127 | Get Inspired Series: Julie Aderhold of Healthy Home Organizing
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Julie Aderhold is a great example of an organizer who found a niche that was super close to her heart and uses that to help people who are dealing with an unexpected health diagnosis--celiac disease--but even if you don't have a similar niche for your business, Julie still has lots of great advice for you for your business.
I met Julie through our Organizing Essentials program, and I have loved getting to know her on our monthly Zooms where we talk about client situations and how to handle them. I know you'll love getting to know her too!
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FULL TRANSCRIPT
Julie Aderhold: The only advice I can think of is advice that was given to me, over the years. Just keep your mind and your heart open. If you're feeling that there's something out there that you're wanting to do, research it, read about it, to think about it, to talk to people, and it's gonna click at some point just like it did for me.
I was in this dilemma of I know I wanna start a business, I'm ready to start something on my own. I don't know exactly what it is. These are some things I'm interested in. This is what's been affecting my life personally. And all of a sudden I saw an intersection and.
It literally was a light bulb moment. I don't know if that will happen for everybody, but don't give up listen to your instincts, listen to your internal voice whatever it is that you call that for yourself mm-hmm.
If nothing else, you learn something new and. And maybe something bigger will come. .
You're listening to the Pro Organizer Studio podcast with Melissa Klu and Jen Obeyer. Thank you so much for joining in. Our mission is to broaden the horizons of savvy business women in the organizing industry. By instilling confidence and inspiring authenticity, you'll gain new insight into strategies designed specifically for professional organizers.
So now let's get started.
Melissa Klug: Hey everybody. It's your podcast co-host, Melissa, and before we get started with my interview with Julie Outer Hold of Healthy Home Organizing, who's going to tell you all about her cool niche and how she built her organizing business.
The way that I met Julie was through our organizing Essentials course, which is open now for a short period of time for you to enroll. Closes on November the. . If you have ever thought about joining a course in the Pro organizer studio family, and we have something for everyone, whether you have been a business for 10 years or 10 minutes, or it is just a dream of yours, we have something for you.
But Organizing Essentials is a course that comes straight from my heart. It is built from me working with hundreds of clients over thousands of hours in multiple states on every project you can possibly. What I want more than anything is for you to have that feeling that the minute a client opens the door, no matter what is behind that door, you know how to handle. , whether it's a closet, a garage, a basement, a kid's playroom, maybe you have a client with a pile of paperwork that has been sitting around for 20 years.
I have literally been there. . We teach you everything that you can imagine so that you are ready to go in that client's house. We also build a community by having a Zoom every month. We talk about client situations, all sorts of stuff, and we have a private community where you can get coaching and ask questions.
We built this course to be very accessible to everyone. It is $249 and we have a payment plan, and what we would love is for you to take this investment and go make that back in about three seconds with one happy client. We would really love to have you in this course in our community.
I would personally be honored to be able to teach you and have you in our group and get to know you. So if you want some details, please check it out. You can go to the show notes wherever you are listening to this, or go to pro organizer studio.com.
Click courses at the top of the. Or you can email me at hello@proorganizerstudio.com and I really, really hope to see you on our next Zoom. Let's get started.
We are back with our series where we are talking to our community of organizers.
I love talking to people about their organizing careers, how they get started, what they're doing. And our guest today, I'm extremely excited for you to hear her story because she has a very interesting niche, and one of the things we talk about a lot is, Hey, how can you use something that is important to you in your life and also apply it to your organizing business?
So I, I want her to talk a little bit about some of her business, but I would like to welcome my friend Julie, to the podcast. How are
Julie Aderhold: you? I am wonderful. How are you?
Melissa Klug: Good. Excited to have you and excited to talk to you. So give us your whole story, like how'd you get started in organizing? What has your path been?
Julie Aderhold: Interest in organizing has been in my brain for a long time. You know, I read Marie Condo's book way back when, when it was published and did the whole thing in my head where if she ever comes to the US I'm going to, you know, wanna be one of her students.
While that didn't happen other things happen in life. I had a different career, things like that. Have always sort of helped friends organize. Then I also was diagnosed a few years ago with something called celiac disease. So there's a reason I'm telling you this, it might sound like a segue off into nowhere land, but it is part of my story story.
Very relevant. Very um, thank you. And so what happened was is I was diagnosed about three years ago and the only treatment for celiac disease is a completely a hundred percent gluten-free diet. And gluten is in about 80% of the food in the United States. It's this very overwhelming initial kind of shock when you're not expecting it.
And I found that there was a little bit. Gap in the medical community. Great. At diagnosing. I had a great doctor met with a nutritionist dietician. But once you do that, you're kind of just thrown out there and every, you think that every single thing you touch is gonna have gluten on it. And so part of where suddenly I had this epiphany in my head when I was thinking about starting an organizing business, and yet I also wanted to help people who were diagnosed with celiac disease.
I really have two businesses. I have my organizing business because not everybody has celiac disease. Right. And that is there's a large market for that in my community, and there's lots of people who need help. So I have all different types of clients, but I also have this niche where I work with people who've been diagnosed and I meet with them and we go through a series of typically four sessions.
And one of them is just providing some information that is legitimate for them so that they're not just out googling everything and getting a lot of false information. So there's several things we do, but one of the things that we do is we organize their kitchen. And the reason we need to do that is because of cross contact.
So most of the time when someone's diagnosed, the entire family typically does not have it. And it's very difficult for people who aren't diagnosed with it and not always even recommended in the medical community to go on to gluten-free diet. So you're having to have both gluten containing items and gluten-free items in your household and you can't let them get into contact with each other.
I'll give an example that might. It's easy for people to understand flour has gluten in it, unless it is a, a flour that doesn't contain gluten like almond flour or something. So you can imagine when you're baking or cooking and you are putting flour in your sauces or in your cookies or whatever, those little grains can fly in the air and get all, and they're in the
Melissa Klug: air and they're, they're all over.
Yeah.
Julie Aderhold: Yep. So one of the things that I also do then is help people figure out how to organize their kitchens so that they can avoid that cross contact and which items they are going to need doubles of and which items they can just wash and use for both types of foods. So there's a whole. Process that goes into organizing your kitchen.
So that is one of my niches,
Melissa Klug: and I love that, I really want people to hear this because even if you don't have, you have obviously a personal connection to this, but I have multiple really good friends with Celiac and all of us have people in their lives that have, food allergies, that type of thing, whether it's peanut allergy, anything like that.
I love that you do this because it is very specialized and it's very personal to you, but any organizer can take a look at this and get some education on it and say hey, I would like to be educated so that I can help a client. I don't have any of those issues, medically, but I had a client, I know I've told you this story before, but.
I had a client that she, the client was diabetic, daughter had celiac son, had a tree, nut allergy, other son had a peanut allergy, but not a tree nut allergy. And husband had nothing and just wanted to eat regular food. , Right? And their pantry was one of the most stressful things I have ever had to organize because she's like, I want a shelf for son number one.
I want a shelf for son. Number two, I want a shelf for my daughter. I have to have pans over here. And it was so complex. But, I loved solving that problem because that was a, that was an organizational challenge. That was also a health challenge? So just encourage people to listen to you and say like, Oh my gosh, I never thought about these things.
This is how I could be value added as an organiz.
Julie Aderhold: Right. And, and on the flip side of that, I also enjoyed the challenges that come along with this job. And I have a client who has adhd and that was a learning process for me and I loved that. And it actually, I. Kind of made me think in my head that really a lot of what we do is lean manufacturing for the home.
Yeah. That's what I like to call it. And there's a lot of things that you do as an organizer that actually don't just help people who have adhd. It can help anybody because you're really taking out steps that are unnecessary or organizing in a way that is much more efficient. So there's, that's what's great about this business is yes, someone can absolutely learn about.
Allergies and celiac disease and help people in their kitchen, but then we can learn other things as well. So,
Melissa Klug: yeah. Well, and one of the things I love about the client that you're talking about that had ADHD is you came to our community and said, Hey, I have this client. And we were able to brainstorm with you.
Like some of us said, Oh, I had a client with, this presentation of adhd, cuz ADHD isn't just one thing, it's a continuum or it's a spectrum. And so we were able to really talk through, Hey, what are some things that might help your client? And I remember that I learned a ton from that conversation because people came up with some, I think, really great ideas for that particular client.
So that's the value too of, of a community where you can bounce things off of them.
Julie Aderhold: Absolutely. I, I just love that about this group.
Melissa Klug: So what are your favorite clients to work with? Like are they the Celiac clients that you're helping? Or like what's, what's kind of your favorite thing that you, when someone calls you, you're like, Yes, I'm excited about this.
Julie Aderhold: You know what? It's really hard to choose a favorite. I feel like any time I get invited into somebody's home and we get to that stage where I do a consult with them and we talk about what their goals are, I feel like that person has now become my favorite. So it, it's I think as soon as you, for me, as soon as I make a connection with somebody in that way, in their personal space and they're willing to share what they need some help with, and I'm able to, in my brain start thinking about how that can happen.
To me that's exciting. And I love the one on one connection, what the clients. So I don't think that I have a favorite. I actually have had quite a variety of clients in less than a year of business. So they all are kind of a favorite to me cuz they all. Improve their lives
Melissa Klug: so tell me a little bit, cuz you have not been in business for very long, so what what was the thing that made you go? Yeah, I'm for sure starting an organizing business. And how has it gone for you in your first year?
Julie Aderhold: Let's see. I, I spent a little time researching, so I sort of retired early from a very demanding career.
And was doing some research and both on the celiac end and how I could help people and also on the organizing end. And honestly, I came back to your podcast, I found this podcast and really it was the one that resonated with me the most. And then I think, Reading and hearing about some of the offerings with the class.
I just finally said, You know what? I think this is, it just clicked in my head that this was the time to do it. I think I just had gotten enough information where I said, Okay, I can take a step and, and move beyond just listening to podcasts and, and reading a couple books and start actually formulating a plan.
So I, I think that really did help. And you talked even about some business books and some of the podcasts and just a variety of things that really helped. I, I was part of another organization to score Yeah, which helped a little bit too. Which is for any business. Cuz I kind of started out.
Something very broad. Like I knew I wanted to start a business and I thought I knew what, but that sort of helped me as well.
Melissa Klug: I do think sometimes, like even just the phrase I'm starting a business sounds so like big or unwieldy or scary or any other word that you wanna use, but one of the reasons I wanted to do this series where we talked to people who did it is because it is an organizing business in particular, is actually pretty easy to start there, is if we wanna use fancy business language, there's a low barrier to entry , right?
You don't have to have millions of dollars in capital. You actually don't have to have hardly any money to start it. You don't have to have a building, you don't have to have supplies, You don't really have to have anything. And I just want people to know that it's an accessible business to start if it's something that you just can't get outta your head.
Julie Aderhold: I completely agree. It's a service industry. You're, so much of what you're doing is you're selling yourself and your knowledge and all of that, so you. Have to have something that would be a huge investment.
And most people have either a cell phone or a probably a laptop. Those are two things you might need, but you probably could get away with just the cell phone, to be honest. For sure.
Melissa Klug: Yeah. There, it's, it really is something, and that, that was what I was not prepared for was, oh my gosh, I probably have to do like 2000 things.
No, in fact, you do not , I want people to know that there is help out there to help them get over that hump of like, No, I can totally do this.
Julie Aderhold: Yes and you can , yes
Melissa Klug: I frequently say, if I can do it, anybody can do it.
I say that about organizing, I say that about starting a business. I say that about a lot of things. Tell me a little bit about the clients that you serve. Like do you, do you, are they people from all different walks of life, like ages, you know, demographics, geography? Who do you serve?
Julie Aderhold: I'm in the Greater Green Bay, Wisconsin area in northeast Wisconsin.
So, I have had a few people ask if I would go outside the area, and I certainly would if I needed to. But I, I haven't in particular done that yet. It's been pretty new. We actually we have a, a friend who stayed with us who wanted me to come down to Florida, which would be great since we're in Wisconsin.
And she actually kind of got motivated staying at our house and started doing it on her own a little bit. So I even find that rewarding that even if somebody doesn't become a client and they. Decide to take 'em some steps to improve their life. That, and then they let me know about it. I, to me, that just brings me a lot of joy as well.
As far as clients, I would say, boy, I really have had. A pretty broad range, obviously. In, you know, in a couple of the cases I've been working with people with celiac disease, so that's one thing. But then otherwise I really have had a wide range. I, I talked to you about having an ADHD client. I've had clients where I've done one project with them, and then they've taken it from there and moved on.
I had somebody who just had me help her even just categorize some things because she had had a sudden move during a traumatic time in her life and people helped her. And of course that meant everybody just threw stuff in boxes. So I even got her to the point where she didn't wanna necessarily, and maybe couldn't afford to have somebody come and do everything with her, but we got to the point where we could just categorize so that she could take it from there.
And I talked her through what to do. And then I've had clients where I've done their whole home just from a decluttering and organizing standpoint. I have a client who started out as an organizing client and ended up with a corporate move. So I'd be, she became a packing client.
Well, that, and then I have a presentation I'm doing to a group in a couple weeks, and it's primarily retired.
And ages of people. are moving from maybe a home that they've lived in, into an assisted living type situation and maybe working with even their family members. So I'm doing a presentation to a group like that as well. So I feel like a generalist, even though I have that really specific niche too.
Yeah. ,
Melissa Klug: you're, it's almost like you have such a specific niche that for the rest of your business you're like, anybody anything? Right? That's kind of nice that you're able to
do
Julie Aderhold: both of those things. Right. And I really, I actually had a friend who I had lunch with and she said to me, Well, what do you like doing better?
Do you like doing just the organizing or do you like working with the people specifically who have celiac? And I said, I can't answer that. I, I think I love 'em both.
Melissa Klug: But I love that about organizing that you can get so much out of any client that you have. I have done a billion different kinds of projects and even if the project specifically isn't, about things I like, or I really love doing paperwork, but even if I never do paperwork with a client, I still am like, Oh my gosh, we did so many fun things.
I, I genuinely like my clients. I have had very few clients where I'm like, this is not my favorite place to go. In general, I love these
Julie Aderhold: people. Right. And, I agree. I think that that's why it's so enjoyable I just feel like I get to know them and Yeah. And yeah, it's really. There is something really
Melissa Klug: personal too about, I was talking about this with someone else the other day about, I love looking at people's coffee mugs.
Like for some reason coffee mug collections just make me smile. And so I feel like you can get a lot of someone's personality by what kind of coffee mugs they have. Right. But when you're working in someone's house, it's your most personal space. You learn a lot about people. Yep. You learn about their relationships with their family, and you learn about, sometimes you learn secrets and sometimes you, you know, hear a lot of things about people.
I feel like it's an honor to be asked into someone's home.
Julie Aderhold: Totally agree. I mean, I have shed tears with clients and I, I feel the same way. I feel like the fact that they trust me enough to come into their personal space and, and share. Personal physical space, you're gonna end up, probably sharing some things beyond that.
I feel just touched almost by people allowing me to do that. And I really take that, confidentiality, seriously. It's personal for me too, it's a really, it's a unique situation that we're allowed to be a part of.
Melissa Klug: I also, I had a consultation yesterday where the woman specifically said, and this made me really happy she specifically said, I really also wanna have fun, are you a fun person? And I'm like, Yes, a hundred percent. I
Julie Aderhold: am like, Melissa is fun. Believe me, ,
Melissa Klug: I try to be fun. But like, that was actually, I loved that she said that because I said, Oh, no, no, no.
I really want to make this a process that is not drudgery. Like, Right. Some people have this idea that Oh my gosh, it's gonna be terrible and it's gonna be so much hard work. And I'm like, No, we're definitely gonna have fun. We're, we're definitely gonna laugh and we're gonna have a good time and we're gonna get a ton of stuff done, so.
Right,
Julie Aderhold: I've had a three hour session with somebody where, We've gone through just about every emotion and by the end we're laughing. And of course that's the fun part when you're putting things away that you're keeping and you know. Yeah. But yeah, I've definitely had all the feelings in a short amount of time.
Yeah. Including fun. Including
Melissa Klug: fun. Well, the other thing that I try to do with clients is, and I know I've talked about this before, like in our smaller group, but if a client has a good sense of humor, I will, in every house, I will have something that I will say, You are banned from buying any more of XYZ item.
And like, anytime I find one more of those items, I'm like, no. I had a client that had for some reason like 40 ice packs. And so I found, I happened to find another box of ice packs and he was gone and I texted him and I'm like, I just found more ice packs. What are we doing here, ? So, right. Like some sometimes like that, like there are things about people's stuff that you can find humor in and joke around with them, but also be teaching them a lesson of right.
We're getting organized so that you don't have to rebuy all these things.
Julie Aderhold: Yep. And you just, you, it's like any other relationship. You get to know the person and then you can kind of find out, you know, who you can joke around with and about what, and what things you wouldn't joke around with, you know, because that's something sensitive to them, but then they, but then yeah, as you, as you're working together, it can, it can actually be really, really fun, Yeah.
So,
Melissa Klug: so what is the, the split for you in your business? What do you find is, really the niche that you're working in and then, the more general,
Julie Aderhold: I would say about 20% of my time would be spent with that niche.
I think probably 80 would almost be in general, although I didn't mention this, which is so fascinating. Two of my largest clients I've had, even though they were not celiac clients one of them had celiac disease. Mm-hmm. And so even though I was not hired to help her with that, she had been diagnosed as a child.
Yeah. So she didn't need my help with that. But she trusted me because she knew when I came into her home that I wouldn't have just eaten a cheeseburger at McDonald's and gotten crumbs all over and cross contaminated her kitchen or whatnot. And she was pretty cautious. She had multiple health issues.
So that happened. And another one who, again, did not hire me for anything to do with celiac disease, but is very comfortable with me because she has a child who has other allergies.
Okay. Not, not to gluten, but other food allergies. And so she just, and her children really warmed up to me and I don't know, it was just so, I am having all these kind of crossovers, I don't know what else to call it, of situations where, Oh my gosh.
Melissa Klug: This is crazy. Normally I would pro, I would take this out, I would probably edit it outta the podcast.
I might leave this in because I do think it's an interesting conversation. Like the, the dog that I'm watching is a long term client of mine. I've been working with her for four years. She is a maintenance client. She trusts me. I just come into her apartment, do things. I, I do a ton of stuff for her, but I have always loved her dog.
And one time she's like, Hey, she travels constantly. And she's like, Would you ever wanna take Max like for a weekend? I'm like, Yeah, a hundred percent. Absolutely . And it's just turned into this thing. It's lovely. My family loves the dog, right? I enjoy helping her out. She has given me thousands of dollars of revenue over the years, being her organizer.
And it, it, you do get close to people, right? By the way, if you're listening to this and you're like, These women are crazy. They're like watching clients', children and watching clients', dogs. That's bizarre. You don't have to do this , right? You don't have to. But for me, It's been like a nice bonus to the process is I have really made relationships with people that are good.
Julie Aderhold: And, and we're able to help them in even another way that we didn't expect, The
Melissa Klug: other thing too is when you think about it, you don't have to watch someone's dog, but we know a lot of things about people. Right. Like sometimes you know, I do love doing paperwork with people.
You see very sensitive information and things like that. And so becoming trustworthy to those people where they know Right. You take that seriously. That's another part of organizing that I just, I was not prepared for.
Julie Aderhold: It makes sense when you kind of go through it and you think about it.
Melissa Klug: But these are the things you learn. I think you have this idea when you start your business of what it might be like, and then you actually start doing it and you're like, Oh wow, I didn't realize that it was also gonna have these layers below. Is there anything that was really surprising to you when you started?
Or something that you weren't prepared for really?
Julie Aderhold: Nothing real surprising. Maybe I mean, I guess each client is a little bit different. So sometimes clients who think they're really disorganized aren't quite as disorganized as they think they are completely. So they hire you and, they're maybe embarrassed or, which nobody should ever be embarrassed.
But it, it is kind of funny how sometimes you say, you know what? You're capable of this, you're close here. Here's how we're gonna get you there. But you probably could do it. And I think people are busy and they have, there's multiple reasons why someone would hire an organizer. I think we've talked about this, in the group before, but, why do any of us hire any service? You know, for me I'm really not a tech savvy person, so I need a little help on, on that. If I'm forced to do some things, could I probably do a little bit more on my own than I think I probably can, but I'm not afraid to admit that I'm not the most tech savvy person either.
I use it every day in some capacity, but I'm certainly not a techy person. But why would anyone hire a personal trainer or someone to clean their house or someone to mow their lawn? It's not because you can't work out on your own. It's not because you can't mow your lawn. It's not because you can't do these things.
We're all busy people. We all prioritize what's most important and where we need to focus our energy and where we can maybe utilize some help. So, I, I don't really think it should be considered. Anything a whole lot different from that?
Melissa Klug: Well, I was just, I was just gonna say, as I literally stare at a painter outside my window, I could paint my own house. Like, it's theoretically something I could do, but would I do it as what I do as good of a job is they're doing? No. Like, would I have wanted to stand outside, it's kind of cold today and scrape the side of my house so that it looks better when it's pain?
Absolutely not. I would've been like, throw some pain on it. It's fine. Right. . But like, yeah, there are just things that you say it makes more sense if I ask for help. And that's something that I try to tell clients when they reach out to me is, I know it's, it actually also takes a lot sometimes for our potential clients to contact us.
They may have thought about contacting someone a bunch of times, but by the time they reach out, they might be in a crisis situation or something. And so I always tell them like, I'm so glad that you reached out and asked
Julie Aderhold: for help. Yes. I did think of, so. You were asking about what I'm surprised about.
When people bring me into their home. For me, I really, and I've talked about my niche and all of that, but one of the things I really do like is I really like the decluttering part of organizing, whereas some organizers that part's okay and it needs to be done, but they really like the end product and having everything for those clients who want uniformness or they want decor help or some of that.
And I think I'm okay at doing that. I think my house is decent and all of that, but I find so much joy in the decluttering part of it and really helping people to figure out that they don't need as much stuff as they have and how to get rid of it, maybe how to donate it, where to take it. And when they realize there are places that need things and they're happy with that.
I love that part of the job as well. And people are surprised at that. They think Oh, you must not like this part of your job. And like, No, actually I really like this part of my job.
Melissa Klug: Well, and I love that you can, in this business, you can do any number of things, right? If decluttering really isn't your jam.
It is awesome. My jam. I love it. I love digging down into the psychology and asking the questions about do you really need this and why? And all that kinda stuff, right? I love it, but some people really don't and they're not comfortable with it. It's okay. You don't have to be There are so many parts of this organizing business, whereas I don't love as much making the beautiful pantry.
I mean, I like it. It's great when it's done right, But that's. What excites me about it, and I love that you can be any of those things on that continuum and have a business, a very successful business. Right,
So where do you see your business going? What does it look like for you six months from now, a year from now?
Or are you just letting it happen?
Julie Aderhold: There's a little bit of truth in probably both of those things. I have a, a vision, but I also am letting it happen and kind of giving myself permission to allow that. Because I've had clients come to me that maybe I wouldn't have expected at some point.
And so I'm finding a lot of joy in that. I'm finding a lot of joy and learning some of the nuances and just delving into some of the things just to learn more. I just think it's fun. But I would say in terms of what I envision It might be easier to say what I envision not happening. So what I don't envisioning for myself personally is building a team.
I have managed a lot of people over the course different parts of my career, and I'm just ready to not be managing other people at this point. I really like the freedom of just scheduling and being able to work directly with people as well so that I don't need that layer of extra people involved.
If I need some help, certainly I have a plenty of contacts where I could hire some contract subcontractors and things like that, but I envision myself as a solo entrepreneur and working. I'm hoping hard enough, but not to the point where I'm completely overwhelmed.
So I'm trying to temper that a little bit. I would like to probably get a little bit better at. I love kind of old fashioned marketing of myself. I love, Tell me a little bit more. Yeah, so our, at least that's what I'm kind of, I mean, I love one-on-one contacts. I love just telling people what I do and just being authentic and talking about it as they ask questions.
I can do a presentation, I can talk one on one, I can talk to a group, all of that and talk about what I do. I don't love social media. I'm gonna be honest. You don't have to. Yeah. And, and I'm getting to the point where I'm starting to post some things a little more regular. And again, not because I can't do it I don't know.
It's, it's not my, what I feel is. Personality or my gift as much I, and part of that might just be selfconsciousness of putting something out there for the whole world versus being in touch with people on a personal level or even a group setting where you're doing a presentation, making eye contact with people.
And I like all of that. And. So that's the part of my business that I'm still a little bit un unsure of how I'm gonna move forward with some of that. And so, but I have an accountability partner as well that through this group that we're starting to talk about some of those things
Melissa Klug: too. I love accountability partners.
But I do wanna go back to something you said because I do think it's important for people to know because some of the so we talked about this is a low barrier to entry business. It doesn't take a lot of money to get started or anything like that. But what I find is sometimes there are barriers to entry that are in our own heads and we can't get past it.
And for a lot of people, Social media is one of those where they say, Oh my gosh, well, I'm gonna have to post on social media 72 times a day and I have to learn reels and I, and I'm not comfortable with any of that. I don't want any of that. And what I want people to know more than anything is there are a lot of ways to do this business.
There are a lot of ways to get clients and being authentic into what actually works for you. What I will tell you doesn't work is you can't say, I don't wanna do any of these things. Like Right, right. I don't wanna have a website. I don't wanna have social media. I don't wanna tell people what I do. I don't wanna network.
You do have to do something and find something that works for you, but you don't have to say, I'm paralyzed by the thought of having to do an Instagram, therefore I will not start my business. You don't have
Julie Aderhold: to do that. Right. Start with what you're comfortable with. Yes. And then you've, Maybe we'll build on that.
Melissa Klug: What I would say too is what you were describing as, as old fashioned marketing, I just like to call it analog marketing .
Julie Aderhold: That's a good way. Oh, I've not thought of that. That's a good term.
Melissa Klug: It's just that you're choosing to connect with people on a more personal one-on-one level versus one to many level.
And presentations are great. I personally love doing presentations. I also know there are probably people listening to this that were like, I would rather never have to talk in front of a huge group. I'll talk in front of anyone . Yeah. But that's a great way to get out there if it's something that you love.
Julie Aderhold: Or at least are comfortable with, you know? Yeah. So
Melissa Klug: also there are tons of groups that are looking for good presentations. Mm-hmm. . So if it is something that you enjoy then I definitely encourage you to reach out and think about that. Whatever your niche is or whether, whatever, .
Core audiences, there are always groups that are looking for people to speak. Yep.
If someone's out there going I'm just a podcast listener, I'm maybe thinking about starting a business, but I'm not sure, what kind of advice would you give to people?
Julie Aderhold: The only advice I can think of is advice that was given to me, over the years. Just keep your mind and your heart open. If you're feeling that there's something out there that you're wanting to do, continue to research it, continue to read about it, to think about it, to talk to people, and it's gonna click at some point just like it did for me.
All of a sudden, I was in this dilemma of I know I wanna start a business, I'm ready to start something on my own. I don't know exactly what it is. These are some things I'm interested in. This is what's been affecting my life personally. And all of a sudden I saw an intersection and.
It literally was a light bulb moment. I don't know if that will happen for everybody, but don't give up if you've got something listen to your instincts, listen to your internal voice whatever it is that you call that for yourself mm-hmm.
Listen to that and, and just keep an open mind to it. Do some research, do some educating of yourself. If nothing else, you learn something new and. And maybe something bigger will come. You know, and maybe you'll be able to move forward.
Melissa Klug: When I was thinking about starting this business, which at the time I thought was crazy, I was like, I think this is a crazy idea.
I don't know what I'm thinking. I really just need to go, like, I need to just go find a marketing job somewhere. What am I doing? And I had this I still like a paper planner, so see I can be analog. Oh yes, . And I had this paper planner that had this quote that said, If you can't stop thinking about it, start working on it.
And that just that one little quote, real, I still think about it a lot, to me at that time it meant go start your business. But now it can mean any number of things. Like, oh, you, you have this thing that you keep meaning to optimize. What? Like, let's go start it. But I think that if it keeps being in your head yes, think about how do I put this into.
Julie Aderhold: That's a perfect quote. You articulated, I think my thoughts in a much more effective way than what I did. But that is, that's essentially it. I just
Melissa Klug: stole it from my planner .
Julie Aderhold: So, so there's no new idea, right? We're all just getting ideas for universe.
Melissa Klug: It's kinda like I tell people, you know, I, I was like, Oh my gosh, if you see something on my social media that you like, please take it and use it.
I don't care. I don't have anything proprietary or new or exciting there. Just take
Julie Aderhold: it. That is one thing I have to say about this group as well, whether it's your coaching or the podcasts or the Facebook groups or the classes themselves, everything is. Everything is so supportive.
Nobody is saying, Well, I'm not gonna quite answer that question completely cuz I might give away my secret. Yeah. There's none of that. Yeah. All the information is shared so openly and even though we're all in the same industry, I feel like we're all just helping each other rise up and be better.
And that isn't hurting anyone No. To do that there. It's not really competitive, it's really collaborative.
Melissa Klug: Some of the people that I like the most in this interview that I'm personal friends with are actually technically competitors of mine, . And I mean, like, I did an interview that you guys will hear either before or after this with Corey McDougal of meat and potatoes.
She's practically in my backyard. Several organizers in the Twin Cities areas like they're my friends. We hang out, we talk about business. I refer business to them. If I can't do something, I send it their way. We say it a lot, but collaboration over competition.
But it really is a thing. No one is gatekeeping information.
Julie Aderhold: Right, Exactly. So it's a gr I mean, if you're thinking at all about somehow joining this community in any of the ways you can highly consider it. Because it, it is, it's just a really helpful group. We love
Melissa Klug: our people. They're good people.
We're like, we, yes, we have a good time. We help each other. But it really is just nice to have a community of people that really get exactly what you're talking about. Versus when I try to tell a story to my husband and I have to explain like 200 things, and by then he's asleep.
Right. , .
Julie Aderhold: I don't have, I tried to have my husband listen to some podcasts in the car when we were traveling recently and after one or two, he's like, You know, could we listen to some music now, . So
Melissa Klug: I put this on my Facebook, but I realize I probably haven't told this story on here, but my children are hilarious and they're very nice children, but they can also be savages in the best way.
Right? And one day my husband said, he's like, Oh, I saw that you posted a new podcast. Like, I'll, I'll, I'll take a listen to it. And my older daughter goes, Why would you listen to her more than you had
Julie Aderhold: to ? I was like, Oh, ouch, . And
Melissa Klug: I was like, Hey, people actually say that they like listening to me.
And she's like, Yeah, that's what they tell you, .
Julie Aderhold: Hey, the
Melissa Klug: numbers prove it. Listen, I have data. People do they, that's to listen. .
Julie Aderhold: So,
Melissa Klug: yeah. By the way, my husband sometimes tells me stories about his job and I'm like kind of glazing over. So it's nice to have a community where you could be like, Oh my gosh, you're not gonna believe what happened to me.
Right.
Julie Aderhold: Agreed.
Melissa Klug: Well, thank you so much for joining us. We're good to remind you if people want to look up all of your information, where are you?
Julie Aderhold: Well, as you know, I am not the, I have a lot marketer, technology guru, but you can email me julie healthy home organizing.com.
If you do check social media, I do have a Facebook and an Instagram. So I do have some information on my Facebook page, probably as a little bit more information on that. It's healthy Home organizing. I'm based in Green Bay, Wisconsin, so that would be a way to find me. And you can call too.
(920) 680-8667 or
Melissa Klug: text. You can call Julie. You cannot call me. I do not like the phone.
Julie Aderhold: That's right. You don't like the phone? See, I still do. I,
Melissa Klug: lots of people do. I'm an outlier. I know. I'm an outlier. So, , I saw a hilarious thing the other day I think it was a tweet that said I accidentally put on an email today.
If you have questions, please hesitate to call me. And they don't hesitate. But she's like, I just left it that way. And I'm like, Yep, . So by the way, I will talk to you guys on the phone. I I really will. It's just not my preferred method of communication. But Julie will chat with you anytime.
That's right.
Julie Aderhold: Love it. Right.
Melissa Klug: Well, thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it so
Julie Aderhold: much. You're welcome. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it and appreciate everything you do.
Thank you so much for listening into the pro organizer studio podcast. If you'd like to get our roadmap for success as a pro organizer, head straight to www.poroadmap.com.