What does Kathy do and how does she do that?
Some of my blog subscribers have been with me since I started publishing in December of 1999. Over the last two decades, my business has changed quite a bit, resulting in some confusion about exactly what it is that I do. Some have also asked, “How does she do that?” So, this week I’ve decided to share more about what I do and how I work.
Although I’ve been an organizing consultant and a coach for years, today I call myself a Life Architect—a title that embodies the combination of these two separate professions. Assisting clients all over the globe, I work to help people identify the “why” of their life, and then help them couple that with the “how” to create systems and processes to support that “why.” Yes, it’s organizing – but it’s much more than teaching someone how to clean up their desk.
By combining these two professions, I’m able to help my clients design unique “blueprints” that enable them to live more purposefully and productively, at home and at work. Once systems and processes are set up, the coaching provides support and accountability as new habits are formed.
The way I deliver my coaching services has not changed over the years, although the way I deliver my consulting services has changed quite a bit. Today I work entirely by phone. In a nutshell, I help people organize their life, manage their priorities, and stay connected with important people.
I was one of the first organizing consultants to begin working with clients virtually–something I started doing years ago, based on client needs that I observed over time. Here’s the back story…
How Most Organizing Consultants Do Their Work
When I started my business in 1995, I’d go to people’s homes and offices to help them get organized. We scheduled several working sessions that typically lasted 3-4 hours each.
Sometimes I’d travel across the country to work with a client, and we’d work together all day – often into the evening – for several days. Pictured here are before-and-after photos (shared with permission) of a client’s east coast office after one such multiple-day working marathon. I live on the west coast, so working face-to-face required the client to cover my cross-country travel expenses.
New Discoveries
By my second year in business, I discovered a finding system called The Paper Tiger, which comes with a guarantee that you can find anything you file or store in 5 seconds or less. I was so impressed with this program that I started using it for my own filing system and storage areas. Eventually, this became a key productivity tool. Over the years, I’ve helped hundreds of clients implement this finding tool, including Jack Canfield. To learn more about what this is and how it works, click here.
I also discovered that some of my clients were not maintaining the systems we had previously set up together. Several of them hired me to come back and work with them again. At this point, I realized that in addition to needing good systems in place to keep things organized, my clients also needed to change some behaviors and habits if they wanted to enjoy lasting results. They needed support over time to make new habits stick.
This is also when I was introduced to the field of coaching, which was a newly-emerging profession back in the mid-90s. Prior to this, the only coaches I’d ever heard of blew a whistle in your ear and made you do push-ups!
I was excited to learn about the value that coaching could bring to my existing work, and I registered to take some courses at the Academy for Coach Training. I completed my coursework in 1999 and became a certified coach.
Since coaches do their work by phone, geographic location became irrelevant. My clients were scattered all over North America. Over time, I learned that several clients I was coaching also needed help getting organized. I started teaching them how to set up organizing systems and processes while we were connected by phone and Internet —without the need for me to travel across the country. This is how my virtual consulting services began.
At first, my colleagues said that nobody could help someone get organized without working with them face-to-face. Then they saw testimonials from my happy clients I’d worked with virtually, and they wanted to learn how to do what I was doing. In 2007, I started offering a virtual online workshop series to my colleagues, called Virtually There: Developing a Thriving & Profitable Organizing Business. I still offer this virtual self-paced course today.
By 2003 I was doing all of my work virtually, combining my skills as a coach and an organizing consultant. If you’d like to learn more, please check out these links for additional information:
- Benefits of Working with a Virtual Organizing Consultant/Coach
- Selecting the Right Virtual Organizing Consultant/Coach
My greatest joy is to give others the internal and external tools to organize their entire life–so their environment and lifestyle reflect their values and passions. If you’d like to explore the possibility of working with a seasoned virtual organizing consultant and certified coach, let’s schedule a no-cost Discovery Call today.
Additional Resources:
- About Kathy
- Kathy’s Weekly Blog
- Free Webinars
- Assess Your Organizing Needs with Free Assessments
- Benefits of Working with a Virtual Organizing Consultant/Coach
- Selecting the Right Virtual Organizing Consultant/Coach
