Do you fly by the seat of your pants or do you go in with a plan?

I am preparing to take a little time off while I have my baby and get used to having my bundle of joy around. In training someone to take over my business I too have learned lots about my Staging business.  In choosing someone to represent me and someone who I trust in my business was hard to start with.  Giving up your Staging baby is hard. Imagine allowing someone else to take over your business and see how it makes you feel. Sometimes you just have to let go and give up control. Would it even be possible? Are you the marketer, the admin and the Stagers? Are your systems ready for an ASP® to walk in and learn for 3 weeks or could the ASP® just pick them up? We all need a swift kick in the pants from time to time.  From the day we complete the ASP® class we are armed with plenty to do.  As a trainer, I often find it hard to understand when new Stagers don’t get down and complete everything taught in class.  Now, teaching a newer ASP Stager what I do in my business I have been called out on a number of items that I should be doing that I have chosen not put aside for now as my most productive season is upon me. We have gone back to the basics and are now catching up on all those little things I thought could be excused.  The lesson to myself… Stick to the basics that have been taught in class and more business will come. A good example of this for me was to attend the Realtor tour for our recently Staged property.  We took treats to hand out (with a business card attached) and that day we received a couple of leads for new projects. What have I been thinking in not doing this? I actually do have some decent systems in my business that can be taught.  When I first graduated from class I was unsure of how my client meetings for a proposal would go.  After a while I put everything together and came up with a pretty effective client presentation. Before this, I would fly by the seat of my pants, show up and see how it went.  Now, presenting it to someone is easy. How do you present your services to your clients? Are you measuring your success rate? What do you do if you don’t get the staging project? For a matter of fact… How do you run your business?  I have invested time in setting up systems in my business that takes care of everything. From a formal intake form (Barb made them for us on The Staging University®) to recording my expenses… do you?  Are you running your business or is your business running you?  Let me share, in getting everything caught up really has me feeling better. I ask myself why did I let things slide? Everyone can learn lots from others. I like the way my business is going and the systems that are set in place.  My goal is always to grow my business.  So to you reading this… be open to change, and see how you can also better your services and business.   Text written by Katy Fine-Man Jones, ASP, ASPM, IAHSP International Board Member