BY VoyageATL
Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexia Ford.
Hi Alexia, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself. My name is Alexia “Lexy” Ford and I am the founder/owner of Passion Organizing now residing in Smyrna, Georgia and a board member of the National Association of Black Professional Organizers.
I am a mother to three; Theresa, Jaylen, and a Shih-tzu named Yoda.
I have been cleaning, organizing, packing, unpacking and creating spaces since 1997 and founded Passion Organizing in 2016.
While working in corporate, I began to receive requests from coworkers in my office asking if I could organize their homes after seeing how clean I kept my desk, labeled files, detailed my emails and maintained the common areas. It was then I realized not everyone has the same passion for cleaning and organizing like I do. This realization pushed me to make professional organizing my full-time career, launching Passion Organizing.
I originally launched Passion Organizing in Ohio and relocated to Georgia in 2020 during the COVID pandemic. Even with the pandemic, I managed to build my clientele in a matter of months which allowed me to hire a team of 9.
I’ve had the privilege of being able to work amongst a great team to include my mother Denise (the clean freak), my son Jaylen (the muscles) and my daughter Theresa (the brainiac).
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road? Being a small business owner is not easy. It is definitely one of the most challenging experiences I’ve ever had in my life. Even though I have faced many challenges, I would not change it. I not only get to do what I love but I get paid to do what I love.
When I think of the challenges I’ve faced, I would definitely say consistency is one from both ends. I realize that if I am not consistent then the number of new clients is not going to be consistent.
Sometimes it’s hard to wear all the hats. I mean let’s face it, I am the human resources director, finance director, marketing director, social media manager, the worker bee, the cleaner, the organizer, the packer, the unpacker, and the list goes on. I have to answer calls, respond to emails, text messages, Instagram messages, Facebook messages, and Google messages just to name a few. If at any point I fail to do one of these things, it can be taxing on the business so I have hired an administrative assistant to help me manage all of the business needs but still it’s not always as manageable as I would like.
Locating good workers is also another obstacle/challenge I face. I have to look for people that are honest, trustworthy, hard-working and have a sense of order among other things. Trying to find good workers prior to the pandemic was a challenge but since the pandemic all lines of business no matter if you are fast food, hospitals, transportation drivers everyone is experiencing issues with hiring and that includes the janitorial industry. The janitorial industry had a 200% turnover rate prior to the pandemic so I can only imagine what the turnover rate is now. So I would definitely say that this is one of my biggest challenges I have faced thus far.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Passion Organizing? Passion Organizing provides organizing, packing, unpacking and cleaning services Nationwide as well as our home base of Atlanta, Georgia. We work with residents and businesses. No job is too big or too small. We have whole house clients and closet clients.
We specialize in all things organized, meaning we can organize anything. Most organizers organize in 3-4 hour increments which can take FOREVER but Passion Organizing prefers to knock it out so we organize in 8-10 hour increments. We are a black-owned/operated family business that treats all our clients like they’re part of our family.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers? Passion Organizing is committed to helping everyone get more organized so they can live a more fulfilled life so no matter your financial situation contact us because we have programs to help.
Contact Info:
Email: passionorganizing@gmail.com
Website: www.passionorganizing.com
Instagram: www.Instagram.com/passionorganizing
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/passionorganizing
