IAM601- Entrepreneur Revolutionizes Women’s Spaces

Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right+ place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and have a very special guest on the show today. I have Amy Bloomer of lecture space balloon. Amy, it's awesome to have you on show.

Amy Bloomer 0:38

Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here.

Gresham Harkless 0:40

Yeah, super excited to have you on and what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Amy so we can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And the inspiration behind starting her business was that she married a decent descendent of the revolutionary women's right, right activist Amelia Bloomer. She created and produced the first women's newspaper there lily in 1849, promoting events and discussing issues important to women at the time, Amelia was even more well known for popularizing a radically new and comfy salad dress. And that is where the term bloomers came from. Amelia was a revolutionary for women's fashion and social reform and she aspires to be a revolutionary for women's space. Amy, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Amy Bloomer 1:16

I'm ready. Let's do it.

Gresham Harkless 1:17

Let's do it. Let's make it happen. So I wanted to kick everything off. I heard a lot about you know, your background, all the awesome things you're doing. But I wanted to hear what led you to get started with your with your current business.

Amy Bloomer 1:25

Yeah, sure. So even though organizing is my passion and calling in life, it's a second career for me. So my original vocation was working primarily in financial service institutions. And I loved what I did. But once I got married and had children, I needed to find something that gave me more flexibility. And so probably about four years ago, when my children were just old enough to both be in preschool, I made the decision that I was not going to go back into the corporate world. And I needed something that I could do, while my children were at school. And while my husband was not traveling for work on the weekends. So I started out actually working as a contractor for another business because I had organized for friends and family my whole life for fun. But I didn't know how I was going to feel about showing up to a perfect stranger's home and helping helping him or her with their space. And so I discovered fairly quickly that I loved it. And so I had to, I had to figure out a brand for myself, which I think was the hard part for me. Once I am with a client and working in their space, it just you know unfolds very organically. And it's something that I love doing. So it doesn't feel like work to me. But developing a brand and marketing myself and running my own business was a great leap of faith for me. And so about two years ago, I decided to throw caution to the wind and jump in with both feet. And it has been such an awesome journey. And I'm so glad I did it.

Gresham Harkless 3:08

Yeah, I'm definitely excited. You did too. And it definitely seems like he seems like he's really good at you know, creating your brand to be able to come up, you know, with the focus of everything that name and everything like that definitely seems like everything just kind of came together.

Amy Bloomer 3:21

It did it did. And you know, I learned a lot about Amelia Bloomer, having married into the bloomer family. But I never imagined that she would be the inspiration for starting my own business. And her husband Dexter bloomer, actually wrote a wonderful biography about her, she passed away before he did. And so I was able to hunt down an original copy from the late 1800s, which was really neat, and really learn more about her philosophy and what she was trying to do. And it was just kind of a natural fit. As far as a very kind of similar mission for what I was trying to do. For women, I mean, I do work with men as well, but my primary focus has has been women because I think, generally speaking there there are concerned with other people and a household and not themselves. I try to, you know, use the analogy, I'm the daughter of a pilot and I spent, you know, a great part of my childhood at 50,000 Excuse me 15,000 square feet flying around with my father. And you know, they tell you you have to put the oxygen mask on yourself before you can help other people and I think that kind of gets lost for a lot of women and especially when it comes to their space and and how they use that space to either create a fantastic platform for everything else they do or, you know, create an environment of kind of Clutter and chaos, which is not really I think a good platform for most people to use as their home base.

Gresham Harkless 4:56

Yeah, absolutely. A lot of times if you want to have like a lot of simplicity or base clarity in your life, sometimes you have to start with your physical space and making sure that that's aligned, and then it starts to manifest itself and other things start thinking clearer. And things like that. And it's so funny that you said that about the whole oxygen mask, my whole theme for last year was actually putting my oxygen mask on first, because I think so many times you can get pulled in so many directions. And we got to kind of remember that, we have to fill up our cup and be our best selves so that we can give to so many others.

Amy Bloomer 5:22

That's exactly right. I love that. That's so that's so interesting that that was your motto for last year.

Gresham Harkless 5:27

Right enzyme. So I know you touched on it a little bit, I want to drill a little bit deeper and hear more about how you work with clients and exactly what it is that you do.

Amy Bloomer 5:37

Sure, absolutely. So I call myself a spatial revolutionary, right, someone who's making change in your space. And so my first step with a potential client is we have a phone conversation, and I try to get an understanding of why it is that they're looking for help with their space and, and what you know what their goals are. And so if I feel like they're a good fit, and they're, they're ready to make change, because, you know, oftentimes people think they're ready. But, you know, the definition of insanity is, you do the same thing over and over again and expect something different. And no, you know, inherently, when I work with someone, there's gonna be changed. Now, it could be on many different levels. But you know, I'm trying to assess if they are mentally ready for that. So if all goes well, then we do a first session and I show up to their home. And even if they're hiring me, for a garage, or a pantry, we do a quick survey, the whole house usually only takes 10 or 15 minutes. Because again, as a daughter of a pilot, I want that 15,000 foot view, I want to see how people are using the space because for me, I really want to implement organizational changes that are going to make their lives easier and more efficient. They they can find the things that they need, especially when it comes to everyday activities, like you know, feeding yourself dressing yourself, doing laundry, taking out the trash, all these things that are kind of your primary needs that have to be met to go out and do other fantastic things that are more fun in life. So I make it easier to find the things you need. So you have more time and energy to do things you love. So after we take a quick tour, and we talk about goals, we roll up our sleeves, and we jump in for the best of the session because people want to know, well, how much is this going to cost me? Well, I can tell you what my hourly rate is. But until I get to know you your space, how quickly you make decisions and what your goals are, I can't speak intelligently about how long it's going to take. But at the end of that three hour session, I've got about a 15% margin of error, which is pretty good. Based on the plan that they've laid out in the beginning, I can say, Okay, this is what we've accomplished in three hours, if we're going to complete the rest of your plan, this is about how many hours you would need to do it. And so it's pretty straightforward when you talk about it. But the reality is, and I try to explain to people that organizing is is probably one of the most intimate businesses that there is, because you are getting into someone's space and touching their stuff. And there really aren't a lot of other professions on the planet that you know, that do that in people's home environment. So it's critical for me to establish trust out of the gates, I have a lot of new clients who will be walking around apologizing to me for their space. And so I just have to set ground rules in the beginning and say, there's no judgement here. And please don't ever apologize to me, because there's no need for that, you know, your space is what it is. And we're here to make some changes for the better. And it's it, it's just that simple. There's no judgment whatsoever in this process.

Gresham Harkless 8:30

Yeah, that makes so much sense. And I appreciate you for breaking down all of the steps. And I think you're absolutely right, when you do have somebody come into your space, and especially if they're organizing and moving things around, you know, you do have to, you know, build up and develop that kind of intimacy in the sense of being able to have somebody you feel comfortable with. And I think that you definitely do a phenomenal job at doing that. And so I didn't know if that kind of was what I would ask for call, like your secret sauce or thing you kind of you feel it kind of sets you apart? Or is it that kind of spatial revolutionary kind of approach that you mentioned earlier?

Amy Bloomer 9:00

Yeah, so I definitely think it's, it's the spatial revolutionary approach. And, and something that I have that I feel like is my kind of God given gift. I didn't, I didn't learn it in a book or teach myself how to do it. It's something that I call spatial intuition. And so when I move into a space, my brain just starts going into rapid fire mode. And thinking about okay, you know, is that piece of furniture in the best place to maximize the space is the stuff that's in this room, you know, getting used efficiently and effectively. It's just kind of constantly trying to think about, you know, how can we better use this space so that it serves the people in it in the best way possible. And what I what I thought initially in my life is that everyone could do that. And what I've learned over time is that they can't. There are some people who absolutely can, but it's sort of it's a rare thing. And so it's it's something that I'm so blessed asked to share with others because it really, it's life changing. And when I worked in the corporate world, it was so frustrating because it was so hard to impact as an impact big changes as an individual in a big corporation, sometimes it would take years to roll things out. And I actually just finished up with a with a new client, just a couple minutes ago, before this call, and her parting words to me as I was leaving, where it's as if an angel came into my house today, and blessed me in this space. And that's the kind of thing that that just fuels my fire, because that's that's what it's all about. It's impacting a positive change in people's space, so that they are just glowing when you walk out that door.

Gresham Harkless 10:50

Yeah, that makes so much sense. And there's no better kind of stamp of approval, then then to be called an angel. When you're here, and you're organizing somebody's house, for sure.

Amy Bloomer 10:57

Right. Such an absolute blessing, I can't even tell you.

Gresham Harkless 11:00

Oh, that's super awesome. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit and want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So it could be like an apple book, or a habit that you have, or what's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Amy Bloomer 11:12

I would say what has helped me the most. And it's gonna sound so simple. But is, is doing your research and reading. There are so many incredible resources and books out there, that and ones that have been around for, you know, a long time. And of course, I'm I'm struggling to think of one off the top of my head. But there are just there's so much good information out there. And it's just about taking the time to educate yourself and kind of extracting what's going to work for you.

Gresham Harkless 11:54

I appreciate you for for sharing that with us. And so now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. So that could be like a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. Or if you can happen to a time machine. What would you tell your younger business self?

Amy Bloomer 12:06

So I'm going to offer you one of my favorite quotes that I actually have printed above my desk, and I read it every morning. And it's by Ralph Waldo Emerson. And it says, don't be too determined and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. And the more experience you make, the more experiments that experience but experiences to the more experiments you make, the better.

Gresham Harkless 12:32

Awesome, awesome, awesome. So now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping a different quote-unquote, CEOs on the show. So Amy, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Amy Bloomer 12:41

It means freedom and flexibility. I think having the opportunity to chart my own course. And have that short, that course be whatever I want it to be is just really amazing.

Gresham Harkless 12:58

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Amy, I appreciate your time even more. And what I wanted to do was pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you want to let our readers and listeners know. And then of course, how best they can get ahold of you and find out about all the awesome services and work you're doing.

Amy Bloomer 13:09

Sure. So I just wanted to share a quick organizing story. It's it's one of my favorites, because it illustrates kind of how you can learn at any age number one and number two, that it's not about organizing a trunk, a junk drawer, right? It's not it's so much more than that. And that's again, where this kind of spatial revolutionary piece comes in. So I got a call from a woman who happens to be 85 years old. And she said that her husband who's 96, and he's a very he's had a very successful business, he still goes into the office every day. But for whatever reason, the area of his brain that helps him get dressed in the morning and pick out outfits was deteriorating. And he had so much anxiety because he couldn't figure out what to wear. And it was really she was really sad and didn't know how to help him. And he didn't want her help. He wanted to do it himself. But he couldn't do it anymore. So they invited me into their home and we came up with a system. We put together the outfits that he used to wear and we took pictures and we blew them up and we put them in his wardrobe book and we numbered all the pages. And then we created a space in the closet for each number. So when he wakes up in the morning, he can look through his wardrobe book and remind himself of what outfits he likes to wear. And he can say okay, well, I think I will, I like looked number three today. And then he goes into his closet and in slot number three, everything is hanging, that is part of that look. And it really gave him his dignity back. And and it was it was just such an amazing thing to be able to help someone who's had such a long and successful life and all of a sudden at 96 started to have this roadblock that was really causing him a lot of stress. And so that's what Really what organizing is all about. And so that's another reason that I use the name, let your space bloom because organizing is a big part of it. But it really is creating solutions for your life organizing. And so if you would like to learn a little bit more about what I do, or what I've done, you can find a plethora of information on my website, which is letyourspacebloom.com Or my Instagram, which is let dot your dot space dot bloom. And I thank you so much for letting me share my story today. I really have. It's just it's been a pleasure to kind of think through, you know, where I've come so far and be able to share that with others.

Gresham Harkless 15:46

Absolutely, no, I truly appreciate you for for taking some time to connect with us, let us know, you know about what it is that you do and how you do it. And, and I think you're doing really awesome work. And I truly appreciate that story as well, too, because I think it puts everything in, in space, as you talked about the spatial revolution and exactly what that means. I think so many times we forget the small things we take for granted until sometimes we're super young, and we have to have somebody do it. And then when we get older, we sometimes take take those things for granted. But I appreciate you for putting that in perspective. And we will have the links and information in the show notes as well too, so that everybody can follow up with you. But again, I appreciate you and I hope you have a great rest of the day.

Outro 16:22

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai