Are you thinking of becoming a professional home stager? You've done your research and met with other professionals in the field of home design and real estate. Now what? Before you jump right into the hustle of setting up your home staging business, you need to have a plan first. This will help you stay on track and focus your sights on your business goals.

A business plan will help you put down your business goals and strategies on paper. Whether you are writing a detailed formal business plan to submit to your loan officer, or whether it's just notes and reminders you've jotted down on a notebook, a business plan will help your business prosper in the long run. Below are the main parts of a business plan. You can omit some of these parts if you are not writing particularly to request funding.

1. Executive Summary.
This comes in first, but you have to write it last. After all, it's difficult for you to write the summary of something you haven't even written. This should contain all the important points of your business plan, but remember to keep it brief, understandable, and straight-to-the-point for potential investors who are too busy to read the entire document.

2. Company Description.
This includes a description of the nature of your home staging business, how you plan to start your company, a profile of the company owners, the location of your company headquarters (may be your home or a small office), and the facilities owned by your company.

3. Home Staging Services.
It's important that potential investors understand what kinds of services you are selling. Specify whether you are offering only consultation services, or if you also provide other home staging services such as designing and furniture rentals. Also, identify the competitive edge of your services as compared to other home staging services already available.

4. Market Analysis.
This section requires that you do a little bit of market research. Focus on describing your market and the current demand for home staging. Don't forget to include an assessment of your competition. This will help you decide what marketing strategies to undertake when you start selling your services.

5. Marketing Strategies.
This is an essential part of the formal business plan. This section describes how you will promote your business, the costs of your marketing strategies, and how you will determine whether these strategies were effective.

6. Financial Data.
If you are still planning on opening your home staging business, this section includes your projected profits in the short and in the long run. For formal business plans, you may need to ask the help of an accountant in writing this part.