Erin Thomas Wong (00:52)
Hello and welcome back to the Life Friendly Business podcast. I'm Erin Thomas Wong, The Life-Friendly Business Mentor This podcast is all about adopting a life friendly approach to the way that we're running our businesses, but also the way we're getting ourselves out there and getting visible. and I wanted to introduce you to some of the women who are adopting this approach. and today we've got Stephanie Rough who is a professional declutterer and organiser.
She's been doing this for many years and I'm really excited to speak to her today. So welcome, lovely to have you Stephanie.
Stephanie | The Organised Zone (01:25)
thanks so much for inviting me on.
Erin Thomas Wong (01:26)
Would you like to tell us a little bit more about what you do Stephanie?
Stephanie | The Organised Zone (01:29)
I would love to. So I am, I call myself a professional organiser, I mean it's a funny old term, but I basically help clients who are overwhelmed with their clutter in their home. But also it's a little bit more than that, it's trying to help them find systems that work. So I sort of always joke and say I make myself redundant, I come in for a session but I don't actually want you to be relying on me all the time.
I want you to be able to set up routines, habits that really help people live a life more organised essentially. I'm so passionate about having an organisation. I'm a mum of three running a very busy household and so it's interesting. I don't think organisation comes naturally. I think it's a skill that you can learn but I think some people are...
adopt it in certain ways better for them, some even more than me. I'm not saying I'm the most organised out there, but I like to sort of just help people because actually when you are organised, you have more time. You have more time to do things that you love. You can save money. You're not wasting time looking for those keys. You're not buying a million products because you forgot you bought them. There's huge benefits to it.
My service is quite a practical one, but actually the benefits far outweigh those few hours that I might actually spend with you.
Erin Thomas Wong (02:48)
It must be actually really beneficial to your mental health as well to feel like you are organised in the home because I talk a lot about the snow globe brain analogy and you know if we're living in that kind of chaos as well which is very common when you've got lots of kids running around.
Stephanie | The Organised Zone (03:05)
Completely that I mean there are studies there are some quite sort of serious studies about how stress and clutter are linked Sometimes and a lot of my clients won't necessarily realize what's overwhelming them, but the clutter is more of the sort of the physical sort of show of the fact that they're overwhelmed because they just don't know what to do with it but by moving that clutter around out of the house or reorganising it
It does sort of shift the energy. I'm not a Feng Shui expert, but I see real synergies with that. and a lot of people are quite into that energy and moving around. But I promise you, if you move piles of clutter, all of a sudden something shifts. and that therefore really does help our mental health. So yeah, absolutely. I like to think of it as a form of self-care. and it's so important.
you as a business owner, me as a business owner, know, days when I'm just like, oh my goodness, I don't know what I want to do. You know, if I clear my desk and just have a bit of a tidy up around you, all of a sudden you're like, okay, right. I feel a bit more motivated, a bit more productive. The benefits can be tiny, but actually massive.
Erin Thomas Wong (04:15)
Do you have a couple of examples of people that you've worked with and the kind of things that, like, what do you do? Do you choose one room to focus on or do you do the whole house? Like, how does it work?
Stephanie | The Organised Zone (04:25)
It really depends. It really depends on the client. They usually call me for one particular area or they actually don't know where to start. So, you know, that's a very common phrase is I just don't know where to start. Well, by calling me is that first first sort of step on the rung and actually, that's a massive step to admit asking for help when people sort of think I should be able to sort of run your own home or just don't know.
how to turn, they might have seen perhaps it on telly or heard someone say, you know, can get an organiser. We liken it really to being a personal trainer. We all know we need to go and do exercise. We all need to get outside. You know, you need to tidy, tidy your house. But actually if you're always constantly tidying, something's not quite right. You know, the systems aren't there. and so, you know, there should be no shame in calling an expert. So the clients will call me and say, you know, I'm a bit overwhelmed, but then...
we have a chat, we work out what the main focus is and I always sort of say to them, let's start where you want to start, you know, in the beginning. and that might be something small that's really, doesn't have much thought in terms of behind the items, you know, because obviously sentimental items are massive.
But if there's one zone in the house where you've just gone, actually, I'm just shoving it all in a cupboard, we could probably start by emptying that cupboard and then work out where things should be. But I always like to have a sort of walk around the house to start with when someone invites me in to sort of see how they're living. and a lot of the time we have to work on more than just one room because actually I describe it like that old, you know, jigsaw puzzle when we were children, you have to move all the things around, but you've got to have a space unless there's a space on the puzzle.
you can't actually move anything around. So I come along, we'll get some stuff out, create space, and then we can move it around the house and work out where things really should be so that things that should be in the kitchen are in the kitchen and things that should be in the shed are in the shed, but equally things that shouldn't be in the house have left.
Erin Thomas Wong (06:18)
I'm
guessing it's like, you know, when you live somewhere, you can't really see the wood for the trees and, you know, over time, you start habits of putting things in different places that made sense at the beginning. But I was interested that you said about, you know, people recognising that they need help with it and getting over the fact that they feel like they should be able to do this. They should be more organised. They should be that. and we're really good at putting that.
pressure on ourselves but I think you know I don't know whether it's a generalisation but you know as women we we're not just looking after our own stuff we're looking after everyone in the families as well and no matter how much responsibility you can put on the kids as they get older there's still all this stuff and so you know I know that I've worked with some women who are just like all that
the kind of home chores that they feel responsible for really overwhelm them and make them feel like they don't have space in their head to think about other things.
Stephanie | The Organised Zone (07:15)
completely, completely and it's down to a lack of time. We're all really short on time and we're all wanting to be out there enjoying life and that's what we should be doing instead of being tied to the home and I think we're all sort of told we have to have, should, I hate the word should, we all live on a lot of things that we should but should we all be living in perfectly clean homes and we're always cleaning but actually the organisation is a key and it's...
It's tying certain things into routines. So, you know, we talk about wardrobe changeovers, but now that's fine if it's your own wardrobe, but things like the kids, they're always bringing so much stuff in. So I always guarantee first day of the holidays, I just go, come on, we're just gonna sort your rooms out. When you're tied to school holidays, that's happening at least three times a year. So it's finding little things like that.
that actually everyone's getting involved and getting into routine because organisation you do have to teach, you have to learn how to do it and fit it into your life. and you've got to be strict on your time and go, actually, do you know what, I am going to do this because for me, I know that the benefit is there. I sleep better, I relax more, and then you can go out and enjoy yourself. and it's putting a value on that, that organisation.
because you know the benefits are there massively.
Erin Thomas Wong (08:29)
I just chuckled a little bit to myself because I thinking about my 16 year old boy who I just keep going into his room and he's just got his clothes.
all over the floor, his wet towel on the floor and I'm kind of thinking I'm getting more more annoyed about it and like you know I'm also like you're not looking after your stuff, you're not respecting your stuff and I feel like how do you motivate the kids to to tidy up and sometimes you have to give them that an incentive don't you which is really frustrating but it's interesting that he's not bothered by it at all but it really really bothers me.
Stephanie | The Organised Zone (09:04)
It is hard and you have to learn and I think as a mum that's the hardest particularly when you've got other people around you. It's sort of choosing your battles, deciding on what's important for you and them and so long as it's in their room I've sort of learnt to kind of go okay fine but I then have a bit of a rule I try to sort of say look the cleaner comes on a Monday, Sunday is tidy up day and you all need to just have a
you know, a of a tidy of your rooms on a Sunday. So again, that's trying to sort of put in a routine. So it's not every night. It's not being unrealistic, but it's like, come on, you know, let's, let's clear all the cups and glasses out of your, out of your thing or get them involved in emptying the bins. You know, don't get me wrong. I've got teenagers. I'm not, their rooms are not perfect at all. So you kind of have to go fine. But then if you can encourage them at times.
mine then do see the benefit they do sleep better they find their toys they or whatever it is that they're looking for that they they slowly get it and i and i hope i hope i'm teaching them you know eventually they'll they'll be be great when they're living on their own i'm sure
Erin Thomas Wong (10:09)
and so how do you get this message out to people? Like, are you attracting clients that already know the benefits of decluttering or do you find that you're doing a lot of education on it?
Stephanie | The Organised Zone (10:21)
So it's interesting, in the beginning when I started my business, basically I had this light bulb moment to just set the scene. We relocated from Surrey down to Dorset five years ago. and as I was decluttering the house ready for some photos, my husband was like, can't have these photos taken, the spare room was just a junk room. and I was decluttering it and listening to a couple of podcasts, interesting enough, so I've always had an affinity with podcasts.
I heard there were professional organisers. I was like, my gosh, this is a thing. and I sort of read about it and I was like, actually, this is exactly what I could do. I'm going to set up, you know, become a professional organiser, moving to a new area. I was like, right, I'm part of an association. There's only 400 of us. There are more out there, but in terms of our association, registered, verified professional organisers. So there's not many at all. and when I moved and started, I realised part of my role...
to be an education piece. People have to go, oh didn't realize it was a thing, didn't know you could have a professional organiser. As I'm sure you've experienced, know, working with a lot of women in small businesses, there's so many, there's a business for everything. and if there isn't, someone's going to set one up pretty soon. So yes, a part of it is that education piece and accepting that everyone you speak to is not all going to be a client.
and it's picking out who are you going to help. But the more people you're talking about it, the more people you're getting out there and knowing about you, they then will come to you eventually. It might not be immediate and it is a long game, particularly when you're in that education piece. So I've really enjoyed that. and for me in the beginning, knowing no one, so it's quite interesting moving to a new place and not knowing anybody.
I was like, I've got to get out there. A, I've got to meet people. People have got to know about me. People have got to know about professional organizing. So my first sort of year was probably just networking, you know, joined a networking group, going to as many meetings as I could to sort of soak up information, make contacts and sort of work out what was right for the business, accepting sort of anything and everything that was coming my way, just because I was like, yeah, okay, I need to build this up in.
in that visibility space. and then I got really quite busy that I completely dipped off the networking and the getting out there because it was obviously just servicing clients. and then I think this year I thought, I've got to go back to it. was a little bit quieter, just, but I sort of took a bit of a stop and think, well, hang on, I'm not doing all that stuff anymore. I'm sort of just.
just on the churn. and that's when I sort of, you know, joined with your Visibility Mastermind because I was like, actually, need that accountability again. I need that focus because it's very easy just to carry on with the churn and actually going, am I doing what I want to do? I want to pick the jobs I want now rather than just being sort of controlled by, yes, okay, I'm available. Yes, I'm okay. You know, let's do that. and so I wanted to...
switch it so that's what I've done this year is join up with you to really have that accountability and thinking about the strategy of where I'm going with the business.
Erin Thomas Wong (13:31)
I think that's one trap that a lot of people fall into when they're doing really well and they're getting the bookings coming in and they're busy doing those and they...
think, well, I'm busy, so I haven't got time to be doing marketing stuff. and then of course, you know, especially with what you're doing, it's project based work. and so at some point that is going to dry up. and I think it's the same with, you know, word of mouth referrals are obviously so powerful and it's brilliant. and some people do really well on those word of mouth referrals, but we can't rely on that a hundred percent, can we? We need to be making sure that we're kind of using different vehicles for getting our message
out there.
Stephanie | The Organised Zone (14:09)
Yes, absolutely. and becoming recognised as an expert, becoming sort of seen a little bit more, you know, I, and none of my businesses, I'm not a fame hunter. I'm not someone who needs to be, you know, the sort of face of it particularly, because I just love helping people and I love the benefits that they get. But I think it's important to, you know, stand up for the brand and give the brand the,
you know, the importance that it's got and the benefits so that people are seeing it and more people are seeing it and wanting to do what I always wanted to do was just make sure that people are really getting those benefits of being organised.
Erin Thomas Wong (14:47)
and you know, I know you said you're not necessarily in it for the fame kind of thing, but you are the face of your brand and you're the person that is going to be going into their home. and I remember when we first started talking and I looked at your website and I'm like, where are you? I need you, I need your lovely face on there because you know, that is who someone is inviting into their home. you come across as very confident about what you do. Have you always felt like that or was that a challenge at the beginning?
Stephanie | The Organised Zone (15:15)
So I hate sort of public speaking and all that kind of thing but actually I found in the past that if you are on a stage talking about something that you're passionate about it's actually very very easy and I do love it. I was told many moons ago in a particularly early situation that I wasn't showing any passion and I think that's always sat up with me.
and actually I am really passionate about this and I love it and just love seeing the benefits. and so to then stand up and talk about that, that's fine. I'm really happy to do that. I might sort of be panicking a bit beforehand. But yeah, I think it's important as you say, to be the face and have that. and when I'm with clients, I know that they give you, they give me that confidence that...
I know what I'm doing is right, I'm helping them, they're benefiting and I always get such lovely, lovely feedback and they all keep wanting me to go back and do more, which is brilliant.
Erin Thomas Wong (16:18)
and that's.
Yeah, that's the best validation that we can hope for, isn't it? and I love the fact that you said, you know, now that you feel passionately about something, it's easier then to speak up because I do really think that, you know, when you're feeling really nervous about getting visible and putting yourself out there, it can often be because you're not quite 100 % sure of your message and what makes you different as well. and I know with my own journey, when I really, when I rebranded to the life-friendly business,
and started my podcast which is over three years ago that's when I realised right these are the things that I talk about and then when you've honed that down it's so much easier to speak with clarity because you know what it is that you really want to get across and so yeah if you're if you're feeling like you're really scared about speaking it's probably because you haven't really honed in on you know the area that you want to be known for but now you're doing quite a lot of speaking and you've got an amazing
Speaking gig coming up.
Stephanie | The Organised Zone (17:19)
Yeah, so next week I've been asked to go to the Ideal Home Show to talk there, which is brilliant. I pushed myself last year actually for a sort of speaking opportunity. was a part of the association had...
got links with a show called Clean and Tidy which has just renamed itself Home Life in You and that's a wonderful event and I literally there was a sort of deadline for a speaking application and I went
Okay, I've done it. I went, my gosh, I can't believe I've actually done it. and then they came back going, yes, we'd love you to speak. and then I was like, my goodness. So sometimes you just have to do it. and then, you know, if you're in a room, I've done lots of WI talks and sort of ladies groups. Actually, they just, you can just see them, you know, buzzing off you in terms of the information that you're giving and how you're helping them. and then when you get an email back the next day going, I'm so inspired. I've gone and decluttered my, you know, spices or,
or my sock drawer and you're like, that's fine, that's all I wanted them to do. You know, you go, that's great, that's really, really good. So it's lovely to get feedback. So yes, next week I'm at the Ideal Home Show and wherever that may take me later in the year as well, that would be wonderful.
Erin Thomas Wong (18:33)
and you are on BBC Radio.
Stephanie | The Organised Zone (18:35)
yes I was on BBC Radio that came about again just as a sort of any chance or you know do you fancy a chat about this and they were like yeah I was like my goodness and I listened back afterwards and thought it sounded alright actually
Erin Thomas Wong (18:37)
Yes.
Well, in our mastermind is the fact that we do take time to reflect on all of these wins because we were saying the other day on a call that it's so easy just to keep rolling with your business, being busy in the day to day and not taking a moment to think, wow, this week, this month, I've actually been to a networking group which led to a client, been on BBC radio, which led to a client, know, going to the ideal home show. There's all these things. you know, it's just so important that we take time to recognise those incremental
steps that we're taking.
Stephanie | The Organised Zone (19:19)
Yeah, I
call it with my clients, I call it a Tada-list.
rather than a to-do list. and I do try to encourage them. had a, I ran a challenge last week, week before spring clear challenge for people that signed up. and that again was out of my comfort zone. So that's a video every day that I recorded for people to kind of, you know, do their own decluttering at home. and then the last thing at the end of the week was, you know, write a Tada- list. Cause it's really important to recognise that. and that gives so much motivation. Cause we do some
sometimes we procrastinate ourselves into a spiral of haven't really achieved anything and I've got all this to do but actually we have achieved quite a lot. So yeah, it's really, really important. and I think that's what I've loved about the Visibility is that not just that accountability but that reflection time, that sharing as a group because it's lonely out there when you're on your own as a solopreneur
that sharing your successes and having a group of people around you that give you a clap, give you a sort of applause, a thumbs up, well done. It's nice to have that and share that journey with others.
Erin Thomas Wong (20:31)
and also to kind of keep pushing each other up a little bit higher when we're sometimes, you know, thinking small and then other people are like, no, you should be doing this. and it really encourages you
Stephanie | The Organised Zone (20:42)
You
see people doing things on Instagram and wherever and you think, my gosh, they...
They're doing amazingly how they got that but then actually when you're just chatting people in the group and they go yeah, just write into the radio or just you know send off there you like, okay my goodness, so these opportunities come about You know, they're not big scary people You've just got to be happy to just ask and what's the worst that can happen? I worked in sales for many years. What's the worst can happen? They can say no
Erin Thomas Wong (21:12)
Absolutely. and you know, one thing I talk about a lot is taking CEO time for our businesses. and I know that with what you do, you talk about the fact that we are often the CEO of our homes as well.
Stephanie | The Organised Zone (21:24)
and that's essentially what it is. I thought that was a lovely analogy. You know, we can't run our businesses on our own.
We try to, we try to and the houses are the same but you've got to have systems. Not saying you've got to have lots of stuff but you've got to have those things that work, those reflection times. So like your CEO Mondays, I always have family Sundays where we sit and review the week ahead, what's going to happen to make sure that we haven't missed any clashes of the diary and really have a chat with everyone, particularly in the beginning
and I think this has come to light more, you know, when the kids are little, we all thought it was quite hard work, but actually they did what you wanted them to do, they got in the car when you put them in the car and you took them wherever, whereas now, you know, I'm managing sort of five bodies that are all in different places at once and, you know, how you're getting from here to there and...
where do need me in this piece of puzzle? and sometimes you do actually have to go, right, we just make sure that we're all on the same page here? I mean, we have all our stuff online.
Google Diaries, I mean mine looks like a disco, it's like in a different colour for every child, a dog and you know husband, so you you've got to make those logistics work so there's things like that putting systems in place and I think my biggest one is you know delegation and delete as you would with a business, know what you're going to delegate to somebody else, what you're actually going to get rid of and you know we don't need to do everything but you know you can find ways of making things happen.
depending on what's really important to you and looking at your home as, know, how do you want that organised, what benefit, what you're trying to achieve, what's your why, what's important to you. You know, for us it's holidays, holidays are non-negotiable.
We try to really make sure we have a good big holiday a year and a couple of other ones dotted in. But that takes a lot of working around. When's it going to happen? How's work going to carry on without us around? Where do we all want to go? That sort of thing, how are we going to pay for it? It's important to, what is your why really?
Erin Thomas Wong (23:30)
It's so fascinating to hear you talk about how you're running those things in your family and you know, and it feels like this is actually such a broad subject, much broader than I realised as well with the organising stuff. and so you are now offering like an hour with people on Zoom as well, where they can basically talk their situation through with you.
Stephanie | The Organised Zone (23:49)
Yes.
Exactly, because sometimes a lot of people think they can do it themselves and a lot of people can, you know.
A lot of people are action takers, but they don't know where to go. So I've launched this new sort of organised boost, as I call it, a power hour just to sort of download, have a sort of session with me to go, goodness, this isn't working in my house. What can we do? and we can have a review and have a look at what it is. So it might not be the clutter per se. It tends to start with that. But then it's actually like, well, look, these are some systems you need to
to put into your...
into your home life, whether it be going paperless, whether it be setting up reminders, it might be using AI such as, know, Alexa's in the house to, gosh, be careful, mine will be going off, to make life easier. There are a lot of things that we could talk through solutions to that are right for you. You know, not everyone's going to need, you know, smart lights and TVs that you can't turn off.
unless they're connected to a piece of intelligence. But it's about finding systems that work and putting those things in place with you. But yeah, that's what my organised boost would do, just to help you get an action plan in place.
Erin Thomas Wong (25:04)
and the whole point is, is that we don't know what we don't know. and so that's why it's so inspiring to kind of hear all these ideas of what you can be doing. So how can people get in touch with you?
Stephanie | The Organised Zone (25:14)
Yep, can get in touch with me from my website, which is theorganisedzone.co.uk. Organised has an S, because we are in England, not America. The Americans all spell it with Z. and my platform of choice is Instagram, which is theorganisedzone.uk.
Erin Thomas Wong (25:30)
Wonderful. and finally, I'd love you to share what your tip would be for small business owners listening. It can be anything you like.
Stephanie | The Organised Zone (25:40)
have the confidence in yourself to go for it but also when you start out it might not be where you are three years later but just go for it you know go with what you want to do learn learn things pick up talk to people get out and talk to people listen to what they're saying and and go and just go for it but yeah have the confidence say goodbye to that imposter syndrome because we all suffer with it and it comes when we
need it but just keep that confidence and you know you'll make it.
Erin Thomas Wong (26:09)
and just need to keep taking those small steps forward, don't we? and like you say, we grow as people, the business grows and evolves, and you don't need to know all of the steps to get started. Just start.
Stephanie | The Organised Zone (26:22)
Completely, completely. couldn't say it better.
Erin Thomas Wong (26:24)
Yeah.
Oh, thank you so much. It's been fascinating. I feel like I've got some tips already. So I'm going to go and see to that 16 year old.
Stephanie | The Organised Zone (26:32)
Yeah, let me know how you get on. Brilliant. Thanks Erin, great to chat.
Erin Thomas Wong (26:35)
Thank you very much.
