What a year it has been for Declutter Bee!

The year started out with relaunching in Austin and becoming a member of networking community that inspires me to grow every day. To get my name out there, I participated in a Community Expo in March, trying to show the outcome of my organizing services through a before-after display of one’s linen closet. People really appreciated it finding they could easily relate to it, earning it the Best Booth prize! That booth got me a lot of contacts who were interested in learning more about organizing and I started an email marketing campaign and tripled my email list within 2 months!

In an effort to grow myself and to help people, I studied and completed Strengths Based Coaching to integrate with my business as a value-add for my clients. After the course, I coached some clients and received glowing feedback saying I really helped improve their self-esteem. This was an extremely gratifying and humbling experience.

Then, in May, my persistent efforts to network and get my name out there paid off! Redfin featured Declutter Bee’s ideas in their blog (https://www.redfin.com/blog/minimalist-moving-ultimate-guide/) and I also got interviewed by a local Newsletter (https://parkbench.com/blog/declutter-bee-business-services-leander-sahiba-bassi)

I learn a lot and derive a lot of inspiration from NAPO and thought of helping in some way, so I started volunteering with the NAPO Membership committee and hosted a couple of book clubs. That led to mediating a book club discussion with the Author of “Pursuit of Badasserie”!

Growing your network and increasing your sources of referrals is a constant endeavor for me, even when I have busy weeks with clients! Over time, I have made a lot of connections with complimentary businesses for long-term collaborations, which pay off in the long run. One such example was someone recommending me for an event coordination project. I organized a big fat Indian Wedding with more than 340 guests in Austin, for which I had to hire a team of 3 people to help!

Some more highlights towards the end of the year were having clients consistently 5-6 days a week for multiple months, working with 25 new clients, getting highlighted in the local magazine published by Stroll and hiring a Virtual Assistant to help me with my daily (non-client) tasks!

Looking Forward

In order to grow my business to the next level, I would need to automate some of the business processes that currently take up a lot of my time. I’d also need to hire 2-3 team members to help with larger projects, so that I can focus on working 1-1 with the client and the project gets completed sooner. This will also help me take on more projects!

I’m also looking to keep growing my network and referrals by networking twice a week and continuing to collaborate with other complimentary businesses.

To add to my skillset, I am also looking to get certified by ICD ((Institute for Chronic Disorganization) to work with clients with ADD/ADHD.

An overarching goal for me is also to achieve the next pre-decided financial goal for my business!