Today we’d like to introduce you to Kinsley Turnipseed.
Kinsley, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’ve been a natural organizer my entire life. I organized my home, friends’ homes, businesses. Just for fun. My entire life plan crashed in 2013, and I struggled mightily, asking God what now? What’s your plan? A good friend handed me a copy of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. She said, “Kinsley, you could do this. I know people would pay for this kind of service”. I read the book and thought, “well. I pretty much already organize using this method”. So, “My Other Mother” literally evolved from the darkest part of my life and just being willing to listen and look for God.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Smooth? Probably for some small businesses mine looks pretty smooth. And I feel blessed. The name just came to me – literally. And it’s an acronym for MOM. I branded it, decided on my vision, mission, my contracts, and then hit the road. Marketing events. Working lots of free hours to build a portfolio. Struggles honestly have been all the “business stuff” – finding insurance, a good CPA, good attorney, and, because I’m older, delving into social media. There’s also a struggle of finding employees and being willing to relinquish some control of my business baby. Of course, COVID took an aching toll on my business right when things seemed to finally be falling together.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
My Other Mother is a professional organizing and move management company, we are NASMM certified (National Association of Senior Move Managers). We specialize in helping people organize their home and workspaces – everything from junk drawers to garages and anything in between. We also help with decluttering, donating, packing, and moving families. Our hearts are our seniors and their adult children. The process of downsizing mom and dad from their home to perhaps a patio home or senior living community is not only stressful but also very emotional. We come in and walk hand-in-hand with family as we decide what needs to be donated, tossed, and packed for new living space, we also floor plan to make sure all furniture will fit into new space. We are able to contract with antique specialist, art appraisers, estate sale planners, and any other professional service that may be involved in this type of move, we also assist on other side of move to have new home set up upon arrival. Finally, we help insure previous home is cleaned out and ready for the market, we are definitely most proud of this aspect of our business. I am so proud of the beautiful ladies that partner with me daily to make all clients feel like family. We are known for our compassion and efficiency and overall rapport with our clients and their families. We KNOW that clients are not just another number – they are a name. And they have a story. And every story matters, I believe we are set apart because we do everything to make this process healthy – whether leaving sweet notes of encouragement, visiting clients after move in, or bringing a client breakfast because we just know he/she needs to be fed. We are faith-based and not afraid to pray with and over our clients to help them “let it go”.
What makes you happy?
Professionally, seeing my clients’ overall change in demeanor. Often when I first do a consult, he/she feels so overwhelmed. Defeated. Embarrassed. And as I walk with them through this process and see the genuine smile on their face, it makes me emotional. Lots of hugs and tears for sure… They take deep breaths. They tell me they can now have company over. They share stories and laugh. Sessions are very therapeutic – for all involved, they are “lighter” and less burdened. I get so many sweet texts and pictures months later just to tell me that the system is still working. And I love hearing their stories.
Personally, my children light up my entire world. We laugh. We eat dessert every night. And I never EVER take a breath or moment for granted. I am so proud that my children learned grace at a very early age and just truly love people like
Jesus does. I am so proud of their Godly character. Plus, they are genuinely witty and hysterical.
Pricing:
- Organizing- starts at $40/hour
- Laundry folding – $15/hour
- Scrapbooking – $20/hour
- Move management – $50/hour per organizer
Contact Info:
- Email: kinsley@meetmyothermother.com
- Website: www.meetmyothermother.com
- Instagram: @myothermother2018
