Apostle Art Home Staging & Design Blog

Sometimes...OK, often times life surprises you and these "surprises" can often mean change. Well, you know the saying "Change is good" but it doesn't always seem that way, at least not at first. It can actually be down right SCARY!!! So this is a story about a SCARY situation turned good.

Let me start by saying that if you run your own business you have got to read the book "The E -Myth Revisited" by Michael E. Gerber ...Why most small businesses don't work and what to do about it. My business coach gave me this to read and I've gone through it twice already!!

Since I started the Staging portion of my business about 4 and 1/2 years ago, my beloved sister, Cathy, has been right by my side, working through all hours of the day and night, organizing the warehouse packing the truck, moving the furniture, staging, staging, staging!! We are best friends and soul sisters and I could not ask for a better person to work with...we laugh, we cry, we pray, we know each others thoughts with a look...so much is just understood...we are the best team ever and were even dubbed "The Dynamic Duo" on our very first Staging project!!

And then it happened...The day the "E Myth" had foreshadowed!! The day when everything we had worked toward the past 4 years felt like it was about to crumble like corn bread that wasn't cooked right!

See, in the book there is Sarah who owns a pie shop. She is a bit frazzled, worn out, stressed about business and looking for some guidance because she loves her business and wants it to work. Sarah had an assistant who ran the pie shop with her and took good care of so many of the duties that Sarah didn't have time for because she can't do EVERYTHING herself!!! Well...one day unexpectedly, Sarah's assistant tells her that she is moving and will no longer be able to work at the Pie Shop. so...Sarah's world begins to crumble like a badly baked pie crust! What is she to do???

Now, I can say, I know exactly how Sarah felt when my dear sister called me a few weeks ago to tell me she had got offered a full time position in the catering company that she had been temping for in between the staging work we did together. This was a really tough decision for her as she was torn between being always available to stage with me and getting a "regular job" with steady paychecks and benefits....something I could not give her.

So after much prayer and many tears we both knew it was the right thing for her to do but what the heck was I going to do now??? I felt like I was loosing such a big part of myself, my business, my friend, my "soul staging sister" (I will blog more about that and our "spirited" experiences starting tomorrow!) and just at a time when I am excited about growing the company and implementing new strategies to do so!!

How could I ever find someone like her, someone crazy like me, who would work so well and be as much fun?? I felt like the floor had come out from under me... but...Thank God it was short lived because I have been blessed with such a deep, deep trust and faith that God will make things right...He always has and so I have learned to simply put these matters in his hands...He never fails me...not ever. I may not see the plan, I may not understand but trust doesn't need sight nor understanding to work.

So...the Happy ending...

At the beginning of the summer...before this all transpired, I saw a Mom from my kids school who I have been familiar with for the past 7 years or so. Her name is Buffy...fun, energetic, always enthusiastic. She says she had an old Church panel they had salvaged from a Church in Philly and did I want it?...no brainer there... of course I did! So I was supposed to call her to arrange a time to come get it. Well, even though I passed her house about ten times I just never had the time to actually pop in and get it over the summer. So Finally, about 3 weeks ago, I call her up to pick up the panel, I go to her house and she invites me in to see the coffee table she made out of her Church panel. Now, I always knew she was creative and had been in her home before but as we were chatting away and I notice the faux painting that was so well done and asked if she did it...yes, of course she did. All of the sudden...the light bulb went off...

Could she, would she be my new stager???

Ok...summing up a very long story with a very happy ending...Buffy is AWESOME!! She is my new stager and loving every minute of it. She is truly a natural. I put her right to work, didn't even need to train her... can you imagine??!! We staged our first property together last week and she was incredible! She also helped me pack a second job that I ended up staging with my sister at the weekend because we are crazy like that and she is still on board to work when she is not on the catering clock. So really, I didn't loose much but gained a whole lot. Now I have 2 awesome stagers!!

I will still miss having Cathy on some of the jobs as we do have a "special calling" ( Check my blog tomorrow for more on that!) but she will ALWAYS be my Soul Sister!

 and to Buffy...

You rock...WELCOME TO OUR STAGING WORLD!!