Solopreneuring is great – but maybe you are looking to expand your business and take some of the day-to-day work off your plate. Liz Jenkins can help you with that. No stranger to NAPO, she has been a speaker and board member at local and national levels while steadily growing her own practice.

In this week’s episode of Stand Out, Growing Your Organizing and Productivity Business, host Sarah Karakaian talks with Jenkins about building your business and not being afraid of conversations around money.

There’s an old adage about working on your business rather than just in your business. Early on, Liz realized that while she enjoyed helping others organize, what she really loved was organizing her own business to tee it up for success. Right about now, you may be thinking, “That sounds great, but how do you do that?”

Sarah and Liz began by talking about building a team of great workers, giving guidance and helping them to thrive which – you guessed it – helps your business itself to thrive. Liz encourages other business owners to look at how staffing can increase your project capacity and free you up to work on growth strategies and honing policies and procedures.

The discussion then moved on to money. You can’t be afraid to talk about money with your clients. Your services, deservedly, cost something. Clients need a clear sense that one scope of work will cost this much, and a wider scope of work will cost this much. When first meeting with a client, Liz discusses fees right up front. When first starting out, she hated talking money. But that led to miscommunication and even more uncomfortable conversations when clients didn’t understand what they were being charged for.

Sarah and Liz also discuss project management and how, too often as organizers we organize other people’s stuff while flying by the seat of our pants in our own business. Liz offers advice on planning, experimenting, trying things out, making mistakes and learning from all of this to steadily improve. And make money.

Building a business can be scary. It’s ok to be scared – this conversation should be helpful in encouraging you to face and address fears you may have. Maybe you’re afraid about something current, like a challenging client or employee. Or perhaps you have fears about what it might take to grow your business from where it is now. Liz and Sarah have both been there, no doubt. So they have some wisdom they can share with you on this front.

There’s a lot more to chew on in this interview. Be sure you take a listen. To check out the podcast and subscribe, so you don’t miss an episode, visit: https://napopodcast.com/.

Over the last 13 years, Liz has grown her business into a successful 12-person organizing and move-management company. Her NAPO contributions include chairing the 2015 NAPO conference in L.A, speaking at several NAPO conferences including the Ask The Organizer panel and a breakout session, nearly every board position in NAPO Nashville, and is currently the chair of the special interest groups.