We recently connected with Nicole Johnson and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Nicole, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
Room To Live is a company I started right out of the pandemic. I am a Professional Organizer and Home Stager. I love what I do, I love helping people get their space back, I love helping them find their Zen, the space they can come home to and de-stress, breathe, and relax. I didn’t always realize I needed this space for myself and when I did, it changed my whole perspective on my mental health. As I work with more and more clients, this is the common theme. They are drowning in their space and it is affecting their family life at home. How did I discover this?
I had been in the corporate world of interior design, marketing for interiors, calling on Architectural and Design firms as a sales representative for several companies and a sales representative for a well known commercial furniture company. During my time as a sales representative, I really struggled with my mental health.
When I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety at the age of 40, I was surprised for a minute and then I realized this is what has been weighing me down for years. The doctor told me I was a “functioning person” with depression, which I guess means I could make myself go to work, give presentations, take clients to lunch, entertain them at night, go home to two young children and my husband with my mom hat, do the things…sports, cook, school work, baths, get ready them ready for school tomorrow, and then finally spend 45 minutes with my husband before we crashed at night. Yes, I was doing all of this while feeling very low, like I can’t get out of bed low. I was always focusing on what I didn’t complete or how much more there was to do…the anxiety of it all.
I have always been an organized and clean person, but I had very little time to do so at home. And, you know how little kids always put things back where the found them. So while at work (a place I was in more control of my space), I would be the most organized person in my office, my spreadsheets, my marketing packages, my samples, to the point people would make comments about it to me . I would joke and say, “If I could be a professional organizer, I would! Maybe in my next career!”
The medication really began to help and I was able to function so much better like the fog was lifting. I was able to set small goals of what to organize at home and I was able to complete my goals which was a huge deal. I realized when I completed my goals, weight started falling off my shoulders. With out realizing it, I created spaces I wanted to come home to and be in to calm myself. It was now easier to complete the mom hat checklist items.
Over the next few years, my son had begun school and was having a rough time. He wasn’t reading well, he was super hyper, impulsive, self-deprecating and not focused at all and at home, he was a tantrum wreck. At the same time, we noticed my older daughter’s anxiety increasing. I was finding it difficult in my busy sales career to find the right doctors to test my kids. When we did, my son was diagnosed with major combination type ADHD and my daughter with anxiety disorder. Their needs just surpassed my own. I needed to focus on them, to give my time, I needed to get them out of after school care, I needed to focus on their mental health.
My husband and I figured out how I could leave my current job and be more present for the kids. I left my corporate job in February 2020 with the idea of providing contract work. I had two weeks before the kids went on spring break, so I took a break from work. I booked therapy sessions, re-organized the kids’ areas to help calm what their brains were going through, I organized my house…which felt amazing, I am talking fireworks in my head amazing! I even made tons of plans for the kids and I to do over spring break since I was not starting my contract work until after spring break. And then, you can guess what happened, the world shut down. We went from being so busy to nothing to do. Therapy appointments were canceled, doctor appointments were canceled, work was canceled, and in my mind, fun was canceled.
During this time, man did our mental issues shine! We had to get creative, fall in love with the outdoors, make up new games and bake more. Now we were home 24/7 and our home was showing it. Our moods were showing it. I think that is when it really clicked for me. Our home should be our safe space, our Zen. But it can’t be that if we don’t have a space we love to be in, one that we can breathe in, one we can relax in. If we can’t do that, my depression and anxiety, my daughter’s anxiety and my son’s ADHD were only go to rear their ugly heads more often. So I spent time doing my best making spaces in our house and yard that allowed us to breathe, spaces my kids would sit and stay in, play in, relax and unwind.
One day I was organizing my linen closet, refolding everything, purging items, humming a happy song. I remember saying to myself, “If I could be a professional organizer, I would. Maybe in my next career….”. Wait! Could I do this now?!
That was it, that was the start of my business. The kids finally went back to school and I began to establish a business. Something I wanted to grow organically, and I didn’t have any idea of how this would all go. All I knew is I wanted to help others achieve what I discovered worked for me.
My first client was an acquaintance of mine. I walked through her space with her and listened to her as she began to tell me how much she hated almost every room in her house, how much she had to do in each space, how overwhelmed she felt and how she was frozen because she didn’t know where to start. So, I asked questions based on my recent revelation of needing Zen space. I mentioned that she works all day usually stressed and then comes home only to continue stressing because all she sees is projects and clutter. She was beating herself up that it was not getting done. She was opening the flood gate of everything needed at home and the stress wall was becoming impenetrable. That is so overwhelming!! When does she breathe? She was floored. She had never thought of it that way, but said that is exactly what’s wrong. She wanted and craved that space.
Client after client, this is the common theme. Most of my clients are working parents who are trying to do it all. I often hear them say they are almost embarrassed to admit they need me. As I was coming out of my depression, I taught myself to admit when I needed help, to ask my husband to help, to admit when I didn’t have the time and to hire people when needed. Oh the peace of mind I received when I didn’t have to stare at the ugly wall I could have painted myself, but wouldn’t have happened for a year. So, all that to say, I throw embarrassment out the window! I want my clients to find there Zen in their homes, to relax again.
When I do a consultation with my clients, I ask them not to clean their space. I want to see how they live on a daily basis. I want to walk the space with them and listen to what they say. Often the space they thought was the priority to complete is not the space I hear them say is the biggest stressor in their life. I want to help them first with their Zen space and then we tackle the rest. It’s easier to think clearly about your space when you can de-stress in your own home. I help create a system that works for their family in the way they live daily. We do not live in a one-size-fits-all world, so why would home organization be any different. The biggest thing I do is just listen. What’s going on in their life, do they work out of the home, do they have kids, how do the kids use the space, how do they want to use the space, what drives them crazy, what do they love, what is a must have, what are their hopes and dreams for their house, what are their struggles? Organizing with my clients is an intimate process and I love that I can be apart of it.
I am often asked if I get tired of organizing spaces or if it is ever overwhelming like it is to them. I love helping people! Organizing for my clients gives them peace, relaxation and Zen, it helps with their mental health. But, even more, my mental health is bettered by helping other and organizing their spaces. So, do I get tired of organizing? Never!
Nicole, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Room To Live offers professional organizing services (including all spaces, packing and unpacking and paring down), home staging services, home styling services, and holiday decorating services.
Room To Live organizes all sorts of spaces. Kitchens, pantries, playrooms, closets, garages and more. I help clients go through all items and identify what needs to be donated, sold, or thrown away. I evaluate the space, offer solutions to help the clients get the most potential from their space and help choosing the right organizational tools for their space.
I also help with packing and unpacking. It is always helpful to purge items before a client packs for a move. It means less boxes needed which means less money spent and it also means less to unpack in the new space. I offer my time to help the client with this and can help create an inventory list for the boxes packed. I am also available to help with the other stressful part of moving…unpacking, especially kitchens.
Home staging is such an integral part of listing a house for sell. Because of my interior design background, I started helping a realtor friend stage her houses. The market went hot and so did the need for staging! Thanks to her and the realtors she has recommended me to, my home staging business has really grown. During my staging consultation I look at the sellers’ spaces like a potential buyer, as a seller, as the camera lens. What do I need the buyers to focus on, or not focus on for that matter? What angle will the lens use and how will I play up that angle? I love working with the sellers’ existing items and just enhancing their space. Usually there are great items to work with and I can supplement with my inventory of furniture, accessories, greenery and art. By making changes in the space such as rearranging the furniture, eliminating certain pieces, decluttering areas, I can allow the buyer to envision themselves in the space. Although I do also stage vacant houses, I have found through speaking with many realtors that they need a stager like me who can work with existing furniture and items in a sellers’ home. I make sure that what I design not only looks amazing for the photos, but that it is appropriate for the type of potential buyers that would move into the neighborhood (i.e. first time house, young families, retired families).
Home styling is an extra service I offer to clients as it seems to be a natural progression. After organizing a space, I am often asked to help make the space beautiful. I help with accessories, art, small furniture, and rearranging. I am often asked by the sellers of homes I stage, to help in their new space with layout of furniture and adding in the accessories, etc.
I love decorating for the holidays, any holiday! Holiday times can be really busy for some people and they just don’t have time to decorate. I use my clients’ decor for their space and I can shop to help supplement their decor.
I love working with people and helping to better their lives whether through organizing their space to help find their Zen and helping create systems that actually work for their life style or, helping them get top dollar on their home.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I started my business sitting at the island in my kitchen. I had no idea if I was starting a side hustle or a business. All I knew is that I just needed one client to start. I created my Facebook and Instagram page, shared it out to my network friends with fingers crossed. I scheduled my first appointment the next day. Before I headed to the client’s house, I decided that I was going to be my true self, share my story, listen to their story, really understand the best way I can help, and go from there. I didn’t want to go into their space and sell one system and one type of organizing system. Everyone is different and I wanted to identify the client’s needs by listening to them and seeing how they live in their space. I continually reminded her to focus on the positive things and don’t not to beat herself up like we all do. I knew the client would be facing truly difficult decisions on items to keep or purge, making exhausting amounts of decisions. Treating her and her stuff like it was mine and remembering that through the whole process will help her feel embraced and understood. She loved all of this, we laughed and cried and hugged and made a plan for her spaces and then booked the next appointment. She shared her experience with friends and colleagues, sharing on Facebook and Instagram about her experience and tagging me when people are asking for help. It was the best compliment to see that I was really helping her and that more people wanted that help. My reputation has been built by word-of-mouth, and has grown because of my amazing clients. I am so thankful for each and every one of them!
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
I love the flexibility I have in owning my own business. Room To Live can really cater to individual needs of my clients. I think this aspect has been why my clients have been mostly word of mouth from previous organizing clients and realtors to whom I provided home staging services. It is also why my clients return for new projects. While social media has been an awesome platform to share my projects as a portfolio to my new potential clients and a place to share tips and tricks, I have my amazing clients to thank for spreading the word!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @room2liv
- Facebook: @room2liv
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/nicole-johnson-3359819