PRES staging has been receiving a lot of fantastic PR the past few months about the benefits of home staging. Dana Smithers, founder & creative director of the PRES Staging Resource Centre has been interviewed for newsprint and television since her new book Start & Run a Home Staging Business was published by Self-Counsel Press.

The Vancouver Sun article – Setting The Stage To Sell gave some great tips to home sellers about what they need to focus on when they are selling. Alison Applebe a freelance writer for the Sun also interviewed Patti Houston of Fluff Rentals and Susan Evans of Home Suite Home Staging.

Van Sun At HOME - Setting The Stage To Sell

Van Sun AT HOME - Setting the Stage (2)

There are lots of resources on the PRES website for home sellers to tap into. If you are thinking about selling your house you can also check out Dana Smithers’ ebook DIY Home Staging – Getting Ready for An Open House in 10 Easy Steps! And something we hope you picked up from the article is that hiring a PRES home stager is not expensive. Especially when you compare it to the cost of not-staging your home and having it sit on the market!

I know in Canada we are very ‘polite’ and don’t like to brag but I am so excited because I just received my first ever royalty cheque from my recently published book: Start & Run a Home Staging Business with Self-Counsel Press.

It was an amazing experience to sign the contract, submit my first drafts of my first few chapters, get the okay to keep going, and then to finally finish my writing of the book. The book was edited a few times and I am happy with the final printed copy. When it came out and I saw it in book stores, it was quite surreal. This for me, is a dream come true.

I know I have other books in me but some of them will be of an entirely different nature. But for now this is a fantastic feeling. Most printed books will be turned into eBooks and this book will be no exception. I have 3 other eBooks on DIY Home Staging, Creating Curb Appeal that Sells! and Trade Secrets to Hanging Art Like a PRO! They are great content and if a home owner does what it says to do in the ebooks, they can create a home that prospective buyers can’t live without!

I’m currently working on my new PRES Home Staging Home Study kit which will be available in the fall worldwide. How fantastic is that!

Not that this is the academy awards or anything like that, but again I want to thank all of my teachers and all of my amazing students who have helped me on my journey in the world of home staging.

If you are still not sure if home staging is the career for you then you will find the the PRES Staging Training Program’s FREE Webinar on ‘How To Become A Home Stager In Just One Week’ a great place to start!

Our webinar is offered the first Tuesday of every month from 5 – 6pm. The next one is June 7th.

Dana J. Smithers a Canadian home staging industry leader does a ‘live’ webinar so that you can personally ask her questions about home staging as a career. If you have never been on a webinar all you need to do is to contact us: Janice@PresStaging.com and we will provide you with the access code from your computer. You can either phone in or use your microphone from your computer.

The power point presentation is packed with information about how to start and grow your business. You’ll learn staging secrets that propel you to success just by being on this webinar.

PS If you live in the Vancouver area you will have a chance to see Dana live at the Vancouver Public Library on Thursday May 26th at 7:30pm. She’ll share her business success secrets and give you the key marketing strategies you need to create a thriving home staging business.

Check out this 4 Part Series of Home Staging Tips written for the National Post by Dana J. Smithers.

PART 1 Top 5 Ways To Stage Your Home to Sell

Are you overwhelmed and stressed just thinking about getting your home ready to list?
In today’s marketplace, most buyers expect a home to be move-in ready. So what does this mean to the average seller? Well, it means you need to spend time, money and energy in getting your home ready to market so it stands out from the competition.
Naturally, the longer you have lived in your home and the more clutter you have accumulated, the longer the process of preparing your property will take. The stress and anxiety build up daily. To help relieve this and get on track for your first showing, follow my Top Five ways to stage your home easily and in time:

1. Determine for yourself, or with a professional home stager, what needs to be done to make your home move-in ready. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that just because you like the look and feel of your home a potential buyer will, too. You’ve heard it before — you must be objective. Think of your home as an investment, one that you now want to dispose of. You have to create a neutral look, but one that has a wow-factor, so any potential buyer can imagine their things in your space.

2. Decide where your best return on investment will be. If you only do one home improvement, I recommend painting your home in a neutral color. Take pictures off the wall, remove some furniture, roll up the rugs and do a major decluttering.

3. Make a written plan that includes the tasks that need to be done, who is going to do them and when they are going to be started, and a projected finish date. Post it so everyone sees it and sticks to it. Check off work as it gets done.

4. Prioritize the work so that once one project is finished, you can move logically to the next. The biggest mistake my clients have made is not identifying what needs to be done when. It makes no sense to have the cleaners come in before you have finished painting.

5. Know that you will most likely not get everything done on your plan. Focus on the key tasks of decluttering and depersonalizing. Create the look of lots of space, and remember that in home staging the motto is truly “Less is More.”

Part 2 coming next!

Dana J. Smithers home staging industry leader and pioneer of home staging in Canada is going to share her strategy in building a 6 figure home staging business. Join her at the Vancouver Public Library on Thursday May 26th at 7:30 pm while she shares her success formula from her new book Start & Run a Home Staging Business.

If you are thinking about a career in home staging then you don’t want to miss this talk. If you have been in busy for awhile and your business is not growing then you don’t want to miss this talk.

Dana shares her business strategies that took her from $0 to a 6 figure income. Smithers says ‘ It’s hard work and it is doable if you are committed to your own success. Working with a business coach was part of my strategy to keep me moving forward and understanding where to spend my time, money and energy. I was doing a lot of things wrong in the beginning. Now I only focus on the results I want.’

Dana along with teaching her PRES Staging & Redesign course offers coaching and mentoring to with home stagers, interior decorators and designers, and redesigners. She loves helping clients create their brand, develop marketing strategies to keep the funnel full, and to get rid of any non-serving mind talk so they can get clarity and focus on what they want to achieve.

VPL Start Run a Home Staging Business2

Last year the PRES community had a fantastic time learning, laughing and loving all the goodies and prizes.

This year the PRES members are getting ready to enjoy a full day of education and then some fun! The conference will be held on October 16th at the Executive Hotel in Coquitlam BC.

We have a fantastic line up of speakers: Marlie Oden of Bridge Communications – Defining Your Personal Brand, Carolyn Cooper-McQuatt of Inspired Business, Susan Friesen of eVision Media – How to Create a Low-cost & Effective Marketing Funnel Through Newsletters, Kathy Forbes of A New Paige Event - I’m This and You’re That…So What? Learning your personality type and how to work with the other types and Michelle Bellerose of She Hoops providing Fitness that Rocks.

Dana J. Smithers the Founder & Creative Director of PRES Staging Resource Centre will open the conference and welcome the PRES members.

Dana Smithers, the founder and creative director of the PRES Staging Resource Centre offers mentoring to the PRES graduates at a special ‘member only’ price. In addition to offering mentoring to her own PRES members, Dana is now offering her mentoring services to other women entrepreneurs in small service businesses. She has seen the results over and over again – hire a coach or a mentor and you can fast track a start-up business or get unstuck in your existing one.

The new site, www.EmpoweredWomenInBusiness.com, is targeted for a September 2010 launch. On her new site you will be able to get her new ‘FREE’ CD with 7 destinations on her Empowered Women’s Road Map to Success.

I can’t believe it is already May! The market has picked up so that’s great news. I have been busy finishing my two new ebooks for the DIY seller who wants to get their home ready for selling. These ebooks were created for people who really like to do their own home staging and with the economy being what it is, might want to save themselves some money.

Make no mistake though, the PRES stagers are the best in the business and you may want to start with our professionals and determine what you can do on your own.

Up until May 11th you can purchase Do-It-Yourself Home Staging: Getting Ready for an Open House in 10 Easy Steps for $19.97 and for a Limited Time Only you can receive my mini-ebook on Creating Curb Appeal that Sells! Then the price goes up to $47 still a great bargain – a small investment worth a whole lot more when you sell your house!

Check it out: Do-It-Yourself Home Staging will take you room to room, divulging expert tips and techniques on how to de-clutter, de-personalize and rearrange your home so that it will attract the most prospective buyers. This ebook is a hands-on, economical approach for home staging. It’s so simple, with or without any previous decorating experience, you will be able to follow along easily and achieve exceptional results.

Full of tips, checklists and before-and-after pictures, Do It Yourself Home Staging leaves no room untouched, providing you the most comprehensive plan for getting your home “open house ready” in such a way that saves you time, money and energy!

Happy Selling!