Our guest, Alaia Williams takes her clients from stuck, stalled and struggling with overwhelm and helps them get to a place where they can run their business with a greater sense of calm, clarity and confidence. Alaia started her professional life as a professional organizer and this has informed her work as an organizer of business systems.

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In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• How Alaia accidentally stumbled upon entrepreneurship when she realized she needed to confront mental clutter that manifested as physical clutter

• How working with her first organizing client taught Alaia how to lead with empathy when organizing both closets and businesses

• Why our shared personal decluttering experience best prepare us to relate and help clients grow

• The impact the recession and feedback from existing clients had on the direction of her business offerings

• The similarities between being attached to your physical clutter versus attachment to your business

• The importance of taking time (even a few minutes) to plan every day

• The five essential systems that every small business needs

• Alaia's podcast -One Organized Business

• Why even if you aren't "born" organized, you can learn how to be organized with practice

• How tiny steps and habit change is the key to lasting change

• How Alaia was introduced to minimalism when studying the quaker culture, which sparked her continuous quest to live more simply across all areas of her life

• The benefits of small space living and outsourcing tasks that don't spark joy

Gems:

• "If we don't take time to plan, we walk through every day with our blinders on."

• "You can spend your entire day marketing and still not make any progress."

• "The business side is not that different from the personal."

• "Yesterday was better than today. Today's better than tomorrow."

• "A small space with good storage is all I need."

• "Anything that doesn't bring you joy that you can delegate...do it."

• "Just make the space around you feel good."

• "Do one tiny thing to move yourself forward."

Alaia's favorite tidying tip: Start where you are and start with something small.

What sparks joy for Alaia: Simplifying things and keeping everything in her life as simple and harmonious as possible; Having joyful work relationships.

Parting words of wisdom: Don't beat yourself up and start where you are right now.

To connect with Alaia Williams visit www.alaiawilliams.com and follow her on Facebook, Instagram (@oneorganizedbusiness) and Twitter (@alaiawilliams). Also, check out her podcast and At the Helm women's conference

Alaia is offering a free guide to Spark Joy listeners: How to Organize Your Home Office for Maximum Productivity

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Alaia Williams.