Introducing Dwell Home Staging's Kristy Craig Anderson

Introducing Kristy Craig Anderson with Dwell Home Staging, serving the Tampa Bay, Florida area.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN BUSINESS?
We have been in business for 3 and half years.

ARE YOU SOLO OR HAVE A TEAM?
We have a team of 8 wonderful staging professionals!

DESCRIBE ANY SPECIFIC CHALLENGES YOU ARE FACING.
We recently moved into a much larger warehouse and brought our moving and logistics in-house with our own 26 ft truck. We are struggling a bit with perfecting processes and procedures for storage, moving, and inventory tracking. It’s a lot of trial and error…..It is a work in progress!

WHAT GOT YOU INTO STAGING IN THE FIRST PLACE?
Growing up my amazing mom – who was very young and put herself through college while working full-time and raising me – pushed me to work hard, be independent, and follow my own path. We moved from one small apartment to another – sometimes once or twice a year – and she allowed me to decorate each so they would feel like home to us. I used blankets as curtains, painted shoe box tops for artwork… I learned first-hand how the aesthetics of a space creates an impactful emotional experience and determines how “at home” we feel there. As an adult I began interior decorating as a hobby and then as a small side business, and then in 2014 tried my hand at home staging as the Tampa real estate market was so hot. It grew so quickly that within 6 months I left my amazing former career in education and started staging full-time.

WHAT WAS YOUR PREVIOUS CAREER?
I was a middle school teacher and Assistant Principal for 12 years. Staging is quite different!

WHAT DO YOU KNOW NOW THAT YOU WISHED YOU KNEW ON YOUR FIRST DAY OF BUSINESS?
That screwing up royally is how you become a business owner rockstar. I’ve learned the most about how to be a better designer, leader, and entrepreneur through many painful and sometimes hysterical mistakes.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR BIGGEST BUSINESS CHALLENGE AND HOW DID YOU OVERCOME IT?
My biggest challenge was growing very quickly. It sounds ridiculous (like, “Oh, poor her…. the business grew too quickly…waaaaah”), but the pace of the first couple of years was tough…. a team of 2, multiple vacant stages a week, renting furniture from a vendor and traipsing back and forth to our warehouse with a trailer for decor…working through the night and still not being able to take all the business coming our way. For me, the solution was partnering with a group of business owners/investors. They brought much-needed strategic insight and capital to the business, and we were able to expand our team and resources so we can keep up with demand. Partnering is not for everyone, but for me it has been fantastic.

WHAT OBJECTION HAVE YOU HEARD FROM A CLIENT AND HOW DID YOU OVERCOME IT?
We sometimes get pushback on pricing when prospects get other staging quotes that are cheaper. We need to consistently sell our value and illustrate to prospective clients that comparing a $900 vacant quote and a $2000 vacant quote is not comparing apples to apples. We are more expensive because we have a higher quality product.

See more of Kristy’s work on her Facebook page and Instagram page.

We love seeing all your beautiful work, so remember to tag #stagingstudiofav on Instagram for a chance to be featured!

If you want to learn more tips and staging strategies, try our FREE Design Series!