"I believe each house has a soul, an essence that one connects with. I have a passion for decorating and designing which began when I was a child. I would drive my parents …
“For me, the biggest value in the course was the information about how to get money and how to charge. I plan to follow Debra Gould’s advice as it seems to make a lot of sense.”
“Debra is a great resource for anyone who is even remotely interested in the staging industry. She does a good job of explaining what to expect when running a home staging business, and she gets you excited about it at the same time. Many of us have the talent, but we are scared to death to put it to work. Debra can help you overcome that fear. She gives you the tools—you just have to decide what you are going to do with them.”
~ Tammy Mercado, Dressed to Market, LLC (Ohio)
Is fear of failure holding you back from starting a home staging business?
When Debra Gould quit her high-level job and started her first business, a marketing consulting firm, everyone said she was crazy. It was in the fall of 1989—at the very beginning of the 1990s recession. But Debra knew that with change comes opportunity and that there is much less security in working for others than in working for yourself.
She was right. While Debra’s fellow MBA graduates were being laid off from their corporate jobs, she was earning more than she had ever made working for anyone else, with the added satisfaction of knowing she was creating her own opportunities and was in control of her own destiny.
Debra didn’t have the comfort of a spouse to support her. In fact, she was paying a mortgage on her own and later supporting a child too. She didn’t even have the luxury of having her family around to help with childcare. If she didn’t keep her business going, she would be in serious trouble.
Debra never took her success for granted though. Even when she was earning $125 per hour back in the 1990s as a marketing consultant, she still spent time calculating how long it would take to become homeless in case she never got another project. Looking back, she calls this her “Bag Lady Fear Phase.”
Now that Debra has been an entrepreneur for over 20 years, she doesn’t think about this anymore. She’s not as nervous now that she’s become accustomed to the idea of living without a guaranteed paycheck every week.
So if you go through your own “Bag Lady Fear Phase” as you start your home staging business, don’t let it scare you into thinking you’re on the wrong path or that you need the “security” of working for someone else.
The following articles will help you calm your fears so you can build your home staging business with confidence:
> Don’t live with the regret of a path not taken
> What if Oprah had been stopped by fear of failure?
> Home Stagers – 5 Steps to Boost Your Confidence
