Hey Folks! Full transparency: for the past year, I haven’t been writing my blogs alone.
I have always enjoyed my work in staging and organizing. Recently, I identified an aspect that excites me no matter what service I am providing at the time: Collaboration. Working together with a client or another stager to find solutions is a great feeling. When each party sets aside ego and contributes to the goal, the best ideas and solutions are achieved.
Staging requires an understanding of design and understanding of the buyer’s perspective. When working with another stager, the process becomes more efficient and fun. Verbalizing our goals for how a space should look and feel for the potential homebuyer is an important aspect of TLC Home’s success in staging We choose what design elements will enhance the features of the house and how to go about achieving our goals together. This collaboration often times creates a more beautiful and welcoming space than either of us could create on our own.
Organizing is even more collaborative. When I first talk with a client I let them know my one goal for our work: To get your best solution out of you. The hardest part of starting an organizing project is accepting help. My job is to work with my client, not tell them what to do. The beginning stages of organizing can seem tedious. Categorizing each object as you go through a room can be time consuming and not particularly creative. The fun begins when you start honing containing and systems solutions. Collaboration allows me to see how my client thinks and offer ideas that we can tailor into custom organizing solutions.By the end of our time together, each client will have created their own unique systems. It further helps clients to recognize that we are creating systems that will not just get them organized, but keep them organized.
My work doesn’t end when an organizing session is over or a house is staged. Facebook posts have to be posted, speeches and seminars have to be prepared, and blogs need to be written. For these tasks, I have continued to collaborate. My daughter Tess has been working with me for a little over a year. I have ideas and experience, but collaboration has made the process more enjoyable and efficient. Tess helps to organize my thoughts and provides a polished finish to our blogs.
It is a release to admit when something is not a skill set. It allows you to own the skills that you do have and find ways to compensate. Working together has allowed me to blog more frequently because what took me three or four hours alone, takes thirty minutes when we work together.
Our collaboration has gone on long enough that when discussing the idea for this blog, we expressed the same thought at the same time!When I pinpointed on that common element between the different aspects of my work, I decided it was time to acknowledge our writing partnership. Give credit where credit is due.
Terry & Tess
Terry founded TLC Home, LLC in 2008 as a Professional Organizer logging hundreds of hours helping individuals get comfortable and functional in their homes. Terry knows how to make a home attractive too! She soon added staging to her services and became an ASP certified Stager in 2012. 
