Home Staging Blog by Jennie Norris

I blogged back in July about Home Stagers having A.D.D. http://activerain.com/blogsview/585638/Do-Stagers-have-A

 - and although I know most of us do not actually have that condition - I did think that Stagers enjoy staging because of the short term gratification element.

Along those same lines - I also believe that those of that have found our life passion with Staging are ADDicted to Staging.

What is an addict?  Websters defines it as:  A person who cannot resist a habit, especially the use of drugs or alcohol, for physiological or psychological reasons.

OK - let's just remove the drugs and alcohol part - and put in "A person who cannot resist a habit, especially the use of Staging and creativity, for physiological and psychological reasons." - and there you have it!

We that love Home Staging are Staging Addicts!

Does this mean we need our own 12-Step program for support?  Having grown up in a 12-step household (so this is not in any way meant to demean the helpful groups that saved my family's life), I can just hear the statements now at the weekly support groups - "SA - Stagers Anonymous."

"Hello, my name is Jennie, and I am a Staging Addict."  Group:  "Hello, Jennie."

The 12 Steps would be launched with the statement:

1.  I am powerless over Staging - and help declutter other houses and my own so their lives and mine will not be unmanageable.

2.. Came to believe that a power greater than myself - Staging - could restore me and my clients' houses to sanity.

Etcetera.

The truth is, like an addict, I CAN feel myself going through withdrawals when I have not had my hands in someone else's house.  My husband and kids notice it too - as I begin to "re-Stage" our own house - rearranging things, straightening, and fussing in the house - in order to make something "old new again."  It bothers them - they want to be able to leave a blanket on the ground or not put the centerpiece back where it belongs after playing our Wii.  To me - I often don't feel complete until my own house is back "in order" and yet I do have clutter - the kind that most families with children would have. Books, papers, collections, displayed school projects, and laundry - lots of laundry.  And yet I recognize when I am crossing over to the addiction fix - I become sort of like a whirling dervish - spinning through my house cleaning, straightening, and re-doing displays.  Time for a Staging project - FAST!

I do believe we that love Staging are ADDICTED to it - as one of my mentors proudly shared, "It gets in our blood stream - it's addictive."  And yet I also know it is one of those "healthy" addictions.  We are not harming anyone in the process of Staging (unless we drop a box on our toe), and we do help others to achieve their goals. 

Now as I am writing this - I realize that as Home Stagers, we are addicted to Staging spaces and making houses more visually appealing, which is true.  But what about the other role we play in this 12-Step world? 

Think about it.  Are we also codependent as Stagers?  Do we do for others what they should do for themselves - but are not able?  Yes we do.  The decluttering, the proper presentation for the overwhelmed home seller - are all things the seller (or Realtor) are not able to do - and we come in and "save the day" with our plans, our creativity, our inventory, our knowledge.

Hmmm.  I had not thought of that before now - but there is a grain of truth.  We do help rescue the sale time and time again, offering up our solutions, telling our sellers not to be concerned - we'll take care of it - and allowing them to step aside and pass the responsibility for presentation of the house to us.

I guess we play both roles - we are the proverbial Addict and the Enabler.  But the good news is that we are not hurting anyone in the process - we are helping.    We are helping feed our own addiction and helping the Client achieve their goal of selling, even if it means we have to do the work ourselves.

Afterall - life should not be all boring - we have to have some FUN to feed our spirit - even if it is an addiction that can drive some of our family and friends crazy!  And that is a whole other 12-step program.

SA unite!

Check out our latest statistics for MARCH-SEPTEMBER 2008 from We Stage Sacramento - Sacramento Region's Premier Home Staging Resource.  Our Staged houses SELL - and we have the track record to prove it. 

I have been tracking my own company stats for years and find most stagers do not do this which to me is a big mistake.  It is so vital to be able to communicate the true success of Staging in statistical format for our clients.  We provide real time data based on real successes in the Staging market - and speak from experience for our own current and target clients.

In a market where we are still haunted by tens of thousands of foreclosures, our Staged properties are selling.  As an example, we have some that languished on the market for a year or more prior to Staging - and AFTER we Staged the house, they were in contract within 60 days or less!  Recently one of our Staged houses sold in 8 days - and one sold the first day it hit the market - priced higher than the competition - and presented the BEST!  From Vacant to Occupied - nearly all our Staged properties have attracted Buyers in record time . . .

We Stage Sacramento Staging works!  After successfully Staging over 2,500 properties for Sale, we know what we do works - and our clients trust us to provide them with expert advice, skilled Staging, and fair pricing.  As we ask our clients:  WHY TRUST YOUR HOUSE OR LISTING TO ANYONE ELSE?

Call us at 888-WE-STAGE for results you can trust!

www.WeStageSacramento.com

Bette Davis once famously said, "Old Age is no place for Sissies."

Well I think we can rephrase that statement to say,

"Home Staging is no place for Sissies."  

Sissy:  A person defined as timid, weak or cowardly.

Professional home stagers know that in order to be successful you have to really work hard, and work smart.   Being timid, weak or cowardly is a sure recipe for failure as a Home Stager.

We have to be bold, strong, and brave - especially in a market that is changing.

This does not mean we don't have fear about rejection or discomfort in approaching people about our business.  Fear is a natural part of any human - fear is normal, however we have to get past our fear and overcome it in order to have the success we want.  We cannot let our fear paralyze us to the point of inaction.

We have to bold to get our message out to our audience.  We have to, as the title of one of my favorite books says, "Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway." 

We have to be bold in our Staging as well - and make sure that our Staging really is Staging, not decorating or design, and not something done to appease a pushy client.  We have to be bold and educate our clients about what home staging is - and what it is not, and begin to counter the things we see on television that are really harming us as Stagers.  I have yet to see one show that truly depicts what we do as Stagers, that has not crossed the line into decorating, design, remodeling, and criticism.

Being bold in Staging also means reinventing our look from time to time so that our Staging does not get stale or predictable.  It means having fun with what we do and use our creativity in situations where others would give up - and go shopping.  I love that part of being a home stager - that I was taught to use creativity first, and then the dollar, to help clients.  It is a challenge we rise to time and time again, to the delight of our clients and Realtors who never thought the house could look so great, and never thought of using items in the way we used them in the staging process.

We have to be strong - physically and mentally. 

Physical strength is needed.  I did not realize how much physical activity it would take to be successful in Staging.  I am a strong woman - I always have been.  I was a dancer in my younger years and played all sorts of sports and have an arm that would rival good quarterbacks.  With a team partner I have moved whole houses of furniture in to vacant staging projects, and have loaded and unloaded trucks, and warehouses.   It is a prerequisite of our job to be strong physically, and the good news is for those that do not have the physical strength, we can hire help!

I got smarter as I grew my business, and we do hire labor for moving things - heck, I only have one back, and I don't want to tweak it out because of Staging (and I have J).  I have suffered sore back, tennis elbow, broken toes, scrapes, bruises, and the near loss of an eye from a flying bungee (hit my lip instead and split it open).  Once those things happen, you tend to reassess the wisdom of "doing it all alone" to save money, and begin to stage smarter.

Hiring help actually helped us stage faster, smarter and kept us from getting overly tired and injured.  So we actually are able to accomplish more in one day than in the past.  I have always said, as long as have our minds and can envision the plan for Staging, we can stage.

Mental strength to me is more important than physical strength.  With so many people jumping in to the Staging market, it is now about mental sharpness, and being able to deliver a message of WHY a person needs to work with my company or me as a Stager, versus someone else.  Positioning. 

It requires staying on top of the real estate market and trends, and responding in kind to keep business flowing.  It also requires a constant positive attitude adjustment so that I don't end up locking myself up in fear, or analysis paralysis - both also the kiss of death for Stagers.  I don't bury my head in the sand and ignore what is obviously happening with our economy, I ask, "How will this affect our business, and what can I do to help stimulate production?"

It always boils down to marketing - and so I find ways to entice clients to use our services and remind them of the benefits of Staging versus sitting on the market.

And we have to be brave - of course, our Staging does not take the bravery of our armed forces, but we do have to have a sense or courage and bravery when we go out to promote our business.  We have to have courage in the face of economic times where financial disaster seems to be looming around every corner.  We have to be brave and delve in to new market niches - and be willing to reinvent ourselves to respond to the market and the needs of customers. We have to have the courage to keep a positive attitude when everything and everyone around us might be telling us doom and gloom information.

The natural tendency for most humans is to hunker down and wait it out - but waiting in our business, means not doing face time, and not getting out there to go after business, and this is too risky for us as Stagers.  In tough times, we have to be out there even MORE than in the past- because our business is built on relationships, and when we are out of sight, we are out of mind.  That then leaves potential opportunities for Staging up for grabs for the person that is out there, a presence in person, and actively asking for business.

So sissy stagers will fall away in these tough times, and the strong will survive.  This is the way it with all species - it's called, Survival of the Fittest.

The question is, how fit are you and will you overcome the fear and get out there anyway?  My hope is that you will - and when this economy turns around (and it will), we will find ourselves with even more ways to serve our clients, the ability to earn even more than we ever thought possible, and the strength to keep Staging day by day.

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We Stage Sacramento is a full-service Home Staging company serving the Greater Sacramento market.  For over six years we have been helping sellers, builders and Realtors prepare houses for sale, successfully staging over 2,500 properties.  Our Services also include services for redesign, holiday staging, and workplace staging.   We are members of the International Association of Home Staging Professionals (IAHSP) and accredited as ASP Home Stagers.  Call us at  888-WE-STAGE or www.WeStageSacramento.com

We all love Staging - it feeds our creativity.  But the difference a business that is good and one that is great is all about Project Management.  You may disagree with me - but the Stagers that make the most profit have found out the secret to success is all about TIME - maximizing it and managing it  TIME waits for no one - and when we are not effective Project Managers on our staging projects, we end up wasting time. And this costs us money.

Project Management begins with knowing how long it will take to Stage a house - getting the team together and then making sure the job stays on track.  When the project starts it's up to us to make sure all team members stay on track according to the time allotted.  When I blog about being able to Stage a house in 5 hours from loading up to parking the truck back at the storage, that is not fantasy and it is not out of reach for you if you want to make that your goal.

What I decided early on was that I could either take all day Staging a house or do it in less time and be back home with my family.  Or I could Stage only one house or get 2-3 houses done in the same time as I was taking for only 1.  As much as I love Staging, I love my family time more, and I don't want to be working all day unless I really have to.  In the beginning things did take me longer.  It always came back to planning.  Where I lost time was in forgetting something and having to make a second trip to the storage unit or to a store to buy something.  My motto now is that I am "the one trip woman" and I am not going back!  I discovered along the way that when I give clear directions on what I expected to the movers or other Stagers that were with me - things went more smoothly.  People don't know what we don't tell them. So, communicate clear expectations of time and what the vision is for the project.

When we began to load up only what was needed on any project, and not take our entire storage facility, we became very efficient at the Staging.  Instead of having too much to choose from and have to sift through bins and boxes to find what we needed, we had just enough and came home with empty boxes.  The LIST that I have written about in other blog posts is the heart of the Project Manager. The LIST is what keeps us on traack, and lets us know what we need, how much, and how long things will take.

I know, for example, the average bathroom takes about 15 minutes to Stage.  When we stage a typical bathroom we dress a couple of towels, hang some art, dress the counters, and boom - we are done.  None of this 45 minutes in a bathroom with a colleague - I mean, what could 2 people possibly be doing in a bathroom for 45 minutes? Washing their hair?  When I hear those stories, I say to myself, "The PM role was lost." 

So WHO is the Project Manager or PM?  The person running the job or project that is ultimately responsible for the financial success of the project is the PM.  The PM may have the creative oversight as well - and they are the director for the project.  Finding ways to become more efficient on Staging projects is the goal and this begins with a vision of how each room is going to evolve, and being able to clearly communicate that to the team.  When the truck pulls up the thouse, I don't want to be wondering how I am going to place furniture - I already know.  There may be tweaking of the plan, but the overall placement has already been determined.

The PM has the vision, the PM has the time management and the PM manages the money on the project.  Being able to earn $200/hour on a project because we got it done in short time (and it looks great) is much more appealing than only earning $50/hour because we took 4 times as long as we needed to stage the project.

When we have a business to run, the fun of Staging is part of the package - but it is at the end of the day a business.  Keeping profit focused as part of our planning and management is essential for long term success.

- Jennie