3 Mistakes I Made When Starting My Staging Business

If I told you it took me the longest time to narrow this staging business mistakes list down to three would you believe me?  Well, that's so sweet of you if you were like, “No way.  Impossible.  Not Lori.”

But I gotta tell you, this girl looooves to fly by the seat of her pants and wing it.  Go with your gut and all of that stuff.  So yeah, I made a sh#t ton of mistakes in my business.

But there were a few that I really, really think held me back for longer than necessary.  And not because I'm not one to hustle and dig into the work.  In fact, one of my business coaches once said that for every one of our traits there can be both positive and negative consequences.

Well, the negative of being a worker bee is that I spent so much wasted time on things that ultimately didn't move the needle of my business forward.   I spent hours deciding on the design of my business cards, my logo and spent many of my evenings away from my family going to every networking meeting possible in my area only to be stuck in the corner talking listening to the person who had a business card identifying themselves as a web designer, dog walker and Reiki practitioner.  True story right there.

So those first couple of years were rough.  

But I'm hoping that you can learn from my staging business mistakes.

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My 3 Staging Business Mistakes You Can Learn From

Mistake #1: Making everything a priority except building my list

I had a powerful weapon in my pocket from the beginning of my business.  I had worked with an online marketing expert to build my website (that's one of my great decisions, by the way!).  When she and I designed the site, she wanted me to have a few key things in place. (note to self, you should to) :

• I needed a free offer on my homepage so that people coming to the website had an opportunity to get something valuable for free from me in exchange for their name and email address.
• A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) app like Aweber (which I use to this day) to send automated emails, my blog, etc to my new online fam.
• I needed to set up and learn how to use the blogging aspects of my website.  She even brainstormed with me 12-weeks of content ideas to get me started!
• I needed to have a way for people to engage with me beyond the written word so I chose to turn my weekly blog into a weekly teleseminar (we called them workshops).

I had ALL of the tools in place to start growing my email list but what did I do?  I spent time on big, several-weeks-long staging projects, shopping, organizing, managing tradespeople, but I didn't follow through on any of the marketing plans that she started for me. And that meant that I had no business once those projects were done because I had totally lost my marketing groove thang.

And when I started back up with the blog and the teleseminars, I became discouraged quickly when it felt like no one was listening.  I hadn't yet learned what Marie Forleo calls being a relentless mother f#cker yet ; )

I also went and spoke at real estate offices and never followed up with a single person besides getting their business card and sending them like one or two emails after.  There was no nurturing or continuing the conversation involved at all.  I mean, how ridiculous?!

Here's how you can take better action than me:

• Acknowledge that the most valuable thing you have is your email list.  Followers don't mean anything.  Being able to be in touch with, learn from and grow your online family is where it's at in 2019.
• Feel obligated to your success and growing your list.  Until it becomes a habit.  The hardest part of forming a new habit is the first few months.  Yes months, not 28 days #28daysisalie.  But, if you are truly committed to your business success, staying in touch weekly is the new black.
• Being able to share your knowledge and experience with your audience is what gives you credibility and leads to sales which, hey, I'm not opposed to generating sales.  You?

Mistake #2: Not Setting Boundaries For My Time

In the beginning of my business, I really didn't understand the need to set boundaries.  I wasn't super busy so when the phone rang for an appointment, I jumped.  Plus I am wired to be a people pleaser so it is my natural thing to drop what I'm doing to help someone else out.  Their emergencies became my emergencies.  And I kept that up for a really long time.

It wasn't until one of my team members (yes, I operated this way even after hiring 4 people!) came to me and shared how stressful it had been for her to feel like she was always having to adjust her schedule to accommodate last minute appointments.

And at that moment, I started welling up with tears.  I had been feeling the same stress.

I was miserable in a business that I had created because I was treating every request like someone was going to die if we didn't get to them right away.  I had to create a balance between meeting our client's needs in a timely manner and meeting our own needs.  I'm happy to report that since implementing a scheduling policy that we are a happier team here and I think that our clients would agree that they still feel cared for.

Here's how you can take better action than me:

• Really think about how what you want your business to look and feel like for the long-term and treat it like that starting today.
• Create a policy around scheduling, make sure that you stick to it and communicate it as needed.  One of my dear friends who is a Realtor has a voicemail message that explains when she will return a call based on the time that it comes in and also set a policy to only work one day on the weekend because that worked for her and her business.  She is still busy and loves her work life balance.

Mistake #3: Not Invseting in Business Coaching More Often and Sooner

I crack up when I think about how absolutely clueless I was about running a business.  I really thought I just had to love the work that I was doing and the rest would take care of itself.  Oh. my. lord.  There was so much that I didn't know about marketing a business, delegating, creating systems, social media, goal setting, etc.  I seriously will not bore you because this list could go on for days.

When I finally took the big, scary step to invest, gulp, 5-figures, in a business coach it was a complete game-changer for me.  It was a huge stretch to pay for that and I didn't part with it lightly.  In the end, though, the value of what I learned and the relationships with people who are in this entrepreneurial gig were priceless.

Here's how you can take better action than me:

• Realize that your investment in your brain and educating it is what will make the difference between you and another business owner who doesn't succeed
• Take advantage of any opportunity for mentoring:  Small business association, fellow business owners, business coaches.  There are amazing people in this world that can help you tremendously.  You really do need someone further up the ladder than you to help you navigate the ins and outs of growing a business.

You can avoid these staging business mistakes

Although I made so many mistakes along the way (these are just 3 of the biggest ones!) what I did do right was to ultimately find the training I needed to turn my mistakes into successes. I truly believe that the strength of your business starts with you increasing your skillset and knowing the right steps to take at the right time with someone who has walked in your shoes. Growing a business is A LOT easier when you understand what comes next.

You don't have to do this business thing on your own. I'd love for you to join me and the other students if you find yourself needing help with any of these mistakes that I made. They are things I teach in-depth about in RethinkYou which is opening for enrollment in early 2022. Sign up below!

xo,

Lori