If you don't write it down...it just won't happen.

There are two learning and growth strategies that always insure better focus and recall: Repetition and Writing it Down

I use both of these when I plan my days/weeks/months AND set my goals.  By putting your plans into your Google Calendar AND hand writing them, you will have a much better success rate of retaining, expressing and completing them!

I talk about this a lot in my productivity webinar in January but the simple truth is...planning makes perfect.

In the live webinar I'm going to show you how I use these pages in my work and life, so make sure you attend to get fired up on your 2020 year and decade!

So let's get our dreams, plans and goals down on paper and get personal this Wednesday, live at my webinar!

I always say that I learn something new in our private Stagers Connect Facebook Home Stager Group everyday but this tip I just had to share with everyone...it's that good!

Have you struggled like me to get your interior photos light and bright (like in the magazines)?

Want to learn a quick way to brighten your photos for instant Instagrammable appeal?

Nicci Nolan Wright of Staged Wright Home, one of our HSR members has a strong background in photography and shared some of her hot tips in our Stagers Connect group via video.

Watch my 3-minute video below that shows you exactly what I did on my iPhone to completely transform my room photo...

Can you believe how easy that was?!  ​

For more super cool staging hot tips, join me on my next free, live event...

Home Stagers have such a uniquely cool business model because each job they complete becomes an instant marketing referral source for their business IF the stager brands it well. This is just one of the many reasons I always say that staging is a better business model than interior design.

In my HSR home staging Certification training I talk about the importance of leaving your mark, so that the home buyer knows that the home has been carefully prepped and curated for their arrival.   

In our Facebook Stagers Connect private home stager group we collaborated on the unique ways we "leave our business mark" in the homes we stage and I thought it would make for a wonderful post to inspire others in their stager branding and marketing....enjoy!

Shirley Borloz of Signature Staging in Nashville, TN cleverly adds her business name and information in a stack of books vignette....how cool is this?

Angie Creech Design used a different variation on that the book stack by adding a frame behind it and layering it over a cutting board with her business cards.

Sarah Williams of Finishing Touch Design out of Redlands, CA creatively leaves her mark in a couple places in the home.  Starting with the front entry, she has a custom door mat with her business name and will then place her business cards and marketing postcard on a table in the home...

Dani Powers of Taylor Made Staging and Design varies her calling card vignette by season...below she has a fall centerpiece with her cute signage and business cards.

Kandice Lee Designs, a home stager out of Denver CO said that since she leaves a peice of her heart in every home she touches, her signature item is a pink heart shaped stone on her business cards to show buyers the love that went into that space...very clever!

Melissa Raab Mendelson, a home stager in the Chicago Area goes one step further by creating an eye catching vignette and adding her calling card, framed postcard with brochures and business cards.

Sarah Beam of Altogether Lovely keeps is simple but adorable on the kitchen counter.  I also like how she includes her photo on her business cards to make her staging and branding that much more memorable and personal.

Susan Vaneria of Fresh Spaces out of Hartford, CT also uses the kitchen counter with a cute printable chalkboard of her business name and stack of cards.

Mallory Johnson of Nine Elements Interiors out of Twin Cities changes up her approach depending on the home and here she uses a tray vignette that can be moved strategically to different locations in the home.  Again, she's very smart to have a photo on the business card which again personalizes her brand to her prospective clients...

Mitch Bage of Maison De Campagne a home staging company in League City, TX uses a more subtle approach but I kind of love it...

Those that know me, also know that I have a HUGE problem with home stagers having to reinvent things for their business...  

There's A LOT to know in this industry like extreme design expertise, real estate knowledge, where to shop for that perfect XX, small business know-how and marketing, etc...

Why is it that every other staging trainer makes it so that stagers have to recreate the wheel when it comes to creating social media posts, realtor presentations, brochures, flyers, staging reports and contracts (among all the other stuff we create for our business)!

Okay, enough ranting...let me get down to the cool stuff and a free give-away just for you:-)

We are in the image industry, so everything that represents us like our marketing materials, business cards, website and all of our handouts have to look FABULOSO...right?  

Word docs and Picmonkey are just not gonna cut it these days, so that's why Canva is the answer and...

I've just added direct links to all my Canva Templates in the HSR Members Training Area since Canva now allows me to share my cool creations directly to your Canva account...woot!

(If you don't know what Canva is my friend, then I just unleashed the beast in you because you will LOVE it!  It's a FREE marketing creation platform that is TRULY amazing, so go to Canva.com to check it out)

Now my HSR members can take my Canva Staging Checklist and completely change the colors...

Or edit all the text, photos and add their personal branding, as well as change the fonts SUPER easily...

I've got a 10-Page Statistic Driven Canva template for home stagers to use in their Realtor PowerPoint Presentations:

I've got Canva templates for home stagers to give their Real Estate Agent Partners in order to make them look great:

I've got a fantastic hand-out to give to home sellers, agent partners or have on your website as a give-away (in exchange for their email):

I've got OODLES of gorgeous staging statistic imagery in a Canva template form, so  home stagers can put them on their websites, brochures or even use in their social media...here's just one example:

My HSR members are NEVER looking at a blank page or reinventing the wheel with their business, so that they can focus on what they do best...stage and transform homes!

Now, I've got a freebie for you just so you can see how incredibly useful these templates can be in your marketing and branding.  Simply swap out the before/after photos to your own and use this in your social media or on your "Vacant Services" page on your site.  

Just answer the quiz question below and get my Canva Template link to the imagery below for FREE!

PS - In full disclosure, I am a Canva Affiliate since I LOVE that website.

There's A LOT of confusion when it comes to E-Design and the simplest way to explain it...is to say that 

E-Design is simply technology helping you get your vision across to clients that much easier, better and more beautifully!  

How does E-Design do that?  Well, the best technology allows you to clip and save whatever you're searching online for in a "project" with a direct link and product price/information, so that while you're shopping or sourcing for clients it's being recorded into that  client's project folder...

In the past, designers would try to explain the vision they had to clients verbally or even tediously create a hard copy "mood board" but now technology gives us the tools to simplify, pass the vision along easily and even give clients the direct links to shop for themselves if they wish.

Here Are 3 Not So Obvious Ways E-Design Can Grow Your Sales...

There's so much more you can do with E-Design technology, so if you want all the answers to how to incorporate E-Design into your staging or design business, click to join me on a workshop about it below...

Sending kids off to college can be tough...I know as I will be doing that next year and am already completely dreading it!  It's even tougher on the child and moving into ugly, boring and sterile dorm rooms does not make it any easier.   That's why I love this story about DORM ROOM STAGING  that I wrote for the National Association of Realtors staging blog which featured yet another way for stagers to do amazing things in unique locations!

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Penn State wisely contacted HSR Certified Carolyn Plummer of Carolyn Plummer Designs and home staging based in Harrisburg, PA for a solution to boring dorm spaces and you won't believe the transformation...

I absolutely love how Carolyn softens up the space with an on-trend color palette that pleases both boys and girls along with a TON of textures and cozy rug, pillows and throws.  Imagine previewing colleges with your child to find this staged dorm space as an option vs. the typical un-staged space above it?

The builder was ecstatic with her work and these staged spaces put Penn State on top of their college recruiting game!

Here's some more photos but to read the WHOLE story, CLICK HERE.

The builder also used these photos in their marketing materials...in fact, the developers of this housing unit were so impressed with the job Carolyn did, they kept the furnishings for the model unit.

They’ve since rented out all of the units through the next three years—wow!

As a contributor to the National Association of Realtors staging blog, my favorite thing to do is to brag about the incredible talent of my HSR certified home staging members.  I also find it so interesting to watch the MANY different directions home stagers take their business because there are so many niches available to them.  

I will share Carolyn's behind the scenes Member Success story soon but here's what she had to finish with when she shared her dorm room project with me...

Remember that book by the incomparable Dr. Seuss?   When someone decides to "choose themselves" and steps into the staging and design industry through the HSR Certification Training it's AMAZING where their business can take them!  I was reminded of that Dr. Seuss book when I read about the story below.

Here's a recent member success story about staging Airbnbs...

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It was vacant and I completely designed and staged the entire space. Now I am partnering with him to manage the space and will receive a cut of the profits each month. This will be an Airbnb. 

But it gets better...there are 2 other units just as stunning in the same "home" and I'll be doing the same with those. Residual income!!

And will you succeed?  Yes!  You will, indeed! (98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

Kid, you'll move mountains!  Today is your day!  Your mountain is waiting.  So...get on your way!

Staging pricing is one of the most confusing topics in our industry because we are dealing with a very complex product...the home.  I've seen long-time, veteran stagers make pricing mistakes, so my hope is to "lift the lid" on this topic and cover some of it here and a lot more on my free, live webinar next week:-).

Here are the 4 out of the 10 mistakes home stagers (and designers) make when they create their services and pricing list...to see the last 6, click on the image above and join me on my Pricing Webinar.

This may seem like an obvious one but I'm constantly seeing service details left out of the pricing list of stagers and designers.  "Consultation" is a VERY broad term in this industry and one person's may be a 15-minute, assessment while another's is a 2-hour walk through with a staging report...would you agree that those are VERY different priced services?

What happens when we ASSUME?  Why let your client assume anything from your service list!  Be crystal clear in what you're delivering, have a equally clear contract and you will alleviate most every problem that stagers encounter (which are usually misunderstandings based on "assumptions" anyway).

So many home stagers believe that clients purely go off of price when choosing a home stager, so they price too low in order to win the job.  While some uneducated clients will choose solely on price, most people are savvy enough to recognize that staging is an art  form and "you get what you pay for" when it comes to the staging design work done in the home.

The "low ball stagers" are usually not invested in their business or HSR Certified.  They think "staging would be fun" so they  just think they will charge what their hourly was in their last position...ugh!   

These untrained stagers would also not know how to shop wholesale, not understand the real estate market, not have those valuable vendor relationships, a good contract, understand client phraseology, have insurance or be in business by this time next year so never fear the "low ball stager"!

This is an honest mistake I see even the most veteran stagers make when it comes to their business.  By nature, we are creatives...not hardened, "salesy" negotiators.  The "typical" successful skill set needed to be an AWESOME staging artist usually comes from the right brain, so it's easy for us  to "cave" when a savvy, negotiating agent wants to "value down" a stager's pricing.  Please trust me on this...DON'T DO IT.

Having said that, I do believe that you need to have a "Good, Better, Best Pricing" when it comes to vacant homes since that allows flexibility in pricing for the budget minded.  I will get into a lot more of that in my live webinar next week, so I hope you can join me...

I also think there are ways to be "flexible" in your pricing that doesn't diminish your pricing credibility like wavering and discounting does...and this brings me to another pricing mistake:

Not everyone has the budget to have you in their home, staging it for days, so that is why it's always good to have a stair-stepped price model that allows for the "Do-It-Yourselfer" who can take your detailed Staging Report and do the work.  

I always say that successful staging requires 4 things to work...

Looking at the 4 items above, if the seller has the time and energy to put into the staging, then a stager can have stair-stepped pricing and simply provide the objectivity, extreme expertise and vendor list in the Staging Report.  This is what HSR Certified stagers are trained to do and they have access to a large, staging report model that works really well in the home!

Hopefully that gives you some food for thought on pricing.  I'm going to continue this conversation in my next, BRAND NEW, live webinar, so I hope you can join me!