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How Fast Can You Read? Become a Stager Overnight for Fun and Profit

woman reading

A friend forwarded this to me and I found it to be more than a little disturbing. Thinking you can go into the staging business by just reading a book? Staging is the same as redesign? Uh, NO. Maybe to someone who has just read a book about it and knows little else about the subject it is.

If a person has talent and a natural ability to assess a home and knows what it would take to showcase it, then reading a book could help them on the way to a career. It might help the home seller understand what is needed to sell a home and allow them to do some of their own staging. Would it tell them all they needed to know about the process? Would it allow them to see their home as buyer might? Would they believe it?

Hands on training in real life situations is the minimum one should expect in a home stager. It's like learning to fly a plane by reading a book. You may learn the fundamentals but what has been left out-hands on experience. Bad staging reflects on the rest of us. Many people have gone into the business as a hobby with little or no training or a true grasp of the scope of a staging project. I have restaged homes for clients who have had bad experiences with "stagers" who talked a good game but weren't able to deliver. Did they learn their craft by watching TV or reading a book?

I am not a trainer, but I feel strongly about training or lack of it, and how it can affect the perception of our profession. The article was meant to be helpful, but it sends out a misleading impression of what it takes to be a successful in real estate staging, both for stagers and their clients

Posted by Pam Faulkner-Faulkner House Redesign Stager-Northern VA-Fairfax & Loudoun Co on 04/19/2009 10:55 AM

Comments (21)

staging articles, home staging, redesign, staging training, seller

This post has been included in Virginia Information Fairfax County, VA Information
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21 Comments on How Fast Can You Read? Become a Stager Overnight for Fun and Profit

APR

Hi Pam, I am reading a book on brain surgery this afternoon and hope to be qualified to start work tomorrow. Your point is well taken. You can not learn EVERYTHING about staging from one book. The article the way it is written up is designed to sell books, not turn one into a professional Stager. You have a right to be upset with this line of reasoning.

Staging and the skills to be GREAT at it, is anything but easy. It is a real talent that you have to work at it to polish it.

Gary, what a great sense of humor you have! Trust you to be first in line with your apt comments. Let me know when you open your practice.

Actually, you made me think of another aspect of this-what about liability issues? Do self-trained stagers face more of a risk?

Stagers unite! This is scary misleading stuff! Read this first line on the web page this links to: http://www.home-staging-career.com/homestagingjobs.html

And Look at THIS: The first reason is the high profit potential of business which has such a low start up cost. Another reason is the fact that it gives freedom to people, freedom from financial burdens, freedom from the pressures and stress from employers and freedom to set their own schedule.

Thx Pam for posting this. No wonder I have 2 and 3 contacts a DAY!!! from people wanting advice on starting a home staging business.

I hope others here on SIF will join me in posting a comment to the post writer of this and to the site that is instigating this false hope and to the misleading site with terrible inaccurasies

As one member of the team that features posts here on SIF, I can only say I wish I could feature this FIVE times in a row to encourage you to respond.

Karen

Karen,

All good points! This isn't the first time or the only how-to book out there that promotes the same ideas. It's one thing to give tips and examples that can be helpful, but that doesn't guarantee a successful or competent business. To claim that ANY business can be free of financial burdens, pressure and stresses is totally misleading.

I was going to respond but had to wait until I thought about the best way to do so in a constructive and not critical way.

Thanks for your comments. Have you commented on the blog?

Here's what I wrote on his post:

I am amazed when I read post such as this. It is a shame that so many creative, energetic individuals read things like this and the book you are promoting and the web links you are providing, thinking it will be simple to cash in easily when creating a home staging business. What a myth! I receive, on average, two contacts a day from folks wanting to get into this business and wanting work. And, on average, I hear of one established home staging company that goes under, in debt and not capable of gaining business.

There is some good home staging educators out there. They are the ones that let folks know that a huge investment in time in demanded for any success. Let let folks know that a moderate investment in money is required to be able to acquire any business from sellers and Realtors like having an exceptional Web presence, These Educators do not paint false hope and stress that daily perseverance for 2 to 3 years will eventually reap profits worth the initial investment. And then, you better REALLY be TALENTED, because the competition in this industry is fierce!

I have been around longer than most . . . and I am a survivor. I know plenty who have not.

I suggest you post on things you know more about!

Karen, that was put nicely without being over critical-I applaud your restraint. It was apparent early on in th blog that the author wasn't fully informed when I read that staging is the same as redesign. It is the flip side of redesign and therefor different is major ways. One is depersonalizing and one is personalizing. I hate to think of the people who may lose hard earned money thinking that they can get rich quickly for next to no effort or investment. I also hate to think of homeowners who may lose as a side effect of poor staging.

These "become a stager" articles and books offer so many people false hope in tough times. Although television has helped to get the word out about staging, it also makes it seem so glamorous! Thanks for getting the word out there that this is a business-- a tough, competitive, sometimes difficult business that is not nearly as easy as it sounds.

Yes, it is a wonderful thing to be paid for something you love to do-- I am blessed in that! But-- it doesn't mean it is not WORK. There is no easy money.

And-- I might add-- I would LOVE to be that woman up there in a bikini on the beach, reading about staging! LOL!

Michele, I'm with you. I love what I do but it is work, not a hobby. To stay in business you have to be willing to put in HOURS of work, not just work when you want to. Oh yes, you could work at it part time but you won't make the money "they" promise and you'd better be prepared for people to stop calling because you aren't interested in working when they need you.

Yes, I'd love to be that woman in the picture too!

APR

Pam,

Hope I never have to have brain surgery, but if I do...I'm praying Gary won't be behind the knife! Sorry Gary! ;0) Just as we wouldn't want to see a course, training brain surgeons overnight, I think with home staging as with any profession, a highly trained professional comes from long term experiences and training in the field. I hope that readers didn't take this article seriously! Thanks for sharing...it's scary to even think about it!

Michelle,

That's the problem-people do take these articles seriously. The friend who forwarded this to me was asking about it for her co-worker who was taken with the idea and was going to order the book. Two women who were on a committee with me once told me that what I did sounded like fun and that they were going to do it for the summer to make extra money. I was surprised to say the least. Just like that. Then they told me that they could take a correspondence course but they thought they would skip that and just start staging since they weren't going to be in it for a career. Tha was before all of the staging shows, so I suppose after watching them they could be experts.

Hi Ladies,

great post!

This is why it is so important that we support RESA and join as professionals. Not only is this course selling false hope but there are other staging associations out there that are telling the public that they are the only staging association and are the only true stagers- the others are copycats. RESA is the only trade association for stagers that encompasses all professionals regardless of designation. An association cannot be a trade organization if it was created by the training body itself! Currently the RESA education committee is working on creating the RESA PRO Designation which will help with all these fly by night classes and basically certify or accredit training programs. Stagers will be able to take a test and use this designation telling the public that they take their education seriously and are trained professionals. If you want to help stop these classes from happening you need to support RESA in its efforts. You can submit questions for the test too. I sent some in last month that I am sure no book could answer!

On a lighter note, I had someone at my book club look me in the eye last week and say "oh I helped my friend arrange her room yesterday I think I should be a stager too" It took all my grace and manners not to laugh in her face! I simply smiled and asked if she wanted more wine!

fitting that my codeword is "sourberry" maybe that is how I feel about these classes and "insta-stagers"

The links to the original post on Gazebo is no longer working (just an FYI) but a couple of the links that Karen Demsky has posted I have seen before, I think one of them is in my own back yard. As in any industry, people need to be knowledgeable and do their homework.

Kate, good information about the RESA PRO designation. I know there has been some discusion about staging without credentials and I agree that there are some very talented stagers out there who do. Some people just naturally have an eye and a grasp for the principles of staging. BUT, if you don't, and think you can just jump right into it with a book or a background in HGTV as your guidelines you are going to be in for a rude awakening.

Connie, how interesting that the link doesn't work. I haven't followed the trail so to speak but you are so right about doing your homework.

BTW - the author of this book is here on AR

Great response by Karen Dembsky. It just is so frustrating. I get the calls too from people who just want to ask me a few questions so they can get rich over night with their new staging business. If only...

let me be annoying here -- since this post was written; I have had 8 inquiries for employment or guidance on starting a business.

No wonder there are so many teachers. I've only had 4 inquiries for bids to stage since this post . . . hmmmmm . . . where can I make more money???????????????

Thx for RESA and Kate Hart's response.

Connie, thanks for the info. Someone emailed me privately to let me know too.

Sharon, twice I have had people who were strangers asking me if they could shadow me to learn the business. Would I take the liability of taking a stranger into a client's house? Bizarre!

APR

Karen,

Exactly! There are people out there who are just in business to tell others how to do it-and promising unrealistic returns. This isn't restricted to staging by any means and it isn't new. When I trained 7 years ago, there were two women in my group who were taking the course just to turn around and teach it. They were disappointed when they found out that they couldn't become approved instructors until they had done a certain number of redesigns and stagings, had been in business for at least 2 years and had submitted an instructors manual and training plan for approval. I was impressed that there were requirements in place that made sure that the instructors had experience and a thorough training program.

It is all about trying to make money in different manners for some, especially right now. Whatever you do well, takes talent, period.

APR

Heather, you are right, we aren't saying that someone shouldn't write a how-to on staging, but only not to inflate claims about what that information will do. The victims can be the gullible who think tons of money can be made after reading a how-to book, the sellers who employ someone who really isn't skilled in staging and the stagers who know their stuff yet are affected by bad work.

JUL

Every web page I read has an ad telling me I can LOSE 20lbs in a WEEK...or the president of the US is sending MOTHERS back to school for FREE...or that I can EARN $64K just by being on the INTERNET. I also got the email that said if I followed all the directions that I would see David Beckham nekkid. (Okay, so I'll admit I fell for the last one. Don't bother. His Armani underwear ads show more.)

BUT...PT Barnum had it right...a sucker is born every minute. Living here is about freedom of choice. ANYBODY can do ANYTHING. All that means is the good ones have to work harder and work smarter.

We've all had a bad experience with someone who has a professional designation of any sort. Just because they received the training (by reading, by paying thousands of dollars, or by dedicating years of work) doesn't make them 'good'. Let your work and your ethical business practice speak for itself.

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