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Ask The Stagers: Connect to Home Staging Advice

An online platform where users can ask questions, connect with home stagers and stage efficiently.

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Ask The Stagers: Connect to Home Staging Advice

Ask The Stagers: Connect to Home Staging Advice

Ask The Stagers: Connect to Home Staging Advice

Ask The Stagers: Connect to Home Staging Advice

Ask The Stagers: Connect to Home Staging Advice

An online platform where users can ask questions, connect with home stagers and stage efficiently.

An online platform where users can ask questions, connect with home stagers and stage efficiently.

An online platform where users can ask questions, connect with home stagers and stage efficiently.

An online platform where users can ask questions, connect with home stagers and stage efficiently.

Barbara Brock
Barbara Brock
Barbara Brock
Barbara Brock
1 Campaign |
New York, United States
$21,280 USD 35 backers
35% of $60,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal

Setting the Stage

Hello! My name is Barbara Brock, and I'm the founder of Ask The Stagers. For over 35 years, I've sold, designed and styled properties for sale all over the United States. I currently own and operate Sold with Style, a high-end staging firm in New York City.

Over the years, I've been fortunate to appear on a number of television shows. Perhaps you've seen me on Bravo's Million Dollar Listing: New York, as well as Selling New York on HGTV (and then again, perhaps not!) (And yes, that's really me up there!)

I've worked with many of the top brokerage firms in New York City: Barbara Corcoran of Corcoran Group, hundreds of esteemed agents with Brown, Harris, Stevens, Douglas Elliman, Halstead and Stribling, just to name a few. I've also been a leader in the NYC chapter of the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA).
My work has appeared in dozens of industry publications, including Better Homes & Garden, New York Living Magazine, Real Estate Weekly, the Wall Street Journal and even the New York Times Real Estate Section.
Now, I'm looking to bring one of my biggest staging ideas to life: an innovative online platform that connects professional stagers to brokers, sellers and other relocation experts everywhere. My goal is simple: for home sellers to sell their properties for the highest possible price in the shortest amount of time. Ask The Stagers is a new tool to help home sellers and real estate professionals achieve that goal.
I am constantly seeking ways to increase a seller's return on their investment.

Our Appeal & Appealing Perks

I'm asking for $60,000.00 to get Ask The Stagers off the ground and into the cloud, so to speak. Every dime contributed will go into building a brand new platform that is robust enough to house and manage thousands of user-submitted queries and photos. I also want it to be accessible across a number of devices while maintaining top-notch security.

Ask The Stagers isn't just a simple forum, a message board or a social profile; it's all those things, plus much more. At its core, Ask The Stagers is fundamentally a tool to help people sell their homes quickly for the greatest price. By hiring an external web firm to design and develop the platform from the ground up, I'll be able to ensure that it functions smoothly and durably.
I envision Ask The Stagers as a powerful tool with a simple, elegant interface.  Users will log in and ask a question using a sleek, clean form.  They will be able to upload photos of their space, too.  On the other end of the platform, our vetted directory of stagers will receive the opportunity to answer questions, sharing their knowledge of staging best practices.  Each stager will have a profile to share more about their style, qualifications and work.
Ultimately, Ask The Stagers is going to help sellers and brokers as well as staging professionals. To this aim, I'll be offering a number of unique perks throughout the campaign. These include:

  • Free Ask The Stagers memberships, available when as soon as we launch. Check our Perks section for more details on availability and terms.
  • An exclusive e-book by yours truly, delivered at the completion of the campaign.
  • One-on-one "Stage Coach" video consultations with me, scheduled within a week of the campaign's conclusion.
  • A two-day in-person staging adventure, where I come to you and help you get a property in order, scheduled within two weeks of the campaign's end.
What if this campaign doesn't quite reach our goal of $60,000? Hopefully, it won't come to that.  But if it does, I'll still be moving forward with Ask The Stagers through a combination of investment sources.  That's my promise.

Believe Me

If I didn't believe in the power of staging and its value to selling property, I wouldn't be building this platform. The sale of real estate has changed. Staging has become 50% of the selling equation, with Condition, Presentation, Pricing and Marketing making up the four cornerstones of selling real estate.  This is what I've learned over the years.

Putting my experience aside, look at the facts, courtesy of HomeGain.com:

Ask The Stagers isn't just about benefiting one stakeholder or another.  It's about helping everyone involved in the transition of property:

  • Stagers get access to a vast network of potential clients, answering their questions and building up their own professional reputations along the way.
  • Brokers and homeowners sell their properties faster with the help of a qualified pool of local stagers. Additionally, those who only need to stage a small space or an awkward room can save a tremendous amount of money by asking just a few simple questions rather than hiring stagers for a full project.
  • Other relocation support services (such as movers and mortgage brokers) see enhanced business thanks to faster, more reliable real estate transactions.

Lessening the Risk of Getting Upstaged

Just as professional home staging cannot guarantee that a property sells, I realize that Ask The Stagers, like all new ventures, faces some risks. Perhaps the campaign won't quite reach its goal.  Or maybe someone else will beat me to market.  Real estate is a nutty industry where anything can happen, after all.

But I've done my research to mitigate many of the risks I could think of.  This is just part of my character as a successful business owner and entrepreneur.  A few examples follow:

  • Staging is a transactional business, and as such, the targets are always shifting every time a property sells. True, for sellers. But not as much for brokers or stagers. The key is creating a platform that speaks to all stakeholders and brings everyone value in some form or another.  That's exactly what I've got planned for Ask The Stagers.
  • Other platforms connect you to experts already.  But none of them connect users to stagers.  That's the key difference with Ask The Stagers; my team and I verify and check each and every stager who wants to join our network.  Without the right certifications and credentials, it's impossible to join Ask The Stagers.
  • Someone else beats Ask The Stagers to the market with a very similar offering. It could happen, but I doubt it. First of all, I'm very well-connected in the staging industry.  If someone else has been mulling this idea, I'd likely have caught wind of it already.  Secondly, no one else will have quite as robust a network as mine--and as such, their offering won't quite match the level of expertise you'll come to expect from Ask The Stagers.

Final Arrangements

If you're ready to contribute, or if you've already contributed: thank you, sincerely and truly.  It means the world to me that you believe in Ask The Stagers, and I cannot wait to share my realized vision with you in early 2016.  One way or another, I will launch this platform--mark my words! 

And even if you can't contribute, don't fret; we know it's not always feasible.  But would you consider sharing a link to our campaign with your associates, friends and family?  I'd so tremendously appreciate that!

Again, thank you for your interest in Ask The Stagers.  If you ever have any questions or would like to speak with me about it, please do check out the website at askthestagers.com.

All the very best,

-Barbara Brock

Founder, Ask The Stagers

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Choose your Perk

Stage Now

$7 USD
Receive an answer to any one home staging question from Ask The Stagers founder and celebrity staging expert Barbara Brock. Question form will be delivered via email within 24 hours of contribution, with custom answer and staging advice provided within 48 hours of receipt of the question. Questions may include photographs; answers will be provided via email.
0 out of 1000 of claimed
Ships worldwide.

Share the Stage

$15 USD
For real estate brokers and agents, Ask The Stagers will share one property listing across all its social networks for one month. Listings will be shared twice weekly (for four weeks) on Twitter, once weekly (for four weeks) on Facebook and once monthly via its newsletter. Delivery period begins within 24 hours of contribution receipt.
1 out of 750 of claimed

Staging Supporter

$25 USD
Two months of Ask The Stagers service FREE for professional stagers (a $40 value), or 10 questions FREE for non-stagers (a $50 value).
Estimated Shipping
March 2016
1 out of 150 of claimed
Ships worldwide.

Staging Connoisseur

$75 USD
Six months of listings in the Ask The Stagers directory FREE for professional stagers (an $120 value).
Estimated Shipping
March 2016
0 out of 75 of claimed
Ships worldwide.

Ultimate Stager

$135 USD
One year of Ask The Stagers service for FREE for professional stagers (a $200 value).
Estimated Shipping
March 2016
1 out of 50 of claimed
Ships worldwide.

Speak with the Stager

$500 USD
A one-hour virtual staging consultation with founder Barbara Brock, conducted via video call (a $1000 value).
Estimated Shipping
September 2015
4 out of 10 of claimed
Ships worldwide.

Take the Stage

$10,000 USD
A two-day in-person staging consultation with founder Barbara Brock, anywhere in the United States or Canada. Excludes staging, which can be arranged at the time of consultation. Also includes permanent placement as a trusted resource on the Ask The Stagers website and directory, plus a link to the contributor's own site (a $20,000 value).
Estimated Shipping
September 2015
0 out of 3 of claimed
Ships to United States of America, Canada
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