I help frazzled women and men remember how peace looks and feels. As a Utah Valley organizer (professional), productivity coach and small business owner, I have learned much about business development through the Utah Valley Small Business Development Center located in Orem. One of my favorite parts of being a business owner is recognizing ways to better my business services and offerings. Five days ago I attended a class on Social Networking offered through the center.  I thought social networking might be a new way to inform others of the benefits of organizing and managing 1st their time, then their office spaces, papers, data, and computer’s email inbox.

The instructor, Sean Roylance, began talking about Facebook and Twitter; pointing out the benefits of each option. As he discussed the benefits of twitter, he brought up a sample of his twitter page after saying that he was very careful to ONLY follow those individuals that he felt gave him consistently good information. In fact he, as a computer website programmer and SEO specialist, limits the people he follows to a mere 20 individuals.

I was delighted to see my friend and mentor (a tech savvy wonder woman) Janet Meiners Thaeler aka NewspaperGirl up on his screen. Janet made a big difference in my business a year ago. I heard her speak at an event and we became friends. She helped me get my newly redesigned website up and taught me some basic tips about marketing my business online. She is known more recently for her insights involving Press Releases (see her new book, I Need a Killer Press Release, Now What??? )

Along with Sean, I too value her insights and knowledge. She helped me set up this blog and convinced me that taking my business online was a good idea. Her work has allowed many clients to find me and benefit from the organizing services and productivity coaching I offer them. Her insights have allowed me to help others live their best life.

If YOU are a small business owner and would like to better manage your business, I would suggest looking into the classes offered through your local Small Business Development Center. And be sure to read Janet’s posts (here’s a recent one she wrote for Small Business Trends about getting publicity).

Each day I acknowledge something I am grateful for. Today I found three: Janet, Sean, and the Utah Valley Small Business Development Center.

I was interviewed on the WIN Show (The Womens Information Network) this month because I am a show host with The Organized Woman Show. In the interview, we talked about how my FREE WIN online radio show, The Organized Woman Show, can benefit listeners in their lives. We touched on systems for organizing your shoes, systems for organizing your papers, systems for organizing your time, and how to organize any portion of your life.  To watch the interview, click the title here: The Organized Woman Show with Vicki Winterton.

My show co-host, Laura, and I record and upload 8 new shows a month. Our shows talk you through the steps to plan and organize your spaces, your papers, your office, your family, your personal time, etc.  If you would like to be notified by email each time a new organizing show is available to our listeners, subscribe to The Organized Woman Show through RSS or Itunes feeds by clicking on this link and then click on  the or logos on the right side of the web page to subscribe yourself through your email account. You can then pick and choose which shows interest you.

I’d love to have you join me to win online at The Organized Woman Show for ANY of the many 12 minute shows that meet your needs or may be the answer to an organizing question you need answered. If you have an organizing concern that a new show could answer for you, just email me at vicki.theorganizedwomanshow@gmail.com and recommend a show topic. Be sure to include your specific question or concern.

My goal and the goal of The Organized Woman Show is to allow you to live a better life by learning a new way to accomplish your life goals. I want to help you live your best life!

I offer you options to organize your life and bring relief to life’s obvious pitfalls! Are you tired of feeling overworked and unable to maintain control of your life? After participating in any of these options you will feel you are better able to take control of your time, spaces, family, etc.

1. Please join me as I conduct a Utah Valley University community education workshop, Organize your Office (I teach this 2 hour class each January and October) which will focus on helping you better organize your life by implementing the following:

• Balance – Time management for busy people in 3 easy steps
• Five steps to organize your home and/or business office
• How to organize your inbox with my 6 D’s and
• Three systems for managing your incoming papers AND file cabinets

Now, if that is not enough, here is help #2 for organizing your life a little better.

2. The Organized Woman Show now has greater than 40 shows to help you organize your life. Some of the show titles included are:

• Fun Fall Family Traditions to help you organize your life and your family fun
• Perfectionism – Is it worth it?
• Setting up a Family Management Center to help you organize your life
• Setting up Family Rules so all family members understand that if they live there, they work there

We are now recording four new shows each month to help you better organize your life. Click on the or feeds in the middle right of the show page to be automatically notified through email of new shows as they are loaded. If you subscribe, you get to pick and choose the shows that interest you most.

3. I was invited for the 5th time to be the organizing expert on a KSL TV’s Studio 5 segment “How to Prepare for Murphy’s Law”. I shared the trick to preparing for Murphy’s “drop in” visits.

I am an emerging and ever changing person. Ten years ago I attended a few life strategist sessions with life coach Brad Chappell and learned to change and emerge better by dealing with my anger and my need to control. I learned to move forward by analyzing and embracing this phrase, “As we progress, we rid ourselves of our shortcomings because they no longer serve us.” I am now a different person than I had been 10 years previous. I did not know how to make these necessary changes on my own, but I was willing to ask for help. Life evolves; we can accept it, direct it and change for the better or allow it to overwhelm us.

I find as I look at my clients before and after photos that each client was able to quite easily rethink their current living spaces or work spaces, and realize the benefit in change rather than holding on to their old way of thinking. Is this YOUR time to rethink and rid yourself of your shortcomings because they no longer serve you? Is YOUR life cluttered with things that you rarely use? As Utah Valley’s professional organizer, I am here to help if you’ve tried MANY times and just can’t restore or maintain order. Contact Vicki Winterton for your FREE 20 minute phone analysis.

I learned again yesterday the I am blessed with the gift of space design, better known as organizing stuff. Yesterday I worked with a client who received me as a “Christmas Gift” from her husband. She is a busy wife, mother of 4, care giver to 2 cats, and talented musician.

   I have met with her 3 times and each time I see the concern in her face lessen and hope for order return. (I see this often in my clients as we progress forward.)

In our initial analysis I toured the home to see and hear her needs. (2 hours together) In our second session we tackled the kitchen beginning to end and I talked her through the pantry which she completed alone. (7 hours together) Yesterday we took on the family control center, her action file, the family reference paper file and archived papers file. (3 hours together – this took so  little time because she had learned the session before how to delete and categorize & had become very good at it)

She was very proud of herself in that after two weeks time, her kitchen and pantry had remained organized. She had been very concerned at our first meeting that she would be able to begin, complete AND maintain the spaces we organized together.

Are you moving forward or slipping backward in life? This past week my car’s odometer moved to 100,000 miles. Watching this movement made me realize again that we are either moving forward or backward continuously. 

   My husband and I  were going to dinner and the theater with his mother and sister and we each made sure we had clear view as the odometer ever so slowly moved from 99,999 to one-hundred thousand miles. In fact we kept watching as it moved forward to 100,001… another milestone. 

How is your movement coming in better organizing your paper, space, time or self? Are you progressing forward or slipping further into chaos and discouragement? Don’t become disheartened. Putting your things or life in order is freeing and calming!

If, after really trying on your own, you find you need an organizing expert’s experience, contact me.

January is NATIONAL get organized month. There will be sales all month long in retail stores on organizing products. Watch your local newspapers and purchase organizing products at up to 50% savings. Remember to measure your space BEFORE you shop. You don’t want to have to return everything because it is a few inches too large.  Call me if you need help. Happy Organizing!

Even Nature’s weather is organized in my corner of the world. Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall. Then to maintain order, it begins all over again. 

   Outside my office window the snow is falling. We have received 6 inches of beautiful white today. After a snow storm I feel encased in a calming quiet. I have been hoping, as I do every year, that we would have a white Christmas.

Nature follows my 5 step SPARK formula for organizing itself:

1. Sort
2. Purge
3. Assign a Home
4. Round up
5. Keep it up