How I Grew My Professional Organizing Business To $96K/Year [Update]

Sarah Giller Nelson

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Published: May 24th, 2022

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Sarah Giller Nelson

Founder, Less is More Organizing Services

$8K

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

Less is More Orga...

lessismoreorganizers.com

from Miami, Florida, USA and Naperville, IL

started January 2010

$8,000

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

Discover what tools Sarah recommends to grow your business!

Discover what books Sarah recommends to grow your business!

How to Start a Home-Based Professional Organizing Busines...

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Busi... Charles Duhigg

Want more updates on Less is More Organizing Services? Check out these stories:

1. How I Started A $8K/Month Home Organizing Service (2020) ➜

This is a follow up story for Less is More Organizing Services. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published over 3 years ago, check it out here.

Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.

As a professional organizer, I help overwhelmed people find time, clarity, a sense of accomplishment, and a place to put their keys. Since founding Less is More Organizing Services in 2010, I have shown thousands of people how less clutter, stress, and discord will lead to more time, balance, and happiness.

My approach is deeply informed by my previous career as a museum curator I have a BA in Art History from Brown University and a Master’s Degree from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I currently serve as the Vice-Chair of the Design Review Board of the City of Miami Beach.

My organizing expertise has led to TV, radio, and press interviews in local and national publications. I love to give talks about getting organized. Most recently, I was featured in Martha Stewart Living and Real Simple magazines and named one of Miami's top "closet concierges" by Modern Luxury Miami and Ocean Drive Magazine.

Tell us about what you’ve been up to! Has the business been growing?

2020 was quite a ride. I went into the year expecting to hit record sales. I had a fantastic set of organizers working for me. We were booked weeks in advance. By the end of Q1, the phones stopped ringing and all of my employees and I found ourselves overseeing homeschooled kids. All of the hard work I had done over 10 years had been undone in a matter of weeks.

We pivoted as best we could. I started offering virtual organizing sessions and wrote many blogs. I began offering mentoring sessions for new organizers. I went to work ensuring that once it was safe to go into peoples’ homes again, Less is More would be the organizing company people call first. I sent out newsletters to my mailing list more often than I ever had (2x a month). One of my organizers took over managing our social media feeds, posting new content every day. I even made a series of videos about “what to organize when you are stuck at home.”

By the time I began to work on-site with clients, in the summer of 2021, the demand for home services had skyrocketed. The projects were larger and more complex and included quite a few unpack and organize jobs as we saw the population of our city grows by leaps and bounds. I sold more service hours in the last 6 months of 2021 than I had in any previous 12-month period.

Seize the day! You never know what is coming down the pike so if you have a dream just go for it.

To keep up with the demand I just hired two more organizers and am trying to expand our moving services division. We were recently named one of the Best Professional Organizers in Miami by Ocean Drive Magazine.

What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?

The biggest lesson I learned this year is that you never know where the world will take you, so it’s best to listen to your instincts and focus on what works for you. I have learned how resilient I as well as those around me can be. I have also learned that when you mesh talent and passion with perseverance, you can achieve so much.

I am so grateful that I happen to be in an industry that is experiencing a boom. First, we were busy helping people transform their living rooms, bedrooms, guest rooms, children’s rooms, and hallways into makeshift work-from-home offices. These past few months we have been helping our clients unearth themselves from all of the online shopping they did to cope during the dark days of the pandemic. I am convinced that every parent in Miami is drowning in pop boards and squishes.

What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?

I am working towards growth for the next two years. I am looking to expand my hands-on organizing team as well as the moving services division, so that we can help clients declutter before a move, and then unpack, organize, and style their belongings in their new home. I am also working on a maintenance subscription where an organizer will return two to 4 times a year to help with upkeep. This will create a steady revenue stream.

The biggest lesson I learned this year is that you never know where the world will take you, so it’s best to listen to your instincts and focus on what works for you.

I will be starting at a business accelerator at the end of the spring that will give me some of the business and financial skills I have lacked as a business owner with a background in nonprofit management rather than business school.

Have you read any good books in the last year?

My go-to podcast continues to be How I Built This by Guy Raz on NPR. I enjoy listening to how successful entrepreneurs got to where they are today.

Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their business?

Seize the day! You never know what is coming down the pike so if you have a dream just go for it.

Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?

I am very much looking to hire more part-time professional organizers to serve the South Florida market. We are offering a great opportunity to be part of a team of smart, creative professional organizers who are making a difference in people’s lives. If you are a detail-oriented “people person” who loves to organize, we can help you put your expertise and skills to work on projects that speak to your passion.

Less is More Organizing Specialists will use proven organizing methodologies to help residential clients transform their cluttered homes into beautiful, organized spaces that work. Training with a Master Organizer will be provided. The Organizing Specialist will work with clients independently or assist a Lead Organizer.

A detailed job description can be found on our website.

Where can we go to learn more?

If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!