If you really truly want to have a great home Staging business it is time to go and get it started.
As a StagedHomes.com ASP® trainer I love teaching people how to build their Staging business. Once they leave class they are so excited to get started and dive in to building a new Staging business. To keep your enthusiasm high and to keep moving forward I want to share the following with you!
Remember that you are building a business and these things can take time. Saying that, you must be out pounding the pavement to make it happen. If you sit at home and wait for agents and sellers to call you, you could be waiting a while. It is said that most small businesses take 4 years to be self-supporting. While this may be an average there is no reason you can get things going sooner. Besides… 4 years is a long time when you have a burning desire to stage.
Remember that in your ASP ®Training class we send you home with your heads full and the ASP ®Manual tucked under your arms. In that manual on pages 2.1 and 2.2 Barb made a list of items to get you started. If you are within a year of graduating you may still be working your way down that list. This is a great place to get started. If you have been in the biz for longer and still not seeing the results you would like, check back and make note of the things you may have missed.
I have found that there are a couple types of graduating Stagers. Some work diligently on the list mentioned above and some get out and network. I believe it takes a balance between the two to get things rolling. You need business cards, your ASP® Profile posted on StagedHomes.com® as well as your ASP® Featured page on SHC and a way to keep in touch with people etc, but you have to get out and meet people to pass out business cards to have them visit your ASP® Featured Page and your website and people to keep in touch with. Who are you going to look at your flyers that you took 3 days putting together if you don’t go out and make appointment to complete office presentations?
Here is a suggestion to the balance solution… ½ and ½ . Take half your day or time allowed to work on your Staging business to network and meet people and half the time to be productive in your office. For a few people, they are working full time to pay the bills and would like to transfer to a full time staging business. I know how it is because that is how I did it. I would work until 5 and race to a networking meeting in the evening. It wasn’t really until my husband shared with a couple new ASP’s that stayed the night with me recently that I realized how dedicated I was to making this happen for me. Within 6 months I was able to go part time at my original job and within a year I left. The only thing that is stopping this happen is you.
So how to meet people…. You have to get out there. When I first started I knew no one and would sit for a few quiet minutes outside networking events praying for the strength to walk into a room full of people I didn’t know. After a while I would see people I had met before and would talk to them first and they introduced me to others. I passed out business cards but more importantly I made connections and built friendships with people that still help me 5 years down the line. It is strange how things happen. People still call from those days with referrals for me.
My very first project came to me from a title person I met that referred me to a mortgage person who was selling an investment property. Today, 5 years later the mortgage person and I run a business networking group together. I think it is funny how things work out sometimes.
You never know where your projects will come from. BUT, if you don’t get out and let people know what you do they will never call you. So get out of the office for an hour and meet some people. It does not always have to be Realtors because all of your friends and people you meet know at least one Realtor, even your family. Ask yourself, does everyone know what you are doing now? Have you asked for their help in connecting me to someone that can help? Pick up the phone, join a local networking event and get to know people… then pass out your flyers and business cards you have been working so hard on.
Remember all things come to those who make it happen! If you really truly want to have a great home Staging business it is time to go and get it started. What are you waiting for?
Katy Fineman-Jones, ASPM®, ASP®
ASP® Certified Course Trainer
IAHSP® Board of Directors