Last month I posted a home staging business dilemma asking what you would do if you found yourself being asked to stage an absolutely filthy property. A special thanks to everyone who left comments on that blog post!

I’ve been in situations like this more times than I would like— meeting with homeowners who belong on an Oprah episode about compulsive hoarders. And just like you, when this happens, my first instinct is to turn and run!

But instead of running, fight that impulse and remember one important thing about home staging – no two projects are the same and every home staging consultation will happen on a different level depending on the clients and the property.

Some houses are relatively clean and you can spend all of your time on the creative side of things, what we typically think of as “home staging”. Other homes just need a good thorough cleaning to make a huge difference— in those cases you’ll spend more time covering the basics.

You can still talk about decorating while you’re addressing the cleanliness issues. For example, you are going to have to address the fact that the kitchen is filthy and there can’t be dirty dishes in the sink when showings are happening but you can also say something like, “once this is all cleaned up, here’s what will need to be done in this kitchen.”

You should make it a non-negotiable fact that the house be thoroughly cleaned as a first step.

Generally the filthiest houses also have the most clutter. I don’t clean houses, nor do I sort through belongings so I have cleaners and home organizers that I recommend for these tasks. I make it clear to the client that these individuals are less expensive than I am and that’s why it’s best to use my time to focus on home staging and how to best decorate each room so that it shows to its best potential.

When I’m in a filthy house, I’ll use my initial consultation to give them very specific direction on what needs to be cleaned and to what degree, and also how much clutter has to be removed. For example, I’ll say these pieces of furniture will need to be removed, this closet has to be emptied by at least 50%, etc.

I’ll ask them point blank whether they’d like help taking care of this all the while making it very clear that not doing it can cost them thousands of dollars or make it impossible to sell their home in a timely fashion. Then I provide contact information for the cleaners and organizers and ask if they’d prefer if I have them call them directly to set something up.

Then it’s clear that’s the first step that must be taken— no getting around it.

By the way, in course 5 of the Staging Diva Training Program, called “Over 30 More Ways to Make Money in Home Staging,” I discuss how you’ll find and evaluate the right outside companies to work with, and how to make money from their services too.

Remember that every house you go into you’ll be faced with different challenges and different personalities. One of the things that makes home staging such a gratifying career is that you will never stage the same house twice— you’re doing something new every time you tackle a new home staging project because the layout is different, the contents are different and the personality and needs of your clients will change.

Sometimes you have a clean slate to work with and sometimes making the slate clean is your main goal! There is also a deep satisfaction that comes with helping someone get control of their environment, especially when you see how this starts to ripple out into the other areas of their lives.

Do you have any stories to share about how your ideas and input changed how your clients live?

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Through the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, Debra Gould has taught more than 4000 people around the world how to make money as home stagers.

Technorati Tags: home staging, staging a dirty house, home staging dilemma, debra gould, staging diva, home staging career, learn home staging

There are a handful of Staging Diva Graduates who stay in very close contact with me making them impossible to forget. I love connecting with students on Twitter, Facebook and through the comments they leave on my blog.

One of these home stagers is Heather Stewart of HS Home Staging located in Langley, British Columbia. Heather recently informed me in a message on Facebook that she has been named the 2009 New Entrepreneur of the Year for her local Chamber of Commerce.

I am very proud of Heather whose reason for starting her business inspired me and many others after she left a comment on a blog post I wrote almost a year ago about the price it can cost you to not follow your dream.

Heather candidly shared that after struggling to recover from a mental illness, she decided to honor her ability to survive by combining her creativity and business skills to start her own home staging business. She wrote, “I’m working hard to grow the business, maintain my health and survive while the business develops. This is one path I will NOT regret not having taken! I draw on my courage every day and know that I am in the right place at the right time, doing what I need to do.”

Heather is using all of the marketing advice she was given through the Staging Diva Home Staging Training Program and has embraced the world of online marketing and social media being very active on Twitter, Facebook, Active Rain and as a frequent commenter here on the Home Staging Business Report.

HS Home Staging is listed on the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers where Heather showcases her fabulous logo, smartly written sales copy and before and after photos that only reflect true transformations, demonstrating her talent.

I hope you all join me in offering my sincere congratulations to Heather. I know she’s an inspiration to all of us.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love while helping others at the same time.

Technorati Tags: staging diva, staging diva graduate, BC home stager, heather stewart, HS home staging, home staging training, home stager

If you’ve been thinking about becoming a home stager, this is a great time to start your training because today is the final day of my 50th Birthday Sale.

In case you’ve missed previous blog posts about this promotion, here’s how it works.

Until midnight Eastern Time tonight, you can save $50, $100 or $150 on your purchase at the Staging Diva Store, depending on how much you spend.

• When you order one or more home staging products or services for $189 you’ll save $50
• Order a combination of products or services for $389 and $100 will come off your total
• If you order one or more product or service for a total of $589 you save $150

If you’re just starting out as a home stager, this is a great sale for you to be a part of. Here are some ideas of how you could best take advantage of this promotion:

• Order the entire downloadable Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program before midnight tonight and instead of $995 you pay only $845!
• If you’ve been purchasing the downloadable Staging Diva home staging courses individually, instead of paying $249 for your next one, order before midnight tonight and get it for $199!
• Stock up on several of the Staging Diva resources that can help increase your knowledge about home staging such as the Ultimate Color Guide ($75), the Ultimate Portfolio Guide ($75), the Ultimate Design Guide ($75) and instead of paying $225, pay $175 if you order before midnight.

All Staging Diva home staging products and services were designed to help you make money as a home stager. Visit the Staging Diva Store for more details about my 50th Birthday Sale. Hurry though, because at midnight tonight (9pm Pacific Time) it’s all over.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the Staging Diva Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love. Staging Diva is one of the most respected names in home staging in the world today and offers a variety of courses, checklists, ebooks and other resources to help both new and established home stagers alike.

Technorati Tags: home staging training, staging diva, debra gould, home stagers, home stager, home staging business, learn home staging

If you’re a Staging Diva Graduate, you know better than most that I rarely put my home staging training products and services on sale. But, that’s exactly what I’m doing this week to help celebrate my 50th birthday!

From now until midnight (EST) on October 30, you can save $50, $100 or $150 on purchases at the Staging Diva Store, depending on how much you spend.

Here’s how it’s broken down:

• Order one or more products or services adding up to at least $189 to save $50 when you check out
• Order a combination of products or services worth $389 and save $100 upon check out
• Order any combination of services or products totaling $589 or more to save $150 off your total

As a Staging Diva Graduate, you obviously aren’t concerned with saving money on the cost of the Staging Diva Training Program, but here are some ideas of how this sale can benefit you as you grow your business:

• Learn better ways to promote your business and become a better stager when you choose any two Staging Diva Ultimate Guides plus Staging Diva Chronicles, and you’ll get $50 right off your order!
• Boost your marketing efforts and save $100 on the regular $395 listing fee when you join the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers with a profile page.
• Better your business success with one of the three Staging Diva Ultimate Guides, the Staging Diva Sales Script and an hour of Accelerator Business Coaching with me and you’ll see a $100 discount come right off your order total!

There are so many ways a Staging Diva Graduate can benefit from this sale – it’s not only for someone wanting to learn home staging!

Remember, this promotion is over at midnight (Eastern Time) on October 30 so don’t let Halloween plans distract you. Visit the Staging Diva Store now to take advantage of these great savings.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould has inspired thousands of people around the world to start their own successful home staging business through the Staging Diva Training Program. Visit www.stagingdiva.com/store to learn more about Debra’s 50th Birthday Sale – it ends at midnight (EST) on October 30!

Technorati Tags: home staging resources, home stager, home stagers, home staging training, home staging products, staging diva, debra gould

I have a much different mindset today than I did this time last year.

On the eve of my 49^th birthday, I was preoccupied with trying to shake off the “getting old blues.” Of course, turning 49 wasn’t that bad and over the past twelve months, I’ve come to terms with my age and I’m welcoming my 50s, which officially arrive tomorrow, with open arms.

I hope you’ll help me celebrate reaching this milestone by participating in my 50^th Birthday Sale! From today until October 30, depending on how much you spend at the Staging Diva® Store, you can save $50, $100 or $150 on your purchases.

This applies to all Staging Diva products and services including individual downloadable courses, the full Staging Diva Training Program, guides, sales scripts, checklists, reports and even business coaching.

When you spend a minimum of $189, you save at least $50 (or 25%) on the items in your cart.

This is the perfect time to embrace your passion for a creative and profitable career by taking home staging courses. Or, if you’ve been struggling as a home stager because you haven’t understood how to take your talent and turn it into a money-making staging business, this is the time to learn the missing pieces to help you reinvent your life as a home stager.

Perhaps you’re already a  Staging Diva student looking to build your library of resources. With the Staging Diva 50th Birthday Sale, now’s the time to pick up those items you’ve been meaning to buy. As part of the Staging Diva inner circle of graduates, there are many resources to support you as you continue to grow your business.

I don’t throw sales very often, so you should take advantage of these savings now before this week’s deadline. Load up on all the products you need to learn how to make money as a home stager! Here’s how it works:

• Order one or more products worth a total of at least $189, and get $50 right off your order before check out

• Order any combination of products worth $389 or more and get $100 right off your total before check out

• Order one or more products worth a combined total of at least $589, and you’ll get $150 off your total

The savings apply to all purchases made during the promotional period so if you buy a couple of products today and save $100, but on Wednesday you realize you want a few more items, you can still save.

For example, you could order one course a day which normally cost $249 each and get $50 right off each course so you only pay $199 each! Or order the 5 course training program package for only $995 (which is already a $270 savings over ordering courses one by one) and get an additional $150 off your order! In other words, you can get the entire 5 course Staging Diva Training Program during the 50th Birthday Sale and only pay $845! Then you could order a listing in the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers which costs $395 to join and get another $100 off!

That’s because this sale doesn’t work like a coupon which expires after you use it. The 50th Birthday Sale is on now through October 30 for as many orders as you want to place! As long as each individual total order hits the $189, $389, or $589 threshold, you’ll be saving $50, $100 or $150 on every order you place.

Click here to learn about the different Staging Diva home staging resources and how you can save big while starting and/or growing your home staging business. Remember, this sale ends at midnight on October 30 so don’t waste any time!

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the Staging Diva Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love. Staging Diva is one of the most respected names in home staging in the world today and offers a variety of courses, checklists, ebooks and other resources to help both new and established home stagers alike.

Technorati Tags: staging diva, home staging training, home staging products, home staging sale, staging diva training, home stager, how to make money as a home stager, debra gould, learn home staging

While Facebook is a wonderful way to grow your home staging business and it comes with good rewards, it also comes with some risks.

Earlier this week, I received a message on Facebook that appeared to be sent from one of my Facebook friends. It was a link to a video and her message said something like, “Is that really you in this video?”

I could see that there was a huge list of recipients who were also getting the same message and some typos in the message made me suspicious so I immediately deleted the message without clicking on the link it contained.

A few minutes later, I saw a post appear on my wall, supposedly from the same friend, with a different link. I deleted it immediately. Unfortunately, at least one of my Facebook friends saw the link, recognized the person as a reputable home stager and she clicked on it. Immediately her computer was infected with a virus and it wormed its way through her entire list of Facebook contacts.

This was the work of the Koobface worm. Koobface is an anagram for Facebook and it targets users of the most popular social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

The worm is spread by sending Facebook messages to the friends of a Facebook user whose computer has been infected by the worm already. The subject lines are usually tempting enough to make you want to click on them (although most of them sound a tad “teen oriented” to me), but they usually have a lot of strange typos and grammatical errors and there’s always a link in the message that you’re asked to click on.

Simply clicking the link can be enough to infect your computer and you will unknowingly be passing the worm on to all of your Facebook friends as well. Sometimes, when you click the link you’ll be taken to a site where you’re asked to download an update of Adobe Flash player in order to view the video. When you download and execute that file, your computer will then be infected with Koobface.

If you end up being infected with Koobface, change your Facebook password and immediately spread the word to your Facebook friends that they are not to click that link – that it didn’t actually come from you. Then you have to clean up your computer.

Your regular virus scanner might not pick up the Koobface worm, but if you go to a site such as malwarebytes.org you can find a clean-up software that will find the worm and destroy it. After you restart your computer when the scan is finished, you will be fine. If you’ve been infected with Koobface, it could follow your activities on Google, and when you conduct a search for software to destroy it, you could be led to malicious software that will infect your computer even worse.

Facebook is aware of the worm and they’re still working to find a way to keep it from infecting users.

If you’re my friend on Facebook, or if you follow me on Twitter, you should know that I never send silly videos or cryptic links to my friends and I don’t post those types of things on my wall. Unfortunately I have little control over what my friends post to my wall, but when I see something suspicious it is immediately deleted and in the event that I’m not at my computer, there are members of the Staging Diva team who monitor it closely to ensure nothing malicious is posted.

Don’t assume that every link you see on Facebook is safe. If a message looks like it’s out of character for the person supposedly posting it, simply delete it and move along.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Through the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, Debra Gould has taught more than 4000 people around the world how to make money as home stagers.

Technorati Tags: koobface worm, remove koobface worm, home staging business, facebook virus, staging diva

As soon as you come up with a name for your home staging business, you should waste no time in grabbing the domain name for it. If you don’t know what a domain name is, it’s the technical term for your website address or URL.

If the domain name for your business isn’t available, that means someone else is probably already using that name for their own business. If you’re tossing around different ideas for names, checking if the domains are available can actually help you make your final decision.

I register my domains at GoDaddy.com, it’s a very easy service to use. Domain names usually only cost around $10 per year so it’s not a very significant investment.

Once you have your domain name you’re going to be able to ditch your personal email address and have one that matches your domain to use for your business. This is especially important if you’re using a cutsie email address such as, pookiebear@hotmail.com or something similar. You absolutely can’t use something like that for your business, you need a professional sounding email address.

In my case, one of my email addresses is debra@stagingdiva.com. Another is debra@sixelements.com because sixelements.com is the domain name for my home staging business. When someone wants information on my courses, they’re emailing debra@stagingdiva.com and when they want information about my home staging services, they’re sending email to debra@sixelements.com.

Even if I didn’t have a website set up for those domains, I could still use those addresses in the meantime.

When you register your domain name, you’ll be asked if you want to add an email address – it’s one of the options you’ll be given when you’re registering your name. If you’ve already registered your domain and you missed that step, don’t worry. You can still go back to your domain registrar account and indicate that you want to add an email address.

Then your email address is forwarded to whatever email account you want. If you use a Hotmail account for your personal email, you can take your new email address and forward it there. If you use Outlook, forward it there. Then you can still use the same account you’re used to, but you’ll have different mailboxes to chose from.

Most home stagers who opt to get a listing on the Staging Diva Directory instead of building their own website will still register a domain name for their business name which I highly recommend. That way, they can advertise their own professional email address on their profile.

It’s not a difficult thing to do, to get an email address for your business. If you’re still a bit unsure about how it all works just go to godaddy.com and read through their FAQs or call their 24/7 customer service number and someone will walk you through it.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Through the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, Debra Gould has taught more than 4000 people around the world how to make money as home stagers.

Technorati Tags: home stager, home stagers, home staging business, setting up a domain name, professional email address, staging diva, staging diva directory, debra gould

If you’re trying to start a home staging business, you might be wondering how you are actually going to get paid. This is one of the important steps in setting up a business – determining whether you’ll take checks, cash and/or credit cards.

The ability to accept credit card payments is appealing to home stagers, especially since the amounts you’re getting paid are usually quite high.

Setting up a merchant account, however, is very expensive. Not only do you have to pay a large sum to the bank just to apply for and then set up the account, you also have to pay a certain amount each month regardless of whether or not you have any transactions. In addition to paying these fixed fees when you do make a sale, they usually get to keep about 5% of it.

I don’t recommend you get your own merchant account, but I do suggest you set up a PayPal account for your business that will allow you to take credit card payments.

PayPal is essentially an online bank that allows you to accept and send payments and transfer funds to your regular business bank account. There are no fees to set it up and there are no monthly costs. If you have a client who also has a PayPal account, they can send money from their own account or they have the option to use their credit card instead. This is an easy and less costly solution then having your own merchant account.

Even if your client doesn’t have their own PayPal account, they can still pay you using a credit card through PayPal.

By the way, it doesn’t matter where you live since you can choose the currency you want to use when you set up your account. But beware of switching your PayPal balance between different currencies. Their rates are awful! This is not an issue if you’re doing all your business in one country.

Of course, PayPal will keep a percentage of  your sales, but it’s roughly what you’d be paying for your own merchant account through the bank to accept credit card payments. In some cases PayPal takes an even smaller percentage of sales than your bank would with a normal merchant account. But because there are no set up or monthly fees to worry about, I feel it’s less costly to go this route.

Cash is king and if you can get your clients to pay by cash or check you get to keep all your sales rather than giving a percentage over to a bank or PayPal. So that’s always the best route in my opinion.

Home stagers, what has your experience been with using PayPal to accept payments? Or have you been using one of those costly merchant accounts to accept credit card payments? Please share your experiences by leaving a comment below.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Through the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, Debra Gould has taught more than 4000 people around the world how to make money as home stagers.

Technorati Tags: home stagers, home stager, merchant accounts, paypal account, staging diva, debra gould, home staging business

Colette Smith has always had an entrepreneurial spirit. This former owner and operator of a picture framing and gallery shop is now using her business acumen and talent for decorating to help homeowners in the Perth Metropolitan area of Australia sell their homes fast.

Colette is a Staging Diva® Graduate and the owner of Perth home staging business, Staged with Finesse. Her company recently helped a real estate investor increase the value of a property by $30,000.

This real estate investor was preparing to sell her unit in a 200 unit complex.  The 2-bedroom unit was in a great location with river views but because it had been a long-standing rental, it needed to be updated before going to market.

Colette determined that the home’s target market was a professional couple or a small family and the home staging was done with that demographic in mind.

First, though, maintenance issues were attended to with non-working exhaust fans being replaced, new carpets installed and old cupboards removed. Walls were then painted in soft shades of grey and doors and trim were done in dark charcoal to give the unit a smart, crisp and modern look.

The unit was staged with rental furniture, lamps, art, draperies and accessories all expertly chosen by Colette.

Colette’s client was a real estate agent in addition to being an investor and quickly determined that the asking price would have to go up after the transformation. There were two other units in the building for sale at the same time – one for $250,000 and another for $265,000.

The unit “Staged with Finesse” went on the market for $295,000 and sold to the first person to view it. Clear proof that home staging works!

Colette recently wrote to say, “Training with Debra Gould gave me the confidence to take what I knew I had and put it into practice. What I did for free before I now do for money and love what I am doing. The gleaming smiles of satisfaction on clients’ faces when they view the transformation is more important than the financial rewards at the end of the day. What a difference a day makes!”

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the Staging Diva Home Staging BusinessTraining Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love while helping others at the same time.

Technorati Tags: home stager, australia home stager, staging diva, staged with finesse, real estate investor, home staging success story

The smell hits you when you walk in the door. There’s a litter box somewhere nearby that hasn’t been changed in at least a week. The kitchen is filthy – there’s garbage and mail everywhere and dirty dishes are stacked in the sink, beside the sink and on top of the stove.

There’s a haze of smoke in the dining room and the smell of stale cigarettes has permeated the entire house. Mounds of dirty laundry cover the living room floor and where there isn’t laundry there are magazines and newspapers strewn everywhere.

This is not what you expected when you agreed to do this home staging consultation, but you realize now why you were referred by the real estate agent to help prepare this house to sell.

You don’t know where to start or what to say. The overwhelming smell and overall filthy condition of the house have you tongue tied. The home is in a great location, and from the curb you’d never know what was going on inside.

I know what I would do in this scenario, and I’ll post an article later to tell you how I would handle it. But first, tell me what you would do in the midst of this staging dilemma. Please leave a comment below telling us what you would do if you walked into this mess during a home staging consultation.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging

Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the Staging Diva Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love.

Technorati Tags: home staging, home stager, home staging consultation, home staging clients, staging diva, home staging dilemma