Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Maria Baer. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Maria, thanks for joining us today. Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned while working at a prior job?

As the founder of an organizing firm, I am as Type A as they come. I desperately wanted to start my own business helping individuals create organized spaces as early as 2010, but felt like I needed to have “all of the answers” prior to exiting my corporate career.

I spent my first 10 years, post college, honing my skills in marketing and sales jobs. In 2015, I took a leap from a large publicly-traded company to a start-up company in the tech sphere where I would be able to serve as a Sales Director.

It was while I was sitting on a sales call with our CEO and CMO that I heard them stating that our platform would be able to check all of the boxes needed, as a means to make the sale. We got off the call and they turned to our developers and said, “Let’s figure out how to make this happen.”

It was in that moment that I realized, you don’t have to have all of the answers PRIOR to starting a business. And with that realization, I knew it was time to create an exit plan and start The Baer Minimalist.

I owe a lot to the founder of that company. Not only did she open my eyes to the beauty of building a business from the ground up, but she allowed me to stay on-board in a part-time capacity while I got my business checklist complete.

Because, as you might suspect, I needed to have a foundation in place prior to officially launching.

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.

I’m Maria (Pronounced Ma-RYE-a) Baer and I’ve had an outright obsession with organizing for as long as I can remember. Seriously, I was that kid who asked for matching hangers for Christmas (circa 1989).

In 2017, I left Corporate America and launched The Baer Minimalist®. My goal was to provide assistance to busy families who were looking to have a more organized home. It started with small projects: pantries, closets, bathrooms, toy rooms. I always worked alone or alongside the client, but it wasn’t until 2019 that I started to grow a team.

Today, we have six organizers and strive to run two jobs every day of the work week. I’ve been able to provide our organizers with a flexible opportunity to help others, all within the hours their kids are at school. This is one of the most rewarding pieces of building a business – seeing the impact you make on your clients and those who are gracious enough to work alongside you.

Today our services include concierge moves, wrap-around services for interior designers and realtors, as well as the small in-home projects that helped us build our core business seven years ago.

One of the most incredible parts of this business is how my organizing philosophies have translated into my approach as a parent. My husband and I found out we were expecting twins (born in March 2019) and having systems in place and a great method for donating items once they no longer served us has really allowed our house to function well.

The other piece of my business that I love is the way we give back to the community. One of the first marketing initiatives I took on was creating a Donation Guide for Indianapolis. It turned into a really cool print piece that is available at many local retailers, has a blog component where we deep-dive into the “Why” behind the donations with non-profit interviews and has also allowed us to help our clients feel great about letting go of items that are no longer useful in their homes.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I am sure all business owners can relate, but the Covid Pandemic was a forced pivot for The Baer Minimalist. Prior to March 2020, all of the work we did was inside our client’s homes. In fact, the only time we were paid was if we were working on a client project.

A forced shutdown in March 2020 had me quickly rethink how much I needed to diversify our revenue streams. I took that time to really slow down and spend time with my 1-year old twins and I’m so grateful that I had the ability to do so. But I also spent a lot of time thinking about how I needed to increase the ways in which our company was bringing in revenue.

Some incredible things happened during this time. We tested out DIY and Virtual Organizing, worked to establish affiliate opportunities with retailers we respected and I personally branched into speaking engagements.

Not everything from that time period stuck – luckily, we’ve been able to expand our in-home organizing services and grow our team, but we have continued to build upon both affiliate and partner opportunities with local and national brands.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

We spend a lot of time working side by side with our clients as we organize their homes. Our clients are opening up some of their most intimate spaces and sharing incredibly personal stories about their past as we uncover heirlooms and mementos.

One of the most important things that I encourage my team to do is to meet our clients where they are at. Understanding their goals for the session allows us to be not only a trusted advisor, but a listening ear as we work through the space.

Beyond the time we spend getting to know clients, we have a few tools and marketing initiatives that allow us to keep in touch after our sessions.

In 2023, we adopted the use of Honeybook as our CRM. We built out the program with a series of automated emails that allow us to touch base with clients one month, six months and one year after a project is complete (without us having to remember these dates or manually send emails). We also send six email newsletters a year, sharing upcoming events, highlighting special projects and introducing them to non-profits and charities who have donation needs.

Our events have been really special moments to gather clients together. From private shopping events, to evenings with guests speakers and content, to ticket giveaways for home shows we’ve participated in, we always try to think of ways to build community with clients, rather than just provide a service.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thebaerminimalist.com
• Instagram: @thebaerminimalist
• Facebook: @thebaerminimalist.com
• Other: https://www.shopltk.com/explore/The_Baer_Minimalist

Image Credits

1, 8, 9: Southern Sky Design
2, 3: The Addison Group
4, 5, 6, 7: Melissa Mattingly