Have you ever wondered how the power of decluttering and organization can transform your life? Discover it in our fascinating conversation with Janelle Azar, founder of A Meaningful Space. Janelle brings an innovative perspective to the world of organizing, offering unique solutions for busy families, moms, and entrepreneurs to create functional and welcoming spaces. She's passionate about making her client's homes not just clutter-free, but meaningful, creating a safe, non-judgemental environment where individual needs are met, and practical and sentimental items are balanced. We'll demystify the organizing industry, dispelling myths and misconceptions.
Janelle's journey doesn't stop at organizing. She's an ardent outdoor enthusiast, book lover, and national park visitor, and we'll get a sneak peek into her personal passions. Our conversation plunges into her pivotal transition from corporate commitments to entrepreneurship, an insightful story that's truly inspiring. She firmly believes in organizing as a catalyst for reducing stress and an investment in well-being. As we wrap up, you'll learn how to reach out to Janelle and discover more about her life-changing services. Get ready to be inspired and motivated to create your own meaningful space!
Have you ever wondered how the power of decluttering and organization can transform your life? Discover it in our fascinating conversation with Janelle Azar, founder of A Meaningful Space. Janelle brings an innovative perspective to the world of organizing, offering unique solutions for busy families, moms, and entrepreneurs to create functional and welcoming spaces. She's passionate about making her client's homes not just clutter-free, but meaningful, creating a safe, non-judgemental environment where individual needs are met, and practical and sentimental items are balanced. We'll demystify the organizing industry, dispelling myths and misconceptions.
Janelle's journey doesn't stop at organizing. She's an ardent outdoor enthusiast, book lover, and national park visitor, and we'll get a sneak peek into her personal passions. Our conversation plunges into her pivotal transition from corporate commitments to entrepreneurship, an insightful story that's truly inspiring. She firmly believes in organizing as a catalyst for reducing stress and an investment in well-being. As we wrap up, you'll learn how to reach out to Janelle and discover more about her life-changing services. Get ready to be inspired and motivated to create your own meaningful space!
Speaker 1:
This is the Good Neighbor podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Lisa Swiftney.
Speaker 2:
Hi everyone and welcome to episode number 87 of the Good Neighbor podcast. Today I have with me Good Neighbor Janelle Azar, and she is with a meaningful space. Hi, janelle, how are you doing this morning? Hi, I'm good. Lisa, thanks for having me. Thank you. So why don't you tell our listeners what is a meaningful space? What do you do?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, absolutely. I am a professional home organizer. I own a meaningful space that was established in 2018. And my primary focus has been helping busy moms, busy families, entrepreneurs to create functional and organized spaces that give them time and freedom to focus on what really matters in their lives. And I do that through decluttering, implementing routines and systems, and I really tailor those things to each individual and their specific needs.
Speaker 3:
I've worked in every room in the home pantries, closets, garages, basements, you name it and I also help families who are moving by either helping them declutter prior to a move or helping them unpack and set up their new home. And I think the thing that sets me apart is that I have a really strong desire to help clients find solutions that work for them. I'm a firm believer that there's not a one size fits all approach to organizing, and I'm also really passionate about providing a safe and supportive environment so people feel comfortable sharing their struggles or their challenges with what they have going on in their homes. I'm really a judgment free zone and, at the end of the day, I would say the ultimate mission that I have is to help clients create a place that they can enjoy and find comfort and relaxation, because life is about the moments. It's not about the things that we have in our lives.
Speaker 2:
That is so true. I heard something over the weekend about your living space. Is your space to be in the moment, not to collect items.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, absolutely. I am a firm believer in that.
Speaker 2:
That is great. Tell our listeners about your journey. How or why did you get into this business?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, this is one of my favorite things, I think, about starting this business. I've always been organized. I've even asked for a closet organizing system for my 13th birthday, so it's been since the beginning and in college I helped organize a move and a garage sale for my parents. We lived in our home for 22 years and we had three weeks to pack it up and move on, and I really thrived in that experience and had the best time doing it. And then in 2014, my uncle unexpectedly passed away and at that point I helped my mom and my aunt go through his things and make decisions about what to keep, what to donate, and we told stories about them as we worked and it was really healing and therapeutic and it just helped turn something that was really sad into something that was memorable.
Speaker 3:
And I think that it was at this point that I started to wonder what I was truly passionate about in my life. I had spent 20 years in retail management and for anyone who's worked in retail, you can probably relate that it's a bit of a tough industry to work in and I knew I wanted something more meaningful in my life and when I thought about what I truly loved to do, I kept coming back to two things helping people in organizing and, as I was researching different career paths outside of the retail industry, I found an organization called NaPo, which is the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals. And that's when I was like, oh my gosh, I found my people and realized that those two passions I had could be combined to an actual career.
Speaker 2:
That is amazing. So what an awesome journey. Yeah, I do know what it's like to work retail.
Speaker 3:
Yes, you see a little bit of everything, that's right.
Speaker 2:
So can you tell our audience a little bit about any myths or misconceptions that you hear about in your industry?
Speaker 3:
Definitely. I hear two things usually and they're kind of on the opposite sides of the spectrum. I hear people say or think that organizing is for hoarders or only for people who are hoarders. And don't get me wrong, there are organizers who specialize in working with people who have hoarding tendencies. But organizers can be really valuable for helping improve your home's functionality and aesthetic, so you don't have to be on that extreme end of the stuffification in your home and then on the other side of that, people also have the misconception that organizers make you get rid of your things and minimalism. It can be an approach for some people, but it's not the right fit for everyone. I find that organizing is about finding a balance between decluttering and also keeping items that are practical and sentimental.
Speaker 2:
That is really good and you mentioned early on about you can come and help somebody who has moved unpacked and get organized.
Speaker 3:
Oh my gosh. Yes, I tell you what. I actually worked with a family who moved and then immediately left for a vacation, a week long vacation, and when they came home, everything was out of boxes and I can't tell you how much relief and you know, took it away all the stress that's associated with that side of a move, and they just could come home from their vacation and relax Nice.
Speaker 2:
Nice, that is good. So tell us, janelle, when you're not working on your business, what do you like to do for fun?
Speaker 3:
For fun? Oh my gosh, I love the outdoors. I love hiking, biking, golfing. I just completed my first and probably last half marathon in the Smoky Mountains in September. It was a great experience. I loved every minute. We'll see if that happens again, I don't know. But I'm also an avid reader. I love educational books, about my industry, about personality, about mindset, but I'm also a sucker for a good fiction book and I'm always looking for recommendations. So if there's listeners who have good book recommendations, I'd love to hear about them. And I would say the other thing that I'm really passionate and love to do I love to travel, and so when I'm not working, I'm trying to hit all the national parks in this lifetime. So we'll see. We're getting there.
Speaker 2:
My favorite national park is down in the Virgin Islands. It is an underwater national park that Kennedy actually declared at a national park with all of the coral reefs. So to see it you have to snorkel or scuba dive. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3:
That sounds amazing.
Speaker 2:
It was, it wasn't, so that was one of my favorites. Oh, I'm putting that on the list.
Speaker 3:
They're all on the list, but that's definitely moved up.
Speaker 2:
There you go. So can you describe a defining moment in your life that you can say that you rose above? You can now say because of that, you're better for and are stronger.
Speaker 3:
This is?
Speaker 3:
This is a good question, and I would say that the day that I walked out of my job of 20 years to embark on this new journey as an entrepreneur, it was a day that it was really like a culmination of all the contemplating and planning and it was really just a leap of faith.
Speaker 3:
That took a lot of courage and it was unknown. I had no idea what was going to happen and I am not a risk taker, so this was very, very unusual for me, very scary for me, and there was a mixture of emotions, that sense of nostalgia, of saying goodbye to routines and relationships, things that had defined my life for two decades, and saying goodbye to that familiarity. And it was scary, definitely, but welcoming of excitement and not knowing what's to come. And I would say that now that I'm an entrepreneur, I'm shaping my own future and I've really taken ownership of what I want in my life and what my dreams look like, and I've really felt like I've proven to myself and to the world that it's never too late to redefine who you are or what you can achieve.
Speaker 2:
That is really good. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah, what is one thing you wish our listeners knew about your business?
Speaker 3:
One thing that I would like listeners to know about my business. I feel that organizing it's an investment in your well-being. I would want people to know that it provides less stress, increased productivity. It's just an overall positive impact on your emotional, mental and physical well-being, and I've had clients who said organizing has been like a therapy session and that they feel lighter at the end of a project. I've even had clients say that it's saved arguments and potentially marriages. So I would just encourage people to think about the fact of what organization can do for your well-being.
Speaker 2:
So now, our listeners are intrigued. They want to learn more. So how can they contact you to find out more about how you can help them with all of their organizational needs?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, absolutely so. The great place to start is connecting with me online or on social media. You can find me at a meaningful space on Instagram or on Facebook. You can find me at a meaningful space organizing, and my website is a great place as well Ameaningfulspacecom. That's where you can learn about all the services that I offer. You can find free resources and downloads, and you can also check out my online course for parents about organizing with kids.
Speaker 2:
That's amazing. Well, thank you for taking your time today and being a guest on our Good Neighbor podcast. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:
Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor podcast Rochester. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPRochestercom.