5 people who inspired you during the early stages of business development

My work combines a variety of disciplines, including professional organization and decluttering, the psychology of people’s relationships with their homes, and interior and spatial design. As a result, the group of people who have influenced and inspired me is also very diverse.

Steve Jobs was one of the first people to inspire me in the early stages of my business. Jobs was a strong man, and his commitment to excellence and high standards, coupled with his genuine belief that great design can empower us all and transform people’s lives, resonated deeply with me and was a great motivator. He wasn’t known for having particularly good social skills, but his vision for creating innovative, functionally beautiful products with the highest design values ​​struck a strong chord with me. His tenacity and conviction in the face of setbacks, and his ability to buy Apple back after it had been forced out and transform it into an industrial giant, was extraordinary. I love how his determination and vision that all Apple products seamlessly marry cutting-edge design with user-focused functionality became so ingrained in the company’s culture that it has continued since his death. In my own way, that’s what I aspire to do when I redesign and organize people’s homes.

Another inspiration was designer and Habitat creator Terence Conran. His vision to revolutionise the way we live and use our home spaces, and to make modern design accessible to more than just a few, has had far-reaching implications. This aligns with my ambition to make living spaces simpler and more functional. As part of his interior design process, he advised people to take everything out of a room and put it in the garden in order to properly assess the space: something that is routinely done on TV shows today. I share his belief that clearing out a space is a key part of gaining clarity about how it could be. I know from experience, working with hundreds of people, that beneath the mounds of clutter lie rooms and homes with endless possibilities. It is my passion and calling to free my clients and their spaces from clutter and help them reimagine and redesign them. I love transforming homes from places that drain people’s energy, to places that empower and inspire them every time they walk through the front door.

In the early days of business development, I had the opportunity to work with Daniel Priestley of Dent Global. His skillful way of explaining business concepts in an easy-to-understand way helped me understand the steps I needed to take to build a strong business. His work and teaching were instrumental in building a company that would eventually grow into something I never imagined possible. Daniel spoke about the importance of developing the 5 P’s! Pitch, Profile, Partnerships, Product and Publish. This inspired me to create a home decluttering kit, a product that people could use to help themselves, or a decluttering friend. And to publish my book, The Secret Life of Clutter, a way to connect with people about how deeply they need to understand personal stories about the importance and meaning of our home and belongings. I would like to add another P: Purpose. I found through the process of writing my book that my purpose was to break down the wall of shame surrounding clutter, and to educate and empower people to have more compassion for themselves and others, as there is always a reason why we get stuck.

Oprah Winfrey has continued to inspire me as a strong and successful woman. She has proven that it is possible to be strong and vulnerable at the same time, and to lead with ambition and passion. I love how throughout her career she has delved deeply into people’s struggles and consistently demonstrated such compassion and concern for the human experience. In her later years, interviewing great writers and bringing revolutionary ideas and concepts into everyday consciousness was a constant source of inspiration for me. I love this quote, because it reminds me to appreciate my unique blend of skills and interests: “No one else does it like you, and to understand that what you have to offer, what you have come to offer the planet, is your gift, and your offering in a way that no one else can, and how important that is.”

Finally, as a working psychotherapist, whose practice informs much of my other work, I must mention depth psychologist Carl Jung, whose life’s work was based on his fascination with the archetypes of the psyche. His exploration of his own dreams and how these concepts relate to reality has had a profound impact on my approach to understanding how people relate to their homes and what deeper factors are at play when they struggle to create spaces that truly nurture and support them. I often feel that when I work in someone’s home and with their possessions in a deep way, I am also entering their inner world, their psychological space. I am continually amazed as their life story unfolds before me. I attribute this depth of understanding to my studies and work as a therapist. I was particularly influenced by the deep inner journey Jung undertook in creating his home, the Bollingen Tower, on Lake Zurich. One of his many ideas that spoke to me most powerfully was the notion that our home is an expression of our inner self. The main living areas are the face we present to the world; The lower ground floors, or basement, reveal our cultural influences, our history, and our subconscious; and the attic space, or in his case the tower, reflects our spiritual life and aspirations.

I think it is the diversity of these influences that has naturally led to the development of my unique work, the way I work with people and their homes and dance between the sacred and the everyday. I truly love my work, every day is an adventure and every client is a privilege to work with.