What Clutter Costs You (and How to Get That Energy Back)

Decluttering coach Julie Coraccio joins Nikki to talk about how clutter goes far beyond our closets. From emotional baggage to digital overload, Julie shares the real cost of clutter and how clearing space, both physically and mentally, creates peace, energy, and healing.

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Speaker 2: [00:00:00] Hi, my name's Julie cio and I'm the owner of Reawaken Your Brilliance, and I'm passionate about supporting people in decluttering in all areas of their lives.

Speaker: So are you like that Marie Condo fighting?

Speaker 2: No, maybe a little bit perhaps. I would say that Marie Kondo and I definitely share some similarities 'cause I do help people dec clutter their homes and I like how she is a big picture like I am. I love that she tells people to say gratitude and give thanks to things before they let 'em go.

I think that's very important and I think that can definitely help you. Let go of things, but I expand upon that. So for instance, we'll talk about mental clutter, emotional, spiritual technology clutter, right? My definition of clutter is this. It's anything that prevents you from creating a life and home that you love, right?

So it can [00:01:00] be just about anything that you have clutter in,

Speaker: right? Okay. So my reason for asking that is Marie Congo is famous for saying that people should only have 30 foot. I guarantee you I have way more than that and I am not giving anything the money.

Speaker 2: You know what? You know what? You're not alone and that's okay.

I'll be honest. I'm not a fan. I think things like that can serve as guidelines, right? I think one of the mistakes that you can make is becoming so strict about a rule that it's a not a good thing. I'll share an example with you. I was at one of, when I first started my business, I was a networking event and I said what I did, and someone said, Ohio, only handle it once regarding paper.

And I was like that doesn't work for most of us. And here's the example I use. I go to the store, I buy something, so I have a receipt, right? So I've handled it. Then I put it in my little receipts [00:02:00] folder. Then when I check my credit card at the end of the month, I'm touching the receipt again. And then depending it goes in the recycling bin.

Or it goes for taxes or if it's a warranty. So I've handled it more than once and I've just blown up that rule, but I'm organized, right?

So that's why I say I think they can, things like that can be useful as guidelines, but don't get so caught up and get rigid about it.

Speaker: Yeah, I don't so my philosophy is rules are meant to be.

Be there, there's a reason usually that there is a rule. Some rules you cannot get anywhere near, like acts of violence or things like that. There's a line there. You don't go anywhere near those things, right? In a normal society. But there are other things that are oh, if you like swimming, you can go out further in a lake.

But if you're not good at swimming, you should definitely stay closer to the thing. So there's two different rules there. I don't like it if the rule is [00:03:00] specifically meant to keep me somewhere and let everybody else be perfectly fine. But other than that all rules have, that thing where it doesn't really fit this person because they have a special need or a mental health problem, or it's a Tuesday and they ain't fallen for it today, that type of thing.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Yeah, I agree with that.

Speaker: And unless you're in the military don't listen to em. Other thing I just said about rules, if you're in the military, you have a whole different set of guidelines I'm not messing with. But but yeah, that whole the only reason I even know who that per Marie Kondo is.

Is because she said that you should only own 30 books. And every single group I'm in for books went eight crap on it. They were like, no, you met on my desktop, didn't you? Or you met on my nightstand. [00:04:00] Yeah, no,

Speaker 2: I understand that books are the hardest thing for me to let go and I'll tell you what helped me do it, I just took about.

Three and a half boxes to the library. I'm on the Friends of the library committee and we have a spring sale and a fall sale, so it's gonna help raise funds for the library. So that's something. But I, but every year I allow myself to say, okay, let's go through it. And I've kept books, like one of my favorite all time favorite books is Eat, pray, love.

And that's something that I like to read every couple years. And so I have that. There are cookbooks. I'm old school. I want something that I can do. And that's okay if books are your thing. But we run into problems when books are your things and video games are your things and cat of Cats. So cat toys are your thing, right?

When you have all that, then it becomes overwhelming and then it becomes too much. And it's about having discerning

Speaker: books and having cats is sometimes very much not the thing. Cats will fall at the books, cats will pee on the books. [00:05:00]

Speaker 2: Never had that issue, never

Speaker: had that issue. When I was in high school, my mom got a boyfriend from being stupid.

And the thing is, he moved into our house with nine packs, text, and I was absolutely not. Okay. No nine. Are you kidding me? No, it was bad. And they, if they got in my room, they would call all over my books and stuff. And nope, it got to the point where if somebody opened my door without my permission, I was holding me enraged because all my stuff was getting ruined by some stupid cats.

The only problem I have there were nine of them,

Speaker 2: And if they're in a small space, that would be a challenge.

Speaker: There was too many cuts for the area we had and and they were old, so like they were set in their ways and [00:06:00] they just would not go anywhere near the litter box for anything.

Speaker 2: They might have had, that you have to check the physical, are there any physical issues? And kitties can get dementia too. We had a kitty that was 19 when he passed and towards the end I think there was a little bit of. Of cognitive stuff going on.

Speaker: I was 16 at the time. That was not something I could tell anybody to get a cat checked out, so I just told them they needed to go because I was not cleaning up after a lot of time.

Make it true. It didn't make them take it away, but, it was not okay. I was also in ROTC and I kept getting points taken off of me for the amount of cat hair I had on me that I could not get off. Don't know, not fun. Black and cat hair, or like ancient and amazing.

So I probably [00:07:00] sound like I hate cats. That is not the truth. I hate nine cats in one house. That is that, that is too many cats.

Speaker 2: That's a lot.

Speaker: What are some of the situations that you've helped with somebody like mentally be able to declutter?

Speaker 2: One of the things that's important is, obviously everyone's different, but mental clutter to me might be something like insomnia, stress, not believing in yourself.

And depending on what it is. I think one of the things that makes a difference and why I look at clutter holistically is if you clean up your desk, it's gonna help your mental clutter, right? It's gonna help your mental state of mind, and if you clean the physical part, once you're mentally clear, that allows you to have more time and energy to clear up your space.

Does that make sense? So in other words, inner reflects the outer and vice versa. So that's why it's happened. I help, I'll tell you when I'm the [00:08:00] most impactful working with someone was, and it was, I started out early on and we were working on a sock drawer and this moment had a memory, and all of a sudden she said I was abused as a child.

And so what I like to say when I go and work with clients is I hold space, right? I hold space for healing, whatever needs to come up. And I wasn't qualified to work with her on that issue. And I said, you know what? I'll find some referrals for you. But everything's energy. So just in that simple act of her going through her bedroom and clearing all that clutter, that allowed that memory to surface.

And it was at a space and time where she could begin to heal that, right? And so shifting our energy opening up space can have tremendous impact. There are other times clutter can affect our relationships. I had one client, and this was her second marriage. It was second marriage for both of them.

But they had so much clutter on the dining room table, they couldn't sit down and eat right. And so when we cleared that up, then they began talking again. That [00:09:00] helped her relationship and the mental state because they were connecting again, whereas they previously hadn't been. So there's really power behind the cluttering.

Just as a couple of examples, oh, and one other thing I should add. Depression causes clutter and clutter, causes depression. When I'm talking about the inner and outer earlier, it's the same present. You're depressed and you don't wanna declutter and declutter. If it's dec clutters air, then you become depressed.

So that can be a vicious cycle that people can get caught up in and you can understand that.

Speaker: at one point I lived by myself and. The clutter would get so bad because I was massively not okay at the time. And so with my mental health being where it was, it would get to the point where I was like, I know I did this, but I can't, like I don't have the energy to fix this right now.

But yet by waiting it made it [00:10:00] worse. Yeah. And so eventually I would have a friend. Talking to me on the phone so that I could go through it and do it, because there was just, I was hanging on to life by a thread, and sometimes the clutters seemed like it was gonna be the thing that flipped that thread because I didn't want to be living like I was.

But I couldn't figure out any way. I also, I have long hair. My hair goes down to my waist. Wow. And before I met my friend who French braids it for me, I took two braids. I was living in Washington state and my therapist at that time went, I can tell how good or bad you've been over the last week by how good or bad your hair is.

And that kind of made me go. Fair. [00:11:00] Completely fair. Because if I was doing okay, I would spend the time, get the knobs out of my hair. My hair is one of those things that if you blink at it wrong, it's gonna not, which is why the French free help. But I don't want keep it short either because then it makes my face look like a brown clumpy.

It's bad bleeding. You go with it. And I have to be careful that because I don't mind having some clutter. In fact, my brain can think if I have a tiny bit of clutter, but if I even put one extra thing in there and it's too much, then I'll start failing at anything I'm trying to do.

Speaker 2: And you know what, I'm glad that you brought up that point because when we were talking earlier about the Ohio only handle it once. There are different levels that are acceptable to people. I'm not Martha Stewart, and I do this for a living. Hey, if I had an army of assistance and I had, [00:12:00] time to sit around all day and clean and do all that, but I can find, this is what I tell people.

I can relax in my home. I can find what I need. I feel at peace. So it works for me. And one thing I say to people like. Maybe it was a rule of thumb to guide you. If someone says, Hey, I'm coming over. You're like, okay, it's gonna take me five minutes to straighten up. Or you're like, I didn't need an hour to straighten up, and that works for me.

So find something that works for you and and then ask yourself the question, is it costing me? Is my clutter costing me anything? That's when it becomes a problem. Again, it's not, I hate this Instagram and all these. Perfectly color code and yada, yada, yada. You know what? It's not realistic for 95% of us, if you again, have a ton of money, have at it and you can pay someone to maintain it and do it, or you have all the time in the world have at it.

There's zero judgment against that. But for most of us, it's not realistic.

Speaker: Yeah, no, I can't have only one thing on my [00:13:00] desk. I can't have, and everything's brown. Why did color get taken away from so many people? I don't get that either, they go the, aesthetic is to be clean lines and whatever, but then it's gotta be brown or white and then that's it.

Even with toys and stuff, it's so weird to me.

Speaker 2: Yeah. No, I'm a color person.

Speaker: Yes. I like color. So

Staying with the mental health side of things for a minute. I don't want you to, hear too much because that's not good, but how do you help someone with the smaller problems? Yes. I understand that somebody being abused in their childhood is not something you can help with, if not. Certified, whatever, but like I have two sock drawers, [00:14:00] which I should probably way too much for being the mental health that I have, but I have two sock drawers because at multiple points in my childhood in didn't have socks and I didn't like it.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker: So now I have all different types. I have ones that work good in winter. I have great ones that work in the summer and I have great socks, but, and I only throw and I do throw away the ones once they get worn out or whatever. I'm not like keeping anything that's not working.

I'm not putting socks on that have holes in them or anything, but I have a lot of socks.

Speaker 2: If you become present, I understand why you're keeping your socks. Again, there's no judgment of this. But that happened in your past when you couldn't have socks. In this moment, you've shown me you can have socks 'cause [00:15:00] you have two drawer full. So when you become present than the past, no longer has a hold over you.

Now you know what? I have enough socks here so I can pair it down to one drawer. Now if it's as. Socks are particularly challenging for you then, you know what? It's about doing a little bit every year, right? Or whatever timeline works for you. Like I share that Books are hard for me. I let about four boxes go this year, but it's 'cause I constantly work at it.

And I know for me, it's what I like to call my clutter kryptonite. Oh my gosh, what do I have to pay attention to? Because if not, I'm gonna end up with a house full of it. So I'm aware of that. So I make sure you know what. Let's breathe for a moment. Do I really need to buy that? And but becoming present and you'll know, you know what, I'm okay.

I'm safe. I have money to buy socks. I can let some go. So that's an example. Like we were working together. One of the things I'd start off with, and the more you don't always have to, but I think so you knew right away, here's why I have [00:16:00] all these socks, because I didn't have it in childhood. I think that's wonderful.

Awareness and awareness plus action equals change. So anytime you can increase your awareness, and here's an example. So I had a client once and she had about a couple feet high, all these stacks of clippings. And I said what's going on with these clippings? Why, there's this big old stack, they're, several or years old.

And she said, oh, that's my stack. I'm gonna send those to people. So I found a recipe that I thought so and so would I thought an article and she hadn't sent it. So as we were talking. And I'm questioning her and we're having this conversation. All of a sudden she said, ah. She said, I'm afraid if I don't send articles, recipes to people, then they're not gonna love me.

And as soon as she expressed that, she knew that was a false statement, we chucked it all in the recycling bin. That's, making that connection, having that awareness, having that understanding. And then she knew, oh, that's not true. Bam. There you [00:17:00] go.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker 2: And I believe we all have the wisdom within, and so I just see my job as holding the space and allowing people to bring that to the surface because you know what's best for you.

I don't. You have that inner wisdom.

Speaker: Okay. What is your, still on the mental health side, so what is your favorite? The favorite time you helped somebody organize something, come, hit one of those ideas that went, oh my God, this is why, and that kind of thing. What is your favorite memory of the different people you hope

Speaker 2: that's a mean question.

You're gonna make me choose one. Oh, okay. I'm gonna choose this one. So I was working with a client and. She had a basement full of stuff. This was her parents' stuff. And so things that had, I'm not exaggerating, had been in boxes, never opened for 20 years. So one of the things, and this will be good for all your listeners as well, is I truly believe this.

My mom died almost four [00:18:00] years ago. And when people leave and go on to the next adventure, you are free. You are not required. They want you to be happy, right? All this material stuff's gone. They're out of their body. And so what was happening with her? Was, she had tremendous guilt. I can't let go of this stuff.

It was my parents and they left it for me. And they gave this, for me, and I said, they wouldn't want you to feel burdened. And so when working, this was over several months and working, we were finally able to have her let stuff go donated garage sale, a variety of ways to let it go. But what was so awesome about it is then it opened up space in her basement for her to become, doing jewelry right to start. She'd always had a pad like, I wanna learn how to make jewelry and make thing. But when we got let go of that stuff and curated a collection of meaningful things, right? I'm not to say to everyone, you don't have to be a minimalist, you don't have to throw everything away. But she was able to curate and hold on to things that meant something and create space for [00:19:00] her to do something and find a new passion.

So that's one I would say one of my favorites.

Speaker: So I heard a story yesterday. It's a Reddit story, so hats off. I don't fake it is true or not, it's what it's, but this couple right. Finally buys a home, right? Can finally afford to move into a home, and all of a sudden her parents start dropping off furniture weirdly you have to have this, you have to have this, do this, and this furniture isn't like in good condition. It's not, this is, it's junk. You know what we junky want to help you with? It's all dirty. There's rips in the stuff, like specs in the mirrors. They found stuff in the attic from before they started, like actually.

Showing them what they were giving them. And so the husband is you're not bringing anything [00:20:00] else here. I can't use my garage. We gotta get rid of all of this stuff. You can't do anything. And the dad got mad and he's you're gonna regret this. So then he brings over without them being there.

This huge couch that would like, barely fit in the room, the living room. And completely messed with the setup, ugly, bright, colored flowers all over it. And they just kept bringing stuff. And so finally the guy was like the, finally the wife clued in and was able to say, no, we can't do this anymore.

We're not taking your thoughts. So now both of them are together saying no, and. They went off the deep end and brought like a box truck over and was like, you have to take all of this. And the guy was like, if you take any stuff out of that thing, you will have it thrown away by tomorrow.

You are not leaving your good for them for setting [00:21:00] boundaries. We're not doing this. Ended up having to take these people to court because after everything, after they finally agreed not to give any more stuff. Like apparently, because they gave them stuff, they figured they were, they should have been in on the mortgage because they were their furniture and stuff gave like 12% of the mortgage or whatever, and the guy was like, the hell i's giving up 12% of my mortgage.

No. You're not getting in on this. That's not how it works. And ended up having to fight in court and. Keep getting rid of things. They had to change lots and get cameras and have cops on stuff. It was like really bad. But they learned in the end that it was more about control than it was about actual family, stuff because the stuff was garbage and yeah.

I want to hear what you think of that. 'cause me, I'm sitting there the whole time, girl. [00:22:00] Get a restrain. Before you did, but what are you doing? You're sleeping

Speaker 2: well. I think they needed to set boundaries earlier. I wonder if there's a tad bit of mental illness in there. I get control. I under truly understand control, but this is an extreme.

And also sometimes with possession, this is what I feel qualified to speak on. That if it's been in the family, people could also share an example. So when we moved here in our prior house, we had two guest rooms. And so I had my grandmother's furniture as a child and it was great. Had a twin bed in each.

We move here, I'm like I'm, my office is technically a bedroom and we have one other bedroom. So I said, okay, I'm gonna donate it unless someone else in the family. And I ask everyone in the family because if someone wants it, but. They didn't want it, but they didn't want me to let it go.

And then I said, then you're taking it. And so that's what happens. It's in someone's basement, which I know I'll probably deal with later and that is what it is. But [00:23:00] sometimes that even though it would've been my possession for 20 years, they weren't able to let it go. So that could be a thread in it.

But like asking for the mortgage, that's why I wonder if there's a little bit of mental illness going on that's like kind of a. Or delusional, which I don't know enough to know about mental illness. Like you really think you're gonna get someone to pay the mortgage giving 'em crap. But there are people like, out there that truly believe it.

So that's my take on it.

Speaker: They said that they had contributed to about 12% of the mortgage because they gave him all that stuff and

Speaker 2: yeah, no,

Speaker: I'm like. N no, you inconvenience. That's for 50% of your mortgage. You wanna pay something, pay half of it and you still ain't leaving your stuffier because he was taking it from multiple houses.

It was garbage. It was bad. It was so bad. And I was, this is nuts.

Speaker 2: Yeah. And the fact that, they couldn't resolve it and had [00:24:00] to go to court is sad.

Speaker: The wife at first was like, just keep the peace. Just keep the peace. And he goes, no, run, not want all this garbage. And then finally she saw, no, this is bad.

We can't keep just keeping the peace. So it, yeah, it turns into a whole time.

Speaker 2: Which I wanna add a point here. Don't donate junk. Because like in, for instance, in California, if you donate Chuck junk to a charity, they have to pay a landfill fee. So you have now cost them time, energy, and money by donating your junk.

If you wouldn't donate it to a friend or a family member, then don't donate. Like you don't. If you have clothes that are stained, then rip 'em up and make rags into 'em, right? And use 'em for cleaning. Don't. Give it to a homeless person 'cause you think it's better off. Don't I have shared this story too? I had a friend that grew up in foster care and she said there was nothing more disappointing to have a [00:25:00] puzzle donated or a game donated.

And you get down to it and there are like three pe puzzle pieces missing, or the game doesn't have all the parts. So just be mindful when you donate.

Speaker: Yeah. I always donate brand new stuff and that kind of thing. I was in foster care for a year when I was young. And it was what the horror stories talk about.

I have advised other people when they're like, oh yeah, I'm gonna take my account. I'm like, doesn't it have a cut in the fabric? Don't do that. Don't. It's garbage. Yeah. Send that to the garbage unless you're willing to do something to fix that.

Don't do that. Just because they're poor doesn't mean they want your trash.

Speaker 2: Absolutely.

Speaker: Do you want the things you don't want anymore if they still work and are in good condition and you haven't done any stupid, weird with them short,

but other than that, don't. Yeah. That's just [00:26:00] making people feel bad for where they are in life and that's, yep. Good. Good.

Speaker 2: Absolutely.

Speaker: Okay, so we're gonna switch over to this next topic now. So how long have you been a organizer?

Speaker 2: Since 2009.

Speaker: Wow.

Speaker 2: And

Speaker: where do you live?

Speaker 2: I'm in Wheeling, West Virginia. I started my business when I was in Raleigh, North Carolina.

It wasn't on the plan to move back to my hometown, but life happened.

Speaker: West Virginia.

You started in 2009?

I was in Tennessee then,

so I've been in a couple states too, since I've been in a lot of states since then. I went from Tennessee to Washington State, from Maryland to Texas, and then.

I [00:27:00] travel.

Okay. So when you started, what was the idea behind it? I know 'cause I have my own business that. For me, basically I just started working with somebody. There was no real big plan, but I do know that for most businesses you require a plan to get started. So tell me how you got started.

Speaker 2: I was more like you. I was in a job by background as fundraising, grant writing development. I was working for a nonprofit that went under three years after I started my business and pretty quickly I knew this place is crazy. I was like, I just don't wanna get another job. I wanna own my own business, but what are my skills?

So I went to score, which if anyone's listening is a valuable resource, they are retired professionals in different areas. Like I talked to marketing, setting up a business, and they're a great resource. And so I was like, got a website, picked a [00:28:00] name, really thought through that. And just said, I'm gonna do it, and I'm gonna start, and I just did it.

And I was so exhausted. I didn't have a client the first day that I did, but I started networking when I was living in Raleigh. There were a lot of women's group there was called coffee and Contacts. It's I think now women's Power Networking. But that's where I started and that's how I started to get clients.

And then it grew from there. And I've done different things, had a podcast like you for a decade and that's how it went technically. Yeah, you should probably have a good old business plan, but I didn't do that. That it's worked out. It's been okay. And I would, the only other thing I would say is you have to adapt.

I think that's really important. You have to be able, at least for a solopreneur, I'll talk from my experience, I think you're better off if you're able to adapt because life happens, things happen, and it just, you're in a better position if you can do that.

Speaker: COVID happened.

Speaker 2: Yes.

Speaker: I know for me, [00:29:00] because I lived in Texas, I guess when I finally was like, oh yeah, I need to help a little of them, so I guess I should have a business name because I was just going, I was just helping people.

It wasn't, set up or anything. And I was like, you know what I think I'm supposed to have was a businessman. And so I looked into it. And if I didn't, if I didn't want to set up as a weird thing, if you start, okay, so in Texas, if you make a business that's called Innovative Designs, you have to go pay for a license.

Speaker 2: Oh,

Speaker: because it has no, it doesn't have your name attached to it. But if your name, either first or last is somewhere in the name of your business, you don't have to do that. So I was like, okay, great. Interesting Nikki's office that, that makes sense. We'll go with that. So that's [00:30:00] why mine is good. It simple, which is probably a good thing anyway because it's simple.

Did you have any of those limitations in. North Carolina?

Speaker 2: No. Or, and I

North Virginia moving.

No, but I ended up changing my business name, which I definitely don't recommend because when I started it's a big pain in the bum. It was called Healing Through Organization because I wanted to convey, oh my gosh, you heal.

It was help heal. And then I did an internet TV show and I fell in love with the name Reawaken Your Brilliance, which is my business name now, which would probably get a big ant. Because it's not very good CSEO and it doesn't tell you what to do. But you know what? I fell in love with it and I'm sticking with it, so I'm okay with it.

But if doing it over, I prob but healing. Yeah.

So I, yeah, no limits otherwise.

Speaker: My Facebook is an interesting thing to try to do. Like I have clients where I do the monthly postings of content calendar and stuff, [00:31:00] and, it keeps them up to date or whatever. My Facebook does not have one thing.

So insurance, you have insurance, you have homeowners insurance, you have home car insurance, but it's all insurance. And so you can, you get points for that on Facebook and you get bumped up line. I do six or seven different things at this point, plus the podcast. Yeah, it is real hard to get anywhere because I don't fit any niche.

I fit a lot of different niches and Facebook and everybody else does not like that.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker: Funsies.

Speaker 2: Yes.

Speaker: So are you finding, is your social media. Are you doing social media of any kind to grow your business?

Speaker 2: Yes, and I hate it. I hate social media. So I'm on [00:32:00] Facebook, I'm on LinkedIn, I'm on YouTube.

I left Twitter. I should probably get on Blue Sky more for personal, and I'm on Instagram, so I think, I had like you, I did a podcast for a decade. It was very successful. I put it on YouTube. I do shorts, so I think that you need to. Fine. Everyone's be on TikTok. I'm like, I am not getting on TikTok.

But I think find what works for you and be successful. So for instance, like on LinkedIn, I've been working on that and so my LinkedIn spiel or deal is, focuses only on my speaking engagement. I'm looking for corporate employee. Presentation. That's what LinkedIn focuses on. That's what I want. I'm not gonna get an organizing client out of that.

I'm not gonna get a coaching client on that. And so it's just being very purposeful in your social media and understanding who's your audience and how you approach them.

Speaker: Have you ever heard of a Alignable?

Speaker 2: Oh, no. Maybe I have. That sounds familiar, but I can't tell you [00:33:00] what it does.

Speaker: It is also a networking site.

Speaker 2: Okay. Good to know

Speaker: I'm on there. I've won businesses a year twice now. Wow. In my town. They do it by town and the next person down in second place had two votes. One of them was for me. A lot of people who had one boat were from me, but so it's not like everybody's real active in my area to do that.

Some places, like if you live in actual town, that might work better. I would say cities. But here in Arkansas, people think cities are like these towns and nuts, a big town. There's still a town that don't have high rises. You have nothing. You are not a city, you are a town. And then I get yelled at, because I [00:34:00] have plenty of people in it.

I just, it's that where's all the housing for them? There's no yeah there's no three, for little buildings. Everything's below that. So it's a little weird for me. But so those kind of denser areas would be harder to get a, to get business of the year and, but I am connected to a couple people.

One person that I'm connected to was number six in the nation per Wow. The business of the year thing. So that's impressive. That was pretty good. But it has meetings that you can go to where you do get put into. Breakout rooms with either one to two other people and you can talk and network and how, like places where you can post stuff that you can't schedule on a line of what you have to actually just go and put them on there.

Speaker 2: Gotcha. Okay.

Speaker: But yeah, it's a [00:35:00] great thing and if you're listening, I am not a spokesman for them. I pay money to them to be on that site. But it is, it's a great way to network because it's not like LinkedIn where everybody's just expected to do their thing and meet behind the scenes.

No, your meetings are upfront and like you're meeting with people and then you get to, afterwards you connect with the people you actually like. Every once in a while you get into one of those things and you are talking to the person in the, for the seven minutes and you're like, this dude not happening.

You don't want to have nothing to do with him after this. This is Nope. Especially if they're Amway. Yeah. You can not connect with people. You don't want to be careful. They still might wanna connect with you, but you can say Now, in Alignable I have over 250 [00:36:00] contacts.

Speaker 2: Oh, okay.

Speaker: Which is pretty good.

But in Alignable, yeah, I mean in Lincoln I think I have 15, 20. I don't know. I have a really low number because I'm not willing to go out and spam everybody. Hi, my name is this. Can I please be your friend?

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker: And that's basically what you have to do. Don't come at me, gurus. I know you have a whole plan, but it's basically messaging people and being like, Hey.

I wanna sell something to you. I don't do sales like that. Yeah. That's not how I roll. I don't want to I very to do that. Oh, yes. I wanted to talk to you for my own benefit, so please come talk to me.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker: And most people on LinkedIn are, are trying to get away from that because they keep getting the MLM scans and all that going on, I just. Alone. I post to LinkedIn, but I tend to leave people alone. [00:37:00]

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker: What are your top three tips for being organized as a solopreneur in a home office?

Speaker 2: Top three tips for being organized in your home office. Am a fan. First tip is create zones. And so what I mean by that have as I'm looking, I have a place, a zoned for office equipment.

So like printer office ing that I have my library, right? So I have reference books like writing and things of that. So I think that creating zones is one suggestion number two. I wanna talk about your desk. Area that is prime real estate. So that is a place that we wanna keep clutter free. We wanna keep it organized.

And only what you're using frequently, right? If you need something like I keep my reference books. I'm not using that daily. So if I have to get up and walk five steps, it's okay, but just remember that you're [00:38:00] off. Your desk is prime real estate and to treat it that way, and let's see oh, and you know what the other tip I'm gonna share for home office is your computer desktop.

That's clutter free. Keep that clean. Don't have all the orphans hanging out. I like to have a folder or frequently used items. If someone says to me, hi, I'd like to work with you. I have an assessment, right? So in that folder, a contract, like five or six documents that I use all the time, so bam. I know where it is, I can access it.

And so when I'm responding to email I can use it. So those are my three quick tips.

Speaker: Desktop, I will pick on anybody who shares a screen and their desktop is full of stuff. 'cause I'm like you do know that you're not supposed to do that. You should clean that now. Make that go away.

Make that go. I should never have seen that, not gimme that again. And so they'll usually clean it because I'm freaking out on them. But my [00:39:00] other tip is because like you said, you say you have that folder of common things. So if you look at your file Explorer and the way it's set up with on the left hand side, it has like the desktop downloads, documents and stuff.

If you have a folder you want to get to frequently, that is six steps down in documents, right Click on it and say pin to quick start, and that will put it on the bottom of that list of things, and then you can move it to wherever you want so you can see it easier. So that way your little folder of, I have to be able to see this all the time, doesn't have to be on the desktop because you know exactly where you put it on.

File Explorer. I use my file explorer every day to get around to the different people. I help to make sure I'm saving things in the right place. And that way I'm not missing anything. And that goes great. [00:40:00] But, being able to know, 'cause I'm not gonna go chasing six steps down where that stupid customer's file got put six months ago.

'cause I'm not gonna remember. But if I pin it to the quick start with their, it just, their holder name is their name because that's who I'm helping with it.

Than that.

Speaker 2: Yep.

Speaker: If it's something that you frequently used for everybody, you can put important files on it and stick it up there somewhere.

It's convenient to do it that way because then you can go in there and drag it into the email or into, if you have texts on your computer like I do, I can take that file and put it right into there so that they can then have that on the phone and send it to themselves through email.

Speaker 2: Good tip.

Speaker: Lots of stuff that you can do to stay away from having. 70 dose. Look, I actually, I don't know how this person did this. I don't, I have no idea, [00:41:00] but they have little pictures right lined up in line all the way across the picture. They were horizontal. Then they went back line by line to every single thing and did vertical images through the whole thing.

And I'm sitting there going. Stop it. You're,

you're killing me. You can't do that anymore. You haven't put on a file. I don't even know how you did that or why you did that. I don't care. But that should not be there. No, don't do that. It's crazy to me that people think that, that is normal. This is not normal. Don't do that. My desktop usually has the trash bin and up to five icons of different things that I may need to get to.

And that's it. [00:42:00] Good

Speaker 2: job.

Speaker: Don't talk to me about tabs. I cannot help you with tabs.

Tab game is, about three windows and 16 tabs per window. It's probably a bad thing, but it works.

But there's nothing, I'm actually, right now I only have a trash tan. I just deleted it all in my, icon. Yeah. Don't do that. I'm sorry. That is a big, massive pet peeve of mine. When people share their screen and you are flooded with all these files, I'm like, oh, you're giving me a headache.

Speaker 2: I get that. You know it's water. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker: My eyes are like, what is happening?

So we did the best thing. And [00:43:00] maybe only have one mouse for your computer. I technically have two, but that's because I game, I PC game instead of console gaming. So all my, I don't have any clutter from it except when playing. Wow, you need lots of extra buttons. So there I have a button mouse.

Speaker 2: Okay.

Speaker: But it's way too sensitive to use when I'm working 'cause it goes flying across the street. Oh, okay.

Speaker 2: Oh wow. Okay. I don't have one. Okay.

Speaker: Yeah. No, my mouse, it's a pretty mouse too.

Speaker 2: Oh wow. It is.

Speaker: Lights in there and everything, but it's got nine buttons on the side so that I can heal people 'cause I have to do it fast. Or they die and then they're like, and I'm like, you were stepping in fire. Get out of it.

A lot of times I [00:44:00] had to say that.

So is there anything that I haven't asked about that you wanted to share about.

Speaker 2: I just hope that people take away from our inner interview to see clutter as the bigger picture and not just the papers on your desk, but understanding, you know about my definition, that it's anything that prevents you from creating a life and space you love. And the other thing I would say, this kind of goes through my holistic, beliefs is to remember that you are good enough, you are worthy, and you are loved no matter what. Because we have people telling us that we aren't every single day. So I hope people will remember that.

Can I tell people where they can find out more about me?

Can I just say if people go to my website, reawaken your brilliance.com, I offer a free newsletter. They can sign up and I give 'em 10 free tips that they can start to declutter their life right now.

Don't need [00:45:00] to wait.