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SubscribeWe caught up with the brilliant and insightful Christina Singleton a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Christina, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?
As a former educator, this is a hot topic for me! To begin, I would get rid of standardized testing and bring back interactive learning. Children learn through interacting and hands-on learning, not through practice tests. I would also give the teachers more flexibility on how they think their students will learn best. Why make teachers obtain a Bachelor’s Degree and go through extensive training if you are going to tell them how to teach?
The next thing I would do is bring back more elective and trade classes. I remember taking home economics, technology, and shop classes a long time ago in middle school. I learned so much from those classes that have helped me tremendously as an adult. I think everyone graduating high school should be required to learn how to sew, cook at a basic level, clean properly, type efficiently, balance their finances, buy a car, interview for a job and change a tire on a vehicle. These are basic life skills that not everyone is taught at home. The school system has a great opportunity to help the next generation become more independent.
Another thing I would implement is to make all high school students take a career-personality test to help them learn about industries and positions that would fit their personality. Students should be required to shadow someone from at least 3 different industries or career paths suggested for them. This will help them see if it is something that truly interests them and to get an idea of how much schooling or experience is needed to achieve this career. Currently our school system does not prepare students for the workforce and students have no idea what direction they should even try to aim for.
Christina, 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?
Hello everyone! My name is Christina Singleton and I am the owner and founder of The Neat Squad and our main services are home and photo organizing. I am a former educator with over 15 years of experience working in the school system, ten of those years as a classroom teacher.
During Covid, like many of you reading, I was unhappy in my current career and I started looking deeper within myself to find my true life’s purpose. I knew that in order to do that I needed to clear my mind and all of the clutter around me so I began thoroughly organizing and decluttering everything I owned. This process was extremely satisfying, and I started to see major improvements in my mental health. I also came across old family photos that were fading and large 12×12 scrapbooks that I wanted to make into smaller photo books, and I wanted to find a way to preserve them so they would last at least my lifetime. I couldn’t find anyone near me who offered a service like this, so I kept digging until I stumbled across The Photo Managers. That is when the major “aha” lightbulb went off. I knew I wanted to help people organize and preserve their family photos, but I also knew that I could help people on a deeper level to feel the same relief that I felt from decluttering and organizing. I have always been a major advocate for talking about mental health and I knew this was how I was going to be able to help my community. I knew there had to be a way for me to help people with their overwhelm and preserve memories- and that is where The Neat Squad was born.
At The Neat Squad, we help people feel better and minimize overwhelm through our decluttering and downsizing services. We work with people of all ages who are paralyzed by their stuff, some of them struggle with ADHD and anxiety like myself. We approach these projects with a lot of patience and empathy. We know how easy it is to let things get out of control and it’s our job to help you take back control of your life, beginning with your “stuff”. I like to remind my clients to be patient and forgiving of themselves. It took a long time to get where they are and it will take some time to let go of things and build new habits, but we will get there. I have also found that many of our clients have too many photos and need help getting them consolidated and organized so photo organizing is part of the process. I love getting to know my clients through their photos and to help them create their photo legacy to enjoy and share with loved ones.
I would like anyone reading this to know that although it is nice to have the picture-perfect closet or pantry, that is not ideal or realistic for everyone. We all have different needs and it is 100% okay if your house looks lived-in, because it is. My goal when I work with clients is to help them get rid of the things that are not adding value to their life so that they can enjoy the things that are most important and that will look different for everyone.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
The very first month that I launched my business I contracted Covid. I was down for at least two weeks. I was devastated because I had put so much work into getting ready to launch and once the day came, I was sick and unable to do what I set out to do. However, as I started to feel normal during week two, I kicked everything back into gear and tried it again. It was just a minor setback.
Throughout my journey there have been a couple of times where business had slowed down and as a new business owner it is hard to not feel defeated and wonder if this is the end, but I have learned to take advantage of these slower times to focus on things that we often neglect as business owners, such as: marketing, updating google profiles, bookkeeping, etc. Every business has busy and slow times, but we must enjoy both and make the best of them.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
The best source of new clients is always referrals. I am a member of several women business owner networking groups and us women love supporting women. I love when I meet someone and find out that something they do is something that I personally need or someone I know could benefit from their product or services. It always feels great when I can connect people together. Google is also a big source of new clients. Having a website where people can read reviews, learn about your services and get a sense of who you are and what you are about is huge!
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