I had great success working with a client about 5 years ago when I coached her using phone and video to help her declutter. I didn’t know it was possible to support someone from a distance, but an opportunity to help someone in this way occurred when I was enrolled in a coaching training program.
When D. heard that I was a professional organizer, she asked me if I could do a practice coaching session to help her declutter. She was very desperate, and I am always up for trying new things. So often these opportunities arise because of people’s needs. The saying, “necessity is the mother of invention” really applies!
D. wrote this about her experience:
“I first worked with Patricia during a time of some significant stress in my life. A good organizer will not only help you to get your space rearranged and functional, they will, if you are open to it, help you to see connections between your inner turmoil and your physical environment.
Patricia helped me to understand that my outer environment was not only reflecting my inner turmoil, pain and chaos, but then reflecting it back at me in an unhealthy and inefficient loop. Understanding that has helped me to detach from some of my inner pain, and that has positively affected my ability to deal with my physical environment.
An interesting part of all of this is: I have never met Patricia in person. We did ALL of our work together remotely. I shared images and live video and many sessions she was there encouraging me verbally – phone on speaker – as I worked. Crazy, huh? But it WORKED! :-)”
– D K Cunningham
After I helped D., I did not pursue the long distance approach because I had plenty of work in my local area.
Then, a year or so ago, a friend asked me for coaching help to help him downsize. I spent an hour with him sharing my system, and customized it according to his needs. I was delighted to hear that he was able to move forward significantly after receiving my advice. He wrote this recommendation:
“Patricia’s simple system of categorizing my belongings was a real eye opener! It immediately gave me direction to take the first steps. Her gentle compassion and patience were invaluable as she helped me move through many blocks & resistances.”Scott Sky Masters
Then, with the Covid pandemic hitting us hard combined with the fact that I live out in the country, I decided I wanted to focus on working from home. Remembering my past successes–even though few–I decided to do some research to see if anyone else was doing virtual organizing consulting.
Clever Girl Organizing is one of the people I found who seems to be successful in this practice. When I discovered other people were doing this, I felt reassured that this is a practical goal for me and a way to help people all over the world!
Out of the blue, without me doing any advertising, I got a text from a person who wanted to know about my organizing services.
I suggested that we try doing this from a distance, and I gave her a fantastic rate in exchange for me being able to experiment, and for her recommendation if she was happy.
I felt overjoyed to get this testimonial after only 2 sessions (3 hours total.)
“Before I met Patricia, I was drowning in so much clutter and it was extremely overwhelming. I had made several attempts to de-clutter on my own, but failed miserably each time. I eventually gave up, until one day I looked at my surroundings and said enough is enough!Realizing that I needed help, I googled ‘professional organizers‘ and I came across Patricia‘s website.
What caught my eye was the following phrase on her website: “I am especially good at quickly putting chaos into order and I have developed a systematic process that will help you get decluttered fast and stay that way“.I contacted Patricia and after my first session with her, I was amazed by her techniques and systematic process of getting clutter under control.So far
I’ve had 2 sessions with Patricia, for my office and bedroom. I can’t remember the last time my room looked so decluttered!To anyone that feels overwhelmed and defeated by their clutter, give Patricia a call.” Heidi
I enjoyed working with Heidi so much! I intuitively knew how to help her declutter in record time. With my past long-distance clients, I didn’t have the experience of seeing immediate results. But because I was mentally ready to guide my new client through a process where she worked as I guided her, the results were astonishing to both of us!
With 20 years of organizing under my belt along with a life-long ability to put items in order, and my recent experience, I feel confident that I can be effective in supporting people in getting organized from a distance.
I am still willing to go to people’s homes to work. Having someone help label, move boxes, pre-sort, and do other physical aspects of decluttering makes the job go faster. But if I can save clients money, and empower him or her to learn skills that help them do the job themselves, I feel very satisfied.
I also want to help clients find volunteers or hire people who can learn my systems who can then support the clients physically. Some people don’t have the strength to do the work, and I want to be able to help them. Often, time is of the essence, and many hands make the work lighter, as they say.
Thanks for reading this. If you want to contact me for a free 1/2 hour session, I will be happy to talk to you!
contact me at livablefutureproject at gmail dot com
or text me at 47931 3 0414
