225 | Let’s Meet In Person!

Jun 24

I want to meet YOU in Dallas in September!

This is part 2 of my conversation with Brandie and Ryan of Home+Sort and the How To Summit.

You can listen here, read the full transcript below, or find us on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you love to listen to podcasts!

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FULL TRANSCRIPT

We are back with the second part of my conversation with my friends, the wonderful Brandie and Ryan of Home+Sort and the How To Summit. If you have not listened to the last episode, I would love for you to go back because Brandie and Ryan run a seven figure organizing business and they have boat loads of wisdom to share with you.

They were talking about how they actively reevaluate things in their business a lot. And whether you are a solopreneur or have a team, if you are a four, five or six figure business owner, they have great things to talk to you about.

I always learned a ton from them. When I talk to them and I would love for you to go back and listen to that. This second part of the episode, we're talking about a lot of other things, including what is new this year at the How To Summit. I love the How To Summit so much. I will be speaking this year.

I have spoken for the last couple of years, um, and I am thrilled about it, but they are talking about all sorts of things. They had this year, new speakers. New things, new venue, all of the things. So I would love to see you there If you use the code, Melissa 10, you will get a discount if you have not registered yet.

And if you have registered yet, please reach out to me. hello@proorganizerstudio.com or on Instagram @proorganizerstudio. Let me know you're going to be there because I would love to reach out and give you a hug. And if you're not a hugger, a hearty handshake or a fist bump or really whatever you want.

So, uh, anyway, let's get back to Brandie and Ryan of Home Sort and the How to Summit. And I'll see you in Dallas in just a few short months.

Brandie | How To Summit: I think part of our reevaluating too is Ryan's creative and she actually likes change. Yeah. That's actually a good thing. I am more resistant to change and so I'm really grateful for her that way.

And so I think probably a lot of people listening are a little bit change resistant. And it's funny because we talk about that a little bit with the summit stuff of like, why would someone come back to a similar conference every year?

Every year that we meet, the world is different.

The variables of how we're operating businesses. We are not working in the exact same climate that we were last year. Yes. You know.

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: Very different. I was actually gonna say you guys have planned, you have recently planned a very big wedding.

You are, you're just like the consummate event planners. So now you have to pivot from planning a wedding to planning this year's summit. Well, Brandie

Brandie | How To Summit: just roped me into another baby shower last night. Well, and all three of us had children graduate. And so we're also talking about that. We're like, oh yeah, we got to throw a graduation party too. Doing all the dorm stuff. And oh, gosh, it's a lot.

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: I admire you guys so much because you do like such, and I'm not just saying this because I like you, you do such an amazing job with the summit.

You can tell that you have thought about that client experience. Every single thing you know, the decorations and how beverages are out and how snacks are in the color scheme of the event and like all the things. And when I was doing my second and last daughter's graduation party, this is not my jam, right?

It stresses me out. And I'm just like, Brandie and Ryan make this look so easy. I want to tear my hair out, and all I'm doing is putting up a soda station. Like, how do they do this all the time? It's impressive.

Brandie | How To Summit: Yes, now as you know, I did have a soda Shirley Temple station planned for our grad party, and I didn't make it.

It didn't happen. But I did

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: the, I did the swig thing, like we had syrups and coconut cream. I wanted to do that. Recipes. Oh, we did the whole thing.

Oh yeah. I really wanted to do it. I think that's that's very popular. People

loved it, but it was exhausting. Oh yeah.

So I just, I honestly, I don't know how you guys are doing it.

But what you said, Brandie, about, everything changes. Like the difference between, you know, we were just in Austin in September of 2024.

I am still sweating, by the way, it was so hot, but In a year, you know, a year from then in September of this year, we're gonna get together. The world is wildly different and our businesses are different and what clients require is different. And, financials are different, all the things.

And I know that you guys are thinking about that. So can you just, can you tell us a little bit about what's happening at the Summit this year?

Brandie | How To Summit: So we've got a lot of new speakers, you know, Melissa, this is interesting because our industry, even though our businesses are all different, there's some very like neat things about the productivity and organizing industry that we work in.

And so I think that sometimes, maybe everyone has this idea of we know it all we've learned or I've already heard someone speak on that before. I've already heard about this. And so for us, like the creativity and the tall order is to put on an event every year to a demographic.

That's all somewhat very similar. That's new and fresh. And super beneficial and is really something where people walk away and they have game plans, actionable steps and things like this where they really find a lot of value in it. So I feel like we've worked really hard at that this year as we do every year.

Ryan | How To Summit: Well, and on a side note, just because we have the same speaker doesn't mean you're going to hear the same information. I could talk to Melissa every day for 30 days and still not know all that she knows.

Brandie | How To Summit: Yeah.

Ryan | How To Summit: You know, we do our very best to have great minds, you know, speaking people that have something to offer people that we know guarantee that you are going to leave with some something that you can apply the next day, Monday morning.

That is so important to us, something that you can really put into practice. Yeah, absolutely. Even if it's a, even if it's a repeat speaker. Yeah. Oh, totally. So did I tell

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: you guys that I'm just doing my exact same presentation as last year?

No, just kidding.

Brandie | How To Summit: I actually do hope cause to be honest, there's a lot of, I mean, I know you're not, but things that I don't like me to work on. So that would be great. Yeah. So yeah, I think it's like always bringing like Ryan said, great minds, great information. And there's just something about a community.

I read a quote that was like, if you want to go, if you want to go hard, go alone. But if you want to go far, go with someone else that kind of, I might've butchered it a little bit, but I saw that today and I was like, That is legitimately the truth. I can just speak for the three of us on this call about the amount of voice texts that we will have going back and forth.

If something weird happens with a client, if we're discouraged, if we're like, Hey, what are you hearing? What's the chatter?

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: Just really quickly, I was mad at the container store today, and I, the first person I thought I was, I'm going to voice message Brandie about this, because she's going to be mad too.

And guess what? She had my back, and she's that is ridiculous. Which it was. And I

Brandie | How To Summit: delivered on that response. You did.

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: Yeah.

Brandie | How To Summit: But I think like that there's such value in that I don't even know we like can't quantify a value like that of showing up, making connection, and meeting other people, finding people who understand the challenges that you're facing in business.

And so I think some of those things are just the theme and the heartbeat of the event. And so even though there's threads that are similar every year. It's different every year either. Like some of our speakers are talking about things I've literally never heard someone speak on in person.

Or actually probably online ever. And there really is something for everyone. The space is going to be fantastic. Plenty of room, pumping air conditioning.

Ryan | How To Summit: Yeah, we, we, you know, every year at the summit, we do surveys and we take, we, you know, and the people are honest, God bless them because they are honest people.

We were touching on, you know, user experience or client experience. The attendee experience this year is going to be I mean, just a million times better. The place where you're having it, there is so much room. It's just going to be every year it gets better.

And I say the summit is like such a combination of head and heart. We need business knowledge, but we also need to stay encouraged. And that's where the community comes in. So we do. do our very best to provide both of those avenues for people, and I do think we do a good job at that. In anything, I think there's a lot that can be fixed, and we try and Every year, make the summit better, but I do think we do that part really well. I'm proud of us for that. You know, I will say this for anyone out there wondering summit tickets are a little bit more expensive this year. Let me tell you why is that?

Everything's more expensive. Everything. Every dinner. Every snack. Every drink. Well, I don't want you guys to leave going, Oh, the Brandie and Ryan are just lining their pockets. No, they are not. That is not the truth. You

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: guys, speaking of my graduation party, my friend has a really good queso dip.

So she gives, she tells me what I need to get right and it includes the absolutely delicious, not good for you velveeta Cheese. Oh, okay. Yeah. And paper. I had to pay $89 for Velveeta for the amount of Velveeta that we needed. Okay. Velveeta Cheese, which is. Really? It's, you know, not that great. You guys, things are expensive.

Okay. So you guys are not like rolling in on a Rolls Royce. It's just are very costly.

Brandie | How To Summit: Yeah. To be honest. And we, Hey, we wish we were rolling in on a Rolls Royce. Maybe I'll come some year, but and I hate that excuse. We don't like charging more, but What I can guarantee you guys is that this year is going to be better.

And so it's a good investment. We're not going apples to apples. This is going to be apples to oranges from last year. It is going to be better. And you know, and you guys need to sit down and think about how much do I want to invest in personal development? How much do I want to invest in education?

It is something you should be doing. It's not. In our business, it is not an option. There's a conference that I'm going to, is it next week? Oh my gosh. Wait, is it tomorrow? It's in July.

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: You should know this.

Ryan | How To Summit: I don't ever know anything. Anyways, cause I saw the 18th and I thought it was on the 19th anyways of July and Brandie's You gotta go. You just, we can't both go because Brandie has something going on. She's but you need to go down there. This is not, it's not an option for us.

This is a female focused women's business event. And so I think a lot of people act like this is just kind of like an icing on the cake or oh, if I have it and I would challenge you to change your mindset to, oh no, I have to do this to make more money.

This is not if I have enough money I can go it is no I have to go so I can make more money.

So and it's a wonderful event when you do come and we would love to have everybody.

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: Yeah, I can't remember if I have already said this on this conversation because my, my, my brain does not work. I think I'm like Dory in finding Nemo.

My short term memory is gone. But I really believe that so many people go what I've done for the last few years hasn't been working. I've always done the same things. And it's always worked for me. And now those things aren't working for me.

And I think the summit is an example of you've got to go and figure out some of those things so that you can also be energized to go change them. And it is an investment, but it is not remotely the biggest investment. It's actually a tiny investment compared to other conferences in the organizing industry.

I know that for a fact, and it is a teeny tiny amount compared to a lot of other things. And I would argue that even if you tie in airfare and Ubers and hotel and by the way, there are people that would love to share an Airbnb, all those things. When you tie that together, the amount of client hours you have to have for that investment to pay off is not, I mean, if you get one client from what you get at the summit.

You have it paid for.

Ryan | How To Summit: And I would say an important note. I feel like this is really something that I want to encourage the organizing community is go in with an open heart and open mind and open hands.

I mean, literally one, you said something earlier, Melissa, and I'm like, that has just, your little sentence has got , my brain, I haven't been able to stop thinking about this. I'm like, okay, I gotta go make this. Make this thing after because that would be so good for our business.

So go in and go, okay, I've got something I can learn. I've got something I can refine.

This is going to be beneficial for these reasons and going with a, with an open heart and open mind and a good attitude and with a smile.

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: Again, you guys have a, you guys have something cool and unique and that you have each other, but a lot of us are out here on an Island, right? Like I am a solopreneur. Even if I could argue, like when I first started my organizing business, I had an organizing bestie.

And. I would say that relationship helped my business so much because I had someone to bounce things off of and I had someone that understood. So even if your only goal of the summit is I need to go find some organizing friends. I was out at dinner last night with three of my organizing besties from the Minneapolis area.

We were talking about frustrating clients and we were talking about frustrating situations and talking about our families and talking about business and all these things. I left going, okay, I feel heard and seen people that understand me. And that's the thing, like the summit, you just have a large group of women and occasionally a couple of men who all understand me, right?

Brandie | How To Summit: Yes. I heard something today. Someone had said, if I show up thinking I'm somebody, then I can't receive from anyone. So I think that Just showing up with this idea of I'm just like here to learn. I genuinely feel that way at the summit now for Ryan and I, because we're working at the summit, our role is obviously different than someone who's just attending.

And for speakers are working. Melissa, when you show up, you have a, a. A address to give. So like you're working so you might be in a different mental space, but I sit there as much as I can and I just wanna learn. 'cause I know that we don't have it all figured out. Yeah. We've had some great successes.

We've had some hard failures and I know that no matter what, I can receive from anyone at any time. A lot excites me about the summit. I'm incredibly relationally motivated. You know that, but all of it together, I just think is a really special time that I don't know this in this community with the way it is not happening anywhere else.

I do know that.

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: I know that you have a bunch of new stuff. Quick overview of some of the fun stuff for this year?

Brandie | How To Summit: So Melanie Summers is coming and she's actually doing a workshop and she's doing a main stage session and she one of the topics is neurodivergent. organizing.

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: I love that.

Brandie | How To Summit: I had, yeah, like working with people that are neurodivergent. Maybe if you are neurodivergent, it encompasses the whole, you know, it's like a broad painting with a broad brush here.

And I think it's super important. It's really great. I'm really excited because there is a group that was, Kind of started after the How To: Summit a couple of years ago called and they call themselves the summit sisters. There's nine of them. They're from all over the US and we're going to do a really fun panel with them.

And just talking about they individually. Each of them say that coming to the summit and the relationship they formed together in this group has been the most beneficial thing to their business that they can think of. And so I'm excited to hear about their origin story. And you know what they have to say, Ryan and I are actually speaking this year, we're going to do a workshop on relocations and then we're noodling around some of the other things that we might talk about.

Melanie Summers is also speaking about client acquisition.

Ryan | How To Summit: She is such a good communicator. We all need more clients, right? So that's

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: We do.

Brandie | How To Summit: That one's gonna be great. Even if we get too busy and we need to turn them down, at least we got the ask.

Yeah. Yes. Rebecca and Christina from Graceful Spaces out of Austin. They are incredible. I honestly don't know another business that's doing some of the things that they're doing. They're going to come and do a whole session on goal setting and they've got some really smart language with it that they use kind of when they're describing, like how they lay out their goals and things they want to accomplish and how that works with a team or by individually.

Ryan | How To Summit: And their background is in the corporate world. So they're bringing, you know, Brandie and mine's background is just in being idiots. Actually that's something to offer, you know, and so they, they're very interesting too, cause they come at it from a very corporate mindset,

Brandie | How To Summit: I know we have Tracy Bowers, Liz Wann, Jen Johnson and Susie Salinas are doing a panel together and just between the four of them, they all have really successful businesses that look. a bit different and the four of them also connected at the How To: Summit in one of the beginning years and they have a mastermind that they do together.

And and Jen has never spoken at the summit so we're excited. We've

Ryan | How To Summit: actually asked her a couple times and she's turned us down quite a few times. Oh,

Brandie | How To Summit: so this time was yes.

Ryan | How To Summit: Yeah,

Brandie | How To Summit: this time. So it should be great. And they all just, everyone that I love has a different style of business. And so this is, I say all the time, the summit's not about Ryan and I, it's not about Home + Sort and what we do and how we do it.

It's just about the overall overarching picture of what's happening in the industry and yeah, Melissa, you are speaking, which I'm, I am excited about. Will you tell everyone what you're talking about?

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: One of the things I love about you guys you have really great ideas and you had graciously asked me to be a speaker again, and I was like, oh my gosh, what am I gonna talk about?

And then you guys came up with the idea. I didn't come up with it. You did. Where you said you have over 200 episodes of the podcast. What are the things you have learned from the podcast. And it's not about podcasting. It's about the things that I have learned and seen about the organizing industry.

And I'm going to turn that into what do you need to be doing to take action in your business?

Ryan | How To Summit: Yeah. I just think it's so cool that you talk to so many people. You're just getting so many snapshots of the industry that we don't get. So

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: yeah,

Ryan | How To Summit: I'm pretty excited for that one.

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: I am too.

Brandie | How To Summit: We have other speakers to Jen dietz she's out of Dallas and she has an incredibly successful business and she's got all sorts of systems and ways that she does things that are like, They're so smart and they're so thought out and they're so helpful to anyone. And so she's going to be doing a workshop talking about those, which is really great.

We have brought in a good amount of people that are just from all over. I feel like we have some organizers that are speaking that are seasoned in the business too. And so they've kind of lived through the ups and the downs and the trends and the whatnot, and I've really had caught their stride with a success and run a business for a long time.

It might be easy to be successful for two years, but to be successful for 10 year

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: takes a different person.

Brandie | How To Summit: Luck runs out. You know what I mean? Like I says all the time, we can get lucky once or twice, run a company on luck. And it's going to be really Great. I know it's going to be a life changing year for people.

And I don't mean to like over dramatize what it does, but sometimes one idea in your business is kind of life changing, you know,

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: And I love what you said about being open to, because I think that if you go and you have, you know, I don't have all the answers. You guys don't have all the answers.

And if you go and say, hey, instead of just looking at Instagram and having FOMO or thinking like, how is she doing that? People give you the answers of how they're doing the things. That's why I, when I was talking about Brandon and Mallory's session last year, they were giving the blueprint of how they operate their business.

They were wide open. They were happily answering people's questions. There's not gatekeeping. People will tell you exactly how to do the things.

That's a big deal.

Ryan | How To Summit: Yeah. And a couple other we're still nailing down all of our speakers, but a couple of things that I know we're going to touch on is a client management system.

And this is not one specific, like it's not just Dubsado or just HoneyBook or something. This is, we have an expert in the field of helping you streamline that. This is what you need to make this. you know, effortless and to save you time. And then we're going to have someone talk about inventory and not just, hey, this is what I do, but there is now a program I can't remember the name of it, but it's a, software that you use about man, everybody needs

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: that. I've actually thought about creating it, except for, I don't have those skills. So I'm happy to hear this.

Ryan | How To Summit: Yeah.

We're still finalizing everything. But that's just kind of some snippet. I love it. I'm so excited.

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: And I'm excited to talk to people. I mean, I love the summit. It makes me so happy. And so I'm just, I'm thrilled to be there again and just are you glad

Brandie | How To Summit: you're coming back because I made you wear colors.

You know, you did

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: forever. It's very upsetting. It was a very traumatic experience. I did get through it. I know I will get through it again this year.

Brandie | How To Summit: Yeah. That is friendship right there. I want you to know, I took off my black t shirt to put on this top. I've got my black pants on and my black shoes, so I'm with

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: you.

As you can see, I didn't. I am wearing my standard clothing. But for you guys, Yeah, I will do something different.

Okay, people. I love it. I absolutely love it. Listen, we're tired. We've had a lot of stuff like graduating a senior. It's one of the hardest things. I mean, I understand there are people that like run marathons. I don't get those people, but dude, I'm telling you a graduating senior is no joke

Brandie | How To Summit: for real.

Melissa, the events you were at the last couple of weeks and the amount of money you have to pay for everything. Everything. It's like you need to refinance your house to be able to get your kid out of high school.

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: All the end of the year things.

And then so some of my friends with younger kids was like, how's all the graduation stuff going? And I just sent the Kim Kardashian GIF of her just like throwing money. I'm like, that's how it is.

Brandie | How To Summit: That's, yeah. It really is true. 100%.

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: Yeah, so if nothing else, you just know that you've got three people here who at least have successfully gotten a child.

In some cases, two. And they're currently

Brandie | How To Summit: broke, yes, but they've allocated it. Yes,

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: 100%. We have no money. They have all the money. Yeah, so true.

Brandie | How To Summit: They are a resource that loves to continually take.

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: They really do. I did ask my in laws the other day, and my husband was sitting right next to me when I asked him, I go, did your children bleed you dry?

My mother in law just very simply was like, things were not as expensive back then. And I'm like that's a fact.

Well, I can talk to you guys. No lie for six hours. I'm not even joking. I just, I genuinely adore you as human beings, as my friends, as business people, as all the things. Thank you for being here again. Usually we talk about the summit, but I like that we got into a lot of us, other stuff today.

Thank you. Thanks for sharing your wisdom.

Brandie | How To Summit: When we started this you were saying things, and I'm like, Ryan, are you writing down what she's saying? SShooting the breeze as friends, and it's I love that when I'm around you, Melissa, I feel like for me, and I know I can speak for Ryan, you make us better and I appreciate it.

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: Thank you. Yeah. Well, I adore you guys. I will be there. If you have the summit on Mars, I will still be there. Okay. So I'm going to put in the show notes if you use the code melissa10 You do get a nice little discount on your summit tickets, and I just would love to see you. It seriously just makes my heart happy every year when people come in and say hi, and I'm just, I'm very excited. You are the

Ryan | How To Summit: homecoming queen of the summit.

That's so perfect.

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: She's so popular.

Brandie | How To Summit: I'm like trying to get some time with her and it's Oh,

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: a homecoming queen sash in my lifetime. But

Ryan | How To Summit: we forgot to mention this to the summit. Now you can make payments if you're like, Hey, that's a little bit of a big chunk to make. We do have a payment. Oh, I love that.

Yeah. If that is something that would interest anybody.

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: We totally understand cashflow, right? We all get it. We just got done telling you how poor we are. Cause we have children. Yes. So I'll put all of that in the show notes. So you guys know exactly where to go and how to get your discount and how to get your payment plan and all the things.

So I would like to see you in Dallas.

Brandie | How To Summit: Yes. Same us too. Well, we so appreciate you having us on here.

Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: Well, I love you right back.

Thank you so much to Brandie and Ryan for joining me and thank you for tuning in. I appreciate you guys more than you know, I am happy to be here with you and like I promised on the podcast yesterday, if I can get my act together, you're gonna get a third episode this week, so stay tuned. We shall see if Melissa will get it done.

I'm hoping good things for me, so have a good day.