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My Organizer Journey

About The Author

Hi! My name is Erin and I am a mom of 3 beautiful children and reside in the Midwest, USA. Being able to reach people beyond my own area with home organizing help inspired me to build this website.


My Organizer Journey - Part 1

I have always been an organized person, or rather, I kept an organized home. That was until kids came along. Now please don't get me wrong, just because you have kids doesn't mean you have a reason not to get organized. It's just that taking care of little people requires... well, some adjustment in the area of organization.

I'll admit, though that I struggled with this adjustment and found myself in an exhausting cycle of being in constant "picking-stuff-up" mode. Once I accepted that our home would never be the same again, I began to relax about being so organized.

Too relaxed.

As our kids got older, life became busier and busier. Other challenges presented themselves and before I knew it, the pendulum of home organization had swung completely the other way. We were living in chaos. Literally.

This just didn't make sense to me though. How can a nearly obsessively organized person let her home get so out of control? I was baffled.

It never occurred to me that I might have traded one thing (free time to organize) for another (taking care of kids). Let's face it, it takes time to get and stay organized and when you have children, they become your priority over all things, including a well kept home.

Yet, I had let things go too far and needed to get a grip and get our kids involved too.


And so continued:
My Organizer Journey - Part 2

I taught our children at age appropriate levels how to keep their rooms, clothes and toys organized. I didn't obsess, just tried to teach. Slowly our home returned to a more orderly state.

During this transition, I realized how much I still loved to organize. What can I say? It's ingrained. When my sister (who knew I was looking for part-time work at this point) suggested that I start a home organizing business, I LOVED the idea!

At first I offered to organize for family and friends just to see if they liked what I did. They did!

So I thought up a name...

It's About Time Organizing Service (I liked the double meaning ;-)

I delivered some flyers and put an ad in the local paper. Soon I received a few phone calls and was hired and it went from there. I organized part-time for several years. The flexible work hours were the greatest benefit.

As my children got older, I wanted to build my business to full-time to help offset increasing family expenses.

This was not as easy as I had hoped!

Organizing for families was very seasonal. While it's a niche I love, there were some "down times". Busy families are... well, BUSY :-)

And sometimes I found it difficult to convince people that getting organized might help them feel less busy.

Families also have seasons where there isn't time for organizing, i.e., when they are on vacation, during the holidays, school breaks, etc. The same was true for my own family.

All of this made my Organizer Journey "Feast or Famine."

I tried a number of ways to promote It's About Time Organizing Service. The most significant was building HomeOrganizeIt.com.


My Organizer Journey - Part 3

I know you came here to learn how to get your home more organized but I decided to add "Part 3" because I get a lot of questions, even from other organizers, about why I give away so much information for free.

Ever since I discovered why our home got so out of control, I said I would build a website to teach others how to get more organized and how to teach their children too. I saw first-hand how getting more organized could help any family, including my own, but I could only reach people in my local area. With a Web site, I could help people everywhere and teach them how to DIY.


SBI!

I found a software system called SBI! . It's so versatile that you can use their "point and click" capability or if you're more technically savvy you can upload your own HTML and do a ton of other fancy stuff. In my research, I kept finding stories written by people who were using SBI! These folks were raving fans. And they seemed so normal - which was refreshing (lots of GRQ online!) - so I decided to try it out.

Another reason I liked SBI! was everything was all in one place. It includes a step-by-step Video Action Guide as well as a written Guide, tons of customizable design templates (no web developing experience necesssary), Search Engine (Google, etc.) ranking help, etc. More importantly it showed me how to make income with my Web site. Woo hoo! I thought. How cool is that?

Even though the information on my site is completely free, SBI! has showed me how to earn money with affiliate programs, Google ads and referral programs.

Yes, I give a lot of information for free, but the reward comes back to me through these affiliations. So instead of it costing me to maintain this Web site, it actually returns a profit. And my visitors get to find all kinds of organizing help at no charge. Pretty nice, eh?

If you think about it, you probably found this site by using a Search Engine like Google or Yahoo. That's just one of the things that SBI! helps me with. It shows me how to build pages that rank high in the major engines so I can get as much free traffic as possible.

Here's one of my favorite Site Build It! stories...

Amber bought SBI! and created a Web site based on her passion for helping people plan DIY weddings. She began earning income after only a few months. Like me, Amber was completely new to Web site building. She also wanted to be able to work from home after starting a family. I love to tell my friends and family about Amber because it proves you don't have to have Web site building experience to achieve success with SBI!. And it shows how anyone with a passion or hobby can build an online business and work at home.

Check out Amber's own video below...



If you've got some spare time (even a few hours a week), you should try it. Take the video tour to see how doable it really is. Like everything else on my Web site, I wouldn't recommend it if I didn't use it myself. My advice is that it's very important to pick a topic that you have a personal interest in. Think about your hobbies or passions, something you have a lot of knowledge about that others could benefit from knowing.

For example, do you have the solution to a problem that can help people?

  • Decorating on a budget?
  • Gardening in a colder climate?
  • Traveling tips for seniors?

The topic can be anything. Just make sure you are interested enough in the topic to build a useful, informative site - that will help you stick with it.

Using Solo Build It! completely risk free. SiteSell gives you 90 days to try Solo Build It! and if it's not for you they'll give you a full refund, or a pro-rated one after that. I've been using Solo Build It! since 2004, so I can assure you they are a well respected company with an impeccable track record.

Try Solo Build It! when you get some time. I guarantee you'll enjoy your own journey :-)

Thanks for reading about My Organizer Journey. I wish you all the best.
~Erin



Have An Interesting Organizing Story?

HomeOrganizeIt.com is all about getting WAHMs and homes more organized so families have more time for what's important.

As a Professional Organizer, I've witnessed first hand the tranformation that can take place in people's lives through decluttering, simplifying and getting organized.

Here's your chance to tell others about your experience!

Share your Organizing story here and I'm sure those who visit this site will appreciate it!

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