Today we’d like to introduce you to Terri Albert.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Terri. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My parents made me a t-shirt when I was about 10 years old that said NEAT FREAK. I worked in the corporate world for 20+ years and was frustrated with the 9-5 and when I got let go from a boring job, I was open to being entrepreneurial. I started first as a subcontractor working with established organizers and realized Residential Organizing was my passion. I read a lot of books, took classes/attended conferences, and got a lot of hands-on experience and 10 years later, I’m really good at what I do! And I feel wonderful touching so many lives one by one by one helping them declutter, organize, unpack their entire home so they can get back to their lives and have systems of organization set up from the beginning.
Has it been a smooth road?
Its taken time to build a business that supports me and keeps me busy enough as it’s a lot of weekend work when working people are available to organize. But there is plenty of work during the week too. When I have down time, I handle my marketing and time for myself with errands and exercise.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into The Chicago Organizer story. Tell us more about the business.
Residential Professional Organizing mainly–my freelance team and I unpack a lot of large homes–in one day the family can be 80% unpacked and organized! I also do a lot of declutter jobs that are very overwhelming for the clients as they don’t have any idea how/where to start. I have a high energy level and am able to keep the project moving at a pretty fast clip so the client gets a lot done when they work personally with me. They might have many more bags of donate items than they would if they tried to do the project themselves. My team and I are great at sorting random items that belong together so the client can decide what they keep; what they donate; what they throw away. I then get resourceful with makeshift organizing items they have around the house (shoe boxes; small shopping bags; Tupperware) or inexpensive items from a Dollar Store or Target I might resell to them to contain their categories and place them in the proper location in their home so they can find what they’re looking for when they need something.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Many people know that Professional Organizers exist and will continue to use them on the collaborative projects of getting back to baseline in their disorganized homes and to outsource their unpacking at a new home so they can get back to work quickly and not be living amongst moving boxes!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.chicago-organizer.com
- Phone: 773-401-9572
- Email: terri@chicago-organizer.com
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheChicagoOrganizer
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-chicago-organizer-chicago
- Other: http://www.linkedin.com/in/terrialbert
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