The Home Staging Show

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On today's show, here is what we discussed:

• Real estate market in Seattle

• Edi’s approach to new home staging projects

• Staging vacant homes vs. occupied homes

• Is your approach different between starter homes vs. luxury homes?

• Some of the common misunderstanding when it comes to staging the house?

• What usually caused home sellers and realtors to resist staging

• How to deal with clients who are not willing to stage

• Different pricing models in the home staging industry

• How listings are marketed

• Working with real estate agents

• Dealing with cultural issues and requests from the sellers and real estate agents

• Why you shouldn’t use Buddha in staging homes

• Edi’s one top tip for home sellers when it comes to staging

Hi guys, welcome back to Season 8. I m SO excited to bring the podcast back! And HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Since it's the new year, on the show today, I have invited Makayla Ervin, a success coach for mompreneurs to talk about mindset and to eliminate self-limiting beliefs.

I also want to take a moment to thank you for your patience and been so supportive of Staged4more. As you may know from previous shows that I moved to Paris for ten months to pursue my master degree last year and it was very intense to try to work and go to school full time all at the same time.

It’s great to be back, working on the school, the blog and the podcast as well. I am very grateful for the opportunities that I have and the freedom that I have to pursue my passions. I know to talk about mindset and stuff like self-limiting beliefs sound very woo woo, but from my own experiences, building a business that makes me feel fulfilled, that can serve others while serving me and my lifestyle has really given me the freedom and purpose. It gives me the motivation to do better. That’s why I push for it on the podcast, and also in our courses like the 6-Figure Floor Plan course. 

Speaking of which, I will be opening up the enrollment for the next round of 8-week, live 6-Figure Floor Plan mastermind course. The class is going to start on Monday, February 11 and the Early Bird Enrollment will start on February 1.

As our podcast listeners, you can use the coupon code mentioned in the show to get an additional $100 off. Just enter that when you check out, it’s going to be on the right-hand side of the page.

Also, there are a couple of free goodies for you on our blog. I have a free Goal Setting Planner for 2019 that will help you set your goals for the year. It also has accountability built in, where you will receive a check-in email every 90 days this year. There is also a free Marketing Plan Planner on the blog.

Here are the links for you to download the planners:

• How to Achieve Your Goals This Year

• How to Create a Winning Marketing Plan for Your Home Staging Business

I am super excited to bring back the show today and to kick off our new season today with Makayla Ervin, a success coach who specializes in working with mompreneurs. 

For Makayla, becoming a mom and staying home with her children really helped bring that part of herself back to life again. She never planned to be a Stay At Home Mom, she likes working too much; but she couldn’t imagine spending her days anywhere else. So, she built a brand and her business to serve her lifestyle.

She dabbled in several creative businesses before she found her true calling. She was so blessed by the freedom and fulfillment she found from channeling her gifts into a means of income for her family. She was determined to use her passion to educate, inspire, and coach other moms to do the same.

• Makayla, I am so excited to interview you! It’s the New Year, so I always like to do some mindset type of work on the first episode. You do a lot of work with mindset with your clients. Can you tell us a little bit about your business?

• Why is mindset so important when it comes to starting or running a business?

• What are some of the self-limiting beliefs that hold us down?

• What work can we do to expel these self-limited beliefs?

• In your experiences, how has having clarity changed your business and your clients’ businesses?

• Personally, I think clarity is incredibly important. My business completely shifted once I had clarity on what kind of business I want. When your clients struggle with gaining clarity for their goals and their business, how do you help them find that direction and clarity?

• I feel that a lot of times as creative women, we put these self-limiting thoughts onto ourselves. I see this a lot where women feel guilty about charging their worth. I certainly had done this when I started in my career. How can someone harness their purpose and empower themselves to monetize their talents?

• I love that in your course for mompreneurs, you push your students to create a business plan. When I updated our course Launcher last month, I added that as well, because I recently had to write one for my master program last year. And it helped me to iron out my business model. In your experiences, why is writing a business plan so effective?

• How does someone take a side hustle and turn that into a full-time business?

• When the business is new, how can we build an authentic brand that grows organically?

• What is the one top tip you will give to gain clarity in your life?

Hey everyone, welcome back to the last episode of our season 7. On today’s show, it’s a Q&A session. I have received a few questions from our listeners. Before we get started today, I just want to take the time and thank you for your support for this past season. As you may have heard me mention on the show, I’m studying full time for a master in photography this year. So at times, my schedule is very hectic and I have a lot on my plate. So I’m very grateful for your patience and kindness and support. I also want to take the time to thank the guests this season and previous seasons as well. It’s very difficult to take time during the busy season to come on the show, so I am very grateful for them to take time out of their busy days and come on the show.

I also have a couple quick announcement to make.

1. I’ll be speaking in Rome next Saturday for the IAHSP European Conference. I’ll be speaking about photography and portfolio. I will be putting my conference speech online, and a little bit more bonus content, so just be on the look out for the newsletter announcement when that goes live. 
2. Me and 9 other marketing experts, including Bobbie McGrath, one of our favorite guests on the podcast, in the home staging industry have gotten together and published a new book. It’s going to be available on Amazon.com on Monday, April 9th.  On Monday, April 9th, you will also be able to purchase an electronic copy of the book on Amazon.com for $2.99. The name of the book is Marketing: for the Staging and Design Industry.
3. For the next season, I am aiming to come back in June. If you have any suggestions on topics and guests, leave a comment on the show notes!
4. For those of you who are interested in joining the next live, 8-week business incubator, the 6-Figure Floor Plan, our next live class will start the first week of July. We will be opening the Early Bird enrollment in June.

Qs asked today:
“What recommendations do you have if you want to get into the staging industry?”
“Why do stagers work for wages instead of profits ? How can they plan to expand , buy new inventory? Do they know to add 35% to their job for profit to ensure growth. What if they were ill, how would they earn income and pay someone to do their work?”
“Do you have any tips on how to get client to decide to go ahead with the actual stage?”
“Any tips for storing lampshades to avoid them from getting banged up? Also - how do you organize your warehouse as far as aisles rows etc… just started using the staging assistant and it’s been a game changer! I’m a new regional manager for a staging company and I’m starting the process of organizing our warehouse!”

On this episode, I'm really happy to interview Denise O'Berry, who is a small business and cash flow expert, on the show. During this episode, she shared many valuable tips about pricing your work, dealing with client objections, cash flow issues in the small businesses and how to make sure your business has a healthy financial. If you are struggling with pricing and managing money for your business, I highly recommend this episode for you.

Next week is Q&A episode, if you have any questions about home staging or running a home staging business, leave your question below in the comment section or send me an email.

Small Business Expert Denise O’Berry is the author of “Small Business Cash Flow: Strategies for Making Your Business a Financial Success” a book about how to get, manage and keep your cash flow on an even keel and where it belongs — in your business. A small business owner since 1996, Denise has worked with hundreds of small business owners over the years and is inspired by their enthusiasm and ability to overcome huge obstacles. 

• Hi Denise, thank you so much for coming on the show this week! I am very excited to interview you since you’ve written and published a book about small business cash flow and you are an expert on this. I feel that one of the biggest obstacles I’ve seen with stagers building their businesses is that they don’t understand how money works. So before we can start talking about cash flow, can we talk about how money works in the small business?

• So what is cash flow?

• Why is cash flow so important that it should be the number one priority of the business?

• Why and how small business owners run into issues with cash flow?

• How do you know if you have a healthy cash flow or not? Are there specific numbers that you look for?

• One of the biggest contributor to the cash flow is our income. How do you figure out the best pricing to charge our clients?

• When is the best time to raise your price?

• How should we raise our prices? Do you do it by a percentage each time?

• How do you deal with clients who price shop or want to bargain your prices?

• How do you make your clients love paying you?

• How can a small business owner improves the lifetime values of a customer?

• For our type of work, money is not always steady. There are a lot of factors that can influence our income. So what are some of the things us small business owners can do to make sure that we can always generate income and stay black on the books?

• In your book, you mentioned using the hidden cash resources to grow the business. Can you elaborate on that? How can we find cash in our business? What are some of the hidden cash resources and how can we use them to grow our business?

• What strategies can we use to make our customers loyal to us no matter what price points we are charging?

• I know one of the most important structure in our business is finances. How do we find the right CPA or bookkeeper to support us?

• And what structures, procedures or workflow do you recommend small business owners to set up to make sure they know their financial health at all times?

• What is the one top tip you will give to stagers when it comes to pricing their projects?

On today's show, Pam Christensen is back to chat with us about the financial side of a home staging business. We talk about profit margins, working with a bookkeeper and CPA, as well as how to price home staging projects. We also chat about hiring as well. Pricing is always a sensitive topic, so I am super grateful for Pam to come back on the show again this week and being so generous with information.

On today’s show, I’m interviewing Mary Pope-Handy, who has been selling homes full time since 1993. She is based in Los Gatos and sells real estate throughout San Jose, Saratoga, Campbell and all over Santa Clara County in California. She has been a top 5% producer since the early years, have won many awards for production but also for service and her real estate writing. She is a prolific blogger and real estate educator, that’s why I thought it would be amazing to have Mary on the show today.

On the show, we talk about best practices in selling a home, as well as habits of successful real estate professionals. We also dive into blogging for real estate and how to blog successfully for your real estate business.

On today's show, Bobbie is back to chat with us about how new home stagers can strive in today's market.Bobbie and I started with the question: "What is the difference between newbie stager v. amateur stager v. seasoned stager?" We also talked about the definition of success, pros and cons of starter home market and luxury market and growing the business.

• What is the difference between newbie stager v. amateur stager v. seasoned stager? 

• What are some of the pros and cons of both starter homes and luxury homes markets?

• How should stagers approach the market? How do they go about finding new clients?

• What is your definition of being a “success” in this industry?

• A last, 2-part question for you: What is the one top tip you will give to stagers when it comes to starting out in the staging industry?

• How about someone who started for awhile, like couple years in and is growing the business? 

On today's show, I'm interviewing a woman who needs no introduction! Bobbie is back on the show this season to talk to us today about home staging business models, challenges in the home staging business, doing occupied homes, consultations and mistakes she had made during her career. We had such fun talking on the show that we didn't get through half of the questions! So next week, Bobbie will do another show with us and share her expertise and insights as a seasoned professional home stager.

Hey, Happy New Year for those of you who celebrate the Lunar New Year! I want to wish you a very happy and prosperous new year!

On today's show, I'm interviewing Amy Powers about buyer's demographics and psychographics. This is an important step in researching what kind of buyers you should be targeting. This kind of research will help you determine how you stage the house, what type of home furnishing and home accessories to choose in order to appeal to the buyers' lifestyle.