We recently connected with Shelly Koehler and have shared our conversation below.

Shelly, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of the most important things we can do as business owners is ensure that our customers feel appreciated. What’s something you’ve done or seen a business owner do to help a customer feel valued?

We definitely love our clients and it shows. They are the heartbeat of our business and we want them to feel loved and appreciated. We often mail out fun things or pop by with a fun little gift for them. For example I once mailed out a $1 scratch off lottery ticket with pots of gold / rainbows on them and printed stickers to go with it that said let us help your sellers find their pot of gold ! It’s not so much about “what” we mailed as the point of staying top of mind and “in front of” our clients. But the client event parties we throw once a year are truly the grand slam of our client appreciation. This year was 007 Casino Royale. We had music, food, drinks, black jack, craps & tons of fun and giveaways. At the end of the night clients traded in their chips for tickets and entered the drawing of their choice. We gave away 5 lovely prizes (around $100 each). We got tons of posts on social media and clients are already talking about next years. I would rather spend marketing money this way all day then “buying” leads. Our network is strong and often refer us business. This is accredited to investing into them and their lives and building relationships with people we know and love and who feel the same about us. Taking interest in your clients and serving them will change everything no matter what your business.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Shelly K Staging founder/owner, Shelly Koehler, created this company out of a love of helping others and a desire to explore new passions after seeing first hand how much personal staging helped her sellers earn top profits selling their home as a Realtor. She wanted to expand this business to help many realtors and sellers. She has spent years serving others as a successful Residential Realtor and in the Residential Lending field in many aspects including leadership and coaching. Shelly moved from the DFW area of Texas to Tulsa, OK to be closer to family and be with her grandbabies and started the staging company then in April 2020. Right in the heat of the pandemic. She moved at 48 years old, single income, self employed and bravely, started all over from scratch. I would want anyone to be encouraged, it’s never too late to start again. And, knowing the Lord moved me here, I never had any doubts it was going to be fantastic. Honestly, the first year was really hard and a ton of big life changes all at once, but after digging my heels in and fighting thru all the changes, it started becoming so rewarding. I started finding myself again and discovering so many new things about myself. I didn’t even know this interior design gift was inside of me until then, and shortly after, wow, I discovered I am pretty good at this. I have watched the gift develop into an amazing business and worked hard to perfect it, all while enjoying a beautiful balance of hard work and enjoying the fruits of my labor.​​

We offer home staging services to our clients. This is where people are selling their home. We bring our furniture, art, decor etc. into the home and leave it for a period of time to help sell the home. I believe what sets us apart from our competitors is I have crafted a very high quality, yet affordable business model. Sometimes staging can be too expensive and out of reach for homeowners. My mission was to change that and help as many sellers as possible maximize their investment into their home.

I am most proud of how I run my business. I operate with a “kingdom” business mentality of biblical principals leading all aspects of my business. The other thing I am most proud of is creating a beautiful future and career for others including my team members. My favorite part of real estate and my career is that I was a great mother and know I am creating environments for others to do the same ! I am called to help other business owners achieve this as well.

Sometimes it is hard to understand how spending just a little upfront can yield a much nicer profit on your home investment. This is why I want to educate our clients with proof and examples of those we help as well as national studies statistics. Did you know that staged homes are proven to sell for 17% more on a national average and up to 3 times quicker. That is not Shelly K saying this, but housing studies and hard data. My service is to bring knowledge and allow you to chose the path clients are most comfortable with. Serving others is truly the greatest gift God could allow me to do and I absolutely LOVE what we get to do every day !!

John 15:13
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

We had a client that was the largest stage we had ever had hire us to stage. We custom ordered every single thing for that home with thoughtful consideration of all of the details. We knocked it out of the park according to everyone, except the homeowner. She bereded me on the phone for 20 minutes including telling me I should stick to staging lower end homes. Had us pull all of the staging out of the home the next few days and listed the home vacant. It was so hard to first, listen to her tell us how terrible we were, keep my cool, and stand my ground that we had done our jobs. I did listen to her and self analyze to see, could we have done something different, was there a resolve, etc., but without all the details, I felt comfortable we were not in the wrong and decided to stand my ground. And then to let it go and still believe in yourself. Yeah, that was a rough one. But, I did all of those things as well as cried some tears, but I fought thru and stood my ground professionally. It taught me a lot about business and keeping emotions out of it, and the power of believing in yourself. The power of your circle and who you have around you encouraging you as well. These are all key factors.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

Honestly, I started my business with next to nothing in the middle of a pandemic. I was living on savings. I couldn’t go out and market or meet people, etc. It was an interesting 6 months. BUT, I did everything I could in that time. I created the website, marketing materials, made calls, sent emails, etc. Anything and everything I could do with the time my days allowed to build that business. I actually went into debt buying furniture once it started building, but I was proud to be in debt building a business rather then extravagant things. I am still working on paying some off as new levels brought new needs. One day the goal is debt free and I know we will get there, but it can take some time. Now I focus on ways to streamline the business, cut costs, etc and invest in my people. We are about to launch into a new city with a location and I realize it may be a little of the same, but no risk, no reward !! And, the great news is I take with me the lessons I have already learned.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://shellykstaging.com/
• Instagram: shellykstaging
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShellyKStaging