I recently finished reading Seth Godin’s Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?, which is written for people still toiling away inside corporations but it offers some interesting insights that we can use as home stagers too.
He argues that every workplace has traditionally had “management” and “labor” but that now there is an important third group, which he calls “linchpins.” Regardless of whether they are low down or high up in the pecking order, these are the people who make things happen. They create order out of chaos, make connections and they lead others. In so doing, they become indispensable to their organizations because they are the essential elements that hold everything together.
I would argue that a great home stager is a linchpin.
Our home staging clients are facing one of the most stressful times in their lives, preparing and selling a home, and most of them look like a deer caught in the headlights when I first meet them for a home staging consultation! By the end of our time together, their shoulders aren’t pulled up to their ears, their faces are more relaxed and they know exactly what needs to happen to get their home ready to hit the real estate market. The home seller has regained their feeling of control, and that’s why the panic is gone.
We’re also a linchpin for the real estate community, though too many real estate agents don’t yet realize this because they’re caught in their own fear and panic about what’s happening in their local market. Instead of viewing the changing market as an opportunity to do things in a new way, the majority of real estate agents cling to their old business practices that no longer work, like dropping the price and ignoring what the house looks like! As frustrating as that can be to home stagers, we need to realize that the majority of the agents do very little actual business. We only need to concern ourselves with the top 20% of real estate agents who are selling 80% of the homes! By the way, many of my home staging clients haven’t yet picked a real estate agent, making us indispensable to them too as a source of well qualified leads!
Home stagers— what do you think, are you a linchpin? Do you create order out of chaos and make connections for your clients as well as your own home staging business? Please add your thoughts, we all learn from the discussions here.
Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging
Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the home staging courses to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love. She offers a FREE Staging Consultation Checklist with Room-by-Room Planning Forms as part of course 3, Taking the Mystery Out of Home Staging Consultations.
Debra, I agree wholeheartedly that home stagers are essential “linchpins” at a time in people’s lives when chaos regins and things feel like they are coming more un-done than done. I do make things happen and one of my strengths is the way I can identify and order priorities and set a plan. I left state government work because I think bureaucracy tells its employees that want exceptional people, leaders and linchpins but, wow,
bureacracy gobbles people up and linchpins have been known to burn out, or “snap.” I’m glad I’m a “take charge” person and I am HAPPY giving clients immediate relief and immediate results. As a home staging entrepreneur, I am the owner, the boss, AND the linchpin! It’s so gratifying and rewarding, like you point out in your post above, to see clients’ transform from seriously overwhelmed to “happy-go-lucky” once they begin to see their home transform, too. And by the way, I’m going to take your recommendation and purchase the book!
Stacy, I think most corporations gobble people up just as bureaucracy does. That’s what’s so liberating about being your own boss. You can claim your voice, stand in your power and be the change agent for your clients. How gratifying is that?!?!? Thanks so much for popping by and sharing your views and experiences with with being a linchpin!