We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nancy Meck. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nancy below.

Hi Nancy, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I didn’t know this could be a career. Up to the time I took the leap of faith and started Meck Organizing in 2007, my professional life had consisted of teaching for a semester before grad school, then working with academics and medical professionals who were doing research at universities and hospitals. When I told my teacher-nurse Mom that I was going to organize full-time, with a very worried look she asked, “Did you need to get your Masters for that?”

I understood the question, and the concern. She was raised on an Iowan farm, with parents who repaired things, not replaced things, and there was not a surplus of anything on that farm except for love. I explained to her that I’d found in my weekend “hobby job” of helping a family organize and manage their home, including revamping their filing system which was overrun with medical documents due to their daughter being in and out of the hospital frequently because of a condition she was born with, I realized the productivity and organizing methods I had my team and I use in my “real job” could be applied to help people in their homes and in other types of businesses, too. I’d been introduced to a rising entrepreneur who was in need of my continued support with her home and organizing at her company’s office, as well as a doctor with a 5-office hematology/oncology practice who wanted my help improving administrative systems. Other people had reached out to me to help with one-off projects, like tackling garages and closets that had become catch-alls.

Will mention here that all of these connections came through my personal friend and family group. Makes me think of that phrase, “Your network is your net worth.” My first clients were all from word of mouth – including my big mouth. I took every opportunity to let folks know what I was now doing. If I was getting my hair cut in a busy salon, standing in line at Target, browsing at a boutique, shipping something at UPS, at a party or a restaurant…I figured out a way to work in mention of it. Who doesn’t have an organizing project or to-do list on their mind? I truly loved helping people save time, money, and energy and get more joy out of their every day through getting their projects completed, establishing systems to keep things maintained, and making things look and function as they wanted. Plus, I didn’t want to go into an office every day for the rest of my working life. I am an active person, I like to move, sitting at a desk or in a meeting 8 to 12 hours a day did not allow that. But organizing did.

I saw the rise of organizing-type products in retail stores and the increasing popularity of The Container Store. I saw at a charity auction an “organizing package” was listed. I learned about a group called the “National Association of Professional Organizers.” I noticed how many self-help books were discussing the topic of getting things done faster and easier. I thought about one of my first grad school classes at UCLA showing a chart of projected population growth. I thought about my undergrad roommate, her habits included putting everything everywhere, there was a distinct line down the center of our dorm room separating our sides. I thought about my Mom and her finding meaning in so many things, thus keeping so many things, and my stepdad who had a distinctly different approach to saving physical items. I thought about the emotional pain those I knew had experienced going through items after a life-changing event like divorce, major move, illness, death. I wanted to help, and I knew the whole answer was not in any perfect basket, bin, day timer, or software program. The whole answer could not be purchased, it needed to combine the physical environment as well as habits and attitude. I saw a need and a trend, knew a successful approach, and genuinely wanted to make a positive difference in people’s lives in this way. That gave me the confidence to, as Nike puts it, JUST DO IT.

Nancy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My company is Meck Organizing. We focus on the Business of Life: Home. Office. You. Our main services are organizing at work and at home, move management, house management, and just plain helping people figure out how to get things done so they have more time and energy for what truly feeds their souls.

I started the company after a career running medical research departments; I saw that the methods I developed so my staff and I could stay on top of the ever changing and never ending work could be applied to help those at home and in other industries.

I regularly run and am a member of the Atlanta Track Club Masters Competitive Team, I love the beach and the mountains (especially when there are good conditions for snowboarding), and I love time with my friends and family, including my four-legged treasured son, Casey.

Though my professional and personal worlds involve a tremendous amount of motion, I am a huge proponent of being still and relaxing, what I call “constant motion followed by aggressive rest.”

I believe in the power of positive thought, making the most out of any situation, and bringing out the best in people. Those beliefs form the basis for how I and the Meck Organizing team approach any task or project.

To answer the question of “what sets you apart from others”…I recognized from the get-go of doing this work full-time that this is about the people, not about the things. It is what is happening between our ears that matters. You’ve heard the phrase, “Your health is your wealth.” That includes mental health. That includes how you feel. Our thoughts, feelings, and actions are tied together. If we feel overwhelmed and reorganize our closet to gain a sense of control, but we are still berating ourselves for not doing the 1000 other things on our to-do list, how can we ever enjoy the fruits of our labor and get some peace?

I encourage clients to replace “should” with “could” as they consider what they want to get done…”I should have every piece of paper filed by the end of the day and I should have every email answered”…take away the pressure, shame, judgement by saying you “could” have those papers filed and emails answered. Give yourself room to decide what to act on given the time, money, energy, and human resources at your disposal. Don’t let any advertisement, social media post, retailer or other outside influence that doesn’t truly know your situation and care about your best interests tell you how to spend your hard earned money and irreplaceable time. Organizing and productivity is more about a feeling and an attitude than a look or empty Inbox. Wayne Dyer would say, “We are human beings. Not human doings.” Plus, the better we feel, the more positive our attitude, the more we’ll get done and the better we’ll do it.

I’ve had the privilege of working with clients in-person in several states, off the top of my head GA, CA, FL, CT, NY, NJ, TN, SC. I’ve helped those in studio apartments and in sprawling estates, children to seniors, recent college grads to millionaire and billionaire entrepreneurs. To get client projects done, I’ve stood on roofs and crawled under floors, shopped for diamonds and shopped for plungers, organized a closet devoted to nothing but dog clothes and organized a warehouse big enough to house airplanes. In working with all of these people and companies on all of these things, I have learned we are all different, and yet we are all very much the same.

Company summary:
Meck Organizing is a leading organizing expert trusted by clients for tackling projects with efficiency and style. We create ideal living and working spaces and free up time and energy for busy individuals, families, and businesses by helping them identify and reorganize what is important to them, removing what is not, streamlining systems, and just plain getting things done. Through professional planning, efficient execution, and a sense of style, we simplify our clients’ lives and improve their wellbeing.
– PASSIONATE: What if you ran your home like a business and cared for your business like your home? Think of us as enthusiastic problem-solvers who take the lead in getting your life organized.
– INVALUABLE: Time is money. Our experience allows us to quickly assess your project and execute self-sufficiently. We get things done that enable you to focus on the things that are important to you.
– TRUSTED: We are committed to fully understanding your organizing challenges. Through listening, observing, and establishing a relationship of trust with you, your family and those on your team, we are able to apply a holistic approach to your organizing solutions.
– TRANSFORMATIVE: We enhance people’s lives by transforming spaces and getting things done. We increase productivity and comfort by removing, reorganizing, de-cluttering, and streamlining the environment and processes and completing tasks and projects. We turn overwhelming chaos into harmonious spaces and turn those “to do” items into “done.”

Services summary:
– Physical organizing at home or at the office: We implement strategic solutions to enhance the look and feel of the space, especially useful when there is a staff turnover, change in job responsibilities, merging of households, need for downsizing, a birth, death, marriage, divorce, move, illness onset, or other major life event.
– House management: We consult with homeowners and their staff to enhance systems and get things done. We also serve as the liaison between the service providers and the homeowner, providing detailed status updates, supervising appointments, staying on top of routine tasks, managing/collaborating with house staff, and developing/implementing systems and training for continuous house care and maintenance.
– Move management: We handle everything from partnering with realtors, interior designers, general contractors and specialty teams, architects, landscapers, personal assistants, and more; prep both residences for move-out and move-in; unpack and organize; switch over accounts; hire movers, electricians, AV teams, IT teams, housekeepers, etc.; other factors that go into a move.
– Paperwork: We create streamlined filing systems for business practices, running the home, legal affairs, tax return preparation, medical/insurance reference, and other important life needs.
– Solutions for day-to-day or special event “overwhelming-ness”: We help with productivity and getting the most out of the available resources (people, money, time) by making recommendations to enhance existing task management systems and helping people close open loops, the goal to achieve a greater sense of balance and satisfaction in getting done the right things at the right time.

Have you ever had to pivot?

In 2015 I was feeling pretty on top of the world. I was living in Santa Monica close to the beach, was snowboarding as often as I could, had a fantastic estate management account for an entertainment industry mogul and his family, had multiple other projects I was knocking out of the park, and I’d made it onto an elite running competitive team called The Janes. Mind, body, spirit all in line and on the up and up. I grabbed my dog Casey’s leash and he and I went for a walk so I could turn in early and be fresh for my first workout with a new strength and conditioning coach in the morning. Minutes later I was passed out cold in the middle of an intersection and Casey was missing. Casey and I had been hit by a car while we were in a crosswalk.

When I fully came-to at the hospital, the police told me they found Casey a few blocks away, injured but by and large okay, and that he and I were lucky to be alive. The driver did not hit the breaks until she saw my body on her SUV’s hood. When I was released in the early morning hours with a skull fracture, eye swollen shut, broken leg, and arm in a sling with a torn rotator cuff, torn bicep, and broken collar bone, my main thoughts were (1) making sure Casey was truly okay and (2) making sure my clients had everything they needed to take care of things without me physically able to help. With one eye straining to stay open and one achy but movable hand, I pecked a slew of emails to clients and vendors. As time went on and the truth of my condition came out, I realized I could not work, and if I could not work, I could not make money. And I was living in a very expensive city. I needed help.

This experience impressed upon me that people absolutely need people. A friend took in my dog, and my brother and his wife took in me. I still had clients and new prospects who wanted work done that I could not do. I was confronted with the fact that if I wanted to continue this work and not be faced with this financial predicament again, I needed a deeper bench. I embraced the art of delegation. I hired team members. I worked on my own trust and control issues. I redirected the energy I’d normally put toward work to be put toward rehabilitation. When I got stronger, I created tools to make what I personally did for work in the past available and able to be done by someone else. I made efforts to on a daily basis show my gratitude to those helping me.

I am not happy I got hit by a car. I had multiple surgeries, I have permanent scars, I lost a peak of my competitive masters running, business was tough to recover, and my family and friends rearranged their own lives to help. But this experience prompted me to push myself to do new things and reflect on what is important to me, to those close to me, and to my business. What I am getting at here, is that this painful, life-altering event made me personally and professionally GROW. My life, and the life of my business, went in a direction I did not previously envision. Sometimes we have to come to a stop to rev up.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

One of my early business clients told me about a book his company gave its employees called “Getting Things Done” by David Allen, he said he thought I’d like it. He had no idea how much I’d like it. It was an absolute game changer for me, personally and professionally. It helped me gain a deeper understanding of some of the things I was already doing to successfully help clients, and it created a framework for processing things that came into my world on a daily basis. I use many of the methodologies of that book to this day, and I encourage clients to as well, especially if they are reporting being overwhelmed at home or at work. “Getting Things Done” is an elegant task management system that lays out a way to contextualize everything that comes across your mind, your desk, your field of vision and discard it, act on it, or plan for it. The idea is to get “In to Empty” while having a nice flow. One gem from it is the “2 Minute Rule”: If you can knock out a task in 2 minutes or less, do it right then. It will take more time and energy to remind yourself to do it later. Another great take-away from the book is thinking of to-do’s by what is needed to get them done; the way I explain it to clients, is everything we want to do usually boils down to something we’ll do on Computer, on the Phone, at Home or at the Office, an Errand, or something we are Waiting For in order to get that thing done (ex: a response from someone). If you organize your to-do list by those categories, then when you are at the Computer, have time to be on your Phone, are in your car and able to run Errands, are at Home or at the Office, you can skim down that list for what you can knock out. And your Waiting For list captures the loose ends so they are not forgotten, but also so you don’t have to keep reading and thinking about them when you can’t do anything about them yet.

Another book that has positively affected my approach to managing people, projects, and time is “The Four Agreements” by Miguel Ruiz. The book outlines a code of conduct, the four agreements being: (1) “Be impeccable with your word”, (2) “Do not take anything personally”, (3) “Do not make assumptions”, and (4) “Always do your best”. These are great for any staff, any family, anyone.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.meckorganizing.com
• Instagram: @meckorganizing
• Facebook: @meckorganizing
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/meckorganizing
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/meck-organizing-atlanta-2