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Are you a compulsive furniture rearranger? Do you make
distinctive vignettes with accessories? Been complimented
on your beautiful home? Give friends and family decorating
suggestions even if they didn't ask for your help?
Have you ever wondered if you
could make your decorating passion into a business?
There is a fast growing area of interior decorating
called interior redesign or one-day decorating. Varieties
of this type of decorating include real estates decorating
and home staging. This niche in the decorating world
focuses on using what the homeowner already owns but
making it better. This unique field is growing in popularity
thanks in a large part to HGTV.
I own a wonderful business specializing
in doing what I love to do redecorating. Many people
over the years have contacted me to ask, How can I do
what you do? I tell the people who contact me to do
three things.
1. Do your research.
The first step in any research
is to increase your knowledge about the subject. The
easiest way it gets knowledge is to purchase the recommended
reading list or borrow them from your neighborhood library.
The first book, and probably the most important, is
to get a book on starting and running your own home
based business. The Complete Idiots Guides For Dummies
series both have great books on home based businesses.
(Don't get the book on how to start a small business
because you won't need the employee hiring section or
the store front location sections etc) These books are
good at describing all the steps you need to take to
make your business śreal and not a hobby. There several
good decorating books that focus on this type of decorating
that you will also find helpful:
-
Decorating for Good by Carole
Talbott
-
Dress your House for Success
by Martha Webb and Sarah Parsons Zackeim
-
Use What you have Decorating
by Lauri Ward
-
Easy Decorating Makeovers
edited by Vicki Ingham
2. Make an appointment with the Small Business Development
Center near you.
These are government-operated
programs focusing on helping small businesses get started
and flourish. They will help you make a business plan
and budget – very critical steps. Now the best part
is that appointments are usually free. Ask them to send
you a kit on how to start your business because each
state may be different in where to file legal papers.
The SBDC will help you with the easiest order of steps
such opening a commercial bank account, where to file
your business name, getting listed in the yellow pages,
etc. Find the SBDC near you by going to http://www.sba.gov/sbdc.
3. Take a training program
Now the first two steps have
not cost you too much but the third step will. I highly
recommend that you take a hands-on professional redecorating
training program. Yes, I know that they are a lot of
money (can be 2 to 3 thousand for the week) but I would
not even think about going into this business without
a strong background in not just what makes a house looks
good, but how to market this niche area, how to work
with clients (like how to tell a client that the lime
green carpet and moose head have to go) In your favorite
search engine type in the phrase Interior Redesign training
or Home Staging training, When I took the training programs
I was mental and physically exhausted at the end of
the week, I felt it was well worth the money. I still
refer to my training manuals and network with my creative
classmates. Just like any other consumer purchase, be
sure to research the company and check references. (There
are people who claim you can download their book and
start a thriving redecorating business. I do not recommend
that method)
My biggest advice is that decorating
may be your passion but you need to treat it like a
business to get paid for it. Once you get paid for it
then, believe me, you will love to decorate even more!
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