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

Hi Jenna, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Cleaning was a passion of mine ever since I was little. At the time, I didn’t realize I could turn my passion into a creative business, but at 23 I realized I wanted to work for myself and the only passion I could really come up with was cleaning. So, I had to think of how I can turn what I love into a successful yet creative job, this way I would be able to work on something different each day. I know the power of our thoughts so I applied that for myself and I just knew it would be a success. There was only going up from there.

At the time I working in film production, which was also always an interest of mine but I realized I didn’t have an end goal with that, so I moved onto nannying full time, which I had a lot of experience with. I always enjoyed a job where I was able to do different things each day and I didn’t want my business to be any different. I had just legally opened my business at the start of going full time with nannying, but I didn’t start advertising or taking jobs until about 2017 when I was 24. Over that year, I was taking jobs on weekends and any other day I was off. After that, I requested to cut my hours to three days a week so I could take more organizing jobs. Once I saw enough interest in my work and I had enough bookings each week, I decided to go full time in 2019.

When I first started my company, organizing wasn’t as popular as it is now, so it was definitely a unique service that a lot of people hadn’t even heard of. Once the pandemic hit in 2020, that quickly changed and a lot of organizing companies started, But what sets us apart from other companies aside from our aesthetics, is that we are a sustainable company. I have a big passion for the ocean and reducing single use plastics (deleted “in my town”), so I wanted to carry this into my business as well. With that, I decided to cut out all unnecessary plastics. We focus on wood and metal materials now and only use larger plastic storage bins for spaces like garages and attics as there isn’t an alternative for them.

What gets me most excited about this career is that I am able to help others while doing my passion. We become close with a lot of our clients and we understand that real life issues can get in the way, which may set them back in their homes. So we love to come in and give them a refresh that helps them both internally and externally.

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.

Cleaning and organizing has been a true passion of mine since I was little. I would ask for cleaning objects for Christmas, I would want to clean on vacations, and when I was old enough to stay home alone, I would get ready to clean in peace without any distractions. I have always had a taste for luxury, so creating a high end company has been a goal of mine from the start. I treat this business as my baby, and I want everyone that works for me to enjoy it as well.

We help clients with everything from the editing and purging of their items, to designing closet spaces, organizing, room styling, scheduling moves, packing and unpacking for moves and we also offer a detox service. At SPIFF, we are really big on the environment and non-toxic living, so we offer a service that provides sustainable and non-toxic alternatives for your cleaning and/or beauty products.

I know a lot of clients that reach out to us feel completely overwhelmed in their homes, so just to have us there to help them edit items is extremely helpful to them. So many of our clients say they feel a weight lifted off of their shoulders when we are done and that is always the goal. We understand that your environment can have a big impact on how you feel, your health and your mental state, so we want to help you feel the relief we know you can feel. As a homebody, I love being home and I love to love my home. I feel everyone should love where they call home as well. My advice to those that are considering hiring an organizer is to make sure you research on the companies work to make sure you are finding someone that aligns with your aesthetics. We also highly recommend hiring someone over attempting to do it yourself. This is because a lot of our clients have purchased materials that simply don’t work for their space and they end up spending more money that way. Organizing can seem really simple, but there is a lot that goes into it. It can be an investment, but it is one that is mean to last and one that is meant to bring simplicity to your life.

I am so proud of seeing how far I’ve come with my business but I wouldn’t be able to do it without my team- we are like a family and I just love them so much. I trust them and get along with them really well, which is really important as a business owner. I am also really grateful our clients have trust in us, both personally and with my work, so having their trust is top priority to me. In addition, I am really proud to be making a difference and doing my part with the environment by eliminating unnecessary plastic. It was a risk because I wasn’t sure how people would react, but I am so happy I did it and it has only aligned me more with my vision.

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

The best source of new clients for my company is word of mouth. We are very grateful to have the majority of our clients come from word of mouth because that means we are doing something right. Trust is a really important for me as it should be for every business owner. The next best source has been from social media, so if you have a business social media can be your best friend if you use it right.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

My first piece of advice is to find people you genuinely like and that genuinely like working in your field. For myself, it was extremely important to know that my employees genuinely had a passion for organizing as well, so I know I could rely on them. But also, I also want my employees to be happy with what they’re doing for work. I think once you find the right team for your company, communication comes easily. To keep things running smoothly, checking in with my employees and giving feedback to them but also asking for feedback as their boss, helps our relationship immensely. I like my team to run as a family, so I am very lucky to have them. It is important as a boss to respect your employees as well and treat them as humans, not just employees. You will find your employees work best when you provide a happy working environment for them. The better my team works together, the better we can perform for our clients, so it is a win win.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.spifforganizing.com
• Instagram: spifforganizing
• Linkedin: Jenna Haefelin & SPIFF

Image Credits
spifforganizing & Darian DiCianno