Ever struggled with the chaos of clutter in your life and desired a reset? Join me as we unravel the incredible journey of Kim Mazewski, owner of Consciously Cleared and Contained. A shining beacon for women in small business, Kim candidly unveils her struggle with depression and anxiety and how this led her to find solace in organizing and cleaning, transforming these acts into powerful tools for self-care.
Kim's personal battles have shaped her and equipped her with profound empathy, making her an outstanding occupational therapist. We unfold her life’s tattoo - a broken infinity symbol, and how it serves as a potent reminder of the transient nature of things. Listen in as we deep dive into the realm of Marie Kondo’s organizing method and how it aided Kim during a challenging breakup.
Brace yourself as we traverse Kim’s inspirational journey of launching her own business. Hear firsthand the risks and challenges of chasing a dream and how a golden opportunity at a Women in Small Business Expo paved the way for invaluable connections. We explore the underestimated power of decluttering and organizing, particularly during the pandemic, and how it can reset not just our homes but also our mindsets. Wrapping up, we delve into Kim's earnest endeavor of empowering women in business, her priceless advice for budding entrepreneurs, and her unique outlook on dealing with clutter. Tune in for an empathetic, courageous, and entrepreneurial ride.
https://linktr.ee/deblamotta
Ever struggled with the chaos of clutter in your life and desired a reset? Join me as we unravel the incredible journey of Kim Mazewski, owner of Consciously Cleared and Contained. A shining beacon for women in small business, Kim candidly unveils her struggle with depression and anxiety and how this led her to find solace in organizing and cleaning, transforming these acts into powerful tools for self-care.
Kim's personal battles have shaped her and equipped her with profound empathy, making her an outstanding occupational therapist. We unfold her life’s tattoo - a broken infinity symbol, and how it serves as a potent reminder of the transient nature of things. Listen in as we deep dive into the realm of Marie Kondo’s organizing method and how it aided Kim during a challenging breakup.
Brace yourself as we traverse Kim’s inspirational journey of launching her own business. Hear firsthand the risks and challenges of chasing a dream and how a golden opportunity at a Women in Small Business Expo paved the way for invaluable connections. We explore the underestimated power of decluttering and organizing, particularly during the pandemic, and how it can reset not just our homes but also our mindsets. Wrapping up, we delve into Kim's earnest endeavor of empowering women in business, her priceless advice for budding entrepreneurs, and her unique outlook on dealing with clutter. Tune in for an empathetic, courageous, and entrepreneurial ride.
https://linktr.ee/deblamotta
Hi and welcome to Women Entrepreneurs Spotlight. Today, I have with me Kim Mazewski, owner of Consciously Cleared and Contained, and thank you, Kim, for taking the time to join me today. How are you, Hi? I'm very good. Thank you so much for having me. Oh, it's my pleasure. I'm so glad you're here. So I asked you questions to get us warmed up, and the first one is if you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Speaker 2:It's a hard one because I'm very connected to my people, I'm really close with my family, I have best friends who are very local and just a short car ride away, and I've only just started traveling internationally in the last few years, so I haven't been everywhere to know the best place to live. But we were in New Zealand and that's amazing, wow. We were in San Diego and that was gorgeous. Wow, being back to the beach and the city best of both worlds. But I want my people with me. Ok, I like it. I'm bringing everybody along.
Speaker 1:Oh, I like that. That's great. And then, what's your favorite app on your phone and why?
Speaker 2:I was actually thinking about this today because I have a client in North Wilmington. I had to go pick up my toddler from Hokesson Montessori and then I had to take a donation to Little Sisters of the Port in York and I am really geographically challenged and I use Google Maps all the time, everywhere, way more than I should, but it just gives me such a sense of security and I am a huge fan. I can't imagine how I would do this work or how I would even function in this in the state, without it Absolutely, and I use I use Waze more than I use Google.
Speaker 1:So the big question is have you always been organized, cleared and contained?
Speaker 2:I'm going to say one thing and my mother will probably disagree. So, first of all, when I, when I said that this is my business name, the mom this is my new baby she said, well, it doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. And she said, kim, you weren't little Betty homemaker when you were a kid, and that's true, right. But I remember as a child my sister, who's two years younger than me we found this article in one of my mom's magazines. That was something like 10 things to do to spruce up your room, and the first was let there be light. So we open up our curtains and it basically looked like we would say do you want to play house? No, do you want to play 10 things? Yes.
Speaker 2:So then we would swap rooms and I would organize her room and move the furniture around and decorate it, and she would do the same for me, or we'd help each other and she turns that way and we just geeked out. We loved it so much and we're kids so we all know about like proper recycling. So my mom would always have to pick our trash because we would throw so many things away. And I think that what she's referring to is when I was a teenager and I first started struggling with depression and anxiety, and my environment reflected that significantly. Wow, when you're in the throats of depression, it's hard to keep a tidy home, it's hard to have a bedroom that is neat and you feel good in, because you just don't feel good.
Speaker 1:So did you know when you were younger that you were suffering from depression?
Speaker 2:Yes, as a teenager, it kind of started for me, okay, all right.
Speaker 1:So then when you were doing organizing your sister's room so you found that was like therapeutic, so therapeutic.
Speaker 2:We also had a friend of the family pathway, a young kid, when I was in high school, and I remember coping with that by decluttering, cleaning manically, and everything just smelled like bleach all the time because it was so clean. I would just put music on and I would just get lost in it, and that's how I got through that really hard period.
Speaker 1:A coping mechanism for you.
Speaker 2:Wow it really is grounding for me. It really helped me to feel calm in my space. I think it has like a significant impact and I think I've always known that intuitively and it just feels good for me to do it. So it's easy on a really long day of work and then being with the family to be so tired and to want to crash on the couch and I know that it's going to feel really good to be done the night we reset and to wake up in the morning to freshly brewed coffee and the dishes are done and the kitchen is clean. So like it's a gift to my future self, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Wow, oh my gosh. So taking you out of your teenage years, and then you decided to become a occupational therapist, and so tell us what an occupational therapist is first, and what you do.
Speaker 2:So an occupational therapist is someone who is a professional therapist and who helps you to live your best life and remove any obstacles that are in your way, whether they are physical, mental, emotional, cognitive, logistical, environmental. And your occupations are the things that you do that is meaningful to you. It's your roles, your rituals, your routines. If I became injured today and I couldn't pick up my toddler, a lot of things on my day would change right.
Speaker 2:If I became injured today and I had a brain injury, I would need help with a lot of things with my business, like right, probably sometimes you supervising me and helping me with my books, my bookkeeping and I mean it's it's like you never know, because at any moment anything can happen to all of us, absolutely and and so it's really like helping people to live in the present and, whatever the teeth and of life they're in, be it like an acute injury or an exacerbation of a chronic illness or just like a decline over time, right, and finding ways that they can still participate meaningfully in their life.
Speaker 1:So do you feel that your organic organizational skills that you honed as a teenager helps you in the occupational therapy area?
Speaker 2:Yes, for sure. I mean, I think it's very so. I think so. I think, being a person who has depression and anxiety, I've had therapy for more of my life than I probably have. Not I'm a big fan. I think that empathy is one of my superpowers. I think that I have honed that skill and so I can really sit with someone who's in pain I can and that's any kind of pain and I can really zero in on what they're thinking and feeling and be a support and meet them where they are. And this is so important in occupational therapy, because I'm dealing with people in some of the worst moments of their lives and not everybody is very kind in this moment and I'm seeing people at their worst sometimes Absolutely and they're suffering at that moment and all I can do is think I have to work with you for 45 minutes. How can I make you feel a little bit better? How can I get you a little stronger, a little more feeling capable and confident with yourself and to do something?
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and I think that makes a difference, that you have the empathy because you've been there through depression maybe perhaps not exactly what they are encountering at that moment, but you know internally how you have felt at your worst and then, yeah, so your skills just coming forward into that seems to be a perfect fit for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have this tattoo on my wrist, oh, wow. Of course it was the first one and it's so. I appreciate you getting it on your wrist, but it's actually a broken, infinity symbol to represent impermanence Wow. So it was after a really hard breakup and I thought I will never get through this. But then I had to keep saying, if I will get the will, like yes, I will, someday, I will get through this.
Speaker 2:And I got this tattoo to remind me that nothing lasts forever. Pain and suffering are temporary. Happiness and joy and gratitude and love are temporary too, right. So, like, lean into it when it feels really good and just be patient and know that it will pass when it's not so good, right. And so I had a really incredible moment with a patient one time who was recovering from back surgery and she was in the shower when we were working on her bathing routine and she was just hysterically crying I can't do this, I'm in so much pain, I'm in so much agony, and I started talking about impermanence and it was such a relatable moment and it was so sweet, and I think that's the method a lot of people need to hear You're not your disability, you're not your clutter, you are not your stress, you are not your limitations, absolutely. This is a part of life. We all have challenges and let me help you, let me help.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:And so does the organizing just complete you, it is so therapeutic for me and it is so fun and I really just geek out Like I just go into flow, I go into a whole mode of operation and when my toddler said the word organized for the first time, I thought my heart was exploding at my chest. And he goes oh, do you see what I'm doing? I'm organizing.
Speaker 1:And how old is he?
Speaker 2:He's three, oh my God. But usually the thing about it is I always try to find a way to developmentally appropriately include kids in the process.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. I am finding that kids just want to be a part of it. They want to help, they want to know what's going on, they want to have little jobs. They want to feel important, absolutely, absolutely. I always recruit him to help me with things. That's great, even if it's just peeling off stickers, pressing print on my label maker. He loves it so much and so it's definitely a hobby that's at home. I think my wife would say it's not her favorite hobby.
Speaker 2:I was just going to ask you about your, about your wife. This is her home that she purchased in the early Well, in the mid 2000. And I did not come here until 2018. And before, before I was here, I was living in the city and moving a lot, so moving once a year, every other year, every couple of years. So I had a lot of experience of taking inventory of everything I own and I think I have a natural lean toward minimalism, thanks to my grandparents and the way that I was raised and also my father. It's really in my blood.
Speaker 2:But taking that time every single year or every other year to take stock of what you have and you're really, you're really having a moment to reflect on where you've been in the last year and who you are now versus who you were then and what you're ready to let go of. And this no longer serves me, and I bought this because I really loved it at the time, but it's just kind of filler right now. I can let this go. As a matter of fact, in that breakup I was living A 0.75 miles from Philly AIDS threat, and so this is when I discovered Marie Kondo. There you go.
Speaker 2:Right, yep, I'm going to ask you about that because Marie Kondo came in to change the game for me and I did. I went through the whole process myself. I'm very motivated for it, naturally, so it wasn't too hard for me. Plus, I didn't have a ton of stuff, but, you know, in a breakup it's about letting go, right, right. And so, oh my gosh, I had that little shopping cart that you see people push around the city. I would load it up. It would be like overflowing, probably unsafe.
Speaker 2:I would, you know, walk it up the rickety sidewalk quarter of a mile, three quarters of a mile, and walk it home and just over and over, and over and over again, and it just felt so healing, every single step away from my apartment with these things I was holding onto, these material items that didn't make me feel good to have around. Right, I'm trying to take care of myself, I'm trying to give myself a clean slate, I'm trying to bring hope into my life, and I was able to do that through the process of decluttering. It was transformative. I've obviously read everything she's written and I've seen her Netflix special. I watch all of the shows. I read all the books. I go to the library all the time Wow. Of course, I don't buy them because I can't. I don't want to have that many things, I don't want to have that many possessions.
Speaker 1:But I love it. And so all of that brings you inner peace, and it brought you through a period of time where you were, as you said, going through the breakup, being depressed, having the clutter not only in your life, but I know for me that the clutter and chaos becomes chaos in the mind, and so when you and I have read and been on your website where you know when you start removing that, you're not only removing an object, right, You're almost removing that piece that it's not good anymore.
Speaker 1:You know, let me take it. You take it out and put it aside, or take it out and bring it to the thrift store, it's so true.
Speaker 2:I mean, what happened was I created a space which was very empty, and then maybe you think that's so sad, but really it was like potential. It's a clean slate. It's a clean slate, it's a chance to start over. It's it's like asking me to really, really intentionally bring in what I love and attract to me, what is best for me.
Speaker 1:That's right, and so it just brings back in all the good energy that you had spent in an area that you needed to move out.
Speaker 2:And I think a lot of my clients have a lot of guilty clutter, so I can't let go of this because it was my grandmother's handmade something, yeah, or I bought this on a vacation with my child on the first time we went away together. And the truth is that this is a material thing and the joy that you feel around it and the happiness of the memory and the pull that's, that's in you is inside of you.
Speaker 2:Exactly, exactly, it's not, it's not this tangible, physical thing and you can honor your family, you can honor your ancestors by talking about them and remembering them and speaking to them if they're no longer with us, and sharing, you know, memories and reminiscing about them to other family members, looking at pictures, talking about the experiences, talking about we went on vacation and I bought this really special thing Absolutely, and I hope that you have the freedom to have it meaningful, absolutely, and my mom would love you because that is her philosophy.
Speaker 1:She has, she has certain pictures of her grandkids, of her children, but it's one, or you know, it's one of each. It's not a big cluster. She has certain things that she has saved, but it's it's very minimum and literally if you walk through her house, it's it's been the same forever. Everything has a place in her home and it doesn't feel it doesn't feel empty, it doesn't feel like she should have more. So, like you're speaking to, you know, just having the minimum at hand. You're right, I never even thought about that so much, except for my mom does do that. She talks, loves to, to reminisce, and she loves to talk about family and to ask questions, and so I never even thought of putting all that together.
Speaker 2:Wow, wow I love her too, because it sounds like she really curated a home that she loves Absolutely and that every single thing that there belongs there, because it's special to her and it's worthy of her attention and care.
Speaker 1:And she literally has thought about everything that she has brought into the home. It just wasn't a quick purchase at home goods.
Speaker 2:First of all, I want to meet your mom and see her home. So my home looks like a toddler exploded with getting this in my home. But like this is my phase, it's okay, my season of life, I'm a I'm a new small business owner. I'm very busy. I'm a primary parent here, absolutely.
Speaker 1:You've been licensed. You've been a licensed occupational therapist since 2010. And then in 2016, you did deal with mental health, and then in 2020, you become a new mom. And and so what's that journey been like?
Speaker 2:I have said recently on my Facebook page that I feel like I'm going to sleep, smiling, like I feel like I'm legitimately smiling and I think 10 years ago I could have never imagined this life. I did not see entrepreneurship in my future. I think that's still lost on me. I think I still focus so much on the fact that I get to help people declutter and organize that I forget that I'm also a small business owner Absolutely. That's really cool. Also, I'm learning that I'm a really good worker and I need to be a better boss. That was the learning curve. There's the learning curve for sure.
Speaker 2:I just feel so incredibly fortunate to have found the best wife, to have created the most amazing little human being. I think that every day I have this moment of just like. I can't believe this is my life. Now, on top of having that and having that fulfillment which I never even imagined it could be like this for me, now I get to declutter and organize for a living. This is the thing that I have always loved the most. If you're asking me about also my journey or also what else I love, I really love Broadway plays. It's like a secret hope that someday I'll be decluttering with someone and they'll say, hey, let's sing this whole soundtrack. I'll say, yes, of course, let's do it. I'll act out this part. It's a secret hope, but maybe not. What will happen? Because I'm putting it out there, this job that I'm on right now my client's not there. During the day, I have been listening to Hamilton thinking and dancing and bebopping around her kitchen and just having the best time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, where else are you going to do that? I love it, but when did you take the leap of faith? When did you know you wanted to start your small business, which is going growing and it's not going to be small forever, because it's already growing out of the small?
Speaker 2:word. Well, that's really really kind of good to say. I can keep that. I don't know that I ever realized that this was a thing. That's how I thought about occupational therapy because, going like rewinding, rewinding, rewinding I thought I wanted to work with people that had disabilities. I became a major, a special ed major. In the first semester I quickly realized that's not it, nope. Then I went into publishing but I kept thinking I want to be hands-on, I want to be helping people, I want to be doing something that's more meaningful to me. My therapist at the time said what about occupational therapy? I don't know what that is. She said go home and look it up. As soon as I saw it, I said that's what I want. That's what I did.
Speaker 2:I have been learning more about Marie Kondo and minimalism and getting deeper into that study myself. Then I have COVID, and it's the night of my best friend's bachelor party that I planned in Philly, which is my city that I love so much. Oh my God, I'm quarantined in my room all alone. Oh no, I found this sandbox on Marketplace and the woman was like I'm selling this for my client. I'm an organizer. I said excuse me, excuse me, what? Oh my gosh, wait what? That's what you do. Then it was like a seed was planted, my goodness. Then, a couple weeks later, covid has gone. For me I'm at the wedding. I whisper to one of my best friends I could do this, I could really do this. It was just a whisper, but, man, over the next eight or nine months it was just becoming louder and louder and more clear, and just so much more evident that this is exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. Also, then it looked like well, now I better start organizing everybody that I know I'm practicing. It's good to ask consent before you do that. My wife would come home and be like where is everything? Where is my stuff? Doesn't that look better here? Doesn't it seem more functional right here? It was just suddenly very, very real for me. I was starting to tell people out loud Now I'm talking about it, now I'm like it's going to be a thing.
Speaker 2:Then I got an email from the YMCA, the brand YYY, saying that they're having a women in a small business expo on Thursday. It's Monday morning and I call my best friend who just got married and I would like tell me that this is crazy, that I'm thinking about signing up for this when I don't have a business. She said, do it. And you called me because you know that I was going to say do it and that's why you called me. I said, yes, you're right. We didn't even have a computer at the time at my house Jessica's home from work and I'm like, listen, babe, I got to go to the library, I got to get stuff done. I went on legal doom and I got my LLC expedited. I made a website that night, I started and I finished it the next day. It was like rapid fire go.
Speaker 2:Then I got to my table at the Women in Small Business Expo and I felt of course, you feel like you don't belong. What I was trying to do was look around the room and say these are my people now, this is my community now, but I belong here. They all started at the beginning at one point. If anything, there's a lot of women in this room who can inspire me and motivate me and teach me and be my mentor. I always seek that out. I love it.
Speaker 2:Even that first day I found people that I'm still connected with. I met a massage therapist who does the best massages. I met a woman named Esther who's in the North Wilmington Networkers and she's doing incredible things with seniors. We bonded over that. Since that's my OT niche, it's where I work in a rehab. Esther has taken me under her beautiful, brilliant wing and been a huge mentor to me. Everybody there just validated that. They could see my passion, they could see my drive. They thought I was a little bit crazy for just starting this on Monday and coming here on Thursday. It was surreal. It was lightning speed.
Speaker 1:I think that's one of the best stories that I have heard about jumping and taking that leap of faith right from the beginning and not looking back. Because if you hadn't, who knows? Because so many women that I have spoken to they've always hesitated in the beginning, always self-doubt or somebody chattering in their air. I'm glad that you shared that. If you have that passion, if you have that drive and that's what you want to do, then you just go for it. You're right, we all started at the beginning and we all grow from mistakes and we learn from others and it's a whole growing process absolutely oh my gosh if I didn't write half a novel.
Speaker 2:the way that I jumped into this adventure, I didn't have a plan, I didn't have any understanding of what I was supposed to be doing. It was a really rocky start in the sense of oh yeah, I have to get insurance. Oh yeah, I have to need an accountant. Oh yeah, I need to track all this information. Oh yeah, I should make an official contract. Right, it was just oh my gosh, it was so much I mean.
Speaker 2:But this is how I am Like, when I'm all in, I'm all in and I'm all in right away. I came out of the closet and I was like, instantly, I'm rainbow everything and I'm going to all the events and I'm on the scene. I love it. So this is the same thing. I'm like I'm going to have my small business here it is. Oh my gosh. It was a wild time and I made a lot of mistakes that I learned from and I'm happy to talk about. I love it. I mean, I love it. I remember the first day I went around like hanging up my business cards in coffee shops and just being like that's me that's me.
Speaker 1:You get your, your business up and running and website, social media postings and marketing. Did you do it all yourself or did you have any help?
Speaker 2:in terms of getting that up initially, logistically getting my LLC getting registered, I definitely had help from two of my very good friends, one of the bridesmaids and the bride that was married earlier that year, and I like to call them, I like to call these women that I'm, that I'm bringing into my life my mentor, slash sensei, because I just feel so open to absorbing the wisdom of the people that are blazing the truth, like I signed up for a professional organizer club and there's a woman named Sonia who I'm happy to talk about later too, because she's the best and I just getting so much from her wisdom and her knowledge and things I wouldn't have even thought of.
Speaker 2:You know, basic things that just I'm too close to it. You know I took us to the problem and I've always been a person that sought out mentorship, people that can help me. I'm good at asking for help and not everybody else, so I'm very lucky for that. And also my wife has been an incredible support and you know she's she's learning as I go, like we're doing it together essentially, and so often talking through with her or they. Can you edit my email?
Speaker 1:It's important. I think it is important that we have somebody to reach out to. In the beginning I happened to be a wedding, a fishing, and also, and in the very beginning and the very beginning, I had a mentor and I would not have become a wedding, a fishing, without her. She had just said, oh, I think you'd be great at it. It's like no, I'm not, I'm not an extrovert, no, I'm not standing up in front of anywhere from you know, two to 200 people. No, I'm not doing it.
Speaker 1:And she literally, like just took me by the hand and said, yeah, let's try this, come on, we'll do this, yeah. So I just think it's so important to have a support you know your wife or Sonya or your, you know, your, your your crew of who you can reach out to. And I, like the sensei I have to remember that one. I'll have to include that because I like that Absolutely. I know you had mentioned you didn't have. You didn't have a business plan in the beginning, because you literally just put it all together and went to the YMCA.
Speaker 2:That's what happened. And then in the first week that I launched, someone called me up for a job and she's like I've heard about you, like I said I had started working, I think, kind of like on officially friends and family under the table, some some random strangers on like mom's Facebook pages who were like hey, I need help with this. I'm like I'm coming to you and like this is going to happen. It was really surreal that my name was out there, but also it gave me this like false sense of where I was, because then there was a month of like total cricket.
Speaker 1:I was like oh my gosh, I'm doing this.
Speaker 2:And then I'm like, oh, okay, like no one is talking to me, and so you know I'm just trying to work on all the things and not panic and, you know, trust the process and all this other to think about when you're in this kind of position. And then it just it did just kind of really explode very quickly and, like I said, I got very involved in the organizing component and I'm still. I was the same at home mom at the time, so it was looking like grandparents coming in to help and I'm so lucky for the grandparents because we have a lot of them Thanks to the horse and remarriage, but they've been coming to help so much and so I was able to take on job after job after job and then I'm getting my reviews and I'm getting all these great before and after pictures, and then more people are hearing about me. And so it just happened really fast where, all of a sudden, I really didn't have a plan and I was falling behind on my bookkeeping and I was not having a great system for mileage and I was feeling overwhelmed with the fact that also I have to maintain a business.
Speaker 2:Hey, absolutely. I have an accountant, which is really funny because my father's an accountant and so, like I've always had someone else just do it all for me my father. And then now I'm like a big kid and he's retired and like time to move on, like time to get someone professionally. It's more complicated now that I have a business and I'm, you know, filing jointly and we found an accountant and I'm sitting in the office like I cannot believe I'm here right now, like I own a business. This is so unbelievable. And then, oh, I better pay attention to what she's saying. It sounds important.
Speaker 1:But that's great. So do you have the business plan in place now it is fluid.
Speaker 2:Very dynamic it is. I still feel really protective of it because it's my second baby. I like to have control. I have this really high level of integrity and I don't know, I'm not sure. I'm not sure what I, what I envision moving forward. I just know that I love it so much right now and I mean I don't want to say cover, but it's like very close.
Speaker 1:What I've said to other women is that even if you have the very basic of a business plan, it's always going to change over time as you grow business grow. So it's never going to be set in concrete and just having, I think, sometimes that organization and having that plan in place.
Speaker 2:Learning how to say no right, Like what an important life skill, especially for women, especially for moms, but especially as a new small business owner client calls and I'm like this is not a good fit. I don't think we should work together, Like I don't think I can help you, and it's a big. It's something just to mention really briefly, because it's just so important that sometimes when I'm speaking with a client they'll say, oh, I'm such a hoarder, but that's also a mental illness. That's also a really serious, really tough illness. It has profound effects on the family and the spouse and the kids, and it's something that warrants much higher level help than I can give. I can come and I can work with you and it'll be like a little bit better, but I'm not going to solve the problem that's underlying it and it really requires a professional organizer who's specialized in it, as well as a therapist, and I'm like I just know that I wouldn't be giving you the best service and you bring so much into your business because of your background.
Speaker 1:Being able to say that to a you know, you could have very well said to oh sure, no problem, I can come in and help with a little thing here or there, but your integrity and knowing what you know and what you've brought to your business is probably the best thing that you have going for yourself, because it is hard to say no to somebody it is hard to say no and there's always that intuition that's like I don't have a good feeling about this and then I go there and I'm like, oh, I should have said no, but it's me learning right and that's okay.
Speaker 2:I like to think I'm in your life in this season because you are brave and you're ready to accept that you need some help. It's like I'm working with everyday people, like I'm not working with anybody who's extreme. I'm working with, like parents who are really busy, parents who are juggling a lot of different schedule with their kids, their spouse. Parents who are working, who are traveling, who are like, just so busy.
Speaker 2:I think people can get blind to the clutter that's around them, but also, I think, especially in women, it's like this mental load that we're constantly carrying because things are not right in our environment and we know that this is not the home I wanna live in. When you close your eyes and you picture your dream home, it doesn't look cluttered like this. A lot of people are overwhelmed and don't know where to start because all they see is mess. And that's where I come in, because I love that Right Fighting to you, because all I see is like the bones underneath, like wait till you see that we can re-enagin the whole space together. A lot of people say like wow, I haven't even seen my closet when something moved in. Like I didn't even know that there was rug down there, carpeting down there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I have seen it before and after pictures and it's amazing. It's amazing just getting it organized, nevermind getting the clutter out, but just seeing the boxes and the organization, oh my God, and the clutter piece is the key, One of my favorite parts of the process.
Speaker 2:It's the most important thing, because essentially, we all have too much stuff Absolutely, and we're living in homes that were not built for Amazon at our fingertips, or that weren't built for, like. Costco runs impulse buys at Target and home goods. I'm like we're all guilty of this, myself included, but we don't have places to put it, so then things don't have a home, and then we know that clutter attracts more clutter and you just you get behind and you get farther and farther behind and it becomes more overwhelming and it's a really bad cycle Absolutely. So many of my clients are like I just need to reset and I'm here to come reset your home for you so that you can maintain it. The goal the pictures are great, right, the pictures look really good and I stand by having them. I ask for consent in the contract or talk about it when I'm there. I think the before pictures can show people like wow, other people's homes look like mine.
Speaker 2:Other people are struggling too, Like this is normal and I don't feel as bad because I know I'm not alone. Now. I think that it's a really nice way to show you can get help too. Like you can have a transformation too. You're never too far gone. You know the worst I've ever seen. It's not the worst I've ever seen.
Speaker 2:We're always so hard on ourselves. We're always looking for a worse critique. I'm here to declutter your home. I'm here to declutter your mind from all of the stories that you're telling yourself and this narrative that you've thought that I'm a mess, I'm a slob, I'm a hoarder. I am. I can't keep up with my life. I'm failing at parenthood cause I have toys everywhere. It's just bullshit, if I can say that it is and it's. Women struggle with this, so, much or not, you admit that you're overwhelmed or unhappy with the state of your home. Like you're thinking about it.
Speaker 2:I think I made a video on Facebook a while ago. I'm a little shy, so it's hard to get my face in front of the camera. I'm trying to work on that because I do want to kidnap people, because this is really intimate work and I want people to know that I'm real. I'm authentic. I've been through this myself. I've been on both sides. I can be with you where you are, can help. I made this video and I was saying how I'm this person who likes this micro, organizing this like file folded, color coordinated, every thing in its own little compartment. I love that.
Speaker 2:And during COVID, when I was home, all the time my drawers were immaculate, perfect. And then I have a baby, we have a baby and I'm going back to work, I'm opening a small business, it's taking off, and then it's like my clothes are on top of my dresser, they're hanging over the bed. That system was not working for me anymore because of the season of life that I'm in, which I wouldn't trade for anything. But I have to say that, like it's the system, it's not me. I'm not the problem. I'm not broken, I'm not damaged, I'm not screwed up because I can't meticulously fold these clothes the perfect way. That's no longer my priority.
Speaker 2:And it's funny because when Marie Kondo made that comment about now that she has a third kid, her home is a mess, that's not really what she meant. But man, everyone blew up my inbox with like did you see this article? The goal is not to have a perfect home. No, because we live there. We're humans, we're imperfect and we're busy living. We're enjoying our lives home.
Speaker 2:That's easy to reset, that you can go away for a weekend and come back and it doesn't take you a week to unpack and put everything away, or it doesn't like compound into this bigger problem. You just need to be able to reset your home. That's the goal and it's really possible. And I think, coming from it with an occupational therapist standpoint, I have this framework of looking at the person, the occupation and the environment and how they all play together, and so it's a really individualized process. It's not I'm going to come into everyone's home and do the exact same thing. What works for you doesn't work for me. My wife and I actually have really opposite organizing styles and preferences, which is hilarious, and I often think, like man, there should be like a whole blog about her and I having these conversations about things around the house, because it gets really. It's just really funny because it's not her way, you know.
Speaker 1:But you've worked it out. You work well together. Yeah, and it's just about it's a little bit at a time too, I think, you know, just chipping off if that's what you want to do declutter and organize it's just a little bit at a time. I think people just make it to the point where you know it's so overwhelming. But once you really sit down and talk about it and then start just organizing, the process probably a little bit easier. So what we're we all, we've all had them. Obstacles when you started your business, and not only that, you are a woman and did you encounter any obstacles being a woman owned and an LGBTQ plus owned business?
Speaker 2:I think obstacles would be that I am naturally introverted, so it was very hard and it still is challenging to put myself out there and go to like in-person networking events. I joined the North Wilmington Networkers and that team of people is incredible and really been helpful and supportive. That was hard for me to like show up in that space feeling shy, feeling uncomfortable, feeling like I don't have anything to give. Right, I need to receive so much, but I'm but I feel like I do have things to give. I feel like I've learned a lot in this short time. If nothing else, like I can be your biggest cheerleader and I'll ask you 100 questions so you feel really good about it.
Speaker 2:I think a barrier, too, is just like I'm not from this area. I moved here from Philly. Everyone that knew me was shocked when I came here, but I came here for her. So here I am. But also like when I moved here, you know, my life was very small because I was working five minutes down the road, coming home and doing nothing. So for a long time it was very hard because I didn't find community or and the LGBT scene is like not the same that it is in Billy. A big part of my identity was that I'm a study person and I'm living in the suburbs. It was a huge adjustment and it's something I talk to my son about a lot, where I say, like you can feel happy and sad at the same time, because I was so happy to be in this marriage, to be here with this woman who's so incredible, and I was so sad that I had to leave the city because it was grief you know Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And before we go any further, how do people get in touch with you?
Speaker 2:You can just shoot me a text right now 302-729-2168. Just send a message, say hi, what's up? I heard you on the podcast and then I will say hi, oh, my gosh, like. Thank you so much. Also, do you want to look at my Facebook page because I work really hard on it? I get on the same and I try to post really meaningful things there that will help you and inspire you, and I've just done a major overhaul of the website consciouslyclearedandcontainedcom, which is a mouthful, but also make sure that you recognize that it's consciously cleared and contained.
Speaker 2:You know what? That is arguably maybe a mistake, that the name is so long that it doesn't even fit on my mail. It doesn't even fit on my business card, my business banking card. It's just so long. My mother said well, it doesn't roll off the tongue, but I just stand by it. I love it so much. I think so much of the process of resetting your home and reclaiming your space Like this is your home. You should feel really good here and this should be not stressful to you. It should be the smallest to your stress, right it's a whole statement of who you are period.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, 100% agree. I would like to say bring intention home, be mindful, and I think that we live in a time where it's really hard to be mindful, it's really hard to be present in our lives. We're being pulled in so many different directions. We have tons of distractions in our face. We just make these choices, we make these impulsive decisions. We buy things we don't need or that we don't love. We get a new home and we fill it up with things really fast, or how I was explaining that I've moved so much in my life. My wife has lived here for a really long time and so she never had to take a moment to look at everything she had. And when I came in, I was like babe, babe, some of them, some of them have to go. She was never in that position to have to do it before. She did great. She did so great.
Speaker 1:A client will either text you, call you or fill out the contact form, and then do you have a phone conversation first. Yes, it's a three-step process.
Speaker 2:If you're talking with me and you seem interested, I will often refer you quickly to my Calendly website where you can book your own appointment based on times that I have available, and that's anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes talking about your home. What's going on for you? What are you stressed out about right now? Why are you calling me right now? And just kind of figuring out what's going on and seeing if I can help you. I make referrals when I don't feel like I can. Sometimes I get contact in lower Delaware and I'll make a referral for an organizer down there, but mostly it's just like we're talking about what got you here.
Speaker 2:What are your barriers with getting in the way? How supportive is the family? Like? What are things that you've tried that haven't worked before? What are things that are working well? Like it's really I mean it can get emotional, it can get intense, right, because this is a very sensitive subject. I've been in a lot of shame for most people. I'm here for that. I like to make sure that it's really no pressure, no obligation, consent-based. This is the part of the call where, if you're interested in moving forward, I can talk to you about next steps. I'm not going to force my business upon you.
Speaker 1:No, probably wouldn't work either that way.
Speaker 2:But I think it's really different than having a cleaning person or a contractor come in. I'm literally going through all of your things. I'm literally seeing the ghost in your closet. You know like it takes a lot of trust too, because with the decluttering, like I'm encouraging you, I'm giving you a little tough love, I'm pushing you to make choices that are aligned with what you say you want. You want to have a tranquil bedroom. You cannot sort the mail in your bedroom. It can't happen here. Or you can't have all these like heavy books about the world and politics in your bedroom.
Speaker 2:If you want this tranquil space, so really so much letting go has to happen in the beginning. You have to really clear out the consciously cleared. You have to intentionally let go. You can clear the space and you can see this is mine and I can make this mine and I can make it feel so good for me and it's empowering and decluttering. It's like a muscle that gets stronger and stronger the more you do it. It's contagious and you get momentum from it.
Speaker 2:I get homework assignments, like people love it. I get, I get text from my, my clients all the time saying like look at this progress, and they send a picture, or they'll say hey, where'd you put this thing? And I'll get over right over here. Or like, what do you think I should do about this area? Or like what do you think I should? And it's just, it's incredible. I mean, one night I had a husband and a wife both texting me at the same time. I think they were like in separate rooms and it was hilarious because they were talking about different things. But I'm like this is so much fun.
Speaker 1:Do you ever go back and revisit your past clients or keep in touch with your past clients? I?
Speaker 2:think like I'm saying I don't work with people that hard because that's not my skill set, right, but a lot of people are organized, are organized in some areas, but generally have disorganization throughout their home or have too much clutter or just don't have systems in place and feel overwhelmed by the daily routine. Like I come in and I work with you and like it's just so deep and raw at times I've had people cry. It's emotional, we're talking about heavy things, we're we're sorting through things, people are letting go of things and it feels pathetic. It's really like a bonding experience. You know, some people are more open than others.
Speaker 2:I feel close with some of these people and I want you to feel empowered. I want you to feel like you're trusting your instincts. I want you to feel like you're making good choices for your home, for that you're making and so like I have a really client centered approach and also you'll have momentum when I leave, because every time I work with you, I take a car full of clutter and it mobilizes it out of your home. You wait Goodbye and then when I leave, you can see an immediate impact how different it looks with so much less stuff. I'm really good at giving concrete tasks that are simple, that you can check off, and people will sometimes reply and say, like I did number one and number three.
Speaker 1:Or this is this is so great your passion, your drive, your own motivation, the passion in your voice. When you speak about your company, you have such an endaring and caring and the way you articulate everything that you've gone through that we've talked about is why your clients you connect with your clients 100% and so you touch base a little bit on giving advice to other women. Is there any other advice you would give the next woman entrepreneur starting their business?
Speaker 2:I would say, if you have this fire in you, spread it, go, do it, take that leap of faith. And I do want to add that I came into it with some privilege of a wife who has a very steady job and income, so like it wasn't like we were dependent on my salary. That's a privilege that I had for sure. But I just think that I'm a really big person of like women, supporting women and supporting other small business owners. I'm really trying to like climb the mountain myself, but also reach back and pull people up with me, because the view from the top is better when it's shared. Even though I'm new, I feel like I have learned things that I can help you with, I think. Don't be afraid to ask questions, don't be afraid to say I don't know. Get out there and hustle.
Speaker 1:One of my goals with the Woman Entrepreneur Spotlight Podcast is to build that network of women, and I would love to add your name to that list. Yes, I love that so much. I love this. I have enjoyed this talking to you and learning all about consciously cleared and contained, and I love the name. As I said, it is a statement period and it's far, totally, absolutely so. Thank you for sharing all that you have shared, because it is very personal. People just don't realize. You know, somebody just comes in and organizes and throws things in a box. You take the time to start from the beginning and find out how they got there, and then you come along and take it 10,000 steps forward. Kim, thank you so much. Thank you for being here. Don't worry about it.
Speaker 2:Listen, listen, get in touch with your mom. Call me up, I will. Let's have some coffee or a glass of wine. Absolutely, you want to see your mom. We'll keep talking.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I'm going to share with you at this end here, because my mom and my sister have always have everything in place. I tend to have things a little bit out of place. I've learned to declutter. You would definitely come and down. All right, I love it. Oh my gosh. Thank you.