We recently connected with Jennifer Francis and have shared our conversation below.

Jennifer , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Please tell us about starting your own firm and if you’d do anything different knowing what you know now.

My work background is visual merchandising/presentation space planning product assortment all in a retail environment.

I love creating visions, I love creating clean spaces and shoppable spaces. I did that for a little over 20 years.

When I had with my daughter and all the sudden realized that six of my 12 weeks were up. I went into complete panic mode trying to figure out what can I do because I was not sending her to daycare and we did still need the second income in our household.

I had always been somebody that would go to my friends houses And organize their closets or help them clean out their bathroom or get rid of stuff that they don’t use anymore, etc.

I wondered if organizing peoples homes was it even a thing? I had no idea. I googled some companies and realized it was a thing it wasn’t something that I had just created like this is something that happens.

Basically, I had no money for any type of advertising marketing. I really didn’t even know where to start. So what I did was, I found out about Facebook groups and with some of those groups I saw that they offered advertising for women or moms that had small businesses, and sometimes it was every Friday or once a month that you can advertise your business.

I had some before and after pictures of my friends houses , areas that I had worked on in the past and I would just throw it out there and that is how I started the ball rolling.

I also found on these Facebook Mom groups that sometimes people had little networking events or local events or small business meetings and I tried to do as many of these networking things that I could to continue getting my name out there.

In May, I had my eight year anniversary of my business and I have to say that now in the last three years or so I’m probably about 90%, word-of-mouth or referral

Jennifer , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve always been an organized person my background in my work ,life prior to me having my own business was visual merchandising presentation space planning marketing assortment you name it in the retail world.

For my business in its proper place, I offer many services. Some of them are the basic organizing people space , helping them purge items that they no longer need, but maybe can be hard for them to part with.

I do purge packs. A lot of people move and I really pride myself on trying to give them tips on saving money before, you actually move and waste your money lugging stuff that you don’t need especially if it’s a local move then a lot of times I will help the pack and then go to the new location and set up their home. With that being said a lot of areas like bathrooms, sometimes closets, depending how much people are OK with giving me the control to set it up that works for them.

I do a lot of resets of rooms. Maybe we’re transitioning a nursery to the a toddler room to a teenagers room. Etc. I help with selections of furniture that might be conducive to more storage example Ottomans that you can open up and put blankets or dresser drawers underneath the frame of the bed that can help in a kids room or a small space. You name it you show me the problem and I can help you come up with some solutions for them

A lot of clients work from home And didn’t have a space so we need to create an offices.
creating guest room/offices. I do have a lot of help with organizing paperwork for peoples offices, as well as businesses creating some systems that work for them that streamline some of these extra activities that we sometimes don’t need anymore with the way, digital is continuing to grow and we don’t need so much of the paper part of it.

I pride myself on a couple things ….

I try to make my visits ,my dialogue and my conversations, very inviting and very warm. I know from a lot of experience and reading a lot of different peoples personalities some things that they struggle with whether it be OCD, ADHD etc.

It’s a very vulnerable situation to have someone come into your home and not feel embarrassed about the things that bother you every day I never even look at peoples messes. If you will, I look at the solution to help them feel less anxious, overwhelmed, or just at a point where they don’t even know where to begin because life has gotten in the way or, maybe there’s been a family tragedy or maybe a tragedy that just has frozen them in time and they’re just on auto pilot day-to-day. One day they wake up and they have hit their threshold and they need help and they need that extra set of hands that I love to be.

I do not judge at all, I do not think twice about people having these areas that you could say wow this is crazy. I don’t see it like that. I see. Let me help them create systems. Let me help them get a brand new closet because a lot of the stuff has been hidden and now you find stuff you forgot you had and you bring it forward and now you are having a new wardrobe that you forgot and you’re shopping all over again and you feel good. Or your kitchen is the heartbeat of the house, but you can’t find anything in that kitchen and there’s stuff you don’t use an expired food and I need to make that a safe space for the heartbeat of the house. Everyone eats everyone drinks so let me make that functional those papers that pile up let’s create a space that you know once a week you can tackle or once a month or however, you do things.

Sometimes I try to explain what I wouldn’t do and a lot of times it makes it easier for people to feel good with guidance

Every single house I go to is completely different from emotions of feeling, just overwhelmed to wanting to be a part of the process, to some that don’t want to be a part of the process. They just wanted to look good and the end. There are some people that really struggle with getting rid of stuff and I have to walk them through that and maybe that day we’re not gonna get rid of that because you can’t make a decision but in six months, maybe you can again. I have a lot of repeat clients. I see clients regularly sometimes once a month sometimes once every three months sometimes twice a year on their needs

I absolutely love what I do. I love seeing people react to the work that I do when I leave. Sometimes the chaos is crazy. The first two hours you’re pulling out stuff you’re going through stuff it’s emotional it’s draining and then I’m cleaning up or wrapping up for the day or for the visit and they will say to me you’re a unicorn. How did you do this so fast, how this would’ve taken me five months and we just did it in five hours. And that’s what brings me happiness and joy, completely transparent. I feel good knowing that I helped somebody feel better about their home or their office and that they can take a deep breath and it’s OK to ask for help. . .

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I can make decisions fairly quickly, of course with other people stuff is easier but one of the things

I had to pause on this umbrella format
I had as this will take just a couple hours , I can get through this this and this today.

Not realizing how hard it is for some people to part with something that seems so trivial to somebody else like a nail polish like a T-shirt, etc.

I had to retrain my thought process to help empathize with their thought process. I do guide people and help them make decisions when they can’t, but some things that I would’ve thought in the past was a yes or no at that moment might be a maybe and in six months or a year you can revisit it.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

I really pride myself on my personality with my clients not everyone wants to laugh the whole time, some people are a little more serious, but I adapt very well and I read the room very well.

I have a fairly warm presents and I think that helps me have such a high referral rate. It took time to get there, but most people feel very comfortable and not embarrassed when I’m in their house, which is something that I pride myself on

I try not to make people feel uncomfortable judge them for what’s going on in their lives and I try to ask questions and help to understand each person’s day-to-day drive that they have.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Initsproperplace.com
• Instagram: @initsproperplacela
• Facebook: In its proper place