As many of you may not have noticed my absence, I know that I have missed all of you!  The past few months I have been in a funk.  I know that I am not the only one that may have experienced the sting of the economy, and I don't mind sharing that I was hit hard emotionally. 

Finally realizing that I won't get far in this business if I continue to feel what I was feeling (and knowing full-well that staging is my heart & soul), I plugged into lots of reading, re-working my business plan, recording realistic goals and re-visiting my vision board (which is proudly displayed as the wallpaper on my laptop, as shown below). 

I finally finished this last night.  Keeping some photos from my previous board and adding new, updated photos... getting rid of many that I had put on there last year... I am very happy with my new board. 

After studying my new vision, it occured to me that my previous board did not concentrate on my business as much!  I had pictures of money, but the money was small, mostly in penny form.  I had too many pictures that involved my self-image (notice I have one "perfect bikini body" picture here, instead of the 3 or 4 that I had on my last one!)  I had pictures of my boyfriend and I at home in PJs... we didn't get out AT ALL this past year.  So, in my new board, I have a picture of him & I in Carmel (traveling) and out at the VMA Making a Difference Holiday party (being social).   I also have pictures of places I'd like to travel to frequently, like Cabo, Waikiki and on a cruise ship somewhere.

When it comes to Aloha Staging, I only had a picture of myself and my business partner, Kahai Tate, at one of our booths for the Toll Brothers.  In the one you see above, I have that same picture, then a picture of our Power Point presentation in paper form (to symbolize more presentations/marketing), a picture of our booth at another show, a picture of a handshake (from a female's perspective, like I was giving the handshake) to show that I will make a lot of business transactions this year.  I also have a few pictures of my cottage, clean and staged, to show my love for my home as well as my talent, and of course those pictures surround myself & my son, ensuring my home will continue to provide happiness & comfort for us throughout the year.

You may also see me sitting in my "new car"... my boyfriend and I went to the car show earlier this month in San Francisco at the Moscone Center and I KNEW I wanted a picture of me sitting in my brand new Subaru Forester for my vision board.  (I suggest if you have a car in mind, go test drive it and GET A PICTURE OF YOU IN IT!  The more you can create that feeling of owning that dream car, the more likely you will soon bring that car home!)

You may also notice in the upper-right hand corner, I have a Pre-Paid Legal logo.  To keep me from falling out of business, I joined this amazing company in August as a side-business, and I've gotta tell you, I have learned so much about myself & have been applying the new knowledge to how I approach Aloha Staging.  If you are looking to make additional income (RESIDUAL even) or just looking for legal coverage & identity theft shield for your family or business (or both) check out my website at www.prepaidlegal.com/hub/lachellejohnson.  There are 5 minute presentations & information to read all about what Pre-Paid Legal can offer you.  (Had to plug it!  I know as you are all business owners yourselves, you understand!)

I know you may have also noticed the $100,000 check made out to me... stratigically placed between Aloha Staging & Pre-Paid Legal.  It is my goal to hit this income this year between the two companies.

I would really like to thank Stephanie Meyer (author of the Twilight series) for getting me back into hard-core reading.  I have been switching on & off between fiction & business/personal development books since reading Twilight, which is why I have a big stack of books on my board.  I stopped reading for too long, and I must say that it's been especially helpful to grow personally, which I know will help grow my businesses.

Well, as I did not expect this blog to be this long, I'll end it with my original intention of writing all that I did:

WHY WAIT UNTIL THE NEW YEAR WHEN YOU CAN START RIGHT NOW?!

I studied my vision board last night before I went to bed (as it's advised to study & meditate on a few minutes at least 3 times a day:  morning, noon & night).  I especially studied Kahai & I at our Toll Brothers booth in San Jose and the Toll Brothers logo, knowing that I will have work coming from them soon and being grateful that they are a happy client of ours.

THIS MORNING I get a phone call from their Project Director!!  We chopped it up about how our holidays went and he said they were ready for us to come down & re-design one of their model homes.  I had done a similar job for them that finished in September on a floor-plan that wasn't selling. 

After setting our appointment, I hung up the phone OVERLY ecstatic. 

So, why are you waiting on YOUR dreams?!  Go out and get ahead of 2009 and start RIGHT NOW! 

Happy New Year!!

Lachelle Johnson, CSP, RESA, ASPM

Aloha Staging

2661 Alvarado St, Unit 41, San Leandro, CA

Serving the entire San Francisco bay area with focus on Alameda, Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties.