BUSINESS
Q&A
Your alter ego is MS. Simplicity. Where'd that
come from?
MS. SIMPLICITY: I think simplicity is what
everybody is striving for. It's one of those
words that people can picture in their head.
I think it's a universal message for people
to live with less, but how do you live with
less when you have three kids who have art
projects that you can't throw away or else
they'll hate you forever. It's kind of about
helping parents deal with that guilt and just
the craziness of life.
The idea of a professional organizer is
probably a little foreign to most people. What
exactly do you do?
MS: A lot of people may have seen the show
'Hoarders,' but that's not what I do. That's
a different specialty. That's a mental health
issue.
I come in and help the overwhelmed
business professional and parent kind of get
control of their lives and put systems in place
to help them be more efficient. I think people
are becoming more and more aware of what
professional organizers in our community
can do for them.
A lot of the clutter is in our head, and that's
what I'm sifting through. It's not that your
house is a mess. People get that they're
messy, but it's not because they're lazy.
There's some other block that's going on.
And we try to get to the bottom of that. They
don't know that when they hire me. They
think I'm just going to come in and help them
clean their house. That's not what I'm doing.
clients say that my voice is now on their
shoulder, kind of like a little angel or devil,
challenging them. And I have little rules.
For example, if I'm working with somebody
in their closet and they're just overwhelmed
with clothes, I say to them, 'Now that we've
organized your clothes, in order to keep a
handle on this, we're going to implement the
'one-in, one-out' rule. If you buy a new shirt,
you have to go home and pull one out of
your closet.'
What niche are you targeting with your
services?
MS: Probably the busy professional. And
it's even hard to book them because I only
work in the afternoons Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday. I don't do weekends because
In addition to her
organizing work,
Schmalenberger is also
an avid writer, even
penning her own e-book
that helps people get a
handle on that messiest
of rooms in their home:
the kitchen. It's available
for $2.99 on Amazon.
What would a sample workflow look like,
starting with your initial interaction with a
client?
MS: A lot of people want a free estimate,
and I don't do that. What I do is I block in
three-hour blocks of time because anything
more than that is overwhelming. I book them
for one session, and we decide if we like
working together.
I go in and create systems so that they never
have to call me again. I don't want this to
take five hours every week. That's not my
goal. My goal is to service as many people
as I can as quickly as I can. And that doesn't
mean I'm doing a rush job, but what I do
with my clients is a transfer of information.
I sit there, have them touch everything and
ask them questions. 'Why did you throw that
card in the garbage? Why did you keep that
card?' And I keep asking them questions
and get to the bottom of it.
You're "teaching a man to fish."
MS: My goal is that, when I leave, they can
continue on without me. And a lot of my
you need to be distraction-free. Your kids
need to be at daycare, your dog needs to be
kenneled, whatever it is.
My favorite clients are the ones who are
98 percent organized and they want that
extra two percent. That challenges me. It's
really easy for me to come in and organize
clutter. But where someone's already superorganized and I get to take them to that next
level, that's really fun.
MORE INFO
Melissa Schmalenberger
MS. Simplicity
mssimplicity.com
701-799-2123
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