Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Home Staging.

Home Staging is a service to home owners and/or realtors selling a home. The Home Stager takes a client`s furniture and accessories and arranges them in an appealing manner. They also remove personal effects and declutter rooms for optimal visual appeal.

It appears to be a new and upcoming service. It is something I would like to do in addition to my print and web design. I love what I do so this new opportunity would be something fun for me. I love staging my home and have helped friends stage theirs.

I`d like to hear your thoughts on whether or not you think this service will be needed 15 - 25 years down the road. And how would I go about finding out how much people are willing to pay for this service.

Thanks in advance.

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Make it count! My Passion: www.jdawgdesign.com - My Rush: www.wyliephotos.com

There`s at least one home stager on SUN ... I`d look around for other people in this business.

The only thing that would worry me is that 1) the real estate market isn`t doing well here, and 2) if you are jumping ahead to the next thing before the first is solid, neither one is going to get done well. Concentrate on one business before you are trying to make a go with a second.

You could also market yourself to home developers who need people to decorate the model homes if you have the funds to buy the furniture.  You might want to check pricing of interior designers/decoraters as a comparison.  I think people would love the convenience and also the expert advice on how to make their homes sell quickly.  My previous home had old ugly carpet and I asked my realtor if he thought we should change it before selling and he said no just to offer a carpet allowance.  After 2 months on the market we decided to change the carpet and we sold it the very next day. 

Jdawg,  I think nhgnikole`s 2nd statement is the one you should think about.  Can you really devote the attention necessary to a start-up and if you do, will your other companies suffer?

Don`t spread yourself thin.  Maintain a healthy life/work balance.

Best of success.

 

 

 

Actually, my business is very solid. I have repeat customers and gain new customers that keep me busy. My business is in its 2^nd year; profits doubled from the first year, and my third will see anywhere from a 50% to 100% growth of the year before based on last months predictions.

With that said, YES, I should be sure I do not spread myself thin; that was a very good point. I do not plan to do home staging fulltime. Initially, I want to see if I can do it and do it successfully. It is one reason why I`m not too concerned about the housing market right now. Also, in 10 years, if I am committed to home staging fulltime the market will most likely have turned around.

Some of you may be asking, well why even pursue this? If your graphic design firm is successful and you love it, why take up a new career? To be honest, my fear is who`s going to want a 55-60 year old graphic designer? That worries me - a lot. My mother has had to switch careers at 60. My father will probably become a professor. I love doing design and hope to do it until the day I die, but with today’s current trends, I don’t think it will be possible. Graphic design is fiercely competitive now and I can only imagine it will get worse as I age. And I don`t want to "move up" in my industry. I have absolutely no desire to manage, lead, etc. So, my thinking is: if I start now and gain experience with a field that I can "grow old" into, I`ll be prepared.

Graphic Design isn`t my first career. I was a nuclear medicine technologist for 10 years. I was the only tech for 4 years at a small hospital and after being on call 24/7, I had all I could take. I simply burned out. I was blessed with a great boss who pushed me into mass communications, and I actually went back to college and earned my second bachelor degree. She knew there was something in me that was missing in my life.

And I am so blessed to have found graphic design - I LOVE it, BUT I have to be realistic. Aging expert designers will face problems in the future. I am seeing it now, people don’t care that their logo isn`t a PMS color or if there is a color variance from one end of a print job to the other end. They don`t care if you know what to do on a press check or aren`t willing to pay for the expertise that provides a quality product. Heck, I have clients who make their own business cards with Vista Print or pay some kid to build it. It’s happening today and I fear it will only get worse as I get older, so why not have a fall back.

Am I the only one that is preparing herself this way? Maybe I am being way too pessimistic, but based on the trends I see today, it worries me to not have another career to rely upon.

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Make it count! My Passion: www.jdawgdesign.com - My Rush: www.wyliephotos.com

That does sound very cool. I know it`s a necessary thing to do home staging; my question is this.  Isn`t the realtor for a seller supposed to do that? Maybe not and I just don`t know how lucky I am.

We are getting ready to list our house very soon, but for the past 2 weeks we have been taking care of all the things the realtor told us to do. The day after she walked through the house she sent a letter listing all the things we needed to fix, change, re-paint and de-clutter plus all the suggesions for making the house reflect its best. We`ve been working hard on everything, but I just thought that was  normal for any realtor to do. She said the house would sell quickly if we made the changes and took care of the things she suggested. If it`s not normal for a realtor to do this then, by all means, this is a much needed service! I`m sure it works to showcase the house. (In fact, it`s looking so good that my husband said maybe we ought to just stay here...I told him...LOL)

 

To your success if you decide to go that route,

Delta

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Have you looked through this topic? "Home staging anyone"

A - I do see what you are saying. Eventually, someone might pass you by, etc.

I have thought about this. Like do I want to bother to learn X, Y and Z, or just take what I know and go do something else? The answer is, I don`t know. I have thought about being a teacher as well - ag ed. It seems like another world - a less demanding career, a different life.

But every career changes over the lifetime. You move from a beginner to advanced. You move from a learner to a teacher. Really, what will make your longevity stay is a lifelong commitment to education - never stop learning! Even the most seasoned pros can be taught a new trick or 2.

The one thing that hasn`t changed (or, maybe what is getting lost) is the basics, the solid skills. Sure, everyone and their brother seems to be doing graphic arts - but do they have the background in marketing and psychology to get the job done effectively? This is the kind of thing that time and experience teaches you - how to be the master in your art.

That being said, I think you should PM me with your secrets for never-ending clients.

Having a second career as a backup is always a good idea since there is no such thing as job security.

All the Realtors I know provide a suggestion list of what to do to make your home more Buyer desirable.  Perhaps you should connect with Realtors to do that service for them and the For Sale by Owner market. 

Personally, I would think your expertise as a graphic designer would keep you in demand as long as you kept up with the newest trends in the industry.

jillybeans

jdawg,   No business is solid after only two years.  Fact is, most start-ups don`t make it past five years.  And doubling or even quad-tripling of profits is easy to do when they are small to begin with.  When you`re doing a hundred thousand dollars of income and you double, ...that`s growth.  Hopefully controlled and planned growth.

I am curious as to why you think your age will have an impact on your success as a graphic designer or cause your clients to think you can`t do the job anymore?  If it was a physical job, than yes I agree, but it`s not and if your ideas are exceeding your clients expectations, then they will come to you because of your portfolio and experience.  I don`t know what problems that "Aging expert designers will face in the future" that every single person in business doesn`t also face today.  Especially given the rapid exponential changes that happen in our world in just a matter of a years.  Who really knows what change any industry will see even next year. 

I may be wrong, but I sense that you are scared of your competition today and you do not know how to keep them from eating your lunch and you think that staging, being a relatively new service has little competition.

So my advice to you is to figure out how to stay ahead of your competiton.  You don`t go head to head.  You go around, under, overtop, but never head to head.  If I`m off target. sorry!

Best of success.