My partner Alana and I started our business nineteen months ago with a great combination of design background/experience, an inventory of home decor accessories .. and a passion for making spaces beautiful. We were lucky and landed some great contracts right away and with lots of smart marketing, hard work and combined efforts we have made Rooms in Bloom a well known name in the real estate community.
Along the way we have had numerous people make well meant comments on the fact that we are partners in what is usually a solo career. Profits are split down the middle and when you're starting a young company that can be a tough reality.
My partner and I see that - we have lived it - but we don't share a moment's regret for choosing to be partners. Everyday we say to each other - and to others - that we cannot imagine how other stagers make it on their own. We both bring to the table so many different strengths and the combination has made it possible for us to handle many different facets in our growing business very quickly. We both handle consultations - for the first year we did them together because we felt it was a learning process we needed to both experience - and now we are busy enough that we can do them separately. Our approach towards staging is different as well - but in the end we both arrive at the same design from different perspectives. We aren't afraid to voice a different opinion and sometimes its those small changes that make the difference between a good staging design and a great one. We support each other tirelessly and joke that we need to move our families into one huge home so we can cut down on our phone bills!
When one of us is sick (or our kids are sick) the other one picks up the slack without pause. When we're feeling down or we're just not feeling the design, we've got someone to talk to who "gets it". We offer each other different points of view and we respect each other's opinion and point of view which means we are open to things we might never have considered on our own. From our perspective, if a staging business survives and becomes successful it will grow and the designer will have to take on new staff or a partner at some point. Better to start with a partner, grow together, develop the business together and share in twice the success!
In two weeks we will be furnishing two model homes. Getting ready for that big day is not something either one of us would have wanted to tackle on our own. Not only that, we wouldn't have wanted to accomplish it alone. Sharing the success just makes it all that much sweeter.
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