224 | What a 7 Figure Professional Organizing Business Does That You Should, Too
I am here this week with two of my FAVORITE people not just in organizing, but in life. Today I'm talking to Brandie & Ryan about how they run their 7 figure organizing business and the lessons that all of us should be doing--whether your business is 4, 5, or 6 figures.
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 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.
HIGHLIGHTS
In this episode, podcast host Melissa introduces two episodes featuring her close friends and professional organizers, Brandie and Ryan from Home+Sort, who lead the How To Summit. Melissa discusses their plans, explains the importance of reevaluating business strategies, and highlights the value of delivering high-quality service to clients. They emphasize balancing detailed work proposals and ensuring customer satisfaction while maintaining a flexible pricing strategy. Additionally, they discuss their unique approach and challenges in managing relocations and how consistent reevaluation helps them stay current and efficient.
00:00 Introduction and Podcast Update
01:05 Upcoming Episodes and Special Guests
02:46 Funny Anecdotes and Realities of Organizing
04:41 Home+Sort Business Insights
06:06 Adapting and Reevaluating Business Strategies
14:50 Pricing Strategies and Flexibility
20:36 Introduction to Home+Sort's Unique Moving Services
21:20 The Importance of Professionalism and Efficiency
22:15 Handling Client Expectations and Challenges
23:11 The Value of Luxury Services
25:33 Ensuring Client Satisfaction
27:49 The Importance of Pricing and Value
33:53 Balancing Effort and Reward in Business
40:12 Final Thoughts and Reflections
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Hey, pro organizers. It's your podcast host Melissa, and I am bringing you two episodes, possibly three if I can get my act together. You guys are gonna get three episodes this week. I was laughing because I get pitched a lot for people who want to be on the podcast. And someone sent me an email and said, you have not had a podcast episode in a very long time. Have you shuttered the podcast? And I'm like, well, it was a month ago. I don't think that was a very long time ago.
But what do I know? Maybe it was. So you guys, I'm sorry if you are that person going. Where is Melissa? Um, Melissa has been graduating a high school senior, throwing a party, having a lot of house guests, and, uh, just, just a lot going on. So I am sorry if you have missed me. Some of you might not have even known that I was gone, but I'm back.
Like I said, you're gonna get to possibly three podcasts this week. Hopefully that will make up to it. And the person who said, you have a podcast in a very long time, I hope you're happy. But this week, so the first two podcasts are two truly of my favorite people. This is not just like performative, like, oh, we're friends. No, we're friends. And they're such wonderful people. And it's Brandie and Ryan from Home+Sort and who are the, of course leaders of the How To Summit, which is an event that I personally and professionally love. So the first episode, we are going to be talking about. All sorts of things, like the great things that they do in their business, and they really talked about some things that I think are important for all organizers, no matter the size of their business.
And then the second episode, we are going to be talking about everything that is new and different and fun about the How To Summit this year. I would love, love, love to see you at the How To Summit. Usually our Inspired Organizer group has about like. Legitimately about a hundred people there. Um, and I absolutely love meeting new people and seeing all of the Inspired Organizer community in Texas, or Ohio or wherever it is.
I told them at the end of the podcast, the second episode that if the Housie Summit were on Mars, I would still go. So I would love to see there this year. If you have not registered yet, if you use the code, Melissa10. You will get a discount on your ticket and I would love to see you there. But today's podcast is all about Home+Sort and their business and how they run their business, and just some really, really great stuff and I hope you guys enjoy it.
Have an awesome day. Organizers.
Brandie | How To Summit: Melissa, we're here for whatever, you know, we could talk to you for 10 hours. Just I know,
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: Well, we'll feel the same about you guys. I just want to thank you for joining me with me and my trashy car. Like for people watching on YouTube, literally filled with client. garbage , you guys are in your nice, cozy, comfortable homes. So it's so good to see you guys.
Brandie | How To Summit: You're gonna laugh at this.
The other day, I'm on the phone with Ryan. She gets in her car and she's mad. She like makes a mad sound. I said, what's your problem? She goes, I forgot to take all the client trash out of my car. even food in it. And my the worst freak it smell.
Ryan | How To Summit: I had to drive, you know, California, it's hot here. I had to drive with the windows down.
I went and went to my sister's store and threw, it was. So mad. That was disgusting.
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: Yeah, this is not bad. This is not trash, but it is just in my car. So anybody watching on YouTube gets a view of the trash in the background. In addition to being in my car with the garbage, I am sitting in a Starbucks parking lot stealing their wifi to do this podcast.
And I was like, this is kind of like a fitting description of what it is like to be an entrepreneur, right? Yeah.
Brandie | How To Summit: Yeah. Their Wi Fi is pretty good.
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: Yeah, I did buy a $75 drink to get it. But I just was laughing because I'm like, well, this is pretty accurate.
And we try to give people the real view of what being an organizer is. It's not all wonderful. Sometimes your car is filled with stinky garbage. And sometimes you are stealing Wi Fi from Starbucks to do a podcast.
But I did leave my client with the ability to park her car in the garage For the first time in a year, which is I'm just going to call that a win and everything
Brandie | How To Summit: so she could park her car in the garage is now in the trunk of your car.
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: Yeah. Many of the things are. Some of them are in a bagster too. Yeah. Well, I just wanted to have you guys on. You're two of my favorite human beings on the planet. I wanted to have you on to talk about what's happening in 2025. Obviously we're going to talk about the How To Summit a little bit, but tell us a little bit about what is happening in your business at Home+Sort.
Ryan | How To Summit: Well, what you guys didn't see is that for about 45 minutes before this started, we just forgot we were supposed to be on a podcast and all of a sudden we're just chit chatting and Oh,
we're on here for a purpose. We
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: have a job. We have a job.
Brandie | How To Summit: Yeah. So I don't know, Brandie, what's going on with us? Well, you know, Melissa, sometimes it's the same old, you know, organizing for clients.
We are doing two moves back to back, like in the next, I don't know, eight days or so. Which we love, like we love helping re locate, because we feel like it's a really great service that we offer. Always business wise, looking at what we're doing and saying, Is this totally what we want to do?
Is it how we want to spend our time? Is this the smartest way for us to make money or spend our time? And just diving into what we're doing, but also being willing to hold things with an open hand or Hey, this idea this business stream did not turn out to be exactly what we thought it was.
Okay. Let's pivot and do this or what's happening in the world. What's happening with the times, how does that affect what we do? In some ways kind of feel same old, and then you know, always with the Summit ever changing, ever exciting planning and prepping for that for other organizers and ourselves.
Ryan | How To Summit: So yeah. You know what I think we do a lot, Brandie? I just kind of think what you and our everyday life is re evaluating what we've, okay, we need to redo that.
Okay, that worked last year, but it doesn't work this year. This morning, someone had asked us for a press kit and it was like, oh, this press kit, I think I looked at it a couple months ago, but I was reviewing it I need to edit this. I need to edit that. So it's we're constantly trying to stay at the forefront of what's happening in this business and in business in general, and in the world. And you guys know, everything changes quickly. So I think we reevaluate a lot.
The other day, we even changed our labels for a move, or okay, we found a better way to do that. We're good, but these are better. So we do that a lot in our business. Don't you think, Bran?
Brandie | How To Summit: That's so funny. You say that. I mean, Melissa, you're the queen of courses. You have a course and a teaching on everything under the sun.
Every time I listen to you talk like Ryan and I was through this rec, we learned so much from you and besides the fact that. I laugh and your humor gets me. I feel
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: like that's a key part of my job.
Brandie | How To Summit: It's who you are. You nail it yourself from it. But this morning I actually was helping at a kid's camp at our church with Piper and a business contact of ours was like, do you guys have a one pager? We call it our press kit that highlights. These things about you and your business. Could you get it over to me kind of ASAP? Luckily Ryan was home and
Ryan | How To Summit: let's be honest. I was actually asleep and my daughter had to come wake me up.
Brandie | How To Summit: Cause you know why your daughter woke you up?
Cause I couldn't get ahold of you. So I called her and I'm like, Find your mother and tell her, get your mother out of bed. I was not going to bring that part up, but I feel like, you know, with Melissa, she doesn't judge you for that. But my point with that was, I'm glad that we've taken the time to have some of these tools in our belt.
So when, so I didn't expect last night when I went to bed that someone at 10 this morning was going to be like, Hey, I need this document that highlights all these things about you. And can you get it to me in 30 minutes? 45 minutes. That document would have taken us hours to create and edit and curate had we not had it ready.
And Melissa, I feel like you're a big believer in that, of having your stuff dialed in and being ready to go when you need it.
Ryan | How To Summit: And well, yeah, cause then you can update it within minutes, not within hours. I felt like we just do that a lot in businesses. Okay. Let's. tweak this or, you know, update that or what's current.
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: Well, let me ask you, I want to pick a little bit on this, I love this because I think that's actually a key thing that a lot of people don't do because what I hear a lot is, well, I've done it this way for blah, blah, blah, how many years? And it doesn't work anymore. This is dumb, but I just think we, lots of us have iPhones.
Does Apple go? Oh, you already have iPhones. You don't really need a new one this year. No, they have a new one every single year. Yeah. Right. Like you have to be looking at what's new. So do you guys have process, like when you talk about that reevaluation, do you guys get together and talk about it once a week, once a month, or is it just Oh, all the time you're saying, what did we do and what can we do differently?
Ryan | How To Summit: Well, I would say kind of two different ways. Brandie's very much more on purpose than I am. So for example, we updated our labels for our moves. So we have a couple moves coming up. I'm like purely not purely, but 99 percent aesthetic.
And so there were some things about some of these labels. I didn't like the way they looked. And so without Brandie's permission or without her consent, I go on there and I'm like, Hey, what if we do these kinds of labels? You know, I go change them and just brought them to the job and it ended up good because Brandie liked them.
But I would say Brandie is more intentional about, Hey let's reevaluate. I'm creative and I don't like the way this could function better visually, this could make us look sharper and more professional in this area and Brandie's more, okay, let's reevaluate this system. Let's reevaluate our client guide. We just did that a couple weeks ago where we updated our client guide. And Brandie's very methodical with those things.
Brandie | How To Summit: Well, I think to Melissa, which you'll know this because us talking Ryan is she's creative and Ryan is, I would say more than I am like ear to the floor in the world of what friends of the world are.
And sometimes she'll see something which you know, you don't plan on Tuesday at noon to learn something new about. The way the world is doing something. And she'll be like, so I saw this on TikTok or wherever, and it's like actually a really good idea. So sometimes just like the nature of culture, I feel like it's us.
And we're like, Oh, okay. We don't want to be left behind in any of these things. Or I had an encounter the other day. Oh, and I sent Ryan a message and I was just like, Hey, I felt like in this other area of my life, I feel like the people or the whoever I'm trying to please in this area, like no one's giving me like a clear target.
I think they're giving me just like a lot of freedom and that sounds really wonderful. But I said, as someone trying to provide a service, I actually think I'd really enjoy more of a clear defined target. So I think that we should look at our systems and make sure with our teams and the people working for us, we're giving really clear targets.
We're making sure that people understand at the end of the day, they know if they've \ pleased us or not, as employers, I mean, that kind of thing. So sometimes things like that just happen.
Ryan | How To Summit: And because speaking of, and this is a shout out to Shira, She, I will always remember her talking about setting expectations with her clients too.
How will I know that I've been successful at the end of this? That one question can change , hitting the mark and missing the mark. And so I think that's really important, that communication piece. We used to, when we first started Home+Sort, we tried to never speak to clients.
We're like, this is a luxury. We're making this a spa experience for them. We don't want to bother them with questions. Well, then we quickly realized, oh no, we need to know their opinions on things because they live here. We don't. And so then we started,
Brandie | How To Summit: We thought everything for a client needed to be a surprise.
We really did where we came up with that.
Ryan | How To Summit: Because it was in the era of where you would do these reveals on social media. It was so dumb. I can't even believe we did that. But we would keep the client out and they just listen to us. I guess a hundred percent. Now that you're saying it, I do feel kind of, and then the audacity to be like, we're going to film you and we're going to need a reaction.
Like what, think about doing that to a client. You'd be like, I don't want to be filmed. And what do you expect from me right now? That's so dumb.
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: But I like what you're saying too about even if you do not, you know, even if you're not working side by side with your client , That's something I talk to people a lot about you have to ask questions.
And yeah, there are some people that have a lower tolerance, like you can't have a thousand questions, but could you have ten really well curated, very specific questions that give you the direction that you need? And I think sometimes people are afraid to ask those questions.
Brandie | How To Summit: Yeah. Yeah.
I think our bottom line to round out that whole question was just sometimes things come up and we're like, okay, let's reevaluate in that area. And Melissa, you know, this cause you just individually own your own business. There's not like a board of directors or anything. We have to, we decide we want to do something different.
We just do it, which is actually pretty great. Cause you can actually accomplish a lot. We do reevaluate a lot. Because sometimes. Our first idea isn't always our best idea. But I'm glad
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: you guys are talking about this because you guys have obviously a unique partnership, right?
I think sometimes that makes a difference too when there are two of you talking about something But by yourself, you also have to be doing that too. You have to be and have a conversation with yourself, but you have to be doing that re evaluation process because what a client wants last year versus what a client wants this year is different.
Ryan | How To Summit: Oh my gosh, totally different. So I think that is something on a daily basis. We do a lot is we will, we'll update something, tweak something, make it current, and we even do that down to sometimes our pricing what we were pricing in COVID, which happened to be incredibly, that was a great time for our business.
Not the world, but our business, it was a great, we might be the only ones it was good for. But, our pricing's different now. The world's different now. So then you adjust, you know, you can't get too stuck in your ways on something because. It just, that's just not the world is like moving like this. And so you got to keep up.
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: What has your, have you guys adjusted your pricing up? I assume? Or do you, are you guys pretty dynamic? Do you change it up and down?
Brandie | How To Summit: I know this may not be a popular answer, but our pricing is a little bit fluid.
We like change it a lot. It's nuanced as the, I
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: want to talk to you guys about this because I believe in this, like I'm for where you're going with it.
Brandie | How To Summit: Ryan and I, If we have a crazy busy season of time, well, then we have the ability to price a little bit higher because we can, you know, it's if we're booked out this certain amount of time and that price point seems to be going, then we're going to charge that.
If we maybe have a season just like a little bit of a dry spell or a slower season, or I can look at the world and go, I think people are spending a little less money, some things like that. We're never like, Hey, we're going to cut our prices in half. We're not doing that, but maybe we'll go back down to the last tier of pricing that we used to do,
Ryan | How To Summit: and some of the incentives, cause everyone with home sort gets a, you know, the service is amazing, but some of the extras or the add ons that we usually do for people at a certain price point.
we will do for maybe somebody at a little bit lower price point.
Brandie | How To Summit: Yeah. Or it's, you know, like for instance, we are moving some clients tomorrow and our moves are, I know that we are more expensive than if you hired one, two, three movers out of the phone book. I know that now also what we do is just different.
We're not totally comparable, but if there's someone who doesn't care how their stuff gets from point a to point B and we're in the running to get those clients, I know, what makes us special and unique isn't totally a value to them, then I can look at my, in my mind and go, they may not pay our rate for that because I don't actually know that they would value the service that we bring them.
They may not care that their underwear is not with their lampshade. Genuinely, some people don't care about that. So we have some clients that have been good clients, but we hadn't worked for them in a couple of years and they're doing a relocation. And I know that we would very much the way we do things would very much matter to the wife, but I don't know if the husband would care.
And he was really the one I was dealing with. And so I said to them, Hey, since we worked for you, our prices have gone up a little bit, but we're going to work for you guys at the price that we have worked for you at. And Ryan and I were fine with that. We're not, By any means losing any money, but as a business owners, we have the flexibility to do that.
I would rather work for someone for 25 an hour per person less than lose a job, a 25, 000 job. Let's run some numbers here. I think we're gonna be there. We switch it around if we have to. Melissa.
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: I love that. And I have told people that I do similar things and I do, this is one thing I think just in general, I think really successful organizers have to be comfortable with being a little bit more fluid.
. Because. There are a lot of organizers that like we're organizers, right? So we go, well, it's a plus B equals C equals D like, here are the steps we need to do. And I think sometimes that actually does not benefit your business. So I totally do the same thing. If someone comes in and I just say, you know, this is a job that I'm really interested in.
I might throw in a couple like the amenities that you're talking about. Maybe it's not pricing. Maybe it's something else. There's an organizer that I know I was talking to her yesterday and she said, Oh, well I just said, I'll do a free garage clean out. And she goes, usually I charge 250 for that. But you know, if you have a big enough job, I'll throw in that garage cleaning.
And she goes it's my time. So yeah,
Brandie | How To Summit: there are certain clients. We're going to take away all their garbage and we're not going to charge them for it.
It's smart business on our end. So yeah, things like hey, sometimes on certain jobs, you know, we'll do like a planning fee to cover hey, we have to pay someone in LA to go pick up all your product and all that.
And depending on what it is, sometimes it's okay, we're not going to charge them that 125 or what it is. It's little stuff. The beauty is that we have the flexibility to do that and we use it smartly, you know? Yeah.
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: The other thing, it's just a random pricing pet peeve. I saw an Instagram recently where someone was doing a big announcement that they had, New pricing and their pricing was going up like big announcement.
I'm like, don't announce it. You
just do it. Right. And if new, and then people get caught up with that, right? Well, do I, I need to tell people that I'm doing this or I need to say, well, then I can't lower my pricing because I've announced it. No, just be chill.
Brandie | How To Summit: I agree. We don't have to make a big deal.
What person would look at that and go, Oh my gosh, their pricing has gone up. That is so cool. I'm so excited for them. Let me share it out. I'm excited to now pay them more money that I paid them to do for less money. Don't announce it. You
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: just do it. Right? And same thing. You don't have to announce that you're going down.
Right. You just literally don't announce it. You guys just do. I know. I,
Brandie | How To Summit: I never bring it up in this specific client, this relocation. I didn't, I mean, the really truth is price wasn't an issue. Although her husband really wanted to know, he wanted really good breakdowns. But I told her, 'cause we've always dealt with her, I wanted her to know, Hey, our pricing has gone up, but we really wanna do this move for you guys, so you're not getting any increase.
And I do think it made a difference. I think she was, yeah, she really appreciated that.
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: I know you guys love doing moves. I love doing moves. There are organizers who are afraid of doing moves. And I will also say the best session that I went to at the Summit last year was Brandon and Mallory from Hello, Happy Home.
And I know lots of people loved. I mean, I just loved that set that session so much. But tell me a little bit about how you guys do moves I mean, that's a huge part of your business, right?
Brandie | How To Summit: Yeah. Well, I will say anytime that as organizers are going to try and provide a service that's different than someone else that provides it for a way less price, we have to figure out why someone would hire us as opposed to them, for instance, and I'm sure you've gotten when we first started Home+Sort.
Everyone used to say, why would I pay you to organize my closet? I just have my house cleaner stay two extra hours and they do it. Okay. Then Ryan and I had to decide, why are we different than your house cleaner? And so I think with relocations, what's the difference if you call us than if you call like a moving company out of the phone book.
So we've really had to like laser in and focus in on what makes us different. Now we have a male and female crew for relocations, but most of our crew that is packing and in our clients, very personal spaces like their drawers, their jewelry, their clothing is our female crew. And for our clients, usually because we are hired by women, most of the time they have liked that.
And I think just the organized method in which we relocate people. A lot of our clients seem to not be going directly from house A to house B. I don't know why it's like there's usually a storage unit in the middle or something that makes this move a little bit more like complex.
And so we do it very organized. We have inventories. Everybody knows where their things are. Our team is incredibly professional, clean, efficient, and the moves are done very quickly. So I have realized, there's an expiration date on all business working relationships. A big thing that we offer people is quick relocations.
Also, point A to point B relocations. If we tell clients we're going to get their stuff across the country, it's going to stop in 7 states on the way. So we have an incredible track record of people's stuff not being broken or damaged because we pack it so well.
Ryan | How To Summit: And the ease up, if something is broken.
Brandie | How To Summit: We literally write them a check right there. You'll take care of it. Yeah. There is no, there's no arguing. Okay. Yeah. Zero argument. They say it and we, yeah. You know, I think this idea of you have hired us to handle every challenge that arises, every frustration we will handle. We just say, we're going to take care of it.
We've got it. We'll take care of it. And our team knows you cannot. I think any. Any organizer is a luxury service and having a hard time feeding their family and paying their electricity bill should not be hiring a professional organizer. It's a luxury service in my opinion. And so we have to be able to go above and beyond for people.
We say yes to a lot, Melissa, but because, but we also it's a nice price tag.
I think that we really, the totality of what we do in relocations, yes, we do all the logistical things, but we essentially solve people's problems for six days on end
Ryan | How To Summit: and the people that we bring people really like the reputation of Home + Sort.
They like the quality of people that are working there. You know, like the, some moms, one another mom packing their kitchen.
You know, they think we get it more, which to be honest, we do there. We do. If my 18 year old is packing up something, she doesn't know the things that I know about brands and about, Oh, that's an expensive, X, Y, and Z.
She knows a lot, but there is something that comes with more experience. And so I think that is something that sets us apart. Against a one, two, three mover or a, you know, out of the phone book.
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: And I think you're right about the care that goes into, when you know about things, like when you know things that are in a house, we do take better care of the things.
To a mover, a slice of pizza, which they will wrap and put in a box is the same. As an Hermes purse, right? They don't care. It just goes in a box. Yeah. So it was funny when you were talking about, having an all woman crew or whatever. I just was, I just did a move for a client recently and she was like she had some boudoir photos, in her closet.
She's totally. Do you know where you know, like the closet photos? I was like, it's handled. It's handled because we did have movers that physically moved the boxes, right? And I was like no, it's handled. The dude with the Van Halen t shirt is not looking at your boudoir photos.
It's okay.
Ryan | How To Summit: Yeah. The stories we could all tell about photos. I can't tell you how many times you go into a primary bedroom and they've got them displayed.
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: Oh, yeah. I don't have that. I don't have that in my repertoire. I admire people who could do it.
It's not me, but I was like, okay, no, girl, it's handled.
Brandie | How To Summit: But Melissa, I think too since, you know, We're speaking to other organizers at any point. We all have to be able to give an account for why people should pay us to do what we do. A hundred percent. Otherwise they're just, they're not going to, because if I'm no different than your house cleaner that tidies up your closet on Fridays, Why would you hire me?
You know,
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: we are not a commodity. And so we have to be willing to talk about what are the things we do that are different and special. And I know a lot of times you're having to explain that to a spouse who doesn't understand why their spouse wants to hire us, that's just a reality of our business.
So we have a lot of people that have to explain why is this service? Why am I paying a hundred dollars an hour to have someone come in and clean my house? Well, this is what we're doing and it's not cleaning your house.
Ryan | How To Summit: So interestingly enough, Brandie's daughter just got married and , they did it in Miami. We're from California. So it was all about the wedding.
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: Oh, I know. Yeah. So
Ryan | How To Summit: normally we have all of our resources here. Every resource you can want we have here, but we don't have them in Miami. So we had to do research like everybody else, you know?
I found this florist for Brandie. Their work is amazing. We had meeting after meeting, they answered all the right questions. day of the wedding they did not deliver. I won't embarrass Brandie and tell you how much these flowers were, but it was Brandie was in tears. And so I'm there, you know, getting the owner on the phone and, you know, they didn't fix the problem whatsoever, just terrible service.
And what happened is we later came to find this out and the owner never told us is that he just contracted. Everybody else.
Brandie | How To Summit: And so there was nothing more upsetting like I'm still not over it. How great I need to email them. I'll try and get some money back. But I honestly have not been emotionally in a place.
I've still been upset enough about it where I haven't been able to like. Have a clear mind to write a good yeah,
Ryan | How To Summit: anyways, all that to say there is nothing worse than thinking you're getting one thing. And not getting that and it being worse. So I think at these luxury price points that we all have, because we've already established, we're all luxury because this is, you can survive without organizing.
You have to deliver. On not only taking account, but having your words and actions line up the move has to be worth the 25, 000 or the 30, 000 that we've had hundred thousand dollar moves, and it has to be worth that. Or, yeah, you're just a terrible business owner, in my opinion.
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: I would argue to even at a lower price point, like when I think about my client that I've been working with this week, she's a very longterm client.
I've worked with her a lot, but I told her, I go, we need to do like a, we got to get it done. Right. When I think about the price tag that she's paying, it's going to be a decent sized bill for her.
She is not a super wealthy woman. I deserve to give her at a 5, 000 price point. Yeah. A really good service. It gives a lot of money. Why I have trash in my car, right? I don't want her trash can to be overflowing. Yeah. That's not a 100 an hour service, in my opinion.
Yeah. And so I just think, you know, if a client's only paying you, if you have nine hours with them and you're 100 an hour, you still have to give them 100 an hour service.
Brandie | How To Summit: I agree. again, how much money you're in someone's house for, you know, however long, how much money 5, 000 is a ton on a lot of money.
That's something that again, we can survive without.
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: I think too that it's easy to say I mean, because we do, I do really believe in women getting paid what they're worth. And one of the things. That I get really, you know, because I see a lot of businesses and I see a lot of websites and I see a lot of pricing and all that kind of stuff.
I will always tell people, Oh you gotta, raise your prices. There was something the other day, who's well, I just, I don't have that much business. People tell me I'm too expensive. And I'm like, does your website say you're 50 an hour? I was like, it's because you're attracting the wrong people. I need you to be closer to a hundred dollars an hour.
Right. But. Yeah, I want you. I want women to get paid. But I think we do get used to like I've been, you know, I've charged 100 an hour for a while. And so in my head, I'm like, Oh, well, that's just normal amount of money. No, I do need to think about that is a luxury price point. Yeah. And so I deserve to be giving 100 an hour service.
Ryan | How To Summit: And I think that we'll feel that. Yeah. A hundred percent value their money. Brandie and I say all the time, we have, you know, billionaire clients, they still care about their money.
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: They sure do. Sometimes they care more.
Ryan | How To Summit: Yeah. They care more. It's kind of that like middle of the road client.
That's a little bit more like whatever. I don't ask questions. I think there may be a little bit embarrassed too. But the billionaires, man, they're like, we're getting into the line items here.
Brandie | How To Summit: Why are plastic bins so expensive, but also the truth is I don't get to decide what people value.
Ryan | How To Summit: Yeah.
Brandie | How To Summit: We're going to do what we tell people we're going to do.
And Ryan's exactly right. Where, if we tell people we're showing up, we're going to be there. We're going to show up, do ABC and D and there is nothing more disappointing. Then if we charge someone and we don't deliver, then it's such a gut punch because it just happened to you.
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: Think about the worst service experience you've had. Unfortunately you have a very painful recent one. Even if you just think about yeah, I got my dinner was burned or, you know, something tiny, like you want that experience to be good when you pay for it.
Ryan | How To Summit: And you want it to be what they promised because they would look at the flowers at Peyton's wedding and they were gorgeous.
But it's not what we asked for.
It's and that is a horrible feeling when you don't meet. an expectation and there's a lot of money involved. And what's a lot of money, whatever your client says is a lot of money, do you know what I mean?
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: But by the way, it was a very gorgeous wedding. I would never have known in 8 million years that you had a problem.
Even if, you know, myself and every other person is like, Oh my gosh, so beautiful. If you paid a large amount of money, For a service and you didn't get it and it wasn't what they agreed to and all the things.
It's, that's not a good experience.
Ryan | How To Summit: It does give me empathy for clients because a lot of times, cause we all know how laborsome these jobs are. um, Yes. So I think we all get to an end of a job and we're like, we just, we nailed it.
We did a great job. And maybe you cut a few corners or maybe you got tired. And so you're like, well, it's good enough. You know, because we have to, I will be honest. I think there has been a couple of jobs where I have said that this is fine, but it's no. That's yeah. That is terrible business because the client shouldn't have to pay for you being tired.
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: It's funny you say that because I actually, I've had times the client today, it's been it's not California and it's not Miami, but it's been hot and humid the last couple of days. One of those days where you're like, I'm exhausted, you're in a garage, whatever. And today I just felt myself draining.
And I was like, I'm not working as fast as I usually do. And I'm like, I am totally just going to give her a couple of complimentary hours, you know, to like to finish a couple of things up because same thing, like there were a couple of things that I didn't finish today. And I'm like, it's because I'm exhausted and I'm going to be up front with her and she's a longterm client.
I'm going to say, I'm super, super tired, but I'm going to come back and I'm going to fix a couple of things tomorrow on me because I want her to be super, super happy. And me being tired is not her problem.
Brandie | How To Summit: Yeah. And I bet that made her trust you. So much.
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: Yeah, and these are the things that we have in our power.
So like when you were talking about, on your pricing, like sometimes you might give an amenity that you wouldn't normally do or whatever. These are all things that enhance the client experience. And I do believe I want women to get paid again. I do not want you to give away 25 free hours with every job.
But if you can say, I'm going to give two hours of my time because I think it is going to increase their happiness. Yes. You should do it. Yeah.
Brandie | How To Summit: Melissa, I just had this thought because you text us the other day with an idea of something you wanted to talk about. So like the flip side of this is what you said to me about people giving away Too much for free before they ever get paid at all.
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: There are people, I think, sometimes that are concentrating on things that don't matter. So when you guys were talking about hey, we re evaluate and we try to think about what are the things that we want to make better, but then I also want people to think about, does this actually matter? And I think sometimes organizers concentrate on things that don't matter as much to the client.
So ultimately, like what's going to make the client experience better?
Brandie | How To Summit: There is a gal that we love. She has her own organizing business, but we met her actually a couple years ago at the summit in Ohio. And she contracts with us down in Southern California. Very often. So we've really gotten to know her well.
So we have a great relationship where she can call and she's newer in the business than we are. I would say her projects don't quite hit the financial scope that our projects would, so she'll call and ask questions and I've opened the door to her saying she can, you know, it's not trying to like defy a boundary.
'cause to be honest, she has our back. Yeah. On the business end. So anyways, she'll call cause some of the relocation stuff is newer to her. So she was calling one day and talking about all the hours she was spending on a bid for a client. Like she'd got down to the nitty gritty of like product. She kind of like first and figured out what product was going to be for the whole house.
And I mean, She's hours. She's like a full day into work in this bed. She doesn't even know if she's gotten the job or not. And I said, I'm going to stop you right there. You are putting way too much work into something that is not a guarantee. Now, Ryan and I have done that. And it feels pretty lousy to give up.
Numerous hours upon hours of work for them to not hire you. And sometimes stuff like that happens and you can't avoid it. But You know, there is this balance of you want to do a really good job on a pitch and a bid and an estimate and all the things. But don't do so much. You don't even know if they're going to hire you.
I'm not even talking product with a client until I know if they're even going to hire us. If they hire us, then we'll go down that road and we'll talk.
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: Yes.
Brandie | How To Summit: But you know, we, depending on what, the job is, , sometimes if we're pitching a really big relocation, it's going to be incredibly expensive.
We have a pitch sheet that we put together and it'll. Have an image of their current house and an image of their new house on it. Like Ryan, she's kind of has this template put together and then we enter, you know, all the information and it's impressive when you get it. I'm not going to do that for a 1, 500 job, you know, not worth that to me, but if I'm for pitching a move, who knows, that's.
60 to 90, 000, or 35 to 60, 000. We're going to do a little bit of the work and make this presentation nice. But even with that, I'm not gonna in my mind, price out exactly what their moving supplies might be. I've kind of got an estimate there. I'm not pricing out product for their kids room at their new house.
Because that is so much work and I have, I don't even know that we're going to get this job from people.
There's just this balance in the amount of effort you put in to get a job. And I think maybe sometimes people are putting a lot more time into getting the job and they end up not even getting it.
And then they're discouraged and they're frustrated and they feel like they're wasting time.
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: A hundred percent. And also, I think that there are times that a certain client could get that wonderful thing that you put together and be like, cool. I can just, I have all the tools. I can just go do it myself.
Obviously you're not going to do that with a 90, 000 move, but if it's a 1, 500 job, someone might go, I have a blueprint now. And you have done all that blueprint for them. Yeah. For free. Totally. And so I really wanted people to think about and you're exactly right if you guys are pitching a 90, 000 move, you could and should put more time and effort into that.
I think this is another thing where we say, Oh, when I, when a client comes to me I do the consultation and then I do a proposal and then I do. And I always ask why? Does the expect a proposal. Is that just part of your process? It's totally fine for that to be a part of your process, but I also want you to think about how much time and effort do I have to put into this to nail this job?
And sometimes the answer is no effort whatsoever. Yeah. I want them to examine why they're doing something. Yeah. So like, why am I doing it? Is it revenue producing? If you do five proposals a week and only one of them hits, maybe think about what am I doing? Where am I spending my time?
Brandie | How To Summit: And I think for a lot of people it leads to discouragement because it feels like a waste of time.
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: That discouraging feeling then translates to the next time you have a consultation. I will tell people, so you know, we have different, you and I the two of you and I have different businesses, right?
I rarely do a proposal. I mean, rarely. Yeah. I'm plenty busy. Now, if I were doing a 90, 000 move with 10 people, that would be a different story. I'm not doing that, but I just say I have it handled and I'll keep in touch with you but I'm not going to give you a 10 page written document with the plan because I don't want to spend the time doing that.
And my clients do not need it either. I just want people to be thinking about why am I doing the thing?
Brandie | How To Summit: Funny. This move we're going on tomorrow. I've always dealt with the wife, but then the husband has kind of gotten involved, which to be honest, he's been pretty easy and delightful to deal with.
Cause some men are just straightforward and bottom line.
But there are some details that he wanted that it's not something I would have broken down the way that he wanted it broken down. And I think it's because. He's never been the one directly working with us. So I think maybe some of our verbiage of how we do things and say things was a little foreign to him.
I said something to Ryan, I was like, I kind of don't actually know how to explain this further than I've explained it. Would you look at this and give me some tips. So I put some more information in and whatever I said that worked for him. He signed an agreement and paid the deposit within 20 minutes and that's all we wanted.
And I could have come back with this doesn't make sense to you. What more do you want me to say? But it was like, he just needed a little bit more information. It was no big deal. It did not take me any sort of length of time. And that was enough for him to say, great, we're good.
Send me the invoice. I'll have it paid immediately. And he did. And it was great.
Melissa | Pro Organizer Studio: In general, and I think it goes back to what you said at the beginning where you were talking about we re evaluate our stuff all the time, I just want people to be thoughtful about what they're doing. And if you are going into it and you're like, okay, I thought this through and this is important to me because blah, blah, blah, but don't decide that something is important when it actually isn't.
And just think about what are those things that are actually important to the client experience?
come back tomorrow for part two of my conversation with Brandie and Ryan and I hope you have a great day Organizers.
CONNECT WITH PRO ORGANIZER STUDIO
We’d love to work with you. Send us an email (Melissa answers them personally!) or connect with us HERE…or check out our programs HERE.
If you’d like to watch our FREE seminar, The Pro Organizer’s Profit Plan—check it out here!