhance the Staging Diva Training Program which I’ve been teaching for 5 years now. Many ideas come from the questions you send in, or from my discussions with home stagers during our Business Accelerator Coaching sessions and in the Staging Diva Dialog calls.
New to course 2 is a list of stores where you can get designer discounts. I’ve included the amount of discounts and how you go about getting them.
New to course 3 is a section with invoice templates for three unique scenarios. I have always explained invoicing in the course along with how to make sure you get paid, but I’ve decided that actual sample invoices will help you see how I fill them out in different situations. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, right?
This new information is already incorporated into the home staging courses but for current Staging Diva Graduates, or anyone who has purchased course 2 or course 3 previously, watch your email as I’ll be sending this new information out to you this week.
Also, if you subscribe to my newsletter (sign up by filling out the form to your left) watch for a no calorie Valentine’s surprise coming in your email from me closer to the 14th— no gym time required!
by Debra Gould, The Staging Diva on February 2, 2010
“Can you think of anything more permanently elating than to know you are on the right road at last?”
~Vernon Howard
by Debra Gould, The Staging Diva on January 29, 2010
If you started your home staging business more than a year ago, you probably weren’t using Twitter, or you might not even have heard of it. But mastering Twitter and using it to help promote and grow your home staging business should definitely be in your 2010 marketing plan.
If you’re thinking, “why Tweet when I can just call?”, then you don’t understand what social media can do for you. The real business value is in letting you build a professional relationship and communicate with people you don’t know yet— people who are interested in your services.
> More about how Twitter can build your staging business
Another way to get more exposure for your home staging business is to start a blog or newsletter about home staging. It’s your chance to have ongoing contact with prospective or past clients and continue to demonstrate your expertise as a home stager.
You may have met someone three months ago, but will they remember you when it’s time to put their house on the market? Newsletters give you a way to keep in touch by sharing information. This is much better than trying to pick up the phone and say “hi, do you need my services yet?”
It can be time consuming to put out a regular newsletter or to keep a blog active, but it’s worth the effort because both are excellent ways to market your business.
>Learn how to save time by having Staging Diva write your content
Did you know when you order the products referenced here, you can download them onto your computer right away? No losing your enthusiasm, or getting distracted by other priorities, while waiting for a book to arrive in the mail.
Because Staging Diva materials are delivered to you immediately after you order, you can get started on your new marketing for the New Year right now while you’re inspired to learn and take action.
by Debra Gould, The Staging Diva on January 28, 2010
The Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers welcomes back Home Staging Ideas located in Newfoundland, Canada.
The owner of Home Staging Ideas, Levina Fitzpatrick, is a Graduate of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, and she has chosen to renew her full listing on the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers. Even though she has a separate home staging website, Levina has chosen to keep her full listing on the directory because she can be certain that anyone searching the Directory of Home Stagers for a stager in Newfoundland will find her.
Home Staging Ideas serves the following locations in Newfoundland and Labrador: St. John’s, Mount Pearl, Torbay, Conception Bay South, Bay Roberts, Harbour Grace, Carbonear, Kilbride, Goulds, Southern Shore.
Learn more about adding your home staging business to the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers.
Technorati Tags: Staging Diva, Staging Diva Directory, Directory of Home Stagers, Home Stagers, Home Staging Ideas, Newfoundland home stager, home stager Newfoundland
by Debra Gould, The Staging Diva on January 25, 2010
Many small business owners are hesitant about marketing because they think it means “cold calling” (picking up the phone to contact people they don’t know) or being a pushy sales person. Nothing could be further from the truth!
The art of marketing is finding ways to get people who need your services to come to you asking for help.
This takes you out of the “sales” mindset and allows you to realize you are offering a valuable service that will help people. Your marketing job becomes one of helping potential customers understand how you will solve their problems.
January is the natural time to take a hard look at your business and evaluate what’s working well, what’s not working, and what you could be doing better.
It’s also the perfect time to review your marketing plan and update it as needed.
If you don’t have a marketing plan, don’t be intimidated thinking that it has to be a 100 page document with footnotes and appendices. A marketing plan is just your specific plan to promote your business, and it can fit on one page of paper.
> Free article on how to create your one-page marketing plan
Refer back to your notes and the audio recording for Course 4 – Staging Diva Sales & Marketing Secrets to Boost Your Home Staging Business. You’ll find a list of proven marketing tactics to make sure you’re the home stager of choice when real estate agents and prospective home sellers start thinking about their own plans for the spring real estate market. Now is your time to get your marketing in place so that potential customers can find you when they look for a home stager in your area.
by Debra Gould, The Staging Diva on January 22, 2010
Congratulations to Staging Diva Graduate Donna Dazzo of Designed to Appeal (NY) who had a strong finish to her year with 3 projects right before Christmas. She staged an occupied apartment plus two vacant townhomes. She writes, “and I thought December was supposed to be a slow month for home stagers!”
by Debra Gould, The Staging Diva on January 20, 2010
The Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers welcomes back TKM Design Group, located in Oregon.
Tiffany Cobb, owner of TKM Design Group, is a Graduate of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, and has renewed her full listing on the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers. Tiffany’s listing serves as her home staging website because it features three sets of her before and after photos, sales copy about her business and her contact details. Tiffany can also be certain that anyone searching the Directory of Home Stagers for a home stager in Oregon finds her.
TKM Design Group serves the following locations in Oregon: Portland Metro Area, Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin, Sherwood, Newberg, Wilsonville, Salem, West Linn and Lake Oswego.
Learn more about adding your home staging business to the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers.
Technorati Tags: Staging Diva, Staging Diva Directory, Directory of Home Stagers, Home Stagers, TKM Design Group, Oregon home stager, home stager Oregon
by Debra Gould, The Staging Diva on January 19, 2010
Are you trying to decide between interior design or starting a staging business? I struggled with the same decision myself and 
found I was more attracted to a career in home staging because, as a single mother, I needed to start earning money right away. And the idea of spending 2-4 years in a classroom with people 20 years younger than me while I earned a degree in Interior Design wasn’t overly appealing either.
Once I became a home stager, I discovered that there were plenty of opportunities for me to do interior redesign and color consulting projects as well. The difference was I was getting hired by people who never would have dreamed of calling an Interior Designer.
Let’s face it, most people assume that’s just for “rich people.” There’s a much larger market catering to middle- and upper-middle income families who need help because they’re too busy to figure it all out themselves, or they just don’t have the creative eye we do.
> Read more on the difference between Interior Design and Home Staging as a career
> Read more about recession proofing your interior design business
