Meet Meghan Maxson of Streamlined Living Colorado

Today we’d like to introduce you to Meghan Maxson.

Meghan, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I lost my corporate job in November 2015 during a mass layoff. A few weeks later, I was home in Wisconsin for Thanksgiving. My sister’s family of seven had moved into a new house in September, but they had not fully unpacked by Thanksgiving so I spent a couple of days getting them settled. My boyfriend at the time (he’s now my husband!) texted me from Colorado asking what I was doing. I told him I was organizing at my sister’s house and listed all of the things I had done. He replied, “Looks like you found your new career!” I’ll never forget that moment. It was like a lightbulb went off in my head… “I could get paid to do something I already love doing?!?!?”

When I got back to Colorado, I started researching “Professional Organizers Denver” and quickly found the Colorado chapter for the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals. NAPO-Colorado holds bi-monthly Mentor Circle meetings where seasoned professionals meet with people who are considering becoming a Professional Organizer. After that first Mentor Circle meeting, I knew I had to at least TRY becoming a Professional Organizer even though I had never, ever imagined being a business owner. Streamlined Living Colorado was launched in February 2016 and I have never looked back!

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My first year in business was definitely the toughest but that was because getting any business off the ground can be challenging at first! I slowly started building a clientele and I continued to hone my skills by taking classes offered by NAPO as well as through experience. I worked as a sub-contractor to other Professional Organizers when they needed an extra set of hands, which was a great way to be able to collaborate while also making friends in the industry!

Within that first year, I learned what type of marketing is worth spending money on and what type of marketing is like throwing money down the drain! I also learned how important it is to network and to be involved in groups that support other entrepreneurs. Being an entrepreneur has been extremely rewarding and satisfying for me, but had I not had the support from other entrepreneurs, my first year in business would have been so much more challenging.

Please tell us about Streamlined Living Colorado.
Streamlined Living Colorado is a professional residential organizing business. We work in homes, home offices, storage spaces and garages. SLCo specializes in helping clients find peace and calm in their homes by clearing out clutter and making the best use of the space available. We also provide moving services that involve prepping a home before a move by decluttering, sometimes before the listing photos are taken. It is so smart to declutter and purge items no longer wanted before moving because this will save the client time and energy on the actual move! SLCo will manage the moving day, which entails managing the moving companies packers and acting as a liaison between the moving company and the client. We will also get our clients settled into their new homes quickly by bringing in a team to unpack and organize in the new home immediately following the move.

I’m very proud of my business and the relief my skillset provides my clients. Just last week, one of my clients shed tears of happiness. She felt so much calmer in her home because of the changes SLCo made to make her home more functional while also looking and feeling much less cluttered. Many people don’t realize the direct correlation there is between feeling anxiety and/or depression and having a cluttered, unkempt space.
What sets my business apart from other Professional Organizers is that I strive to avoid my client’s items ending up in the trash or landfill. I bring my client donations to a non-profit thrift store where proceeds benefit domestic violence shelters. I bring shoe donations to Soles4Souls, who will then send the shoes to 3rd world countries and help women start micro-businesses reselling the donated shoes. I bring hard-to-recycle items to a local business that employs individuals with developmental disabilities and I drop off gowns and “nicer” dresses to the Bella Boutique, which offers free prom and homecoming dresses for low-income high school girls.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I have a very large extended family spread out all over the country. We’ve had family reunions every other year since 1987 and all of my cousins within four years of my age are boys. Even though I was the only girl among seven boys, my brother and cousins always included me and treated me like one of the boys, which is all I wanted back then! My fondest memories involve my siblings and my cousins at our family reunions. There are too many to name but I remember one fun afternoon on a Wisconsin lake when my uncle was throwing a football and we kids took turns jumping off the dock to catch the football. We’d earn $1 for every caught pass and I think I earned $5 that day!

Pricing:

• $75/hour (Every client session includes donation/recycling haul-away pending the items can fit in my vehicle)
• $640/9 hours
• $1070/15 hours
• $1425/20 hours

Contact Info:

• Website: streamlinedco.com
• Phone: 303-501-2496
• Email: meghan@streamlinedco.com
• Instagram: streamlinedco
• Facebook: @streamlinedCOprofessionalorganizing

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