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

Elsa, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I started my career working in healthcare, managing customer service and operations. My focus was always on ensuring employees had all the right tools and training they needed to do their jobs well, and also that the business systems and structures were in place to optimize efficiency and revenue. My mind naturally wants to create order out of chaos, and I am passionate about helping people and businesses discover the many benefits of organization. In 2016, I took the leap and decided to start Composed Living! I have always loved all things home-related: architecture, interior design, wandering through open houses, and of course, organizing my own home. Since I already had many years of experience helping large organizations to get organized (which included setting up office spaces, implementing productivity and time management programs, organizing break rooms, storage spaces, and so much more!), starting Composed Living was a natural next step for me.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Composed Living is a full-service Los Angeles-based professional organizing company providing organizational systems that last, interior decorating, move management and more. One of our core values is sustainability, and we always encourage our clients to reuse items they already own before buying anything new. We love educating people on ways to become more conscious consumers, and mindfully curate their homes to be in line with their aesthetic and their values.

Since the very beginning, we have partnered with various local charities to ensure that our clients’ donations would be given back to the community in need. This mission is two-fold – we love ensuring that those in need have access to necessary items for free, and we really love making sure that all donations are given an extended lifecycle and kept out of the landfills.

In 2023, Composed Living expanded and opened our first brick and mortar store in Woodland Hills. Located in the Valley Country Market, our retail space carries sustainable home organizing products, and a selection of thoughtful gifts and home decor items. There is also a large space for events and workshops. We have hosted paint + sip nights, book club, charity events, networking meetups, clothing swaps, and much more!

Also this year, we launched a non-profit called Composed Giving. Now in addition to accepting donations from our clients, we are able to receive donations from the community as well. We use a small portion of these donated goods to maintain a “free shop” within the Composed Living store. This is a space where anyone in need may come and “shop” for clothes, baby and kid items, and small household items and decor.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I started Composed Living with only a few hundred dollars – just enough to secure a website! Then I scoured the internet for resources and ideas, and I very slowly and painstakingly taught myself how to build a business. I created an Instagram account and learned how to grow a social media following. Every day I gave myself one task focused on growing the business, and over time, clients began to book and refer their friends, and now here we are almost eight years later! It took probably two years to really gain traction, but I felt very secure knowing that my overhead costs were zero.

In hindsight, I wish I would have invested in hiring more support in the beginning so that I didn’t have to do everything myself. But I was terrified of investing a lot of time and money into an idea without the guarantee of future success. Now I have so much faith in the universe and this journey that if I could change one thing, it would have been believing in myself sooner and investing in hiring people who are experts in all the areas I am not (social media, I’m looking at you!).

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I love my team! They really understand our mission and values, and they are such great representatives of our brand. I try to make sure they know how important they are to me by upholding strict life/work boundaries, and allowing them to set their own working hours and schedules. We talk often about the importance of self-development, personal growth, and advocating for yourself. I try to host an all-team meeting monthly when our schedules allow, and every few months we do something fun together as a group. We offer continuous opportunities for training, too!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.composedliving.com
• Instagram: @composed_living
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/composedliving
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/elsaelbert
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@composedliving/featured
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/composed-living-los-angeles
• Other: www.composedgiving.org

Image Credits
Krista Mason