Home Staging for the Chinese
QUESTIONI really appreciate your books (Silver Combo Training), which are what I have been looking for! And you are the best of all! And I read most of Rich Dad books, but I still learned a lot from your book about business.
I live in Toronto and have a B.A degree of Visual Arts from Canada, and I am the first and only HomeStager in the Chinese community right now, and Toronto has almost 5,000,000 Chinese.
I see I am standing in certain advantage in terms of starting early, but the challenge is: although their houses are in big need of being staged, this homestaging idea still not be accepted or recognized yet, and most people don't want to pay any for that, even though my service charging is really low compare to the local market. I have to do a lot of education by writing articles in community newspapers and giving seminars.
I have another choice, is to move to Chicago, and there are not much Chinese as in Toronto. But I think I can try to do for other communities. (My boyfriend is there)What would you suggest in this situation? Does it worth me to try in Toronto? Or you think Chicago has better business potential?
ANSWER
Whoa, I'm totally afraid I can't advise anyone on where to live and work. I can say this, however.
I grew up in Japan and visit there every year because I have a mother and brother living there still. While I don't know much about Chinese people, they are still Asian in their thought and practice. They will probably always have much different thinking on homes than Caucasians. It would be a tough sell to the Japanese culture, though I have done one home for a Japanese lady in Japan.
They may also have religious reasons, perhaps borne out of Feng Shui or Buddhism that contradict American interior design concepts. There could be resistance there for that reason too.
And as you say, they are probably strong savers and guarded about spending money. They are also typically pretty traditional in their thinking. If you had any chance at all, I would venture to say it would be with younger generations rather than older and whether their homes were Canadianized or Americanized rather than Asian styling.
Your best bet is the press release and seminar route, whether you stay where you are or move, no matter what culture you're speaking to. Try to get into some Chinese organizations and make friends first without any thought to what you might gain. Get to know the most influential people there. Offer to do a home free in exchange for referrals. Offer to do a home free for a real estate agent working heavily in the community. Many times all it takes is for one agent to believe in you, then others find out and suddenly you're hard at work. You have to break down that natural resistance first, however. It will take time.
Thank you for the kind remarks about the training. Much appreciated.
posted by Barbara Jennings @ 8:58 AM
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