Summary
In this economy, not every budding entrepreneur has the freedom to quit their day job to follow their dream of starting a business. Expert home stager, Debra Gould explains how part-time home stagers moonlighting around another job can still appear professional.
Part-Time Home Stagers Moonlighting Can Still Appear Professional
While everyone might wish to quit their job and focus on starting their business full time, this isn’t possible for everyone. Many aspiring home stagers have no choice but to continue working while they start up their home staging business on the side.
One concern of moonlighting home stagers is that they’re not going to be seen as professional since they’re “only” working in their home staging business part-time.
When aspiring stagers raise this concern to The Staging Diva®, Debra Gould, she always asks them the same thing:
Why does anyone need to know you’re doing this part-time?
“If I had a full-time job and was doing home staging on the side,” says Gould, “I would still set up my business. I would have my business phone number, business cards, a home staging website and a page on the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers. If someone were to call me, they would get a professional sounding greeting. It’s not going to say, ‘Hi you’ve reached Debra and by the way, I’m a part-time home stager and I only work on weekends.’”
The Staging Diva® offers the following advice to those moonlighting as home stagers, “When you get a call from a potential client and they want to meet with you, you don’t have to tell them you can only meet them on Wednesday after work. If that’s the only time you have available, tell them you happen to have an opening on Wednesday night at seven.
If that doesn’t work for the homeowner, just keep going back and forth until you find a time that works for both of you. Unless you tell them you’re trying to do home staging around your full-time job, they’re likely going to assume you’re a very sought after, heavily booked home stager.”
Gould adds, “Remember it’s all about perception. If you have a professional looking website and home staging portfolio, and carry yourself with confidence, nobody is going to question whether or not you’re doing this part-time or not. It won’t even cross their minds.”
About the author
The creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, Debra Gould has staged millions of dollars worth of real estate, including seven of her own homes. She is the president of home staging firm SixElements.com and has trained thousands of home stagers to start and grow their own businesses.
