Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures

"Desperate times call for desperate measures."  Origin unknown.   From Wikipedia:  It means that when you're in a serious situation, you have to consider doing things that you might otherwise think are unacceptable.

"Unacceptable" (for the purposes of this post) means stepping outside your comfort zone, doing something you might not have given serious consideration to doing to maintain your business.  Maybe you've thought "I should do that".  Well, this is the time.  There is no more putting it off. 

• Write up that press release and send it out to all your local papers; and if they don't pick it up, get it on the web yourself through sites such as PR Web.  You need to take the initiative.  Let people know you are here! 

 

• Contact your high school or library (or YMCA or ladies group or whatever) and find out about giving a class or talk on home staging, decorating or redesign.   It doesn't have to be long.  People love to bring pictures and get tips on their own homes; they ask questions.  Give them a taste of your knowledge and you may just get a few potential clients out of the deal. 

 

• Check in with some of your local stores, paint stores, craft stores, those little home decor stores - see if you can do your class or presentation at their location.  Partner up - it is a win-win for both of you. 

 

• Start doing those newsletters; even if it is only quarterly.  It took me reading three or four of Melissa Marro's posts before I got off my butt and started doing a newsletter.   

 

• Networking on Active Rain is great, but you need to do it in person too.  Join a networking group, a local membership chapter, your Chamber of Commerce, or set-up your own networking event (meet at the local diner and invite various professions; tell them to bring a friend). 

 

• Talk to people when you are out running errands.  Most of us do it all the time.  Mention what you do.  Have business cards on you.  It's very easy to start up a conversation while people are browsing paint chips at Home Depot on a busy Saturday morning or while in line at Home Goods. 

 

• Offer to write a tips or question and answer column for your local paper.  Many towns have their own newspaper specific to their area.  So what if it's a small paper, it gets your name out into the community and most of them are online too. 

 

• Maybe you're a realtor who has considered offering staging, but haven't taken the step yet.  Now is the time.  Use everything in your power to get that home sold.  The price may be right, the seller's may be cooperative and open, but if the home doesn't show well you don't have the winning trifecta.   

One of my new endeavors this year is putting on a webinar.  I was asked to do a webinar; I have never done a webinar before.  Am I nervous about it? Yes, I am.  It is something new for me, something I have not done before, but it is also an exciting prospect.  I need to move my business forward and I know this is part of the journey to doing that.  Will you move forward and do what needs to be done, or will you stop on that road and go back?  

Kathy Passarette and Creative Home Expressions are located on Long Island, New York, and offer interior decorating, home staging, interior redesign, color consultations and much more.  For more information on our services and fees, please visit our website at www.creativehomeexpressions.com.