I just returned from a speaking gig in Toronto for Empowered Entrepreneurs. It was put on by our own fabulous Angela Brooks Osborne. Some of us  stayed in a house together and  the energy was palpable (and the champagne delish) as we stayed up into all hours of the night discussing the biz and our dreams for the future!

Not only did I bring back tons of “golden nuggets of wisdom” from my colleagues, we formed deeper friendships that fill my heart with joy and abundant possibility for all of us in the Home Staging World.

My head is a buzz with all of the ways that we will be able to collaborate on bringing better training, coaching and mentorship to the Home Staging Industry.

Watch out world!

Here are some truth bombs from Shell “Becoming Cowgirl” Brodnax:

“Frustration begins when knowledge ends”

“Obstacles aren’t there to keep you out. They are there to keep people out who don’t want it badly enough”

“Focus on mastery and not the competition-stay in your lane”

“The moment that you take responsibility  for everything in your life is the moment you can change anything in your life”

 Bobbie McGrath talked about the Three Sides of Confidence and one of the great tips she gave us was about finding the people who are “in the corner”-the shy ones. She goes up to them, looks them in the eye with a big smile and engages with them. Then they form a posse of others who may be alone and this lovely way of making everyone feel great and included expands. The next time they get together, they all feel welcomed and begin to include others as well. Love this!!! And I am sure that Bobbie, with her infectious smile is the Pied Piper at many networking events!

And I had a huge “aha” when I listened to the fabulous Tracy Molendi discuss how she actually charges Real Estate agents to come to her training on how they can educate their Sellers on the value of home staging so that they can partner with her. And if they want to partner with her, they pay her to do this! Talk about coming from a place of empowerment! This paradigm shift is huge…..especially since most of the stagers that I work with feel pretty darn intimidated by the Real Estate Agents. Coming from a place of leadership is empowering! I think that I just might to have Tracy speak to you all  about this…..What do you think????

Shauna Lynn Simon gave us lots of tips on Social Media Marketing. One of them was to post on your  business page first and then share on your personal page for more exposure for your biz. Tag people in your posts for even more exposure. Also, tag the local businesses (local store) and brands (ie.  Silestone, Kohler, etc.).  It is also great if you have  a picture of the local store that you purchased items for a client from, with the owner or employee. And tag them (with their permission). This keeps it hyper local and gives you lots of exposure in your area. Every time you tag someone strategically you will get more exposure within  your target market so be mindful of that.

Tori Toth Arena provided a wealth of information on video marketing and visibility. Like anything you do in your marketing, video won’t work for you unless you are consistent. She encouraged us to load our FB Lives onto You Tube  and optimize the SEO with keywords. You Tube is owned by Google so this is a great strategy. By the way, Facebook algorithm  also favors video so, like it or not, video is a must in your marketing plan. You can, however do “work arounds”  if you are completely intimidated-like a PowerPoint with a voice over. However I strongly recommend that you work on getting comfortable with video by challenging your fears . And at the risk of sounding “salesy” that is where good coaching comes in:-)

Angela Brooks Osbourne was the Belle of the Ball for this lovely 2 day event. She provided many golden nuggets of wisdom but my favorite was that in order to be successful you need to market from all different angles so that you are visible to your ideal clients. No more “one and done marketing”. You have to find many ways for your clients to see what you have to offer. Video, social media, blogging, networking, one on ones, presentations are just some of the ways you should be marketing.  You must keep adding to your visibility by reaching out through different platforms.

My topic was mindset. I truly believe that mindset trumps everything…..every strategy, every action, every plan. If your mindset is not in alignment with your goals, you will sabotage yourself and you won’t understand why because you will keep doing all of the things that you think that you should be doing but you will subconsciously sabotage your efforts. You will be putting on the gas pedal and the brakes at the same time. Most business owners underestimate the power of mindset because they don’t really understand how it works to either empower them or disempower them. A disempowered mindset  might show up looking like lack of confidence or fear of visibility or perhaps looking  for “outside reasons” as to why we aren’t successful. Focusing on an empowering mindset is the key to growth and success. It includes making better choices in our thoughts and building habits that propel us into the life and business that we really want versus the life and business that we are defaulting to.

This is where coaching can be a complete game changer because a coach can guide you through these self sabotaging traps in order to get to the other side. If any of you are interested in learning more about this, email me at interiorsbymarianne@comcast.net

So all in all, the convention was great and no matter how many years I have been in the business, I always learn something new when I surround myself with people who constantly want to grow and expand and learn and share.

I hope that you will all benefit from these golden nuggets of wisdom!

Cheers to YOU and YOUR Success,

Marianne Cherico is a personal and professional development coach.  She has also owned and operated a successful Home Staging Business since 2005. Her background includes 27 years in Real Estate Sales and Marketing and for 17 of those years she was on a Top Producing New England Real Estate team.

Marianne has coached many home stagers throughout the country on how to up level their business by developing both mindset skills and savvy business strategies. Helping these home stagers own their magnificence and create a life and business that sets their soul on fire is Marianne’s sweet spot!

 Marianne has been a featured speaker for the Real Estate Staging Association on both a National and local level as well as numerous podcasts and radio shows.  Her work  has been featured in Southern New England Magazine, Broker Agent News and Builder Architect Magazine.  She has also co authored a book on marketing for Home Stagers  that will be available shortly…..stay tuned!

If you are looking for a coach who will help you grow your business, Marianne is your gal!