Tag: Alice Chan

Remember when you first started college? As a freshman, the classes you took were all general education courses like math and English.

By your second year if you were a Business major, you started taking general classes within your major like basic Accounting and Economics. Then by the time you were ready to graduate, you were taking advanced classes specific to a subject within your major like Marketing.

This is very similar to your growth as a Staging Design Professional. When you first get started, you’re working with everybody (the general public), or in some cases, “anybody” because your business depended on it. You didn’t have the luxury of being choosey because you just needed to get business NOW.

As your business evolves, you may naturally start creating a niche because you just organically attract certain clients or types of projects. If this doesn’t come naturally, you will eventually want to figure out what your distinct segment of the market is or more affectionately, “define your niche”.

This is not only the “who”, but also the “what” in the marketplace you serve. For instance, as Stagers, you can work with homeowners, Realtors, builders, developers or investors.

Choosing to work with one of these types of folks is part of your niche. The “what” or your specialty, such as model home merchandising or only staging owner occupied properties is also part of your niche.

I was recently at a Mastermind meeting where one of the Realtors mentioned that when she first started her business, she met a mentor who called himself the “Condo King” so she decided to call herself the “Condo Queen” and went on to be known as a condo specialist.

I know of a local Stager that specializes in Staging Lofts.

I found one of my niches was in Managing Remodel Projects for Resale. I was the “go to” person when those projects came up because I was known by the local Realtor community as the expert in that area. That also led to several condo conversion renovation projects that I was hired to consult on.

SO WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO FIND A NICHE?

You want to be seen as the Expert in that particular niche. As an expert you will find that:

– Experts are able to command higher fees.

Your clients want to know that they’re getting the best and they’re usually willing to pay more to have someone who is an Expert. After all, Cardiac surgeons are paid a lot more than a generalist M.D.

– Experts have more credibility.

More people want to work with Experts rather than Generalists. There is a higher demand for Specialists and as a result, they command more respect.

Just as an Enrolled Agent is paid a lot more for their technical expertise in the field of taxation, particularly IRS audits, than your local H&R Block tax preparer.

– Niching can help separate you from your competition so that you’ll be remembered.

Recognition is particularly with the “green” movement. Incorporating those principles into your Staging services will not only get consumer attention but you can potentially dominate that market since this is an emerging concept.

– Niching helps you clarify your marketing message.

Now that you know who your target market is and what your unique service offering is, you can now build your customer’s awareness of your services as well as your brand with more focused campaigns.

SO HOW DO YOU FIND YOUR NICHE?

You need to ask yourself a few questions.

– What do people already see you as an expert of?

– What are you known for or what do you want to be known for?

Take a look at your previous projects or your client profiles.

– Was there a group of folks that you worked with more often than another?

– Is there an area that you’re particularly better at than anyone else?

– Where can you be a “first” at in your marketplace?

It could be that you only do vignette staging which creates a look and feel without the need for a lot of inventory which reduces your overhead expenses.

Perhaps you’re known as a Color Specialist or the “Green” Stager. By positioning yourself as the Expert in this sexy, new niche, you will probably get a lot of media exposure since it is the “HOT” topic of the moment.

As you can see, niching helps you clarify who and what you want to work with. By communicating that specialty to your clients, you can help ensure that you’re not taking on projects that are outside of your expertise and eliminate those that bring you the least joy.

Over time I found my niche just by working on all kinds of projects and figuring out which ones I enjoyed and which I could easily say “no” to, regardless of the money.

Figure out what your niche is and you will find that the journey to your Staging success is a lot more fun!

Copyright (c) 2009 Alice Chan

Don’t be fooled by all the “easy does it” training for careers that are so frequent with advertisers on the Internet. They illustrate this perfect part-time real estate career you can learn at home and by practice on neighborhood homes. Sounds great doesn’t it?

What’s all this hype about?

Haven’t you heard? It’s the wonderful world of HOME STAGING!

Beware folks – I don’t think any of those claims are from people who are the real deal – sorry to burst your bubble.

Today, I wanted to address the part about working part-time and illustrate what’s really possible.

So, is it…really possible to work part-time as a Home Stager? Sure, but I think a more important distinction is not so much part-time or full-time, but what part-time means to you. Does it mean that you’ll be working half the day or part of the day while your kids are at school? Or does it mean that you work full-time at a regular job and you’ll be working on staging projects after your regular work hours?

So, defining for yourself what working part-time really means is very important. Another important distinction is whether you’re “working” as a Home Stager or if you’re “running a Home Staging Business”.

Now, when I first started my home staging business, I was working full-time and let me tell you…it was stressful for several reasons.

1) With promoting my staging business, I never told anyone nor did I want anyone to know that I was not staging full-time. The reason was for positioning. I knew that if they even thought I was not running a full-time business, I would not be taken seriously.

Now, this is me, not you, but I think this is very true, so hear me out. Put yourself in that position. If you were interviewing Realtors, would you hire one that was an expert and you knew that’s all they did all day long or would you hire the person who dabbled in it part-time? Do you see the difference?

2) With working a regular full-time job, I didn’t want them to know I was “moonlighting” as a home stager. I was ducking into conference rooms to take calls from prospects and when I scheduled projects, I would have to arrange for time off.

As my staging business started to get some traction, it got much harder to take the occasional day off. I eventually had to let the job go, which also meant a steady paycheck. Believe me when I say, my staging business was a rollercoaster ride in the beginning.

Before making that important career choice please consider the following points about working part-time v. full-time. They are very valuable aspects in your business decisions.

It would be difficult if you’re running the show, i.e. if this is your business and you’re building it from the ground up. Why? Because most networking activities with your target market take place during regular business hours and there is a lot more to the “business” than just the actual hands-on staging project.

As any entrepreneur will tell you, running your own business means you’re now wearing multiple hats – marketing, accounting, business development, administration, operations, etc. To squeeze all these in generally means working beyond your regular 8-hour day.

Now, can you systematize your business to be more efficient? Absolutely!

Can you outsource some of these tasks to other people? Totally!

Does it take time to get there…you better believe it!

If you join a staging team, that’s a different story. I have an associate who has stagers who work on her Staging team while their kids are at school, but they only work on a project basis. This is not their business, it’s not their company, it’s just their JOB. This is a huge distinction.

If you’re planning on working on staging projects after business hours, my opinion is that that would be extremely difficult unless you’re only working on vacant properties. If it’s an owner occupied property, they don’t want you in their houses after hours.

They want it done during the day while they’re at work. When they return from work, they have family obligations to tend to…kids to feed, bathe, and get to bed. It’s NOT convenient to have someone there moving things around and honestly, you don’t want to be there when they’re home.

I eventually added a clause to my agreement that the property had to be vacant during the time that we were scheduled to stage. If you’ve ever done it, you’ll understand. It’s a nightmare. They follow you around, asking you questions, kids are in the way, and it’s just not productive.

This also applies on the weekends. Either the homeowners are at home on the weekends and have their own things to deal with or that’s when open houses are scheduled. Honestly, despite sacrifices that need to be made initially ask yourself; do you really want to work on the weekends?

These basic facts will help clarify what’s possible working part-time v. full-time. When you are making that future career choice it is very important to research thoroughly so that your decision will be the best for your lifestyle and business needs.

Copyright (c) 2009 Alice Chan

There are many creative and colorful ways to use cookbooks right out of your own home library to stage your kitchen. I would like to show you how you can “kick it up a notch” and actually create a theme around the cookbook you choose. Let me illustrate and explain two examples for you to model.

As one kitchen example for the counter space you can display a pasta cookbook and carry the theme along with decorative oil bottles or a bottle of olive oil with a more traditional Italian packaging. You may also chose to include a pasta dish towel, and a pasta bowl filled with faux tomatoes, onions, garlic and dried pasta.

A more professional and polished look will use the pasta theme throughout the kitchen area. For the bar area you will need to set out bowls of tri-colored corkscrew pasta and add a faux red tomato in the center. These colors really pop against countertops. To refine this setting, I would add a colorful placemat under each bowl to complete the look.

As a bonus tip for you: if you have a small kitchen you wish to showcase for the real estate market in order to create the illusion of more space you can move the refrigerator out and decorate that area.

For another kitchen example, you can use a dessert cookbook and create a combination coffee and baking theme. For wall decoration the use of prints and art that have different types of coffee themes like latte and espresso will beautifully decorate the area and further carry your theme.

For the counter space display a glass canister filled with biscotti and a large metal mixing bowl filled with baking tools such as a rolling pin, wooden mixing spoons, a spatula and boxes of cookies.

Another or alternative counter display idea could be to create a coffee tray using espresso cups and saucers, a French press filled with coffee beans, a jar of coffee condiments like vanilla, cinnamon, and chocolate, and two wrapped biscotti, all placed on top of a dish towel. A couple of loose ivy leaves will add beautiful color. On both display ideas use a basket of greenery to fill space to add more texture and color.

These are not expensive or difficult counterscapes to create, but the theme makes it a lot more fun and interesting. There are plenty of cookbooks with possible themes available…enjoy the creative process.

Copyright (c) 2009 Alice Chan