Have you been thinking about starting a home staging business? Here’s a quick overview of how to start a home staging business.

You often see home staging listed as one of the best businesses to start, and it’s been that way over a decade. There are good reasons why home staging is a perennial favorite.

First, it’s relatively easy to get into this business. You don’t need any specific degree, certification, or credential to become a home stager. You do need good training so that you can do excellent work for your clients. There are many home staging books that can teach you how to do it, and you can learn what you need to know from our affordable courses. Go to our home page and find the home staging course links to get started.

Home stagers can make very good money, and you can control how much you work and take time off when you want to. It’s fair to say that $50 per hour is attainable as a home stager, and you could even see earnings of $75 or $100 per hour as you progress.

Once you have the training and have developed your skills to the point where you can do professional-quality work, start marketing yourself as a home stager in your area.

Thanks to HGTV and other media exposure, more people know about home staging than ever before. In the past, part of your business strategy would have been to educate the market about the benefits of home staging, so that you can find people willing to pay for your service. It’s a lot easier to sell home staging now since so many people are already aware of the value you provide when you stage homes for clients.

In addition, social media gives you plenty of marketing outlets. You can use Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, and more, which enable you to reach out and find a local audience, establish credibility, position yourself as an expert, and network with other professionals. You can do this for free, or you can run ad campaigns such as sponsored posts on Facebook and Instagram that won’t cost you a lost of money.

You also have a lot of good options for getting a great-looking website for not a lot of money, if you’re starting up on a budget. Platforms like WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, and Weebly give you a range of options for building your own site using ready-made templates.

If you have a budget for a professionally built website, I would like to pass along this company for you to look at. I think you’ll be happy with the results. You’ll save yourself a lot of time and your home staging website will look super polished.

Your website will be one of the main ways that clients find you. Put up examples of your best work and let people get to know you a bit through your “About” or bio page.

For more information on starting a home staging business, please see our online courses.

I’ve been thinking about add-ons to home staging businesses so you can diversify your client base, add some extra know-how to your skill set, and help strengthen your income stream. The one I’m going to write about today is feng shui consultation. There are feng shui certification classes that you can take online.

Becoming a feng shui consultant also works as a standalone business so if you’re not a home stager it works on its own. The hourly rate is good enough to make a lucrative part-time or full-time business out of, depending on your area.

Feng Shui Consultation & Fees

As a feng shui consultant you will go to clients’ homes, assess each room and the house overall, and give clients your report on what changes they need to make in order to align with feng shui principles. In this regard it is much like home staging in terms of what you’ll be doing.

In my area the rate is in the neighborhood of $100 per hour for a feng shui consultation on your home. The feng shui process is more personal than home staging in that you will probably be getting into discussing the client’s goals and life issues. So in that regard you’ll have to be able to shift gears since home staging has to do with making things less personal in the home. But there are definitely enough similarities that you could easily add feng shui to your existing home staging business services.

As a home stager you could incorporate some subtle feng shui principles into your work. This can certainly add a whole new level to the buyer appeal you’re creating. Rooms with feng shui at work always have a very pleasing quality. They just feel good.

Is a Feng Shui Course Right for You?

Some programs are lengthy and very expensive, requiring travel and a significant time commitment. This is a good way to go once you’ve determined that you’re very serious about learning feng shui and practicing as a paid consultant. But in my opinion, you may want to dip your toe in, so to speak, with a course that’s more convenient and less of a financial commitment.

There is an online course offered by QC Design School that fits the bill. It offers a well-rounded feng shui education with topics including:

Learn how to use feng shui room design in bedrooms and bathrooms and generate energy flow. You?ll also learn how to improve staircases, doors, hallways and windows to increase balance within the home. Discover how storage spaces can influence a home?s ch?i flow. You?ll use knowledge from your online feng shui course to apply specific values and improve living spaces.

Learn highly valuable home interior decorating skills such as floor planning, color selection, lighting and accessorizing. Use these skills to create a balanced feng shui room design that meets the style and decor preferences of your clients.

Take a look at the free course catalog and see if it seems like something that you’d be into doing.