Cheers to 5 Years!

Well, this is a total pinch me moment…we are celebrating our 5-year anniversary at Lock and Key Home.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure this day would ever come. There have been a lot of high’s and of course a lot of low’s, which I now know is part of being a business owner. However, when I decided to start L+K Home Organization, LLC, now Lock and Key Home, I had zero clue what I was doing. Yes, I had a business degree in accounting and 14 years in the corporate world, but I essentially jumped into the deep end without my floaties.

I always grew up very organized and quickly figured out in a chaotic home that I needed peace and calm in my bedroom, which I made my sanctuary growing up. My CD’s, yes, I am aging myself, were by genre and in alphabetical order and my clothes were always color coded before that was ever a thing. Even as an adult, I remained very organized and had all my items in a designated home. Then I had twins…

View fullsize

To say they turned my world completely upside down would be an understatement. My nice, organized home quickly turned into a cluttered mess full of baby stuff, toys and multiplied by two. It was pure chaos. To add to the chaos, my husband took a new job where he was traveling to Florida for weeks at a time, me working full-time with a team, the kids being preemies with health issues, and oh wait, we decided to move. It was the move that sent me completely over the edge. (Hence when I say I know moving is stressful, I truly mean it)

As I sat around in our new home with boxes everywhere, I knew I needed help. I started to google places to please help me get unpacked and organized. This was before the Marie Kondo and The Home Edit craze, so it really wasn’t a common service offered in Louisville, KY.

So, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I created a plan to dedicate an entire weekend to unpack and organize, with no distractions. This meant the kids were sent to their grandparents and Ryan gladly volunteered to head to a boy’s weekend. Before his car was out of the driveway, I had the music blasting and began to tackle box by box.

By Sunday evening, I was exhausted but also had such a sense or relief and calm as I looked around our new home that was no longer cluttered with boxes and everything, even the baby toys, were organized. I knew it then and there I was on to something as I was sure I was not the only Mom, busy professional out there feeling completely overwhelmed.

I went back to my corporate job Monday morning with all new pep into my step because the world had just given me an opportunity, I knew I had to take…helping others get organized. However, I was completely clueless as to how make that happen. So, I quietly started to float the idea with friends and also did as much research as I could. I then came across a company in New York. They are a mother, daughter team who did exactly what I had in my mind and not only did it, they killed it. I took a leap and reached out to them to learn as much as I could and maybe even be part of their team. However, being totally naïve I asked all the questions. It was then they said, why don’t you start your own business? They saw the drive and direction in me way before I ever saw it in myself. That is an idea that had never really crossed my mind as I never saw myself taking such a leap.

Around the same time, my daughter, Tori, had her first major surgery to close up her cleft palette. I took off work for one day for this surgery, thinking I could totally be back in the office by the next day. Boy, I could not have been more wrong. The surgery did not go as planned and I decided I had to take a leave of absence to focus on Tori. She wasn’t eating and was in pain, but she was so, so strong and kept sneaking me little smiles. I looked at this precious daughter of mine and thought if she is so insanely strong at 11 months, why was I being such a wimp as an adult. How can I serve as someone she could look up to if I was being so weak?

The next day, I wrote my business plan and dove into the deep end of owning a business.

Top 5 High’s:

1) YOU! My clients: Without Clients of course, there wouldn’t be a business. I am fortunate to have some of the best Clients possible. Many of these Clients have become friends. They have encouraged me to take risks, grow, and be a better person all around.

2) Team: I was doing all the in-home services by myself for the first two years and to be honest, I was exhausted. It wasn’t sustainable and I knew it, but how did I grow enough to be able to have a team? I started small and just kept building. Many of my team members have no been with me for years and I can’t imagine life without them.

3) Family and Friends: I went from a decent salary in corporate to not paying myself, for years. To say this was stressful would be an understatement. However, I was very fortunate to have family support me and even a strong mentor in my father-in-law who was also a business owner. My friends showed up to every event I had, even traveling with me as my squad when I spoke at a conference in Dallas. They always showed up and showed out.

4) Writing A Book, Being Published, and Becoming a speaker: I was always the girl who would gravitate to the corner as I never wanted to be the center of attention. Starting a business was one thing, speaking in front of others as an expert straight up made me want to vomit. I decided to put my big girl undies on and face my fears. In return, I was asked to write a book, The No- Nonsense Home Organization Plan, was asked to contribute to several articles, including The Today Show, and the icing on the cake was speaking to a standing room only at a Mom’s Conference in Dallas.

5) Not Giving Up: there were so many times when the odds were stacked against me and the easiest thing to do would have been to close up shop and head back into the corporate world. Some people even encouraged me to cut my losses and move on. However, either I am stubborn or naïve, but I knew in my heart I had to do this. Right before Covid, I had the difficult talk with Amy Rudy, who is now my business coach, about shutting it down. She had the numbers, the stats, and saw all the details of where I was. Her response, “that seems boring…is that what you want?” I immediately responded hell no, that isn’t what I wanted. And that was that. I took Covid to build and came out of the gate strong to get back at it. We have continued to build and grow from there.

I am beyond proud of our accomplishments at Lock and Key Home as we celebrate our five-year anniversary. With that said, I can say with a 100% certainty…you haven’t seen nothing yet! =) To celebrate and give thanks to everyone who has supported this journey, we will be doing 5 days of giveaways. Check out Instagram to see what goodies there will be daily.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone.

Cheers to the next 5!

Kim