Real Estate Blog - All In Good Time: A Message To My Fellow Home Stagers

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All In Good Time: A Message To My Fellow Home Stagers

After reading Craig Schiller's post today, Where is that Staging Waldo?, I felt compelled to write my first blog of the new year as well as my first since November.

I would like to start by sharing a portion of my response to Craig's blog for anyone who may not have seen it:

"I, too, have taken an honest and hard look at my life and decided that, as committed as I am to the Home Staging industry, I needed to find a 'balance' and take some time to live as 'normal' an existence as this business will allow.

Further, I agree that the Staging industry, as a whole, has some challenging obstacles to overcome. Your Stage It Forward Round Table discussion groups are becoming a positive force that are helping us to move forward. When we 'network' together, we add 'strength' to our cause. Home Staging is gaining recognition as a viable method to help secure and assure the sale of houses that might otherwise never get a second look!

Like yourself, I have in no way turned my back on this business, and I continue to try to move the industry ahead through my involvement in ASHSR as Chapter President of the Metro NY Chapter. Through monthly meetings (very much like the Round Table meetups), tri-state area Home Stagers will network and continue the 'good fight' that you and a few other industry professionals have begun - to educate and inform Realtors, Sellers, and the general public about the virtues of Home Staging."

Burn-out is a by-product of us trying to ‘do it all' and be ‘everything to everyone'. Type A's, like myself, are driven to succeed. We are blessed with great tenacity, and when we believe in something, we are much like a dog with a bone - we will not give it up! In spite of being over-achievers, which can be a very good thing when you are in the ‘pioneering phase' of a business, we often forget that we have limitations. We are only human after all!

The most profound idea that I can impart to my peers, who are working so diligently to propel the staging industry forward, is to "take time"....time to enjoy the things that this life has to offer. Take the time to connect with your loved ones at least once a day. Spend time with your family and friends.! You can lose all of your money and gain it all back, but TIME can never be regained - once it is gone, it is gone! Appreciate the beauty all around you. Enjoy your good health while you have it

I've heard it said that "when all is said and done and our ‘time' is up, it is unlikely that any one of us will wish that we had WORKED longer or harder"..... so true!

Staging It Forward,

Val

Posted by Val Allocco, HSE; ASHSR - Home Stager for Manhattan, Brooklyn & Long Island on 01/16/2008 01:28 PM

Comments (12)

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12 Comments on All In Good Time: A Message To My Fellow Home Stagers

JAN

2008

Val, very well said. I think that those of us who have "matured" :-) have learned that time is too precious to feel like we have to fill every moment with successful endeavours. Its a gradual awakening. But one day you realize that for a while you've had time to read a book, or see a movie, or lay on the beach, without having given it a thought. Would that all younger people could have the wisdom of the "aged". I think the planet in general would be much happier.

Human-ness. Ahhhh, a message we need to remember and extend to others and remember for ourselves.

It was/is nice to take a break, but it is nice to be back too.

It was good to read your read your words... again.

Hey Val - so good to see your face and feel your heart again.

I think what we who have been at the top of the food chain (like yourself) here in Active Rain, reach a point when we have to step back. I remember when Krystal Kraft announced her retirement from the mountain top when I first joined Active Rain. Now as time goes by I see it happening to every one of us including myself. I have posted about backing off myself but it didn't last too long.

I can't imagine anyone who peeks in or jumps in to the rain, not getting something out of it...all the while learning a whole bunch about themselves along the way...the good, the great, and the not so great, but we all do learn and share and it has proven to be worth every minute invested.

Now while I am at it I want to plug Stager Idol and invite you to enter some of your wonderful work for the world to see!

Hey Val AMEN SISTER you said it all. It really can get overwhelming trying to keep up with everything that this busy world of ours expects from us. We really need to reconnect with loved ones because time goes by toooo quickly

Phyllis Pafumi

JAN

2008

Val I have missed your posts and was happy to find this one. You have reiterated what a lot of us are thinking - but haven't put into print. Thanks Betty

JAN

2008

Val. Time is a gift, that's why it's called the present. Stay present, be present and enjoy the present while you go through your day and the work will be your joy. Sounds like you get that already. Good post.

Val,

It is so good to see you back, we missed you!! I to have had to scale back a lot of the "extras" I had been focusing on otherwise I would be working 24-7!. Are you still working at the brokers office?

Terry, Craig, Phyllis, Sheron, Betty and Terrylynn: Thank you for reading my post and leaving a comment. I suppose that we are all in agreement that time is a precious commodity - especially when we all work so hard at something we are passionate about!

Kimberly: Thanks. It felt good to write this and it's wonderful to reconnect with my peers on Active Rain! Yes, I have kept my broker's license and still work 4 days a week (I go in very early and am done by 2:30 which still gives me plenty of time to meet with clients and perform my services). I need the health insurance that the job affords me and it is also beneficial to have a steady source of income. Until the Home Staging industry becomes so accepted that we ALL will be working FULL TIME, this is what is working best for me. I am blessed to work for family friends who are very accepting of my chaotic schedule and are flexible when I need to have days off to stage; so, the 'job' never really gets in the way of my 'career'!

VAL

Oh, did I mention that being over 50 has something to do with time becoming a coveted commodity? (excluding Craig of course)

JAN

2008

So true, at times I need to remember to take time to be with my family. Valerie Bartolone

JAN

2008

Hi Sheron! I guess once we reach a certain age (and 50 is a little past the 'half-way mark'!), we realize just how precious TIME really is! I, for one, feel very compelled to stretch myself to my limits while I am on this earthly plane because I don't want to waste a 'lifetime'. We only get ONE shot at this!!!

Valerie (love the name!) Isn't it a sad commentary when we have to actually THINK about ways to find the time to be with those that we love?! We all seem to be doing that these days and I cringe when I think of how 'disconnected' we have all become. I grew up in the 1950's when you had a 'stay-at-home mom' and so did everyone else in the neighborhood. We didn't have all of the 'luxury conveniences' (i.e. computers, fax machines, microwaves, cell phones/Blackberrys, answering machines, etc) that we have today (by the way, all of the aforementioned items were invented to make life easier and 'free up' our TIME!), and yet there was always TIME to speak to a neighbor, or play board games as a family. We ALWAYS ate supper as a family and you would NEVER think of calling anyone on a Sunday, let alone go out shopping and running errands. Back then, stores and most other services were closed. There was no Seven-11 to run to if you needed a quart of milk. If you planned poorly, then you did without! I kind of miss the simplicity of that lifestyle!

VAL

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