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

Morgan, appreciate you joining us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

My husband hated his job and we have 3 young kids. We couldn’t afford daycare so one of us needed to be home. My husband decided to quit his job so I could organize + clean full-time. I had to make it work. My family’s livelihood depended on it. I first started by telling my friends and family that I wanted to do this. I asked them if I could work inside their homes for free in exchange for them leaving me a review on Google. I then started my social media account to share my work with strangers. I put myself out there with other local businesses–especially realtors. I built a relationship with them which allowed them to feel comfortable to refer me to their clients. At first, I started slow, but after about 3-4 months, I started to become steadily busy and by my ninth month, I needed to hire an assistant. I had to figure out how to properly pay myself whether that was job-based or hourly. I needed to put processes in place like software to track my invoicing + estimates, I had to set up scheduling and write up contracts for clients to sign before the work started. I failed a lot and I made it up as I went. I looked for things I could outsource which was bookkeeping.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Growing up, my mom was chronically disorganized and boarded on hoarding. My love for organizing and being clean started as a survival mechanism. In order to feel safe in my environment, I had to be the orderly. I started an Instagram account to share systems I used in my own home and I came upon a woman who was a professional organizer. She was getting paid to organize! I knew then that’s what I wanted to do. I started following every organizer on social media to learn everything they were doing. I then started organizing for friends and family.

I also started sharing how I clean my home. I started cleaning airbnbs and then my business exploded. I now manage to clean 10 airbnbs, 6 biweekly residential clients, I work with realtors to do move in cleans. All on top of organizing. Sometimes my world collides and I get to do both! I help Airbnb hosts get their properties more organized. Cleaning clients often want an organizing session onto the cleaning. I have some of the best clients.

I think the thing I’m most proud of is myself. Little Morgan or even myself 10 years ago would never imagine being the one supporting my family full time with a passion. I’m extremely introverted and get overstimulated easily. My job involves me having to be extroverted and put myself out there. It can be draining and sometimes terrifying. I’m proud that I can push through that and come out better from it.

I want clients, followers and anyone else to know that I always try my best. I always strive for quality. I believe in putting myself in the clients shoes of receiving quality service and how that would make me feel. Every time we’re done with a job, I think of my clients coming back to a clean or newly organized space and how relieving that might be to them.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I first thought of my brand as a whole. Colors, fonts I loved, how I was going to show up behind the scenes, things I was or wasn’t going to talk about, etc.

Don’t just “post and ghost”. Interact with other similar accounts, create actual valuable content, respond to comments and messages. Social media, for me, isn’t just showing up. It’s building relationships and networking for more opportunities.

Put yourself out there. Put a nice picture of yourself on your feed. Make your bio tell your followers and local people who exactly you are and what you do.

Be consistent in whatever you do. If you want to post once a week, do that. If you want to post everyday, do that. Be consistent.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I’ve had to really untangle the meaning of worth. I struggled a lot as a child finding my place in the world. I constantly felt like I didn’t belong anywhere. I measured my ability to do a good job or be liked based on my worthiness. I was terrified to tell potential clients my hourly rate because what if they said no? If they said no, that meant they didn’t like ME. I couldn’t ask current clients for a raise because then they’d find another provider and that meant rejection. Any sort of negative and I took it personally.

After doing this for a year and a half, I know my worth. I know I do a good job. I know the services I provide are truly helping others. And I’m slowly getting better at asking for feedback so I can improve in the long run. It’s still scary but I’m learning tools on how to cope through that. I’m really excited to see myself build even more confidence.

Contact Info:

• Website: morganizedliving.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/@morganized_living