Make the Best Decision for Your Home Staging Business

Copyright (c) 2009 Alice Chan

We face a constant barrage of choices for that perfect part-time career opportunity. For X dollars we too can learn from the experts how to have this wonderful business that we can learn at home and practice on our friends and neighbors homes. It's right there waiting for us to sign up and learn how.

What's all this hype about?

Haven't you heard? It's the wonderful world of HOME STAGING!

Beware folks - I don't think any of those claims are from people who are the real deal - sorry to burst your bubble.

Today, I wanted to address the part about working part-time and illustrate what's really possible.

So, is it...really possible to work part-time as a Home Stager? Sure, but I think a more important distinction is not so much part-time or full-time, but what part-time means to you. Does it mean that you'll be working half the day or part of the day while your kids are at school? Or does it mean that you work full-time at a regular job and you'll be working on staging projects after your regular work hours?

So, defining for yourself what working part-time really means is very important. Another important distinction is whether you're "working" as a Home Stager or if you're "running a Home Staging Business".

Now, when I first started my home staging business, I was working full-time and let me tell you...it was stressful for several reasons.

1) With promoting my staging business, I never told anyone nor did I want anyone to know that I was not staging full-time. The reason was for positioning. I knew that if they even thought I was not running a full-time business, I would not be taken seriously.

Now, this is me, not you, but I think this is very true, so hear me out. Put yourself in that position. If you were interviewing Realtors, would you hire one that was an expert and you knew that's all they did all day long or would you hire the person who dabbled in it part-time? Do you see the difference?

2) With working a regular full-time job, I didn't want them to know I was "moonlighting" as a home stager. I was ducking into conference rooms to take calls from prospects and when I scheduled projects, I would have to arrange for time off.

As my staging business started to get some traction, it got much harder to take the occasional day off. I eventually had to let the job go, which also meant a steady paycheck. Believe me when I say, my staging business was a rollercoaster ride in the beginning.

Before making that important career choice please consider the following points about working part-time v. full-time. They are very valuable aspects in your business decisions.

It would be difficult if you're running the show, i.e. if this is your business and you're building it from the ground up. Why? Because most networking activities with your target market take place during regular business hours and there is a lot more to the "business" than just the actual hands-on staging project.

As any entrepreneur will tell you, running your own business means you're now wearing multiple hats - marketing, accounting, business development, administration, operations, etc. To squeeze all these in generally means working beyond your regular 8-hour day.

Now, can you systematize your business to be more efficient? Absolutely!

Can you outsource some of these tasks to other people? Totally!

Does it take time to get there...you better believe it!

If you join a staging team, that's a different story. I have an associate who has stagers who work on her Staging team while their kids are at school, but they only work on a project basis. This is not their business, it's not their company, it's just their JOB. This is a huge distinction.

If you're planning on working on staging projects after business hours, my opinion is that that would be extremely difficult unless you're only working on vacant properties. If it's an owner occupied property, they don't want you in their houses after hours.

They want it done during the day while they're at work. When they return from work, they have family obligations to tend to...kids to feed, bathe, and get to bed. It's NOT convenient to have someone there moving things around and honestly, you don't want to be there when they're home.

I eventually added a clause to my agreement that the property had to be vacant during the time that we were scheduled to stage. If you've ever done it, you'll understand. It's a nightmare. They follow you around, asking you questions, kids are in the way, and it's just not productive.

This also applies on the weekends. Either the homeowners are at home on the weekends and have their own things to deal with or that's when open houses are scheduled. Honestly, despite sacrifices that need to be made initially ask yourself; do you really want to work on the weekends?

These basic facts will help clarify what's possible working part-time v. full-time. When you are making that future career choice it is very important to research thoroughly so that your decision will be the best for your lifestyle and business needs.