'Round and 'round we go...

Some months ago I was at a neighborhood brunch, wearing the pin I always wear when I leave my house. It says, "Change Your Life. Get Organized." As you might imagine, it's a real conversation starter. Because of "The Pin", someone always asks about my business and, ever the marketer, I'm always happy to answer their questions.

Sometimes someone says something that strikes me funny. At the brunch, a woman asked me about my business (she saw The Pin!) and remarked, "Oh, I can get organized. I just hate that you have to keep it up!" Try as I might, my poker face failed me and I pretty much laughed out loud and said, "How often do you get your hair cut?"

She was (naturally) a bit confused. I went on to clarify that everything in life takes repetition. Over and over and over again, we do the same things for years on end. It's just the way life is (if you want your life to work, anyway). Dishes, housekeeping, getting dressed, eating... you can't just do these things just one time! It's the same with staying organized. It takes daily, weekly, monthly maintenance but it's time and energy well spent because investing a small amount of time to stay organized actually saves you a tremendous amount of time and prevents you from the daily struggle that chaos creates.

How can you invest five minutes today to make your life easier tomorrow?

Welcome to Blogland, Catalyst Style!

Seven years ago, I had a thought... "I wonder if people would pay me to throw their stuff away?" In the moment, I squashed it, thinking it was ridiculous. Of course nobody is going to pay me to throw their stuff away. Jeez.

Or would they?

I had been soul searching, or rather, business searching at the time. I had sold my previous business and was biding my time working a job while trying to figure out my next move. I had heard about the woman who loved watching soap operas so much that she followed her passion and started Soap Opera Digest. So, hoping I'd stumble upon my passion, I sat down and made a list. God-given talents and skills went in one column, acquired skills and experience in another column. With fingers crossed, I examined what I had written and one concept kept coming up for me. Organizing. Simplifying. Streamlining. And yes, throwing things away.

We're back to my original question. Would people pay me to help them throw their stuff away? In a broad sense, a skill is marketable if it's something you can do that others can't or don't want to do.

I asked myself, "Is organizing a skill that some people have a natural affinity for while others don't?" I answered YES.

I began asking my friends... "Will people pay me to help them get their homes and offices organized because they either don't know how or don't want to do it themselves?" They answered YES.

I searched the Internet and lo and behold, I discovered an entire industry devoted to helping people get organized! (a young industry, but an industry nonetheless) Not only did I find an industry, but also a professional association created to help educate those who chose the profession.

I knew in that moment, a business was born.