The Pro Organizer Studio Podcast

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138 | 1 Year in Business: Being Intentional + What She Learned with Kim Snodgrass (Part 2) Jan 23, 2023

Show notes

This is the second part of my conversation with Kim Snodgrass of Rustic Home Organizing in Oregon. We interviewed her on the podcast last year when she was brand new--and we wanted to check in with her on what she learned in her first year of organizing. LINKS FOR LISTENERS

Connect with Kim: CLICK HERE

Learn more about Inspired Organizer®: CLICK HERE

Transcript:

Melissa Klug: What have you taken from that kind of learning to help you moving forward as you start into your second year and hopefully third and fifth and 10th year

Kim Snodgrass: Oh, I'll be there. For me, so my new word, I would like to share my new word.

Melissa Klug: I'm excited. Drum roll.

Kim Snodgrass: Are you ready? My new word is intentional. I love that. This year is all about being intentional in my actions. , I will be thoughtful in what I'm doing. I'm giving myself time to process. I'm not making quick decisions.

I'm gonna allow myself to think for myself until I feel like I need to bring in another opinion which will bring me to another subject of other organizers around the country. But I'm gonna be intentional about my time. I'm gonna be intentional about my shopping when I do it.

This last year was really difficult for me to go shopping for like, two projects at a time. Okay. But this year I, I've figured out a process about how am I gonna shop for two projects at a time when I'm at the store or at, I'm online. So just being very intentional about my actions.

And that goes for anything that I'm gonna put my money or my time or my brain into as far as apps, programs, whatever it might be. Any sort of groups. Anything that I'm going to give my time to. Why am I doing it and what am I hoping to get out of it? And that I think is very important for anybody looking into resources within the business to figure out why am I doing it and what am I hoping to get from it?

And, and knowing that you've gotta, they need, you need to put the energy and the time into it. Things aren't gonna be done for you. It's very

Melissa Klug: important. . And that's an important thing because I found myself last night scrolling, for whatever reason, I don't know if it's the end of the year and everybody's selling a billion things.

I was scrolling through Instagram and I kept getting fed all these ads about courses and, and education and do this, you know, try this funnel and that, I mean, things that are more relevant to my work at Pro Organizer Studio. And I found myself feeling a little bit of fomo, like, oh, maybe that's magic.

Oh maybe that's magic . And then I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no. I need to step back. And I love what you said about, how would I use this? When would I use it? Am I going to use it? Cuz there are a million things out there and, you can buy, you can buy a thousand things. But if you're gonna spend that money, then how are you going to use that thing?

How are you going to implement it in your business? What are you gonna learn from it? And then what gaps does it fill in your knowledge and your education, whatever that looks like for you. ,

Kim Snodgrass: you know that. I'm so glad you brought that up. I was thinking about that. I almost wanna say social media newsletters, whatever emails you might be signed up for is like a feeding ground.

And you have to be careful. You have to be really careful on what you decide is gonna be your magic potion to get your business, because the energy that you're putting into all of the things could be put into a YouTube seo tutorial that you could just zip over to your website and make it sound so simple.

I wouldn't even know how to do that right now, . But you could be putting your time and energy into learning the seo. To get your website more exposure. And I was told at the beginning how important that was and who told

Melissa Klug: you that? Just asking

Kim Snodgrass: this lady, this one lady, this one lady that wears red glasses.

I think it's so easy to get sucked into so many different rabbit holes. So easy. Yes. And, and to try and avoid those at all costs is really, really important. I think we have to be careful on what advice we throw to newer organizers. On how to find their business. What one organizer did at the beginning of her business versus what she's doing right now on year four, five, or 10, is going to be so different than that new organizer is gonna be doing on, you know, in year one. So what happened four years ago is different, and what's happening for that organizer right now is very different.

And I, I find this trap of newer organizers feeling like they have to depend on third party people to get them their business. Mm-hmm. , oh, I need to go visit this real estate office. I need to go visit this real estate agent. Oh, I found this designer and they're gonna, it's not, it's that, that really truly is.

Going to be where you're going to find your clients. First of all, there are so many real estate agents out there, and they're all clawing for business. Especially right

Melissa Klug: now in this, especially right now. Right now. I mean, yeah,

Kim Snodgrass: putting really bad right now, putting in a, in a basket with, with a, an agent that might only have exposure to 10 different people, you aren't most likely going to get business off of that.

Now, that isn't to say that it's not somebody you should keep connected with. Sure. I think they, you need to change your thinking and that these third party professionals are gonna bring you your business. And I just, I just don't think that is where you should put your energy at the beginning of your business. .

Melissa Klug: Referrals are such a huge part of so many organizers businesses, but when we say referrals, what we mean is a very happy client refers you to all their friends.

I fell into the real estate trap at the beginning too, and one of the reasons we're talking about this is cuz it, it comes up in, our inspired organizer Facebook group a lot. And newer organizers naturally, cuz I did it. I thought, oh my gosh, realtors, what is the most natural place?

Who's in homes all the time? Oh, it's realtors. Right? And you, by the way, full disclosure, used to be a realtor, so I, I was a realtor. , you know, you know better than everyone. But you know, it, it seems like it's a natural fit, but it's not in actuality. And does that make sense?

Absolutely not. But relying on that or putting all, like you said, all of your eggs in that marketing basket and that networking basket is not going to yield you the client base that you often think it would or should.

Kim Snodgrass: When you interviewed Cori from Meat and Potatoes recently, she talked about her BNI group her chamber and, I do think that there is something for putting energy into those smaller.

Melissa Klug: Local groups where you're cross, you're cross referring, I know I talked about this recently, my clients, I cannot believe the number of times I'm called upon to provide referrals for people like handyman and you know, all of these things.

I know. And so, I mean, I have a handyman that I adore. If you're in the Minneapolis area, hit me up cuz he's amazing. But like really that local referral group because it's not just one type of people, it's not just one type of business person. It's many different types of business people in a chamber or a b and i group.

And so we have a lot of people in our group that are really, really big on in-person local networking. And if that is something that is your jam, absolutely do that.

Kim Snodgrass: Yes. Yeah, definitely. That was one of my notes I wrote down is being an organizer, you're a resource manager. Yes. And so you need to be that one, figure out how you can be that person that is that reference person.

137 | One Year Later: Lessons Learned After A Year In Business with Kim Snodgrass of Rustic Home Organizing Jan 16, 2023

Show notes

One year ago, we introduced you to brand new business owner Kim, who had just opened Rustic Home Organizing in Portland, Oregon. Melissa caught up with her almost exactly one year later to hear about what she learned (the good and the bad!) about starting an organizing business.

Kim is an open book about what she thought she knew, and what she realized she didn't know at all...and everything in between.

If you want to catch up and remember what she said last year--hit up episode 97 of the podcast, "Taking A Leap: Lessons from a Business Launch."

LINKS FOR LISTENERS: Learn more about our Inspired Organizer® community: click here Kim's beautiful website!! click here Connect with Kim on social: click here

Get our free workshop, The Pro Organizer's Profit Plan, by heading to poroadmap.com

A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THIS EPISODE:

Melissa Klug: It was one year ago, almost exactly a year ago that we had you on the podcast, and you were at that time a baby organizer. You had just started your business and the other day I was like, oh, I know, because I talked to you a lot how far you have come in that year. But I want everybody to hear how far you have come in this year, and I want you to talk about all the things you've learned. And so I'm just, I'm thrilled that you agreed to be here with us today and do your year wrap up.

Kim Snodgrass: Absolutely. I'm excited to, this is very cool to be able to share everything that has gone on in the last year. Yeah.

Melissa Klug: All right, let's just start out, let's give everyone a recap. When did you start your business? Where are you all that good stuff?

Kim Snodgrass: Technically started in November of 21 but I launched in January of 22. So my business is technically established in 22. I went full board, jumped with both feet in and just started plugging away, listening to lots of podcasts coaching doing all the things to get myself a foundation to be able to start my very own organizing business. Been organizing, obviously my entire life as most organizers have, with the exception of you. . That's right. I started late. You started a little late, but so it just became more of my journey to becoming a business owner. Not as much the organizing piece of it.

Melissa Klug: So what would you give yourself on a scale of one to 10 when you first started out? So a year ago at this time what would you rate yourself in terms of like, confidence, business, knowledge, all of that kind of stuff?

Kim Snodgrass: Oh boy. Confidence. I would say on a scale of one to 10, my confidence was about a two. Okay. On a good day, . And then I think today I'm, I'm, I'm on the upper end and depending on how much sleep I get the night before, I'm anywhere between an eight and a 10. Okay. by the way. Sleep is very important. But what people don't understand is unfortunately projects live in your brain, in your sleep, and so the Tetris game goes on while you're sleeping and that can sometimes interfere with the REM sleep. It does. But definitely confidence has played a huge part in my success.

Melissa Klug: So let's last year, let's talk about that because yes, you and I have been working together for a while. Yeah. And it was it at the beginning because we all, by the way, this is not just you, it's all of us. All of us struggle with confidence on sometimes a daily basis, , sometimes an hourly basis, if I'm being honest. Like what were some of the things that got you from a two to an eight slash 10?

Kim Snodgrass: I started to write down some notes today about things that would be important for me to share. And the very first thing I wrote down was being okay with mistakes. Yeah. And those mistakes can range from the back end of your business to being in the home and realizing when you left, oh, that was a really bad idea of what I just implemented.

I really need to fix that. But being okay with those mistakes so you don't beat yourself up over it. And the biggest thing you take away from those mistakes is learning. You have learned what you're going to move forward in in your next job. I think that is gonna be what I have learned.

The most this year is being okay with my mistakes and being excited when I make 'em, because they're getting me to a much better place.

Melissa Klug: I I would love for this needs to be like, I don't know, a t-shirt, a billboard, alike. What I, I don't know, because I think that a lot of organizers struggle with perfectionism and by the way, that's a great trait for an organizer, right? We want people to, you know, give people beautiful homes, but that can also sometimes manifest as like, oh, I made a mistake. I'm gonna beat myself up about it for the next 16 weeks. And being able to say, you know what? I did that I learned from it, and I'm gonna not do it in the future. Yes.

Kim Snodgrass: Yeah, definitely.So yeah, be okay with your mistakes. I made some mistakes right off the bat. I invested a lot of money, which you don't have to, to start an organizing business. Correct. We've all talked about that. But it was important to me to do that and I, I went a little overboard. And that's okay. I'm okay with going overboard because it's helping me in this next year.

But I do wanna rewind just a little bit. So, at the beginning of 2022, I came up with a couple words. They were gonna be my words for the year. And one of them was outsourcing. And I did that and I'm so happy I did that. But it also made me realize it's important to outsource when you're ready for that outsourcing.

And as a. An organizer new in the business. I outsource so many things right away, but what I didn't realize is for myself, I wasn't ready for all of that. I didn't have the bandwidth, you know, technology is not my strong suit. So I thought, okay, I have to outsource all of it.

Everybody will do it for me. But you still need to understand when you outsource, you still have to understand it. You might be able to pay somebody to do it and get it all set up for you, but unless you're paying somebody to work for you on a daily basis, which some organizers have you have to still learn how to maneuver within those programs or apps or whatever you invest your money in on.

136 | Permission to Delete! Jan 11, 2023

Show notes

My lightbulb moment during a crack of dawn workout is now available in your ears! I'm giving you permission to do something that you might have been thinking about, but hesitating to do. I'm here to tell you to DO ITTTT! This is just a minisode brought to you by my brain...I hope you enjoy.

LINKS FOR LISTENERS: We'd love to have you in our community! Information on Inspired Organizer is here.

TRANSCRIPT Hey, pro organizers. It's Melissa, and I'm coming to you today with a little mini podcast. This is just kind of like Melissa's musings or we can come up with a cooler name for it. But I was thinking about something this morning and then I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna go talk to all my podcast besties about it.

Um, just. A really quick side note that maybe no one listening really cares about, about my personal life, but, uh, or how this happens, do you think I'm in like a podcast studio right now or like I'm in a really fancy No, I'm just at my desk in my house. My husband works at home and currently he is very loud on the phone.

We have discovered since the pandemic started, since he started working at home. He's a very loud. So I started trying to record this and he's like on the phone being super loud. Even though it's downstairs, I can still hear it, and one of my neighbors is putting siding on their house. So there's all this like construction noise.

So I hope that I'm just coming to you in your ears and it sounds melodious and, uh, and good. But anyway, I'm just kind of laughing because this is real life, right? Like we are entrepreneurs, we run our businesses, real life happens. It's not pretty and it's not, you know, like calm and, sometimes things are a little crazy.

But anyway, that's just a little bit of, of the behind the scenes. But that's what happens when I'm gonna come to you with these random things off the top of my head, it's gonna be a little bit more casual than maybe what you're used to. But okay. Onto my, uh, is it a rant? I don't know if it's a rant.

It's just, it's a commentary. It's something that I've learned this year that I think might be helpful to you guys, and it's this. I've been doing this thing, it is not a year's resolution, it's just trying to create some new habits and I have been trying to wake up early in the morning and I mean like really early in the morning and get my workout in downstairs in my house before the day starts.

I have been doing a pretty serious digital detox. I took so many apps off my phone. I have taken all of my entertainment apps off my phone. I chose to keep audiobooks and podcasts, but what this means is when I'm doing something like working out, for instance, I don't watch TV on my phone like I used to.

So this morning I'm on the Peloton and I was in a work mood. You know? Do you, do you guys do this too? Maybe I, maybe it's just me, but sometimes I'll be in work mode where I'm like, oh yeah,

I would love to listen to a work related podcast. Then there are other times when I'm like, Nope, I really, I can't switch my brain to work right now. I just need something entertainment value. So, I'll listen to a fiction, audiobook, whatever.

So let me back up and say for my digital detox, one of the things that I decided to do was I needed to give myself permission to let things go if they aren't working for me in terms of my digital life. For instance, I have a bunch of podcasts that have built up on my phone of things that I think I'm supposed to be listening to or. Business books that I think I'm supposed to be reading because it's really, really important for me to read them, and I'm starting to do a better job in this particular digital detox of saying, does this thing serve me anymore?

I have been trying to be really, really honest with myself about am I keeping things on my phone or am I saying I need to listen to this? And it's sort of like, Schoolwork, right? Like, my kids are required to learn algebra, even though they're like, when am I ever gonna use algebra?

Um, I feel sometimes, like there are certain podcasts or certain books or certain, you know, pieces of information out there, Instagram feeds, anything like that that I. Have to follow because you know they're going to, by the way, in my brain I go, but what if they have this one magical podcast episode that solves all of my business problems and I don't listen to it.

I just have gotten in this mindset of. , you know, this digital detox for me is really saying goodbye to things that don't serve my business or my life, or it just stresses me out. Sometimes it stresses me out to, to listen to something, cause I'm like, oh my gosh, I should be doing this, I should be doing this, I should be doing this.

It's just that constant like brain, you know, the brain jumping from side to side. Just the constant distraction that I'm really, really trying to get away in this digital detox. But the point of my story is I am on the Peloton this morning and I am listening to a podcast because as I said, I was in a business mood listening to a podcast from someone I will not name, but it is someone who is very big in the online marketing space.

And it is someone that I have kept in my podcast rotation for the reason that I just said like, what if I miss out on this amazing gem of information? But in doing that, I have also found that this person really is starting to have information that doesn't really align with my business.

I have kept this podcast in my rotation because I feel like, oh, if I don't listen to this, you know, she's a huge name in the online marketing space, which is what Pro Organizer Studio does.

We are an online business. And I was like, oh my gosh, well what if I missed like the most important thing ever on her podcast? Even though when I listen, I'm like, oh, I probably, I should listen to X, Y, Z podcast this week. Let me see what's up. I feel obligated to listen to it rather than being excited to listen to it.

and this morning I can't explain it. You know, you know, you have these epiphany moments of like, man, I don't like this . It happened to me in college. Halfway through college I changed my major because there was one day where I was like, I hate this. This is terrible. But you have these epiphany moments where I'm listening to this podcast and I'm just like actively annoyed by it.

I'm annoyed by what she's saying. I'm annoyed by what she's talking about. It doesn't align with me. It doesn't align with my business. And then I'm like, so why am I listening to it? Why am I listening to it? And here's the reason that I'm doing this podcast, which hopefully is not annoying you.

I am doing this podcast because you know how sometimes our clients need us to give them the permission. To get rid of something. We've all had that moment where you look at your client and they're like really kind of going back and forth on, oh, well maybe I should keep this, but I really don't like it.

And you just go, you're allowed to say goodbye to that object, or you're allowed to get rid of that thing. And they go, I am. Oh my gosh. Amazing. Or that client that you're like, Hey, if I put this in the trash, will that make you feel better? And they're like, yes, absolutely. I just don't wanna be the person that puts it in the trash.

Right? We all know those clients. This morning I had the most freeing moment of saying, I don't like this, and I am not going to continue listening to it because it is just taking up space in my brain. And I, and I'm annoyed. And just because I think I'm gonna miss out on something I, I'm, I'm saying goodbye to it.

And it really was. This may sound very silly, maybe you're listening to this and going like, man, I don't, I really do not know what she's talking about. Right. I am giving you permission to say goodbye to things in your business life that aren't working for you anymore. It might be following a thousand people on Instagram and trying to like all their posts.

It may be trying to post on Instagram every day, uh, or multiple times a day. Or you might say, you know what? Real's not my jam not doing it. By the way, if this podcast no longer serves you obvious. I work really hard and I love my, I love my organizing besties. I would be very sad if I were no longer serving your needs as an organizing entrepreneur, but I am giving you the permission.

Just like in Marie Kondo's book, she flat out says, if this book does not spark joy for you, you get rid of it. . Um, she actually doesn't ever use the phrase, get rid of, she says, you can. Gratefully let it go. But the point is, I want to give all of us permission, and, I'm giving myself permission to continue to do this, to say I am not going to consume media and take time, precious time out of my precious life to listen to stuff because I think I'm obligated to.

Or because I have FOMO of what if I miss that one most important episode? Or what if I miss that one important Instagram post? So I need to scroll for an hour and a half every day. I wanna give you the permission to say, you know what, no thanks. Not my jam anymore. I cannot explain to you. It's sort of like this, the feeling that I had when I, uh, first got organized.

If you haven't listened to my story, I used to be completely disorganized. My house was a complete disaster and I found, you know, the religion of organization and I, I like, couldn't believe how much better my life felt because I had gotten organized. And that is the feeling I had this morning of, of gratefully saying, you know what, this podcast doesn't serve me anymore.

And I don't wanna make a big deal out of, I deleted one podcast. That's really not the lesson. The lesson is more I do not have to keep bringing things into my business life that do not serve me. So I'm gonna continue to give myself that permission, and I am giving you that permission to please just remember your gut drives your business so, so, so well.

If something is telling you, this doesn't work for me, this piece of advice doesn't work for me. This style doesn't work for me, this technique doesn't work for me, this person doesn't work for me. Any of those feelings that you have, it is absolutely fine to say, you know what? I'm gonna let this go and what I'm going to do is make the time to let in the things that really do work for me and work for my business.

So I'm going to find the Online Marketing Entrepreneur podcast that does speak to. And how I can help the audience at Pro Organizer Studio. I am going to listen to the entrepreneurs that really are going to be helpful for me in my organizing business, and I just wanna give you guys the ability and the permission to do the same.

Here's my advice to you. Even if you're not into doing a digital detox like I am doing. I really, suggest go through your phone today and just whether it's podcasts, whether it's Instagram feeds, whatever it is that is connecting with you with what I'm talking about, give yourself the permission today to go unfollow or delete the app or delete the podcast or delete whatever it is.

that you know, in your heart is kind of bugging you and it's not your jam, but you're having a hard time admitting to yourself that I can just let this go, and I think you're gonna be really, really, really happy that you did. All right, that's my mini So for the day, I hope you guys are having an awesome, awesome day.

Just a heads up, if you have not signed up for our email list, I'm about to send out an email to our whole list. Please go to inspired organizer.com. You can enter your email address. It's a limited number of emails, we try to send out things that are very helpful to you, and by the way, you can always unsubscribe if it's not your jam.

I just listened to myself in this whole podcast. I only want you to do things that serve you, but we would love to have you on our email list if you would like to be there, and I hope you have an absolutely fabulous day. Bye organizers.

Thank you so much for listening in to the Pro Organizer Studio podcast. If you'd like to get our roadmap for success as a pro organizer, head straight to www.poroadmap.com.

135 | What's Your Word? Jan 06, 2023

Show notes

Instead of New Year's Resolutions (which statistically fail at a shockingly high rate), Melissa is implementing an idea in her own business to guide her work this year and she's sharing it with us! Come join us as we pick a word of the year to help with your strategy for your professional organizing business--AND your life!

LIST OF WORDS TO CONSIDER:

Balance Confidence Simplify Adventure Boundaries Self-care Joy Dedication Commitment Intention Abundance Success Limitless Creativity Discovery Transformation Invest Becoming Yes Determination Effort

LINKS FOR LISTENERS: Our free workshop, The Pro Organizer's Profit Plan: click here Learn more about our premier program for professional organizers, Inspired Organizer®: click here Learn more about Pro Organizer Studio: click here

ABOUT THIS EPSIODE:

You are listening to the Pro Organizer Studio podcast with Melissa Klug and Jen Obermeier. Thank you so much for joining in. Our mission is to broaden the horizons of savvy business women in the organizing industry. By instilling confidence and inspiring authenticity, you'll gain new insight into strategies designed specifically for professional organizers.

So now let's get started.

[00:00:32] Melissa Klug: Hey, pro organizers. It's Melissa. It's 2023, and I hope that you had an absolutely amazing holiday season. I know I did, and I definitely got some rest and relaxation. I hope that was the same for you and your family, but now we are back into it. It is a brand new year. I am excited, energized, all sorts of words, and this is kind of a companion episode to the last podcast, which was me saying, Hey, thanks 2022 for all your lessons. And I did a lot of thinking over the holidays and I just wanted to bring you some of my thoughts as we start 2023 as a collective organizing industry as the calendar has turned.

I personally love New Year's Day and the few days afterward. I live in Minnesota as most of you know, so before January descends into like gray coldness without the happiness of holiday lights to make it a little bit better.

I definitely feel really, really energized when it's the first week of a new year and I just feel like it's a promise and excitement and just great things in the air, even if that air is freezing cold as it is at my house.

But I want to be clear, I do not want you to worry about this podcast because there are a couple of phrases specifically that you are not going to hear from me today. And the first one is New Year's Resolution. And the second one, which I'm going to admit bothers me infinitely more is "New Year, New You." So I do not want tooffend anyone because I have seen the phrase New Year, new you all over social media in the last few days. Tons of people are using it, but the reason that I personally don't like it, and you're not going to hear from me about it anymore, is because I feel like it implies that there's something terribly wrong with you and you must fix it, and you must become an entirely new person. Because a calendar has changed over.

I just want to say the current person you are is great, and I would rather look at it that instead of New Year's changes or resolutions, I would rather you look at things and take stock and say, "Hey, there are some things I would like to do differently and what is the path that I can take to get there?" But that specific phrasing of New Year, new you has always really bugged me. And so I promise I'm done. Even saying the phrase, I think the current you is delightful. I really do. And I want to find ways to make you even more delightful than you already are. The second phrase, new Year's resolution. Everybody knows there are a billion think pieces and articles about it every single year, but New Year's resolutions are widely proven not to be very effective.

What I would prefer to look at is a more holistic approach to trying to develop new habits if the turn of the calendar is a good time for you to take stock of that. Absolutely do it, but just let's not call it a New Year's resolution.

So with that minimal rant out of the way, I'm going to tell you what I've been thinking about, what I've been doing in my own business life instead of resolutions and just give you some ideas to think about in your own world and your own life.

So the last podcast of 2022 was all about the things I had been thinking over my holiday break, and I hope that you were able to be inspired by that and maybe do a little bit of reflecting of your own. I know that it's been really important for me to have those talks with myself, and now that I'm taking thinking mode, into work mode as I have started the year for Pro Organizer Studio and my organizing business Home By Eleven, this is where I wanna dip into a little bit of radical honesty.

So for, for many years, and I, I'm talking decades of my corporate life and in my life in college and in grad school, I'm going to be totally upfront with you. That goal setting has just never been one of my strengths. I think it's probably that at, at my court I'm a procrastinator, and like goal setting and goal adherence. It, it just like making that strategy. It's just, it's not something that I'm really good at and I know that it's really good for people to set goals and have goals, and by the way, I do have goals. It's not like I just run around in my business and my life and not having any goals at all. What I'm not good is being disciplined about making a serious plan as to how I'm going to implement the goals I have.

It's more that I will say, I want X, Y, Z, and then the path to get there. I'm like, eh, I'll figure it out. So, you know, it's absolutely something I'm working toward being better about because I know it's important and I know it really works and I do want to improve myself.

But knowing myself, and I want to be honest about who I am, at my core, and what is actually going to work for me. The thing that does work is for me to come up with a word, one single word that I use as the highlight of my year.

This one word is, it's simple, but it's a way that I can have it guide my overall strategy of my work. So I can get behind this word and it can keep me on track. I can use it as a litmus test to say, does X, Y, Z project or thing that is coming to me, or that I've come up with fit this track that I'm on for this year?

Or is it shiny object syndrome or, if you have seen the movie Up, uh, "squirrel," that might resonate with you. By the way, if you haven't seen the movie Up, please stop listening to this podcast and go to it right now and bring the tissues. It's such a great movie, but I don't want to go squirrel on things.

So this word is going to help keep me on track. The word that I have chosen for myself, because it is simple and powerful, it is only five letters, but it is going to guide my whole year. And that word for me is focus. This word is perfect for me. It not only encapsulates the things that I talked about as I was really contemplating and thinking about the end of the year of 2022.

It helps me with the problems that I needed to solve and what I know is on my plate in 2023 and what is truly important for me to work. If I could describe the way that I felt about my 2022 business life, the only thing that I can really come up with is I felt like a ping pong ball, if I'm being totally honest.

I was constantly bouncing all over the place from thing to thing, and I was never able to really stop and concentrate like I needed to. And the funny thing is, by the way, I had a great 2022 actually, I did not have a bad year at all. I had a great year. I grew a lot as an entrepreneur and as a leader, and I was able to help a lot of people, which, is really important to me.

And I created the results that I needed to in my business. But in terms of personal stress and overwhelm, it was definitely very high for me in 2022. So that ping pong feeling of like bouncing all over the place and I just didn't really have great balance last year. I had a boss once who reminded me, "Hey Melissa, you cannot have 100 number one priorities," because I remember going to him and being like, here are all the things absolutely critical for me to get done this year. And, last year I definitely fell into that category of I had too many number one priorities. A phrase I love is when everything is important: nothing is important. So I have latched onto this word focus because I just feel so strongly that if I can remind myself to take care of the truly important things while eliminating needless distractions, hello phone apps. I'm talking to you. If I can really focus on the strategic things that I need to pay attention.

I think it is going to be not, I think I know it is going to be extremely transformational for me and my business. The word focus addresses the things I talked about in the end of the year podcast that I've been thinking about. And I think we all struggle with distraction. Seriously. Distraction is one of the biggest things that I think we all deal with in this constantly connected world, and that's one thing that I really, really, really want to concentrate on this year.

By the way, you guys, anybody listening to this podcast should want me to succeed using my word focus because what it means is you will be getting tons more great things coming your way from us at Pro Organizer Studio, which of course our goal is always to help you in your businesses. Hopefully you guys can rally around me and cheer me on and really hope that I make this focus thing happen.

But this podcast is not about me, it's about you. And I would love for you to think about a word for the year that you can get behind to help stay on track for what is important to you.

And let me tell you, I am not typically, I'm not like a mantra person. But I will tell you this one word has helped me in the last two days legitimately draw my attention back to what I'm working on.

Great example—today I was writing out my notes for this podcast, and I found myself gravitating toward moving my cursor up to check social media, and I said, no!

Focus, I am focusing on this thing right now. So I would love you to find a word that really connects with what you know that you wanna work on this year. And I have made a list of of other words that you might want to think about. This is not an all encompassing list because there are literally thousands of words that you could pick, but I wanted to pick some words that align with the things that we do in our business and our lives, and I will link these words in show notes so that you can be reminded of them. But just listen to these words and see if anything connects with what you are thinking about in your business and life:

Balance

Confidence

Simplify

Adventure

Boundaries

Self-care

Joy

Dedication

Commitment

Intention

Abundance

Success

Limitless

Creativity

Discovery

Transformation

Invest

Becoming

Yes

Determination

Effort

balance.

There are so many words that you can use. I just wanted to start with something that I thought really speaks to entrepreneurship and organizing entrepreneurship specifically, but find a word that can link where you are coming from and where you are going in your life and your business.

And by the way, for me, my word is also about my personal life. It's not just about work. I have a daughter graduating this year and going to college this fall. So my focus is making this year magical and special and making sure that I'm taking care of my family in addition to taking care of my business.

So maybe the word you want to choose is one that covers both your work life and your home life. If you are a one person family, a 22 person family, if you are single, if you are married, if you are. Divorced. If you are a single mom, if you are not a mom, if you are a dog mom, we all have home life that we are balancing, and I really, really, really want you to think about how that word can work for your personal life as well.

Okay, I want to know your word. You can email me at hello@proorganizerstudio.com, or you can DM me on Instagram when I post about this episode. I seriously would love to hear the creativity of the words that people come up with and what you're thinking about for your year.

As always, I wanna thank you for being such an awesome part of my work life. I cannot tell you how much it means to me when people email and tell me that they listen to the podcast. And if you do not mind taking a minute, if you love the podcast, which I appreciate so much, if you could leave us a review on Apple Podcast, it would be super amazing and helpful.

It helps people be able to find our podcast and join our community, which I just love this community of organizers that we have here on the Pro Organizer Studio podcast. It would be wonderful if you could take the time to do that. Sort of like when you ask clients for a Google Review. You know how important.

Apple Podcast review would be absolutely glorious. So thank you. And if you would like to start your year with a free workshop, if you'd like to spend a little bit more time with me, please check out the Pro Organizer's Profit Plan, which you can watch anytime 24/7 at poroadmap.com.

All right, let's start an amazing year.

Truly, we have no idea what this year is going to bring. There could be challenges in front of us that we don't know about yet. There certainly will be challenges in front of us that we don't know about, but pick a word to gather yourself and your thoughts and your work, and I think we're all gonna have a good one.

Have an awesome day Organizers.

Thank you so much for listening in to the Pro Organizer Studio podcast. If you'd like to get our roadmap for success as a pro organizer, head straight to www.poroadmap.com.

134 | Thanks for the lessons, 2022! Dec 31, 2022

Show notes

It's the end of year episode of The Pro Organizer Studio Podcast. Melissa has been doing some deep thinking over the holiday break....and is ready to share!

133 | End of Year To-do List for your Organizing Business Dec 14, 2022

Show notes

There is still time before the end of the year--two weeks as of when this podcast is up--and we have some things to jump start some thoughts for you on how you can maximize your time and get ready for a great 2023 (AND get some rest and relaxation too!!!!) Scroll down to see the list if you need a reminder after you've listened to the pod! LINKS MENTIONED IN THE PODCAST: Jon Acuff January goals challenge: https://acuff.me/january-2023-challenge-waitlist/ Marie Forleo goal setting pod: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/335-how-to-set-the-right-goals-for-the-year-ahead/id1199977889?i=1000589966597 HoneyBook setup course for professional organizers (with discount code for 50% off a year of HB: https://www.inspiredorganizer.com/offers/7yd3LKFq Our free workshop, The Pro Organizer's Profit Plan: https://www.poroadmap.com HERE IS THE LIST OF THE THINGS WE TALK ABOUT IN THE EPISODE: Tasks to tackle before Dec 31: Make sure all of your expenses are set and in! Think of things you might want to invest in--example, some software gives a discount for a full year subscription vs. a month to month (Canva as an example.) Anything that you wanted to invest in--equipment (Melissa mentioned a photo scanner she loves), courses, education, etc. Have you used your Container Store once a year discount? Use it or lose it by EOY! Remember to put money into your investment account for retirement--fund your IRA! Note: in the US you can do this for this calendar year as long as it's by April 15, but also great if you can get it in the end of the year. Jan 1 is a great time to roll out new policies, pricing procedures, contract terms, etc. Jan 1 is also a great time to implement new software and start clean---accounting, CRM, etc. Think about and commit to 2023 goals. Transcript: Hey, podcast besties. It's Melissa here. I just wanted to do a short episode and get it up because I always love to make sure I'm reminding people about the things that I am reminding myself in my own organizing business. And so I wanted to throw this episode up because I have been thinking about oh my gosh. What are all the end of the year things that I need to be doing? And at the time I'm recording this, it's December 14th. There are over two weeks left, two weeks and three days. I think when I looked at my calendar. I don't know about you guys. This year has gone so fast. I feel like lightning speed. I, I don't know if that's the same for you, but I've talked to a few friends. They feel the same way, I don't know about you. I'm ready for a little holiday rest, which is why I would really love to get some of these things set to go for my business and give myself a little bit of break before I go into 2023. I wanna be rested and ready to go. One of the things we talk about a lot is, Jen and I have both talked about it, in order to show up for your clients, you need to be the best self that you can be. That includes rest and self-care. So I hope that you are taking time for that over the holidays too. Okay, I'm gonna talk about some strategic bigger picture things, and then I'm also gonna talk about some more tactical, but also very important things. I'm going to start with a little bit more of the functional stuff. This is what I term like, oh my gosh, time to add this to my to-do list kind of stuff. And then I'm gonna do a wrap up of these tips and the show notes. So if you're listening along, you don't have to take notes. I'll also send an email to you guys about it. If you're on our email list, if not, hit inspired organizer.com. Add yourself to our email list. This wrap up will be just conservate my holiday gift to you. I'm gonna gift you with a little bit of work, but it's really worthwhile work, I promise. So, all right. First up, make sure that all of your possible expenses for the year are in for your business. I will just add a quick disclaimer. Obviously I'm not an accountant. I am not providing you tax advice, and some of what I'll be talking about here is focused on the us. I'll apologize to our international listenership. Unfortunately, I do not have an encyclopedic knowledge of all tax laws, of all of all countries. I wish I did. That would be amazing. It'd be a great skill to have. But a lot of this I'm gonna talk about, you know, kind of United States focused, but no matter where you are in your business, making sure that all of your expenses are in for the end of the year. I just look at my business and I say, do I have some available funds that I could dedicate to some expenses and get those in at the end of the year? One example for you, if there are things that you pay in your business month to month, there are often incentives that a company will give you to pay that for the year. Canva is a good one. You can pay that on a yearly basis. Some of the software we use for Pro Organizer Studio, you get sometimes up to two months free of that software. If you pay yearly versus monthly, so definitely take a look at that. If there's software that you use in your business every single day. Maybe it's your crm, maybe it's Canva, your accounting software, anything like that. Check out bonuses for paying yearly. If you have money left in your account, this could be a great way for you to get ready for the upcoming year. If you have been thinking about investing in something. One thing that we've talked about in our inspired organizer Facebook group, recently digitizing client photos and documents. I personally do this for clients. I have one client that kind of started me down this path. I invested in a great scanner and I have done a ton of projects with it. It has been. Unbelievably great investment for my business, paid for itself in a very, very short period of time. But if there's a piece of equipment that you wanna invest in your business to help a service that you wanna provide for next year, think about making an investment in that. If there's a course or another educational program that you wanted to get into, great time to invest in that. Give something newer world that's gonna fit with your 2023 goals. Okay, another one. If you have your container store once a year discount that you haven't used yet, get on it, get some stuff. Um, I used mine a million months ago, . Um, so I, I am not in this category, but I know that there are people that still haven't used their discount yet. So make sure that if you have saved up that discount, use it before you lose it because it will go away. This one. This next tip is one that was from one of our inspired organizer members. It was a really, really great and really important tip. Don't forget about your investment accounts, saving for retirement is super important and it's often a lot more challenging for us self-employed people. So don't forget about funding your IRAs. The good news in this is typically you actually have till April 15th of the following year in, at least in the US to fund those retirement accounts. For this year. So you can still say this is for 2022, even if it's in April 12th of next year. But in case you are likely to forget that deadline, it's a great time to just get those funds into your retirement count before the end of the year. And just a reminder, compound interest is an absolutely amazing thing, . Okay. Next thing to think about, January 1st is a great time to start new things in your business. So examples would be new policies. So do you have new cancellation policy you want to do? Do you have a new pricing structure? Do you need to raise your prices a little bit? Is there new software you want to implement? Do you have new systems that you want to implement with clients, new contract terms, anything new? A lot of things are much easier to implement if you just make January 1st the start. Start thinking about if you haven't thought about it already, start thinking about, Hey, are there some things I need to tweak in my business? January 1st is a wonderful time to just make a break and start something new for the new year. One example of this, someone in a mastermind that we recently. Ran was talking about implementing new accounting software, and one of the things that we recommended was make sure that you're ready to go with that on January 1st, so you don't have to go back and change anything. You don't have to add anything. You are ready to go on that January 1st date so that everything is super seamless and easy to transition. It's a great time to evaluate your pricing structure. If you wanted to do a price increase, then you can just change that on your website and be ready to go for those New Year's resolution. So that we all know are out there, ready to come in, um, much easier to change that on January 1st than it is to change it other times of the year. So, just a thought. By the way, you can raise your prices anytime you want to, but just a little hint, get it done now, you'll be really happy that you did. All right. If you are thinking about moving to a new crm or implementing a crm, uh, crm, client relationship management, if you wanna go back on the podcast like four or five episodes, maybe a little bit more. We had an interview with Amber Barrett who's talking about Honey Book and TA teaching you all about what a CRM is and what it does. But you might wanna think about this now too. Getting that on board and getting that CRM set up and ready to go for the new year. You will be so happy with yourself. We do have a course on Honey Book. It's $149 and in the course you get a code for half off honey book for the year, which actually more than pays for the course. We would absolutely love to have you. Group. Um, it's a combo of the end of the year investment and an investment in your sanity, , and your time saving. It's gonna save you hundreds of hours next year in your business. I will happily link that in the show notes for you. Okay. I know I talk fast. There are lots of things to think about here. What I would love for you to do is think about, there are probably some things I have forgotten. Um, it's not an exhaustive list, but I would love for you to think about, oh wow, maybe there are some other things I need to be thinking about. Just do some thought time on what are these end of year things I can do in my business. I think it will make you really happy to get some of these functional things off of your plate. Okay. I realize that typically this is done backwards. You usually start big and go small, but I wanted to leave this next part until the, the back half of the episode. After you get done thinking about some of these functional things we've just talked about, I would really love for you to think about your 2023 goals, your big goals. If you listen to our podcast with Megan Sears, it was a couple of episodes ago, you heard her story. I love the story. It seriously just warmed my heart. But she talked about how she made a huge stretch goal for herself for 2022, and at the end of November, she was only $61 and 2 cents away from breaking that. If she hadn't set that stretch goal for herself, she might not have known what was possible. She might not have implemented some of the things in her business that made it. I want you to think about what do you want out of your business for next year? By the way, those do not have to be financial goals. They can be client goals. They can be start your business goals, grow your business goals. They can be personal goals. I want to take the month of August off. I wanna take the month of December off. I would like to quit my full-time job and make organizing my full-time job. I want to be able to spend more time with my kids. Those goals for your business can be anything that speaks to you. They do not have to be financial goals. Anything is fair game in the goal game, as I always, always, always will remind you of something very important. They are your goals, so they need to be what's important to you, not what you think they should be or what other people are doing. They're your. Goals. I wanna talk about one important note on this. Recently I was talking to someone who was looking at other organizers who were building teams, and she felt like she was doing it quote unquote wrong because she was a solo organizer and she didn't have a team on the horizon. I always come back to one of my favorite, favorite quotes, comparison is the thief of. It's completely natural to look at what other people are doing and to think about what that might look like for you, but it's also extremely, totally very okay to say, man, that is awesome for them. I love what they're doing, but that is not something that works for me or my business. Personally, I am a solo organizer. I always have been, and I always plan to be because that's what works for me. That works for my personality, that works for my business, it works for my goals. But you also do not have to say, well, Melissa is a solo organizer, so I need to be a solo organizer too. And listen, I'm here to tell you, girl, if you want to start a team of 20 organizers in five different states, I am here to cheer you on and I want you to go crush that. I just don't want anyone that is listening to this to spend time thinking you are less than because other organizers are doing something different and your goals are different than what you see other people doing. Your goal can be to get one client a month, and I love that goal. , your goal can be to regularly have $10,000 a month. I love that goal. I love any goal that you were gonna set in your business, and I am here to help you achieve it. I want you to make all of the goals that fit your life and your world and your self-care and your sleep and all of those things, okay? If you want resources on goal setting, I will link this in the show notes, but I can highly recommend John a's podcast. John Acuff, you know, I talk about a lot. He has the book, soundtracks Love that book. He has a podcast called, all It Takes is a Goal. So it's basically all about goal setting. It's a, it's about a lot of things, but a lot of it is about goal setting. He has an upcoming challenge that actually I'm joining in January. Totally recommend that it's free. And Marie Forlio just did a podcast, a pretty short podcast on achievable goal setting tactics. So I will link both of those if you want some help with some goal setting. All right, one last word. As you cruise into the last two weeks of the year, hopefully with some rest and some fun and family time and all that. If you want a little bit more in-depth learning from me, we have a free workshop called the Pro Organizer's Profit Plan, and you can watch that on demand 24 7. If you like me, sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep. Great time to watch it. I'd be happy to. Happy to stay up. head to po roadmap.com for that. I would absolutely love to spend an hour with you. Plus it's cool. We have this new software that we use that has interactive components, and if I happen to be online while you're watching, I can message you live. Like you can ask me questions live while you're watching. And, um, hopefully that sounds like fun and not creepy. I realize as I'm saying it, , I don't want it to sound like I'm watching you. I'm not. Um, it just happens to be that I, I can interact with you if I happen to be online while you're. So I love chatting with organizers. I will love to try to connect with you on that webinar. If you have any questions after that, you can also email me always at hello per organizer studio. Okay. That's it. That's you…

Full show notes at the publisher

132 | Jen and Melissa go live and answer organizers' questions Dec 13, 2022

Show notes

Hey organizers! This is a recording of a Facebook Live that Jen and Melissa did with our Inspired Organizer community, and we thought it would be fun to give you a peek into a low-key, casual convo with us answering questions. We hope you enjoy this bonus episode!

We have a free workshop called The Pro Organizer's Profit Plan--head over to poroadmap.com for all the details!

131 | How $61.02 Made a Dream Come True on a Tuesday Night Dec 05, 2022

Show notes

Just wait until you hear the heartwarming and inspirational story we have for you today from our guest, Megan Sears of Megan Sears Organization in the Pacific Northwest. The magic number for Megan is $61.02 and I'll let her tell you the rest!

We are CLOSING ENROLLMENT in our signature program and community, Inspired Organizer®, on Wednesday, December 7. We would be honored to be a part of your business journey! For details on signing up (including TWO special photo bonuses, including 30 done for you Instagram posts and captions!), please CLICK HERE and for more information on the program, CLICK HERE.

130 | Finding Peace in Her Own House and Making That Into a Thriving Business--meet Kristin Roser of Kristin & Co Organizing Nov 28, 2022

Show notes

Kristin Roser has a similar story to me--we both were disorganized in our own homes, and in fixing that and making permanent changes to our own lives, we discovered that we LOVED organizing and wanted to bring this magic to others. Kristin is now the owner of Kristin & Co Organizing in North Carolina, and she is talking to us today about her organizing journey.

Kristin is a part of two of our program communities: Inspired Organizer® and Organizing Essentials. We are closing enrollment in Inspired Organizer on December 7, and would love for you to be a part of our community. For more information, click HERE; email us at hello@proorganizerstudio.com ; or click here to join the program.

TWO BONUSES available now: 150 stock photographs for you to use on your website or social media; and 30 done-for-you Instagram posts and captions.

LINKS FOR LISTENERS:

Connect with Kristin on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristinandcoorganizing/

Connect with Pro Organizer Studio on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/proorganizerstudio/

Learn more about Pro Organizer Studio: https://www.proorganizerstudio.com

129 | 18 Months from Brand New Business to 12+ Team Members in 4 States: Meet Cori McDougald of Meat & Potatoes Organizing Nov 17, 2022

Show notes

Cori McDougald dared to dream big (really big) when she started her business. In 18 months she went from a solo organizer with a brand new business to a leader of over a dozen organizers on teams in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and New Mexico. She talks to us about her passion for entrepreneurship and empowering women, and how she built her business in such a short time. She's a success story and a great inspiration of when passion meets productivity with a side of creativity and lots of fun.

LINKS FOR LISTENERS

Cori's business, Meat & Potatoes Organizing in Minneapolis/St.Paul, Minnesota

Inspired Organizer, our program and community for professional organizers

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