Lori Polk has written a blog about a friend who has given up on her business after a short period of time. Any business takes a good 5 years to establish and by that I mean even break even.
Staging as we know is a fairly new industry. In some parts of the country it has been around for a number of years in others a few. Realistically it is what a I call a luxury service, just as Interior Design. I have heard many knowledgable speakers in the industry say - the money is to be made with those who have money to spend. So the service is limited to only a certain percentage of the population who can afford to pay for it. The way the economy is now, and the amount of debt people are in, spending 200 to 300 on a consult does not always fit into their very tight budgets. This includes Canada, even though people are spending. Canada is in -.5% savings. We should be at 10%. Enough of financing and the economy ( One of my other passions)
I have mentioned this before in a blog and post that don't quit your job to stage. At least until you can make a profit to be able to feed yourself and family. This of course if after taxes. Have job security with something else and build up your staging business along side.
If your just starting out. Designate a space in your home as your office and storage space. Keep your inventory down to a minimum. I sometimes read about sales or stagers always picking up things for their inventory. Only buy what you need and when you can get return on it. To have an item sit for 2 months without being used is not very good business management. Even if it is on sale. Find a company that rents big ticket items. Buying those things yourself especially when you are starting out can lead to financial ruin. Especially if you have taken out loans to pay for these things and you can not make the payments. I would hate to think my credit rating would be affected. I need it for my real estate investments. I have only done about 35 consults and only 3 did I stage. I would be in big trouble if I had gone out to buy all this inventory to have on hand for the anticipated staging projects.
Always quantify your spending actions. Am I getting any return on these items, am I getting work from this ad, am I getting any referrals from this type of networking. If you are not then stop spending your money through those venues and items
I live in a larger home which is completely designated as living space I refuse to convert my dining room or Living room into a office and storage area. Especially since they are all used. My office is where my children also hang out to do home work and MSN - You get the picture. So I though about renting an office for my design and staging business - rent here in London is expensive especially when you want the right place.
So I have come with an idea where I can rent an office and sub lease to other designers stagers or event planners. Like this we all maintain are own business (busines name, your own phone, PC etc.) but share rent and utilities. The benefits are that we have an office that makes your business more credible and visalble, You can share resources like fabric samples, furniture catalogues, invemtory which inturn reduces the expense in invenotry (which you can rent to each other) time, and the gas in travelling to source out your products. This is a work in progress and may take some time until fruition. Even doing this you have to make sure you are able to make so much money a month to fulfil the payments of the fixed expenses.
Lori Maybe your friend will consider continuing staging alongside another job and restructuring her business so she can build it up.
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