Houston Profesional Organizer & Concierge // A Day in the Life

Another day in the life of a Houston professional organizer and concierge from some projects we worked on in January 2020. Every week is different, which we LOVE!

Monday, the 20th Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Helped a client in Westbury organize her closet. She is a teacher and had the day off and usually on school holidays and bank holidays I book up quickly because people have limited time off throughout the year. I wish I got a better before, but just imagine basically no place to walk in the closet. It took 2 of us 4.5 hours to do the closet. She did amazing and donated SO much!!

Tuesday, 21st

We helped a client get organized after they just moved to Montrose from Midland. I know I have mentioned this before, but when you work with a concierge / professional organizer we usually have a huge list of resources, well at least I do. Her movers weren’t great and didn’t unpack, so when she contacted me in a panic the day before we were to begin our organizing project I knew just the people to call to help them unpack. We do offer unpacking services, but sometimes it is easier to hire unpackers, so we can get straight to organizing. There were 2 organizers for 9 hours and we got them to a point of functioning. The kitchen, bedrooms, office and playroom area were all set up by the end of day.

Wednesday, 22nd

Today was mostly a day full of regular clients.
Did returns to Neiman Marcus and Kuhl Linscomb.
Updated a guest list for a client whose son is getting married this summer and she is hosting a shower in March.
Schedule various service people for a client in Piney Point.
Head to River Oaks to measure a client’s gunroom for custom shelf liner.
In Montrose to run errands for a regular client.
Then in The Heights to help a regular client I work with monthly and usually several times a month to help them stay organized. Many clients I work with monthly I go to their house while they are at work to maintain big projects that we have done.
Then off to my concierge meeting at Henderson & Kane.

Thursday the 23rd and Friday the 24th and all of the following week of the 27th

We were at Trellis, which is the spa at The Houstonian and they are shutting down while they do some renovations at Trellis. They are opening Solaya in Highland Village. We have been helping them prepare for their move by boxing up various items, organizing inventory, storage items, organizing all spaces at Solaya and the list goes on. You HAVE to go check out the new space, it is GORGEOUS. We had 4 different team members working tirelessly on this project and so happy about how everything turned out. I randomly saw clients in Highland Village because we were there all week and please excuse my deliriousness lol. 

This week was also mixed installing shelf liner and errands for regular clients. 

Saturday, the 25th

In West U helping a client get organized after moving into their new house. We focused on the kitchen, pantry, master bathroom, playroom and living room area (mainly styling the shelves and organizing the cabinets under the bookshelves. It took 2 of us 9 hours to go through and organize all of the spaces. 

Saturday, February 1st

Helping a regular client in The Heights with quarterly decluttering where we go throughout the whole house and purge. Very cathartic and a great way to start off the new year. 

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Made in the USA + Eco: Scotch Flex and Seal

Since we do so many concierge tasks here in Houston we are constantly shipping items for clients. I love this Scotch Flex & Seal because 1. it is made in the USA 2. it saves on boxes and shipping supplies. All you do it lay your product on the shipping roll, measure how much you need, cut, fold and seal. It's super easy and efficient. Have you tried it yet?

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10 Things That Make Me Happy: February 2020

February was a fast and furious month with lots going on and I am so thankful for so much.

1. Going to the Roughnecks XFL games with Bryan and my in laws. 
2. Starting my Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (HLSR) shifts for the recycling committee and seeing all my committee members. 
3. Going to Rodeo Uncorked for the first time.
4. Going to Grace Potter show at House of Blues. If you have never seen her live you need to.
5. Getting 2 heart shaped pizzas for Valentine's Day. One from Jackpot Pizza and the other from Papa John's.
6. Starting our bathroom remodel project. 
7. Going to acupuncture.
8. Being able to go to a Women Who Give a Damn meeting and donate to a worthy cause.
9. Meeting up with my fellow Houston organizing friends for neighborhood group meetings through NAPO Houston. 
10. Being able to stay home several weekends and be with my husband. 

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Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day!

Photo by sheri silver on Unsplash

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Eco Modern Concierge Featured on the bareMinerals Blog

Eco Modern Concierge was featured on the bareMinerals blog last month. I contributed eco organizing tips for beauty supplies. Since it is earth month I thought this would be the perfect time to share this article. I am always happy to contribute to various publications.

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16 Tips I Learned From Having My Email Hacked

As many of my clients, colleagues, family and friends know, many of you got a ton of unsolicited spammy emails from me earlier this week. I got hacked and it WAS NOT FUN & BEYOND STRESSFUL!! In fact, it was such a major nightmare / hell where I had mini meltdowns in between being on the phone with tech support and answering the calls, emails and texts I was getting from clients and colleagues at least every 10 minutes from 12:30pm - 11pm and then again the next morning. Also, besides me being on the phone with tech support off & on from 1pm - midnight and then again the next morning.

I first learned that I got hacked when colleagues started emailing and texting me. Of course I immediately changed my password and got on the phone with tech support. GoDaddy is who hosts my website and email and they were very helpful, but everyone I talked to knew something completely different. This was a major help to me to speak to an actual person and I was oh so thankful for that. They think the hackers ran bots to get into my account. Basically they hacked other sights, took my email and used various passwords until they figured it out. They also told me they didn't think that they were actually "in" my email they were using spoofing and aliases emails and somehow got the information. Honestly, that is the part I still don't understand because how can you not be "in" my email, but responding to old correspondence with people?

The tech people gave me a couple of different options and I didn't like any of them.

I could:

• Upgrade my email from GoDaddy and migrate to a new server through GoDaddy, which I did. It cost extra yearly, but I didn't care and honestly I would only by paying $70 and in my eyes that was 100% worth it to hopefully not deal with this nightmare again. Honestly, I was willing to do almost anything to make it go away at the moment. 
• Shut down my email completely to make sure it would go away immediately, but then I would not be able to access incoming or outgoing emails for 24 - 72 hours. I chose not to do this.
• Change my password and let things run their course for up to 24 hours. With the server they were currently using for my website email address it could take up to 24 hours to "kick" the hackers out.  I chose to do this. 

Why did I choose to let things run their course vs shutting my email completely down? I am still corresponding / communicating with clients via email, I have projects & articles I am contributing to, certifications & classes I am taking, and I have have applied for so many different grants & loans I really did not want to miss anything during this time. I wanted to get an email out to clients warning them that it was happening and would not be able to do that and answers questions / concerns if I shut my email completely down. I think once it was all said and done the spamming actually lasted about 12 hours. Believe me I was STRESSED OUT completely that whole time. My fear was annoying clients and potential clients and possibly loosing them or having them not want to interact me. That is the last thing I wanted to do. I don't exchange a lot of sensitive things through email, but I was still worried on that front as well.

Here are some things I learned from the various tech experts I have talked to the last several days:

1. It can happen to anyone. Literally anyone, anywhere can get hacked and it sucks.
2. It is not your fault. There was very little that I had actual control over once I was being hacked.
3. Calm down. This is WAAAYYYY easier said than done, but in reality I got to a point that there was nothing else I could physically do to stop the situation and just had to weigh my options and what I could control was anger, stress and emotions. So my husband made me go for a walk and get some fresh air thank goodness.
4. Hackers are in full force right now during this pandemic. Several tech experts said hackers are bored and are preying on a lot of people right now, so be careful.
5. Change your password. This seems like an obvious thing, but you may forget about it. Several tech experts suggest changing passwords every 3-6 months.
6. Make sure you are using the latest email version if you use a host site. GoDaddy informed me I was not using their most up to date email service, so I promptly paid for that upgraded version and security for the Microsoft Office 365 version. They then migrated my information. After going around and around with them they finally did an emergency migration. Typically migration takes several days and you can still access email on the old server, but they did an emergency migration for me where most things got migrated in a 24 hour period with the final migration step happening tomorrow. They did this to hopefully get the hackers out quicker. 
7. Make sure to have your email list up to date and let your contact list know. This is especially important if you have a business. I am thankful I had all my clients in an updated email list already, so it was easy for me to send them an email from myself informing them that I got hacked. I did get emails, texts and calls from some people I don't ever remember corresponding with from 3-5 years ago, vendors, etc. I do not have a list of all the vendors, inquiries I have gotten through the years, etc. because I don't have a need to use it currently, but may start a list of those people now. I also decided to post on social media to inform clients that I knew it was happening, I was working on it and I was VERY VERY SORRY!!
8. Use 2 factor authorization. If you have not been doing this you need to. You can do it for many things like your email, bank accounts, social media sites, various apps, etc. I have this on almost all my important stuff like email, accounts, etc., but it is not foolproof. For example, I had it on for my Starbucks app and someone hacked into it days before all this started. Thankfully Starbucks gave me back all the money the hackers took off of it. *If you saw my Instagram story recently on how to add money to a Starbucks card, no it did not happen because of that post because I had already transferred the gift card amount to a new account before I posted that video. 
9. Always make sure you know the sender by seeing the actual email address it was sent from. The hackers were using my name to reply to old email correspondence, but they were sending it from a different email address trying to "spoof" people into clicking the links. This is why I was not able to see any of the messages as sent from my sent inbox. It is so weird and annoying because I have no idea who all got emailed besides the people who actually contacted me. 
10. Don't click any random links that are sent you. Evaluate the correspondence and see if it even seems like the senders "voice & tone". If it doesn't sound like the person report the spam, contact the "sender" who got hacked and don't click links.
11. If you click links, get out of it right away and change your email password. Although nothing may happen, it doesn't hurt to err on the side of caution.
12. Do not have your host email being redirected to another email account like GMAIL, Outlook, etc. I had my work emails from the GoDaddy server redirected into my Gmail account because it was easier to have everything come into one account. Every technology person said that this is just another security "risk" you are taking because it is being redirected to a whole other server. Even though I have 2 factor authorization on my Gmail account and Gmail is probably not how they hacked me. You just don't want to make it that much easier for hackers.
13. Use Chrome. They said it is one of the safer web browsers.
14. Use different passwords for different sites. I think we are all guilty of not doing this all the time, but I do have different passwords for all of my email accounts. All the tech support people I talked to said how important it was to have a different password for different websites in order to make it harder for hackers to hack into your various accounts.
15. Check your computer for Malware. There are various things you can use to make sure nothing threatening was put on onto your computer. 
16. Make sure your email settings were not changed. Make sure the hackers did not go in and change a bunch of your email settings and have things being redirected to them. 

Silver linings:

• I was able to talk to actual tech support with GoDaddy.
• I was able to handle it for 12 hours straight because of quarantine. Normally I definitely would not be able to do this and I would have been so much more stressed out trying to juggle work and this. I had just gotten off of a virtual session at noon right before I knew all of this was happening.
• One of the spam emails went to my clients technology guy they use and he was so very helpful in talking me through it and basically saying calm down, there is nothing you can do about it at the very moment, this to shall pass and then take extra measures when it is all over. He was also beyond generous to send me some verbiage to send to clients in an email because he knew I couldn't think straight. If you want his info I am happy to pass it along. He is located in Houston in the River Oaks area.
• Some of my clients along with the various technology people reported the spam emails to their IT departments and websites who track hackers.
• No one was down right hateful to me that they were getting spammed and most of them understood the stress I was under.

Although I did most of the right things based on the tips from the technology experts and support teams, there was still some things I could improve on. It is freaking scary and I don't wish this upon anyone. 

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Photo by Corinne Kutz on Unsplash

Houston Professional Organizer & Concierge // A Day in the Life

This is a day in the life of a Houston concierge and professional organizer from some things we were doing back in January. Every week is completely different and we LOVE it. 

Monday

Interview potential new candidates to join the EMC team.

Headed to Hermann Park area to help a client I have worked with for many year shred paperwork, file, change lightbulbs in their closet, and other little things while the painter was at the house because they needed someone to be there and lock up after.

Then I helped read over contracts, invoicing, email management, etc for another client I do various business tasks for.

Did a consultation at night.

Tuesday

Took down Christmas in for a business in Garden Oaks. 

Headed to City Center to pick up donations, dry cleaning and various other errands.

Back to Hermann Park to let the A/C guy in to do a repair.

In the Heights to help a client pack up some items to prepare for painting their house before they put it on the market. 

Wednesday

Delivered a book locally for a client who has an online store. 

In Piney Point for a client I work with on a weekly basis. I ordered some items online, put up Christmas, did returns, etc. 

Interview more potential candidates. 

Thursday

In the Galleria area where we helped a business pack up inventory and prep for a big move they are doing at the end of the month. Met with movers, went to ikea to get desks to be assembled and delivered. 

In River Oaks helping a client put up Christmas. 

In River Oaks for a consult.

In Southampton to help a client inventory and send items off to The Real Real.

Friday

Before

After

measured for shelf liner

measured for shelf liner

In Alvin organizing a storage / holiday closet.

In Galleria to help a business inventory / pack up items for a move. 

In River Oaks to measure for shelf liner before the client moves into their new place. 

Saturday 

In Montrose to help organize an office and go through paperwork. 

In Montrose to help clients declutter before baby arrives.

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Work From Home Productivity Tips

Being a professional organizer and productivity consultant and working a lot from home has me feeling all kinds of mixed feelings. I am trying to stay as productive as possible, but am losing a little motivation. I know there are all kinds of tips and tricks out there when it comes to working from home, but here a few things that could help. This of course isn't all my tips, but few. Especially if you love making lists and area a visual person. Are you still working from home? 

• Do a brain dump list. List everything that is on your mind and then categorize them into various categories like work, personal, hobby, etc. Then prioritize them. This helps alleviate a lot of stress and anxiety and essentially makes you more productive. 
• Use a folder or binder (electronically or physically) to store your master list. This is great to keep ongoing track of your lists and then you can add things to that binder or folder that is related to your list. Like if you need to dispute a bill, make sure that bill is handy in the folder so you can remember account #s, what you are disputing, etc. 
• Color code list. If you are a visual person like me than this can be very helpful when looking to see what needs to be done. 
• Cross things off the list. If you are compiling a handwritten list the act of crossing things off the list can be very effective and exciting. Make it a challenge with yourself to get more things done. 
• Use the Pomodoro technique. This is where you set a timer and work for 25 minutes and break 5 minutes.
• Use app & website blockers. They block you from getting on certain social sites and apps while you are working. This is so you can be your most productive self.
• Do something creative for 5-10 minutes. This can be just taking a walk outside for some fresh air, working on a hobby, etc. 
• Have an accountability partner or business mentor. This is great so you can talk to them and check in with them regularly.

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Photo by Gabriel Beaudry on Unsplash

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Photo by Jennifer Burk on Unsplash

10 Things that Make Me Happy: January 2020

What a great start January was to the new year. Here are 10 things that made me happy this month.

1. Being able to help client's surprises for their spouses come to life.
2. Celebrating my brother and father-in-laws birthdays.
3. Going to College Station and celebrating my cousins birthday with my aunt and uncle.
4. Starting & finishing a big organization project for Trellis at The Houstonian. While Trellis is doing renovations we organized their new space Solaya. 
5. Taking down all the Christmas decorations for clients and can't wait to put them all up next year.
6. Seeing Hello Dolly with my mother in law.
7. Taking time to read magazines.
8. Finally getting some personal errands taken care of that I had been putting off.
9. Being able to check out a new to us hotel, The George. 
10. Thankful for my health.

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15 Eco Things You can Do This Month & Always to Celebrate Earth Day

There are so many different things you can do on a regular basis to be eco and green. Since it is Earthy Month I thought I would highlight 15 easy things you can do to help your planet day-to-day.

1. Start a recycling program.
2. Make small eco changes like using reusable shopping bags, produce bags, sandwich bags, etc.
3. Donate or giveaway items you no longer need or want. 
4. Volunteer your time. 
5. Incorporate or use green beauty products. 
6. Use glass containers instead of plastic. 
7. Use eco cleaning products or make your own cleaning products.
8. Buy produce from your local farmers market.
9. Eat seasonally.
10. Compost.
11. Plant an herb garden.
12. Ride your bike where you can.
13. Organize a clean up day in your neighborhood. 
14. Buy from resale shops.
15. Use air purifying house plants.

Photo by Photo Boards on Unsplash

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5 Eco Things You Can Do During the COVID-19 Quarantine Time

If you are like most others right now, you are self quarantining or your city has a "shelter in place". Now is great time to start to make some eco changes.

Switch to cloth cleaning rags. Since there is limited paper goods at most stores right now, instead of using paper towels to clean, use cloth rags, old clothing, etc.

Start recycling. If you have never been much of a recycler now is a great time to start recycling and teaching kids to recycling.

Compost. A lot of people are at home and cooking much more than they did before, so now is the perfect time to start composting.

Do an energy audit. Call your electric company and do an energy audit to see where you are using the most energy in your house and how you can save on energy costs. Don't forget to turn off lights and electronics when you are not using them.

Ditch plastic disposable water bottles when you can. If you are at home start using reusable water bottles or actual glasses instead of grabbing for disposable water bottles if you have a good water source. It reduces on waste a TON.

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Photo by The Honest Company on Unsplash

Adult Easter Basket for Men

I have done a couple of different posts about adult Easter baskets through the years and you can see the posts here and here. I give my husband an Easter basket every year. This year, especially since all of the COVID-19 stuff is going on and we can't see family, I wanted to do something fun for my husband. I actually got all the supplies early in January and February, but I have proceeded to eat through the Reese's eggs I had stashed away, so I had to buy more. Below are pictures of what I did last year because I don't want me husband to see this and know what he is getting this year. Here is what was in his basket. I know it may seem like a lot, but usually I get things on sale or buy a little at a time so it is not super overwhelming financially. I try to get useful, practical things mixed in with some fun things.  Do you do an adult Easter basket for someone in your life? If so, what do you or have you included in it?

Mizzen and Main Shirt: He really likes these shirts and I am sure I got it on sale at some point because I almost always buy them when they are on sale. He almost only gets them on special occasions like birthdays and holidays.

Willams-Sonoma Lemon Cookies: I was in the store last year and the sales associate said these were popular and everyone loved them. Since my husband loves lemon flavored things I thought I would include them in his basket.

Grey and Brown Apple Watch Bands: My husband has an Apple Watch and loves it so I got him some new watch bands.

Apple Watch Charger: He also wanted another charger for his watch so I go home another one.

Texas Monthly Hat: I got him this, but I am the one who actually wears it the most.

Lottery Tickets: If you have seen my past holiday posts you know I almost always involve lotto tickets like in stockings, Easter eggs, etc. My parents did this for me growing up, so I continued on with the tradition.

Starbucks Gift Card: He loves coffee and Starbucks always has fun holiday themed gift cards.

Reese's Candy: This is one of his favorite candies, so I always include it.

What NAPO Houston Organizers Are Doing During Quarantine

I asked my NAPO Houston organizing colleagues to weigh in on what they are working on during quarantine time because of COVID-19 and here is what they had to say! What are you working on during all your downtime? 

Liz Tucker of Serenity Organizing Solutions: "I’m doing some organizing of my own! Mostly spending time refining systems I’ve put into place and clearing out my physical inbox."

Ximena Lopez Owen of Zensible Organizing: "I have been listening to NAPO podcasts, NAPO free webinars, previous NAPO Conference recordings, and today I finished my first free COVID-19 Resource class!! The more I learn, the more I am fit and skilled to help others with their organizing needs!"

Ellen Delap of Professional-organizer.com: "Learning on NAPO.net"

Kerry Spencer of Vibrantly Organized: "Homeschooling 😉 but I am still able to help my college students and now parents homeschooling. All virtually of course."

Michelle Smithpeter of Pretty Practical Spaces: "Today I finally got back to my garden! Gave 2 bouquets to neighbors, before taking this photo: 

"Pantry rescue project this weekend. I had to redistribute heavy items and change support pins.  

Need to add black center brackets when I find some that aren't $50 each 🤑"

Melony Davis of All About Space Organizing: "I was able to virtually work with a client who now lives in Georgia. She decided she wanted to purge her closet, but was feeling overwhelmed. I gave her this advice: “Before you get too far in, ask yourself why you’re wanting to minimize and what your objectives are. Once you know that, go through everything and see if what you’re keeping meets those objectives. Remind yourself that you’re in a very different time and place than you were when you got certain pieces. I’m happy to assist you any way I can. It seems simple, but it was just what she needed to hear. 

I am also organizing and getting ready to plant the largest garden I have ever had. This may end up being harder than working with clients."

Ann Zanon of A2Z Organizing Solutions: "I am working but just with one client and just part-time. I have been counting on my VA to do more back-end work. Gotta put in my plug here though...for those of you who are doing NAPO and ICD classes, be sure to track them! It's a great time to assess where you are in terms of achieving your CPO® status!" 

Helen Schutz of HBS Organizing: "Working remotely with clients - thank goodness the technology exists to do this!"

Karen Baker of Soho Productivity Solutions: "I’ve working remotely with clients too. I’m getting more emails than usual from clients with questions about working from home and maintaining productivity in these less than ideal circumstances."

Amy Vance of Eco Modern Concierge: "I’m trying to catch up on my various business renewals, schedule blog posts, think of ways to sustain business if this goes on for 3+ months (because it is going to get worse), etc."

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