Don’t Real Estate Agents Stage Their Own Listings?

Real estate agents are independent contractors who operate on 100% commission and they have only so many hours in a day!

Every hour they spend inside a client’s home discussing how to improve it for sale, is another hour they aren’t spending getting and selling listings (which is where they make their money)!

When you think about it, agents have an incentive to spend less time and money on any one listing because it won’t change their take-home pay by all that much!

Some Realtors® suggest obvious repairs, cleaning and decluttering. The kind of things a home seller can do themselves based on these Top 10 Home Staging Tips.

However, most real estate agents won’t spend many hours deciding on the best place for every piece of furniture or accessory in a home (nor should they). This is better done during a (paid) consultation with a home stager— and you can make a lot of money doing those!

Real estate agents are also too busy (and most don’t have the talent) to source all the additional items their client might need to present the property as if it were a “model home”!

While a Realtor may recommend a painter, they usually aren’t the best people to recommend home staging paint colors. That’s part of your job as a home stager.

For a vacant listing, very few real estate agents have their own inventory or are interested in staging. You don’t have to buy an inventory either when you follow the Staging Diva Business Model and we’ll show you where you can source everything you need.

Learn How To Work With Realtors Now!

Do People Hire Home Stagers When The Real Estate Market is Hot?

While it’s true that in a seller’s market it sometimes feels like all you have to do is stick a For Sale sign on the front lawn and the house will sell.

Yet, not all properties sell fast, even in a hot market. There are always the listings that languish on the real estate market while everything else sells.

Not every house has an easy layout or the perfect location and when it shows badly, all potential buyers will focus on is the problems. There is simply nothing to “fall in love with.”

Even when a home shows relatively well (and will sell regardless of whether it is staged or not), it is possible to generate an even bigger bidding war by staging it to look better than anything else for sale in that price range. This can lead to many multiple offers and drive the final selling price WAY up!

Home staging makes it that much easier for bidding wars and back up offers to happen.

Get the FREE Staging Diva report, “Will Home Staging Work in My Area” for more information about why staging works in both hot and cold real estate markets, and how to figure out how much need there is for home staging in your area!

Get the FREE Report Now!

Will People Hire Home Stagers in a Slow Real Estate Market?

During the worst of the US real estate collapse, CNN Money did a story on 5 strategies homeowners can use to get top dollar in a slow real estate market.

Real estate staging was the top strategy and they interviewed home staging expert Debra Gould, also known as The Staging Diva® to explain why.

The slower the real estate market, the harder it is to attract the interest of potential home buyers.

Anything a seller or their agent can do to get a competitive edge over comparable listings in the area will make selling easier.

Avoiding Price Reductions

When a home doesn’t sell within the first month, the real estate agent will request a price reduction.

For a modest home listed in the $200,000 to $300,000 range, each price reduction will be at least $10,000.

Even $10,000 is higher than they’d likely spend on home staging, so it makes sense to hire you from a financial standpoint once your potential clients can see the value of an investment in your services.

On a listing in the $600,000 and up range, price reductions of at least $50,000 are needed to attract a new group of potential buyers.

That’s significant money right out of your client’s pocket so it makes way more sense for them to hire you to stage the home and avoid this situation altogether!

Get the FREE Staging Diva report, “Will Home Staging Work in My Area” for more information about why staging works in both hot and cold real estate markets, and how to figure out how much need there is for home staging in your area!

Get the FREE Report Now!

How Do I Know If I’m Talented Enough to Be a Home Stager?

It’s totally natural to be nervous about your staging talent, especially at the beginning of your career as a home stager.

Just like any new job or hobby, it takes time to build confidence in that new area of your life.

As long as you know more than your client, you have added value!

The average person doesn’t see a space the same way you do. Even if you only have a few suggestions to improve each room, you’ve made a positive difference.

Then, over time and after working with a few clients, you’ll really start to feel good about what you do.

You’ll stop wondering if you’re good enough and you’ll start to enjoy yourself. What’s not to love about this career? Flexible hours, tons of creativity, and you can make pretty good money from it too.

Related reading: What If I Don’t Have Home Staging Talent?

As a Staging Diva Graduate, you’ll know exactly which changes will make the most significant difference in the selling price of a home. We teach you what process to use when you go through a client’s home and how to identify what needs to be done.

Take our FREE QUIZ to see if you have the talent to become a professional home stager.

Click Here for FREE QUIZ!

Do I Need Interior Design Training to Be a Home Stager?

Did you know that big names like Nate Berkus, Martha Stewart, Lynda Reeves, Barbara Barry and Debbie Travis aren’t trained interior designers?

They’ve written books, published magazines, had internationally syndicated newspaper columns, appeared on Oprah, had their own TV shows and even their own lines of paint and home decor products.

It’s completely natural to feel insecure about your interior design or decorating talents when you first consider becoming a home stager. We all start with those doubts and insecurities.

Remember you don’t have to be THE best home stager in the world, you just need to know more than your client who has absolutely no clue or their home wouldn’t look as badly decorated and badly organized as it does!

> Read Are You Born to be a Home Stager?

Right now you’re probably imagining that you have to know all the “perfect” answers as soon as you walk into a client’s home. That’s actually not the case.

> Read 3 Dirty Little Secrets of an Expert Home Stager

Very few of our thousands of Staging Diva students have any official training in interior design (Debra Gould – author of the best-selling Staging Diva Ultimate Design Guide) doesn’t have any either)!

The fact is, a lack of interior design training doesn’t matter as long as you have some natural decorating talent!

Our students are able to grow a thriving home staging and redesign business following the roadmap we provide in the Staging Diva Training Program.

Learn More About the Program Now!

Should I Shadow Another Home Stager First?

You can shadow another home stager before becoming one, but truthfully you don’t need to. And besides, making such an arrangement isn’t as easy as you might think.

Any home stager will be putting their own reputation at risk by agreeing to have a total stranger accompany them to client meetings. So they’d have to take time out to interview you first! Really what’s in it for them to do that?

And they know you’re only volunteering to shadow them because you’re thinking of taking what you learn and starting your own business.

In other words, agreeing to let an aspiring home stager shadow you is like agreeing to train your own competitor.

> Read more about job shadowing here.

If you’re thinking of job shadowing it’s most likely driven by a nervousness about your home staging abilities and the looming mystery about what a home stager does.

In Course 3, “Taking the Mystery out of Home Staging Consultations,” you will learn what you do at a client’s home including “who” moves “what” and “when” and other mysteries. In the two hours of audio recordings Debra Gould walks you through how to get someone to book a paid home staging consultation with you, what to bring and what to do when you get there. You’ll even learn how to pave the way for future sales.

The “decorating” part of the home staging business is the easy thing, assuming you have some basic talent for how to arrange furniture in a room.

And you can pick up anything you might still need to know by reading the Staging Diva Ultimate Design Guide: Tips and Tricks and Floor Plans.

Job Shadowing Won’t Reveal What You REALLY Need to Know

The biggest challenges you’ll face as a home stager aren’t going to be answered by job shadowing. They won’t show you how to:

• Price for your services (most people get that wrong and don’t earn a living)
• Promote yourself
• Build your credibility
• Market to the 4 key target audiences (most programs neglect two of these)
• Make money from commissions and referrals

That’s why the Staging Diva Home Staging Training Program focuses so much on these elements. It is taught by Debra Gould, a recognized leader in the home staging industry since 2002! She is also a seasoned entrepreneur and widely recognized for her marketing expertise and business savvy.

If you’re committed to starting your own home staging business, we don’t recommend losing time shadowing other stagers. And who knows if you’ll find someone that really has that much to teach you.

Instead, learn what you need to about the business side and then go for it following the proven blueprint you get from Staging Diva.

You’ll be a formidable competitor of anyone you might have apprenticed with!

Learn More About the Program

Am I Too Old or Too Young to Be a Home Stager?

“I’m so happy to be starting a new business at the age of 76!

I got two staging projects within weeks of completing the Staging Diva Training Program. 

Thank you Debra for everything you have done to make my dreams come true!”

— Jean Smith (FL)*Staging For Sellers

Staging Diva® Professional Home Stagers range from 24 to 76 years old.

No matter what your age, if you have an eye for design, we believe you can make money as a home stager when you position yourself in a professional way as we teach you in the program!

As explained in one of the other questions on this page, there is no heavy lifting, painting or cleaning required when you follow the Staging Diva business model.

As long as you are in relatively good health and can walk up and down stairs in your clients’ homes, you don’t have to be especially physically fit to be a home stager.

That’s why we have so many Graduates in their 50s, 60s and even 70s!

Not sure if you have enough design talent to be a home stager?

Take Our Home Staging Quiz Here!

Will Home Staging Work in My Area?

With thousands of students worldwide, from smaller towns to large cities, we have yet to see a real estate market that has no need for home staging.

After all, what home seller doesn’t want to make more money when they sell their house?

It’s also important to know that home staging works, no matter whether you’re dealing with a hot real estate market or a slow one. Which is great news for home stagers.

“A house is a product that has to be packaged and marketed to the right target audience at the right price,”says home staging expert Debra Gould in her book, Staging Diva Ultimate Design Guide: Home Staging Tips, Tricks and Floor Plans.

In a slow or “buyer’s” real estate market, any house is just one of many for sale in a neighborhood. Real estate agents may say the only way to sell is to drop the price, but this ignores the positive sales impact of improving “the product.”

In a “hot” real estate market where prices are on the rise, home staging is an effective strategy for attracting multiple offers that are well above the asking price.

Home staging will help any home stand out from the competition and sell more quickly and at a higher price than without staging.

Get The Full Picture

If you’d like more help figuring out how home staging will work in your specific area, Debra has written a special report to answer this very common question.

Click Here to Get the FREE Report Now!

Why Would Someone Pay a Lot for Home Staging?

One of the reasons home stagers are paid so well is that home staging can often boost the asking price for a home.

The magnitude of the change depends on what the house looks like now, and what it looks like after you stage it.

For example, Debra Gould, also known as The Staging Diva, staged a house for a client at a cost of $5,300 (including all her staging fees and commissions and some furnishings).

The agent had originally planned to list the home for $749,900. When she saw it after staging, she increased the list price to $799,900 (that’s a $50,000 increase in the asking price).

The home sold in days with multiple offers for $820,000. That’s an increase of $70,100 after investing only $5,300 in staging.

How else can your client make a 1323% return on their money that fast?

This is why you should never feel sheepish about charging what you’re worth as a home stager!

In the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, you’ll learn an entire pricing formula to follow and also how to earn extra passive income from referral fees for painters, cleaners, handymen, etc.

PLUS how to earn furniture rental commissions without ever having to buy your own furniture or accessories!

Learn How To Get Started Now!

How Do I Explain Why Someone Should Hire a Home Stager?

Home staging can increase the asking price of a property because it transforms it into a much more marketable product— it will look better than comparable homes in that price range (especially if many of these aren’t staged).

And when you start from a higher asking price, the selling price can be higher too.

When you’re explaining why someone needs to hire you to stage their home, take them on a journey! For example:

Try to think back to the emotional roller coaster you were on when you bought your current home. How you had renewed hope with every listing your agent sent you and then had that hope quickly replaced by disappointment and a feeling that you might never find what you were looking for (at a price you could afford).

House hunting is exhausting! So many awful listings to weed through that don’t nearly live up to the hype in the real estate listing!

In the “old days,” home buyers would have to let their real estate agent drag them through endless showings to sort out the good properties from the bad.

Today, 90% of buyers look at real estate listing photos online before contacting a real estate agent show them a home.

> Read more about why home staging works.

People shop with logic but they buy with emotion.

Most buyers can’t look past unattractive or disorganized rooms or figure out how their furniture might look in an empty room.

When a home looks fantastic online and the prospective buyer can immediately imagine living there, they are more likely to book a showing, and ultimately make an offer.

Home staging creates the “dream home” environment for buyers so they don’t have to use their own imagination and can immediately fall in love and say “this is home!”

There aren’t very many legal ways to triple an investment in a short period of time. Home staging is one of them, as you’ll see in this story!

Home sellers are competing with every other home in their price range. When potential buyers are previewing a listing online, they’ll decide within seconds whether to click to the next property, or spend more time considering your client’s home.

As a home stager, you’re in a great position to explain all this to a potential client and ask, “Without my help, will your real estate listing measure up as well to the competition?”

When you can combine this rationale for home staging with compelling before and after photos from your home staging portfolio, your potential client will:

We’ve just given you a small sampling of how to talk about home staging here. In the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, you’ll learn in detail how to explain what you do to potential clients and how to turn them into paying customers!

Find Out More Now!

How Much Can I Make as a Home Stager?

“The Staging Diva Program is very well organized and explains in the most straightforward terms how to set up your business, maintain and grow it.

By the time I was on Course 3, I had already completed three home staging jobs which more than paid for all the training!

Debra’s step-by-step process allowed me to start a 2nd career doing something I probably should have been doing all along!”

— Rob Reinhart (CA)*Make It-Home

Your home staging fees can range from a few hundred dollars for an initial consultation to thousands of dollars to furnish an entire home. It completely depends on:

If the home is already furnished, your home staging consultation fees may range from $250 to over $900 when you follow the formula you’ll learn in the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program.

Get the FREE Staging Diva report, “Will Home Staging Work in My Area” for more information on how much money you can make as a home stager and how to figure out how much need there is for home staging in your area!

This FREE Report Has a Big Section About Money!

How and When Do Home Stagers Get Paid?

Your home staging fees might be paid by the real estate agent or the home seller, or a combination of the two.

For example, the home seller may hire you directly (often even before they’ve hired their Realtor).

> Read more about when home stagers get hired first.

When a real estate agent is recommending you to their client, they may pay for all or part of the initial home staging consultation, leaving it up to the client to pay you for any subsequent work. Sometime they negotiate that the home seller reimburse them on closing.

Either way, you’re getting paid directly and you should never agree to wait until after the house sells!

> Read more on NOT waiting until closing to get paid.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva will teach you how you can actually make more money from home sellers than their real estate agents.

As a Staging Diva® Professional Home Stager, you’ll learn how to get paid:

• As soon as you complete a home staging consultation
• Deposits for future work
• Before you leave the house when a staging project is complete

In fact, you’ll even learn how to get paid in advance to go shopping and how to shop with your client’s money! How fun is that? 🙂

You’ll be paid in cash, by check, by PayPal or by credit card and you will never have to chase after your money when you follow the Staging Diva Business Formula. You’ll learn all about this in the Staging Diva Program.

How and when you get paid, and how to avoid spending your own money up front on a client’s behalf, are covered at length in Course 3 of the Staging Diva Training Program, called “Taking the Mystery Out of A Home Staging Consultation“.

Do I Have to Buy My Own Furniture and Accessories?

Most home staging courses will tell you to go out and buy enough furniture and accessories to fill several houses! That’s so much money to invest and NOT necessary in our view.

Selling an empty home is a bad idea because vacant homes look depressing and most buyers lack imagination.

Plus, they have no sense of how big the empty rooms really are (as shown in this example from Staging Diva Grad Robin Weflen).

When you have a client with a vacant property you DO NOT have to furnish it with your own furniture or accessories.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva has been decorating hundreds of homes to sell since 2002 and teaching others since 2005.

She doesn’t have any of her own furniture and most Staging Diva® Professional Home Stagers don’t either.

We don’t even have our own inventory of throw pillows. Our clients pay us to go shopping with their money!

This is one of the key differences of Staging Diva Training versus other home staging courses. They advise you spend tens of thousands of dollars on your own inventory. Debra Gould is completely against this practice and will teach you how to run your business without this!

> Read more about why the Staging Diva advises against buying your own inventory.

Unless you’re in a fairly unusual real estate market where most homes are vacant, you’ll discover home staging clients usually have furniture to work with. Most often they have too much of it!

Do I Have to Quit My Job to Become a Home Stager?

“I loved the Staging Diva Program! Working through the courses at my own pace while still working my full-time job was great.

The idea of starting my own business was intimidating, but the program is organized in a way that isn’t overwhelming. Instead it gave me the confidence to keep working toward my goal.

Becoming a home stager is the perfect way to turn my passion into a career. A career that not only fuels my natural desire to optimize my surroundings, but also allows me to work one-on-one with others to showcase the true value of their homes.”

— Amanda Elmgren (MN)*Full Bloom Home Staging

No, you don’t need to quit your job to make money as a home stager.

You’re in total control of when you book your client appointments. You can grow your home staging business on the side, meeting with clients on evenings and weekends, if that’s what works best for you.

Or, perhaps you only want to stage homes on Wednesday afternoons! It’s totally up to you when you say you’re available. Your clients don’t even need to know that you have another job!

There is plenty of money to be made just doing home staging consultations where you’re giving a resale homeowner advice on how their furniture should be rearranged, what things to get rid of and what new colors to paint on the walls. And they do the rest of the work themselves!

These home staging consultations can be from 2 to 5 hours in length (depending on the size of the home and how much there is to talk about).

You go in, give your advice, and leave with your payment (which can be anywhere from $250 to over $900 when you follow the pricing strategies and business model contained in the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program).

If you have a full-time job, you may have more difficulty staging empty homes since furniture rental deliveries are usually done during normal business hours.

As long as you’re careful about the types of projects you take on, or you are able to book off the occasional day from work (for furniture deliveries if you’re doing a vacant home), you will be OK.

Many Staging Diva Graduates take our training program in the evenings and start their businesses around another full-time job. Many have children as well and lots of them are single mothers.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva, has written a FREE report that profiles 10 home stagers and how they got started around other jobs, parenting and more.

Click Here to Read 10 Home Stager Stories!

Can I Be a Home Stager and Still Have Time for My Kids?

Yes you can fit a home staging business around whatever else you have going on in your life! You’re in control of when you book your client appointments and how many you book. You can work as little or as often as you like.

It is possible to grow a very profitable home staging business only seeing clients during daytime hours while your kids are at school. Evening and weekend appointments are not necessary (unless that’s when you’d prefer to work).

Some Staging Diva Graduates even home school their children and work their business around that. Read how this mom did it!

It’s totally up to you how you want to build your business and how many hours you want to work as a home stager.

Staging Diva Debra Gould started her home staging business as a single mom with a 7 year old and no local friends or family to help her out. One of the reasons she chose home staging was because of how she could still have all the time she needed with her daughter while still earning a great income.

Learn How To Get Started!

Will I Have to Clean, Paint or Do Any Heavy Lifting?

Being a home stager doesn’t have to be physically demanding, especially when you do it the Staging Diva way!

“I’m so happy to be starting a new business at the age of 76!

I got two staging projects within weeks of completing the Staging Diva Training Program. 

Thank you Debra for everything you have done to make my dreams come true!”

— Jean Smith (FL)*Staging For Sellers

That’s why we have at least a half dozen Staging Diva Graduates starting their businesses in their 70s! Not everyone tells us their age of course, but we know we also have thousands of new home stagers in their 50s and 60s.

As long as you are reasonably healthy and mobile, you shouldn’t have issues when you follow the Staging Diva Business Model.

Debra Gould, The Staging Diva, became a home stager in her mid 40s. Only a touch over 5 feet tall, with neck and back issues, she deliberately found a way to operate her home staging business without having to do any heavy lifting or other physically demanding tasks.

As a home stager you will recommend cleaning, choose paint colors and recommend what furniture needs to be moved where, decide what needs to be put in storage, etc.

This does not mean YOU as the home stager have to physically do these things! Think of your role as the Creative Visionary not Physical Labor.

In Course 1, How To Cash In Decorating Homes To Sell, Debra Gould introduces you to all the services that can be offered as a home stager, and then explains how to determine which ones you’ll handle personally or delegate to others. You do not need to have employees to offer a comprehensive service, because The Staging Diva will show you how.

In Course 3, Taking the Mystery out of Home Staging Consultations, you will learn what you do at a client’s home including “who” moves “what” and “when” and other mysteries.

Learn How To Get Started!

How Much Money Do I Need to Start a Home Staging Business?

This is one of our favorite questions! The great news is that you can start a home staging business with a very small budget— NO bank loans, office space, inventory or employees needed.

All you really need to start your business is:

That’s it.

A lot of your income will come from Home Staging Consultations where you’re giving your advice. Nothing to bring in, lift or move. PLUS, you get paid on the spot when you follow the Staging Diva Business Model.

You don’t need any of your own furniture or an accessory inventory, even when you stage a vacant home. Staging items can be rented or purchased with the client’s money. This is fully explained in the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program.

Learn More About Our Home Staging Courses Now!

Should I Partner with My Friend to Start a Staging Business?

Debra Gould has grown her home staging company Six Elements without a partner and most Staging Diva Graduates do not have business partners either.

There is no requirement to have a partner to be successful in home staging. In fact, your profits are likely to be higher without a partner unless you’re both really good at different things or you’re strategic about who does what and when.

For example, you don’t want to double up and visit clients together because only one of you is necessary. On the other hand, you could see twice as many clients by each having your own projects.

If you are planning on having a business partner, we offer a $300 discount on a second Staging Diva Training Program registration. To take advantage of this offer, email us today.

How Do I Become a Home Stager?

If you have decorating talent, Staging Diva can turn you into a home stager— showing you exactly how to make money from your talent through home staging, interior redesign and color consulting services.

As a Staging Diva® Professional Home Stager, you’ll have a complete step-by-step business model to follow that covers all the basics from getting started to growing a thriving business.

You can listen to the entire program in as little as 12 hours. Spread it out over a number of evenings or a weekend, whatever works for you. This program is designed to get you up and running as quickly as possible and with minimum hassle. It’s all laid out for you to follow quickly and easily.

Learn How to Get Started Now!

Is This For Real?

This is an awesome question and you’re right to be skeptical, especially since home staging is a completely unregulated field!

Sadly, there are many home staging courses taught by people who have never had successful home staging businesses. In fact, anyone can offer a program and tell you they offer “certification.”

So how do you know what’s real and who to trust?

First of all, do a Google search of any training company you’re considering plus the name of the person who will be training you!

To check us out, Google “Debra Gould” and also “Staging Diva.”

What you’ll find is a long track record and that Debra has been a leader in the home staging industry dating back to 2003!

Debra created the Staging Diva Program after she had been running her successful staging business for two years and figured out what works and what doesn’t in the real world.

At that point she was making up to $10,000 a month from her staging and redesign business.

Debra has been widely featured in the media as a recognized expert and has over 30,000 students in 23 countries, with hundreds of positive reviews from Staging Diva Graduates. We’ve included many of these throughout this website.

You’ll notice that we provide full names and photos for student reviews because these are real people who have given their permission to be quoted. We also provide proof of media coverage not just a bunch of media logos.

Unlike most of our competitors, we provide a money back guarantee if you feel that any product we offer isn’t what you thought it would be.

> Read Choose a Home Staging Course: 5 Money Wasting Mistakes to Avoid.

As a home staging industry leader, Debra has written over 1,000 FREE articles about home staging in the Home Staging Business Report as well as other sites.

Because we want you to be comfortable with us before spending any money, we also offer many free learning opportunities so you can test out the quality of what we offer. For example, have you tried our FREE 10 Tips Home Staging Jumpstart Course?

Get the FREE Course Now!

Will I Get Certification from Staging Diva?

Upon completion of our 5 courses, you can call yourself a “Staging Diva Professional Home Stager“, or a “Graduate of the Staging Diva Training Program.”

We’ll send you a personalized Certificate and Grad Badge artwork to use on your website, social media, etc.

If you are considering courses simply for “accreditation” or “certification” (rather than what you’ll actually learn) it’s important for you to know that there are no “official” home staging credentials in this completely unregulated field (despite what some companies claim).

In other words— Staging Diva Certification is as official as any other, the difference is this is one of the few training companies that will tell you upfront that none of these credentials are actually “official.” It’s frankly a lot of smoke and mirrors!

Accreditation or Certification implies an independent authority monitors and approves credentials and standards in the industry. No such authority exists in this completely unregulated industry, and it lacks integrity to suggest otherwise.

It is “buyer beware” in the field of home staging training, so research your choices carefully. Make sure you’re being trained by someone who has personally grown their own successful home staging business and doesn’t just teach about it, or offer free staging to boost their real estate business!

And, check out their business credentials. In addition to being a successful home stager, Debra Gould (who created and teaches the Staging Diva Program) has an MBA from one of the top business schools in North America, and has been a recognized authority and published writer on business and marketing since the 1980s.

Related Reading:

• 5 Money Wasting Mistakes to Avoid When Choosing Home Staging Courses
• Home Staging Field Rife With Fake Credentials

What About Paperwork?
Will I Get All The Contracts and Forms I Need?

“You have laid out a strategy to make this career so much more enjoyable! Showing me how to avoid falling into the paperwork trap alone is really priceless!

I paid big dollars previously for another company’s training and it left so many blank spots.

The Staging Diva Program answered all my lingering questions in an entertaining way and prepared me to finally start my staging business. This is the best investment I ever made in becoming a home stager.”

— Linda Borghi (MO)*Dazzle Home Staging

Yes! The Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program has all the templates and forms and contracts you’ll need to run your staging business when you follow our business model.

And even better, unlike other programs we’ve simplified the business so that you’re NOT getting buried in paperwork and unnecessary!

You will actually need very few forms when you follow our approach.

Plus, you’ll be paid along the way when you use our templates, so you’re never at risk.

As a fellow stager and small business owner, Debra knows that you only have a certain number of hours each day. She shows you how to spend your time on the most valuable and profitable activities.

Besides, there are very few creative people who love filling out forms and paperwork. Wouldn’t you rather be spending your time playing with color, accessories and furniture?!

Learn More About The Staging Diva Program

What Training Package is Right for Me?

The Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program is made up of 5 individual course modules.

Each course includes audio recordings as well as notes and checklists.

When you purchase a 5-course package, you save a lot of money, plus you get some free bonuses thrown in.

The 5-course package is available by download or it can be mailed to you. The right choice for you is really a matter of personal preference.

Downloading is less expensive and all your course materials are instantly available as soon as your order is approved!

Downloading the course files onto your computer is super easy and we give you full instructions. You don’t need to be a whiz with computers— most students aren’t. You can transfer your downloaded audio files onto an iPad or other tablet or just listen to them on your computer. The course notes and checklists can be printed at home or you can have an office supply store print them for you from your downloaded files!

On the other hand, if you don’t like the idea of downloading your course materials (for example, because you have an old computer or an unreliable Internet connection) having everything mailed to you might be the better way to go.

Learn more about the 5-course packages!

How Much Does It Cost?
Do You Offer a Payment Plan?

“My first home staging project more than paid for the entire Staging Diva Training Program!

And I wouldn’t have had the guts to charge enough without your confidence-giving program.

Debra, thanks also for being such a great motivator.”

— Patricia Ebrahimi (MD)*Show Smart Home Staging

YES! We offer an Easy Payment Plan no matter which of our course packages you choose. You can spread your payments out over 3 months.

The Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program has three different pricing tiers starting at only $995 for the Instant Download 5-course package. And with the payment plan, you can get started for as little as $367.

The great news is that many Staging Diva Graduates get their first client as soon as they finish the program, which often completely covers the cost of the Staging Diva courses. In fact, some students get a client even BEFORE they’re finished!

Because we teach you the business of home staging, specifically how to operate without any of your own inventory, how to get clients and how much to charge, you can recoup the costs of  your training and anything else you’ll need to start your business (like business cards) with your first client or two.

There are very few businesses that let you earn a profit from your very first projects, yet that’s absolutely possible when you follow the Staging Diva business model we’ll teach you in detail.

Learn More About The Program!

Is There a Money Back Guarantee?

Unlike most other home staging courses we offer a money back guarantee!

We are committed to growing a community of successful home stagers and teaching them how to make money doing what they love.

If you’re not totally happy with any Staging Diva purchase, simply email us (within 48 hours for a download product, or 30 days for a mailed-to-your-door item) and you’ll get a full refund for the price of the product (plus taxes if applicable). No questions asked.

Can I Speak With Some of Your Graduates?

We don’t give out our student’s contact information for confidentiality reasons. That said, it’s not too hard for you to find them yourself!

As you’ll notice throughout this website, we’ve included portfolio photos from many Staging Diva Grads, we also have over a hundred student reviews on this site as well as another website because there were just too many to fit here!

In case you’re wondering, all student reviews, success stories and portfolio photos are only used with the express permission from the Staging Diva Grad.

Read Reviews Here!

How Long Does It Take to Complete the Program?

You can listen to the entire Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program in as little as 11 or 12 hours— but your head might pop off because that’s an awful lot of information to absorb in that length of time! 🙂

The point is you don’t need weeks or months to finish going through everything unless you WANT to take that long.

Most students go through the program over a weekend or several evenings. It’s entirely up to you.

Because this is NOT an “online program” and you actually own and keep your course materials after you buy them, you can pause, rewind, or re-listen to the courses as often as you like. Even in the months and years ahead as your business grows and you want new ideas or a refresher of what you already learned.

When you order one of the downloadable 5-course packages, you’ll be able to listen to the courses on the go! Many of our students listen in the car while commuting, or while they’re walking or jogging!

Read More About The Program Here!

Is There Homework or an Exam to Pass?

Debra Gould created the entire Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program with the goal of getting you up and running and making money as a home stager as quickly as possible.

“I highly recommend The Staging Diva Program. Debra presents all the course material in a fun and interesting way.

I was blown away by all the information and appreciated learning from Debra’s experiences rather than making many costly mistakes on my own.”

— Rebecca Todd (OH)*Stage-First

For that reason, everything about the program is designed around accomplishing that goal.

There IS homework. But it’s not “make work” stuff, the activities you’ll do as “homework” are things you’ll have to do to get your business started anyways. So you’re actually creating your business (and sometimes getting your first paying clients) as you go through the 5 courses!

We don’t believe in creating artificial hoops for you to jump through.

You do not have to submit any of your homework for marking and there is no exam to take at the end of the program. We’re all grown ups.

If you don’t listen to the whole program you’ll be missing critical pieces of the Staging Diva business model and it will be harder for you to make a living quickly.

We advise that you finish the program for your own growth as a home stager, not because there’s an exam at the end 🙂

This program will help you be more successful when you follow the step-by-step business formula laid out in the Staging Diva courses.

Here’s how it works!

Is Staging Diva Training Applicable in My Country?

Absolutely! Staging Diva has 30,000+ students in the United States, Canada, Australia and more than 20 other countries.

The business approach Debra Gould created and teaches has been proven to work across different countries and in small towns and major urban centers.

For example, we have successful home stagers in locations as different as Anchorage (Alaska), Somers (New York), Toronto (Ontario) and Hobart (Tasmania)!

The Staging Diva Training Program is appropriate for you no matter what country you live in.

If you’re wondering how much demand there is for home staging where you live, get the FREE Staging Diva report, “Will Home Staging Work in My Area?”

Get the FREE Report Now!

Don’t I Need Hands On Training?

“I loved the Staging Diva Program! I was skeptical about the format at first, but it was great. The notes were concise and easy to follow. Students asked questions I was wondering about myself, and Debra is clear and direct.

I’m confident in my decorating abilities, but wasn’t sure how to run a professional and profitable staging business. Debra walks you through the entire process.”

— Deborah Brischler (CA)*Home Staging Solutions

The Staging Diva Training Program is designed for women and men who know they have a natural talent for how to arrange a home.

They’ve been decorating since they were young and grew up to decorate their own homes. Many have been helping friends for years, never realizing they had a talent they could actually make real money from.

IF you have NO sense of how to arrange furniture and you’re terrible with color, we don’t believe you can learn these skills in a weekend course. So we don’t offer it.

Yet, if you have some decorating talent we’ll teach you how to use that to your full advantage and turn it into a thriving home staging business.

If you’re interested in a hands-on training program, find out the details of how this is offered before signing up.

Many staging or interior redesign training programs have 30 to 50 students go to three houses in a day and everyone takes turns rearranging the furniture in groups of 5!

It uses up lots of course time (traveling and waiting), but how much do you learn? Besides how many ways can you arrange a living, dining, or bedroom when everyone is working with the same furniture and accessories?

Consider carefully whether hands-on training will give you what you need to turn your talent into a money making business.

Learn More About The Staging Diva Difference Now!

Do I Need to Be Good With Technology?

You do NOT need to be good with technology to take the Staging Diva Program and you do NOT need to be good with technology to run a successful home staging business 🙂

If you’ve seen those HGTV designers using computer programs or elaborate drawings to show a client what their home will look like, please know that Debra Gould has been a home stager since 2002 and has never done either of those things. Despite staging and redesigning hundreds of homes over the years! In fact, she doesn’t know how.

As for the Staging Diva courses, you can have them mailed-to-your door if you don’t want to download them onto your computer.

If you don’t want to create and manage your own website, you can also join the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers. All you have to do is send us 6 before and after photos and the text you want, and we take it from there. We create a professional webpage for you and even a custom brochure for your company!

It’s a great way promote your business online without having to build your own website if you’re not very tech savvy. Members of the Directory also get free project referrals in their area.

How Do I Get Clients?
Will Staging Diva Send Me Customers?

You know that line about how “instead of feeding someone it’s better to teach them to fish because then you feed them for life”?

Well that’s our approach to the business of home staging.

The Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program covers the most effective ways to get clients, something most home staging courses are not teaching.

Debra Gould used these exact strategies when she started her staging business in a new city. They didn’t cost any money, but they did take her time.

Within months of starting her staging business, people were saying “I keep seeing your name everywhere!” Debra tells you exactly how she did it in Course 4 of the Staging Diva Program. She also shares how she built her income to up to $10,000 a month within her second year as a home stager!

“I had my first project within 2 weeks of joining the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers. That one client more than paid for all my training, my listing for a whole year and some profit too.

Anyone considering a listing should not hesitate to join because the Directory is a powerful marketing tool.”

— Susan Atwell (NY)*Atwell Staged Home

As a Staging Diva Professional Home Stager, you are also eligible to participate in the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers.

This is a great way to build instant credibility in your market and get you prominence on the Internet. In other words, it’s a quick and easy way for people in your area to find you when they go online to search “home staging yourcity“.

Members of the Directory also get FREE PROJECT REFERRALS.

When you’re part of the Staging Diva Directory, you’ll automatically get FREE referrals for any home staging jobs we know about in your area.

Graduates who aren’t part of the Directory can apply for home staging jobs advertised from the hundreds of leads we receive. In fact, we operate the only worldwide home staging job board with hundreds of projects already posted.

Note that because Debra has an MBA in Marketing, this is a big part of her training program. Proper marketing is what will have potential clients actually coming to you (rather than you chasing them).

You will not be dependent on project referrals from Staging Diva. You’ll know how to market yourself properly. Any home staging jobs we send you are merely “icing on the cake”!

See All Our Products Here

Will Debra Gould Coach Me Personally When I Take the Program?

“I felt connected to Debra during the Staging Diva Program. She personally responded to several of my questions.

It’s obvious Debra really cares about your business and its success!”

— Francesca Mahoney (NC)*Creekhill Designs, LLC

All the Staging Diva courses are taught by founder and internationally recognized home stager, Debra Gould. You will be listening to audio recordings of Debra with accompanying printed notes and checklists.

All our training packages include a FREE 60-day trial membership in Staging Diva Network. Debra personally moderates this online discussion group, answering your questions every week. Everything is organized by category and topic to make it easy to find.

The Staging Diva Training Program covers everything you need to start and run a successful home staging business. And it’s much less expensive than hiring Debra to personally coach you.

Learn More About These Products

What Support Do I Get After I Complete the Program?

“I took 2 other staging programs before I discovered Debra Gould. Definitely take the Staging Diva Program BEFORE you take any other staging course. I LOVE Debra’s program and that it’s based on real life. She offers great insight and is extremely helpful.

You will be able to get your business up and running without having to take anything else! Debra provides all the information necessary plus ongoing support so you don’t feel you are going it alone. I highly recommend the Staging Diva Program! It gave me the confidence I needed to start my staging business.”

— Frances Hudye (AB)*Francesca Interiors

As a Staging Diva Professional Home Stager, you’re automatically part of Debra Gould’s Inner Circle. She is committed to the ongoing success of her students.

She will get to know you while you are going through the training program inside the private online discussion group, Staging Diva Network. You have a FREE 60-day trial membership to this when you purchase any of our 5-course training packages.

After your first 60 days, if you want to continue your Network membership, it’s only $20/month! This gives you ongoing direct access to Debra to answer any questions you have as they arise.

As a Staging Diva Graduate, you’re also eligible to join the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers so that you don’t have to build your own website or create your own company brochure!

Debra also writes the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Report and regularly features stories about Staging Diva Graduates. You can read a selection of them here.

We also provide ongoing support via email. We’ll let you know of special opportunities available only for Staging Diva Professional Home Stagers!

In summary, once you’re a Staging Diva Graduate, you’re always part of Debra’s Inner Circle. She will continue to support you in your growth as a home stager!

Learn How to Get Started Today!