This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
A personal organizer ditches the digital focus to declutter local homes. Welcome to "Side Hustle School," Chris Guillebeau here. In this week's Throwback Thursday segment, we're gonna check in with a Boston-based personal organizer who pivots from online media, actually gets a little bit frustrated with it, and decides to go back to her original focus, which was all about transforming homes and lives in her local community. Hey, there's more than one way to succeed. And I think life is short.
Might as well do what you enjoy, what you appreciate, and what you can find a way to make viable. That's what we're all about, telling stories of people who have done that in different ways and perhaps providing a touch point, a moment of inspiration or some practical support for somebody else out there who wants to do something similar. Now, last week in this series, we heard from a Best Buy employee who side hustles as a custom PC builder. Today, we're gonna check in with that Boston-based personal organizer. Let's hear what's happened.
Since we first featured Sofia, this is Sofia, our caller, our listener, our side hustler, who's gonna tell us a story. I'll come back at the end with a few words of wrap up. [Music]
Hi, everyone, it's Sofia, the personal organizer from Boston. You might remember me from a few years ago when I shared my story of turning my passion for decluttering and organizing into a thriving side hustle. Back then, I was just getting started and taking on a few clients here and there while working my 9-5 job.
But as I got better at it, I found myself with a waiting list of clients eager to transform their cluttered homes and offices into peaceful, organized spaces. Inspired by the success of other organizers on YouTube and social media, I decided to expand my reach by starting my own channel and blog. I poured hours into creating content, filming organizing tips and rune transformations and engaging with my online audience. At first, it was exciting to see my subscriber count grow and receive messages from people all over the world who found my content helpful. However, as I focused on more online projects, I began to feel disconnected from the hands-on in-person work that had drawn me to organizing in the first place.
I also noticed that I felt disproportionately happy or sad based on the number of views and likes I received, even though I had no control over it. And I missed the face-to-face interactions with my clients, the feeling of physically transforming a space and seeing the immediate impact of my work on their lives. I realized that while the online world offered a broader audience, it couldn't replace the fulfillment I got from working directly with people in my community. So I made the decision to shift my focus back to serving local clients. It wasn't an easy transition.
I had to rebuild my local client base and turn down online opportunities that didn't align with my new focus. But as I poured my energy into serving my community, I found a renewed sense of purpose and satisfaction in my work. One of my favorite projects was helping a local non-profit organize their offices and storage spaces. By donating my services, I was able to make a tangible difference in the lives of the people they served and support a cause I believed in. Through this experience, I learned that success looks different for everyone.
While some organizers thrive in the online space, I discovered that my true passion lies in the hands-on personal connections I make with my local clients. Today, my business is stronger than ever, and I feel grateful every day to do work that I love while making a positive impact in my community. I still maintain a small online presence, but my heart is truly in the in-person work. Oh, and I never check the numbers anymore. To all the aspiring side hustlers out there, remember that your path to success might look different than you initially imagined.
Stay true to what lights you up, and don't be afraid to pivot when necessary. Thanks for catching up with me, and happy organizing. [Music]
All right, thanks to Sophia for sharing those updates with us. As I said, digital works for lots of people, but if it's frustrating to you, if it's not working for your industry or whatever you're trying to do, you should not do it, right? You don't have to be on every social network.
In fact, you should probably pick a couple of them to be on if you want to be on them at all, and try to do those things well and not worry about what everybody else is doing and worry about all the different networks and such. There's too many things out there to worry about, so pick a couple of things. Worry about those things only. Listeners, let me know what you think, who you'd like to see featured from our archives of more than 1,000 stories, 2,679 total episodes. In fact, sidehustleschool.com, lots of resources there and notes for every episode, and of course, a new episode every day.
That's all for now, though. My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
