October 16, 2006 Section: Business Edition: METRO Page: 6D SNAPSHOTS OF PEOPLE AT WORK; Tracie Utter: energy for hire Paula Burba pburba@courier-journal.com The Courier-Journal Professional organizer can help fashion an easier, more orderly life By Paula Burba pburba@courier-journal.com The Courier-Journal Tracie Utter found her balance by leaving the corporate accounting world and — inspired by a television show — creating a business. Now she brings balance to others through organization. Name: Tracie Utter. Job: Owner, Utterly Organized, (502) 291-6890 , www.utterlyorganized.net . Age: 40. Education: University of Louisville, bachelor's degree in accounting, 1989; C.P.A., 1992.
Family: Married, two children. Corporate climbing: "The first place I worked was KPMG. I was an auditor there. ... I was there for four years then I went to what was Vencor, which is now Kindred. I was there for three years. ... Then I went to SHPS, and I was there for six years." On the ladder, off balance: "I was in corporate accounting at SHPS and I had both of my kids while I was there. And I couldn't be the kind of mom that I wanted to be. I just was not finding balance. So I hired a life coach. ... I started changing, opening my eyes to all my options." You can try this at home: "Actually, I saw a professional organizer on HGTV, on one of those organizing shows, and I thought, 'Oh, that's silly. I can't do that.' But just a few months later I did some research and I found out that I could do that." Reality isn't a show: "Unlike the TV shows, organization does not happen overnight. It takes time and commitment and energy. And that's why I'm there — in some cases a coach, in some cases just manual labor." When they see her coming: "I used to be an auditor. ... I'd go in and people hated seeing me. I mean it wasn't me personally, but I'd go into companies and nobody enjoyed getting audited. ... Now, I go to people's homes, and they still might not love the organizing process, but they do enjoy the help and they enjoy the end result." Handling habits: Clients "may need to change their habits, or they may not — we may organize around their habits. ... If we create an environment where the organization works with their habits, then they're more likely to stay organized and that's the goal. We can go through all this sorting and purging, but maintenance is the goal. Two years from now, I want you to be just as organized as you are the day I walk out. " Seeing the gamut: "In these 2½ years, I have seen it all. ... OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) ... packrats ... where I can't walk through a room. And it's very sad. But the average client is somebody just like you and me. ... They just don't want to think about organizing so much. ... The bottom line is they want to be able to find things and find them quickly, with little thought." Sending out the SOS: "A lot of them (clients) are embarrassed (to show her their homes). But that's my job: to comfort them and say, 'Well, we're moving forward, and there's no reason to be embarrassed. It's more embarrassing if you just leave it like that and not do anything.' ... Another big emotion is tying their personality into the stuff. They identify with the stuff. So, to get rid of the stuff ... takes a lot of energy. Not only physical but emotional energy." Can she get overwhelmed? "Rarely. I am human. I get tired. I really try hard to not go to anything tired, because that's not fair to the client. ... I really need to be at my peak energy level. Organization is a lot about how much energy you have. And I bring energy
to the table." The epiphanies: "I've had clients get irritated with themselves — because they realize what they've been keeping up with all these years that adds stress and time and everything to their life and they get mad at themselves. And then we really go on a fury." Clean sweeping: I don't make people get rid of things. ... I am asking them to make a conscious decision on keeping something or not. If it's a pile of dirt, fine, keep it — just make sure that it's important enough that you want to spend time keeping up with it." Refer, recycle, resell: "I would say that from eight out of 10 clients, I get stuff that they want to donate to charity. Getting stuff from people to people. ... I focus a lot on the homeless, because they don't have stuff. ... I really try hard to find charities that are small. ... I get a lot of office or computer equipment (and) it's tough to give away. ... The city runs a recycling program. I take a lot of computer equipment there. ... The latest one (request) I get a lot of is eBay resellers. People want to sell their stuff, and I don't do that, so I'll hook them up with an eBay reseller." Financial organizing: "Mostly what I'm doing there is helping people take their finances onto the computer — on Quicken. I'm taking them from a paper process to a computer process. ... So that — long term — they can create budgets so that they can control their spending. ... I'll get hired to do this and then reality will set in for people. ... They'll realize: 'I have to actually restrict my spending.' It really hits home. Then it gets tough." No one likes paperwork: "I love the marketing and the sales and the being with the people . But, you know, I do my own tax return. I have to prepare my own financials, answer to the IRS and the state and all that kind of stuff. ... The office work that goes along with running a company" is her least favorite responsibility . utterly organized
The logo for Tracy Utter's business. BY THE NUMBERS Marketing: Working a Homearama booth in July 2004, "I was just aggressively marketing myself. ... I was able to get three clients. ... I still have two of those clients today. ... Networking is the way I started. ... Now it's word of mouth as well." Clients: Each appointment lasts three to four hours. Utter has worked with more than 100 clients since she started Utterly Organized. Lessons learned: "The typical woman, honestly, they really only need about 20 percent of the clothing in their closet."
Office time: "In an average (home) office, I would probably visit (the client) at least two to five times ... so that's eight to 20 hours. ... Paperwork takes the most time. ... I have rarely made it through a whole office in less than eight hours." Money: Utterly Organized charges an hourly rate, but the first hour with a new client is free. An average home office organization could cost from $200 to $700 to organize, but some clients could spend as little as $100, she said. — Paula Burba