How to Become a Home Stager in 2021

Want to know how to become a home stager in 2021? Student Ambassador, Jamie Cromar, is here with some helpful tips! Jamie is the founder of Leigh Allan Design and is currently enrolled in QC’s Interior Decorating and Staging for Designers courses. 

Are you constantly re-arranging your room? Are you giving your friends and family advice on how to use their space? Do you have an eye for design and always know how a space should be laid out? Do you have an interest in real estate and find yourself scrolling through home listings on your phone?

If you said yes to any of these, then you might be interested in a career as a professional home stager!

Now, you might be wondering: That’s cool and all, but where do I actually start? How can I become a home stager – especially during a pandemic of all times? Luckily, QC Design School offers all the expert training you’ll need to turn your passion into a career!

Why a Home Stager’s Role is Critical

First, let’s get you better acquainted with home staging and its importance in the world of design. Over the last few years alone, professional home staging has become SUCH a popular profession. Stats have also proved that its a much-needed service of high value.

We can’t deny the obvious: the real estate market has taken a bit of a hit over the last year, thanks to COVID-19. But the important thing to remember is that people are still looking to sell their homes. And once things start opening back up, there are going to be a TON of clients hitting up their realtors. People are going to be eager for the chance to finally put their homes on the market.

With the right training under your belt and the right certification on your resume, you can be ready to help them when this time soon comes! Play your cards right and you’ll be completely booked up before you know it.

How to Become a Home Stager

Having a knack for design is important for home stagers. But we need more than that if we want to succeed. For starters, you’ll need to be able to work well with others – be it the home owner or the real estate agents. Having organizational skills is important as well. We mean this in both the literal and figurative sense!

Yes, you’ll need to be able to arrange a space in a clean, functional, and attractive way. But you’ll also need to know how to plan your time efficiently and correctly. There will be times when you need to scour furniture rental warehouses or develop budgets for shopping. These crucial steps of the process will always need to be taken into consideration.

Now, if you’re brand-new to this industry and don’t yet know how to become a home stager, everything I’ve just said might sound a little overwhelming. But trust me, it doesn’t have to be!

Here are some of my top tips on where to start, what to do, and how to become a home stager in 2021…

5 Tips to Help You Become a Home Stager

1. Do Your Research!

Learn as much as you can about the industry. Pay particular attention to the other stagers in your area. Learn about their businesses, what they offer, what their brand is, etc. This will give you an idea of what’s already out there.

Next, think about what you want for your business – and what you don’t want. Do you want to specialize in certain areas? Brainstorm possible niches. Know there are certain aspects of home staging where you’re weaker? Consider keeping those things out of your business.

All of this will help you build the skeleton of your business, determine your brand, and help you target the specific audience you’d like to reach. Remember this: you can NEVER do enough research!

2. Get Professional Certification Training!

If you want to know how to become a home stager, this is one of the BIGGEST pieces of advice I can possibly give you.

Technically, home stagers don’t actually need formal training. But as a professional stager myself, I can tell you first-hand that education always pays off! The clients ALWAYS notice when you have more knowledge under your built. They love to be able to see that you have the physical certification to back up.

QC Design School provides the option of two staging classes that can give you the training, knowledge, and certification you’re looking for. When you have that training behind you, it allows you to increase your bottom line. That’s always worth it, in my books! More knowledge under your belt always gives you more power.

3. Think Ahead!

When I started my business, I already knew exactly what I wanted it to look like. I knew what color my logo would be, as well as the style of it. I had the confidence and the know-how about consultations and knew how I would work with my clients.

I knew this not just because I did my research – but also because I had the help of QC Design School’s business training unit. This unit is right at the end of both staging courses. It’s optional, but I HIGHLY recommend taking advantage of it. This training gave me the tools to understand how to run a business and which elements were important. I’d never run my own business before, so this kind of business training was SO important for me!

4. Start Building a Social Media Presence!

For me personally, this was the hardest step. Putting yourself – and your work – out there for everyone to see is always scary. But I got the nerve to do it, and the support and love that followed has really blown my mind!

With my training behind me, putting myself out there has really opened so many doors for me that I would’ve never opened otherwise. Nowadays, social media is so important to get your name, business, and style out there. It may be a scary thing to start, but you’ll find that it’s really great way to show people what you can do.

Want to know which social media platforms you should be utilizing? Find out here!

5. Learn How to Offer Virtual Home Staging Services!

Simply put, virtual services are the way to go during this pandemic. E-design services can definitely help you reach a larger audience. Plus, since people can get your advice and style from literally anywhere, it’s a great service to add to your business in general.

By knowing how to effectively provide virtual home staging services, you can assist clients from all over and give them the tools they need to execute your vision all by themselves. There are many services out there that can make your virtual staging services easily deliverable, and get you started on the right foot.

Plus, you can always take QC’s mini Virtual Design Training Course, too! With this one-unit program, you’ll learn everything you need to know to get started – and gain yet another certificate to add to your qualifications!

How to Become a Home Stager: Mistakes to Avoid

Since we went over the things you should do to success, let’s now go over a few of the things you absolutely do NOT want to do.

1. Don’t Over-Personalize the Home!

When staging a client’s home, your goal is to make it appealing for potential buyers. The future owner should be able to walk into the space and immediately envision themselves living their life there. This means depersonalizing the space so that it can appeal to the general target market.

A great place to start is by taking personal and/or sentimental items out of each room. For example, prospective buyers won’t be able to envision themselves in your client’s home if someone else’s family photos are on display. Instead, create a neutral space where the potential new homeowners can see themselves living.

2. Don’t Cut Corners!

This is an important one! Plenty of homeowners don’t initially see the full value in having their home professionally staged. They might not want to spend the time and money on staging a space that isn’t for them personally.

If you’re encountering a skeptical client, simply remain professional and stick to your QC Design School training. Guide the homeowners the right way. Sure, fixing up the home and then staging it might not be the fastest process. But it WILL work and it WILL pay off.

When doing a walkthrough, new buyers can always tell if the home looks rushed and hasn’t been thoughtfully staged. Make sure to take the time you need to get the job done right!

3. Neutral Doesn’t Mean Bland!

Last but not least: when staging a home, making the space neutral doesn’t mean you’re making it bland or boring. As the professional, making the home feel welcoming and open is what you (and new homeowners) are looking for.

The key is to find the perfect balance. This means making sure that you don’t take away so much of the home’s personality that it does show as being bland. This is where QC Design School’s home staging training will come in handy again. They will help you learn the right way to achieve this!

Time’s have been unusual lately, but one thing is for sure: the value of ‘home’ means more than ever these days. Sticking to these tips and tricks will help guide you towards becoming a home stager in 2021. Got any additional tips (or faux pas) to add to this list? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

As always, thank you for joining me today. Please feel free to reach out to me on the QC Design School Virtual Classroom on Facebook!

Learn how to become a home stager by getting trained with QC Design School today!