Meet Shannon McKinney

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Shannon McKinney. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Shannon, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

I think being an only child raised by a single father in the early 80s made me resilient in more ways than I can quantify. I had to be self-reliant from an early age and figure things out for myself out of necessity. Through the inevitable mistakes that I made as a young person, without a second thought, I always pulled myself back up and keep going.

I have a natural stick-to-it-ness that has served me in my business, especially in the early years when I had feelings of doubt and wanted to give up; I just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I’m a professional home organizer in Houston entering my 6th year in business. I fell into this field by kismet – I didn’t know that home organizing was a profession until I stumbled onto a magazine article written by an organizer and I KNEW that I had to make this into a career for myself. I joined NAPO, took classes to “go pro”, and subcontracted for organizers doing lots of different types of jobs while building my own client base.

Working for myself and being present for my daughter and family was something I was focused on intently when I dove into starting my business; doing excellent work that I love and have an affinity for, I just can’t believe how lucky I am.

I’d say that the majority of my work consists of repeat clients and word of mouth referrals. I started taking my SEO seriously last fall and was found by a fabulous client that led to multiple sessions that pushed me outside of my comfort zone a little, which was a total win. Not only do I problem-solve and create lasting organizing systems, I strive to add beauty and elevate the spaces I work in. Elevated organizing, hey, I need to add that to my collateral and website!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I think that having a natural instinct for solving space and organizing problems is a good basis from which to begin; years of actual work in clients’ homes gives you the experience to build off of your innate talents, along with giving you confidence and breadth of work to pull ideas from.

For me, my organizing business was all or nothing – not dipping my toe into the water, which I think is important for making it work long-term. Not having a back-up option forced me to go all in and I’ve seen organizers fall in and out over the years through not investing all of their efforts into their business.

Mentorship and collaboration with other organizers has helped me immensely! Whether it’s seeking advice from a trusted mentor with decades of experience or commiserating and/or celebrating with a handful of local and online organizers that I’ve developed relationships with, it’s helpful to listen to and learn from others. Trust in yourself, find your pack, and provide a superb product – I think that’s a good start!

Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?

I think it’s important to be well rounded in general but focusing on one’s areas of strength is where the gold is in my experience. You know the old expression “jack of all trades, master of none”? Organizing is a pretty large field with lots of little niches; honing in on one specific area while being experienced in a few other areas that strengthen your overall business is what I base my work on. For instance, offering clients general decluttering and organizing tenants and adding elements of interior design and styling is my sweet spot.

I don’t particularly enjoy office and paper management so I can refer that client to an organizer that specializes in that field. Another example, some organizers may offer Christmas holiday set-up and take-down/storage and that doesn’t suit me. As a solopreneur, I’d rather not water down my services in areas that might not serve my clients but rather stay true to my core services and excel at them.

An overall niche with a few specialized areas that compliment your main skill set is what I’m an advocate for; there is no one-size-fits-all of course, but this is what works for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.holmanhope.com
• Instagram: @holman_hope
• Facebook: /holmanhopehomeorganizing