We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Berta Troyer a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Berta thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

Working with clients to declutter and create a more manageable space consists of solving one problem after another. While coaching clients to make a stream of consecutive decisions on individual items, so often, personalities, emotions, traumas and more quickly surface. You might think this would be the most challenging part of what I do, but for me it is getting to this point that is the most difficult. In launching this business, I was naïve in thinking that since the need in our society for decluttering and organization is great, clients would be eager to get their spaces cleared out. While growth in my single person business has been gradual and steady, it is not for lack of clients. I often have potential clients contact me, ready to tackle their issues only to find they decide not follow through. Approximately 50% of my scheduled clientele cancel or postpone their session within the 24 hour window before it will begin. They often credit illness or an unexpected emergency but ultimately, I find that clients get cold feet about letting someone into their clutter. This is frustrating as a business owner because I can’t force people to let me into their space but I have struggled to find solution to this cancellation issue.
In light of this insight, it has also become obvious to me that almost all of my clients are self-conscious of their cluttered spaces. Every client meets me at the door with an apology, explanation or expression of anxiety about my arrival. I am continually amazed and genuinely saddened each time I hear this. I always try to reassure my clients that we all have areas of our life that are cluttered. They may not be a visual as an overstuffed storage room or an overflowing pantry, but this is one area that I can help others overcome. I have ventured into this avenue because I want to help. If I never make it through the door, how can I help?
As I continue to learn and grow in this service field, I am not close to claiming that I have found resolve for this issue. I do know that gaining the trust of my clients is of utmost importance. As we work through their items, making decision after decision, I am keenly aware that my role is to support them in their effort to find peace in their home. I want my clients to find a balance between ownership and management of items, choosing things that are going to be an asset to their life as they move forward.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hello, I am Berta, sole owner and clutter coordinator at New Every Mornin’ – a small service provider that focuses on helping individuals declutter their home and create more manageable spaces. I am a church going wife and mom of two who was born in raised in rural Ohio’s Amish Country. My passion for decluttering and organizing began a few years ago after helping liquidate an estate following a death in the family. As a teenager, I was far from organized and in fact kept a very messy space. However, when it came time to get things tidied up, I always loved the satisfaction of the transformation. I have since discovered that my passion mostly lies in helping others view their items in a different way and helping my clients see the potential they have to keep their spaces manageable as well. I feel that as consumerism and busyness in our society continues to climb, generally the population owns more and takes less time to care for their possessions. While minimalism and professional organization trends are on the rise, I feel my personal drive in this industry is a little different. I truly want to help others find the best way to create peace and function in their space. I like to give my clients insight into what I think is best for their space but ultimately I want their opinion. I want to understand how their household works, what their end game is in a project and work towards that. I know that I can go in and declutter or organize a space to my standards and desires, but if my clients aren’t able to understand or have the drive to continue to maintain their space, my efforts were fruitless. We are all individuals, no two household are the same and a cookie cutter approach to household management, is not what I strive for. Client point of view is of utmost importance to me in my business.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Prior to opening this business, I had a small crafting business also from my home. This business was built on the idea that I could provide income from home while still being home and present with my children. As both my children entered the school age years, God began to reveal to me that my time with the business was coming to a close. I was resistant to this nudging and began to dig deeper and push harder with that business. Over the course of the next year, many pivotal events occurred in my life; from a personal health concern requiring surgery to the passing of a close family member my eyes began to see life a little differently. Among these life changing events was also a revenue changing situation in which I was presented with the opportunity to temporarily create a product that was in high demand. This unexpected chain of events created the perfect storm where I started to evaluate my business goals. I quickly began to see that I was attached to the idea of the business that formed through convenience and not from passion. While I enjoyed creating items, I did not find satisfaction in the marketing and sales of these items. It was at that time I began to make a change in my mindset and starting asking “what is my motivator.” I wanted to know what type of project I could do to serve others and still find satisfaction in my work. Over the course of the next year and half phased out the inventory of my crafting business and began volunteering to help others with decluttering projects. I am enjoying building the business as I see fit and helping others along the way.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

One of the great things about a service provider is that you can start with practically zero capital. Fundamentally my husband and I have agreed to not take on any business debt and so the launch of New Every Mornin’ (NEM) had to take place with very little capital. As mention previously, I began this business while phasing out a previous endeavor and I was able to take some of the capital from that business to fund my initial launch. I will be transparent in saying though, that consisted of buying business cards, a few t-shirts with my logo (which a friend designed), registration fees and kit of basic organization supplies. I would encourage anyone with a dream of a service based business to not be discouraged by lack of funding. Skill and hard work go a long way. Create a list of your dream items and set aside a portion of your profit each month to invest in the tools you can use to increase your monthly revenue. Starting slow gave me the opportunity to develop a plan that I was confident in.

Contact Info:

• Website: neweverymornin.com
• Instagram: @new.every.mornin
• Facebook: facebook.com/neweverymorninmanagement

Image Credits
Personal Photo – Courtesy of Courtney Broome