We’ve all heard of networking – but how exactly do you do it and why is it essential for running a successful business?
While technology has made networking easier, you still need to get outside of your comfort zone and meet people for success in your business.
Networking is a great way to get your name and business out into the world, find new clients and expand your affiliates.
Regardless of the type of business you run, networking is achieved in similar ways – here’s some ideas to get yourself out there!
Attend Events
Going to events is a great way to network. Not only can this lead to new clients but it also has the potential to lead to affiliates and possibly even partner brands. Being around like-minded people is great too as it allows you to meet other inspirational people, expand your knowledge and give you fresh ideas.
Business Cards
Carrying around business cards is still a great way to network, especially at events. You can even drop your business cards off at cafes and restaurants so you have the potential to reach a wide range of demographics! Putting your key social media handles, phone number and email on business cards is absolutely essential nowadays. People want to be able to research your business before directly contacting you.
Social Media
Networking through social media is another great way to network when you are time poor but still want to chat to people. Even if you have no time to post, comment or message in the moment, you can communicate via paid advertisements and using scheduling programs so you always have content going live across your platforms and live chats.
These techniques will allow you to connect with your audience and potential clients or partners – and you can mix it up with what’s going on in your biz calendar! Trial different ideas and techniques to figure out what works best for you, you never know who you’re going to meet and what opportunity could come your way!
Have you ever struggled to find the right cushions for your couch?
Some stylists make it look so effortless – and it can be! That’s why I’ve put together my top 5 hacks for choosing the right cushions that will take your living space to the next level.
Identify your colour palette
Have a look around your living space. Look at the walls, carpet, lounge and curtains – what colours are present?
Keep this close when you choose your scatter cushions – opt for 1 or 2 solid colours, then add ones with different textures and patterns.
2. Let your style dictate your cushions
What style is your home? If you have a traditional theme, opt for an even number of cushions with one large one at each end and a smaller one in front of it.
If you have a more casual, contemporary or eclectic vibe, incorporate an uneven number of cushions and none that are matching.
3. Mix up your shapes and sizes
Gone are the days when we have to have the same shape and size on our lounges.
It’s all about different sizes and shapes – matchy matchy is no longer the way to go.
4. Add some texture
Not keen for multiple coloured cushions? That’s okay, just stick with one specific colour way and then use different textures and patterns.
You’ll be blown away by the result!
5. Have a few variations for different seasons
Want a more relaxing feel in winter when you’re lounging around the house? But don’t want to give up some of your favourite cushions all year round?
Add some punches with pops of colour and patterns during the warmer seasons – then you can put out your more muted palettes when you make the switch in winter – or vice versa!
It’s so easy to get caught up in the busy day-to-day routine…most of us forget to schedule time in for ourselves even though this results in more productivity and creativity when we get back to work.
This is why it’s a great idea to create a room just for you, a room where you can listen to music, write, read your favourite book – anything that helps you to relax!
Today I want to help you create your own personal sanctuary. You might think having an hour to yourself every few days isn’t important but it is! We need to revitalize our body by having rest days and making relaxation a priority – that way you can perform better in business and in life! So here’s my top 5 tips for creating a relaxing retreat for yourself.
Step 1. Get Rid Of All That Clutter!
Have you ever noticed when you are surrounded by too much ‘stuff’ you feel lazy, confined and not to mention unclean? It’s a fact then when you are surrounded by clutter your energy is down! Take out everything you don’t use that is just getting covered in dust and keep only what you really need or really want in your special space.
Image via Style Curator
Step 2. Freshen UP!
What colour makes you smile? Consider what shades are in style this month and add a pop of it into your space using paint or some removable wallpaper for that extra bit of style. If you don’t have time to do that, go out and purchase some colourful cushions, throws and artwork (or make your own) to liven up a bland room. Add some colourful flowers just to finish off.
Step 3. Turn off that phone!
You are in YOUR space, trying to forget about the rest of the world. A phone ringing will bring you out of that Zen state straight away! So no Telephones, Computers, TV’s or IPads! So what if one of your guilty pleasures is watching your soap operas? That’s okay, just make sure you turn off the TV as soon as it’s over! It signals too much stimulation and not enough relaxation.
Image via Interiors Addict
Step 4. Smells too good to be true.
When you have your favourite candle burning, it immediately sends you to a happy place. An amazing scent can help you feel relaxed and pampered. So make sure you have a selection off candles, oils or incenses to aid in the indulging.
Step 5. It isn’t a cell!
Ever noticed when you sit out in the sun for 5 minutes you feel better? Bringing natural light into your space is important as nature has a relaxing effect on us, it’s also good to get some vitamin D! So put an armchair under a window or even a sun bed and soak it all up!
Enjoy!
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With a change in season I find myself scrolling images for inspiration. Sometimes people think when winter comes around, you can’t have fresh flowers – totally not the case!
I love a beautiful arrangements of flowers. They can be used to either make a statement or to just add a touch of greenery to a room. Adding a touch of flowers can add a different element to the space, for example, making an area more cheerful, adding a hint of fragrance, adding a pop of colour or to even compliment or enhance the current style/design within the space.
The beauty of it all is there are no hard rules on how or where you choose to incorporate flowers. You can add them in your kitchen, living, dining or even your bathroom. The look you want to create can differ depending on whether you choose long and thin flowers or short and rounded shaped ones. You may find yourself varying the look and feel as the flowers need changing to truly create your own personal touch knowing you haven’t spent a lot of money.
Image from Homemaking cottageImage from Savor Home BlogImage from Hgtv.comImage from Alison Royer
The images included are some of my inspiring shots where the use of flowers complimented the entire design of the room.
Want to find even more gorgeous things to add to your spaces? Come shopping with me in Bali for my Buying Tour in August 2019! Click here to find out more!
Creating the perfect dining space is something we can all achieve and guess what?! It doesn’t need to be done with a big budget!
Many families or households don’t take the time to regularly use the dining table as a chance to get together and enjoy a good meal and great company.
Dining spaces can be designed to accommodate each household’s lifestyle and taste. From a small family breakfast table to a large formal dinner, there are no set rules as to what you can and cannot include in your dining space. As long as your end result is a space that feels inviting and comfortable.
Some examples of items you could include in different dining areas could be:
Something traditional or conservative…
a timeless timber table and chairs
timber buffet styled with simple candles and/or vases
Contemporary artwork or mirror
Something modern or eclectic…
a white timber table
colourful chairs
quirky console table styled with plenty of fun personal touches
modern artwork or unique wall feature
Image via House BeautifulImage via Theinspiredroom.netImage via Douglasfriedman.net
With the styling industry ever evolving and many of us wanting to keep up with these changes, we can be pleased to know that sourcing that ‘must have’ item is achievable. The current market caters for all budgets with less expensive items to very costly, it really depends on what you’re after and what you’re wanting to spend.
Either way knowing you can create a space that has been designed and styled specifically for you should mean plenty of enjoyable times will be spent around the dining table, in style!
Do you own your own home staging company? Why not check out our business resources like Standard Operating Procedure templates? They’re the perfect way to improve your processes and procedures!
Recently I have been working with a client that has given me no end of interesting blog topics to bring to you, this one is about how to choose the right “shade of grey”. Each time this client excitedly shows me a new home furnishing or interior element that is grey they often follow up by saying, “but it’s not the right shade of grey, why can I see brown in it?”.
That’s why I’m going to give you my five rules for choosing a shade of grey for my home or client – they are a simple and a great place to start.
1. Decide before you start whether you are wanting the coolness of a blue grey or the warm of a brown grey.
2. Be careful what light you are viewing the swatches under in the shop or showroom. Depending on whether the lighting is a warm yellow or a cool white light will greatly effect the way you see the colour.
3. Remember that the the human eye is not a machine and that the way you view colour is quite subjective. What is a perfect grey to you may be different for your partner.
4. Colour is also relative, when you are viewing what you think is your perfect shade of grey at the paint suppliers it is one of many colours on the paint swatch. The colours along side your choice will impact on how you view and perceive the colour you have chosen. Where possible use a neutral coloured view finder to isolate the one colour of interest to minimise the impact this can have.
5. Finally, consider the final resting place of the colour. All the elements of the room you intend to paint will effect the final product and result of your “shade of grey”. The lighting, the shadows and the colours and furniture around it. Make sure you test the paint on a large size card on the wall (A3 at least) and live with the colour test for a while before making the final decision.
With winter around the corner there is no excuse to put off updating the colour of your favourite space, maybe to a shade of gorgeous grey.
Do you want to come on the shopping trip of a lifetime? Join me for my Bali Buying Tour this August 2019! Click Here to find out more!
Moving house can be such a stressful experience, what with the packing, cleaning and then unpacking all over again!
But with some careful planning, you can make the process run a little smoother. Follow these simple tips to reduce your stress next time you move:
1. Create a simple record keeping system
Whether it’s computer-generated or hand written, be very specific when recording things on this list. What is in each box and where each box needs to go in the new property.
2. You’ll probably need more boxes than you think
Have plenty of boxes around, you’d be surprised how quickly they fill up. If you go through a moving company, keep in mind that any boxes you purchase but don’t use can often be returned for a credit or refund.
3. Last minute essentials
Have at least one box for each room set aside to use for last minute items on moving day, such as bedding, clothing, and cleaning supplies.
4. Protect your breakables
Use unprinted newsprint, packing paper or bubble wrap to wrap and cushion household goods.
5. Designate a colour for each room in the new home
You could use yellow for kitchen, orange for dining room and so forth. Apply coloured stickers on the box near the box number. In your new home, place a matching sticker on the door to each room. This is a simple way for the movers to know where to put everything when they arrive.
6. Keep things together when you or the movers are packing boxes
Keep bookends with books, light bulbs with lamps, and extension cords with appliances. Small, loose parts can be attached to the item they belong to with tape or placed in small envelopes — to keep picture hooks with pictures, shelf brackets with a bookcase, a special wrench and bolts with the wall unit.
7. Get excited!
For all the interiors lovers out there think of all the homewares shopping that will NEED to be done to make sure all your existing things blend with you new home once you have moved in. A great reward after a big job is well done.
Want to do your own homewares shopping? Click Here to come shop in Bali with me for my Buying Tour 2019!
Source gorgeous homewares in Bali for my Bali Buying Trip!
Lets face it, sometimes it’s easier to hide our mess behind closed doors – but I really do love open shelving, for so many reasons!
Luckily, open shelving does not have to look like a cluttered mess. When styled right, it can add so much character and interest to your space that you might want to do away with all your cupboard doors!
Check out these great options below.
Modern Desk Accessories design by West Elm
Don’t think of open shelves the same way you think of storage, it’s not about squeezing in everything you can!
Instead, make your open shelves the feature of your room.
By using simple floating open shelves you can create so many different looks depending on what you accessorise the shelves with.
They can totally be functional too, just a more presentable version of what you’d usually store away!
Want to attend our National Home Staging Symposium before spots run out? Get your tickets below!
Research into home buyer psychology tells us that we have just 30 seconds to make a first impression when selling our home.
So you need to nail the look and feel of your property if you want to sell faster and for more money!
If you want to get prepared before the property stylist comes to perfect your space, here are three things to avoid doing during the process:
Declutter
A lot of clients tell me that their homes feels comparatively empty when it goes to market. This is where the idea of cosy vs clutter comes in.
It’s often difficult to differentiate between the two when it’s your own home, however it’s essential not to get this one wrong. The best rule is to try to avoid the “cosy” look when selling your home. Having too many accessories, personal photographs and other items in an attempt to create “cosy” will actually make the property seem cluttered and lose its appeal to the broader market.
Stick to stylish, understated and sophisticated accessories. There’s a fine line though, you don’t want your property to feel cold – but the property stylist can help you bring in warmth with great styling choices.
Living area styled by Naomi Findlay
Not being able to look past your own personal style
This is an area of great concern when you are styling a property for sale. You have to remember that your personal taste is not necessarily that of the market. When selling, you need to appeal to as many people as possible so remember – when you have your home styled for sale it is not about you (I know that hurts but it will help you when you sell, trust me).
This is why bringing a professional in can be the best thing you could do to increase your chances of selling for more.
Keep your styling neutral
Choosing furniture that is the wrong size for your space
The use of furniture that is too big or the wrong shape can drastically affect the way a potential buyer sees your home. It’s all about scale and making the space feel light and airy. If your bedrooms are small, your choice of furniture could either emphasize the tiny space or completely transform the feeling for a potential buyer.
Your home stager can work with you to choose appropriate furniture if yours is the wrong fit.
Are you a home stager? Want to boost your career? Come to the National Home Staging Symposium! Click below!
Naomi here! I wanted to share this story with you to inspire you!
One day I was sitting in my office looking at the beautiful ‘standard flowering cherry blossom’ that has shed its last leaf and formed the buds that will soon turn into beautiful blossoms. I found myself thinking of all the great things I could use photographs of the such a beautiful tree for. Here are some photos I took and converted them to black and white.
Now imagine them framed and above your bed or at the end of your dining table, creating a stunning effect like in the image below.
Get out your camera or even use your phone and try it, it is a very affordable feature to add to any room!
I hope that inspires you to get creative!
All comments you leave below are read and appreciated so please let me know your thoughts.
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I wanted to share something with you today that I was reading on my phone earlier, so you’ll see me looking at it a little bit. It’s about clutter and money.
There’s an amazing, good friend of mine, as well as an amazing business woman, called Denise Duffield-Thomas from LuckyBitch.com. Go over and check her out. You’ll find the stuff that she does absolutely amazing.
I was reading the morning about this really great piece she wrote about decluttering. I see a lot of home stagers doing some of the things that she talks about in her blog.
You’ll see in here that she talks about clutter and decluttering is great for money manifesting. She goes on to talk about all the different things that maybe we are doing with our clutter.
For example, in our office spaces, are we holding onto a desk someone gave us when we first started our businesses because we feel that we need to have more money or be a bigger business before we then give ourselves another desk?
A little like – and this is a phrase that Denise talks about, as interesting as it sounds – beggars can’t be choosers. “Someone gave me this when I first started business, so I’m going to keep using it.”
I really want you to head over and read this blog because this is absolutely amazing. It speaks about if we’re holding on to some of the things that we were gifted and we feel we have to be grateful for in our businesses, we aren’t opening up opportunities for new energy, new money and new abundance to come in.
I see this a fair bit in home staging. I see it with people’s stock. When I first started and I was getting stock in and I was like, “Wow! My business is growing!”
Then, as I got more and more stock and I wanted to turn it over, there was this ridiculous attachment to the stock that I had first because, “Oh, gosh. I need that. I need to be grateful. That’s where I can from.”
It wasn’t until I had the most epic garage sale that suddenly my business started to flourish. I got rid of all that old stock that was tying me down and that I wasn’t even really using. I was getting a warehouse full of clutter.
This is something that’s really important in home staging.
Look at your stock, look at your inventory and avoid it becoming clutter. It is the main commodity for many home stagers who have higher for making money.
Why do we allow a money making item to become a cluttered item?
Why don’t we cut it loose and allow more space in our warehouse, more space in our energy, more space in our business for abundant stock, customers, clients and agents coming in.
This is one way that I find a lot of the home stagers that I mentor and that are on our memberships are a bit attached to clutter. But I want to share with you from my phone here. I love reading Denise’s stuff.
She had some other great top tips and I wanted to read you some of my favorites about decluttering in the business because it’s so important; just as it’s important in life, it’s essential in business.
The first one is a really great one about unsubscribing to emails that you don’t want anymore. Deleting old contacts out of your phone.
Backing up and cleaning off your computer. If your desktop looks like a mad woman’s breakfast, clean that up. You’ll be amazed at how good it feels.
Shred old documents. Old documents that you don’t’ need, get rid of them. There is no need to have that clutter and store them.
This is a really interesting one: clean up your Facebook feed. It doesn’t mean you have to defriend people or unlike people, but if there’s someone that’s on your feed and you just don’t want to see their stuff anymore, make sure you remove that from your feed.
The other one that I love, which is really interesting is deleting websites and getting rid of the histories in your browsers. That can be really interesting.
Then, one of the last ones that I want to read to you – and this is a great one – is say no to networking groups that have become an obligation and not a joy.
I believe massively, guys, in the five people that we surround ourselves in are the people that we’re going to become and the people that we’re going to be the biggest reflection upon us.
That could also be said for networking groups. Many of us got involved in networking groups, which can become clutter in our calendar and clutter in our life.
Take Denise’s massive inspiration. Head over to LuckyBitch.com. I want you to get on and read this because it’s a really amazing blog.
I want you then to have a look in your warehouses for cluttered stock; I want you to look in your offices for all those things that you feel you should be entitled and that you’re really gifted to have and you need to keep and I want you to look in your computers and in your phones.
Rid yourself of that clutter and that will open up the energy for abundance and more business, more wealth and more opportunity to come your way.
Thanks so much for listening, guys. I’ll be back again soon.
In life we constantly question ourselves and if the decisions we make are the right decisions. Depending on your family and friend situation, the decisions we may can also influence their lives. We question everything from if we really had the best dinner we could have, if we exercised for as long as we could have, if we were as productive at work as we could have been. All these things are questions we ask ourselves all the time. Depending on our answers, we might try harder the next time, or we could have pushed ourselves to the end limit. Regardless, when we keep questioning ourselves over the same thing, at some stage, we will begin to see change.
When it comes to running a business, you question yourself and the decisions you make all that much more. Not only does the decisions you make influence yourself, but it also influences your family, your finances, your career and those you employ. Discovering an effective strategy and way of questioning yourself which always results in successful decision making and successful results is of utmost importance. So, what should you be asking yourself to better yourself as a business owner?
“What am I doing?” I know, this is a big question, but it needs to be asked. What is your business, what is its motto and what is it achieving? If these questions and answers aren’t what you want to hear then it is time to make some changes.
“What are my goals?” This is a great one as we enter the new year! What do you want your business to achieve in the next year, 5 years and 10 years? Where do you see your business going and what changes do you have to make to achieve your goals?
“Who are my competitors and what are they doing?” Knowing your competitor’s business inside out is just as important as knowing your own business. What do they do that is highly successful? Is this successful because of who they are or because of their demographic? How can you incorporate this into your business?
“Who is working for me?” Finding your A-team doesn’t happen over night! Don’t be afraid to reevaluate jobs and those you employ, if someone isn’t doing their job properly then find someone who can.
“What can I outsource?” As the business owner you don’t need to be doing tedious tasks that someone else can do! You can outsource locally or you can look for someone to outsource tasks to from elsewhere, this all depends on what you are comfortable with.
While it is important to constantly be asking yourself these questions, it is also important to sit down every three to six months and have a long think about these questions and what the answers actually are. Doing this regularly to ensure that your business will stay on top of its game and in front of all its competitors.
