OrganizingLA Blog

How To Set Up And Organize A Portable Car Office

Don't let traffic slow your career down. Actors and just about anyone can benefit from setting up a portable office in their car.

This article is first in an "organizing for the actor" spring series of guest contributor topics by Kristine Oller, a Los Angeles-based change strategist.  For more information on the series click here.

Picture this: You are exiting Samuel French (the theater, film and television old school bookshop). Your stomach growls for lunch. Then--  your iPhone rings: You have an audition in forty minutes! You, however, are on the opposite side of town and unsure of how to get to the casting office. The role in the audition is a “corporate office drone”… you, however, are wearing jeans and flip-flops. In addition to needing two headshots, they want to check your availability for several dates… you, however, are down to your last headshot picture and your old-school day planner is sitting on your bed.

Samuel French is an old-school film and theater bookshop in Hollywood. It's been in business on Sunset Blvd. over 65 years.

Hanging up from the call, you check the time and think, “Hmmm… what now?”

 

Times have changed in Hollywood. There is no way less turn-around for auditions, readings, and recordings. Where you used to have days or a week to prepare for an audition, you now only have hours (or less).

The most predictable aspect of an actor’s workday is how unpredictable it can be. When these unexpected opportunities pop up, time and traffic often prohibit even a quick trip home to raid your closet and utilize your office. Being unprepared for such good fortune increases the odds that you will squander your energy scrambling, worrying and “making do” rather than conserving it for the audition.

"The key is having a lean, mean, portable version of your office with you on the road. In Los Angeles, that means having an office in your car; in New York, that means having one slung over your shoulder."

Actress Joan Crawford Believed An Organized Mind Can Accomplish Anything

 

Iconic Actress Joan Crawford in her Los Angeles home, 1949

 

With a career spanning an incredible 45 years, Joan Crawford knew a thing or two about drive, determination and organization. Crawford, an actress who blossomed as a silent screen starlet and ended up as a pop culture icon with her "no wire hangers" manta, was well known not only for her talent, but her passion and fierce obsession for all things organized and clean.

Announcing a New Series! Spring Fling Productivity Solutions For Actors & Creative Professionals

 

Actors and creative performing artists in Los Angeles have a unique set of organizing and productivity challenges. We're introducing a new series to guide them and all creative and mobile professionals.

We're excited to introduce a new series of guest topics for creative and performing artists: Spring Fling Productivity Solutions For Actors & Creative Professionals written by our friend and business colleague Kristine Oller, a notable Los Angeles Change Strategist.

Why feature this Series?

Being based in Los Angeles, many of our organizing clients are (but not exclusively) entertainment professionals including film, commercial and television actors, voiceover talent, fitness models, professional photographers, web series talent, writers, authors, crafts people, casting directors, make-up artists, set decorators, wardrobe consultants, costume and production designers. 

 

We get many of the same organizing and productivity dilemmas over and over. We thought for a change of pace we would turn to someone who not only coaches creative and performing artists, but who also has a performing and small business background:  Kristine Oller.

Behind every any successful working actor or creative performing artist is organization. Keeping a calendar,  maintaining a clutter-free space and goal planning opens up opportunity for success-- in Hollywood and anywhere.

 

Topics Kristine will be covering:

• Set up a top-notch mobile office in your car.
• Sure-fire ways to use a calendar to schedule auditions and meetings.
• Home office paperwork systems that will not kill your free time.
• How to save yourself from tinkering with to-do lists all day long.
• How your home is an important tool for your acting or creative career.

 

What if you're not an Actor?

 

You may or may not be a creative professional. However, there are many professionals that live and work out of a car. You may attend meetings, deliver samples, meet with clients, coordinate purchasing and juggle erratic schedule opposite the typical 9-5 job. The tasks you perform, and the continuous pressure you may feel, is much like the challenges facing a working actor or performing creative artist.

Who else can benefit from the series?

• Real Estate Appraisers, inspectors, Notaries;
• Executive Recruiters, Professional Organizers;
• Closet Designers, Interior Designers;
• Power Line Inspectors;
• Mobile Mechanics, Plumbers, Electricians;
• Mobile Pet Groomers, Personal Concierge;
• Mobile Veterinarians;
• Liquor Reps;
• Insurance Claims and Pharmaceutical Reps;
• Amateur Sports Referees;
• Caterers and anyone with food truck;

 

About Series Author Kristine Oller:

Kirstine Oller, a Los Angeles-based Change Strategist will head up the OrganizingLA "Spring Fling" for creative and professional artists.

Kristine Oller is a Los Angeles-based change strategist who specializes in guiding successful people as they transition to their next Big Dream, particularly creative and performing artists. A graduate of Linfield College in Oregon, Kristine was a working actress (SAG-Equity-AFTRA) for a decade. As a successful small business owner, Kristine operated an award-winning professional organizing company for 15 years before "retiring" in 2011 to pursue offering her strategic guidance to individuals and groups full time. Visit Kristine's websites for more information visit KristineOller.com and TheActorsLibrary.com.

 

Kristine's series is used with permission and originally appeared in Backstage Magazine. The series is edited by John Trosko.

 

Don't miss these topics!

 

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.

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Model Cheryl Tiegs Loves Leaving Books Out; Her Designer Puts Them Away

 

Cheryl Tiegs loves to be surrounded by books.

It does take work to maintain a style. Over time, the addition of personal items, found objects and collections can take a space from carefully curated to carelessly cluttered. Books are considered a very common source of debate.

 

 

Take Cheryl Tiegs for example. The celebrated sexy tigress modeled her way through the 1970s and 1980s, and successfully licensed her name to Sears where she sold clothing and accessories to the tune of $1-billion dollars over 10 years.

 

She hired award-winning interior designer Martyn Lawrence-Bullard to redesign her Bel-Air fixer-upper in a Balinese paradise with British Colonial touches. The most notable change in the house is when Tiegs and designer Bullard ripped out the ceiling in the great room and added color through the house to liven the space. But her passion for books comes through often:

 

"Lawrence-Bullard insists on a splash of red and something green or living in every room. It also has to be clutter-free. Tiegs tends to leave books sitting around. After Lawrence-Bullard visits, she will find them all put away."

 

Tiegs beautiful (clutter-free) living room was designed by famed interior designer Martyn Lawrence-Bullard (notice no books!)

 

In an article for More Magazine in 2005, Tiegs talks about her passion for books, which seems to be the center of her attention as much as the Bel-Air house she designed with Bullard:

 

"Being surrounded by books give me such peace and happiness. I think you’re never the same person when you close a book as when you open one; it changes your life very subtly.

“These days, my home is my library. Among my collections are old Africa travel guides, and a book that was Teddy Roosevelt’s. One of my favorite gifts of all time is the complete Oxford English Dictionary set that my ex-husband gave me. Each volume is huge. I’ll never forget opening up that box and thinking, ‘I am in heaven!’

“The book that started it all was An American Tragedy. I was in high school, didn’t come up for air until I was finished, and thought, ‘Wow, this is what happens when you read a good book?’ The only problem at this photo shoot was being surrounded by books--I was frustrated because I wanted to read every one!”"

 

We think that books continue to be frustrating for the collector, the interior designer, and the professional organizer. How much is enough? Do we need to keep clients at bay, putting their books back in their place when we find them sitting around?

 

Did books win the battle?

Tiegs is finally parting with her home in Bel-Air on the market for $12-million. While it's probably not the case, we'd like to think the books won the battle.

 

Tiegs was most recently in NBC's The Apprentice in 2012.

 

Story assistance from the San Mateo Courier, University of Louisville archives, The Associated Press.

 

Tiegs home is currently listed with West Los Angeles real estate veteran Joe Babajian.

 

Want to add to this story?

 

How do you decorate with books without letting them get out of control? Let us know in comments, tweet @JohnTrosko, or send an email through our contact page.

 

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.

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Organizing Kitchen Cabinets

Smaller kitchen cabinets demand compact storage solutions

As you know, I'm a professional organizer. In my challenging Los Angeles galley kitchen, I use different storage solutions to systematize what is in each area. For the most part, because I buy in limited quantities so I don't have to worry about expiration dates.

 

Each time I go shopping, I go through the laborious task of transferring dry goods like rice, flour, white sugar, quinoa and brown sugar into clear uniform modular storage. It seems like the only way I can cram as much into the space as I can, is to compact and store items in the same packaging. I also close the cabinet doors so light does not ruin the contents.

 

Vintage-inspired ceramic "coffee cans" from World Market/Cost Plus store spices and coffee and some protein powder.

 

Small tag-sale or flea market trays and cobalt blue cruets not only hold oils and vinegars but the trays define how much I can buy at one time.

 

A stainless shelf riser shows what I have and makes maneuvering easy.

 

Labels go on everything so I can see without guessing. Also helps guests find what they need without asking. I also adjust my shelving height. Now, if that was not possible, I have done this with clients.

 

I snapped this picture for Instagram (follow me here by the way).

 

Like many people,  I need to make the most use out of what space I have. What kind of kitchen do you have? What crazy storage solutions have you dreamed of? Share them in the comments section below or shoot us a message on our Twitter account.

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.

Enter your Email Address


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