I’ve met a lot of professional organizers and other entrepreneurs over the years and, sadly, many of them are no longer in business. In most cases, it wasn’t that they weren’t good at what they did, but because they just weren’t passionate about it. Debbie Pendell is someone who clearly has that passion, and I hope her words will help you to keep yours as well.

In life there is “what” you love and then there is the rest of the “stuff.” You probably became a Professional Organizer because you love . . . well, organizing. In your business there is the part you love, organizing, and then there is the rest of the “stuff.”

For those of us who own our own businesses, sometimes the rest of the stuff swells to envelop the part we love.

I’m a lover of all things epitomized in Family and Consumer Science (old school a.k.a. – Home Economics). That’s right! I’m seldom referred to as a Home Economist, but I have been referred to as “Susie Homemaker” and “Betty Crocker.” (Don’t even get me started on the time I heard one of those monikers during a business networking session.)

For someone who had taken Family and Consumer Science since Junior High School and majored in the same in college, I’d say . . . well, a pattern had developed. I was living my love, or should I say loves. I love time management, space planning, efficiency studies, interior design, clothing construction, nutrition, hospitality, child development, etc.  And after all these years, these are still the elements of life that bring me a great deal of pleasure.

When I became a Professional Organizer, I would say, due to my education, I was ahead of the curve in my knowledge base; it was both deep and wide.

But it is my broader college experience that has taught me about staying in love with my business as an Organizer, about not letting the “stuff” envelop the love.

In retrospect, living your love is a little like being in college:

• You are learning about the subject matter that you love;
• You say “no” to people and opportunities that distract you because you are focused on what matters to you;
• You get to practice doing the thing you love, i.e. projects or using your skills for charity;
• You hang out with like-minded people who become your friends;
• You change as all that you are learning takes root in you.

Parallel that to living your love in your business:

• Have an insatiable appetite for what you love; learning new things excites you;
• Say “no” to those things that distract you – outsource work that distracts you from what you love doing;
• Organize because you love it, not because you get paid for it. So many benefits can come from this: more experiences to learn from, more people who now know you and what you do. If nothing else, it’s good practice.
• Hang out with like-minded people, other Organizers – you will draw energy from these friends; they “get” you.
• Let your knowledge take root; become the personification of organization. Organize because it is who you are, not what you do. It will make you authentic.

Remembering that I am in love with this profession keeps me from getting bogged down with the “stuff” of my business that I don’t enjoy. People don’t stay in businesses of their own if they lose their love for what they are doing.

I hope you fall in love all over again.