Ever notice how planning a team lunch suddenly becomes urgent when you're supposed to be working on something important? That's dread disguised as productivity – and today we're breaking it down.

In this episode, I'm sharing the concept of the "dread sprint" from Brooke Castillo, and honestly, I'm using it in real-time to get this very episode recorded.

We'll dive into the neuroscience behind why you avoid certain tasks, why productive procrastination still leaves you drained, and how to train yourself to push through the dread faster. Whether it's sending that proposal, looking at your financials, or having a tough conversation with a team member – the longer you wait, the longer you suffer.

Sometimes it's not motivation you need … it can be just motion. And this episode proves that's more than enough.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

• What a "dread sprint" is and how to use it to overcome avoidance in your business
• The neuroscience behind why you suddenly remember every admin task when it's time to do something meaningful
• How productive procrastination still runs on cortisol and drains your energy
• How to train your brain to come back to baseline faster and build resilience

RESOURCES:

• Apply for Private Coaching: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/privatecoachingapp
• Enroll in Staging Business School Accelerate Track: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/accelerate
• Join the Staging Business School Growth Track Waitlist: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/growth
• Follow the Staging Business School on Instagram: www.instagram.com/stagingbusinessschool
• Follow Lori on Instagram: www.instagram.com/rethinkhome

If you want to learn how to streamline your operations so you can grow with less stress and burnout in your staging business, enrollment is open for Staging Business School Accelerate Track. I'd love to see you in the classroom!

ENJOY THE SHOW?

• Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts so that more Staging CEOs find it. Also, include links to your socials so that more Staging CEOs can find you.
• Follow over on Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or Audible

Your phone's getting quiet. Your inbox is slowing down. And your brain is getting LOUD. If you're in that space right now where clients are hesitating, agents are skipping staging, and you're wondering how you'll make it through the end of the year, take a deep breath. Nothing has gone wrong.

What you're experiencing is what I call an integration period, and it's one of the most misunderstood, yet most important, phases of business growth. This is when your systems, your team, and your brain get to catch up to the last level you created before you move into the next one.

In today's episode, I'm walking you through exactly what's happening in your brain during these slower seasons (hello, predictive coding and survival mode!), and more importantly, how to turn this integration period into your strategic advantage.

I'll share my 5-focus area Integration Blueprint that will help you self-regulate, lead yourself through the quiet, and emerge from this season stronger, more prepared, and ready to hit the ground running when the listings come back—and they will.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Why your brain flags slower seasons as a threat and how to self-soothe your survival brain through integration periods
• The 5-focus area Integration Blueprint with practical CEO actions for turning quiet seasons into strategic advantages
• How to conduct a powerful Groundhog Day Review and audit your pipeline to identify what worked, what didn't, and what to change
• The financial metrics every home staging business owner should review and why consistent visibility matters even when work is slow.

RESOURCES:

• Apply for Private Coaching: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/privatecoachingapp
• Enroll in Staging Business School Accelerate Track: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/accelerate
• Join the Staging Business School Growth Track Waitlist: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/growth
• Follow the Staging Business School on Instagram: www.instagram.com/stagingbusinessschool
• Follow Lori on Instagram: www.instagram.com/rethinkhome
• Download the free Profitability Calculator
• Grab the Digital Swag Bag with additional free tools

If you want to learn how to streamline your operations so you can grow with less stress and burnout in your staging business, enrollment is open for Staging Business School Accelerate Track. I'd love to see you in the classroom!

ENJOY THE SHOW?

• Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts so that more Staging CEOs find it. Also, include links to your socials so that more Staging CEOs can find you.
• Follow over on Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or Audible

What if the most powerful thing you could do for your staging business isn't adding more but strategically saying no?

Today's episode is really a reflection and honestly, a celebration as we're winding down this year. I've had some amazing conversations with the CEOs inside our Accelerate and private coaching, and they are experiencing wins that I have to tell you about.

These are wins that I consider non-traditional. But rather, they are the more valuable, more powerful ones from what I'm calling "the clean no". The phase where you assess an area with a problem you are no longer willing to tolerate; either from yourself as the staging business owner, your clients, or your team, so you make a different decision and actually implement that decision to see the results.

So, I'm sharing the beautiful results that our staging CEOs got to see from choosing to do something differently, gaining more breathing room, respect and desired growth.

If you've ever thought, "I can't say no or they'll hire someone else," or "I just need to go a little above and beyond to prove that we're worth it," then this episode is going to challenge how you think about service, standards, and success.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

• What a "clean no" is and why it builds more value than over-delivery
• Why over-delivery is often drama, not value and what it's really masking
• The real cost of over-delivery (financially and emotionally) and how it impacts your team
• Two powerful lists to help you identify where you're over-delivering and what a clean no could give you back

RESOURCES:

• Apply for Private Coaching: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/privatecoachingapp
• Enroll in Staging Business School Accelerate Track: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/accelerate
• Join the Staging Business School Growth Track Waitlist: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/growth
• Follow the Staging Business School on Instagram: www.instagram.com/stagingbusinessschool
• Follow Lori on Instagram: www.instagram.com/rethinkhome

If you want to learn how to streamline your operations so you can grow with less stress and burnout in your staging business, enrollment is open for Staging Business School Accelerate Track. I'd love to see you in the classroom!

ENJOY THE SHOW?

• Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts so that more Staging CEOs find it. Also, include links to your socials so that more Staging CEOs can find you.

• Follow over on Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or Audible

In this episode of Staging Sips, Lori reveals a quiet trap that keeps even experienced staging CEOs stuck in operator mode: hiring for help instead of ownership.

You'll learn how to spot the difference between helpers who lighten your load temporarily and team members who expand your company's capacity. Lori shares how to shift from being the answer key to being the coach, empowering your team to think, decide, and act like owners so your business can finally run without you.

Whether you're hiring your first assistant or managing a growing operations team, this episode will help you lead with discernment, trust, and vision — the Accelerate Standard for scalable success.

What you will learn in this episode:

• The difference between helpers and team members

• Why over-availability creates quiet dependence

• How to move from fixer to coach in your leadership style

• The questions to ask yourself before hiring or promoting anyone

• How to build capacity instead of just relief

• What it means to embody the Accelerate Standard inside your company

RESOURCES:

• Apply for Private Coaching: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/privatecoachingapp
• Enroll in Staging Business School Accelerate Track: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/accelerate
• Join the Staging Business School Growth Track Waitlist: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/growth
• Follow the Staging Business School on Instagram: www.instagram.com/stagingbusinessschool
• Follow Lori on Instagram: www.instagram.com/rethinkhome

If you're ready to elevate how you lead, refine how your business runs, and scale with the calm confidence of a true CEO, join us in Staging Business School Accelerate. The room where staging leaders rise.

You finally hire someone. You're expecting relief. You're imagining lighter days, fewer tasks on your plate, maybe even some breathing room. But instead? The workload feels heavier. You're fielding more questions, redoing work, fixing mistakes. And you catch yourself thinking, "It would just be faster if I handled this myself." Sound familiar?

Here's the thing: this doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong. What it really signals is that you've stepped into a stage of growth that nobody actually warned you about. Up until now, you've been the single point of failure in your business. But there's a bridge you have to cross to get from "the business is me" to "the business works without me" – and most people don't even know it exists.

In today's episode, I'm walking you through the three distinct roles every staging business owner grows through, why most get stuck even after hiring team, and the missing stage that's actually the real game-changer. By the end, you'll have a clearer picture of what needs to shift for you to move into true leadership in your staging business.

Listen in to find out how to stop circling back to doing everything yourself and start building through these stages so your business can finally give you the freedom you've been working toward.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Why hiring a new team member can initially make your workload feel heavier instead of lighter.
• The three roles every staging business owner grows through.
• How to inspect what you expect and set clear standards for your team.
• Why "buying back your time" requires more than just offloading tasks.

RESOURCES:

• Apply for Private Coaching: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/privatecoachingapp
• Enroll in Staging Business School Accelerate Track: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/accelerate
• Join the Staging Business School Growth Track Waitlist: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/growth
• Follow the Staging Business School on Instagram: www.instagram.com/stagingbusinessschool
• Follow Lori on Instagram: www.instagram.com/rethinkhome
• Titus Website: gotitus.com

If you want to learn how to streamline your operations so you can grow with less stress and burnout in your staging business, enrollment is open for Staging Business School Accelerate Track. I'd love to see you in the classroom!

ENJOY THE SHOW?

• Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts so that more Staging CEOs find it. Also, include links to your socials so that more Staging CEOs can find you.
• Follow over on Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or Audible

Have you ever heard a seller say, "Staging sounds great, but we just can't afford it right now"? I have! Maybe you have too! But what if there were a way for your clients to stage their home today and not pay a single dollar until closing?

That's exactly what Nick Narodny set out to solve with his company, Titus. Nick grew up surrounded by real estate—his parents and even his little brother are Realtors and he was building websites for agents back in eighth grade. Fast forward to now, he has created a platform that tackles one of the biggest challenges we face as stagers: getting clients to say yes.

According to stats, only about 20% of homes are staged right now. That means there's an enormous untapped opportunity waiting for us. In this conversation, Nick dives into why sellers and agents hold back on staging, how agents are leveraging staging to win more listings, and some surprisingly creative ways people are using Titus; from sellers buying furniture for buyers to agents boosting their commissions by offering pay-at-close staging.

By the end of this episode, you'll walk away with fresh ideas, new talking points, and a clearer strategy for pitching staging to both clients and agents.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

• The current state of staging and why there's room to triple (or even quadruple) the number of staged homes.
• The top reasons sellers and agents skip staging and how to shift the conversation to get more "yes".
• Tools and resources Titus provides to help home stagers scale their businesses.
• The broader vision for payment innovation in real estate and what it could mean for the future of staging.

RESOURCES:

• Apply for Private Coaching: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/privatecoachingapp
• Enroll in Staging Business School Accelerate Track: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/accelerate
• Join the Staging Business School Growth Track Waitlist: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/growth
• Follow the Staging Business School on Instagram: www.instagram.com/stagingbusinessschool
• Follow Lori on Instagram: www.instagram.com/rethinkhome
• Titus Website: gotitus.com/pay/rethink-home-interiors

If you want to learn how to streamline your operations so you can grow with less stress and burnout in your staging business, enrollment is open for Staging Business School Accelerate Track. I'd love to see you in the classroom!

ENJOY THE SHOW?

• Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts so that more Staging CEOs find it. Also, include links to your socials so that more Staging CEOs can find you.
• Follow over on Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or Audible

I'm sure you know how the math works. You've probably sat down more than once to calculate exactly what you need to charge to make a profit. There is no problem until when it is time to say that number out loud to a client. It is then that it suddenly feels almost impossible. Belive me, it is not jut you.

Here's the truth: pricing is never just about the math. You can have the most perfect spreadsheet in the world, but if your mindset isn't there, none of it matters. In this episode, we're going to talk about what's happening in that gap between knowing your numbers and actually holding them in a conversation. We'll look at why fear shows up when you raise your rates, why your brain reacts like you're in danger, and how to train yourself to move through it so quoting your price feels calm and confident. Beyond that, I also share one of my favorite tools to help you anchor your value.

If you've been struggling to hold firm on your rates, or if you find yourself freezing up when you get to the money conversation, this is for you. We're going past the spreadsheets and into the psychology of pricing—because the numbers are only half the story.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Why fear is a normal response when you raise your prices
• How to retrain your brain to feel safe quoting your real number
• The difference between math protecting your business and mindset sustaining it
• How to use hero metrics to speak about your value with clarity

RESOURCES:

• Apply for Private Coaching: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/privatecoachingapp
• Enroll in Staging Business School Accelerate Track: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/accelerate
• Join the Staging Business School Growth Track Waitlist: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/growth
• Follow the Staging Business School on Instagram: www.instagram.com/stagingbusinessschool
• Follow Lori on Instagram: www.instagram.com/rethinkhome

If you want to learn how to streamline your operations so you can grow with less stress and burnout in your staging business, enrollment is open for Staging Business School Accelerate Track. I'd love to see you in the classroom!

ENJOY THE SHOW?

• Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts so that more Staging CEOs find it. Also, include links to your socials so that more Staging CEOs can find you.
• Follow over on Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or Audible

Ever catch yourself thinking, "If I raise my staging prices, will I lose clients"? You're not alone. But here's the truth: home staging costs are rising whether you like it or not…tariffs, trucking fees, replacement inventory, all of it. And if the pricing in your staging business has not changed in the last year, it's already outdated.

In this episode, I break down why holding onto your old rates is quietly sabotaging your profits, your growth, and even your sanity as a staging CEO. You'll hear the mindset shifts and practical math behind raising your rates without apology (even if your brain feels terrified at first). We talk about the "hidden treadmill" of inventory costs, why undercharging stretches your break-even point forever, and the simple levers you can pull right now to protect your margins.

I'll also share how to reframe price increases for your clients so they see the value, not the politics or inflation talk. And most importantly, you'll walk away with the challenge to step into true leadership—because raising your prices isn't greed, it's stewardship. It's how you build a staging business that thrives.

If you've been waiting for a sign, this is it. Press play, and let's raise those rates like the CEO you came here to be.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Why pricing for today keeps you stuck, and why you need to price for the business you're building
• The hidden treadmill of inventory costs and how it erodes your profits
• Simple math that shows you can raise rates and still make more while serving fewer clients
• How to reframe price increases so clients see value

RESOURCES:

• Apply for Private Coaching: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/privatecoachingapp
• Enroll in Staging Business School Accelerate Track: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/accelerate
• Join the Staging Business School Growth Track Waitlist: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/growth
• Follow the Staging Business School on Instagram: www.instagram.com/stagingbusinessschool
• Follow Lori on Instagram: www.instagram.com/rethinkhome
• Follow Marianne on Instagram: www.instagram.com/homestagercoachmarianne
• Marianne's website: www.coachingbymarianne.com

If you want to learn how to streamline your operations so you can grow with less stress and burnout in your staging business, enrollment is open for Staging Business School Accelerate Track. I'd love to see you in the classroom!

ENJOY THE SHOW?

• Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts so that more Staging CEOs find it. Also, include links to your socials so that more Staging CEOs can find you.
• Follow over on Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or Audible

Ever wonder why some stagers seem to effortlessly attract high-end real estate agents while others struggle to get noticed? Or why certain staging businesses explode with growth while others stay stuck in the same patterns year after year?

Meet Marianne Cherico, a personal and professional development coach for home stagers with 27 years in real estate and nearly two decades of staging under her belt. In this episode, Marianne pulls back the curtain on everything from developing your signature style that gets you remembered, to the exact messaging that makes agents see you as their secret weapon for winning listings. She shares real stories from her coaching clients who've gone from zero to spanning multiple states, and why she actually wants her clients to hear "no" 50% of the time.

This conversation is packed with those "aha" moments that make you want to immediately revamp your entire approach to working with clients and agents. Marianne did not just talk theory. Like she always does, she gives the specific language, mindset shifts, and strategic moves that transform stagers from order-takers to indispensable business partners.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

• How to shift from competition to collaboration with other stagers and build a network that lifts everyone up
• How to develop a signature style that makes you memorable and gets you design jobs
• Why pricing yourself so 50% of your clients say no is actually the goal,
• The presentation and follow-up system that keeps you top-of-mind with agents without feeling salesy or pushy

RESOURCES:

• Apply for Private Coaching: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/privatecoachingapp
• Enroll in Staging Business School Accelerate Track: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/accelerate
• Join the Staging Business School Growth Track Waitlist: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/growth
• Follow the Staging Business School on Instagram: www.instagram.com/stagingbusinessschool
• Follow Lori on Instagram: www.instagram.com/rethinkhome
• Follow Marianne on Instagram: www.instagram.com/homestagercoachmarianne
• Marianne's website: www.coachingbymarianne.com

If you want to learn how to streamline your operations so you can grow with less stress and burnout in your staging business, enrollment is open for Staging Business School Accelerate Track. I'd love to see you in the classroom!

ENJOY THE SHOW?

• Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts so that more Staging CEOs find it. Also, include links to your socials so that more Staging CEOs can find you.
• Follow over on Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or Audible

There's a pattern I see repeatedly with successful staging business owners that's quietly sabotaging everything they've built. They're showing up to every install, running every consultation, personally styling every pillow, and wondering why they feel like they're drowning despite having a team on payroll.

But here's the reality: if you're still the primary technician, you haven't built a business. You've built yourself a very expensive job with multiple employees to manage.

In my coaching work with staging CEOs, especially inside Accelerate, I see this tension constantly. Staging business owners who are afraid that stepping back from client-facing work will lower quality, so they stay in the grind . But the exhaustion they feel doesn't come from the amount of work. It comes from a deeper misunderstanding: your value as a CEO is very different from your value as a solo stager.

That's why today I'm sharing the exact framework I used to transform my business from "Lori's company" into Rethink Home Interiors—, with systems ensuring quality without requiring my physical presence at every project. It is also the approach that is helping Accelerate owners reclaim their role as CEO without sacrificing the standards that built their reputation.

I hope this episode becomes a turning point for you, revealing how to delegate staging tasks so you can step out of the technician role and step fully into business ownership.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

• The Real Source of Your Exhaustion (And It's Not What You Think)
• How to create systems for quality instead of being the quality control bottleneck yourself
• What clients genuinely care about versus what your perfectionist brain thinks
• How to use the 10-80-10 Framework for delegating without losing your standards or your mind

RESOURCES:

• Apply for Private Coaching: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/privatecoachingapp
• Enroll in Staging Business School Accelerate Track: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/accelerate
• Join the Staging Business School Growth Track Waitlist: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/growth
• Follow the Staging Business School on Instagram: www.instagram.com/stagingbusinessschool
• Follow Lori on Instagram: www.instagram.com/rethinkhome

If you want to learn how to streamline your operations so you can grow with less stress and burnout in your staging business, enrollment is open for Staging Business School Accelerate Track. I'd love to see you in the classroom!

ENJOY THE SHOW?

• Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts so that more Staging CEOs find it. Also, include links to your socials so that more Staging CEOs can find you.
• Follow over on Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or Audible