Clearing Churned Up Waters

Recently I posted two similar blogs entitled: "Inconvenient Truths about Home Staging". One, which was shorter edited version, was posted on Active Rain while a more complete and comprehensive version was posted here on this site. The post created quite a ruckus with a foundation training company whose website I quoted directly from and linked to, to prove that I was not making an unsubstantiated point. Agitated with what I said, they contacted me with Cease & Desist email and comment. I honored their request and removed all references to them in my posts and all links I had placed on both my blogs to their site.

Obviously, I now know they view my words as direct attack on their program, which was not the point. This staging foundation training organization is/was NOT doing anything that most other training organizations within the staging industry are doing or have done. Heck, for all I know this training organization my offer one of the most compressive and in-expensive training programs available in the industry today.

It is no secret that foundation training programs are a big part of the home staging industry. The point I was making had to do with the industry's foundation training programs as a whole. Being that I am one of the LEAST formally trained stagers in home staging industry (I happen to be self trained) I am in a unique position that allows me to be neutral about training. Staying neutral, yet believing in the benefits of training, I tried to be a trusted resource to those that seek out my advice on foundation training program. To make it easy for those who are interested in home staging training, I have compiled a FREE reference list (in alphabetical order) of 33 different training programs I currently know of here for all to access. (This list is being used. How do I know? Well, for one thing Goggle Analytics lets me know.)

But I digress… the point I was making in the original "Inconvenient Truths" blog was that I see the staging INDUSTRY being partially responsible for the bashing the staging industry got in the report on staging by the National Association of Exclusive Buyers Agents (NAEBA). While I felt much of what the NAEBA said was wrong and a bit sensationalized, I still don't believe it was all wrong. The report got me thinking about the Home Staging Industry... and the collective "who and how" we have been and how there was some truth to what the NAEBA reported.

So with the home staging industry in my sites, I started to re-examine and write what I refereed to as a "Frankenstein" of a problem in our industry... Credentials. I have found at least 34 different foundation staging training programs in North America. I have no idea how good or bad any of these courses are. I can tell you that I have spoken to MANY stagers from all over the USA & Canada... some have raved about their training others were not impressed. I’ve heard all opinions. But, in general I believe people are pretty happy that they received formal training... even if only for the fact that training was a springboard for them in the industry.

However, with no industry "board of staging education" overseeing what is actually being taught... there is no way of knowing how truly good or bad the training these organizations are offering is, or how compressive and complete it is.

Currently how the industry is set up, to be a staging trainer all one needs to do is open their doors.... and say they are a staging training school. Plus, on top of that the fact anyone can easily open up a training school, many of these organizations then offer quick "Accredited Certifications" for their graduates to add to their names in the hopes to legitimize their graduates as "stagers" to the eyes of the consumer, I believe this further compromises the whole industry. Who decides what is good? Who decides what is bad? Who decides what is right? Who decides what is wrong? Who knows!

For the most part the consuming public has no understanding of all this backstory. Historically the consuming public views and relies on credentials as proof of ability. The consuming pubic believes the person who has been "Accredited/Certified" by an organization has gone through a process were they have been trained, tested and PASSED thru a testing process. Even baby sitters can now be certified, but only after being tested. TESTING is TYPICAL and expected in an ACCREDITATION PROCESS. As the staging industry stands today, what it takes to be a stager is more about credentials and less about the combination of talent, experience, & education. So much emphasis is being placed on Accrediting Credentials.

I am not the first to broach this topic, for it has been in the industry's conversation and has been a point contention for awhile.

I believe the industry's allowance of and reliance on unregulated certification and accreditation can exposes the consumer to less then good and qualified staging. I believe it can and will ultimately dilute what staging can make available. With no regulation on training, training schools, curriculum, testing, or certification this will a problem that will continue to get bigger. Having no standards will ultimately mean there will be consumers that use stagers that do substandard work and give organizations ammunition to continue to write negative reports on staging as the NAEBA did.

In my opinion, because of the way the home staging industry is, the consumer is currently becoming more and more venerable and exposed to substandard staging... and because this is so our industry will ultimately loose face and legitimacy.

THIS IS ONE OF MY TRUTHS in Inconvenient Truths about Home Staging.

Stage It Forward...
Me

DING DONG, Stage It Forward Calling... with a FREE Member Button for YOU!

As a member of both Active Rain and Stage It Forward, I LOVE the fact that it is open to all… And because it is so, many home stagers have joined over the past year to shared tales of their experiences and their wisdom. But, I am most proud of the fact that since joining Active Rain its group Stage It Forward... has become one of the most active and THRIVING sub-communities on this HUGLY popular real estate industry networking site.

WOW do Home Stagers have a lot to say and WOW do they ever say it.

Home Stagers and the Home Staging Industry are lucky that Active Rain came along when it did.

Since November 2006 over 600 members have joined and have posted over 2,400 articles about home staging in the group. Because of this fact the group has rapidly become a nation-wide noted resource for home staging information. What makes it so special the fact that collectively the group created itself… which is something each member should take pride in. The collective home staging voice is being spoken hear AND is being heard.

A few months back a special "staged" doorway into the group was created. And while it was GREAT to have the doorway... getting to the "door" became an issue. You see, you still need a "door bell button" that “rings” into this amazing industry resource and community.

So here you go... I have been asked for a link that a stager can use to display their involvement. Here is a button of a working "doorbell" that can be FREELY added to websites or blogsites. All you need to do is copy and paste the HTML CODE that I can email to you. (Image shown below is an actual working sample.)

Clicking on the button will take people visiting your site on to the Stage It Forward Gateway site. At the Gateway they will read a quick overview of the group you are a part of and committed to. Then they can move on into Active Rain’s Stage It Forward group.

So if you would like to show your affiliation to the group... just click on the link. The HTML code that you can insert on your website and/or your blogsite that will create this linking button can be found on the Stage It Forward Gateway.

I, like many of the home stagers that visit this blog, know that home staging works. But I also know that getting the general public and real estate community to understand and believe in what we do has been a bit of a challenge at times. However now, because of Stage It Forward, our voice speaking as one helps tell our story... that's for sure. This membership button is just another subtle "less is more" way to SHOW people we do have a collective voice as an industry.

More good Stage It Forward things are to come... I promise.
Me

Home Stager's Controversy is Activated in the Rain

While it was NOT the intent to create controversy with my initial blog post on Active Rain entitled "Was Barb Schwarz the 'INVENTOR' of Home Staging", somehow it did cause issues to swirl to the surface. And in all this there lies a lesson for ANYONE who writes a blog.

First let me be clear as to MY PERSONAL REASON for writing what I did.

I use Active Rain as a place for me to write a "first draft" and see what "works" with what I write. Member’s comments give me a clue as to how well I conveyed my message and if I need to tweak or alter it before putting it up on here my "Pretty" Home Staging blog. In this case, it’s an ironic fact, I KNOW that the words I selected in the initial Active Rain post missed some of the mark and I needed to go back and do some editing.

That post was to be about CHOOSING WORDS, USING WORDS, and ASSIGNING WORDS to the ideas, thoughts, plans, theories, programs, methodologies, wishes, concepts, etc... we write of in life. I don't care if you are writing a note to you kid's teacher at school or a book that eventually makes the New York Times Best-Seller's List. Words Matter!

WORDS have power to convey (or wrongfully convey) a message. We need to CHOOSE them carefully. Ironically in my own post I saw that the words I chose did not fully convey the message I INTENDED to communicate. So when I rewrote it and posted it here on my "Pretty Blog" I added this entire line:

"Anyway... getting back to words, the use of the words ‘invent’ and ‘staging’ demonstrate how the use of the one right word can help to effectively communicate a message. So while Barb's word ‘staging’ is masterfully on target, on the flip side, the word ‘invent’ falls short."

Did I "TARGET" Barb Schwarz?

While I have been accused of that I must respond by saying... "Absolutely NOT!" I chose to use BARB SCHWARZ as a subject to write about because she is a recognized personality within the Home Staging Industry. Whether you personally have good, bad or indifferent feelings for Barb, it is a fact she plays a role in the industry that I write about. Every writer knows that it helps to develop a point and convey messages if your audience can RELATE to that which you write.

As more and more people become my audience and read my words... it sets me up to be a target for scrutiny. I know it, I expect it, I don't LIKE it... but that is the way that it is. PERIOD. So my words need to be CAREFULLY selected. As do Barb Schwarz’s words or ANYONE ELSE who writes PUBLICLY! PERIOD. Whether you write about the Home Staging Industry, Real Estate Industry or any other industry. PERIOD. As a writer you put your words out there to BE dissected. PERIOD. If you don't like the fact that people MAY just challenge what you say, then DON'T write blogs, DON'T write articles, DON'T give interviews, DON'T do videos, DON'T write books, DON'T teach seminars. Just LIVE in a friggin bubble!

But more importantly PLEASE reader, viewer, listener know that JUST because it is printed, televised, spoken that DOESN'T make it God's Truth. Please, don't be that ignorant or naive. However if you choose to be THAT naive, then here… Craig Schiller created the World. Now wait two days and print this post. Then you’ll have the printed PROOF that it is so. For you read it here and it is now in print! Really, what ever happened to the saying... "Question Authority”?

As for all the controversy, that surfaced in the comment section of my Active Rain post, that surrounds Barb Schwarz of StagedHomes.com…

I am truly sorry it is so. But there is obviously something VERY REAL between Barb and the the people upset with her. Likewise, there is something VERY REAL between Barb and those people that like her.

It is a well know fact that people LOVE bad news MORE then good news. Unfortunately, the BAD will TRUMP the good. The BAD will grow and spread FASTER than the good, and the bad will be harder to clean up.

Once the BAD is out there it will stick to the hearts of those who feel it and they will judge, condemn and criticize Barb no matter what she does. Even if Barb Schwarz would now create a "scout troop for orphans that walks old ladies and puppies across street corners..." and she will be a target. The hurt these people feel, to me, seems way too real and goes way too deep. Who am I, or who are you to say it is not so for those that are hurting?

Stage It Forward…
Me

See this post on NBC - LOS ANGELES website.

Transforming the Doorway into the nation's only FREE Home Staging Information Resource Site

Ask any Realtor and they’ll tell you… first impressions matter. But besides home sales there are other times where first impressions count. So to demonstrate the importance and result of home staging, I thought I would do some staging in one of those “other places.” Considering that the home page of a website is like its “front door”… those of us at Real Estaging thought we would apply the same creative magic we use to stage a home and do a little cyber staging. For this staging our “client” is going to be Active Rain, the hugely popular on-line real estate network. Why them? Well, from the time I joined Active Rain, something has bugged me about it. Let’s face it Active Rain's front door is Boring.

Yes, Yes I know what they have right now is fully "functional" door, and Yes, I know that search engines have no problem finding it. But let's face it... its just plain old BORING. It has NO PIZZAZ, NO WOW! NO… DANG, I gotta go in and check this site out. You might say it suffers from the lack of cyber curb appeal.

So off to work we went… to see the result of our work just click here and you will see what Michelle Tsioles, an AMAZINGLY creative designer (interior and graphic) on staff here at Real Estaging, created. This gateway site is fully functional and is up and running and ready to be linked to. So for my peers in the Home Staging Industry, who have been working together as a group to share our story, you now have a more attractive and less confusing way to gain access to all the great free information being shared about home staging in Active Rain’s Stage It Forward group.

Now, don't get me wrong, this is NOT going to replace the MAIN door into Active Rain. However, the Chief Community Builder of Active Rain, Caleb Mardini was quite pleased with the result saying "I have to say YOU'VE GOT IT! Craig this is great. This really helps. Thank you for putting this together." Since that note, the developers of Active Rain have revealed some images of a newly “staged” home page that they have planned for the future... which does look MUCH better. But with Active Rain getting so big… it still be nice for home stagers and other’s interested in home staging to have a simple access directly to all the great information and dialogue taking place on the internets largest and most comprehensive FREE informational resource… Stage It Forward.

Me

Growing Membership of Stage It Forward... Creates a United Voice for the Staging Industry

Just what kind of power and impact Active Rain, the online real estate network, is capable of is definitely been proven. Almost daily, one can log on and read great posts crediting it in countless ways for helping create success in so many ways for some many professional that are employed in the Real Estate Industry. But what really is mind boggling is Active Rain is ONLY in its infancy (less than 1year old), so it is hard to comprehend all that is possible in its future.

So while the "big" Active Rain has been so revolutionary, when it comes to the Home Staging Industry, I can personally attest to just what impact Active Rain has had to legitimize and catapult that industry forward. It so happens that the day Active Rain added the "Group" functionality to its site... the Stage It Forward group was born. This past Saturday, that small group hit its own small milestone... the 300th member joined the group. And while that might not seem like that big of a deal to most... for the Home Staging Industry it is quite an achievement.

Active Rain’s Stage It Forward group is one of the Top 10 (out of over 600 groups) most lively and active groups on the site. It has become a gateway resource for GREAT staging information. Members respectfully and FREELY pass along knowledge to both Home Stagers and Realtors alike. Each day anyone can go and read well articulated stories written by Home Stagers from all across the USA and Canada.

Realtors, if you never considered using a Stager, go on in. You will be bombarded with visually stunning examples of what we do… you will find that the Stagers are relentless to make sure you and your sellers understand the power of our craft. This group is quick to share stories that speak of success, after success, after success.

But what is most amazing, and what I am most proud to be a part of, is to see how Stagers enthusiastically help and contribute to the success of their colleagues.

Unfortunately, I have been in the Home Staging Industry long enough to know that there was an underlying negativity that was keeping our industry small. Margaret Ann Innis, a stager that studied at BOTH stagedhomes.com and the Interior Redesign Industry Specialists, described the industry perfectly when she recently commented, “…our industry was fragmented by personalities, training schools, etc. Now there is a level playing field for all the voices of Stagers to be heard. We all bring many talents to this passion."

When Active Rain created the Group functionality... an opportunity to mimic what was already taking place in the "bigger" Active Rain became possible. Stage It Forward created the ONLY free and accessible forum where any and ALL Home Stagers, regardless of where they received foundation training, can go and ongoingly learn and discuss the “ins and outs” of staging.

This just goes to show the power that sincere sharing and respect for diversity can do… for it is moving the entire Home Staging Industry forward into the future.

Stage It Forward...
Me

STAGE IT FORWARD... means giving IT back

The willingness and importance to give back is basic to what the group of Home Stagers in Active Rain’s Stage it Forward group are all about. Giving back is so basic, that in the group's short description on Active Rain, the words "sharing" or "share" is used in three separate places.
However for me personally, Stage It Forward is more than just helping fellow home stagers grow their businesses... for me, Stage It Forward means using my time, talent and treasure to benefit community where I live. So at Real Estaging, our company’s current Stage It Forward effort centers around the creation of a marvelous community wide fund raising event for Brickton Art Center... which happens to be a WONDERFUL not-for profit organization (committed to outreach) in Park Ridge Illinois.

Starting last summer, we helped invigorate and re-invent Brickton's Artistic Living event by refining it and adding an entire Tour of Homes. With a goal to raise $20,000, here is what we have been working on and organizing…

The Artistic Living Tour of Homes event revolves around what is being called the Gallery House were art is featured within each room of a newly constructed home (donated for the weekend of May 18th - 20th by Tim Metropolis of TMM Development Corporation and listed with Gretchen Gullo of Coldwell Banker) in Park Ridge. This beautiful constructed Arts & Crafts style home will be where its interior spaces will be transformed and feature the creative works of both artist and designer. This house will also host the: Gallery 1033 Cocktail Party - a unique themed grand opening cocktail party and event night, and Silent Auction Room - featuring a variety of donated artistic objects, gifts and other items from local businesses.

In addition to the primary Gallery House, this tour event will also feature several other beautiful homes of Park Ridge. Residents are opening the doors to the interiors of their home to be locations on the tour. Craig Interior Design (our sister design studio) is even offering to help stylize & stage these homes with FREE design advice and help prior to the event.

The final fun new twist is that Brickton is commissioning a special gallery exhibit entitled The Doors of Park Ridge. This show will feature and exhibit the artistic interpretations of doors of homes, shops, schools, or churches etc. throughout Park Ridge, as seen through the eyes of and created by local kids.

The whole event is designed so that whether donating "BIG" or donating "SMALL" of one's time, talent and treasure, we have created many ways for others to experience the joy of giving and share in this wonderful event. All are invited and encouraged to tour the homes and see the power of what is possible when you… Stage It Forward.

One Stage NOW shines its Spotlight on the entire Home Staging Industry

The geniuses that created Active Rain might not realize it (and I KNOW they did NOT intend it) but they have created something amazing.

They have created a stage for the voices of an entire industry, which was still a relative infant and struggling to be heard, could finally be heard. That industry is the Home Staging Industry.

Today is going to be a VERY special day for all home stagers that utilize Active Rain and its Stage It Forward group as a resource for fresh and helpful industry information. Today, the stagers on Active Rain will be welcoming their 500th stager. Considering Active Rain is TOTALLY FREE and non-aligned with any home staging foundation training program THAT is a HUGE milestone for home staging!

If you are NOT a stager, I don’t think one can fully appreciate how significant this milestone is and what Active Rain is doing for a very young and rapidly growing industry.

You see prior to Active Rain there was no one place that any and all stagers could freely go to and share information with their colleagues. Many of the company's that provide foundation training in home staging have turned their backs to and would not acknowledge any of their fellows who did not have the same training as they provided... and definitely would not share ideas... or even a kind compliment!

Active Rain has shattered all that, and has allowed the voices of ALL STAGERS to be heard and RESPECTED. On Active Rain and in the Stage It Forward group ALL stagers are welcome! I am so proud to be a part of this wonderful place.

SO MY HAT IS OFF... to Active Rain and all the home stagers who proudly SHARE ONE VOICE on this ONE STAGE. YOU ARE ALL in your own way SINGULARLY SENSATIONAL.

Stage It Forward...
Me

PS: The smiling dancer is the stager Marci Toliver, the person I call "The Smile of Home Staging". Marci embodies professionalism. She lives and IS what more of the leaders of this industry could be... kind, respectful and welcoming to ALL who have and will choose in the future to make home staging their career... regardless of where the stager first received their foundation training.

Stagers, why spend money? List your business for FREE on a national Home Staging directory.

I know that I have shared my thoughts about the real estate social network called Active Rain before. So now that it has grown in membership I once again eel compelled to share with you once again what a great site this is. Active Rain simply amazes and inspires me. For while Active Rain is wonderful marketing, educational, networking and showcasing resource for all professionals in the real estate industry... this one site provides more possibility and opportunity for the home stager and the growing Home Staging Industry then any other I know of.

December 31st marked the closing of Active Rain’s inaugural year (actually they launched themselves in June 2006)... and what a year it was for all the members who have joined and shared in this incredible cyber community.

In a year where the real estate industry was spinning with change and challenge and as we saw large companies jockeying for position on the web... Active Rain appeared as if out of nowhere.

An important lesson for home stagers and leaders in the real estate staging industry can be learn from the simple fact that the creators of Active Rain believed that individuals, not corporations, ARE the heart of the real estate and the industry segments that make it up. It is for this reason they created a means to give dedicated real estate professionals a way to share their ideas, insights and concerns about all aspects of real estate.

Using Active Rain blogging, industry professionals found a totally FREE way to share their voices and highly effect means of educating both colleagues and consumers as to the realities of a dynamic and ever changing industry.

Generosity has worked in Active Rains favor. Since its start, membership has exploded! As of today (December 31) Active Rain proudly has over nearly 12,500 members. With all those members and the fact that countless non-members visit to read and take advantage of the daily feed of fresh information, this site a force to notice among ALL segments of the real estate industry. Pure possibility ripples out as more and more real estate professionals join, find their blogging voices, and share their insights.

Just when one thought it couldn’t get any better, the developers of Active Rain looked to make the services they offer even better. While Active Rain is predominately a social net work of information to, for and within the real estate professional community, Active Rain created another site called “Localism”. Localism is going to give professionals a voice that will be seen DIRECTLY by the consumer into the markets served by the real estate professional.

So while you will find many professionals representing different segments of the real estate industry, I know Active Rain and its sister site, Localism, holds the greatest possibility to create amazing marketing impact for the staging industry, as well as for individual stagers. Their national listing of stagers is truly a Home Staging Web Directory. It has blossomed to nearly 300 Home Stagers. Innovative, fresh, and unique... Active Rain provides real estate stagers with a means to freely gain differing perspectives, share ideas, showcase their businesses, ongoingly grow in knowledge (in both real estate and home staging) and market services.

Where else on the internet can any home stager (regardless of where they were trained) go to join a FREE national staging directory that openly and willing offers and shares so much? More than any other any website on the net, this one totally FREE directory site provides more current information for the Home Stager working to grow and showcase their business on a daily level than any other.

So in 2007, as Home Staging Industry continues to struggle for continuity and awareness, look to Active Rain's National Directory of Stagers and it's FREE Stage It Forward group to provide a forum for Home Staging professionals to turn small ripples into waves of opportunity and move our industry ever forward.

Wishing you, "all the best" on and in the New Year.

Stage it forward...
Craig (Me)

Joy to the (Active) Rain

For those professionals in fields of real estate, mortgages, real estate staging I just want to make sure you know that there is an AMAZING site full of information about real estate and pretty much every aspect of the industry. It is called Active Rain.

Active Rain,now with over 11,000 members, is a social network (like MySpace)... but with out the controversy.

Anyway, in an effort to visually demonstrate the generosty, unity, diversity and professionalism that occurs daily on Active Rain, I created the wreaths below.

If you are a professional in ANY aspect of the real estate industry I strongly encourge you to join Active Rain. Oh and to be a member is totally, 100%, no hitches FREE!
















If you are a professional in ANY aspect of the real estate industry I strongly encourge you to join Active Rain. Oh and to be a member is totally, 100%, no hitches FREE!

Happy Holidays and Stage it forward...
Craig (Me)

This Clown gets to host a Carnival by being Active in the Rain

I gotta admit one of the GREAT things I can say about being a member and starting my blogging on ActiveRain is when I joined I DIDN'T know what the heck a blog was, but I soon would... in a very short time.

Once you have an ActiveRain Blog (which are totally FREE), if you got kids... you might even be able to stand proud, puff out your chest and say... "I GOTTA BLOG". (Unfortunately, your kids won't be THAT impressed... so you'll feel somewhat like Charlie Brown on his Halloween special when he says... "I gotta rock.")

But I digress...

But, after awhile you get your ActiveRain blog groove going and you will be all happy and content and you start reading other's real estate industry blogs and you love it, for you will be learning and sharing and commenting and associating. And you'll then realize that REALLY you are part of a real estate social network. So if you got kids (who most likely use My Space) you will be able to stand proud, puff out your chest and say... "I'm on a Social Network too!" (And your even more proud of the fact that THIS social network doesn't have Lechers... but we do have Lychees (inside joke) so that's gotta count for something!)

But I digress...

So, you'll continue to you read and read and read. And you'll stumble on Mary McKnight's blogs on blogging. TRUST ME... YOU'LL BE STOPPED COLD IN YOUR TRACKS. WHAT THE HELL IS SHE TALKING ABOUT? THERE'S MORE TO BLOGGING? THERE CAN'T BEEEEE MORE!!! RSS FEEDS? FEED what? So you'll do like most others and consider it best just to IGNORE her figuring she is WAAAAAY too pretty to be intelligent. (You are just happy and content in your simple conclusion that RSS FEED must be the delicious little candies E.T. ate.)

But I digress...

So you'll read on. Comment on. Blog on. And you will find that life is good in the Rain. But in your readings you'll hear that a Blog Carnival is coming. Members like Maureen Francis and Christine Forgione like to talk about these Carnivals! And you'll think... I love Carnivals! Can I go? A CARNIVAL for adults.... sounds like fun. Now you FEEL like your kid... only when they were about 5 years old.

And in your discovery about Blog Carnivals you hear that Broker Bryant, another ActiveRain Blogger, has WON a Carnival. WIN!!!!????? There are games at the Carnival? Are there rides too? And you mumble and grumble a bit because Broker Bryant you'll by then know that Broker Bryant is King of the ActiveRain bloggers. He seems to be able to win gold stars for farting in the Rain, and on top of that he has a Lovely Wife! Is there anything HE can't do well?

But I digress...

So the whole point of this blog is to announce that I am hosting a The Carnival of Real Estate on June 11, 2007 RIGHT HERE on my "pretty blog". I couldn't be more thrilled and honored. The cool part of all this is is it will be the FIRST TIME EVER that a stager has hosted a Real Estate Blog Carnival... which will surely help the staging industry get its message out.

I have to thank Mary, Maureen, Christine, Bryant, TLW, and Matt Heaton (creator of ActiveRain) these ActiveRain bloggers have tought me and coached me about blogging and all that it can be. In my mind you are some of the best drips that have ever dropped (inside joke). You have helped us and our efforts to "stage it forward..."

But I digress...

Me

PS: WHAT IS A BLOG CARNIVAL.... just click and read. It is easy to take part in and share your thoughts.

DRIVE-BY comment hits one of my blog posts

Well my "other" blog on Active Rain has been “hit” with a annonymous comment which is QUITE RARE on Active Rain. The hit occured last night on a blog I posted way back on August 10th entitled Stepping on "accredited/certified” stager’s toes (Click link to view blog and scroll down to read actual comment).

And while I could let just the anonymous comment sit there quietly and go unnoticed, I think it points at and speaks to the need for respecting and understanding within the staging industry and amongst staging piers.

While for the most part the Anonymous Commment was insightful from their perspective it did take a bit of a “pot shot”… regarding "those without formal training and a resource for ongoing education” they question training, abilities, success and ethics. They went on to make sure I understood who Barb Schwartz was and what Stagedhomes.com is and offers.

It is obvious that the commenter is passionate about home staging and their affilation with Barb and Stagedhomes.com and wanted to make it clear why they were so… which I TOTALLY respect.

I agree 100% with what they say about EDUCATION it can help and is WONDERFUL! I have said this over and over and over. But there is more then one place to gain knowledge and an education.

Lessons learned in a class can be applied in our life/field. But what is often forgotten is that the lessons learned in life/field are brought back to the class and IS what IS thought.

The commenter goes on to speak of Barb Schwartz and the role she has plays in the industry. I agree, since Barb coined the term “staging” she has worked tirelessly to bring it life, perfect it and create credibility for it within the Real Estate Industry. EVERY stager (good or bad) needs to acknowledge and respect that fact.

However, while the concept may not have had a name, the idea of preparing a home so that it looked it absolute best when it went up for sale, has long been in existence. To deny this fact is an insult to realtors who have done so for years.

My own training in “staging” started years ago… with every move my family made. Prior to each move, my father, a sales executive, exhaustively prepared lists of projects we had to accomplish and maintain each time we were about to sell our house. (He took the same approach to selling our used cars… we “detailed” our cars long before it was the term used to describe the process.)

So while Barb definitely “graduated” way ahead of me, I and MANY others could say we went to the same school… that school being the School of Hard Knocks for Stagers. We have learned by doing.

Again I think it bears repeating… Lessons learned in a class can be applied in our life/field. But what is often forgotten is that the lessons learned in life/field are brought back to the class and IS what IS thought.

Under the name Barb first gave it… an entire industry is rising. Now there ARE many entities offering training. One of the concerns I have is that people WILL be duped and taken by less then credible stagers and training “schools”.

Also and unfortunately, as the industry rises, there seems to be a network of feudal staging war lords who have developed their own staging kingdoms… and are right now battling it out. At times the “industry” is more focused on discrediting each other and has reduced itself into being petty bickering bunch.

I could easily take any number of course on staging… but I choose to stay non-aligned with any staging “kingdom”. I have become a LOUD voice for unity within the staging community and have found an audience among stagers who share my thoughts and hopes for an industry built out of competitive kindness. I know a healthy industry will not only benefit and protect the consumer but also those people who chose to make staging a career.

I believe that if there is to be accreditation /certification the INDUSTRY and it’s members should govern the process. It is easy for a company to say they do, it is easy for a school to say it does… but I believe an INDUSTRY (NOT JUST ONE PERSON, ONE COMPANY OR ONE SCHOOL) should dictate what ultimately constitutes accredited professionalism amongst those who call themselves “Stager”.

Some final thoughts... after reading what "Anonymous" wrote, I do not understand their need to hide. What they said was a genuinely fair assessment from their perspective.

As for my persepective, I stand with my name behind my words… even if at times that means I stand corrected.

PS: A benifit of a "drive by comment"... it sure can inspire dialogue!

Under qualifed "stagers" flood the market

Too many unqualified and nontalented people are entering the field of staging... seeing it as a way to make a quick buck. It is easy to separate the amateurs from the professionals. Since they are in the business of "good first impressions" then their websites (heck, their business card) should give you just that. If the site and the protfolio of their work leaves you with a good impression... then I would bet they will be good for you and you seller. But if their own site to looks poor... then my advice is to move on. Staging is not rocket science... but it is creative talent.

Well that's enough for now...
CRAIG

roomsreduxchicago, Room Redux