Thank you Michelle! My closet is beautiful and organized. I can see everything and can get it just as quickly. Even better, I’ve been able to keep it that way for 2 months. Thank you so much.

— Kim R.

Michelle has great ideas to help you get organized and keeps it simple. I will definitely use her services again in the future.

— Dana B.

A well managed business by an extremely organized person. Well worth obtaining the professional assistance from [real neat]

— Diane B.

No matter what the task at hand, if you try to get it done all by yourself, you quite likely won’t be a complete success. We aren’t superheros… we’re humans with limitations.

So, this week, I’m planning to invite a few friends and former clients to serve on my informal   [ real neat ] advisory panel. I’ll host the bunch here in my apartment, with snacks and beverages on-hand.

Out of this casual atmosphere, I’m hoping to get some honest feedback about some of my current business practices, as well as input regarding my new business model (i.e., what do you like? what do you not like? what would you like to see added? what would you like to cut out? general feedback / testimonials?).

How about you? Are there things that you’d like to improve in your own home business, your household, your church, etc.? Use this week to create and meet with your own advisory panel. Then, come back and share your feedback from the group. Will you be implementing any changes? Do tell !!

The end result of my personal Monday Mission project is a thing of beauty, isn’t it? Oh, how I love having a clean kitchen counter!

* sigh *

Well, as promised, I shall stand tall and brave (just like my clients) and reveal to you one of the best-kept secrets and hidden truths of a real-life professional organizer’s lived-in home…

[ insert an overly dramatic drumroll here, please… ]

Yes. It’s true. This was the fate of my kitchen counter nearly one month after Amanda and I returned home from our two-week summer vacation!

Normally, like many of my clients, I’d hide my head in shame if anyone outside my immediate family were to see my kitchen looking this way. In fact, I was incredibly grateful that the weather remained pleasant enough that the MOPS playgroup could meet at the elementary school playground rather than my home (which was our designated rain-out location)!

Now mind you, if our group did end up meeting at my house before I completed this week’s Monday Mission organizing project, everything that you see on the kitchen counter would’ve simply been gathered in one fell swoop, hauled into the office, and dropped onto the floor in the middle of the room.

I’d close the door to the disaster, of course, so that anyone—who, heaven forbid, might need to use the restroom—could make their way down to the guest bathroom at the end of the hallway, completely oblivious to my messy little secret!

… suffice it to say that everyday living can even get in the way of a professional’s best intentions! You’re not alone!

Whew! This post has turned into far more than I had originally anticipated, so stay tuned… Next week, I shall continue to reveal how I successfully managed to clear off my kitchen counter (and keep it that way)! Until next time…

As a fairly new small business owner, I have quickly learned that managing client information, marketing campaigns, and general business administrative tasks can easily become extremely overwhelming. Any suggestions?

Pen and paper aside, I’m in the market for an online hosted CRM solution. I’d love to integrate my website directly into the CRM application in order to manage my newsletter mailing lists with greater efficiency. At this point, though, it’s beginning to seem as though my head is in the clouds…

My professional organizing business is currently 95% service-based. At some point in the future, I do plan to expand into selling organizing-related products. I know, I know… there are definitely solutions out there that meet all my “requirements,” but I simply can’t afford to use them! I need some guidance!

My current CRM wish list:

• visually-appealing interface
• web-based & hosted
• lead, prospect, and customer tracking
• sales process management
• marketing campaign management
• automated drip marketing
• customizable reporting
• at-a-glance daily task list
• inexpensive (if not free)!

If you currently own a small business (or have owned a small business in the past), how do you manage your client information and marketing campaigns? I’d love to hear from you!