Q HOW DID YOU START ORGANIZE 365, A PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION SERVICE?
In December 2011, my life was spinning out of control. I was depressed. I was overweight. We were more in debt than we ever had been in our lives. I was pouring everything into my job as an algebra teacher, staying up until midnight making lesson plans but failing at everything else in my life. Then one day, my administrator told me I was not a very good teacher. I thought, “Why am I sacrificing my spouse, my kids and my house for this?”
I always knew I should start a business, so in January 2012, I started a blog called Organize 365. In April, I became a professional organizer, offering in-home organizing for clients in Cincinnati. When I realized that organization is a learnable skill, I started a podcast. Now we’ve had more than 17 million downloads and are one of the highest-ranked podcasts on iTunes.
Q HOW DO YOU DEFINE SUCCESS?
Success is being able to spend time doing what you’re uniquely created to do so that it benefits all of society. Women especially tend to get lost in the daily to-do lists and lose sight of our unique place in the world. If we believe in our goals and ambitions, we’re able to give back. A great example is when at the start of COVID, I’d say on my podcast, “I certainly hope the woman who’s going to invent the vaccine for COVID isn’t doing the laundry right now. I hope she’s doing what she’s uniquely created to do!” And in fact, it was a woman who came up with the very first vaccine!
Q WHAT ROLE DOES INNOVATION PLAY IN YOUR CAREER?
A whopping 87% of Americans believe that organization is a learnable skill, yet only 18% feel that they’ve achieved that. The professional organization industry focuses almost exclusively on decluttering and then making it Pinterest-pretty by labeling the bins, making things decorative, et cetera. Organize 365 has gone long and deep into just the skill of organizing. We don’t offer digital solutions. We don’t sell bins. We focus on what it means to be organized. We also ask how does organizing change from one phase of your life to the next? I’ve lived in my home for 26 years. I had no children, then I had children, then I became an empty nester, and now my grandchild lives with me. All that happened in the same house, but I’ve used that house so differently over the last 26 years. That organization has changed as my life has changed.