My mentor, Debra Gould, sent those of us on her mailing list an email enttilted, "5 skills a home stager must have." I will list her five and then I would like to add a few of my own. Here is Debra's 5:

1. A natural talent for working with color and decorating.

2. An interest in real estate.

3. Organizational skills.

4. Working well under pressure.

5. Work well with others. eg you should be able to calm people down.

A few more that I thought of are:

6.Being able to envision the end product.

                  I don't know about others, but I am able to see how a project will look at the end even when I haven't started it yet. It helps to have this vision in mind so you know where you are going with something.

7.Having a goal.

                 I think this is obivious, but if you don't have a goal then you plan to fail. The goals can be short term and long term. For instance, my short term goal is to move up to the #2 rank on AR in the state of Indiana. Right now, I am #4. A long term goal is to eventually be able to get my business so busy that I will need to hire an assistant.

8.Not being shy.

               Being an introvert by nature, I am still learning to come out of my shell and speak my mind. I am finding out that if you want something, then you need to ask. People can not read minds. It is hard for those of us who are shy to do this, I having only done 2 consultations I have had to ask lots of questions and try and be outgoing. I am trying to give the impression that I am not shy.

9.Able to multitask.

10. The ability to make you own website and learn the ins and outs of your business. Both the paper work and the work out in the field. 

11. Proper English and the ability to read well.

         This may seem silly, but those of us having been out of school for 20 years, tend to forget where to place commas, misspell, have nouns and verbs that don't agree, and the ohter basic english problems. As for the reading well, there are some of us who have trouble retaining what they read and so must go over and over passages. I have found that reading all I can about home staging and redesign has helped me to learn more about this occupation. Those who can't read well may have a harder time filling out their paper work etc.

12. Having an eye for discernment.

                         This is especially important because we are in the business of helping people. We need to know what sells in a home and what doesn't. We need to have sympathy but also firm in our stance with people. When we tell them they need to remove so and so because it won't look good for the open house, we need to be able to actually show them why so and so wouldn't be good. Even if they object. For instance, if a seller refuses to remove family photos from the home, we should be able to show and tell them why it makes sense; even over their objections. We are professionals. If they are not willing to listen and do what we say, why did they hire us to begin with?

13. Finally, a love for what we do.

Numbers 6-13 were the writer's opinion and may not reflect those of the readers. You may agree or disagree, but for the writer, these are what make sense to me.