Good Neighbor Podcast: Frisco

EP #214: Crafting Elegant Order: Rachel O'Connor's Journey with House Made Pretty and Mastering the Art of Luxury Home Organizing

• Sophia Yvette

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What makes Rachel O'Connor with House Made Pretty  a good neighbor?

What happens when necessity meets passion? Rachel O'Connor, founder of House Made Pretty, turned an unexpected career challenge into a flourishing business, making her mark in the luxury home organizing industry. From the sudden realization of inadequate maternity leave to launching her own company, Rachel's story is one of resilience and determination. With a background in event planning, she seamlessly transitioned her skills into designing exquisite and functional spaces. Her journey is a testament to taking control of one's destiny and carving out a niche in a competitive market.

During our conversation, Rachel offers a peek into the intimate world of luxury home organizing, dispelling myths and highlighting the importance of trust and chemistry between organizer and client. She emphasizes the significance of choosing the right organizer, as this unique industry, much like photography, lacks formal certification. Rachel's business thrives through word-of-mouth referrals, a testament to the trust and satisfaction of her clientele. Join us as we explore the challenges and triumphs of her entrepreneurial journey and glean insights into the art of creating beautifully organized homes.

To learn more about House Made Pretty go to:

housemadepretty.com

House Made Pretty

214-240-2332

Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Sophia Yvette.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a luxury home organizer? Well, one may be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, rachel O'Connor, with her company House Made Pretty. Rachel, how's it going today? It's going great. Thank you for having me, of course, and we are excited to learn all about you and your business. Tell us about your company.

Speaker 3:

Sure. So we basically have a passion for making really beautiful homes full of perfectly organized spaces. So everything from the silverware drawer to the medicine cabinet, we like to be sure that the function and the aesthetic are both kind of tied for first place in terms of importance. So not only does it have to work, but it can also look really pretty at the same time.

Speaker 2:

And both things are very, very important. If I may say so myself, I couldn't agree more. So, rachel, how did you get started in this business?

Speaker 3:

So I started working for D Magazine right out of school, and my boss at the time and I left to go start a new company that I spent about four years helping her build from the ground up, and about seven and a half months pregnant with my first daughter, I was told I wasn't going to be getting maternity leave, which was always a huge. She actually used to do keynote speeches about the importance of 16 week maternity leave minimums in the state of Texas, and you can imagine my surprise when, seven and a half months into my first pregnancy, I was told that I wouldn't be getting a maternity leave. So that was Friday. Monday morning I quit.

Speaker 3:

I gave her my two weeks notice and had to come up with a plan very quickly to make up for that income with a new baby on the way, and so I had an event planning background, which is a very similar skill set to organizing. It's basically space planning and aesthetics Does it fit, does it look good? So I started my company. I got lucky enough to where my very first client and I clicked um, it was actually a professional golfer here in Dallas and from there, every single client I think I've ever had has stemmed from from my very first one. So, um, so yeah, so I. It was definitely out of a need for to establish I didn't want to put my faith in the hands of someone else who I had trusted and worked so hard for for so many years, and they basically changed their mind overnight and I didn't want to do that anymore. I wanted to control my own destiny and also support some really amazing women who now work for me.

Speaker 2:

In the process, Well, my goodness, it sounds like you've been through a lot, but it sounds like.

Speaker 3:

God has had your back all the way through, so for sure. I'm so incredibly lucky.

Speaker 2:

Yes, most definitely being in your industry. Rachel. What is the most common myth or misconception you typically come across?

Speaker 3:

So it's kind of a unique industry because it's I've always say it's kind of similar to photography, to where anyone can say they're a photographer, anyone can say they're an organizer. It's not a certified based industry that one would have to earn a degree and to consider themselves an organizer. So I think one of the kind of scarier things with our industry is basically people that don't do enough research when searching for their organizer. I mean, it's such an intimate process that requires experience, it requires trust, it requires, like you have to click with the person. So I think that definitely not doing enough research into who you're selecting and just assuming everyone is an organizer is a big problem for our industry and it also does a huge disservice to those of us who have been doing this for a long time and unfortunately we get hired fairly often after someone's hired a different company that we have to kind of go in and clean up their mess, so to speak. So definitely that's a big one is just because someone says that they're an excellent organizer isn't always the case, unfortunately.

Speaker 2:

So, rachel, getting into it a little bit deeper, who exactly are your clients and, in terms of marketing, how do you stay relevant and attractive to them?

Speaker 3:

So our clients pretty much exclusively come from word of mouth referrals. It is such an honor and a privilege to be welcomed into our clients' homes and it's kind of a scary thing for them. You don't let your mom go through your bedside tables but we have access to every inch of a home, so that definitely goes a long way when a girlfriend of yours says hey, Rachel and her team came in, they were trustworthy, they have our alarm code. At this point I mean, with most of our clients they become friends of ours. We go to their kids' birthday parties. We're looking for long-term relationships with our clients. So definitely word of mouth number one. We also have a strong Instagram following. Luckily, we have no shortage of beautiful pictures. I always say I feel bad for the insurance folks out there trying to make an Instagram personality and footprint because that's tough, but we have these gorgeous faces that we get to show off on Instagram as well. But definitely word of mouth is number one.

Speaker 2:

Sounds like lots of blessings surround you. So, Rachel, I know you already kind of got into it a bit in a hardship that you had to face going through such a tough time. I have to ask you what was the biggest thing that you learned going through that process?

Speaker 3:

I think it's just not putting all of your eggs in someone else's basket. You could have a strong what I thought was probably the strongest non-familial relationship you could possibly have with someone and you can trust them all day long and they can. What I thought was probably the strongest non-familial relationship you could possibly have with someone and you can trust them all day long and they can just change their mind and it's a really scary thing to build something for someone else and it can just be taken away in an instant. So I think that that's a huge one. Is all of that energy, all of that effort. If you have an entrepreneurial mindset and you're a hard worker, build something for yourself, don't build it for someone else, because it can disappear overnight for sure.

Speaker 2:

And so, rachel, what is one thing our listeners here today should remember about? House Made Pretty.

Speaker 3:

So I think the number one thing is we go into these two homes and we create really thoughtful space plans. Not only is the space is gorgeous, but we really think of it in terms of a partnership with our client. For example, we go in and we say, ok, show us how you get ready every day, like, go through the motions, sit down in your chair, where do you grab your blow dryer from? Do you stand up to blow dry your hair? Do you sit down to blow dry your hair? And we use their real life, how they function, to create space plans and systems that function for them in the long term so that they can actually keep up with the beautiful spaces once we leave.

Speaker 3:

So lots of companies do kind of one or the other very well. Some companies do both well. But we pride ourselves into really caring about the function and the system behind it, not just saying, okay, well, it's cute and it's labeled, we got to go and it falls apart. You know the second we walk out the door. We want to come back. You know six months down the line to help with holidays, to help switch kids' clothes sizes. We want it to be a long-term, ongoing thing and the only way that's going to work is if you put the thoughtfulness into this system.

Speaker 2:

Most definitely. And so, Rachel, how can our listeners learn more about House Made Pretty?

Speaker 3:

So definitely our Instagram is where I would head, which is at House Made Pretty. We've got lots of beautiful, beautiful inspo pics to flip through and we highlight some of our favorite products, and that's where we keep everything up to date to inspire folks and to get organized themselves.

Speaker 2:

Well, Rachel, I really do appreciate you being on the show. We wish you and your business the best moving forward.

Speaker 3:

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpfriscocom. That's gnpfriscocom, or call 469-221-9345.