Decorate-Redecorate.Com | Academy of Staging and Redesign

home staging, staging homes, arranging furniture, interior redesign

Frequently Asked Questions

The first thing I want to do is answer the questions you should be asking yourself as you read this. This section is very important if you want "straight talk" answers about your options:

31 Questions You Should Be Asking Yourself!

Are people really making money in these fields?
Can anyone do this?
Are there any myths about staging and redesign?
What is your company's rating or accredited standing with the Better Business Bureau or other associations or organizations?
How many types of training options and courses do I have to choose from?
I'm a disgruntled student from another company. Can you help me?
How do you compare your course with your competitors?
Is it fair to compare redesign/staging training with becoming a full service interior designer?
How much stock should I put into celebrity endorsements?
What do you think of the mini websites created by other websites and yours too?
What about websites that claim to have super high traffic to their directories?
What about websites that appear to be universities?
Do I need a degree in interior design?
Do I need to be certified and how does that work with your company?
Is this a franchise business?
How long does the Silver, Gold or Diamond Program take?
Will I be able to work in any style, any budget and in any home?
Do I need lots of experience first?
Do I want to train with a "pioneer" or a "follower"?
Do I want to be trained by an internationally recognized expert, author and creative mind?
Do I want access to the trainer others are trying to emulate?
Do I want access to the West Coast Pioneer of Home Based training after I'm done?
Do I want to be associated with other professionals?
Do I want to associate with other professionals who don't have selfish agendas?
Do I want to pay annual fees to remain a part of a forum or private website?
Will I be truly independent afterwards and totally in charge of my business?
Are there any additional discounts, payment terms I can get?
You've written a book for realtors. Doesn't that hurt stagers?
Do I want all of the above benefits without the hefty price tag and time constraints?
How do I know which trainer is right for me? I'm confused.
How can two partners get certified by purchasing one Diamond Course?

Can people learn interior redesign/staging from an online course or a book? Absolutely, unequivocally YES!!! Why do you think so many colleges and universities are now offering online courses to students like never before in a wide variety of subjects? Why is the book publishing business a multi-billion dollar industry?

Every year there are more and more classes going online. The students benefit in a multitude of ways, such as lower fees, total flexibility, total convenience, the ability to work at their own pace, the ability to get a 1:1 student/teacher ratio. My daughter took 3 online courses in college and they were excellent classes, which she enjoyed very much and learned a tremendous amount.

Interior Redesign and Home Staging is being taught very effectively online as our many students will attest to, so don't let anyone try to convince you that it isn't effective. It most certainly is effective - and best of all it's the most affordable way to learn too.

Are people really making money in these fields? Yes, some are extremely successful (like myself) and others are making fantastic supplemental income. There are millions and millions of households with a dire need for these types of services. Someone's got to help them - why not you? Why not now - while they are still ground floor opportunities?

Each person brings their own uniqueness to the equation. We all know different people, come from different backgrounds, have had different levels of training in a wide variety of areas, have different goals and desires, different work ethics, different personalities and living in different areas. That's one of the reasons that makes redesign/staging so intriguing, so easy to learn, so profitable.

Examples

Here's a recent testimonial I received from one of my clients: "I am extremely happy with the redecoration of my living room. Due to it's odd set-up, it was very difficult to arrange the furniture to make the room look appealing and put together. Now, not only is it appealing and put together, it is perfect to entertain as well as make the most of the features of the room. Barbara and her assistant were wonderful to work with and they worked with my style rather than try to make me conform. Thank you. - Desiree K., Laguna Niguel, CA"

Three days later I did another redesign for a lady in Riverside which included a complete rearrangement of her family room and living room. She was from Egypt and it was a wonderful experience working with her huge array of Egyptian figurines and objects d'art in her lovely home. She was thrilled with the end result and wants me to come back soon to work on her bedrooms. I love this business!

Here's another client said two days later about a redesign I did for her: "Barbara had redone my family room and living room. Incredible work . . . what a talent . . . Room look more spacious with an artistic taste to fine design. Great personality and works with home owners in a friendly fashion. I love her and I love her work and I'll recommend her work anyone to who wants great taste. - Nardine I. , Riverside, CA"

I get regular inquiries by phone and from email from people looking for a stager. One gentleman had a 100-year old boat he needed staged. Another lady had a 4500 square foot home and needed staging help. She is an investor and needs help on a frequent basis. I get calls from realtors looking for stagers all over the country. I pass the referrals on to my Gold or Diamond level trainees only, because they are the most highly trained and have invested the most in getting properly trained and I figure they deserve it more than those that just buy a basic tutorial. Something to think about. And these are just a few examples. I could go on and on. Many students know people in the real estate business and many have agents just waiting for them to get trained. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that the opportunities are definitely out there and I'll teach you how to capitalize on them.

Can anyone do this? Yes. People from all walks of life, all ages, all sizes, all backgrounds, all resources are doing it. It's a ground floor opportunity with practically no competition. Some parts of the country are more heavily populated with competitors. You will need to do less educating of the public in areas where staging and redesign are more widely known, however you might have more competition. On the other hand, if you have no competition, you're likely going to have to do more educating of the consumer. Obviously, those of you who are creative and have an eye for color and design will feel right at home immediately.

Are there any myths about staging and redesign?

Myth #1 - Every trainer claims to have the most comprehensive training you'll find. Well, this is obviously a sheer impossibility. It is a fact that I have written 13 books for the home staging and redesign industries and no other trainer even comes close to such a record. I've also been in the industry for 40 years, have trained over 12,000 students since 2002 and most others have been around less than 4 years with dubious backgrounds, short histories, and questionable tactics. Claims should be made based on provable facts - so look for facts and evidence of a trainer's claims.

Myth #2 - It is advertised on TV so it must be ethical and a great product. TV programs don't care whether their advertisers are ethical nor whether the products advertised are good or not. They are merely interested in the advertiser's dollars. The only voices the TV show will listen to are the voices of their collective advertisers. TV ads are merely shortened versions of infomercials or moving brochures - looking good or being on TV is no guarantee that a company is ethical or able to train.

Myth #3 - The most well known organization must be the best. The most well known organization merely has gotten the most media promotion, may have been around a little longer or has spent the most money on advertising. This does not mean it is the best.

Myth #4 - The website looks very professional so their course must be good. While a well designed website is important and may be a clue to quality, it may not represent the quality of the actual trainer at all because third party designers are often hired to create websites. Well designed websites are a testimonial to how good the designer is. (BTW this website was created in its entirety by the author and trainer - not a 3rd party designer.)

Myth #5 - If it's new it must be better. New does not mean better. Oldest does not mean better. "Better" is decided by content and service. "Best" is decided by content which is supported with vast experience coupled with high integrity, quality control and the ultimate in service.

What is your company's rating with the Better Business Bureau or Other Accreditations? We enjoy an A+ rating from the BBB which is the highest rating a company can get. In the past 10 years, we have received only one complaint, submitted by a lady who had not opened her emails when she purchased one of our courses, so she did not get pertinent materials and instructions. Rather than contact us about it, she went straight to the BBB and filed a complaint. When we discovered this, we contacted her immediately. She instantly removed her complaint but unfortunately it still shows as a closed issue. But to check out our current rating yourself, click on the image below and you will be taken directly to the BBB website for our current rating.

BUT WHAT ABOUT ACCREDITATION ELSEWHERE? The Academy has never paid any third party organization or association to endorse their courses or products. It doesn't have to. It has been offering the finest training in the industry since 2002, long before any of those organizations were started. Industry associations that rate companies in their own industry are paid fees by the VERY companies they rate, so their ratings cannot be objective. Some of the associations that "rate" training companies own the very companies they are "rating". It is another reason why we remain autonomous and independent and lean only on the BBB for credible, objective and honest ratings. The BBB will give a company a fair rating whether they join the BBB or not.

How many types of training options and courses are there out there?

1) The Buy a Book Approach - Buying a book on the subject allows you to get exposure to the industry of choice with minimal investment. Depending on your background, this may be enough or may just be an introduction from which you branch out into a course. We offer many books to help you.

2) The Take a Seminar or Class Approach - Taking a seminar or class can be very expensive and statistics prove you'll probably only retain about 10% of what you hear. You'll be dependent upon the quality of the individual instructor, which can be great or poor depending on the person you choose. But there is usually the ability to get a little "hands on" experience which some people find useful and others find a complete waste of time. Annual fees are assessed and business independence is restricted. Expect to have to pay extra for promotional aids, books and tools and anything else offered, in addition to travel, hotel and meal expenses, and time away from family and other obligations.

3) The Study Strictly Online Approach - An online course, depending on the one you choose, can be good - even quite good, but if you don't handle long hours at a computer well, it's a really tough way to get an education. You'll also be totally dependent on that company remaining online and in business for the long term and you'll face annual or monthly renewal fees you have to pay routinely to stay active and in touch and keep what you've built over time - again all over the computer increasing eye strain.

4) The "I Am a Movie Star" Approach - Then there's the "new generation" approach - name dropping famous actors for credibility, offering 80% off of a bogus "retail" price and then 30 days later charging a monthly renewal fee over and over again, dragging the training out to 6 weeks. Slick Madison-Avenue marketing, high pressure sales tactics. Evaluate everything very carefully - to quote a famous saying, "The cheap often comes out expensive." So always ask yourself, "What's the catch?" - Not a recommended option.

5) The Guaranteed to Qualify for Employment Approach - The "guaranteed employment" approach isn't guaranteed employment at all but a guarantee to "qualify to be considered for employment". Fortunately the company fostering this misleading promise has been forced to withdraw such offers after huge amounts of backlash from the public.

6) The All-Around Student-Centered Approach - Lastly, there is the tried-and-true combination approach - by the veterans in design and home business development. The "new generation" types disrespect the veteran trainers, claiming they need to get "updated" but, then, what else can they say? The "new generation" group doesn't have the credibility and sustainability history of the older pros, so they have to find some way to distract you into believing "new" is automatically better - when in reality what veterans teach works and continues to work, day in and day out. Veterans teach what worked in the past and also what works now so you get everything that has ever worked or will work. And you won't have to be bombarded with thousands of sales gimmicks all geared to separate YOU from YOUR MONEY either. This is our approach to courses.

I'm a disgruntled student from another company. Can you help me?

We have increasingly been contacted by a growing number of unhappy students from other training companies advertising on the web and also on popular TV programs. We are not surprised and have been trying to warn consumers to be careful for many years. Please read about our thoughts, recommendations. Periodically we may offer a special discount to those individuals. If we currently offer one, you'll find the details here: Possible Solutions to Consider.

How do you compare your course with your competitors? We were the first to ever offer a home training program in home staging AND interior redesign. We got heavily criticized for doing so too. We have spent the last 10 years developing our programs instead of just a few months like so many others. We offer you 3 ebooks and 10 manuals totaling in excess of 2140 pages for your design and business training alone (Platinum Combo Course). No one even comes close to that kind of thorough, high impact, detailed guidance. While these are relatively simple businesses, you owe it to yourself to get the best education you can and no one covers the subjects as comprehensively, as honestly, and as frankly as we do.

Many of our competitors only teach one business - not two. We teach both staging AND redesign. Many of our competitors offer no design training at all (or very little) - we offer the most extensive design training in the industry (written by us, not some third party). Our marketing training is second to none. And we also give you training in topics no one else offers at any price. That's why we legitimately can claim we offer the most comprehensive guidance and can back up our claims with actual proof.

Our competitors all charge monthly or annual renewal fees. We don't (except for websites - we have a nominal renewal fee of $99 because we are charged as well). We don't charge students to keep what they have purchased when it costs us nothing to keep them in the system. We think this is unfair to students. Can you imagine paying USC or Harvard an annual fee to keep your diploma? So why do online companies charge you membership fees and other fees to keep what you already paid them to give you when you signed up?

Most of our competitors have copied us or taken training from us. We obviously are the standard and mentor to most. Do you want to learn from an imitator or from the original source?

Quite frankly there can only be one "best" course. We believe we're the only company that can claim "we are the best" legitimately. We believe we offer the most training and the absolute best overall value. We are student focused - and we refuse to nickel and dime students or charge extra fees that only benefit us and not our students. Our focus is on our students and not whether we're the largest or have the most well known reputation or a "flashy" website. We strive to be ethical, informative and fair in all matters.

Is it fair to compare redesign/staging training with becoming a full service interior designer, a surgeon or a minister? Of course not. The interior "redesign" business is very easy. That's why no degree is needed, not even a 2-year degree. You move the sofa from Point A to Point B. You move the coffee table from Point C to Point D. You just have to know why Point B and Point D are better than Point A or Point C. The home staging business is more involved and more complicated, but you do not need a college degree to be successful in staging either.

Yes, you need to know some important interior design concepts so that you do a beautiful rearrangement for your client, but it's not the same as doing surgery on someone's gall bladder, so don't be fooled into believing it's a difficult process that can only be learned in a face-to-face classroom or noisy seminar. I wasn't trained that way. When you become an adult you develop many different capacities of learning and no one should make you feel you can only learn their way.

How much stock should I put into celebrity endorsements? Having a TV or radio celebrity endorse a program sounds really great on the surface, but celebrities are usually paid for those endorsements, either in the form of a check or a percentage of the profits. No one will admit paying a celebrity, so it might be best to put little, if any, stock in such endorsements.

What do you think of the mini websites created by other companies and yours too? Having an online presence of some kind can be very helpful because many people search online these days. But we've found out that our trainees are getting contacted right and left from our directory with no more than a phone number and an email address. The fact that they are listed in our directory seems to be all the "credibility" they need and finding their contact information is super easy too. That's why it's advantageous to get listed.

However, at the Platinum or Diamond Ruby Level we'll give you a 5-7 page brochure website, in a domain name of your choosing (so long as it is available). Here are examples of what you can get: (Examples). We'll host it for a year and then you can renew it with us or not for a nominal charge, your choice. At the Diamond Standard, we'll give you a custom webpage for your bio.

We will, of course, optimize your website for the search engines and link to it from two directories, not just one. Our directories are divided by country, state and city, making it super easy for consumers to find your listing. Far too many directories supported by our competitors are so confusingly laid out, consumers instantly go away without even hunting for someone in their vicinity.

But bear in mind that you should not overly rely on a website or a directory to build your business. In a consulting business, it is the face-to-face encounters that build your business best. That's why we also have plenty of offline marketing and promotional strategies in the manuals and in our courses that will help you garner business in very effective, time proven ways beyond directories and websites.

The websites we offer are clean and simple for a reason. You only have 2 seconds to keep a visitor's attention, so it has to load fast and help them find what they want quickly. Studies prove flashy websites don't work as well as simple, clean websites. Don't fall for the "fluff". It means nothing.

WARNING: Don't buy any course which demands you sign a 3-year contract for your website (hidden in their terms of use section). One such course demands $150 per year every year for 3 years whether you keep the website or not (payable annually). That's $540 in addition to your course fee. And if you don't set it up within 30 days of starting the course, you lose the website feature altogether with no refunds. You might even be held liable for the 3-year $540 fee regardless. Beware! Beware! Beware!

We have no contracts, no minimums, no time limits and renewal of our student websites is only $75 per year.

What about websites that claim to have super high traffic to their directories? There's traffic - and then there's traffic. It doesn't mean anything unless it is the right kind of traffic. If a website's traffic is mostly students coming for training (such as in a membership site), that isn't going to do anyone any good. Student traffic is NOT the kind of traffic that will make YOU any money because the traffic is NOT coming from consumers looking to hire a stager or redesigner.

In addition, no webmaster can know the full extent of another site's traffic for comparison because other companies may (and of course, we do) have multiple sites and multiple sub-domains, all drawing traffic. So it can be misleading (and probably untruthful) to boast that one has the most traffic over another.

What about websites that appear to be universities, institutes or entities of traditional higher learning? Many companies use academic words to promote their training. We use the word "Academy". Prudent due diligence should be used to decipher which companies truly have a wealth of training available and which ones are "puffing" (an advertising word for exaggerating). We use the word "certification" as part of our professional designation but we refrain from using words such as "accredited" or "graduate" because we feel they can be easily misconstrued.

We sometimes use the word "course" to separate our all-inclusive programs from our "a la carte" items (for clarity reasons only). We use the name Academy of Staging and Redesign at the request of our students so they can refer to their training program more cohesively rather than using our domain name.
We are not a college or university and no other training company is either. They are individuals or a group of individuals who have created a website and are marketing their products over the internet.

Do I need a degree in interior design? No, you don't need a degree. You're only going to be rearranging the furniture and accessories that your clients have already purchased. You're not going to be knocking down walls, doing a retro fit, tearing things or building things that you need a license and permit to do. You'll be giving them a one day redesign of a room in their home or giving them advice or organizing and depersonalizing the home to be sold. That's going to consist mainly of moving their furniture around and rearranging their art and accessories and giving them some basic advice. You won't be doing anything that you need a license to do, much less a college degree, unless you enter more complicated areas, and I don't suggest you do that. Redesign and staging are simple concepts. Don't let anyone make you believe it's tough and you have to have a college degree.

Do I need to be certified and how does that work with your company? No, you don't need to be certified by us or anyone else. It's not necessary to be certified or a member of any professional association. Anyone can give you a "certification of completion" for perfect attendance at a seminar. Don't mistake that for "certification". As for so-called "accreditation", that's a myth and misuse of the term that belongs only to colleges and universities. Every trainer's certification is their own private endorsement as staging and redesign are unregulated industries and there are no state or federal agencies involved.

Having said that, please note that in our Diamond Combo Courses you will receive Double Certification in Redesign and Staging - and it's guaranteed! We also guarantee single certification in our Gold Redesign or Gold Staging programs. You can apply for certification through our a la carte (Bronze) program, but it will not be guaranteed.

As for our certification process, we provide a downloadable exam document from the Diamond training site and recommend you download the exam immediately and read over the questions prior to studying. You are provided with a Sequence of Study document in your box as well as in the Diamond site. It is an open book exam (honor system) with no time restrictions. You submit the exam with your portfolio pictures and documents when you have completed that process. The exam and portfolio are judged together and upon successful completion, you are awarded a beautiful certificate and can use the designations in your marketing efforts.

We also give you a highlighted, more prominent listing in the two directories. You do not need to absorb any of the advanced training to pass the exam and we tell you exactly what to study first and foremost, so we've made it as student friendly as possible. While there is a time commitment to getting certified, you will at the same time be creating your own professional portfolio of your own work which you will use to help garner new clients.

So our whole process serves to benefit you in these specific ways: 1) give you affirmation of the new knowledge you will learn; 2) make certain that you have properly understood the material covered, the all-important design and business concepts so you'll be able to answer client questions with authoritative answers; 3) assist you and push you a little in creating your own "proof of talent" by way of before and after pictures; 4) assist us in safeguarding your progress and the dignity of the designations we promote; 5) affirm your talent by making sure you are working at a professional level and giving you feedback if necessary; 6) creating a one minute musical slideshow of your work to feature on our website and to link to from your two directory listings; 7) making sure all candidates operate with the highest standards and ethics and are deserving of such a coveted designation.

Is this a franchise business? No, this is not a franchise. You will be an independent contractor or business owner and free to set up and structure your business any way you choose anywhere in the country. And without the hefty price tag of $35,000-$62,100 one decorating franchise is currently charging. This is practically a risk-free opportunity in two ground floor business opportunities being routinely popularized by the cable decorating shows and press coverage.

Your entire training fee can be paid for by your first two clients or less, no kidding. That gives you a profit almost immediately. Sound too good to be true? Well, it is true, so I guess it breaks the rule.

How long does the Silver, Diamond or Platinum Course take? Well, that is different for everyone, depending on the time commitment they give to it and their personal sense of urgency. Obviously if you just get a basic tutorial in staging or redesign, and that's all you get, then it will take as long as it would to read a good book. But if you're training at the Silver, Gold or Diamond level, you'll want to invest a bit more time. I suggest you study through all of the design training, much of which you can do before the rest of the course arrives, because some of your training will be on the computer with our ebooks, which you can get immediately upon placing your order.

It is possible to be starting your business within 7 days, but the average trainee takes longer. Again, it's really up to you and how quickly you study. Some people have projects waiting for them right away, so they will naturally want to move through the material at a faster pace.

Will I be able to work in any style, any budget and in any home? Yes! Yes! Yes! You will have full control over the type of client you service and how far from home you are willing to travel.

Do I need lots of experience first? No, you don't need experience to begin. Your initial experience will come from rearranging your own home or staging your home and those of your friends. It's a safe environment and very comfortable. You can even service your friends without charge, just for the experience (recommended). After just a few actual projects, you'll be ready to tackle just about any home out there. With our furniture arrangement concepts, you'll easily be able to find an arrangement that will work in most rooms on a redesign appointment. And with our 80-page staging checklist, you'll be able to easily handle staging consultations like a pro.

Do I want to train with a "pioneer" or a "follower"? I am the West Coast pioneer in the concept of one-day decorating or redesign, having begun in 1986 in Southern California with no one to train me at all. I staged my first home in 1975, decades before it became known as "staging". I know my stuff and I share it all thoroughly and willingly. I have owned and managed 4 successful decorating and design businesses since 1972, so I have a wealth of expertise under my belt. Many of my competitors are babes in the woods, comparatively speaking.

This training program is now ranked the #1 Redesign/Staging Combo Program in the world. There's a reason for that. I train more people in a single month than most of my competitors train in a whole year. And not just because I'm so affordable either. I'm #1 because I'm good at explaining the concepts and showing you what to do and how to do it. I've spent untold hours developing my entire one-of-a-kind system for both businesses.

TESTIMONIAL
"Hi Barbara, I have been passionate about home redesign for 4 years and after completing your training I was able to become a sought after home stager in addition to redesign. Miracles Happen! I am now privileged to work with successful real estate agents in my area. I have an ulterior motive. What is it? To lift my clients spirits and help them provide a beautiful environment that is pleasing for personal use or a top dollar sale of their property.

Thank you Barbara for helping craft my talent into a profession that offers service to others in a tangible way. As a side benefit of being trained by the best, I will have an article appearing in a magazine next month and have been listed as the home stager referred and selected by some of the most prominent real estate agents in my area (San Luis Obispo, California). All this is a direct result of your training. - Maria Skelly"

Do I want to be trained by an internationally recognized redesign/staging expert, author and creative mind? I have written the following best selling books and ebooks, Decor Secrets Revealed, Rearrange It, Home Staging for Profit, Home Staging for Yourself, Staging Luxurious Homes, Staging Portfolio Secrets, Getting Paid: Financial Strategies for Stagers, Home Staging in Tough Times, Advanced Redesign, Arrange Your Stuff, Pro Art Consulting, Great Parties! Great Homes!, The Secret Art of Hanging Art, Wall Groupings! and Where There's a Wall - There's a Way. In addition, I have received media coverage from countless newspapers and numerous magazines and have assisted thousands of home owners to improve their interior arrangements and sell their homes quickly at a higher profit. I am an interior decorator, corporate art consultant, graphic designer and published artist with over 40 year's of combined experience -- and my art images are collected by residential and corporate clients throughout the world.

As an author, I've been told my writing style is personable, easy to read and understand and I have received numerous compliments on my abilities to communicate and teach. If you find reading this report to be easy to understand, you'll find my training materials are too.

Do I want access to the West Coast Pioneer of Online Redesign/Staging after I complete the training? You will enjoy on-going complimentary access to me by email (even by phone if you want it) so you are never left alone or abandoned regarding your business. Personal responses are sent usually the same day questions are received. You can send me photos to evaluate, call me, write me. I make a point of being easy to reach. So who needs teleconferences? Why get bogged down in "group teleconferencing" when you can have private?

Do I want access to the trainer others are trying to emulate? While others reduce their training programs to cut costs or summarize what they learned from me, I keep making mine better and better, all at the same very affordable price. I will guide you step-by-step in the right direction and my material gets updated regularly.

I just got an email from a gal who took the seminar route and then took my training. Here's what she wrote: "I have found your site and information to be well worth the money and wish I would have found you sooner. I have been trying to get (name of her organization) to come up with a more detailed program. They are content with what they have and I was forced to do more research which is how I found out about your site. (Anonymous)"

Do I want to be associated with other professionals? I will train you in redesign and staging etiquette and give you the standards of professionalism I expect from myself. The rest is up to you. I also offer you a FREE discussion forum so that you can easily converse over the internet with others in the business, regardless of affiliation. This discussion forum is free to join - yet another reason why we are totally student focused. You are also welcome to email me at any time for a personalized response at no charge.

Do I want to associate with other professionals who believe in educating their clients and respecting their wishes, not promoting their own private style or agenda? I want all clients to learn from their mistakes in a gentle, encouraging manner so that they will feel more confident in their decorating choices long after I am gone. I encourage all students to strive for the same goal.

Do I want to pay annual fees to remain a part of a forum or private website - the answer should be "NO"? I chose to make my forum free to anyone. And my students who take a Diamond or Gold course get access to the Diamond training site for a lifetime. You won't find that lifetime access offered by any other company. I don't extract annual fees from anyone. Our only renewal fees pertain to the renewal of domain names and hosting fees for websites we create for students - and that's only because we have to pay annual fees ourselves.

Will I be truly independent afterwards and totally in charge of my business? You will be completely independent of any outside interference when you train with me. You will never have to worry about any organization or association placing restrictions on how you run your business, manage your business or promote your business nor will you have to pay for ongoing website hosting, changes and so forth. When you consider the long term effects of total independence, this is a very important ingredient to protect at all times. Some students have been kicked out of the associations they paid a fee to join for merely finding different ways to generate business that "weren't approved".

Are there any additional discounts or payment plans I can get? We believe we have priced our products and courses according to the great value they will give students. Many products offer attractive discounts already. However, we are an "equal opportunity trainer" or, said another way, we offer a "one price fits all" structure. So please do not contact us asking for a personal discount beyond what we current offer on the website. It is against company policy to give a price benefit to one person that isn't offered to everyone. Our current payment terms can be found here: Payment Plans

You've written a book for realtors. Doesn't that hurt stagers? No, it only helps them. There have been other trainers who have offered expensive seminars for agents for up to $350 a session for over a decade. Many seminars do not cover design concepts and leave agents with misinformation and misconceptions. Some are reportedly little more than cheerleading sessions for the trainer's much more expensive seminar. There are other designations for agents that gouge this group as well.

My book clarifies the concept of staging, its value, the need for professional stagers and the differences between agents who understand staging and those who don't - how they can use their knowledge of staging to dramatically increase the number of listing they acquire. The book encourages agents to contact stagers in the Academy's two directories - because I know those in the directories have received quality training. So the book promotes stagers - and for those sellers out there who are not interested in hiring a stager, it at least helps the realtor give them better advice based on authoritative knowledge rather than assumptions.

Most stagers have to rely on the agents to promote staging to the seller; by reading the book, they'll do a better job of promoting the services of professional stagers and getting them more work. It's important to look at realtors and brokers as allies, not competitors.

Do I want all of the above benefits without the hefty price tag and time constraints?

My entire training program is tailored to your individual need. If you want just basic training, I have that for you. If you just want advanced training, I have that for you too. You can pick and choose what aspect of the training will best meet your goals based on your personal background and experience. No one else offers such fantastic flexibility. Some trainers s-t-r-e-t-c-h it out and some scrunch it down till you hardly get anything at all. We believe you can't have too much at your fingertips and that's why ours is intensive, but gets you going right away too.

No one else offers the benefits of my "A La Carte", or our three Diamond "Combo" Training Courses (Standard, Deluxe, Ruby) because no one else has all of the expertise, concepts, strategies, and business tools to offer you at such an affordable investment. You won't find anyone who has a program that is as thorough, as broad, as specific, as helpful AND as affordable and flexible as mine all rolled into one. That's a promise.

With so many people claiming to be trainers, how do I know who is best for me?

Have you heard the saying, "When the student is ready, the trainer will appear"? Yes, I certainly understand how confusing it all is. So many people claiming to be experts with many deceptions out there. Perhaps this will help.

If you're just looking for part time income, don't get over your head in a course. We sell books and ebooks that will teach you a lot and you can get started on very little investment.
If you're looking for full time, career income, then a course makes sense.
You should study redesign along with staging because the two businesses work "in tandem" with each other and help you making even more money by cross pollinating your marketing efforts. The Diamond Standard is for the do it yourself types, and the Diamond Ruby is for those that seek everything we have to help propel them to the top quickly without having to create things themselves. We now also offer personalized, customized marketing and PR mentoring in our Platinum Combo Course But anyway you begin is a foot forward to achieving your goals and dreams.
Here is a link to our checklist that will help you compare the various options before you: Options
Train with someone who has been around a long time, not just in staging or redesign, but in home business development. Train with someone who offers you design training, not just business training. Many so-called trainers have no background in interior design, so they avoid the subject altogether. Avoid those. I've been doing home based business for over 40 years and all my businesses have been in the design field, unlike my competitors. I teach you both the design side and the business side and virtually leave no stone unturned when it comes to starting and developing a business in the industry. No one else in the business, that I know of, has the longevity that you'll find with me.
In any business decision, always strive to be at peace with the decision. You don't want to lose sleep at night worrying about it. So select a path that gives you peace of mind. For this reason, you'll find I offer you the ability to invest in a course as well as in an individual book, ebook, visual aid or tool. I never force any student to choose over their ability to pay and retain peace of mind.

How can partners get certified by purchasing one Diamond Course?

It's really quite simple. You buy one Diamond Ruby course or one Diamond Standard Course and pay the partner fee of $395 (which amounts to paying to go thru certification process and gain private access to all digital products and be listed jointly in directories and website, etc.). We only certify individuals (not businesses) so this is why the partner goes through their own process.

You would share all hard goods items: books, visual aids, tools. Here is the link to purchase both the Ruby and the partner's part. Be sure and give us the partner's name, address, phone number and email address in the notation box (below where you enter shipping info). Then we can set you both up in the system simultaneously. Diamond Ruby Course or Diamond Standard Course. If you scroll all the way to the bottom of these pages, you'll see you can check the Partner's box at the same time, then select the "add to cart" button next to the course you wish to purchase and both will be added to the shopping cart together. If you have any problems, please email us your name, phone number and name of course at Support and we'll try to be of assistance.

In the shopping cart, there is a box under the shipping information where you can list your partner's name, address, phone number and email address when placing your order so that we can add them to our student system as a partner.

Choose Your Path to Success

Platinum Combo Course (Most Personalized Value - Includes Website)

Diamond Ruby Course (Best Overall Value - Includes Website)

Diamond Standard Course (for do it yourself types)

Silver Combo Course (training only) (no certification or aids or tools)

Basic Staging Business Training Book

Basic Redesign Business Training Book

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