We recently connected with BRIDGES CONNER and have shared our conversation below.
BRIDGES, we sincerely appreciate you joining us today and agreeing to talk about some very personal topics. So, to kick things off, let’s talk about a tough one – divorce. Can you talk to us about how you overcame divorce?
My divorce was instrumental to my success! I started my business while I was still married and was able to work it part time because I had a dual income and I still had to be a mom. My divorce was official in April of 2010 and then the decision came as to what I wanted to do for the “rest of my life”. I was determined to grow my business because I loved what I did every single day.
My boys were ages 13 & 15 at the divorce, and I basically had to raise them on my own because of the relationship with their dad. I had determined I had 5 years to grow my business because I was receiving child support and spousal support.
Little did I know that a couple of weeks after I moved into my new rental, got unpacked and organized and was able to finally take a deep of relief ,there was one day that I could not even get out of bed. That was a 3-year journey working with a naturopath to get all of my level in my body up to par. Basically, all of my levels bottomed out and I had to work hard to get back on my feet, raise my boys and run my business.
I also had decided to hire a business coach. That was the best decision I ever made. I worked with her for multiple years and that journey helped me leverage my business, get out of the weeds and become the CEO of my business. She also helped me on a personal level to work through my divorce aftereffects, generational issues with my dad and hold me accountable!
On a personal note, I have to mention that self-care has always been on the top of my list and I feel that was also very important to my turnaround. I always made time for myself in the mornings to work out, meditate and take care of what needed to be done. It was a slow journey, but I came out the other end a confident and strong woman that was comfortable in her own skin and loved what she had become!
My business is two-fold in my eyes. One, I get to help A LOT of clients get “unstuck” in their lives and two, I get to hire and mentor women and men that are passionate about what they do every single day. I am a Past-President of NAPO (National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals) and continuing to be on the Board and, as a result, I have a constant stream of people that are craving the organizing experience and, also, want to do what they love every single day as well (you have to know that the organizing brain is very linear and we just can’t help ourselves).
I have to say that it took me almost 50 years to figure out what I wanted to do when I grew up, but when I finally discovered what it was, I jumped in with both feet and I have never looked back. I did own a Scrapbook store in another lifetime and that gave me the itch to become an entrepreneur (that and my dad has had a very successful business for the last 40 years).
I am now turning 62 and am looking down to road to retirement. The problem is that I love what I do every single day and I have set up my business so that I can travel and, basically, do what it is that I need to do. I am the face of the business and I love conducting the consultations with my new clients. I find that I am more of a project manager on the backend, I help coordinate consignment or estate sales if that is required and refer other amazing business owners to help out if need be. I have some amazing resources; I have a great assistant that helps with scheduling my crews and some top-notch organizers as well! If I have multiple crews out on a day, I just love the fact that I can help my clients out exponentially and on a larger scale to de-clutter the world!
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
The name of my business is Get Organized with Bridges + CO. About 7 years ago I learned how to leverage my business and get out of the weeds and that is when I added the “+ CO” to my company name. I also needed to re-work my website to reflect that growth and to trust that others could work as hard and as diligently as I did. What I realized in that journey was that I loved organizing my business and becoming the CEO!
This was instrumental in growing my business and having the ability to help multiple clients out daily. My worldly view, which was the work I needed to do as I re-branded is “de-clutter the world one home at a time”! When I conduct these consultations, it is amazing how much “stuff” people are stuck with. Most of the time it is situational in that they went through a divorce, a death in the family or having a new baby. Life goes on but their stuff gets stuck! Those clients are very easy to help as long as they are willing to do a good purge to get back on track (and we work on finding homes for all of their “stuff” that is left).
Another population that we work with is downsizing seniors that are moving into Independent Living or Assisted Living. In a lot of cases, they have been living in their homes for 20 plus years and they are paralyzed with what to do. I have amazing teams that can get into their existing homes, work with them on purging and getting down to what they love and want, getting them boxed up and ready for their move (we can also coordinate their move for them). On the backside, we can get them unpacked and organized in about a day or two. There is such a sense of peace for them it is extremely rewarding on our part!
We also work with clients on small business organization and setting up systems and processes for them. We also do the traditional closet make-over or garage make-over. At this point there is not anything we can’t tackle.
Happy Organizing!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I feel like the most important skills that I had that was instrumental to my success were:
1. The determination to make my business successful and working through those “terror barriers”. This was where my business coach was instrumental!
2. Knowing when to hire a business coach and know when it was time to hire outside people to deal with the pieces of my business that were not in my wheelhouse. (marketing, accounting, and an IT guy)
3. Trusting and training a team of organizers that are also passionate about what they do every day.
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
A business coach and surrounding myself with strong and successful women!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ww.getorganizedwithbridges.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getorganizedwithbridges/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GetOrganizedWithBridges
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/organizebridges
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=get+organized+with+bridges
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/get-organized-with-bridges-phoenix-6
Image Credits
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