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

Beth, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

I always give credit where credit is due and must give my parents credit for raising me they way they did and how it has impacted me as an adult. First and foremost, they taught me the value of every dollar earned. It has served me so well as the owner of several different businesses throughout my life and taught me to work not only hard for those dollars, but spend them wisely. That doesn’t mean being cheap or frugal to the point that I don’t enjoy life. I just value experiences and time spent with family and friends more than “stuff”. I suppose it is why I am so passionate about what I do as a home organizer and move management specialist and how I can help my clients come to realize the burden that their “stuff” creates.
My mother was extremely organized and while I may not have necessarily realized I was modeling her behavior at the time when most kids had to be told to clean their room, I just did it. I needed order or I couldn’t be productive.
She was the same way but was definitely quieter as she went about it. I got my “gift of gab” from my father and it has served me equally well through the years being comfortable engaging with clients. I take a lot of pride in how I communicate in general, but I am incredibly mindful of what and how I say things when working with a client. Decluttering is a very emotional process for some and I try to convey as much compassion and empathy as possible to help guide them through each stage, traits I definitely got from my parents.
I miss being able to bounce ideas off of my mother since she passed away in 2005 but I do feel like she is very much a part of who I am and how I show up each and every day. My father doesn’t always understand why I want to do what I do but I know he respects how hard I work and how dedicated I am to my clients just like he was throughout his 60+ years as an attorney.
Bottom line, I know how fortunate I was to have two positive role models as parents and know I have impacted my now adult children in a lot of the same ways so they can grow and succeed in their chosen professions.

Beth, 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?

I can honestly say that I have been an organizer my entire life…or at least from the time I can remember wanting and needing to maintain my personal space. As I said previously, I was that kid that always cleaned my room without being asked. I didn’t know at the time why it was so important to me and only found out the reason a few years ago…I have ADHD. I have always needed to hyper-focus to perform tasks but thought that was a good thing because it meant I got a lot done and was…or so I thought…very productive.
What I’ve come to realize, though, is that ADHD can really be both a blessing for the obvious reasons…I can really focus on what is really important for my clients for extended periods of time…but also a curse because I don’t necessarily always have the ability to regulate my focus and therefore don’t know when to switch gears or pivot away from something.
I’ve had to teach myself on how to pick up on the cues from others when they are getting overwhelmed or tired so that I don’t force my high energy on them. I could go all day and night if given the opportunity and while my friends tend to think of me as the Energizer Bunny, I will admit as I have gotten older that title does have it’s disadvantages if I don’t establish boundaries from the get-go with each client. I try to create the proper expectations during our initial consult and communicate as much as possible so their are no surprises.
The home organizing industry has been “glamorized” by social media influencers posting photos that make what my team and I do seem like a luxury rather than the necessity I believe it is for many people. So many of my clients truly struggle with executive functioning and, therefore, creating their own systems for maintaining and containing their “stuff” is virtually impossible. I say all the time that I don’t think any of us should be expected to do everything in life. It’s why there are doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc. I won’t do my own taxes but no one would ever think to disparage me for that. Keeping a home clutter-free though? That is something our society has decided to impose on everyone and it’s simply not fair.
I believe my role extends well beyond being an extra set of eyes, ears and hands to be able to move from chaos to calm. I advocate on a daily basis on behalf of those that need my services but cannot afford it by recruiting community partners that want to sponsor certain clients in the hopes that it will not only set them up for success in their home moving forward but also in life. They will feel better about themselves and have more time and energy to be more productive. And that, in turn, will reduce the burden on our healthcare and welfare systems.
All that said, we have many clients that could declutter their pantry, closet, garage, whatever but lack the time and simply need us to come in and do our thing.
I am so incredibly proud of what I have built especially my team of amazing project helpers. They all bring their own unique style to each and every job and I am grateful that they want to work with me. It is often a very dirty job that can be both physically and emotionally draining for us, but we show up always ready to work with a positive attitude along with a sprinkle of humor…when appropriate of course!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

On December 30th, 2021 a fire broke out in my community near Boulder that ended up destroying nearly 1100 homes and displacing about 40,000 residents. I was one of those displaced.
I wasn’t in town when it happened but when I did return my apartment was in a hard closure area and I wasn’t even able to get my car for several days. That meant canceling clients which, in turn, meant, losing a significant amount of revenue. And even once I was able to get my car, so many clients were canceling because their homes had been affected by smoke and the toxins that were generated by this particular fire that were getting inside of homes through the typical ways any particulates find their way indoors.
Suffice it to say, it was not a great start to 2022. My business was one that actually flourished during the pandemic. In fact, my income quadrupled between November 2020 and November 2021. So many people were suddenly at home surrounded by all of their stuff that they had managed to ignore for years because they spent very few waking hours at home up until March 2020.
I never missed payroll in the immediate weeks/months that followed the fire but I did find myself accumulating debt that could not have anticipated. I could have shutdown and admitted defeat but instead spent a significant amount of time in January inserting myself in various Facebook groups that had formed as a result of the fire along with other community pages offering to help any fire victims for free or at very reduced rates. I also collected donations from past clients…both items and money…and distributed it as fairly as possible to those in need. In fact, I was in Target one day buying dozens of pillows with some gift cards a very generous client had donated and when I asked their customer service if they were offering discounts for fire victims (many businesses were stepping up and giving them), the Target manager said no. But then I felt a tap on my shoulder, turned around and a woman said “I’ve got this…let me pay for them.”
My faith in humanity was restored and used that to motivate me through a very challenging time.
I am proud to say that I made up the loss of revenue, in part because I showed up and proved to be someone with integrity rather than take advantage of people in their time of need. Sadly, we experienced a lot of price gouging after the fire but hopefully my small contribution to my community was and continues to be helpful.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

While I do rely on referrals especially from my strategic partners, the majority of my new clients are coming from the service providers platform, Thumbtack. I focused a lot of time and energy on getting not just leads, but high quality ones. I hustled very hard to gain their Platinum Pro status as quickly as possible and it definitely paid off. My conversion rate is at about 85% which I am told is incredibly high for what is considered a competitive category. I have a professional yet friendly profile with dozens of reviews so potential clients can glean a lot about my process as well as my personality before ever submitting a request for my availability. And I offer a free 30 minute virtual consult to get a better sense of each client’s specific needs. Some home organizers charge even for the initial consult but I can’t see ever wanting to that. We all should be able to “shop around” for services we need and not have to feel pressured to hire anyone because you had to invest dollars before me and my team even walk in your door.
Does it bother me if I don’t end up getting the job and do I feel like I wasted time? Not at all…I think it is just the cost of doing this business and I always find the stories that get told to be not only interesting but also an opportunity to think through the possibilities that I may not necessarily implement for them if not hired but gives me more ideas for future clients with similar enough needs.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.itsjuststuff.co/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsjuststuffco/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/itsjuststuffco/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethkblacker/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/its-just-stuff-boulder

Image Credits
It’s Just Stuff