Darla DeMorrow never intended to start her own business. But when she was downsized a decade ago, she found that her 12 years in project management and product management at a large communications firm, along with her MBA from Temple University, turned out to be useful for launching a career as a certified professional organizer.
Today, the founder of the award-winning HeartWork Organizing LLC helps people lead more peaceful and beautiful lives through organizing and design. Darla is also a member of several professional organizations and the author of The Pregnant Entrepreneur. Check out a free copy of her 31 Simple Tips for Organizing Nearly Everything.
We recently checked in with Darla to get advice for small business owners on the importance of organization in entrepreneurship. Here’s what she had to say:
How did you become so passionate about organizing?
Isn’t everyone passionate about organizing? No? I’m just blessed with some natural ability and the helpful delusion that by creating physical order, I can control the universe. I’ve seen the benefits of being organized and seen first-hand how it can help you earn professional credentials, get or build a career you love, and save money to spend on things and people that matter.
Because really, even though I love peaceful, organized spaces, it doesn’t really matter if your home or office is organized. What matters is whether you can accomplish what you really want to be doing personally and professionally. If I can help you get the "stuff" out of the way so you can make your dreams happen, or if we can develop better processes so you spend less time on administration, then I’ve done my job well.
Tell us about HeartWork Organizing. What services do you offer? Who should be using them?
For more than 10 years, we’ve been helping homeowners and small businesses organize their space, time and information. Often, that means de-cluttering physical spaces. Very often, the physical things that have piled up represent something that you’ve meant to do or something that you hadn’t been ready to make a decision on. We can help break the logjam on many of those stalled decisions and help you to make good things happen.
We’ve helped people turn an underused, cluttered office into revenue-producing space. We’ve helped people reduce clutter and open time in their schedule to develop a new revenue stream. We’ve helped people organize their time so that they were able to organize an effective job search and double their salary. And we’ve helped people organize their computer and physical files so they protected their business, saved money and got out of trouble with tax authorities.
Many small business owners can work with a professional organizer throughout the year to great advantage instead of hiring an employee who needs to be trained. There are over 4,000 NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers) members throughout the world, and we’re all interested in setting up systems so you can get organized and stay more organized without unnecessary effort.
What are the biggest lessons you’ve learned about starting your own business?
Just do it. If you know you are solving a problem for yourself or your friends, then find a way to make your business solve that problem for lots of people. When I was first starting my business, many people had never heard the term "professional organizer;" but nearly everyone I talk to these days says they could use some kind of organizing help.
Once you’ve decided to make your business dream a reality, find your people. Professional organizations I belong to are all very collaborative organizations, which is invaluable. Find your industry group, join a community business group, develop mentor relationships, form a mastermind group or do all of the above. The more positive energy and veteran expertise you can surround yourself with, the more successful you will be.
What have been the biggest perks of running your own business?
Flexibility, flexibility, flexibility. I started my business first and then had kids. Being able to take time off, travel with my family and juggle commitments in non-traditional work hours has helped me stay somewhat sane in this very busy season of my life.
What about some of the drawbacks?
Flexibility. You knew that was coming, right? I remember when faxes were considered fast, so it’s been a little frightening to watch what technology has done to our culture, expectations and workplaces. It’s important to make that flexibility work for you, and not the other way around.
What are some good habits new business owners need to develop in order to be successful?
Learn to talk to yourself and be nice. Talk yourself out of a bad day, a bad mood, or a bad customer situation. Being a little delusional is actually a good thing in business.
Teach yourself to see the opportunity in everything. Did you have to take the car into the shop today? It’s a great opportunity to sit and make phone calls. Read something negative? Take a moment to post a positive message on social media and see what comes back.
Take a wrong turn on the subway? Maybe you were meant to head down the tunnel where an orchestra was playing Vivaldi. (That really happened to me, and it’s one of my favorite stories from last summer.)
Miss a proposal deadline? Maybe you were meant to close the next even better deal.
What are some bad habits you think are important to kick?
Stop being disorganized, of course!
Being organized or not isn’t a personality trait or an innate ability. It is a skill that can be learned like anything else. On the other end of the scale, there is no award for "Perfectly Organized." Somewhere between constantly overwhelmed and mythically perfect is a sweet spot called "organized enough." That’s what we want to land on.
For many people, the first step to reaching the land of "organized enough" is keeping an ongoing, accessible and easy-to-update task list. Writing things down in a list gets your to-dos out of your head, and allows you to put some structure and prioritization around them. I recommend keeping an electronic task list in an app like Toodledo, but there are plenty of tools to choose from. A paper list can work, too, if it’s ongoing, accessible and easy to update.
In your professional opinion, what types of organizational skills are critical for business owners?
Business owners walk a fine line, or rather constantly juggle roles, between generating the big ideas and having to make the details happen. Making time for both on a daily, quarterly and annual basis is critical.
Delegation is another skill that most business owners need to strengthen. Even sole proprietors have suppliers, peers, key clients, family members, networking contacts and other people they work with who are not only valuable members of their team, but also can help them accomplish business goals. My photographer, computer tech and graphic design, for instance, aren’t on my payroll, but they are all definitely part of my team!
It’s been said a million times, but learning to read your company P&L (profit and loss statement) and learning to love those long, slow romantic walks to the bank are also really important to small business owners. If managing your business money is stressful, then maybe you should be an employee for someone else so you can do what you love without that stress. A really successful business owner has just as much fun making regular deposits and reviewing business statements as they have working with clients and projects.
What are some of your favorite organizational tools for business owners?
I’ve already mentioned Toodledo, one of my favorite task management apps.
I’m a huge evangelist for Evernote. Evernote is a cross-platform app that I describe as "sticky notes in the cloud." It can help you keep everything organized, from grocery lists to proposal and design ideas – even voice memos and inventories. You can access it from anywhere on any device. Did I mention it’s free? For businesses, Evernote Business provides a place to save and share information, and the business retains that information when an employee leaves. Sweet!
Online banking and accounting is a must. I use QuickBooks online, along with Intuit’s service that allows my clients to pay invoices right from their checking accounts (for next to nothing). There are some newer accounting apps like Freshbooks and Wave that are also winners.
I think everyone is using Dropbox and Carbonite by now, but if not, those are no-brainers. Dropbox lets you move files between computers and mobile devices. Carbonite automates your backups from PC and Macs, so a hard drive or other failure doesn’t have to be catastrophic for your business.
One of my favorite newer apps is Mylio. Everyone is dealing with too many digital photos, not enough of them backed up, spread over too many devices, and taking up too much space on your phone. Mylio solves all of those problems. Whether you use photos in your business, or you just want to be able to easily share rockin’ vacation pictures, Mylio is a great solution.
Interested in starting your own business? Visit Franchise Gator to learn more about the opportunities available to aspiring business owners.
About the author:
Susan Jennings blogs about a variety of topics including personal finance, travel and health.