How To Stop Procrastinating In Your Home Staging Business

One of the secrets to building a successful home staging business is to keep moving forward every week.

This can be difficult when: there’s no boss telling you what to do,”real life” gets in the way, or you just don’t feel energetic.

I’ve struggled with all of these factors to varying degrees since I started my first business in 1989. Procrastination never entirely disappears, it’s part of the human condition!

What has helped me keep my momentum more than anything, is to create deadlines. Even if the deadline is somewhat artificial and of my own making, it gets me to turn off HGTV and do something!

Here are 3 examples of how you can use deadlines to stop procrastinating and get 8 critical things done right now:

1. Commit to attend a business-related or networking event and pay for your ticket in advance.

Even the smallest event will force you to:

Think about how you’ll answer the question “What do you do?” and practice your reply.
Get your logo designed/redesigned and your business cards printed.
Get your home staging website or Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers listing complete so that when someone goes to the URL on your card, they won’t see “Domain parked here” or “Website Under Construction,” either of which is really embarrassing!

2. Agree to make a donation of your staging, decorating or color consulting services for a fund raising silent auction.

If you want to get the most marketing value from your donation, the deadline of the upcoming fundraising event will force you to:

Finalize your pricing strategy so you’ll know the value of your gift.
Have a professional business card printed.
Update your home staging website or Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers profile listing.
Complete your home staging company brochure. You get this as a free bonus when you commit to the Staging Diva Directory of Home Stager for one year with a profile listing.

3. Commit to speak about home staging at an event. This could be anything from a Realtor presentation to a presentation at the local library.

Your fear of looking unprofessional at the event will inspire you to:

Think about how you’ll describe what home staging is and why it works, and practice saying it until it feels more natural.
Organize your home staging portfolio of your best before and after photos and think about how you’ll explain the transformations.
Put together a professional looking outfit that fits properly and isn’t from another decade.
Print your business cards.
Update your home staging website or Staging Diva Directory of Home Stagers profile listing.
Print your home staging company brochure.

Even a relatively small commitment to someone else will help you stop procrastinating and get moving with your home staging business. When you complete these 8 critical marketing tasks they will build your business right now and for many years to come.

> Please share your tips for dealing with procrastination in the comment section below or share this story with other home stagers who you think might benefit from these ideas.

Need help with your home staging business image or planning your marketing?

The Staging Diva Ultimate Portfolio Guide: Winning clients with the perfect home staging portfolio gives you all the tips you need to create the right image for your home staging business, from how to write about yourself, get a great logo, take before and after photos, and more.

The Simple Marketing Plan: A Stress-Free Approach to Promoting Your Staging Business will inspire you to take action in marketing your home staging business by teaching you how to keep your plan to a single page and beat “overwhelm.”

Comments

Imogen says

September 26, 2012 at 5:13 am

Great advice Debra. I love a good procrastinate. Here are 2 opposing strategies that work well for me.
1. Break a job down into the smallest steps possible so you just can’t help but get started. My favourite example is an exercise one. If I don’t want to exercise I break it down so I think ‘I can just get dressed in my workout gear. How difficult can that be?’. Then I think ‘well I’ll just drive to the gym’ then ‘I’ll just go inside’… and before you know it I’ve done the class! Sounds crazy but it works. Don’t want to make a call? Think ‘I’ll just look up the number’, then ‘I’ll just make a note of what I want to say’… you get the idea
2. Do the thing you fear the most first. Force yourself to e.g. send the e-mail or make the call. Once you’ve ticked off the scary thing you’ll feel so good that you’ll blitz through everything else you need to do
NB: The thing you fear the most is usually the thing you need to be doing or where the most growth is!
Oh, and I’m big on rewarding myself e.g. ‘I’ll make myself a proper coffee AFTER I’ve made 5 calls’
- Debra Gould says
  
  September 26, 2012 at 11:19 am
  
  Great tips about breaking stuff down into mini tasks, Imogen!
  By the way, I’ve found that getting right into my workout clothes when I get up in the morning significantly increases the chance that I’ll actually go to the gym.
  
  Thanks for sharing!
lori fischer says

September 26, 2012 at 9:03 am

these are all great tips! i just did exactly what you said not long ago and signed on to teach a class for adult education in my community. I was sick, absolutely sick when I signed the contract. I ended up having fun prepping for it and had a terrific experience teaching. it really makes you realize that you do have knowledge that others don’t. I left the experience understanding the value I can bring to clients much better–something I might have continued to struggle with had I not just jumped in and committed myself before I felt ready.
- Debra Gould says
  
  September 26, 2012 at 11:22 am
  
  Lori, I love that you shared this specific experience. I know it will inspire others to take action. I’ll be sharing your story/featuring you in the October Staging Diva Dispatch monthly newsletter. Thanks!
Donna Richter says

October 3, 2012 at 10:37 pm

These are some great tips. It is easy to put things off. I will have to start setting some of these deadlines, so I can be sure to move forward. You always have great ideas and tips. Thank you.
- Debra Gould says
  
  October 3, 2012 at 11:09 pm
  
  Thanks for commenting Donna, I’m glad you found this article helpful!

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Here are 3 examples of how you can use deadlines to stop procrastinating and get 8 critical things done right now:

Need help with your home staging business image or planning your marketing?

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