We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jennifer Johnson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jennifer below.
Jennifer, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?
When I think about what my parents did right, I see two people who refused to fit neatly into anyone’s expectations. I grew up splitting time between them, watching each of them navigate life in their own unconventional ways, and that was the greatest gift they could have given me.
My mom was a single parent who built her own cleaning business from scratch. She would take me along to her clients’ homes, and while most kids would have disappeared into the playroom with toys, I was that strange child happily reorganizing the playroom instead. Without even realizing it, the very roots of my business were being planted in those quiet afternoons, surrounded by bins of dolls and stacks of board games. What stuck with me most, though, was her freedom. She set her own schedule. She answered to no boss. Even if the work was hard and not glamorous, she decided what her life looked like. I admired that deeply.
My dad was a creative at heart. A musician and songwriter. He worked the jobs he needed to work, but the moment he was home he was back to chasing the thing that lit him up inside. I watched him hustle for something bigger. I saw that spark. I saw the belief that life could be more than paying bills and waiting for the weekend.
Together, they taught me that passion matters. They taught me to be resourceful and brave enough to choose my own path instead of squeezing into one that never felt like mine. I am an entrepreneur not by accident, but because I grew up with two people who showed me that carving your own way is not only possible, it is worthwhile. Everything I am building today with The Orderly Space traces back to them and the beautiful, imperfect, creative way they raised me.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I always say The Orderly Space started the way all great ideas do: in my garage, fueled by a deep desire to help people feel better in their homes. I’ve always been someone whose internal world is directly impacted by my external surroundings. When things felt chaotic around me, I felt chaotic inside. I learned early on how transformative it is when your space supports your life rather than drains it.
With a background in psychology, I initially explored counseling as a path to helping others, but the thought of sitting still behind a desk telling people what to do never quite felt right. I wanted to roll up my sleeves, to be hands-on, to be in the rooms where change was happening. So what began as a small business idea to fill the hours while my kids were in school very quickly turned into something much bigger. The need for this work was real… and once I stepped into it, I never looked back.
Nearly nine years later, The Orderly Space has grown from a one-woman side gig to a full company with a warehouse, work vans, and a powerhouse team of almost twenty. We serve clients across Bellingham, Seattle, and the greater I-5 corridor, and we have even been flown around the country to create systems that bring peace and functionality back into people’s homes and lives.
At our core, we help busy households and individuals reclaim their space so they can spend more of their time doing what they love. Yes, we build beautifully organized pantries, closets, garages, and entire homes. But we also remove layers of stress people have been silently living with for years. That feeling clients get when they exhale and say, “I had no idea how much this was weighing on me”… that’s the magic.
The secret behind that magic is our team. From day one, I have hired based not on organizing skill but on character. I can teach someone how to create a color-coded pantry. I cannot teach someone to be warm, patient, joyful, or deeply nonjudgmental. Inviting a team of strangers into the messiest spaces of your life requires vulnerability. Our top priority is always building trust and making sure our clients feel supported, understood, and even uplifted through the process. And while we often hear how life-changing the organization is, we just as often hear about how life-giving the experience with our team was.
There have been many pinch-me moments along the way, but moving The Orderly Space from my garage into our own warehouse was the one that made me stop and think: this is real. We are doing this. I am not just organizing homes… I am running a business that changes lives.
Today, what I want people to know about our brand is simple. We believe in the power of your environment to shape your well-being. We believe getting organized should feel supportive and empowering, never stressful or shame-inducing. And we believe everyone deserves a home that feels like their safe place to land.
If our work gives someone more time, more clarity, more joy, or just a little more breathing room in their everyday life… then we’ve done exactly what we set out to do.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
When I started sharing The Orderly Space on Instagram, I never imagined it would grow into a community of nearly 300,000 people. What’s made that growth possible has been simple: I show up as a real human being.
Everything we do as professional organizers requires trust and vulnerability. We walk into homes where people feel overwhelmed or embarrassed, and we help them reclaim spaces they’ve avoided for years. If I only posted perfectly staged pantries and flawless before-and-afters, it would send the message that perfection is the goal. But life is not perfect. My house certainly isn’t perfect. My kids’ rooms go through their own seasons of chaos. I forget things, drop balls, and have plenty of messy moments behind the scenes.
Sharing those real moments, the unfiltered stories of my day, the relatable kid messes, the travel adventures, the honest challenges, has always been the heartbeat of my online presence. And that authenticity has made people feel like they know me. We’ve never paid for ads or boosted posts. Yet, clients can almost always pinpoint the exact moment in my journey when they started following along – whether that was a vacation they tuned into, that parade float we randomly decided to build, or that time I constructed the world’s largest puzzle (all 50,000 pieces!).
That’s the beauty of social media when used well. It connects us through the experiences that make us human.
For anyone just starting out, my biggest advice is this:
• Show up as who you really are
• Share the journey, not just the polished result
• Let people into the behind-the-scenes
• Be consistent enough that people remember how they found you
• Remember that connection is more valuable than follower count
If people can see themselves in your story, they will want to stay for the next chapter.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
Managing a team in a field as physically and emotionally demanding as professional organizing requires a deep commitment to people. Our work asks a lot from our organizers. They spend long, messy days lifting, sorting, and supporting clients through some of the most vulnerable transitions of their lives. From the very beginning, I knew that if I wanted a strong, lasting team, I needed to create an environment where they felt supported, appreciated, and connected.
One of the things I’m most proud of is how little turnover we’ve had. That doesn’t happen by accident. It comes from truly seeing and hearing the people who show up to do this hard work every day. I never want anyone at The Orderly Space to feel like just a cog in a machine. Every role matters here. Every voice matters here.
Investing in our culture is one of the most important things I do as a leader. We build in time for connection beyond project days… celebrating milestones, grabbing meals together, volunteering on service projects, and our annual team retreat, which has become a beloved highlight of the year. We combine relaxation, fun, and professional development into a weekend that reminds everyone why we love what we do and why we love doing it together.
I also believe in transparency. I don’t gatekeep information about the business. I want our team to understand how and why we make decisions, because when everyone feels ownership of our shared success, we all rise together.
High morale also isn’t built on perks. It’s built on trust, belonging, and the sense that what we’re doing matters. When people feel valued and connected, they show up with passion, and that passion is what makes our work so impactful for our clients.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.theorderlyspace.com
- Instagram: @theorderlyspace
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theorderlyspace/
Image Credits
The headshot was taken by Kelsey Kurtis