Life Enriching Organization with Abridged

How did you meet your business partner Mackenzie and how did you decide to start your company Abridged together?

We met in 2007 as Behavioral Therapists working for a family who have a son with Autism. We worked together for 6 years, creating systems to help this individual develop habits and routines to live a typical life. While we both loved the work, it wasn’t something we wanted to do forever.

I left in 2013 to try a few other things and traveled a bit, while Mackenzie pursued side work in a letterpress business (Cottonflower Press). After living in Argentina for half a year, I returned to Portland, and felt completely lost about what I wanted to do with my life. Some friends of mine suggested that I would be a great Professional Organizer. They had hired one to help them with their kitchen, and loved the results.

I had lived by the books The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Zero Waste Home, and have always been very intentional about my own space, but I never thought that it was something I could pursue as a career. I started to look into it and immediately got really excited!

Both Mackenzie and I love creating order and efficiency, and cultivating beautiful environments. Plus, with our behavioral background, we’re well suited to helping others make changes in their homes and their lives. With a little wine, and a lot of brainstorming, Abridged was born!

Have you always been organized, what was the attraction to this field?

I grew up in a very cluttered house, and wasn’t allowed to have friends over very often because my mother was embarrassed by it. My sister and I must have gotten a latent type-A gene, because we “rebelled” by keeping our shared room immaculately tidy and well-decorated. I was obsessed with interior design as a kid, always watching shows like Interior Motives (HGTV of the 90s), and scouring design magazines.

In college, I started out in design, but later switched to Sociology-social service, because I wanted to save the world. That didn’t work out so well… But, I’ve realized that in all my work over the years I’ve always been drawn to the organizational aspects of work-creating spreadsheets and operations manuals, re-arranging file cabinets and supply closets, planning events, etc. I find that simplifying and streamlining, whether it involves things or information, is very cathartic for me. Since I don’t have much more to work on in my own home, I have to work in other people’s homes and offices to get my “fix”!

What were the circumstances when you felt like this service could be a full time business?

I joined NAPO (the National Association for Productivity and Organizing specialists) early on, and was surprised to see so many Organizers making a living, and each had a different niche-some help seniors specifically, some help with moving, others do digital decluttering… Once we started to narrow down to who we wanted to work with, and decline to work with people who weren’t a good fit, it became easier to find clients and be more sustainable as a business.

Who typically uses your services and why?

Our clients are mostly women, because, for better or worse, they are usually the ones tasked with taking care of the home and running the household (in addition to everything else!). We love to work with busy moms and/or career women who are great at what they do, but because they expend so much energy on others, their own spaces have become neglected and chaotic. We also have many clients who are either diagnosed (by an appropriate professional-we are not in the business of diagnosing or labeling anyone), or self-proclaimed ADHD, and seek help setting up organizational systems that work with the unique way they think, so their lives run more smoothly.

There is a lot of pressure to “do it all” and people feel that they need to have a perfect, company-ready house at all times, but our philosophy is that your home should serve you first and foremost. We want our clients to have a functional and beautiful living environment that supports the way they want to live.

What has worked well to help you find new customers?

Since we work with people in their homes, which usually involves some vulnerability, people want to know who we are before working with us. We’ve had the best success with networking and referrals. Networking has led to a number of unexpected opportunities-collaborations, speaking opportunities, and direct and indirect clients. Plus it’s kinda fun!

There are a lot of business partner stories, both good and bad. What advice do you have for working well together?

We went into the endeavor having worked together as co-senior therapists, so we already had a history of collaboration, which was helpful. But in the time between working together and creating Abridged we developed a really deep friendship. This may not work for every business, but we have found that being emotionally invested in each other’s lives allows us a certain give and take-we know when to cut each other slack because life is crazy, and when to push each other. And above all, we maintain open communication, talking through things that are bothering us, and working through things together. Having a joint business is like a marriage-it isn’t always going to be great, but if you have a good foundation you can get through some pretty tough times.

Can you talk about your backgrounds in behavioral therapy and how you apply that experience to the services you provide?

We worked as ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) therapists. Basically, it was our job to help those with low executive function develop the skills necessary for self-care, employment, and living a “neurotypical” life. To do this, we would take a skill, such as a morning routine of showering, brushing teeth, etc., break it into small steps, and build up each behavior through positive reinforcement until the whole routine was mastered and automatic.

Now this isn’t a technique we use with clients, but it is a perspective we use when working with them. We are familiar with ways to encourage certain desired habits and curb others that aren’t serving you well in the pursuit of your goals. Sometimes people become blind to situations that aren’t working for them.

For instance, maybe you have a shoe storage bench in your entryway, but it just collects papers and jackets and other things, while shoes end up on the floor. If you know your tendency is to put things on any available surface, why not discourage the habit by using an open shoe rack instead, or at least one with front opening doors so it’s easier to access.

We often think that changing our habits to reach our goals involves a lot of pain, suffering and self-discipline, when sometimes we just need to think of creative ways to make good habits easier or more pleasant.

What have been some of your biggest challenges? How have you responded?

Our biggest challenges have been pretty typical for new entrepreneurs. We started Abridged because we love to organize and help people, but we didn’t realize how ignorant we were about running a business until we were already in it! There are a lot of resources out there to help small businesses-the Portland Business Alliance, the Small Business Development Center, etc. We took every class, workshop, and offering we could find.

When we felt we were spread too thin-spending time and energy and money on doing everything, we sought out business coaches to help narrow our focus and give us a strategic plan of action. It took us a while to realize that Google is not the same thing as having a business degree, and now we seek outside help when we need it.

What inspires the work that you do?

The transformative results. When we work with someone to change their environment, they often get excited and motivated to change other aspects of their lives that may have been stagnant for a while. It really invigorates people. Our lives are complicated, and so much is out of our control. When you put some effort into making changes in an environment that you DO have some control over, you gain the confidence to tackle other, bigger things.

What organizing tips can you share with us?

Oftentimes when someone decides they want to get organized, they immediately go out and buy a bunch of organizing products (bins, baskets, etc.), but that should be almost the last step in the process! I often find that the bins end up unused in the basement, or filled with a miscellaneous assortment of things, or they’re just the wrong size. Take some time to go through your things first-pare down and sort them into categories that are meaningful to you. Then, when you know what volume of things you have, and where you plan to put them, you can buy the appropriate products.

What trends are you seeing in your field?

Thanks to Marie Kondo’s show Tidying Up, many people are now familiar with the profession of Organizing (although her methods are fairly quirky and unique!) She has shown that decluttering, downsizing, and organizing is not a luxury service, but rather something that could benefit anyone, especially busy families. I also love the way that she encourages everyone in the household to take ownership and responsibility for it.

I’ve also seen Minimalism, as a lifestyle, not a barren aesthetic, become more popular recently with a surfeit of books on “living more with less.” Minimalism is no longer about the amount of things you own, but it is more about being intentional about who and what you keep in your life. This is our philosophy with Abridged-we want to help people pare down to the most essential and important things in their lives, so they can grow those things rather than get bogged down in the minutiae of daily life.

Is there anything you would like to plug - a helpful resource, book, or something else?

I recently read Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism, and I highly recommend it! He has a process to help you figure out which technology is helping you in your life and business, and what is just a distraction. We’re bombarded with apps, games, and social media all vying for our limited attention.. It’s nice to be able to reclaim some of our time for what we really want to be doing in life.

Anything else you like to add?

I think sometimes when people hear the words “order, efficiency, and productivity” it can sound rigid and robotic, but what we’re really about is quality of life. We can’t get out of work and life-maintenance tasks, so why not make those things a little easier and more intuitive? It’s a busy, chaotic world out there, and we want to help you gain some control over your space and time!

About Abridged

We're Mackenzie and Alissa, the faces/voices/helping hands behind Abridged. With over 18 combined years of work in the field, we have a solid skill set that works perfectly alongside another passion of ours: space & life organization. We all need it - and even more than that, we believe that putting these systems into place will simplify and enrich life, leaving more room for the people and experiences you love most.