5 Steps to Starting a Home Staging Business – Part 2
Debra Gould
February 23, 2009
In part one of this article series, aspiring home stagers were given the first two steps they can take now, towards starting their businesses; determining if home staging is the right career for them, and thinking up a name.
The following are three additional steps that can be taken immediately to help build a profitable home staging business:
3. Practice, practice, practice. Arrange and rearrange your own home and the homes of friends and family members who will indulge you! While you´re at it, take lots of before and after photos that you can use for your home staging portfolio and ask for endorsements from the people you´re decorating for. When the time comes to develop your portfolio, you´ll be glad you thought ahead!
4. Fill your head with knowledge. Learn as much as you can. Read home staging blogs and become familiar with your local real estate market. This is key because as a stager, you are decorating houses to sell which means you need to know what's happening in your local real estate market. Sign up for newsletters that will help you grow your business, those that are home staging specific and others that are targeted towards entrepreneurs.Knowledge is power. You can´t have too much of it when you´re starting a new business.
5. Start saving money. You´ll feel better about your self-employment if you have a nest egg stashed away. Home staging is a very low-cost business to start, but you will need some money to live on in the early stages. Plus you will have to spend some money on a good digital camera, your logo and business cards, registering your business and so on. Many people who start a home staging business get their first client right away, but you never know how long it could take. It´s recommended for anyone starting a new business to have some money set aside to live on for at least a couple of months.