Let's break down a pattern that quietly creates friction for staging business owners: how clients pay you. What seems like "being flexible" can lead to delayed cash flow, extra admin work, and unnecessary mental load.

Every payment method comes with a built-in workflow. Some create ease. Others create chaos. Still, you are in charge of what your business allows and what it no longer supports.

When you tighten your payment processes, you're not being difficult. You're building a business that can handle more volume, more consistency, and less stress behind the scenes. Flexibility might feel generous, but every exception adds complexity your team has to manage.

If things have felt heavier than they should lately, this might be the shift that changes everything. Your payment method is a double-edged tool. It can create convenience for your clients or quietly complicate how your business runs. You can simplify it in a way that supports you both.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Why checks, Zelle, and Venmo add more complexity than you think
• The hidden cost of free manual payments
• How to shift your payment policies, simplify your systems and cash flow without losing clients
• What to do about estates, trusts, and complex payment situations
  
  

RESOURCES:

• Apply for Private Coaching: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/privatecoachingapp
• Enroll in Staging Business School Accelerate Track: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/accelerate
• Join the Staging Business School Growth Track Waitlist: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/growth
• Follow the Staging Business School on Instagram: www.instagram.com/stagingbusinessschool
• Follow Lori on Instagram: www.instagram.com/rethinkhome
  

If you want to learn how to market and grow your staging business, enrollment is open for Rethink You Accelerate. This is a year-long mentorship program, where I help you and other staging business owners plan, grow, flow, and thrive with the results that you've always wanted. The doors are open and I would love to see you in the classroom!

ENJOY THE SHOW?

• Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts so that more Staging CEOs find it.
• Follow over on Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or Audible.

Some numbers in a staging project feel more defined than others.

The initial staging fee is usually built with care. It reflects scope, inventory, labor, and experience. It has structure behind it.

Renewal pricing tends to sit in a different category. The number is there, but the reasoning behind it is not always as clearly outlined. It can be influenced by instinct, habit, or what feels reasonable in the moment.

In this episode, we continue the vacant staging pricing series by focusing on how to approach that number with more precision. This is a closer look at how renewal pricing can be grounded in the ongoing value of your inventory and its role inside your business.

Because even when nothing new is being installed, your assets are still actively allocated. They continue to influence capacity, availability, and what your business can generate next.

The opportunity is in understanding how to translate that into a number that is intentional, consistent, and financially sound.

We walk through:

• The difference between "what makes this profitable" vs. "what makes this powerful"
• Why standard renewal math often lands at the bare minimum
• How to shift your thinking from monthly pricing to total asset value
• The 8–12% renewal model that creates stronger margins, flexibility, and cash flow
• How renewals can quietly become one of the most impactful drivers of your bottom line

This episode also addresses the internal tension many owners feel when raising prices.

Because pricing is never just numbers. It's belief, identity, and decision-making. When you anchor your pricing in clean math, you create stability and confidence that ripple through your entire business.

Renewals are not an afterthought. They are a strategic lever.

And when used well, they fund your growth, your team, and your ability to actually enjoy the business you've built.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Why most renewal pricing models leave money on the table
• The difference between baseline profitability vs. strategic pricing
• How to use the 8–12% inventory-based renewal model
• The real role renewals play in cash flow and business stability
• How to think like a CEO when pricing—beyond fear, competition, or guesswork

What happens when a stager with a tech background gets tired of duct-taping together Trello, QuickBooks, and a CRM that wasn't built for her? She builds something better.

In this episode, I sit down with Kate, co-founder of Hutch — a purpose-built project management and inventory platform designed specifically for home stagers. Kate shares her journey from SaaS startup life to staging side hustler to software founder, and walks us through exactly what Hutch does, why the staging industry has been underserved for so long, and how better data can finally help stagers price their services for what they're actually worth.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE:

• How Kate went from staging side hustler to software co-founder
• Why so many stagers are stitching together tools that were never built for them and what that's costing them
• What Hutch does as an all in one staging business tailored platform
• Why your average inventory investment per stage might be the most important number you're not tracking
  
  

RESOURCES:

• Apply for Private Coaching: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/privatecoachingapp
• Enroll in Staging Business School Accelerate Track: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/accelerate
• Join the Staging Business School Growth Track Waitlist: www.rethinkhomeinteriors.com/growth
• Follow the Staging Business School on Instagram: www.instagram.com/stagingbusinessschool
• Follow Lori on Instagram: www.instagram.com/rethinkhome
• Hutch Staging Website: hutchstaging.com
• Hutch Staging on Instagram: @hutchstaging

If you want to learn how to market and grow your staging business, enrollment is open for Rethink You Accelerate. This is a year-long mentorship program, where I help you and other staging business owners plan, grow, flow, and thrive with the results that you've always wanted. The doors are open and I would love to see you in the classroom!

ENJOY THE SHOW?

• Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts so that more Staging CEOs find it.
• Follow over on Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or Audible.