218 | 1095 Days Of Organizing: My Third Year In Business with Kim Snodgrass of Rustic Home Organizing
After three years of being a professional organizing entrepreneur, one of our most popular guests is back to give a recap of what she learned in year 3 and what she has happening with big changes coming for year 4. Kim Snodgrass of Rustic Home Organizing in Oregon is here to have a refreshingly honest take on what her year was like.
In this episode, Melissa reconnects with Kim Snodgrass from Rustic Home Organizing to discuss her journey through her third year as a professional organizer. They delve into the ups and downs Kim faced, including major life events, business dynamics, and personal growth. Kim talks about the importance of adaptability, the evolution of her business practices, her passion for supporting women, and her ambitious new project, The Daydream Project. The conversation offers an honest, raw, and insightful look into the realities of running an organizing business, emphasizing resilience, learning, and the necessity of ongoing self-reflection.
You can listen here, read the full transcript below, or find us on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you love to listen to podcasts!
LINKS FOR LISTENERS
Connect with Kim at Rustic Home Organizing in Oregon: CLICK HERE
Connect with Melissa and Pro Organizer Studio: CLICK HERE
If you are interested in our Inspired Organizer® program, you can find us at www.inspiredorganizer.com and don't forget, we have a whole library of podcasts here, our YouTube channel, and you can find us on Facebook and Instagram at Pro Organizer Studio.
TIMESTAMPS:
02:51 Year Four Recap Begins
04:35 Challenges and Reflections
07:43 Business Struggles and Personal Growth
12:44 Organizing Philosophy and Client Relations
16:32 The Realities of Organizing
27:25 Product Use and Ethical Considerations
39:20 Facing Ethical Dilemmas in Organizing
40:19 The Power of Saying No
40:57 Staying True to Your Why
42:53 The Joy of Downsizing Projects
45:43 Balancing Multiple Responsibilities
46:52 The Importance of Automations
48:08 Reflecting on Personal Growth
59:13 The Daydream Project: Empowering Women
01:02:43 Event Planning Challenges and Successes
01:10:52 Final Thoughts and Encouragement
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Hey, pro organizers. It's Melissa. I first brought you a podcast with a brand new organizer, her name is Kim Snodgrass. She was just starting a business called Rustic Home Organizing, and a year later I was like, “Hey, do you wanna hop back on the podcast and just give an update on what your first year was like?”
Welcome back Kim!
And then we did an update on what her second year was like, and now we are back with the update of her third year going into her fourth year of being an organizer. And these are some of the most popular episodes that I put out. People frequently ask me about them or talk to me about them, and so I wanted to make sure that we did another update.
We're a little bit later on it than we usually are, but Kim is heading into her fourth year as an organizer and every single year. She has had some major epiphanies about things she's learned about herself as an entrepreneur, about herself, as a person, all of those things. And this year is no exception.
So this conversation, I will say is very honest, very raw, very vulnerable. And we might say some things that you totally disagree with. It, it, this was more like a conversation than anything else. We might say some things that you're like, oh my gosh, I didn't know anyone else felt that way. And, and that's really our goal is we want to be really honest about some of the trials and tribulations as well as the great things about being an organizer.
The other thing I would say is there is a little bit of salty language in here. That's how Kim and I roll. And, uh, I understand if that's not for you, but, um, what I told someone one time who I got annoyed at me on my Instagram because I, I used a salty word. I was like, I'm almost 50 years old and this is just how I talk.
If you're newer to the podcast or if you haven't heard Kim's past podcast, I will link them in the show notes because it really is fun to hear her progression, and especially if you are at a different point in your organizing career.
It might help you to hear a brand new person and then a person with three solid years of experience under their belt. All right. I hope that you have an absolutely fabulous week, and here is my conversation with Kim.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: Anywho all right, you ready? I'm ready. I've said it 8 million times, but I'm going to say it again. The stuff we talk about before we hit record is better than most of the stuff we talk about on the podcast. I think the things we talk about on the podcast are pretty good.
I agree.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: I agree.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: Yeah. We should probably, I mean, that should be like Patreon content. Like if you want the behind the scenes to hear about the weird things we were discussing before we hit record, it might be paid content.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Yeah. Today was juicy. I'll say.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: So I would like to welcome back my dear friend and friend.
Like, 55 billion time podcast collaborator, Kim Snodgrass from Rustic Home Organizing. How are you?
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: I am so good. I know. I kind of feel like I've worn out my welcome just a little bit.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: It's not true. Let me tell you why that's not true. Because the other day, so we, what we're doing today is we're doing your year four recap and, or year three, three, four forward, right?
And so I have done this with you since you were a baby organizer. We've done it every year since then. And we usually do it in January. And I had someone DM me the other day, sassing me and being like, where is the Kim business yearly business update. And I was like, well, pardon, I'm sorry. We're running late with it.
So you have not you have not worn out your welcome. And in fact, people like the podcast episodes with you are some of the best downloaded, so people love you. So you might, I should probably podcast over to you.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: No, I do not want that, but thank you. I appreciate the offer.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: I'll put you in my will as the owner of the podcast.
If anything,
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: please don't
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: know. Well, I'm happy to welcome you back because I know that. So I know because I know you that you have a lot going on, but I want you to just talk about some of the things you have going on and you have, I will put it in the show notes, but I'll put all of the prior episodes so you can hear.
Baby organizer Kim and one year Kim and two year Kim and it is fun to hear your progression, but I'm excited for the year three update
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: well, I am too because I'm not sure what's gonna come out of my mouth, but
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: my favorite
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: also Feeling like I should probably go back and re listen to myself. Yeah And see if I was so, off point in certain areas or if I kind of saw this year coming so to back up, January just took off like freight train.
I mean, it was, I got sick in December per usual, you know, and then Kim gets sick
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: every December. So what happened? Let me just back up really quickly. Kim always says, I'm going to take December off. And then Kim doesn't take December off and she gets super, super sick and then ends up having to take December off anyway.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Yeah, literally every single year it happened again. This year was pneumonia. So last January, I just like shot out the starting line and was a business was just like flowing, like fire hydrant flowing. I did more in my. Okay.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: Let's just stop a minute. So basically in, in one quarter, in a third of the year, you did the revenue that you did in the entire year prior.
That's a big deal.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Oh yeah. I was feeling like the shit. Like, I have got this figured out. I have it dialed
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: in and under control.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Yep, all that hard work, all of laying my foundations, all of my networking, all of my behind the scenes. And just my hard work, because I take pride in my work. And then, I, you know, I really truly don't know what happened, but I do know what didn't happen, and that was more business after that point.
And, I know I was distracted because I had my youngest daughter's 21st birthday. big party at the house. And then we were rolling straight from that. That was July 13th. We were rolling straight into my middle daughter's wedding, which was here in town as well. And she was coming from Boston. So we had a lot of people, but I think looking back, I realize that I think I started to take my foot off the gas back in May.
And when I say take my foot off the gas, I stopped. networking as much. I didn't send the email newsletters out. And if I did, it was just a here's just a quick one. There was no like love or passion behind it. Now, I do want to take, I do want to take one thing back, because I do, I did send out one email newsletter, I booked, like, my whole month.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: I remember that. You, yeah, you said, you, like, the entire month of August or something in one
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: email. Something like I did get that. And that was good. It was just not obviously enough for an entire year's worth of business. But I learned a lot with having that big chunk. I learned that you have to really manage that and you have to stretch that.
If you know you're going into a season of distraction because that's what I was doing, I didn't realize how distracted I was going to become and I got very distracted. And I'll be very honest I've probably played the I'm busier than I am game, I'll be super honest so wanting people on the outside looking in thinking that I still am while I kind of figured out what in the world's going on here, why is business so slow and I don't love that but then I also did love it.
Yeah. I had a few minutes of, Ooh, maybe I don't love organizing in people's homes as much as I used to. Right? Because when I would get an inquiry, it would be like what is it though? Do I really want that? Was getting pickier and pickier. So I know I'm shooting all over the place, but I just kind of need to recap here briefly before we start diving into different subjects that my full third year was the weirdest year ever.
My busiest time, my slowest time, my most reflection time, the most I learned. There, it's like, It's a cesspool of shit. And I'm not 100 percent sure like what I took from it, but it was a lot.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: I don't know if the title of this podcast can be a cesspool of shit, but that is the contender for the title anyway.
Said so many important things there and One of them is, and one of them that I would like to kind of noodle on a little bit or whatever, is the taking your foot off the gas. Like, things are going great, therefore, I can just coast. And you can for a while. Coasting works for a little bit, but unfortunately it doesn't work for infinity.
There are some things that you can coast on, but unfortunately every business takes care and work. And if
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: you think about coasting down on a bike, right? Yeah. You start to all of a sudden you start to lose that momentum. What do you have to do? You have to like pedal really fast. So when you hop back into your business you're going to, you're hopping on a hamster wheel that you're like, Oh crap.
I got to hit the ground running here. I can't just like ease back in.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: Right. Well, and I think the other thing too is there are some very there are just some very basic things that you can do to keep things going, but when you stop everything at once, then that also, you know, accelerates that like, oh, at the bottom of the hill, it becomes a harder hill to start pedaling back up again too.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Yes, it does. And you know, per my usual in, when was it? Gosh, we're already into almost March crap.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: We are. Yeah.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: March. I did the typical Kim thinking I needed to apply for jobs and give my resumes. I think I talk about that every year too.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: Yeah, every year. Every year you have a couple of crisis points where you will text me and you will go.
Hey, I've decided to throw it all in. I'm going to start applying for jobs. And typically when that happens, I don't know if it's like the speaking it into the universe thing, then like two weeks later, you'll be like, well, I have more people booked than I've ever had in my entire business. Carry on. Yes.
You have those crises points, I think a couple of times of the year.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: I do. And it happened again this year, but I've noticed a pattern. I apply for the exact same job in the exact same company every year. And I think they've caught on because this year. This year I didn't even get an interview.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: This year they were like, sorry.
We've been on this roller coaster with you before. We see this
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: resume come through every year at the same time.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: That's hilarious. I did not know that it was the same place.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Yeah, I've never told anybody that. And I've gotten I've actually got one time I got an offer and then one time I got an interview and then I turned down the interview this year.
I didn't even get the interview. So that's I think when I reapplied for wherever next year, I've got to find somebody new to apply
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: when you have that crisis. You're going to have to find my application.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Yeah. And I'm going to be super honest. Business is not super amazing right now. I don't love the clients I'm getting.
I've turned down quite a few. I've really gotten comfortable at home and that's not a good place to be unless I can figure out how to make money from home. Right. But I have realized how hard. organizing is on your body. Yeah. And it's been nice not having the aches and the pains and crawling around in people's dirt and lots of reflection going on.
Lots of reflection, for sure. And I, figuring out what part of it I love. And I think I'm, I think I'm honing in on something and we can talk about that when you're ready, but it's, Yeah, definitely a year. It was a year.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: I have been through some of those same periods of like, I think I'm tired of organizing.
And this is, we're being very vulnerable and we're being very honest. Like, there are times. Sure. Where are you go? I'm tired of people's stuff. I'm tired of having people. Yeah. Or I'm tired of people or I'm just tired. That's another thing. I think part of it is as we discussed on our prior podcast about perimenopause and menopause, you know, aging makes a difference there too.
But I think that you said something important there, which is being picky about clients. And when I think about the clients that I took at the beginning of my business, Versus the clients that I take now, I am much more judicious about who I'm willing to work with. And I think you hone in on, I, there are certain projects that I just say, I'm really sorry.
I don't think I'm the right fit for that, but I'd love to give you a referral to someone else who would be thrilled to have that client. And I'm not sending them bad clients. I'm just sending them clients that are in the Marie Kondo parlance, not sparking joy for me.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Right. Do
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: you find that you're when you do get picky, are they still, when you go, are they projects that you do enjoy or?
Are they still like,
I'd rather be home on my couch. I mean, by the way, I'd almost always rather be home on my couch.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Right. That's a really good question. So one thing we haven't mentioned is that I decided once upon a time on one day in this last September that I wanted to have a women's day, whole big day.
And What started out as a thought of having a chamber of commerce women's luncheon for maybe 25 women is now at a venue of 200 and so I have been planning that and that has Stretched me quite thin And is not a moneymaker But what it made me realize was that even though in my previous couple years how much I told you I hated learning things I'm finding now that I'm okay learning things, and I'm okay learning things that once made me super technologically frustrated, I'm getting a little bit better at it and it's also made me realize that my true passion, I think, is supporting other people.
Women in their life journeys, and I just happened to do that through being in their homes and organizing, but what I was hearing was the same things over and over these women feeling stuck in their lives, and it wasn't just about the clutter that was around them, that clutter I felt was a byproduct of being unhappy with it just their own self worth and what they allowed themselves to enjoy in life and what gifts they brought to themselves. And that is what I have felt that my ideal client is. Is somebody that is almost struggling personally. The clutter is just a byproduct. And so having that time to sit and talk. And I'm not a counselor and I'm not a certified coach or anything like that.
But I got really excited about reaching not just one or two women in their homes, but 200. So my ideal client is somebody that is open to learning and listening and rediscovering themselves. And so I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate that into my organizing business. So yeah, that I'm a, I'm in a little bit of a, I don't know what I'm doing right now.
Yeah.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: Well, and I think for you, you feel better trying to kind of figure that out as you go. I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I feel like we're kind of learning that on the fly then sitting down and like really thinking about it. Right. Like you have to learn by doing that. Like, Hey, this is the client that I want and this is a client that I want.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Yeah, I don't learn the other way. That's not an option. I have to. hands on full mistakes, terrible moves and turns and all of this stuff. So, and I just, I wonder if other women in this industry and Michael I wonder if they were all just super honest and just sat down and talked about like what challenges each year brought.
I would, I just can't help but wonder if there would be a pattern in, what you learn in each year in your business and how it how it presents itself. So yeah, not that I want to quit business. I love being in business. I think I'm a little, I'm excited about how it evolves and that's a lot of what this conference that I'm having is about is allowing yourself to move and pivot and not feel ashamed and not feel like you have not succeeded, but you're just growing.
And I. firmly believe that we all take steps in life that lead us to where we're supposed to be at that certain time. So I'm definitely doing something. I just don't know what it is.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: Well, I think you have tried a lot of new things too. You have really been someone who said you know, I want to go all in on XYZ and I want to like, you started a podcast with your daughter and now you're doing this conference and you know, you have done other things.
You have done organizing related seminars. You've tried a lot of things and you have said like, I just want to give it a try and. See whether I like it or not and I think that's important because otherwise I do think you can reach a point of burnout of Some people really enjoy doing the same thing over and over again I don't think you're one of those people and I'm not one of those people either
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: No but I like that you bring up that point because It's a little bit of a concern of mine, is that why do I keep wanting to hop around?
What am I either avoiding, or why am I bored, or what, like why is that? Or is it all a good thing? Is it me just like, okay, nope, ready for the next thing? It's my concern for myself is that I'm taking my eye off the ball a little bit. And we all have to make money if we're gonna put the time and energy into doing something from home or being our own business owners.
Otherwise, you're just a professional hobbyist and that wasn't what I got into to do this, but I find myself possibly going down that path and that's not a path I wanna go down. . So a lot of self-reflection and. Figuring out how to, yeah, how to make it work. Yeah.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: I think that there are different kinds, like, I appreciate that you're asking the question because you don't want to be someone who's just serially like squirrel, like every three months you're trying something different, right?
Like there's that. And then there is, I really am seeking the thing that truly lights my fire, like for the longterm. But yeah, well, you may be one of those people that just like, I really do need a new challenge every year. I need something different so that I can continue, you know, with my main thing.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Well, I need to find a challenge though, that does not prevent sleep and eating and all of the things and the stress and all of that. A lot of pressure, but I, and so a lot of what this conference is that I'm having is about our progression and how we're getting from when you hear stories about.
Women, men, it doesn't matter. Like they talk about I'm standing here today because we all think it's this overnight success. But when you hear their story, this started like maybe when they were 16 years old. And then you kind of see how the story slowly unfolds. My hope right now is that I'm going to be able to see my story clearly sooner than later.
Because what I'm doing, the steps I'm taking, I feel so incredibly passionate about. I feel so incredibly pulled to do that I just can't shake it. So I really hope there's some sort of. Pot of gold at the end for me on this.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: Yeah, well, one of the things that I admire and value about you is that you see these things that you want to do and you are you might be afraid of what's, you know, is there a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow or is there.
Or something else.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Dragon waiting for me.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: Right. There is no unicorn. The unicorn has been torched by a dragon. I don't know. But you see those things and you're like, you know what, but I still want to see them through. And. You and I are a little bit similar in that we kind of leap and then we try to figure it out.
And I think that
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: parachute,
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: it's going to be fine. It's going to be fine. But that is that's a true entrepreneurial spirit that you have and saying, you know what, I see this thing. I'm going to try it. It might not work. I'll accept if I don't, if that doesn't work, and then I'll learn from it. And I think that's great because I think a lot of people would just be 10 years from now going, you know what, I really wanted to start that conference and I never did.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Yes. And I think I'm learning more and more that. When we're going through something, so anybody that's starting their organizing business right now there's so much overwhelm, and there's so much knowledge that has to be learned, and there's so many skills that have to be perfected, and when you're in the middle of that, sometimes it just feels not, it doesn't feel right, it doesn't feel like it's meant for you, it doesn't There's just so much questioning that goes on in so many moments throughout the day, but I am realizing more and more, and maybe it's just the older I get, that those are the defining moments.
Those are the moments that are as long as you can stick with them and feel uncomfortable, that's where your resilience comes from. And I am extremely uncomfortable right now. Not on here, but I am very uncomfortable with where, what I'm doing. It, I question it constantly, but I just keep moving forward.
And so I just can't help but think that it is going somewhere.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: I think you've just said something incredibly important, which is the concept we do not like being uncomfortable. None of us do. And sometimes going into that discomfort is the only way that you have real growth. And by the way, sometimes that discomfort doesn't go away.
It doesn't go away or the thing isn't magical or, it doesn't work or you lose money or any of the things. But that being in that zone of being uncomfortable, if it's comfortable all the time, something's gonna tip, something's gonna tip in the wrong direction. I think.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Yeah. And you are so right.
And the journey and the tough moments, those are what count.
It's not that end result. That isn't where the growth happens. The growth happens all along and if we can stay focused on that and if we can stay somewhat grounded and not lose our minds in between.
If we can focus on that the growing pains as such a positive thing, I think it will get a lot of people through a lot of things. I know right now I'm really trying to. Keep that mindset that the uncomfortableness is what I'm going to look back on and be able to talk about as my story, and it might be able to help somebody else, but in the moment, it does not feel good.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: I will also say that discomfort that we're talking about, so you're talking about it in a much bigger sense, right? Like you were trying to figure out what that thing is that lights your fire and you think it might be, you know, kind of this big thing that other people that are listening to this might not be thinking about, right?
But I would argue that the discomfort that we're talking about could be as simple as I don't want to send an email to my list because you've been there too. Who hates sending emails more than you? I do. You hate it. I hate them more than I hate them, but you do them and that's a level of discomfort. So, so sometimes it's the discomfort of something individual in our business.
I hear all the time from people, okay. I don't have enough clients.
Cool. Have you done this? This, and this? No. Why? Well, I don't want to bother people with an email. I don't want to I am too afraid to go networking. I am. They're just you know, a list of things that are in that discomfort category. And. I would just argue that you got to do the thing. You got to do the thing because there are elements of all of our business that we don't love.
And it's very
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: true. There's a lot.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: Then business may not be for you and that's an okay decision too, but that's where you actually get that growth.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Yeah. I carry, I'd be curious. Do you, I'm going to ask you a question. So when you say. You know, if you can't get past some of that uncomfortableness and doing the email newsletters or the blogs or whatever it might be, and maybe the, maybe business isn't for you.
Is there like a online test or something you can take that will tell you the answer to that? No. And I
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: should back up and say, I don't mean to sound harsh. Like I, I really I want to encourage as many people as possible to get into this business because I truly love it. And like, we're being honest with you that there, it's not a panacea, right.
But In general, I think this is a great business to be in, but it also might not be for everyone. And that is okay. It's okay to be like, you know what? I love organizing. I just want to go work for someone else's team. Or no, I really, I want to do all these things that make me an entrepreneur. And so I'm willing to either find someone that can do it for me.
I'm, you know, I'm willing to pay someone to find, you know, to do it for me. Or I need to find a way around it or I need to get past the discomfort. No, that's a great question about like, what's, we need like an, I call it the X factor. So when I'm working with people, I will just have a feeling about like they have that X factor that doesn't have any sort of.
Statistical, you know, basis for it, but I can just tell like that person is gritty and I think that they can plow through challenges and I think that, they'll have setbacks, but they'll be able to get through them. They'll have the panic moments, that type of thing. And there are some people that you just need to know yourself well enough to know.
You may not be that person, and that is okay too. Yes, yeah. There's nothing wrong. That is true. So, that's not my jam.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: So, I, another another area of thought that I have really been noodling on recently, and that is, what does organizing mean to me? And in year three, I think I started to question some of the Kool Aid that I had drank as far as the products and the systems and the labeling and the this, and I have a few clients that I go back into their homes and I see some of the mess that is been made of what I left, and it's got me really questioning what organization truly is.
And if there is, well, we've all said there is not a one size fits all. There just isn't. And I would say it's probably less than 10 percent of society can actually upkeep. What a professional organizer that's gonna go in and make everything look pretty they can actually upkeep it And I'm just making up shit so, you know come at me. I don't care. I think I started to realize that the focus has gotten so far away from what is the actual reason why we have chronic disorganization in our homes, and that is too much shit. And it, and, listen, I'm the first person to, I've got a burn pile out back, and I'm not even going to tell you some of the stuff I burn because I'd probably go to jail.
So I am not out here just by the way,
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: benefit of living in the country, you're like, what's a burn pile? Anyway, God. Oh, yes.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: I am really, maybe that you know what, I'm coming to something here. Maybe this is why I'm struggling so much with organizing right now in my business, because I Need to get the point across that you need less stuff. It's not my pantry keeps getting out of control. No, you have too much food. Yeah, you don't need that much food. Think I it's important as organizers that we treat every client different and that we have to be prepared to not jump in with a bin or a basket or a label. We have to be ready to jump in and say, listen, I can't, we can't move further in this project until we go through your things.
Yeah. And you have to be able to stand firm in that because I have organized and so much clutter and it's just, it's pointless. I've wasted clients money and I think I feel a little guilty about that.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: I told someone the other day that and I have the luxury of doing this because my full time job is pro organizer studio and therefore, you know, organizing, as I've said before, is my side hustle.
I take on projects that are interesting to me, or frankly, that are highly lucrative. And I said to someone the other day, I said, I can always tell when I need a break from organizing jobs because I start to get. Exactly what you're not supposed to be, which is I get judgmental about people's stuff. I start to go, why do you have 50 bath towels for two people?
Why do you have, I saw a thing on Instagram the other day that I had to scroll past. By the way, I've taken Instagram off my phone. We can talk about that if we want to. I'm not, I do not have Instagram on my phone right now. Good for you. And by the way, I'm surviving just fine and I feel great.
But I saw something on Instagram that was someone that had, was like, okay, what Stanley are we taking today? She probably has a hundred Stanleys. I'm not even exaggerating. She has tchotchkes for them. She has, you know, a whole, all sorts of things. I mean, it's tens of thousands of dollars. Okay. And I'm like, but why?
But why? And I know the part of the answer is because she's an influencer and she gets a lot of views from this and whatever, but I'm like, no, when you're in someone's regular home, I see that a lot too, you know, but
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: that's what I'm saying. Yes. And then I go,
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: why do you need. 75 Stanleys, you don't, nobody needs 75 Stanleys, you know, and so then that's when I know that I need to take a little bit of a break from organizing is when I start to get tweaked a little bit on the, why am I having to try to organize this much stuff?
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: But you make a really good point. It's, she's an influencer. So yeah, all these people that are watching that see this one little part of her home that she's already made perfect. And you know, I call it, you know, hide the mustard, let's make it all look perfect. And then after we're done taking our pictures, we'll put all the ugly shit back in.
But that now, so people then just start, okay, I want to feel good today. So I'm just going to go buy 20 Stanley's that are all pretty colors. Yeah. And that's, yeah.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: It's the stuff problem that we have, particularly in the United States. I'm sure it translates to other parts of the world as well. But that is a hard part about organizing and then you just have to decide like philosophically, am I okay with that?
And you might not be, or you need to find the correct ideal client for you, which is much stuff that I need to downsize.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: And hey, I'm not judging any influencers that are making money out there. Even the organizers that are showing all the cool things you can do with product. I mean, you're earning a living.
We're all responsible for our own actions. So that's not what not shaming them, but we have to be responsible for what we feel like we can manage in our homes. And you know, it never fails and it's getting worse and worse. When I talk to a client on the phone, we talk about what's going to happen when I get there.
Well, how, what do I, how many bins should I buy?
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: What do I need to get before you get here? What do
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: I need to, okay, where did it become that's the only way to become organized? And that's where it's totally everything. The message has been completely changed and it needs to, just needs to refocus to the core and the guts and that's, you got to get rid of some stuff.
Stop buying so much stuff.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: I am also pro product when it makes
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: sense. That makes sense.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: Yes, I'm very because there are things where you're like sure this drawer freaking needs a bit I gotta have some boundaries. I gotta have some yard. I don't have some like there are Places where it's critical and then you have the client that's like I don't want to buy anything Oh, just like really a hundred dollars.
It would be such like so transformational for
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: you Something there's
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: a difference between I need 100 at Target and I'm gonna bring 10, 000 of product to your house that I personally That doesn't work for my personal practice, and I just can't feel good about that anymore. I'm more on your train of, I can't wrap my head around that.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Okay, well, I'm glad it's not just me, and so I'm, I think, yeah, I'm definitely in a transitional phase at the moment. I am. Absolutely. Still love connecting with women, especially. And I mean, I like Chad, he's cool, but I just, I really enjoy the connection that, and I'm not saying like, I just like to go like on girls trips and all that kind of stuff, but just like the.
The raw moments. I really get pulled into that, especially with my clients. And I'm sorry. I kind of went. I can't remember where I was going with that.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: I try with every client to try to find those bright spots, right? Even someone that's just like, I just, I'm just thinking about a client that I'm going to this week, who the first time I went there, she goes just super matter of factly, I'm going to tell my husband I did all of this myself.
And I'm like, okay, you can whatever works for you works for me. And she is having me come in. Because she wants to talk her husband into a a renovation that he doesn't want to do because he says they have too much stuff. And so she's like, I want to downsize this stuff so that I get my renovation.
And I'm like, I'm team wife all the time. Like, no problem. I'll come in wherever, whatever you want. Right. Like, and so that type of client, like, I think I have maybe spent a total of an hour with this woman. That's the total amount of time I've ever spent with her. She's very much a, like, I don't want to, I don't want to be involved with you kind of a person.
I try really hard, even with those people, to like find those moments, right? Like, I would like this woman to be able to do a very expensive renovation if that's what her little heart desires, right? But the joy doesn't come, the joy for me, in that case, only comes from sending the invoice. The joy doesn't come in the like, I have really done some like transformational work
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: today.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: And I think for you and me, that's something that's more important.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Yeah and maybe that's my message right now, is to any organizers out there that are maybe not sure why they're either not enjoying it, because, you know, maybe they're working with the clients that need to downsize and they want to just do a nice pretty pantry.
There's space for them as well. But I really would like to just as organizers. I think we really need to make sure that we're understanding what we're walking into. And we're not making the problem worse. And I I'm feeling very passionate about this.
So maybe I want to educate and I don't know what that means. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's the thing. And
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: I am, I will put a caveat in here because if someone's listening and being like, wow, they are being really bitchy and judgmental on this podcast this week. Oh yeah. So,
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: so sorry about that.
This is all about a me growth thing.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: We're just talking about what we're trying to figure out in terms of the joy of what organize, you know, what we want to bring to organizing and just trying to be honest about what lights our fire. And it's not to say that it's not valid for someone to just want 10, 000 worth of product in their house if that's what they really want.
I just am not that, or I'm not the organizer for them in that case. And I just remember like the one time that it really just absolutely pinged my brain so hard was the Khloe Kardashian episode of Home Edit. I think it was the first season.
It definitely was because I didn't watch the second one because I couldn't handle it. But I just remember she had, it was tens of thousands of dollars worth of bins, and it was like jeans in the bins and the whole thing. And I just was like, we're just putting our shit in more shit. So it's a way for people to keep buying things.
But they're like, but I'm buying something that's good. Sort of, but you're not, to your point, you're not addressing the deeper problem.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Yeah. And that majority of the people that reach out there's a deeper problem. I was just recently the local news did just a quick little segment on me and they asked can we link, do you have a page on your website where people can go and see all the products you recommend?
And I said, you know what? I did have one of those and I took it down because that's not the solution. The solution is, you're turning your home into a landfill, and that is what needs to be addressed. So, at least, and maybe it's just my area, my region, you know, I, maybe other regions it's different, or, but you know, I would say probably at least 75 percent of the clients that I've been around, it's not a bin or a basket, it's a garbage bag and a, Recycled in.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: Yeah. Yeah. It's I have found myself lately, you know, back to the, I think this is a gift that you give yourself as you get further along in the business too. And I would kind of addressed it earlier, but being able to have the fortitude to say, I'm not the right person for you to those people. Like I did that the other day I had kind of gotten and I know you have been through this too, Perhaps very recently where you say yes to something that you're like, my gut's telling me I shouldn't say yes to this.
And I totally did that a few weeks ago. I told someone, even though I, we did the consult and I'm like, I don't wanna there's two, it's not only physically too much, but I just can already tell this is going to be like no, I need to keep that paperclip, you know, the kind of like, I just don't think I'm at a Place right now where I have that level of page.
I'm a good person for that usually, but maybe not right now and it, but I was like, yep, sure. I'll schedule your appointment. And as it came closer, I'm like, I can't do this like ethically. I know that I'm not going. To love that time and I want her to have an organizer that is 100 percent happy and invested for her to be there.
Right. And so I went to her and I just said, I really need to, I'm going to suggest X, Y, Z person to you because I think that she's an absolutely fabulous fit for what you have going on. And that's a hard conversation to have for some people. Me included confrontation. Of any kind, and I hate this people, but I have started to get some freedom from saying no.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: I love that and I think that I recently just had two, one I said yes to and we had a conversation and I fully regret it. I'm going to see it through and the other one I said no. And I, for the first time was like, Oh, that felt amazing. It was a lot of money. It was a lot of money. And that would have been great because my year has not been good so far.
But I know I turned it down and yes, there is freedom in that. And yeah I think for new organizers, especially stay focused on why you're doing it and try not to mix your actions with your, don't let your actions and your why be totally opposite because that is not right. It's not a good recipe for clients or for yourself.
So staying true to what, why you're really going into the organizing business I think is really important. 'cause there is a need for all of us. There is, yeah. A hundred percent. And there's a need for a lot of us. Do you know what,
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: there's also a need and a time for. I'm going to say, you know what, this isn't going to be my favorite project, but I'm going to do it.
I'm going to do it. Right. So it's, you know, I don't want to spread fairy dust here that like, you can just only look for your perfect, most ideal client. And you know, you will have a hundred thousand dollar a year business. That's not what I'm trying to say, but you do, if you have the ability. To get more selective and you can really hone in on this is an ideal project for me.
This is an ideal client and I need to say no to the other ones because I'm not the right person for them. If you can get that freedom without causing financial harm to yourself, I'm for it. Yeah.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: And you know, growth is going to happen with the ones that you take that you really didn't want to or the ones that you had to growth is going to come from those.
You're going to learn. And you're gonna, you know, if I wouldn't have taken some of these clients last year, that really started to open up my eyes, even though they're not clients I would want to do again, it really started to help me understand what, the part of it that I loved and the part of it that I wanted to make sure that I communicate.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: What are some projects that have. excited you last year?
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: So my favorite is the downsizing of the 70 plusers. They're my absolute favorite clients in the entire world. You have one
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: that is like extra special too. Oh my
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: gosh, Catherine. She just moved. I've done three 70 year olds. In the last year and the stories they tell and the, they are ready to let stuff go. They don't care about bins and baskets. They don't ask what they have to buy. They're my favorite clients.
Yeah. And they need it. They need help.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: They really do.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: And what you learn from them and what you see of how holding on to things can get you to a point of having to hire somebody, there's so much knowledge comes from working with these older women that is just priceless. Yeah. It's a lot of work.
And usually it's stinky, but. It's not it's not, there's no overthinking that goes on. It's just real raw help. And that brings me the most joy out of all of the jobs.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: I did I did a talk at a very nice retirement community Not that long ago. And this was a, it was a luncheon where people were thinking about moving in.
And so I was talking about the downsizing process and things you want to think about and all that kind of stuff. And it is interesting to me that the stuff can really hold on to you though. Like someone really does have to be some of that age range, I think really does have to be ready though, because it is.
Yeah. Yeah,
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: All three of my ladies were, they were just, they were ready. It was How quick can you get here? Yeah. And when they're ready. And then that's how I like to roll.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: But I think that's another thing. Like it kind of, I think you and I are trying to talk more about like those projects that are really personally meaningful or like you really have created like major change in someone's life.
And I just I think one of the hard things about this job is you hear a lot of stories. Personally, I hear stories sometimes that just really bum me out, right? Or you just go like, Oh, I would like to be able to help you get past that. Like, you know, I was talking to my neighbors yesterday and they're like, Oh, we got, you know, three adult kids stuff in our house and they won't come pick it up and whatever.
And I was like, just gently going like, here are just a couple of ideas I use with my clients. Maybe these might work for you. And you just hear stories sometimes where you're like, Oh man, I'd really like to help you get out from underneath that.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: And that's how I feel. I wanna do that. I don't wanna do the physical part, I just want to educate
Yeah.
Another message I want to make sure I get out there to anybody is don't compare your third year with my third year.
Yeah. Because you could be rocking and rolling and doing amazing. And. Or
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: compare your first year to your third year. Yeah. If you're a brand new organizer, please don't be like, well, I don't need to. I just need to get rid of everyone except for my ideal clients or whatever, like everybody's journey is very
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: specific.
Because mine really, I feel was a lot of my own doing. It was circumstantial with my life. And when I look back, I see where I dropped the ball. And I dropped it for a good reason. I had some amazing celebrations that were going on that I needed to be present for. And that's just the bottom line. But that's why I also have my own business so that I can do that.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: Lesson from that though, is if you have those periods that, you know, are going to be like, so what you had this year is what I had when my daughter graduated a couple years ago. Yes. Graduation. And then I had a ton of people in town and then I was going to France and then I had, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, all the things.
Right. And I had a very large chunk of time when I was basically not doing any work and that came home to roost. Right. And so what. And I think you realize too, is you have to do some, the glory about this job is you can just take entire months off at a time if you want to, you might also have to do some preparation for that and put some automations in place so that things are still happening behind the scenes.
Like you cannot let your foot off of the brake or off of the gas entirely. There has to be a little bit.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: And you mentioned the automations. And for the first time, I think I'm ready to just. have some of those. And I think you can turn them on and off. So when I'm like in and present, I can just like be real time because I prefer that.
That's how anything social media or newsletter comes out for me. It's the more authentic. I know that word is so overused, but it's the real Kim, but You also have to be realistic and I think I'm ready to hop on the automation trail. I think you even got a text from me the other day and said, well, all right, what am I using?
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: What am I doing? What am I doing?
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: So, yeah, getting the automations in place is something that I think, again, I preach this. You'll know when you're ready. You'll know when it's time. So, and you won't really understand how you need it, I think, until you need it. At least that's my belief.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: Totally. What do you think, like, if you, if we were talking to three years ago, Kim, I've lost track, was it 2021?
Anyway whatever it was. What would she think of you right now?
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: I think that she would go, what in the actual F are you doing? I think
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: she would not recognize you, but I mean that in the best way possible.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Yeah, and I actually really like that you answered that, asked me that question, because it's giving me a moment to think.
First of all. I'd be extremely impressed with the things that I've tried. So I still love the podcast that my daughter and I started. But as you know, it's very time consuming. I know it's easy. It's easy to do a podcast. There isn't anything super hard about it. It's just tedious and time consuming. That has just been put on the back burner, is my the podcast and then it evolved, so, I've also would be looking at myself going, I'm proud of you for starting that, you're gonna have to start it back up, and you're gonna have to get a schedule Because if I'm looking at myself from the outside looking in right now, I'm looking at myself starting a lot of things because I'm excited about them, but it's a lot.
So putting on, starting a whole new, I had to start a business for this women's event. So starting a whole new business and coordinating that event and having a podcast and having your own business and then Chad's construction business. Doing his social media. That's a lot. It's a lot of work.
That's a that's more than a 40 hour week job. And so I think I would be telling myself you need to, you really need to schedule your time, and that even though you don't have to be somewhere, you have to be at your desk, or you have to be doing this so setting boundaries for myself, and Sticking to a little bit of a schedule, I think, is something that my younger self would be saying, Well, why don't you just try that?
When you have
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: multiple things like that, dividing your brain is very hard.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Well, in our age and what our bodies are going through, dividing your brain is a really good way to put that. Because I spin my wheels a little bit sometimes, like, Oh, I need to go do my Keeper Toss thing on social media. Everybody loves that.
I haven't done it in forever. But it's like, Oh, I should hop on and do a keeper toss. And then I get distracted. I'm doing something else. And then I'm like, Oh, but now my makeup's off and I don't want to go on without makeup because I don't want to look at myself without makeup. But yeah it's really easy to get the momentum going to start things.
It's another thing to complete them and to stay committed to them. And I'm learning how to do that. But I think overall I would be okay with where I'm at. I think.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: It's an evolution. Yeah, absolutely. It's an evolution. And I just think, I think that 2021 Kim would be like, I didn't actually do that.
Are you kidding me? I did that. That's amazing. Like that's what I see. I figured that out. Yeah. No, I mean, I, and I just, I think that she would be amazed at the things that you have done. And I think that all of us, you and I have an interesting thing in that we've done this every single year. Right. So yeah.
Something you can literally look back on, but I think if all of us were really honest with ourselves, like if I looked at myself as a baby entrepreneur. I would be like, first of all, she was so naive. She was adorable. She was so naive. And also that I think we should all be proud of ourselves that we stick it out because it's, it'd be very easy to be like, you know what, I'm throwing the talent, you know, you have one, but you have one tough day and you're like, eh, whatever.
And. Doing that retrospective, if you haven't done it, I think is really good.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Learning how to encourage myself, like I encourage others is something that I come to a realization that I have not done for myself in all ever. And I'm in the process of learning how to do that. That's not something that comes naturally to any of us.
It's so easy to talk ourselves down. It's a defense mechanism and learning how. Learning how to give myself the encouragement that I need is a challenge, but something that needs to happen.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: I heard somewhere, you know, probably the internet like, if you talked to yourself the way that you talk to other people, or turn that around of, The things you say to yourself, would you imagine saying those to someone else? Like, man, you're doing a bad job. Oof. What are you thinking? What is that? You would never do that, right? I mean, maybe someone would, a jerk would, but like the way we speak to ourselves or the lack of credit, sometimes it can be not even negative self talk, but the lack of credit we give ourselves, like, would you say that to someone else?
No, you'd be like, Oh my gosh, you have killed it. You have done such a great job. Boom. I'll give that back to ourselves.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: You, yeah, no, that's a really great point. And when you are starting off in your business standing tall and not feeling like. You aren't ever going to amount to maybe an organizer that you look up to.
And there's the small percentage that don't have that imposter syndrome. And I'm like, girl, more power to you. I love that.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: I would love to know who they are.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: There, there's gotta be a few, but yeah, pushing yourself outside of your boundaries is I think an important step to any growth within your business for sure.
And it's I just think, Melissa, there is no way, oh, I need to say this loud and clear, because I want anybody to know that you literally could join your course and you did not you did not know I was going to say this. I need to like preface that. Oh, I didn't like set you up for this. No, your course.
is what has allowed me to do this event that I'm doing. I learned so much on the foundational pieces and how those foundational pieces affect certain parts of business and they don't help certain parts of business. There is no way this course would have been, even if I wasn't an organizer. I would have learned so much.
First of all, I would have learned about search engine optimization. I would have learned about the importance of keywords, which is SEO. I would have learned the importance of when social media is beneficial and when it is not the importance of getting people's emails. And why are you getting them? Not just getting them, but why are you getting them?
I wouldn't have learned how to segment things on Flodesk. Like, now I know when somebody opens up my emails and they click to go look at the tickets for my event. I have a whole segment, so I know, oh, these people are interested, and so I can shoot them their own separate email. There is so much your course foundationally lays down.
How to get Google reviews, how to set up your Google, like, there is so much that It, you will use what you teach in the course in so many other areas of your life. It's not just about starting an organizing business, period. It does help because we're all organizers and it's, you know, but
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: obviously
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: there is some huge foundational pieces that you teach.
And I am so grateful. I mean, I would have spent 10, 000 for your course. knowing what I got from it. So
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: I'll send you an invoice for the other. I'm just kidding.
I wanted
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: to make sure I mentioned that on this, because if you are listening to this and you aren't an organizer, but you think, Oh, I might want to start like my own cleaning business. Take her course. I'm telling you, you will learn enough to figure out how to start your cleaning business.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: There's a lot of stuff in there.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Yes. A lot.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: I appreciate that. That's very kind and I'm happy to have been I'm happy to have been a teeny part of your journey. Yeah, thank you. Take a drink every time I say journey. Just kidding. I am excited when people use the stuff that they've learned for other things.
Because that's fun too, because it is something that can stick with you, so, but I'm happy that you are part of our community. Very happy.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: I'm happy to be a part of the community. I wish I could come on here and say I make six figures every year. I'm not going to tell you I do. But that's not because of Melissa or the course.
That's because of my own personal bad habits or my own personal direction.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: But to pat yourself on the back, you did have
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: several
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: months. I
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: had one. I had months. I had, yeah, I had one six figure year. I did.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: You have done very well, so don't sell yourself short.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Yeah, no, you're right. But guys, the momentum, you gotta keep the momentum going.
It's, there is no quick, rich scheme thing going on here. This isn't, you can work two hours and go hit the tropics the rest of the week. That's a bunch of bullshit. And I'm going to call it out right there. I just, it is proof to me otherwise. So don't, you know, don't get into these little businesses thinking you don't have to work.
It's a different kind of work. It's very rewarding. I learned so much. It's what I enjoy
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: doing. You know what I mean? Like, it's
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: self development. It's, You learn things about yourself you challenge yourself, there's like so many great things that come along. But you also have to be okay, you know what, if it's not for me, like you said earlier, it's okay to go back, it's not failure at all.
You have totally learned your limits and you have learned what We'll work for you. And what doesn't work for you. So be okay with any direction you choose to go. Just don't do it. Out of fear, just correct.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: And I would also say you have to give it enough of a try to determine whether it is or isn't for you.
Can't decide after one client. Or three months or what you have to give yourself some runway to do not love
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: or even a bad six months. I mean, we could all have a bad six months you know, but you could also have an Chad's been in a contractor for 20 some years. He had like terrible nine months.
And I'm like, why? Like I would have thrown in the towel like three months ago. Right. He's like, no, I've done this before. You know, it's just. Yeah, he's having his best year ever. So thank goodness, because one of us isn't.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: Right. Well, you're doing something different. So you've kind of touched on it, but you haven't really explained.
Tell us about the daydream project. Tell us. Oh,
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: yes.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: You know, I'm excited about it.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Okay. It's a really, and I know we've been on here a long time. I'm sorry. It's a really long backstory. So I will try and just give you the condensed version, which I am. Trying to learn how to talk about in my Make a Scene book, storytelling, because also people learn how to tell a story because it's good for networking.
I have a huge draw to uplift and encourage women, and I don't know if it stems from having three girls that, We moved a lot, and integrating into middle school, high school was brutal, and so learning, teaching them how to be resilient, that was something that I had to do on a non stop basis with them.
You know, I'm an open book, I was in a marriage that was not it was very toxic and There was a lot of self doubt that went into that, and I instead would just uplift other women, like we talked about, you know, I didn't give myself the encouragement that I needed, I gave it to other people. But, I also have found in this business, met so many wonderful clients and also so many other business owners.
And I just keep hearing the same thing over and over the woulda coulda shoulda's the you know, I'm, I don't think I can do that maybe someday, or I wish I would have, there was just so much What could have been and I watched myself over the last four years do something that I never thought in a million years I would do and I finally just did it and I just wanted to make sure other women in especially my area because we live in a small town know their self worth that they know that their thoughts, ideas and dreams are worth looking into they're worth investing into.
And it's not just about business. It's about. You know, personal development you know, maybe you're in a crappy marriage. Maybe you're looking for like, Oh, it's okay for me to leave. Not that's what I'm going to be teaching, but so I have this all day. I started the daydream project and my daughter and I are doing it together.
We have some incredible speakers. We have a full day packed. We have. Just gonna be amazing.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: This is not like a fly by night, this is not like a, Oh
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: no, this is, Real
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: speakers, you have real, Oh yeah, we have, Like this is a very legitimate workshop event, To help women dream bigger. This is,
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: it's not a shopping event, I have zero vendors, It's an all inclusive, It's not a sleepover party, It's a, we get there at nine o'clock, And, We have, Or some mimosa.
You know, coffee bar, morning bites. We have speakers. We have a lot of surprises. And when I say our speakers, like, the speaker that our main keynote speaker, Tara Renzi coming from Kansas city, she's absolutely amazing. I've listened to her myself. I've read her book. And she is doing us a solid by coming all the way out here to speak to us.
And then I have three other speakers. I have an MC for the event because nobody wants to hear me talk all day. And. We have a DJ. We have an amazing catered lunch. We did our tasting yesterday. Of course, some photo ops. We have a wine bar. And then we have a happy hour at the end of the night.
So all the speakers will be there so people can talk to them and ask them questions. And it's hopefully going to be one of many, but it is. Oh my gosh, so many moving parts and pieces, things you wouldn't even think of. Or work. Like, how the day's gonna flow, and the note cards, and what, all the intros and the, getting the audiovisual stuff, so you gotta have screens, and you have to have a stage, and you have to have insurance, and, oh my gosh.
So, you have to have a registration table, and packets, and name tags, and swag, and you have to have feedback forms, and you have to, like, you have to have garbage cans, and, the best part, you have to figure out how you're going to sell 200 tickets to an event that's never happened.
Yeah. Which, by the way, you're doing very well at. And that You know how I know that. I know you can get into my website
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: because I can't access your website because I did like one tiny, teeny, teeny, tiny thing for you. And so because I haven't like exited out of your website, every time someone gets a ticket, I get an email and every time, you know why I haven't turned it off because every time I get an email, I'm like, damn, Kim is killing it because I get this new email saying a new order has come in.
I
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: am dying. Ugh. Ugh. Oh, shoot. I'm going to keep that on there because now that's incentive for me to like, really push it, you know, all my VIP tables sold out. So that was good,
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: right? Yeah, that's why I haven't exited out of it. Because I'm like, I want to see my friend. Knowing it at this event before.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: So yeah but everybody says that you don't sell that like the bulk of the tickets are always within the last few weeks.
You know, it's putting on an event to this scale is a huge price tag and finding sponsorships for something that's never happened before is a lot harder than I ever imagined. But somehow we just keep getting enough ticket sales or enough little sponsorships that we keep hitting all our markers. So we're still, everything's looking good.
Awesome. But I need that. I want it full. I want a packed house, because that's, that energy, that's what you, yeah, you need that, so.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: Well, so it's daydream project.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: com. Yep. The daydream project. com. There's an Instagram for it too. It's pretty much mainly local people in that just because that's, who's going to really come to it.
If anybody does want to fly out of state, I do
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: want to come to, I can tell you from personal experience, Kim lives in a gorgeous area. It's absolutely come visit out in the country. It's going to be gorgeous.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Yeah. It's out in the country. It's at a vineyard. It is the venue is breathtaking. Yeah, absolutely breathtaking.
It is top notch and it's going to be fabulous, but they have these cool silos they've converted into a bed and like air, like Airbnb's. There's like six of them. So these cool old silos and there's like six rooms in them. And then you have, there's a lobby area down in the front. Anyway, they've blocked them all off.
So, you can stay in the silos on site. And then I have two other people that have, in Wine Country, that have held those dates. For like any groups, like friends coming and want to stay the night. So I have a couple houses available too.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: Yeah. So if you wanted to do something, like if you want to do like a girl retreat you know, just do,
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: yeah, beautiful time of year.
May 1st. And it's a Thursday because venues are half price on Thursdays.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: Listen, I just want to, I want to give a plug out there. Not even, this is just in general. So like if you have, for instance, been to the how to summit or you have been to any other organizing event and everybody. You know, you have a right to, if you've paid for an event, you should enjoy the experience, but I would just tell you take a hot minute before you complain about literally anything, because I can tell you the amount of time, energy, effort, money you know, everything takes so much work.
So just give a little grace because these are,
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: you know, I like that you mentioned that because it organizers if you go to the how to summit. You know, I've been twice. And I got a little sassy last year, and I actually filled out my feedback form and then I had, I didn't put my name on it like a coward and I felt so bad about it that I messaged them and I said, Hey, I need to own up to my feedback form.
And if you look on it, there's going to be a smiley face up in like some corner and that's mine. And. I also want to say I'm so sorry because I see how much work goes into these
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: things. And that's why people ask me all the time, like, when is Pro Organizer Studio going to do a retreat? And I'm like, the fifth of never, probably, because it The fifth of never.
Oh, so much work. Yeah, there's a lot of I admire people who do it because I used to do a vet training in a private office and it's hard. You know,
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: organizers out there, if you're in your business and you're starting, you think, oh, I also want to do this little thing do it because you learn so much and you learn how it can help your business.
And I'm not out there promoting my organizing business through this. That's not what it's about. But it's making me realize how important. Connections are just in general and how putting yourself out there in an unselfish way is is it's always going to reap benefits.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: You are a very giving person and you have been very giving to the organizing community.
And I think that's why I got the sass on the DM from that person who's like, when is Kim going to be on the podcast? Because, you know, there are people who have reached out to you and that you have been so helpful too. And like, you are so giving with your time where other people would be like Go fly a kite and that's yeah,
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: and I get the emails too and there's one person that emailed me and it has gotten lost and I never responded.
So if that was you never got a response from me. I am so sorry. I cannot find your email anywhere. And I am so so sorry. And then I've also gotten sassy a couple times. So I'm just going to say sorry for that. Sorry, not sorry, but sorry, because I shouldn't be sassy, but when you ask me if you can use my, you don't need that saying, yes you can use it, because I don't have it trademarked, but I always encourage you to come up with your own saying.
And then my keep or toss, again, I don't trademark it, but try and come up with your own creative way of organizing.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: If you are going to appropriate something, I would also say, please offer copious credit. Oh,
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: yes, one gal did, and she gave me credit, put me in the blog, and that was super sweet. So absolutely.
Oh, yeah. Of course. Yeah. Just don't take it as your own. I guess. Yeah.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: Yeah. There's so much more we could say about that. I know.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: I'm sorry. I just like Oh, you're fine. This happens every time. This is probably gonna be like four podcasts. Sorry. No,
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: I love it.
Okay. We have covered so many things. I feel like you and I could probably talk for eight hours. We wouldn't
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: have anybody listening at that point, but. Nobody
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: would be listening and you and I would both have a bottle of wine open, but.
I will put in the show notes where everyone can find you, you are rustic home organizing on Instagram. You are rustic underscore home underscore organizing at our age, organizing. com. You are at the daydream project. com. You are all the places. So, yes.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: And if you go to Instagram for the daydream project, it's the daydream project event because the daydream project was taken by somebody that doesn't have a profile picture and doesn't do anything with it, but they wouldn't give it to me.
So,
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: well, welcome to my experience being home dot by dot 11 because home by 11 was taken by like a 17 year old who has never done anything with the account, but I couldn't have it. So there you go. Yeah. I feel you deeply. Yeah.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Well, it was wonderful to be here today and thank you for listening to my cesspool of my shit third year.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: It was a growing experience. And that's okay. And guess what? You're still here talking to us. You didn't say. I'm not talking about it because it wasn't my best. You're still here and you're still trucking. And I guarantee that we're going to be talking to you again, perhaps on a more timely basis in January of 2026.
If we all still dead.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Yeah. Yeah. And I, you know, you might even hear me say, Oh my gosh, on my Instagram, I'm totally booked until May and I'm booked because I'm putting on an event. Yeah. So don't think at all that I'm just like killing it in my business. Right. And so, yeah
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: She's booked because she's going to be in a coma.
Exactly.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: And when I do that, it isn't, sometimes it's the fake it till you make it. I have to just convince myself that I am doing so much better in my business than I really am. Because it just gives me a little boost of self confidence. It's not me personally trying to pull the wool over everybody's eyes.
And it's just to throw that out there.
Melissa Klug | Pro Organizer Studio: It's also sometimes to create scarcity in a client that's like, no, but I have to have you. And then you're like, okay, so lots of ways you can use that. So, thank you as always for being so vulnerable and open and honest and all the things we appreciate.
Kim Snodgrass | Rustic Home Organizing: Yeah, I can't wait.
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