Change feels scary. So most of us avoid it until some major life event prompts us to reevaluate how we’re spending our lives.

That’s kind of sad when you think about it. We have the power to change our lives at any point, why wait for a crisis?

Many Staging Diva Graduates have been laid off from unsatisfying careers, or they’re getting their lives back together after leaving dysfunctional relationships.

Others are recovering from cancer or some other life-threatening condition.

For Staging Diva Grad Beth Berg of Denver-based Artemis Interiors, it was her uncle’s cancer diagnosis that changed everything.

She says that it never occurred to her that she might want to work for herself. Although she had been an art major at one time, she had a business degree and was a successful purchasing agent for a Fortune 500 company.

She admits her career was no longer satisfying her wants or needs, but she hadn’t done anything to change it.

As she was just turning 40, her uncle was diagnosed and her “big picture suddenly shifted.” She says, “I had an epiphany that inspired me to look for completely different outlets that could pay me to be creative.”

Beth Berg shares her story about becoming a home stager:

“Since I had been an art major, I thought about art again and realized the reason I didn’t pursue art as a career was still valid, I need to eat.

I thought about organizing, or helping people downsize, or getting an interior design degree, but none of that appealed to me.

I wanted to use my Bachelors of Business Administration and build a business helping people creatively. So I looked at home staging, and really never looked back.

Working for myself is very rewarding. I no longer have to answer to other people, or do unreasonable things to make other people look good.

You reap your own rewards when you work for yourself. And that means when you work hard, you get amazing rewards.

I knew what I needed from a home staging training program. I needed a business plan to follow which is what Staging Diva offers. I already have a degree in business, which just showed me how many mistakes I could make! I had a thousand things to do, and nothing to do.

The Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program gave me the immediate steps to take, and what mistakes to avoid. Ultimately, Staging Diva provided the big picture of how to run my home staging business.

Starting a new business is a challenge, but I wouldn’t change anything. My life has completely changed. Now I get up in the morning looking forward to whatever I have in store for me.

I make my own decisions, I make my own rules. When fantastic things happen to me, they aren’t diluted or masked because they belong to me.

I am in love with this version of me.

I am able to build my own team, do business with who I want to do business with, and take days off when I want them. It’s a lot of hard work, but the rewards of having a home staging business are endless.”

Thanks to Beth Berg for sharing her story about becoming a home stager, and this reminder that we have the power to reshape our lives when we finally make a decision to make it so.

Beth’s first step was taking the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program so she could get the business model she needed.

Want to see your story featured here? Simply fill out the easy form and submit your home staging story here. You just give me the basics and a photo or two as Beth did, and I write the story for you.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®

Debra Gould is a single mom and a serial entrepreneur with a passion for helping others create their ideal business and lifestyle. She created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program to help anyone with decorating talent learn how to make money as a home stager. There are over 10,000 students in 23 countries using her staging courses, guides, checklists and more.