The RESA Central Texas Chapter meets once a month to network, share ideas, and learn from industry professionals about how they can grow their home staging business.
In January the RESA Central Texas Chapter welcomed in the 2019 board members. The board members on our local RESA chapters volunteer their time and expertise to help grow and navigate the chapters business and promote professionalism in home staging. Richard Kline was elected as the 2019 RESA Treasurer, and I had a chance to ask him a few questions to get to know him a little bit better.
Richard Kline founded and grew The Staging Guy into a successful property Staging company over the last 8 years. He has served in leadership roles within the Austin Board of Realtors and mentors new Stagers in setting up their business. He has a strong background in Design, Purchasing, Relationship-building, and Customer Service.
3 Questions To Get To Know Richard Kline
What are you most excited for in 2019 in regards to your local chapter?
The board realized from member surveys that what was wanted were more business related agendas rather than design related and responded quickly to that need.
Members of the Board have planned some really exciting agendas for the entirety of 2019 already – all designed to help educate our members so that they can grow their businesses. We have some great speakers already lined up that will be speaking about real world business practices that we should all be utilizing.
What is your best advice for anyone who is looking to get into the staging industry?
Sadly, I have met so many people that have paid a lot of money to take staging training courses and not have any idea at how much work (both physical and mental) is involved in running a staging company. They end up not moving forward with their plans and have wasted a lot of money.
I would STRONGLY recommend that they first attend a local RESA Chapter meeting – before they do anything else. Come to a meeting, talk to Chapter members, ask one or two of us to meet for coffee to pick our brains (we love coffee!).
Some stagers will let them work a staging with us just to see if they like it – most of us can always use an extra hand – some of us will pay them, some of us won’t. Not only will they get some experience, but they will also see what the reality of staging is – – we don’t just hang art and reposition chairs – we lift sofas and climb stairs and yell at movers and stroke the egos of Realtors, and, and, and… Staging can be rewarding and fun, but the hard truth is that it is not for the unprepared.
Who is one stager or designer you would like to shadow for a day?
Of course, there are people that I admire but this is such a creative industry it is impossible to choose just one! The photos that people post in the various Facebook groups are all wonderful. I am always astounded by the great solutions that people come up with to counter some crazy architecture problems or budget restrictions.
I pore over design magazines for inspiration but I get a greater amount of inspiration from colleague’s photos – the book shelf arrangement in that house, the kitchen accessories that she used, the way that bed was dressed, etc.
Learn more about the Real Estate Staging Association here.
Felicia has a background in production design and studied at Academy Of Art University where she had a focus in Motion Pictures And Television. In her free time you can find her reading about the latest marketing trends or hanging out with her husband in Disneyland.
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