Are you doing what you love?

My home staging mentor, Debra Gould, mentioned once that if you were meant to be a home stager, there were probably indicators as a child. “Have you always walked into a room and noticed what was wrong and thought about how you might change it?  That is not something everyone does. You may have thought this is normal but it isn’t. That is your talent and not everyone has it”.

That idea that what you were meant to be was apparent early in life fascinated me. Do you remember the things you loved or came naturally to you? Are they part of your life and career now?

I remember the first time I thought of what I wanted to be when I grew up it was a “paleontologist” because I loved dinosaurs and discovering things. Well, I never did anything with that love!

But I also loved animals and creating beautiful things, music, and yes, how a room looked wrong and I wanted to change it.  My mom said my sister and I used to always re- decorate our play room.

From an early age my bedroom became my art studio with an endless production of decoupage and jewelry and other art projects.

I always loved animals and my earliest drawings were of wildlife like squirrels in the back yard.

As a teenager I continued to make art in my bedroom. I could never get enough of dreaming about building my perfect house and made endless designs of how that house would be laid out. Most looked like castles with turrets! We had many animals, all of which I loved like members of our family.

When it came time to think about college and what I wanted to be….I thought about being a vet but the idea of dealing with sick animals all the time or putting them to sleep made me sad. My dad thought I should be a lawyer, probably because he thought I was so good at arguing with him. Hah!  So I went to school for Communications but it never felt inspiring and then later switched to Interior Design and got my BA. While I loved designing, I didn’t like living in the city (Washington D.C.)  so decided to travel and explore for a while. I ended up in a remote mountain community in Arizona where I made my living as a jazz bass player and later as a fire lookout with the US Forest Service.

Time passed and I rediscovered that love of animals apparent as a child, and went back to school for my second degree in wildlife biology. I worked as a wildlife biologist for 33 years before retiring!

Throughout that time I still continued to make art and sell my stained glass and jewelry creations through my bed and breakfast. Today that love of creating art has expanded to creating digital energy art.    My love of music and dance developed into teaching and performing dance and world percussion.

The love and need to make beautiful rooms never left me either.  Over the years I did some design work, helped others re-decorate and design their homes and designed and remodeled my own home. Several years ago I took one of those fun “tests” on Facebook on “What is your true profession”. It said “DESIGNER!”  It made me pause and wonder what my life would have been like if I had chosen to stay on that path when I first got my degree rather than wandering down a different path to becoming a biologist. I knew that the creative aspects of my life always brought me joy. And I thought, well why not it do now! And I did!  I started my business, Northern Lights Home Staging and Design, two months later and am so glad that I did! Now I have allowed myself to explore new roads as a digital energy artist and incorporated my love of creating art into my Interior Designs.

So I look back on all the roads my life has taken, the jobs and businesses I started, and see they all lead back to those things I loved as a child. I still have not designed and built that dream house yet but there is still time! I might have to save being a paleontologist for the next life though!

How about you?  Are you doing what you love and did you know it when you were a child? You know, it’s never to late to start doing what you love now! 

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Ever wondered what life as a home stager is like?

How I Became a Home Stager

Many years ago I got a degree in Interior Design, and although I used it on some jobs and always loved it, my life took a different path and I became a wildlife biologist. Three years ago, I decided I wanted to start some type of creative business. Working for the government as a scientist was not exactly feeding my creative spirit!  One day when taking one of those fun quizzes on Facebook, called “What is your true profession”, the answer I received was “designer”.  I started playing the “what if” game in my head, wondering what my life would have been like if I had stuck with Interior Design as a career. And then I thought, why not now?  I decided it would be the focus of my new business, Northern Lights Home Staging and Design.

While researching how to start a design business, I came across information on home staging. I really knew nothing about it and the whole concept of decorating a house to sell sounded fascinating. I thought it would be a great aspect of a design business.

Home Staging Training

After researching various home staging courses, I decided to take Debra Gould’s Staging Diva course because it seemed to be the most focused on how to successfully run a home staging business, rather than just teaching how to decorate. And I am so glad I did!

The course was fantastic and I continue to stay connected with Debra and other stagers from the class through coaching and conference calls. Part of the journey I love is the wonderful generosity, community and friendships I developed with this group of amazing creative people. Some have taken me under their wing and served as mentors when I was just getting started, and others I continue to collaborate with, developing products, articles and brainstorming ideas to make our businesses better.

Life as a Home Stager

After starting Northern Lights Home Staging and Design, I found my life as a home stager is fun and rewarding, and it feeds my creative soul with the great benefit of helping others. I love walking through a house during a home staging consultation, and on the fly determining all the things that can transform the house, make it look beautiful, connect emotionally with buyers, and help my clients. It is like an improvisational home staging dance. I also love staging vacant homes, where I have a blank slate and can do whatever I want! I love working with occupied homes, where I can see the story of the home owner, and bring out the beauty that is there by bringing a fresh eye, highlighting the important things the house wants to show. When you listen, the house speaks to you and tells you what makes it special. I love it when I am done with the staging and the home seller says “Wow, I wish we had been living like this all along…maybe we shouldn’t sell”!

Unexpected Benefits of Becoming a Home Stager

And there were some totally unexpected benefits as well. I have another business, a bed and breakfast which I started in 2002.  Once I started learning how home staging is an amazing a marketing tool that connects with buyers, I wondered if I could apply the same concepts to my bed and breakfast. I did some experimenting and found that it at least doubled my bookings and income and helped me attract my ideal customers. It transformed my business. And, doing this added a specialty niche for my staging business to help others with vacation rental properties with home staging.

From my home staging course, I learned or was inspired to learn all kinds of new things including designing my own word press websites, creating video for advertising, how to write a blog and create a newsletter, how to publish articles for magazines and do radio interviews. I also was inspired to continue my education and become a color expert and strategist, and add color consulting to my list of services. The home staging training opened so many doors to learning that helped me in numerous aspects of my life. And I think it is just the beginning!

It all gives me joy. And like any business, while there are times when business can be slow or clients can be difficult, it is all worth it and I am so happy this is what I am doing. If you are someone that has wondered about being a home stager, I say, GO FOR IT!

 

Call 907-362-0065 today

 info@northernlightsstaging.com