‘Cottage in the Canyon’ is what our family has named our quaint little cabin that sits on a creek in one of the most beautiful places in the world. My favorite activity when visiting our cabin is to pick blackberries while my family and dog explore along the creek. This year while picking blackberries, I had some time to reflect and realized that there are some big lessons I have learned as an entrepreneur that are beautifully illustrated by blackberry picking.
4 Lessons We Can Learn from Blackberries
First Lesson: Before you change everything, try changing your perspective.
It’s amazing to me when picking blackberries how challenging it is to see the best berries when they are literally right under your nose. The juiciest and most ripe berries are often sitting beneath the leaves, not on top of them. It is so easy to look at a bush, reach for the visible berries, and move on…but when you change your perspective, look at the bush from different angles, get into a low squat and look up, the prospects look very different.
When our investment or idea is not getting the best return, it is sometimes easier to think that we made a wrong choice. Early on with Reset Your Nest, different marketing tactics and approaches to lead generation were (and still are) constantly on my mind. I would try one thing and not see an ROI and quickly pivot to try something else. I remember in one year we changed our processes so many times around consultations and how we sent estimates that I think it is safe to say that we lost over 50 clients because everyone was so confused. I’m getting very vulnerable here sharing one of my bigger fails, but I am sharing in hopes that someone doesn’t have to experience the same pitfalls I did.
I had a system that was working. Offer a free virtual 30 minute conversation to anyone who wanted it (they were prequalified by answering a few questions on the intake form). The lead would get on a virtual call with me, we’d see each other face to face, we would talk about budget, I’d give them an estimate on the spot and and I would send them a proposal right after the call so they could secure their date. There were no surprises in the proposal because we had already talked about cost. My close rate was super high.
When I started delegating more and more of my responsibilities to others, I turned consults over to a new hire, someone who had little experience organizing and even less experience understanding how much organizing jobs cost. My team thought it would be a nice experience to offer in-home consultations because I had done virtual because there was only one of me and it was impossible to do that many in-home consults. We would send a lead organizer to a consult with the new hire in hopes that together they could come up with an estimate. Clients were no shows, we were paying 2 people now for their time, few clients were closed because money wasn’t discussed in person, proposals were sent days later.
We kept making tweaks to the process. We decided to charge for consults so we would only get serious inquiries. We closed even fewer clients. I could spend a very long time talking about all the things we tried that didn’t work, but the end of the story is that where we finally landed after a year of trying new things… is back where we started. Our current process is the exact same as it was three years ago. My wonderful project manager is the one who takes the calls, but besides that, everything else is pretty much the same. My project manager is a very experienced organizer who has planned at least a hundred jobs at this point. She understands how to project product, labor hours, and what projects cost. She is darling and friendly and believes in what she is selling. And her close rate is super high.
The lesson? The good blackberry was there the whole time. I was in the right spot. With consultation calls it felt like we spent a year jumping from blackberry bush to blackberry bush thinking the next one would be better. The truth is, the best blackberry was right in front of us from the beginning and we just needed to tweak a few things (like getting on my knees and looking under the leaves) to find success.
I have noticed with others and in my own business that often we change our services, our pricing, or some key component to our business before really getting under the hood. I’m not a car person, so that will be the only car analogy made today. But really understanding WHY we want to make a process change and WHAT problems we are actually solving for can make all the difference in finding success.
What happens when business gets slow? Do you panic? Start thinking you need to hire a social media specialist and pay for google ads? What if you used that slow time to really dial in your processes and spend time building relationships with closet companies and designers? What if you leveraged the clients you already have and follow up with them to see if there is another space they want organized. Those simple practices have had a greater impact on my business than paying for ads.
Being an entrepreneur and running a small business is all about solving problems, but I think that often the problems we are solving for are simpler than we are making them out to be. Instead of entirely changing strategies for our business, maybe a small shift in perspective will help us to innovate and tap into our target market better. And even though wading through the hard stuff isn’t as exciting as changing directions, staying put and getting on your knees can often be more fruitful (pun intended) than running from bush to bush reaching for the low hanging fruit.
Second Lesson: Don’t settle for good enough out of fear that there isn’t anything better.
My daughter and I were on the road to the creek (the actual creek was our destination) when we started to see blackberries pop up on the side of the road. We were excited to find opportunities to pick berries and so our work began. We were having fairly good success and focused on the task at hand. After a few minutes my husband who had been popping berries in his mouth both where we were and at the creek came back and informed us that the berries by the creek were significantly sweeter and bigger. My daughter and I had become so distracted and preoccupied with the little successes we were having that we lost sight of our original goal: pick berries by the creek. We made our way to the creek and after 10 minutes of finding better berries, my son called to me who had made his way down the creek jumping rocks and said the berries were so plentiful he couldn’t believe it. Once again, my daughter and I had stopped at the first sign of success instead of focusing on our original destination and the place where we knew would get us what we were really going after.
I have often gotten in my own way because pushing forward into the unknown felt too risky or scary and where I was felt good enough. I have seen this in running my own business. I have started to refer to them as shiny objects. Whether it is vanity metrics, clients (even if they aren’t the best or the right clients), keeping early hires (often friends) on my team when they clearly weren’t a fit, spending time trying to make a service or a process work that clearly doesn’t, or something else… there are so many things that seem exciting and feed my ego but the reality is that they often take my time and attention when they are not helpful to the growth of my business. It takes a lot of courage to leave something that is kind of working and trust that a much better solution is in a different place.
Some things I am striving to do to avoid these pitfalls are getting super clear about my goals and having good mentors to help me get there. Identifying your goals (1, 3, and 5 year goals), your target market, your core values and your core offering can help you keep your eye on your target. Seeking mentorship, guidance, and education from others who are in your industry or who have built successful businesses can also be a support. I knew our goal was to get to the creek, I knew deep down that’s where the best berries would be and that the further along the creek would be where the payoff would be the easiest… but I got distracted. So often we are distracted by the shiny things, by collecting gold stars that we forget that the real return comes with focusing on the the original goal. I am grateful that even though I got a little distracted, my mentors (my husband and son) were able to help me and my daughter reach our true goal in the end and remind us where the best fruit was.
Getting very clear about my goals has helped me grow my business. A great example of this with my business was how to find great clients. Early on, I was desperate for clients. I didn’t care who it was, I just wanted to organize… for anyone! I would get so excited about any client inquiries that came in. I listed my services everywhere I could think of. I offered discounts.
I tried so hard to close every client and went above and beyond to say ‘yes’. Yes to virtual designing, yes to home staging, yes to budget friendly products (I once did an entire home with dollar store products), yes to just providing labor and allowing the client to purchase the product that I designed. Yes to so many things that took time, MY time, with no additional return. When I finally put my focus on reaching MY IDEAL CLIENTS… the payoff was so much better. The profit margin was higher, my time had real value and was being invested in repeat clients, not catering to one-time clients who really couldn’t afford our services in the first place. I started to be really specific about what my brand was, who my brand served, and that it’s not for everyone. It took an element of risk. It’s hard to say no to a client that isn’t a fit. It’s hard to own our value. I wanted my services to be for everyone, but I realized there’s no way to do that and still make money. Clear goals and mentors helped me to overcome this hurdle and so many more.
You’ve got this. If you know where you’re heading, stay focused on the path. If you don’t know where you’re going, prioritize making a plan first. Because as the Cheshire Cat said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road can take you there.”
Third Lesson: Stay in your lane.
My daughter loves to pick blackberries as much as I do. We like to wander off together and chat while we find the best pockets and spots together. We do a pretty good job of tag teaming and finding our own spots to focus on, but every now and then we unintentionally end up following each other and picking in the same spot one of us just left. It’s not long before we realize that the spot that was so promising earlier has already been completely picked over.
When you try to follow in the exact path as someone else, there is less payoff. You can never recreate someone else’s success. And that is GREAT! My path is not your path. And your path is not my path. I love the professional organizing industry. I love the creativity and how every business is a little bit different. There are so many different niches, so many different personalities, so many different ways to help others live better, more organized lives. Get clear on what your unique offering is to your target market and focus your attention on THAT, not what your competitors are doing. Don’t focus on what everyone else is posting on instagram or what someone else’s revenue or team size or press accolades are.
Be creative.
Find your own lane.
And stay there.
When you pave your own way, use your own ideas, don’t try so hard to be exactly like someone else and follow where they’re going, you will find your own success being exactly who YOU are meant to be. Your clients will feel your authenticity. Your business will find success in being different, not in trying to replicate what someone else has already created. Trust me on this one. You know the quote, “comparison is the thief of joy”? Well, I believe that comparison is also the thief of profit. The more I focus on my business (yes, I learn from others and lean on others, but I try really hard not to compare or blatantly copy others) the happier I am with where my business is heading, because it’s on its own path, not trying to keep up with someone else’s. The blackberry bush that’s already been picked is so much less exciting than one that no one has yet seen. Trust me.
Final Lesson: Maybe you are right where you need to be… when you need to be.
Nature designed blackberries in an interesting way. Yes, there is a definite “blackberry season”, but even on the same bush the berries all ripen at different times. When we were picking this year we were later in the season so there were plenty of berries that had already been picked or eaten or just fallen off because they were so ripe, there also were plenty of delicious ripe berries, and there were still a significant number of berries that were green and not even close to being ready.
And lucky for us, because day after day we would revisit similar spots and more berries were ready for picking. This meant we got fresh blackberry cobbler multiple nights, not just once. And it meant that my family who spent time at the ‘Cottage in the Canyon’ before and after us were also able to enjoy endless amounts of berries.
Just because we aren’t where we thought (and maybe hoped) we would be at any point in our businesses, doesn’t mean we never will. It may not just be our moment. We are continually growing and learning and we will get where we’re supposed to be WHEN we’re supposed to be there. Pause and reflect how far you’ve come. To quote Gabby Bernstein the “Universe has your back” and has a plan for you that could be far better than you even imagined.
One of the things I love the most about our industry is the direct impact our services have on the lives of our clients. Yes we are trying to run profitable businesses, but I haven’t met an organizer who doesn’t also genuinely care about their clients. As we develop our unique offerings, our niche in the industry and build the businesses that WE are proud of, I hope you know you will find success too. Just because you aren’t “ripe enough” today doesn’t mean you’ll never be, it just means you need a little more time in the sun.
Thank you for letting me share my thoughts with you! It’s amazing how many thoughts come when I get to do something that doesn’t involve thinking of 1,000 things at the same time 🙂. I hope you were able to find comfort, solidarity, or some small takeaway in my musings. Thank you for being a part of this community!
Jen Martin
From a young age, Jen Martin, always loved organizing. As she grew older and had a family of her own, her love and value of an organized home just continued to grow. With four kids of her own, she knows how important organizational systems are to the foundation and well-being of a family's day-to-day life. Jen started Reset Your Nest in 2020 to bring her organizational skills to the rest of Utah. Her team of trained organizers has carefully and lovingly transformed the homes of over 500 homes. Jen has been featured on numerous television shows, podcasts, blogs, and books including Organized Living by Shira Gill, KSL Studio 5, AG Clever, and more.
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