What Business Owners Can Learn From Home Organization Projects

What Business Owners Can Learn From Home Organization Projects

By Jen DuBois, VP of Prosper for Business Services

We’ve all been there: Perhaps it’s your busy season at work, or you’ve just wrapped up an extended period of hosting house guests. As a result of your unusual busyness, things at home are in disarray.

Your closets are busting at the seams after a period of neglect. For a while, you just keep shoving things in there with an “out of sight, out of mind” approach. But eventually, it becomes too much to ignore.

Somewhere along the way, you start to feel inspired. Just think how good it will feel if I get everything cleaned out and organized, you say to yourself. You block a weekend. In anticipation, you spend an evening perusing the pages of The Container Store’s website and dream of a shiny, beautiful, organized closet akin to those you see on HGTV.

When the day arrives, you approach the task bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Perhaps you blast your favorite music as you start to pull everything out of the closet. At some point, though, you pause and look around.

How did this EVER fit in a single closet?! Panic ensues. Halfway through the day, things look significantly worse than when you started.

This “oh, crap!” moment is one many of us have experienced when elbows-deep in a spring-cleaning project or large-scale home organization task. But if you’ve ever muscled through, you’re familiar with what comes after. A glistening, fresh, and decluttered space. A sigh of relief. A feeling of being lighter.

It’s amazing what an intentionally designed closet can do for our psyches.

There’s a brilliant parallel between the experience of organizing a messy closet and what our clients at MACKEY learn when taking advantage of our Prosper for Business system.

Like many things, the experience requires us to move through different emotional stages. Let me explain.

Stage One: Dread

The first step is admitting you have a problem, right? Easier said than done. Many of our clients live with some degree of dread before reaching out.

It’s not uncommon for business owners to experience a certain degree of embarrassment about the state of the books or their financial acumen. It’s certainly an understandable emotion, but it’s not warranted. Here’s why:

As a business owner, you’re an expert in your industry. But unless you’re in the financial sector, why would you also expect yourself to be an expert in finance?

The reason you’re so good at what you do is because you’re an expert in your field. That might not include financials. And that’s ok!

Instead of feeling dread because you’re not as financially savvy as you’d like, consider looking at your circumstances from a different perspective. As a perceptive business leader, you know you’re not a financial expert. So instead of burying your head in the sand, you’re reaching out for help. You’ve identified professionals who can support you and alleviate the stress and uncertainty that comes with the financial side of a business.

Just as that little voice nags at you every time you throw something in an already messy closet, it’s also urging you to do something about your financial circumstances.

The moment you decide to listen to that little voice and seek support is a moment when dread is replaced with pride.

Stage Two: Inspiration

Now that you’ve decided to act, the fun can begin! Our discovery calls and whiteboarding sessions are often a time of excitement, hope, and inspiration.

This is the moment when our clients start to understand how Prosper for Business has the power to transform. You may not have a KFI (Key Financial Indicators) dashboard yet, but you’ve seen one, and you’re chomping at the bit to have clean, organized books and reliable data to inform and support decision-making.

The eager home organizer may experience this stage by watching The Home Edit or reading Marie Kondo’s bestseller, thinking to themselves, that’s going to be me someday! And it will.

But it’s not always quite as glamorous as it looks on TV.

Stage Three: Panic

After those initial calls, it’s time for the MACKEY team to roll up their sleeves and, by your side, dig through all your financials.

Our Financial Systems Analysis is an essential step in the Prosper for Business system, and it involves us uncovering every potential data source to understand what we have to work with (and what’s lacking).In the process, we may identify that your books have some inconsistencies. We may also uncover that you have untracked but valuable metrics that you’ve overlooked.

Once we’ve developed a sense of your current financial situation, it may make sense to embark on a project with us, designing new methods to measure metrics or establishing a bookkeeping system that is accurate and easy to maintain.

Many of our clients experience a bit of panic in this stage of Prosper for Business, and it’s completely understandable, but you’re also not alone.

The vast majority of business owners need support in this process. It’s not just you. Life happens. Business starts booming, and you don’t have time to be as meticulous in your practices as you once were. Or perhaps some of your practices aren’t the best way of doing things. There is no need to feel ashamed; this is the nature of the process! And only by facing your opportunities for improvement will you actually grow.

Stage Four: Eager Anticipation

Once you’ve faced the harsh reality and devised a plan to fix what isn’t working, you can really start to see the finish line.

With clean and accurate books and newly identified metrics, we start to plan goals, devising ways of tracking your progress. This is when it all starts to feel like the promise of Prosper for Business is becoming a reality.

In your home organization project, this is when the bins have arrived. Items are going into intentionally labeled baskets and placed on shelves that make sense to your personal behavior patterns and needs.

You feel lighter as you anticipate the end product.

Stage Five: Peace of Mind

Just as there is nothing quite like a sparkling clean and perfectly organized closet, there’s nothing quite like knowing the financials of your business are organized, with systems in place to help you reach your goals.

The experience is, frankly, freeing.

When there is a place for everything, it’s easy for everything to be in its place. A more organized closet, like a more organized business, has the power to transform. That feeling of dread? Gone.

And with a quieter mind comes more space for new ideas, creativity, and growth.

Stage Six: Internalization

But anyone who’s tackled a home organization project understands that maintenance is an essential part of long-term change.

While the first 90 days with MACKEY are all about unearthing and organizing your financials, setting goals, and developing new systems and tools to achieve those goals, what comes after?

Internalizing your new behaviors so they become automatic and sustainable.

We can purchase all the perfect baskets with beautifully designed labels for your closet, but if they’re not placed in a way that makes for easy use, the solution is temporary.

In reality, circumstances change. Summer turns to Fall, and the clothing in your closet may need to be rotated. Similarly, your financial system will need a periodic refresh. Occasionally, we may need to implement a special project to identify new services that you’re offering or handle an influx of business (which means the need to hire more staff).

The point is this: While the first 90 days of Prosper for Business may be the most intense, it’s what comes after that translates to a business that truly thrives.

Building an enduring business requires discipline, flexibility, and a willingness to take advantage of the resources and expertise at your disposal.Just as you’re an expert in your field, we’re experts in ours.

We’re ready to get cleaning. Are you?