I recently received the following inquiry about becoming a home stager and although I don’t think it was a sincere inquiry, since the rest of the email was an extensive shameless plug for stuff he was trying to sell (and I never did receive a “thank you” for my detailed response). Whatever his true intent, I thought these were probably questions that others interested in becoming a Home Stager would have and therefore, benefit from my my answers.
Inquiry: My wife is interested in getting certified to be a home stager. I had a few questions, can you tell me:
Q: How long it takes to get certified?
A: Depends on the program and it depends on her. It could be as short as a day, 3 days, a few weeks or a few months.
Q: Exactly what in specific she is going to learn?
A: Again, depends on the program. Most programs touch on the business side, but mostly focuses on the design side – HOW TO STAGE.
Q: How much do the classes cost?
A: Depends on the program. I’d say on average about $2-$3000 is what I’m seeing.
Q: Are the classes are online or in person?
A: Depends on the program – most “certification” programs are in person.
Q: If they are in person, what is the schedule for classes?
A: You’d have to do individual research about each program – they should have class schedules on their website.
Q: What the job market is right now for stagers?
A: Depends on the individual person, how much they’re willing to market themselves and get the word out about themselves and of course, where you are located.
Q: On average, what is a typical charge for staging?
A: This would depend on where you are in the country. I’m in CA and the average consultation is around $200-$300 and the average staging is probably around $1500-$2500. Of course, everyone’s fees are different depending on their experience, situation and what the needs of the client are.
Q: Is there anything else that she may need to know before starting out with this?
A: Yes…what is her motivation for getting into the staging business? Does she understand that it is in fact, a business. If she is like many women I’ve met and know of, design is a hobby and the idea of getting paid for doing what she “loves” is appealing, but if she’s afraid to network, market, talk to people, have no sales experience/skills and business background, she will have a hard time. It’s a competitive business now (depending on where you are) and the real estate market is very different. The entire real estate industry and related businesses are undergoing a major change – it’s not the same ball game anymore. I don’t teach a certification program – there is no requirement to be “certified”. I started SuccessfulStagingBiz.com because I’ve been a Stager and what I described earlier is a common problem amongst home Stagers – starting a hobby business and not having the skill set or the guidance to run a successful business. I created the Ultimate Staging Success Blueprint system to highlight the most important things for Home Stagers to know and do to have a successful business. I am actually about to launch v2.0 and with that, launching a 6 week teleseminar event to teach all the new & improved content. You can visit http://www.alicetchan.com/blueprint to get all the details.
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I had a feeling…the message was too convenient…ask questions and then oh, by the way, here’s my product. It reminds of those people who email every stager in town for a bid on a potentially large project – so unethical. It’s ok, what comes around, goes around…
I received this exact same email on March 27th. I wonder hoe many stagers (and others) received it?