We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Emily McDermott. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Emily below.

Emily, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I found decluttering and minimalism in 2014 while my husband and I were struggling with unexplained infertility and going through fertility treatments. I was working full-time, a perfectionist/people pleaser/procrastinator and was super stressed out. I have always wanted to be a mom and felt like God had put it in my heart to be a mom, but it felt completely out of reach, and being someone that always wants to control what she can, it was the most frustrating and hopeless experience of my life.

I read The Minimalists book Everything That Remains and I realized the connection between clutter and my physical and emotional health. I knew that if we wanted to make the physical room in our homes and emotional room in our hearts for a baby, we had to get rid of the excess. I started with the physical excess and then moved to calendar clutter and my thoughts (emotional/mental clutter) and making sure that my thoughts were supporting me.

I started to blog about my experiences and then realized that I could support women both in-person and virtually with decluttering and organizing. I stared my podcast in September 2022 and have been offering in-person and virtual decluttering and organizing services since 2021.

I think my unique approach is helping overwhelmed moms take small sustainable steps to fit decluttering into their busy lives instead of thinking they need a weekend (or more) to make progress in their homes.

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

I’ve been married for almost 17 years and am a mom of two energetic boys, ages 7 and 9. There were signs in my childhood that I might go into a profession that required organization skills. In elementary school if we had indoor recess, I would offer to clean out other kids’ desks for a quarter. (I’m a child of the 80’s in case you have to do the inflation math).

I publish a weekly 1% globally ranked podcast Moms Overcoming Overwhelm every week, where I help listeners declutter their homes, heads, and hearts. I also provide virtual and in-person decluttering and organizing services for my clients, mostly overwhelmed moms of young children who need help with decluttering decisions and developing sustainable home management systems.

I think what sets me apart is that while a lot of professional organizers are concerned with the aesthetic of color-coded bins, I am focused on helping my clients remove what is no longer serving them to make room for what matters most. It is a grace-filled perspective focused primarily on functionality and being able to live well in their homes. We were never put on this earth to be full-time stuff managers.

The other part of my business I’d like to mention is writing custom poetry for clients for birthdays, anniversaries, funerals, etc, I’ve been writing poetry since I was 8 years old, and love that I can use these skills to help my clients.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Since I serve clients virtually and also in-person, I have a slightly different approach for each group. My podcast (which is now 214 episodes strong) is a great resource to share with my virtual audience – as well as leads who aren’t sure if they are ready to work with me.

For in-person clients, referrals have been my best source of clients. Social media drains my energy and besides my Facebook group, I don’t spend much time there.

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

I never thought I was the personality to be an entrepreneur, because I tend to like a (mostly) guaranteed outcome when I put hard work into something. Unfortunately, there’s never a guarantee that your hard work will pay off when it comes to taking risks as an entrepreneur. :)

Recently I tried a marketing approach for my in-person clientele where I became a sponsor for my boys’ school event and was able to put flyers into 250+ “swag bags”. I was expecting some response but the response was crickets and it was quite deflating.

That being said, today I received an inquiry for a discovery call that came 2 months later from that flyer! So it goes to show that sometimes we think things aren’t working, but perhaps they just aren’t working in our timeframe.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.simplebyemmy.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplebyemmy/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simplebyemmy/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilymcdermott1/
• Twitter: https://x.com/simplebyemmy
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@simplebyemmy
• Other: Moms Overcoming Overwhelm Podcast: https://momsovercomingoverwhelm.podbean.com

  Facebook Group – Decluttering Tips and Support for Overwhelmed Moms: tinyurl.com/momsovercomingoverwhelm

  Freebie: 5 Mindset Shifts To Help you Let Go of Clutter: https://simplebyemmy.com/mindset/

  Sign Up for my Weekly Newsletter: https://pages.simplebyemmy.com/profile