Are you embarrassed about the clutter and mayhem in your house? Does that stop you from having friends and family over? We see this all the time. It's true we help people restore order, but we also work with clients to create realistic expectations for what's important. A little mess is absolutely fine.
Around here we're big fans of reality business shows like The Profit, Restaurant Start Up, Bar Rescue and especially ABC-TV's Shark Tank. Shark Tank features budding entrepreneurs with the chance to "bring their ideas to the sharks in the tank — five titans of industry who made their own dreams a reality and turned their ideas into lucrative empires."
The contestants try to convince any one of the sharks to invest money in their idea. When more than one of the sharks decide they want a piece of the action, a bidding war can erupt, driving up the price of the investment.
Major Mom – Featured on February 5th:
We're really excited to learn that our colleague and former Air Force Major from Phoenix Angela Cody-Rouget and her company will be featured on Shark Tank this Friday, February 5th. John co-chaired a national leadership committee for the National Associations of Professional Organizers (NAPO) while Angela was the Chapter President of NAPO Colorado, so they worked together for over a year.
“Episode 719” – Veteran and military spouse entrepreneurs try to enlist the Sharks’ investments in their products—will it be a mission accomplished? A former Air Force Major from Phoenix, AZ looks to franchise her personal organization business that can keep Americans’ homes “majorly” de-cluttered. “Shark Tank,” FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5 (9:00–10:01 p.m. EST) on the ABC Television Network."
So how did Angela get on the show? "One of the producers contacted me… and said they were looking for veteran entrepreneurs for their show. Months of contracts, jumping through hoops and lots of stress landed me in LA at Sony Studios where I met five sharks in person as I pitched my business. It was an incredible experience full of many emotions and lots of prayer." According to Angela, she's under a gag order but can say she met with the Sharks for about an hour and the meeting will be compressed into entertainment value.
Questions or Comments?
Do you have questions for Angela, Shark Tank, Reality TV or organizing in general? Let us know here in the comment section or you can tweet us @johntrosko on Twitter. You can also check John out on Instagram (@johntrosko).
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If you're local to Los Angeles, join OrganizingLA founder John Trosko at WeGo! on Saturday, January 9th when NAPO Los Angeles and the City of West Hollywood present a free community event designed to educate and inspire Angelenos to get organized in 2016. John served two terms as chapter president of NAPO-LA.
From decluttering your home or office, aspiring to have a paperless lifestyle or mastering time management to achieve maximum productivity in your day, Los Angeles best professional organizers will give workshops and offer their best tips for getting organized. Ask-the-organizer panels will present attendees with the opportunity to discuss their own challenges and receive advice from the experts, while companies will exhibit products, services, tools and resources to help you get organized and stay organized.
Ask the Organizer Panels:
Ask the Organizer Panel is an opportunity for attendees to hear general organizing advise delivered directly from the experts. Participants include Leslie Haber, Dorothy Breininger, Regina Lark Ph.D, CPO®, Cynthia Smith and John Trosko.
Ask the Organizer Panel with ADHD Specialists includes experts Standolyn Roberts, CPO®, Kim Anker-Paddon, CPO-CD®, COC®, Debra Frank, CPO-CD® and Mishele Vieira, CPO®.
Workshop Experts:
Detail for weGo!
Saturday, January 9, 2016
11:00am-3:00pm
Plummer Park Community Center
7377 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90046
About NAPO Los Angeles:
NAPO-Los Angeles is a non-profit professional organization dedicated to developing, leading and promoting professional organizers and the benefits of better home and business organization. The founding chapter of the National Association of Professional Organizers, "The Organizing Authority®," NAPO-LA has provided members with a forum for networking, professional development and raising public awareness since 1985.
Questions or Comments?
Do you have questions about weGo!? Let us know here in the comment section or you can tweet us @johntrosko on Twitter. You can also check John out on Instagram (@johntrosko).
Like this Topic?
Want to learn smart and practical organizing tips for your home, office and life? Save time by signing up for free topic updates and receive them as soon as they're published. Plus, as a gift receive our exclusive Martha Stewart Living Radio recorded radio interview and transcript, chock full of strategies, tips and resources direct from John.
The film Magic Mike might be focused on romance in the bedroom, but the Actress who starred in the original film is all business, proclaiming that she cannot stand clutter and prioritizes keeping things neat and tidy.
If there is one thing we've learned running a professional organizing business it's that the right tool can get the job done. And an even better tool is one that you can leave out for display, or hang up in plain sight for easy access so it no only looks good, but functions well too.
This week I fell in love with this bamboo ironing board from Welm Elm on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles. If you know me, I pretty much hate ironing anything other than pillow cases, cocktail napkins, tea towels, shams and placemats (anything flat and manageable). But I think this board will want to make me want to iron more and more. And it's a relative bargain at $79.99. If you add a chef's stripe ironing board cover @ $19.00 – you will have a look that adds affordable functional style in traditional homes, Victorian-style, Spanish Renaissance, beach home, Colonial, Craftsman (you get the point).
West Elm continues to stock great organizing and homekeeping products that they inherited when Hold Everything home organization store closed down in 2006. Check out these pictures.
When working with clients we try to incorporate some style in the client's necessary functional activities and storage. And all the better if we can move away from plastic containers into wood (yea, I am obsessed with wood organizing boxes and storage pieces).
Take for instance my own bathroom. I repurposed these 1970's Maxwell House freeze-dried glass coffee jars in the bathroom to hold wooden Q-tips, cotton balls, cotton pads and wood toothbrushes (the last container was empty so I added some sea shells). The canisters sit on the shelf and they're not only maritime chic, they're are functional (and yes, we had to scrub these jars for an hour, they were previously used in a garage in Sierra Madre to hold nuts, bolts and drill bits!)
So you can see from my Instagram picture post, when you incorporate looks and function, you might get a bonus: a burst of extra energy to tackle life's little details and complete your ironing (or any little chore) faster. And then we can move on to more important things like friends, family and Spring time fun.
Now is your chance to sound off:
What products do you like to have around you? Do stylish products really help you get the job done more efficiently? Let us know here in the comment section or you can tweet us @johntrosko on Twitter. You can also check me out on Instagram.
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gift receive our exclusive Martha Stewart Living Radio
recorded radio interview and transcript, chock full of
strategies, tips and resources direct from John.
Even with the start of spring, many people will have trouble breaking open their closets and going through their garages to get going on their spring cleaning. But sometimes the mess that seemingly won’t go away can be symptomatic of a deeper problem: depression.
"The fact is that previous generations simply didn’t have all the stuff we have today. They were never tempted by 24-hour shopping channels, blasted with emails about last-chance sales, or bombarded with catalogs and junk mail. Generations from baby boomers to millennials may have it all within reach, but most haven’t learned how to keep it in balance. Homes continue to grow fuller, despite our households growing smaller. "
The March/April 2013 issue of The Saturday Evening Post, features Angelica Huston on the cover, (coincidentally we wrote about Huston's thoughts about clutter in her Venice home in 2008). The End Clutter Now! Post piece examines the connection between clutter and depression; and provides insight on how to eliminate the clutter before it piles up. Post contributor Iyna Bort Caruso details the negative cycle of stress because of the mess and how it leads to an inability to dig out. Here are some tips to focus on getting rid of the clutter:
4 Spring Organizing Tips:
More tips can be found on Post's piece End Clutter Now! You can also read our related organizing piece on Angelica Huston.
What do you think are the links between clutter and depression? Tweet us at @johntrosko or leave a comment below.
Life this Topic?
Want
to learn smart and practical organizing tips for your home,
office and life? Save time by signing up for free topic
updates and receive them as soon as they're published. Plus, as a
gift receive our exclusive Martha Stewart Living Radio
recorded radio interview and transcript, chock full of
strategies, tips and resources direct from John.
“John Trosko offers creative solutions for clearing cluttered spaces while spilling Hollywood habitués’ domestic obsessions.”
– Cristina Tudino, Self Magazine
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