it’s time to level up
The decision to leave our corporate jobs was super hard. Both Melinda and I had worked over ten years in advertising and accounting, respectively, and while the idea of working for ourselves seemed amazing, we were terrified to actually pull the plug. But maintaining full time jobs and a side hustle was exhausting and we knew we couldn’t keep both up indefinitely. If you’re struggling to figure out when it’s time to level up your staging business and leave your day job behind, you can count on us to provide you with honest and direct feedback about our experiences. We offer 2-hour business mentorship calls to new and emerging stagers. No question is off limits and you can expect full transparency and tangible takeaways. Here are the top five signs it’s time for you to take a chance and immerse yourself fully in your staging business:
you are staging nights and weekends
There is no better way to burn out, thus begin to resent your small business, than to squeeze in your staging projects on nights and weekends, outside of your full time career. You may be thinking, but I can’t afford to give up a steady income to pursue something that may or may not work. That’s fair and we definitely struggled to find the courage to sever our steady incomes. We recommend that you actively put aside a portion of your current paycheck, to the extent possible, as you approach your target exit date. I even reduced my 401k percentage for my last 6 months to have more cash on hand before leaving my full time job. Take a close look at your own household financials and plan accordingly.
In hindsight, we both probably would have left our jobs sooner to focus our full attention to Olive + Opal. If you can dedicate your nights and weekends to grow your business that’s wonderful, but it was amazing to see what we could really accomplish when we were able to focus exclusively on the business during actual business hours. It takes time to produce marketing materials. It takes time to meet and network with agents. It takes time to develop a social media presence. When you are working another full time job you don’t have extra time to spend on these efforts, which will eventually lead to more projects and thus, more money.
your staff is family
We love our families and they have been so supportive as we’ve grown Olive + Opal over the years. However, they are NOT stagers or movers and while they helped us for free (thank you!!), they really only helped us get by, not grow. Sorry, it’s true. Hiring the right team members is one of the most important decisions we’ve made in our business. If you have a family member that possesses the skill sets that help you grow and thrive (and don’t need a big paycheck), congratulations, you have found a unicorn. For the rest of us, it’s essential to find the right employee to take on the areas of the business where we either lack the skillset or areas we are able to part with and entrust with others. We treat our business as a business, not a hobby, so we take the hiring process seriously, regardless of the fact we were new and small. When hiring, we recommend that you write a detailed and specific job description and provide clear expectations during the interview process. Spend the time and spend the money and get the right employee(s) who share your vision for the company and will help you realize success. I can’t stress the importance of hiring a good team enough - read here for more information about how we’ve grown our time.
You use word for proposals
Among all the other starting costs, it’s difficult to want to shell out a monthly fee for IT systems, but we found that investing in a quality customer relationship management (CRM) system is worth every penny. We use Dubsado for all client-related activities, including proposals, invoicing and customer emails. Time is money - YOUR time is valuable. So if you are spending hours, gosh even one hour, to create your proposals in Word or Excel, it’s time to level up and invest in a CRM tool. All systems are different, but essentially the CRM software allows you to create proposal templates that can be customized and sent within minutes. There is definitely some work on the front end to build the templates, but the time saved in day-to-day operations is huge. We can typically send a bid to a potential client in under 15 minutes by simply obtaining the home information and plugging it into our CRM system. Don’t spend time reinventing the wheel for every potential project, invest wisely in a CRM and use that extra time for other revenue-generating activities, like agent engagement and social media content creation.
You store inventory in your garage
Every stager has a period (hopefully brief) where they store inventory in their homes. It must be some sort of staging right of passage?! If you’re currently housing furniture or accessories in your own home it’s time to start looking for some storage alternatives. It’s not cheap, particularly to rent month-to-month storage units, but you will find efficiencies by creating storage solutions in a dedicated space for your inventory. I probably couldn’t find the stand mixer I got for my wedding to save my life - what makes me think that I should add more clutter to the existing chaos? We recommend that you separate your staging inventory from your home furnishings when your budget allows and never look back.
you don’t have a staging contract
If you learn nothing else from this post, please prioritize the use of a contract for each and every staging project. A solid staging contract is essential to protect your staging assets, your team and your business. Boiler plate contracts are available online for free or we recommend that you reach out to local stagers in your area, or to your local RESA chapter, for examples of staging-specific contracts. Do our clients always read the staging contract that they sign? Nope! Have we had to enforce our contract on occasion to protect our brand and our assets? Absolutely!
It’s scary to level up your business and really invest your time, money and energy into something without a guarantee of success. The timing will never feel perfect, but it’s amazing how much you can accomplish when you can devote yourself fully to your business. If you find yourself in the situations described above, it’s probably time to reassess and create a game plan to transition this very expensive hobby into a profitable business. We are here to help you make the leap. We also highly recommend that you invest in professional training as you take the leap. The Master Class by Staging Studio is tremendous and will help you master the staging basics as you’re starting out.