February 2022 | HSRA Monthly Member Publication

HOME STAGING & REDESIGN ALLIANCE

Publication

FEBRUARY 2022

COVER PHOTO COURTESY OF: JANA & TIM USELTON MODEL MY HOME STAGING & REDESIGN

IN iTHIS ss ue

03

FROM THE DESK OF JANA USELTON HSRA FOUNDER: JANA USELTON

09

FAILURE IS NOT FINAL

HSRA FOUNDER: JANA USELTON

23

ARE YOU CONNECTED

HSRA STAGING BUSINESS ADVISOR: JENNIFER GAINER

BOOK OF THE MONTH

06

INCREASE SPEED

HSRA DIGITAL DIRECTOR: JILL JOHNSON

17

SIMPLE HACKS TO GROW YOUTUBE HSRA CONTENT EDITOR: KIM DIAMANTE

27

WE BECOME WHAT WE ADMIRE HSRA VP OF OPERATION: LAURIE GRAHAM

HOME STAGING & REDESIGN ALLIANCE

From the desk of n o t l e s U a n a J

Wow, what an incredible

personally, professionally,

start to an incredible new

and financially. If you have

year. Hopefully, you have

not been plugged into

had a great start as well.

what we were doing at HSRA, I want to encourage

We have so many things

you to get plugged in. My

to be excited about,

goodness, we have so many

opportunities

grow with our partners

to

and local providers.

You know great people hang around with other

Also, we're going to be

great people, big thinkers

unveiling a national play

hang around with other

when it comes to short-

big thinkers. So if you feel

term rentals; making sure

like you missed out a little

that

have

bit in 2021, or in years

someone to depend on,

past, this is your year to

and that's going to be

get involved.

our

hosts

their HSRA family.

Make

a

commitment

What is your company

today that you are going

doing this year that defies

to:

the normal in your life and in

the

life

of

your

business? We want this to be an incredible, defining

be different, think differently,

year for you! The best

and do different

thing we can encourage

things.

and advise you to do is get plugged in.

HOME STAGING & REDESIGN ALLIANCE

I guarantee you we are going to be doing different things.

We're going to be thinking differently. We're going to be in different rooms. That's something you can just plug into.

You don't have to do it alone. You don't have to do it by yourself - plug into what HSRA is doing. Learn, share and grow with us! So we can all do big, great things together.

We look forward to seeing you grow along with us.

n o t l e s U a n a J xoxo-

be different, think differently, and do different things.

HOME STAGING & REDESIGN ALLIANCE

INCREASE SPEED WITHOUT COMPROMISING QUALITY

Jill Johnson DIGITAL DIRECTOR

INCREASE SPEED WITHOUT COMPROMISING QUALITY

Jill Johnson DIGITAL DIRECTOR

If you have ever had to choose between speed or quality, the frustration is real! We hear you, and agree that is not the way it should be!

I’m so excited to bring each of you a quick tutorial of a way you can increase your speed with follow-ups without having to compromise the quality of them. We all know that follow-ups are the key to many, many closed deals which is why I wanted to share this with you.

If you are using HubSpot, or are thinking of using it, sequences are going to be one of your best friends. They make it easy to send a personalized email at the click of a button to the masses.

In this demo, I am going to share how to create a sequence, what needs to be included in it, how to enroll specific contacts, and much more.

INCREASE SPEED WITHOUT COMPROMISING QUALITY

press play

Let’s make 2022 the year of the best follow-ups.

Schedule a HubSpot discovery call with me by booking a meeting here: https://meetings.hubspot.com/jill-myhsra/discovery-call-with-jill-

FAILURE IS NOT FINAL This month, several of our key business leaders within HSRA attended the 10X Ladies Conference in Miami. There were so many take-aways from all of the incredible speakers, and we all walked away with copious notes and deposits that have changed our lives forever.

n o t l e s U a n a xoxo-J

Lisa Copeland, who joined us for this past Home Staging & Real Estate Summit, shared "4 Signs of Fear" that stop us in our tracks. See if you can relate to any of these.

PERFECTION SETTLING PROCRASTINATION NUMBING Let's start with Perfection.

If we are always in the mode of making sure everything is perfect before we act, we

will

miss

opportunities.

out We

on

numerous

must

recognize

perfection is a sign of fear. In business, perfection will never be reached.

Once we realize this concept, we can move forward knowing that failure is not final. We test key services, hire new staff,

create

new

processes,

and

continuously improve from there. The lesson learned here is to not let perfection forward.

keep

you

from

moving

Next is Settling.

One definition of settling is “to discontinue moving and come to rest in one place”. Settling is definitely a sign of fear.

I’ve also experienced this state in my life.

“Don’t stand out.”

“Don’t rock the boat.”

“This is good enough.”

“Just be OK with where you are.”

Do you relate to this selftalk? What thoughts do you have

that

give

you

permission to settle? We are afraid to stand out or do something bigger because we do not want others to criticize or wrongly judge us.

Once we have confidence and mentors to model after, settling is not an option.

It’s time to stand out and stand up so we can impact others and give them the confidence to do something greater than living by default.

How about Procrastination?

Has procrastination been part of your life in some form like it has in mine? Maybe it was the big project in school or an influential client you needed to call. Whatever we tend to procrastinate on, we know it is a sign of fear lived out through inaction. Putting aside all things that we know we must do or that will benefit us and others delays success. Lean in and give yourself a deadline before the true deadline to stop the lastminute stress we create.

Several books talk about this concept and one is The 5 Second Rule by Mel Robbins.

Say no to procrastination and put those big, scary projects that will benefit you the most at the beginning of your day when you have a clear mind and the energy to accomplish them. Eat that Frog by Brian Tracy is another great book to support this concept.

Say no to fear in this area and realize that procrastinating is delaying success.

Lisa’s final sign of fear that she discussed was the habit of Numbing ourselves. Numbing is described as “depriving

oneself

of

feeling

or

responsiveness”. For some, their reality is painful. It is easier for them to retract during painful times in their lives instead of facing it head-on and working towards solutions. They add negative habits and substances to numb the pain. This can look different for so many people,

but

we

know

immediately

dealing with what is holding us back and keeping us afraid is the only solution. It also helps grow our activation muscle to confront difficult situations and find solutions that solve the problems for ourselves and others who experience similar situations. When we can apply root-cause analysis to any pain or situation, we know our goal is to solve problems quickly and fight through discomfort without creating weeks and months of derailment. .

Lisa also shared that about 6% of what we fear and/or worry about ever truly happens in our lives. We can learn from this and move forward confidently in our business and also be examples for our teammates. When a teammate can look at you and see that you are moving forward in spite of fear and discomfort and gaining ground into new levels of success, you are leading them well and they can also have the courage to move forward! This also flows into our personal lives in our relationships with friends and family.

We hope you can join us for the next 10X Ladies event, and the Home Staging & Real Estate Summit where Lisa will be sharing once again. We love when our worlds of Real Estate, Staging, Design, and Short Term Rentals collide to form massive support and success for each other. We are looking forward to a year of massive action and less fear. Let’s make it happen!

n o t l e s U a n a xoxo-J

2- Day Interactive STR Master Training Workshop

LIVE STR tour with Jana Thursday | May 12 - Attend the interactive portion of the workshop.

Tour live short-term rental properties and get ideas for your own

SIGN UP NOW

ATTEND THIS 2-DAY INTERACTIVE SHORT-TERM RENTAL MASTER TRAINING WORKSHOP WITH HSRA, THE HOME STAGING, AND REDESIGN ALLIANCE.

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2022 - 1:00 PM TO 5:00 PM FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2022 - 8:30AM TO 4:30PM HSRA TRAINING CENTER: 2550 114TH ST #170, GRAND PRAIRIE, TX 75050 THIS MASTER TRAINING WORKSHOP IS OPEN TO MEMBERS AND NON-MEMBERS OF HSRA. MEMBERS WILL RECEIVE $100 OFF, USE CODE: STRMEMBER

MASTER TRAINING WORKSHOP Friday | May 13, 2022 - Attend the Master Training Workshop all day with the best of the best

GROWTH GDP | MENTORSHIP Experience the Growth Development Program with daily mentorship and Squad placement.

INCLUDES: Coach & Private Group shared with up to 10 Business Owners.

ISSUE 192

MY BUSINESS GREW

HANA LATYN | EURO STAGING

MY BUSINESS GREW

MELISSA MANNING | HEARTLAND REVEAL

MY BUSINESS GREW

ASHLEY CHERRY | STAGING THE NEST

MY TEAM GREW

JEANNE WESTMORELAND | CLASSIC STAGING

MY BUSINESS GREW

JILL JOHNS | TRANSFORMATION BY JILL

180%

100% 50%

The GDP program gave me all of the tools and confidence to launch my business. The continued support from HSRA and from my peers has been crucial.

Completing and implementing GDP has been such a huge benefit for my company and our team. We bonded as a team, learned and implemented best practices per department, and our team members not only improved but began owning their department and became truly accountable!

DESIGNER SONYA BUNGGI

30%

COPYRIGHT ©2022

50%

GDP has turned around not only my business performance but also helped me to be a better leader to my team. I highly recommend this program to anyone who wants to improve performance on all levels of home staging business.

I absolutely believe that the GDP program was fantastic for our team. GDP helped us re-examine so many different aspects of our business and were able to grow together as a whole unit instead of as individual people. I absolutely recommend the GDP program to every one of our colleagues.

The growth development program was such a great educational tool for me and my team. We were able to tighten up administrative processes and procedures, educate our team on specific skills and duties, while giving me a bigger vision to look forward to.

HOME STAGING & REDESIGN ALLIANCE

Simple Hacks To Grow Your YouTube Kim Diamante| Content Editor

Okay, be honest. Chances are you feel that you are not taking full advantage of YouTube as a business tool. At some point, you are uploading videos but not really optimizing them for search engine visibility or using all the features available to help you reach your target market. Around 720,000 hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube daily. That is a lifetime of watching just YouTube. How are we gonna compete with all these? You need to get people's attention, and here are a few tips on how to get there.

COLORS AND LOGOS Let’s just say one day you see McDonald's logo is blue and Chick-Fil-A is violet - you would know something is off. The moment someone visits your homepage, they need to know what kind of channel you are. Incorporating your colors, logos, and tagline help build the brand, loyalty, and trust. Sometimes, your faithful viewers don’t remember the actual video, but with good branding, they can immediately recognize your channel. Intro footage is a good one to connect to viewers, having an outro and end screen would be a good catch, too.

MUSIC AND AUDIO Do they matter? Well, imagine watching the recent “Spider-Man: No Way Home” with a classical background like Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, better known as the "Moonlight Sonata'', instead of the original soundtrack's rousing "Shield of Pain". It is just wrong. Music sets the mood of viewers. Your music should tell a story, too. With a clean voice-over, perfect timing of cuts, and audio, they should have a great impact. Just a REMINDER, make sure you are legally allowed to use that specific music.

HOME STAGING & REDESIGN ALLIANCE

CONTINUE READING ON PAGE 20

THE MOST CRITICAL PART About 20% of people leave after the first 10 seconds.

It’s crucial! So instead of making a boring intro, grab their attention right away. Persuade them to stay on your channel, let them know what to expect from the video, and anticipate how it will affect them. Build trust and connection, let them know that your video is high in value and that they should see it.

IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT CREATIVE WORDS Can you still remember that college classmate who always tried too hard and never made sense? Yes, the one who spoke loads of flowery words with no substance or key point? Their empty words ended up resolving nothing.

You must have a compelling title. But you need to pick appropriate keywords that can get you volume but are less competitive. Everyone is fighting for the top spots. With all the trends, new products, new services, new funny videos, new

tutorials, everything competes for people's attention, so you have to stand out. In writing a description, experts say that Google gives more weight to the first 200 words. Usually, the first 200 words of an article are where writers set up the introduction, and most

people

only

continue

reading

if

the

introduction is good, so that could be a ranking factor as well. If you have optimization tools for YouTube such as TubeBuddy and VidIQ, that would be a game-changer. These tools give you an SEO score for your description and title.

At one point in September 2021, HSRA's YouTube channel had just 94 subscribers with paltry 5,345 views. Recently, we started using an app called TubeBuddy. The views increased dramatically, and now we have reached 7,482 views as of February 2022 with an additional 55 subscribers. While the numbers are not dramatic, forward momentum is what you need!

MAKE IT CLICKABLE Think of your thumbnail as a teaser for your video.

Don’t expose everything, just give enough gist to arouse interest. Make sure to use high-quality images with bright colors and high contrast images.

Include a close-up human face, implement “rule of thirds” whenever possible, ensure text is large enough to read on any device, be consistent with your brand, and avoid confusing or misleading content. Try it, you will get a high click-through rate.

FILE NAME MATTERS Obviously, the YouTube algorithm doesn’t actually watch your video, but it can read the file name. So the next time around when you upload a video, update the file name to make sure it is relevant to your targeted keyword, who knows, it may go viral.

HOME STAGING & REDESIGN ALLIANCE

RE-PURPOSE, not just your footage There are so many tips and tricks, this publication cannot contain all the topics. So, to end this right, let me say this -- I don’t know where you are on your YouTube journey. You might have 10 subscribers, or you’ve recently hit the 1 million mark. At the end of the day, your purpose for making videos matters.

There is no better motivation than knowing your direction. REcollect your thoughts, REmember your motives, and REmind yourself of your true PURPOSE. Jana has a favorite saying, “We do not want to stay small, because if we stay small, then we’re only gonna have a small impact,” that’s why we expand our reach through YouTube.

How about you? What are your thoughts?

- Kim

HOME STAGING & REDESIGN ALLIANCE

JENNIFER GAINER

staging buisness advisor

pressplay

What are three things that every Home Staging and Redesign business owner needs and wants?

Connection. Inspiration. Direction.

These are the words that have been repeated in conversations I have been privileged to have with many of you over the past few months.

We have come through a REALLY tough few years. Many have come out more resilient than ever, but even the best of us are feeling a bit battle weary.

HOME STAGING & REDESIGN ALLIANCE

Do you fully realize how much you have access to with your HSRA membership? ALL of the things you long for are wrapped up in an amazing package - but you do have to engage to see the benefits at work in all aspects of your business, and in your life.

We offer connection - on so many levels. Jana is daily putting herself in rooms to connect with the best of the best in the Real Estate industry; allowing us, as a team, to bring you the latest and greatest news, updates, and opportunities! Where would many of us be if she had not paved the way for us into the STR space? And what lies on the horizon - we can only dream bigger and higher!!

FLY HIGHER, DREAM BIGGER, AND NEVER SETTLE!

HOME STAGING & REDESIGN ALLIANCE

On a business/personal level -

help you set the vision for your

we offer connections through

future - in 1 year, 3 years, even

the “Members Only” facebook

5 years. Then we want to

page, through events, through

connect with you - to inspire

calls

you to see all the potential

with

our

team,

and

encourage you to engage with

around

other business owners and

creativity

build lasting relationships. Ask

remember WHY you started

anyone who has been an HSRA

your business to begin with!

member for several years, who

And direction - my goodness!!

has plugged in and attended

If you need it, we have a

events, and made connections

module for it! And if we don’t

with

others

To

and

embrace fun,

and

it

has

have the module, just let us

lives

and

know and we will make one for

business. They will tell you

it! Seriously, there is SO much

about

information

impacted

how

you.

their

more

than

business

and

connections and partnerships.

already

They

lasting

timeless, and rest assured that

friendships and bonds that

great info will not stop flowing!

cannot be understood by those

But you have to watch and/or

outside our industry!

listen to learn! If you want to

have

formed

provided

training that

is

get fit - you gotta commit!!

We work hard to offer constant inspiration - to encourage you

We are here for you - to rejoice

to fly higher, dream bigger, and

with you as you soar and fly!

NEVER SETTLE! Our goal is to

Great things are in store in 2022 - Jennifer Gainer

WE BECOME WHAT WE ADMIRE. VP of Operation

WE BECOME WHAT WE ADMIRE! Setting the example for our employees.

If you asked me right now who is one of the people I admire most in my life I would quickly answer Jana Uselton, not just because she is the “Boss”, or the “Business

Owner”

but

because she is a fierce, relentless, trustworthy

honorable, leader

who

never gives up even when the odds are stacked against her. She is passionate in her pursuit of learning as much as she can for our industry and making time to share the information with you. I have

grown

so

much

professionally being part of Model My Home and HSRA over the last 5 years.

" SHE IS A FIERCE,

RELENTLESS, HONORABLE, TRUSTWORTHY LEADER WHO NEVER GIVES UP EVEN WHEN THE ODDS ARE STACKED AGAINST HER.

"

"I HAVE BEEN CHALLENGED AND

PUSHED TO BE BETTER, TO LEARN MORE, TO WORK HARDER

"

I have been challenged and pushed to be better, to learn more, to work harder and that is all because of the culture and expectation Jana has set for our team by being the example. How many of you reading this can honestly say that your employees would answer the question, “who is someone you admire” with your name? I honestly am not sure if my team would say me, however, each day I strive to inspire, encourage and be a good example of what Jana has taught and shown me over the years.

SETTING THE EXAMPLE FOR OUR EMPLOYEES

Here are a few of my biggest takeaways in managing people over the last 20 years and specifically how I have seen the growth in Model My Home and HSRA.

Leadership(Owner/Manager) must set the culture and

be watching and listening to

climate/environment in the

what you do and say and mimic

office.

it when you are not there.

If you want a high energy, positive

environment,

then

you must bring the energy

perform?

Job descriptions; processes and procedures must be clear and concise and understood by your team and even better written out. (This will help with course correction later.)

conversations to be in your office? of

the

conversations in the office professional, encouraging and positive is so important.

you speak negatively about a it is highly likely they will be saying things much worse when you are not around.

Never course correct a staff member in front of other staff, these conversations should be private and done away from others.

What do you want the

all

Never allow your staff to hear client, if they hear you saying it,

How do you want them to

Keeping

Employees are always going to

Accountability is key to true growth in your company.

Holding your staff accountable for their agreements with your company will be your saving grace in building your empire.

There is a definite difference

Making

between expecting your staff

employees

to do something and having

potential in them will also show

them sign an agreement that

them that they are valued and

they will do something. (See

that there is an opportunity for

#2

them to grow.

-

written

agreements,

time when

to

coach you

see

processes and procedures) It is a

lot

harder

to

hold

FUN! Who doesn’t want to

someone accountable based

work in a place that is fun?

on an expectation, however

It is important to have fun with

holding them accountable

your staff, to laugh, and do

for something they agreed to

retreats and outings with them

is much easier and puts the

so that they can see a little bit

responsibility

of your personal life, something

instead

of

on

them

you.

(ex.“You

agreed you would do this” VS “I expected you to do this”. ) An

open

door

and

coaching give your team more!

Communicating

to

your

team that you have an opendoor policy and look forward to them coming to you with ideas

and

empower

solutions them

to

will take

ownership of your company.

that is relatable to them.

DO

NOT

become

however

ever

create growth in Model My

or

Home and HSRA over the

uncontrolled

unethical at any time around

last 2 years.

your staff. They will take this as an approval to copy the

None of us start growing a

same behavior

team

because

we

want

people to admire us, we MAKE

THAT

MONEY!

(aka Business Growth)

start

growing

a

team

because of a need we need to meet. However, to truly

It has been my experience

grow a strong successful

that

business, you are going to

when

you

combine

these previous elements into

need

your business model, making

potential and people who

that money, scaling & growth

are full of potential and

is a natural by-product of the

those people are going to

environment, expectation,

look to you for approval and

agreements,

encouragement. The result

and

accountability,

coaching

you

people

who

have

have

of that will be a rockstar

created. I have personally

team that admires you, the

witnessed this exact model

rockstar leader!

ELEVATE YOUR HSRA MEMBERSHIP

IN 2022!

TRAINING FOR YOUR TEAM!

INCLUDE YOUR TEAM IN XL TRAINING EACH MONTH! XL MEMBERS WILL HAVE THE OPTION TO INCLUDE THEIR TEAM MEMBERS IN A MONTHLY TRAINING SPECIFICALLY FOR THEM ON: MARKETING: 1ST TUESDAY OF THE MONTH 2PMCST OPERATIONS: 2ND TUESDAY OF THE MONTH 2PM CST SALES: 3RD TUESDAY OF THE MONTH 9AM CST SERVICES: 4TH TUESDAY OF THE MONTH 9AM CST

DESIGNATIONS Register at: myhsra.com/designations

$9.99 Please place postage here

CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS HSRA INC. 2550 114th St. Suite 170 Grand Prairie, TX 75050 855.85. STAGE myhsra.com | info@myhsra.com