Why Decluttering Your Space Heals Your Business Decisions | Alison Kero

If you're navigating chronic illness, chronic pain, chronic fatigue, autoimmune disorders, and building a business, chances are your space, your home, your schedule, your head feels like it's working against you more than it's working for you because of all of the things. You know that feeling, the clutter, the noise, the doctor's bills, and on top of that, all of those lab reports. I like to call this experience of this noise The clutter, the noise, I like to call it the cotton in your head, where everything is so full of things you don't have the energy to deal with, and it just keeps coming back even though you clear it out, you organize it, and you create a system for it. And that's lovely for a minute. Here's what nobody talks about. The reason it keeps coming back isn't a discipline problem. It's not even an organization problem. It's something underneath all of it that most people never really get to. My guest today figured out that the hard way. She's a professional organizer who has been doing this work for over 20 years, and she manages chronic Lyme disease herself. And somewhere in those 20 years, she held on to one small handmade object for two decades, something a lost friend made her, not because she needed it, but because she didn't understand yet what letting it go would actually cost her. What she discovered when she finally did is what this whole conversation is about. Today's guest is Allison Caro. Listen for why your clutter is making your business decisions harder, the system she built that works even on the days her body doesn't feel like it's working, and what finally letting go of that object taught her about every decision she makes now. So stay tuned. Are you tired of hearing business advice that completely ignores what real life looks like when you're navigating chronic illness, autoimmune disorders, flare-ups, medical appointments, and just life? Life-ing. Business with Chronic Illness is for entrepreneurs who know they're capable of building something meaningful but need a way to do it that that actually works with their body, not against it. This podcast brings you honest conversations with founders, CEOs, and other bosses sharing their strategies, adaptations, and lessons they've learned about building businesses alongside chronic illness, including what worked, what didn't, and what they wish they had done differently before burnout forced the lesson. I'm your host, Nikita Williams, a globally ranked podcast host and entrepreneur who's built my business while navigating chronic illness and helping others do the same without sacrificing themselves. I created this show to open up the conversations most business spaces avoid. The promise of Business with Chronic Illness is simple: to show you that you can build a thriving business with chronic illness and autoimmune disorders without sacrificing your health, your peace, or your profit. You're not behind, you're building differently, and you're in the right place.

I am excited to have Allison on the show. We are going to get talking about some organization, or I like to say it's just like really creating more ease, peace in your life. I think we, we don't talk about it in that context. Organization feels heavy, right? I don't know if it feels heavy for some people, but please tell us who you are, where you're from. A little bit about you, Alison. Okay.

So I am Alison Kiro, born and raised in Vermont, but now I live in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. And I started my career as an organizer back in 2004. I was living in New York City and I worked with kids. I worked with seniors. I worked with hoarders. I worked with kind of, you name it, did it, oversaw moves, did you know, kind of anything, closed down offices. So I did a lot of different types of things. And in 2014, I got sick unexpectedly and started out as a flu, and I never got healthy. I had no energy. It took probably about 9 months before I think somebody finally diagnosed me with chronic Lyme disease or Lyme disease. And then it took another like 8 years before I finally found a doctor that I could work with consistently who could help, and they helped somewhat. But at that same time, I started taking care of my mom, and then we moved down to Myrtle Beach, and her health started declining— her mental health, her physical health. My mental health and physical health started declining, and it got really difficult. And then thankfully, I think we both realized this is not working, she needs more help. She went back east. She's now in Vermont living in assisted living where she has a lot more help that she deserves, and I was able to sort of focus on myself. I did kind of quit the industry for a little bit, for about a year and a half was working for a corporation, and I loved the job. The other stuff that came with it was making me absolutely miserable, and it was destroying my mental and my physical health again. So cut to last February 2025, I would be driving to my office miserable, thinking to myself, if I got into a car accident and died, I don't think I would feel bad. I think I'd be grateful because if I have to continue this for the rest of my life, I don't want to be here. And thankfully— this sounds weird, but thankfully I got sick because it was a small office, no one wore masks except for me, and I caught somebody else's something or other and I got sick and it retriggered my Lyme. And then I kept trying to go back to work and I got sick again a week and a half later, and it just cut me out. There was no way I could have gone back to work. I couldn't think. I had zero energy. I was slumped over at my desk. My muscles were very weak. I could barely move. And so I had to end up going on, uh, short-term disability. And I thought to myself, this is an opportunity for me to create the life that I want. I'm tired of getting stuck in this cycle, and I'm going to change it. And I found a Lyme disease specialist who didn't do a one-size-fits-all kind of a thing, but did exactly for my needs only. And then I hired myself a coach that I'm still working with so that I could work on my mental health. And then I used my own system to really implement strategies and systems so that I could improve on my mental health, my physical health, and maintain a healthy, happy, well-balanced home so that I could create the life that I really wanted to live. And I think you're right about organizing does feel heavy because it feels like a lot of work and you almost automatically go into straight decision fatigue because it is a lot of decisions. So it's really more about creating a life for yourself that feels where there's calm, where there's clarity, where there's balance, where there's harmony, where you are showing up for yourself in an act of self-love so that you put on healthy boundaries about what and who you are letting into your life and why. You have awareness around why you're letting these things into your life. You listen to yourself, your intuition, because your intuition knows best, and you are using that to make smart decisions for yourself so that you create the space for yourself so that the good things come in. You put up the boundaries so that the things that you don't want in your life stay away, and it's incredibly empowering. It's not something you see overnight, but as I continue to do it— this is my year boundaries— it's my word of the year— I'm seeing more and more progress in my physical health, my mental health, and in my business alone.

So, I mean, that is— you just shared so much with us about, you know, just where you've come through and what you've moved through. And it sounds like you have found— I don't want to say you've gotten on the other side of all of the craziness, but it does sound like there may have been a period of burnout and emotional burnout and all of those type of things. And it has also affect, you know, it affected your health. What are some of the things that you feel like in the way that you show up in your business or just in the way you show up in your life living with, you know, Lyme disease? We've had, we've had lots of women on the show who've come and shared their experience with Lyme and also shared their experience with like burnout because of trying to heal it or trying to manage it, or just trying to understand what the heck is going on. Yeah. What has been some, you know, how has organization been a tool for you in this like healing journey of that?

It has helped me set up smart systems for myself so that I make my life easier rather than harder for myself. And it has also helped me start to recognize the emotions below my decision-making. So I had a lot of guilt that I was carrying. And I sometimes was surrounding myself with the physical guilt and then sometimes the emotional guilt. And when I started to become aware of how it felt in my body, how it was taking up space in my brain, sometimes taking space in my house, I've been able to start to put up boundaries and eliminate that. Shame. Shame's a huge one. I think that's something I've inherited from both sides of my family. That's something that I've really wrestled with a lot, a lot of times. And the other week I was meeting with someone, it was a short conversation, and halfway way through, I noticed my energy just tanked, and I was like, huh, that's really interesting. And I got off the phone and I thought, okay, what this means is that this is not the right person for me, and that is okay. But that is a clear signal that my body is trying to tell me. And in the past, I would have— because I think the language he was using was kind of shaming, trying to shame me. And I recognize that because my awareness, because I've gotten rid of a lot of the mental clutter in my brain, I recognized that, and instead of deciding to go and work with her, which would not have had a good result because she wasn't the right person for me, I was able to go, you know what, that's not good. I'm not going to accept the shame. I'm going to just let her go with love and find the right person for me. And then a little while later, I had a conversation with someone else about the same topic. That person I ended up feeling really energetic and excited with, and I knew that that was the right person. But if I hadn't started taking away the layers of the guilt, the shame, the fear, the apathy, you know, the grief, all of it, I wouldn't have gotten to that point where I could hear myself because there was so much internal clutter. So I, I love organizing because you can start getting rid of that, those emotions by taking out the physical items in your house and recognizing it there. And as you start taking out those layers, you can start recognizing it in your brain and in your body and start decluttering your life in those ways too.

It's so interesting that you mentioned systems when you first started talking, like how, you know, you start implementing systems and then you also started sharing, you know, how that kind of translated into those systems being that you started to acknowledge and be more aware. It seems like more like attuned to the feelings, the vibe, the energy of other people and things like that. And it's interesting because I think we talk about systems like My therapist asked me, she's like, what are your life systems? And I'm like, girl, I get up, I do a thing. I, you know, I like, I'm doing the stuff. I'm like, I don't call them systems, but how would, like, if someone was like, okay, Allison, so what kind of systems are we talking about? Are we talking about like a very rigid, like this goes here in my house and this happens every day in my house. Like when you talk about systems, what does that mean? For you?

Okay, so there's a lot of different ways to put in systems, and they don't need to be super rigid, because if they get super rigid, I get annoyed. I, I don't like super rigid. Yeah, but there are specific things that I do every day because I want to show up for myself. And so one of the ways that I do it is I get up and I journal for 10 minutes, because if I do that, if I'm cranky, I get it out. And it also allows me to plan my day. So I've allowed myself 10 minutes to just sort of be, and then I brush my teeth. And then I have another system where I'm going to stretch my body. I'm going to start doing some exercises to make sure that my body moves because I need a lot of rest. So it's important that I get this exercise for my mental health and my physical health. I eat my healthy breakfast. I go out for a walk because I want to get the sun before it gets bad, you know, before it starts damaging my skin. I get some exercise. Yeah. And then I have a specific time where I start my work day. And then, you know, but I've already planned out like what are the 3 things that I really need to get done that day. I don't have a whole list of to-dos because my God, that's overwhelming and exhausting. But what are my priority things that I would like to get done today? And then I get done what I need. I make sure I have some time in the afternoon where if I need to rest, I can rest. I quit at a certain time. I have a system where I clean off my desk so that it's nice and tidy. I shut down my computer so that my brain shuts down. I eat a healthy dinner, and then I go do whatever I want to do. So it's not a huge— and I usually end the day by reading something fun and writing down 3 things that I was grateful for that day. And so it's not super structured, but it's a helpful system for me so that I know that I have time to get everything done that I really want to accomplish, and I'm showing up for myself, my mental health, and my physical health. Physical health. Yeah, but you could do a simple system like for laundry. When I am— you know, I just did laundry the other day. I put it all out on my bed. My system for doing laundry so that I'm not running all over the place is I put all of the like things together, so the socks with the socks and the towels with the towels, and then I put the things like— they either go into an armoire, a closet, a bathroom, or a kitchen. And so I put the things that belong in the kitchen together, the things that belong in the closet together, the things that belong in the bathroom together so that I'm not taking extra trips. They're all together. I can just go in and make it easy. And so it's creating these small systems. Like when I leave my house, I don't want to go looking for my shoes or my keys or my glasses or my wallet. So I have a system where I set up all of those right in one area so that when I come in, I put everything where it belongs, and then I can put it away easily. And then I know exactly where everything is. And I am a big stickler of designating a spot for everything, because when you know where it belongs, you know where to find it. And more importantly, you know where to return it so that pockets of clutter are less likely to start piling up on you. Because a lot of times it's, I don't know where this goes. Let's just put it here for now. And then there becomes a lot of things of, I don't know where this goes. Let's just put it here for now. And then you're like, oh, I don't know where that thing is.

It's so interesting. Like, I think we— you know, when I hear you talking about this, I can't help but think about the Netflix series about like the organizing queens. And then what is it, Marie Kondo?

Kondo, yeah.

Yeah.

And just like, there is so much— there's so much emotional— and you brought this up earlier— there's so much emotional baggage with our baggage, like with our literal— spaces. There's so much emotional trauma, like that's connected to the spaces in our home or the things that are not even, maybe it's not even cluttered. It's just kind of like unpersonalized because there's an aspect of, you know, trauma or guilt or shame and things like that, that, you know, we're talking about. I'm curious for you, how have you seen in the past? And I know we're kind of talking a little meta here from like coming from a place of being like working through healing, working through the trauma and experiences, living with chronic illness, being in a job that you didn't want to be in, to like, now I have these systems in place. Now I have this, like, now I know what I'm doing. I know where I'm going. I know what's happening. I'm curious to hear how emotionally is that different from before when you were not in this space? What did that look like in your home?

I was still fairly neat, but I was still miserable. I hadn't completely worked on the clutter in my head, and it also sort of took a long time to find the right systems that actually worked for me. But there have been times where, you know, I have held on to— it may not be where there was a lot of it, but there still was some of it, like items in my closet of, I gained weight and I don't fit this anymore., and I'm going to keep that as a way to get me to lose that weight. And you're using that to shame yourself. And honestly, if I had lost the weight, would I have gone and put those things back on? Most likely no. I would have gone and bought new clothes like, "Yay me!" Yeah. And so there was that. There were gifts that people had given me that I just did not like. And instead of being like, "Thank you so much. I really appreciate it," and then letting it go somewhere else, I kept it in my home and it made me feel guilty. Or in some cases just it was a gift that maybe wasn't a very nice gift for somebody to give me. Right. And it made me feel bad about myself. I had lost a friend and she had crocheted a yarmulke. Neither one of us are Jewish, in high school. And I felt so guilty about the way the friendship was when she had passed away and I couldn't get that time back and I missed my friend. I held onto it for like 20 years until finally I was like, What am I doing? She wouldn't care if, you know, I think she's probably looking up at me going, or looking down at me going, what are you doing? Just get rid of it. Like, you don't need that reminder. You have pictures, you have memories. You don't need to hold on to everything making it seem like that that's her. It's not. She's not there anymore, but her spirit is, and the memories still are. So when I was able to sort of recognize that these little things here and there I was holding on to for the wrong reasons and they weren't supporting me, it felt lighter. And it creates a space so that you can show up more authentically for yourself and so that you can start letting in newer, better things. And it helps make you just feel like, with these systems in place, I feel calmer. I know where I'm going. I know what I'm doing. I don't have to start from scratch every day. I'm not reinventing the wheel every 2 seconds. Yeah, and I'm not— I'm struggling with decision fatigue because if you don't have systems in place, you're constantly having to make new decisions that if you had just a simple routine in place, half of those are done for you. You don't really have to think about it. And then the stuff that you really need to think about, you've got the energy and the wherewithal to be able to focus on those big things that you need to make a decision on.

Yeah, you made a point about decision fatigue. How does that show up when we're talking about organization? Like, when you work with clients, where do you see this, like, predominantly a strong thing?

Oh, well, I think a lot of them are— they're exhausted by their own stuff. I see that a lot in clients. You know, when I used to go and do it in people's homes and offices, I often would see people walking away from, from it. And I'm like, I need you back here. I need your input. You can't just walk away. And I think it's that if you're looking at it as a big picture, that's exhausting. And there's hundreds of decisions to be made. So if you take a drawer or you take like just your sweaters in your closet or just one surface area, or you set a timer for 15 or 30 minutes, and you just take one area, that means there's fewer decisions that you have to make. And so there's different systems that you can set up. You know, there's the Swedish death cleaning, means there's a Kondo Marie, there's 4 Boxes, there's 12-12-12. There's lots of different ways to do it. I don't think one size fits all. And so it's about creating a system that works for you, that works for your time, that works for your energy, that works for your abilities. Any challenges that you have. All of that needs to factor in so that you can find something that works for you effectively and makes you motivated enough to keep showing up for yourself, to keep doing it.

Yeah.

I love when we talk about, like, there's so many ways— we all know there are so many ways to do all of the things. There's so many ways. Just that alone feels at times a bit overwhelming. Yeah. But Kind of tying this to a point that you mentioned before, it's like really knowing yourself, knowing like, okay, this doesn't work for me. And that doesn't mean that you're not a good, like, you can't organize. I think I hear this message a lot. Like a lot of people have been like, well, I tried it such and such way. And I'm just a bad organizer. I'm just a bad this, and I can't do it, just the thing. And when I hear that, it's kind of like how I hear when people are like, when you have chronic illness and you're trying a protocol and it didn't work for you, I'm like, well, That doesn't mean all protocols or things won't work for you. Just means that one didn't. There's like other ways. And so what would you say to someone who's like, I have tried a couple and I feel like I just am not made to be organized. I'm not made to be, you know, have a system in place. How would you coach them or support them in like realizing, well, it's possible?

Yeah. Well, number one, it's a learned skill. So not everybody grows up in a household where that is is taught. Yeah, right. And you might have grown up in a household where there were things everywhere and there's a lot of chaos, and you gotta dig out from under there. Or maybe it was super rigid to the point where it was like not healthy, and you are kind of rebelling against that. And so it's really about— if you don't focus on the, oh, this is a job to do, and you create a system of, I want to surround myself with things that meaningful to me, the things that represent who I am right now. Because it's— I feel like you're kind of an archaeologist and you're digging beneath your past to find out who you are now and to find out the things that are supporting you and who you are now. You know, it's like you don't have the items from your bedroom, like your clothes and stuff like that, from when you were 10 years old, because that's not who you are now. They don't fit, they wouldn't work, they don't make any sense. And I think we forget that when we become adults and feel like, oh, you need to keep this for the rest of your life. You're not who you were in your 20s when you were in your 40s or your 60s or anywhere in between. You keep growing and you keep changing and you keep needing different things to support you in the who you are now. And if you continue to hold on to the past, it never allows you to come into the the present, much less the future. So it's really about creating a system where you figure out who you are by unearthing the stuff that don't have meaning to you anymore, that don't symbolize, this is the me who I want to be, this is how I want to show up for myself, and these are the things that support who I am now and where I'm going in the future.

Oh, that's— I mean, just that bit alone, everybody, I think we all start— I know for myself, I struggle with that in general, just being okay with the change that I am not, or not attached to something that I used to be.

Yeah.

I know for me, part of my growing has always been like the idea that I'm indecisive or the idea that I can't stick with anything. And it's those narratives that can get in your head and like make you keep stuff and stay a certain way, but you are not those, you know, that's not you. And I think what you're sharing here is like, We evolve, we change as people. We, we have to embrace that about us, and sometimes we don't allow ourselves to do that by keeping all of the stuff, right? Like just keeping everything. Such a good point, such a good point.

Yeah, and then, you know, if you go into it with a narrative of I don't make good decisions or I keep changing my mind, it's going to be really hard because you're getting in your own way. And that's a shame because at That's not who you are. That's what people have maybe said about you, and then you've internalized that, and then you are building a life based on lies that were said to you that aren't innately true. And so part of it is just digging beneath those lies to find out the truth of who you really are. And it can be a really beautiful process if, if you are willing to take a look at this is who I am, and no matter what it looks like, I am beautiful. I am beautiful and amazing and worthy of a good life no matter where I am at any point in my life.

Yeah. I think when I think about this too, in the context of building a business, right? Building a business, you know, we've heard so many sayings like throw spaghetti at the wall and like, you know, build the plane while you like are, you know, flying it. Like, you know, all these like sayings of like, you're kind of just figuring it out. You're kind of just going and you won't know what's going to work for you until you know it's what's going to work for you. And to me, there's always a foundational basis for organization in your business, but it still has to align with who you actually are. It cannot be based on everyone else. And so as you approach, you know, your business, but also your personal business, like helping clients, but also for you, is there systems in your actual business as a person who, you know, probably still deals with the challenge of the chronic Lyme and things like that, that you've realized is a huge part of your organizational process for creating success in your business?

I think I've had to learn the hard way several times of— I think you're right. I would listen to other people's advice of, you need to do this, you need to do that. And there would be times where I'm like, I don't really want to do this, or this doesn't feel aligned with me. But I'd be like, oh, but they're saying that you have to do this, you have to be on Facebook, you have to be on this thing, you have to do this, you have to do that. You do not have to do anything that doesn't feel aligned with you. And again, I kind of go with how does my energy feel? If I feel completely wiped out after someone has told me I should try and do something, it's not right for me. Or if I'm doing something and this feels more like a chore than enjoyable, why am I doing it? It's, it's— I feel like you're wasting your time because you're going to procrastinate on doing it. So that's not going to be fun, you know, you're not going to really show up for yourself, and it's probably going to get stuck in your way because you're going to have it in your head all day of, I need to do this, I need to do this. So when I built this business this time, I kind of built it with going, I am no longer going to listen to people who tell me I have to do something. I was on a workshop recently where someone was very heavily going into Facebook. I am not a fan of Facebook personally, I don't like being on there at all. And she told me, oh no, I don't talk about Facebook that much and you can use it for other things. And she just went heavily into Facebook and I thought, I'm getting annoyed, I'm gonna listen to that and I'm gonna get off this. The people who are on there and they're excited about listening to it should be on there because that's going to work for them. The system she is telling me is not going to work for me because I feel stressed and anxious and annoyed. And you know what, that's okay. And I can find different ways to getting to that success that work for me. You don't have to keep doing everything the exact same way as somebody else. And maybe I'll find something else that works for me. Yeah, that does give me joy, that does fill me with energy. So it's, you know, go ahead, when you're building a business and starting out, try different things because you don't know until you try it. But if you're in the middle of something and you're thinking, oh God, I don't want to be here, leave. You're not stuck anywhere. You don't have to— you can just say, thank you so much, I have learned that this is not for me, and walk away. Because then otherwise you're wasting time and building up a bunch of extra clutter in your head by thinking, I should do this. When you're shoulda, coulda, woulding yourself, it's not for you.

Yeah, so true. Yes. I always think it's interesting That we, I feel like that comes from just like school, the way we were taught about school, like school, you, you know, you have to do it by what they said to do. I used to get so frustrated as a kid because I'm, I'm, I'm not great at math, but I could always figure it out. But because I didn't figure it out the way they told me I had to figure out, like by doing the exact formula, I would still get like docked half, right? The half of the point. And I used to get so irritated by that because it's like, I got the answer right. It doesn't matter that I went about it a different way. I got the answer right, but because I didn't do it in that way. And I think in business and life in general, I think we kind of put ourselves in that box of being like, they said it works only this way. So then only I can do it this way. And that's the only way it can work. And we have seen that that's just not the case. Yeah.

Yeah. It's not true at all. And hey, you never know. You might invent a new way that then helps a ton of other people. So. If there were just one path in life, I don't think that there would be a point to life, because I think half of what we're here to do is to forge our own path, figure out what works for you. You know, I've heard stories of, oh, CEOs get up at 4 o'clock in the morning and they do this, that, and the other thing. Yeah, I've seen other tremendously successful people who don't start their day until the afternoon because that's when they work best. So what time of day are you at your best? That's when you should be doing the most amount of your work, the big stuff that takes the most brainpower, you know?

Yeah.

And that could be different for everyone. And that might change. I used to be a night owl and now I get up at 6 or 6:30 in the morning.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it's okay that you change. I think that this— when I think about this in organization, like if we bring it back into the context of organizing, the systems that you create for this period or season of your life might change, like the way you do. So how do you, I guess my question is, how do you balance, you know, those transition periods of like, this system used to work and now it doesn't work because I'm in this system. How do you work through that?

Well, the first part is becoming aware that it's not working for you any longer. And usually, you know, if it's like a functioning system within your home, home, you're finding like, oh, I'm not putting that there where it belongs anymore. Instead, I'm putting it here. And maybe that's because you're using it where you're putting it and you need to change it. Or recently I had one pair of scissors, I was in the middle of two projects, it got stuck in a little bit of pile of clutter because I didn't finish one of the projects, needed to hire someone. And then I thought to myself, I'm using scissors in one room but I need them in three different rooms. And that is why I'm getting it lost in different areas, because I'm sometimes forgetting to put it back. So I ended up buying another 2 pair of scissors, found the third pair, put that in the kitchen, and now I have them— one in my living room, one where the cat or the pets are, so that I can, you know, use them to open up litter boxes and stuff like that. That has made my life easier, and it's a simple little system where I noticed something something's not working, how am I using the scissors? Yeah, where is it working for me? Where do I need them? And how can I build a new system that is going to work for me so that I don't have to keep, you know, walking into the kitchen and then walking into the guest room or walking into the— and then walking back? You know, that was a lot of, of walking around and time and energy wasted.

Yeah.

So how can I build a new system for myself that is going to be easier for my time and for my energy and my brainpower. And it was just, I need more scissors and that's okay.

Yeah. You know, I always think people think that organization or decluttering means that it has to be less. Like I can imagine someone saying, but that's 3 scissors when that's just adding more into your space. And I wonder what that looks like for you when you have that kind of conflicting I don't know. I don't know if that's a vibe or— Well, I think organizing, it's not about never buying something again.

You know, first of all, you might need an organizational product in order to hold the items.

Yeah.

I always recommend decluttering first so then you know what you have. Then you have to figure out where you want to put it, measure that space. So then you have information of how much do I have, where can I put it, and what can fit in here. And then you can go find an organizational product that will fit in the space function the way you need it to so that it makes your life easier, not harder, and then also looks good. Because— but you want it to function first and then you want it to look good. And you need to make these systems stupidly simple, right? You don't want to be— I think that's the thing that people do is, oh, a system has to be hard. No, you've got to make it so much easier for yourself because you're never going to maintain it. If you make it hard. It's about making it so easy like a 5-year-old can understand it, because then you don't have to think about it. It's about not only freeing up your space but freeing up your time and freeing up your brain space so that you can focus on stuff that really deserves your time, the stuff that you don't have an automatic answer to. The rest of it can be set up to systems so that you have the energy to be able to focus on the hard, challenging things.

Such a good point. That is like that principle of just like it needs to be simple is in every aspect of everything that we ever do. I truly believe that we overcomplicate things all of the time. And we do that in our businesses. We do that in our relationships. We do that in everything, like everything that we do. I'm curious to hear from you as someone who is like the chronic being living with chronic illness. Running a business and like life stuff.

Yeah.

I feel like there can constantly be this like shift between following your intuition, doing things that's in alignment. And there's always a growth curve. Like there's just to your point, like some of us didn't grow up being organized queens and like feeling great about it. Where do you find that there is that, like, where is the, in, in the middle of being like, I'm not quite aligned, but I want to be, I want to be this, like, I want to have this function or this tool in my life, even though I'm uncomfortable with it, but it's not because it's not because I hate it. It's just like, I'm trying to figure it out. Where do you find that balance between I'm uncomfortable because I've never done this before and it doesn't feel aligned because I don't know what that's supposed to feel like and doing the thing, if this makes any sense at all of what I'm saying.

It does. You have to have some grace with yourself, I think. You know, first of all, if you wanted to go run a marathon and you are a couch potato to begin with, you're not going to go grab a pair of shoes and just head out the door and run the miles. Yeah, you would hurt yourself. It doesn't make any sense. What you're gonna do is you're gonna plan it, like, you know, start with maybe a half a mile or a mile and see how that feels. So it's about kind of pushing yourself a little bit every day to do a little bit more and then celebrating that win of, hey, I did that. I, I stood up and I, I, I did something for myself to try and make my life better. But there's always a transition of there's new emotions coming up, there might be old emotions coming up, and to be aware that that's going to happen and to kind of maybe observe them try to learn from them, not have them dictate who you are and how you're showing up. That's easier said than done in a lot of situations because we immediately react and think, ooh, bad feeling, I don't like it, I don't like it. And that can help us go into resistance. But if we're willing to continue showing up, knowing that it might be a little bit uncomfortable, but knowing that it's going to be better for us in the end, You know, it's like if you go on a new diet, if I try and go on like a new diet where I'm like, I'm gonna go on a diet, I want to eat everything in sight and everything bad too. But if I'm like, I want to show up for myself and I want to be healthy and I want to feel healthy, then it is much easier for me to make smart choices about the food choices that I put into my mouth and feed my body with.

Yeah.

And so if you kind of go in gently of I really want to feel like my home is— when I walk in, I feel balanced. I feel like it's my place to go and feel calm. I want to get a better night's sleep. I want to know where everything is. I don't want to feel like I'm in pure chaos. And I'm going to start a little bit at a time. I'm going to pick the easiest room that I can find, maybe has the least amount of clutter. And I'm going to pick one surface and I'm going to do maybe 10 to 15 minutes a day, and I'm going to keep doing that. And when I can feel I can do more, I'm going to do more. I mean, last year— I have a home. The weeds grow here insanely quickly. And I was like, okay, I do not have any energy. And so what I did was I would go out for 2 minutes at a time and I would pick a little section, and then I would go inside and I would rest. And when I had more energy, I I would go back out and I would pick a little section, and I eventually got it all done.

Yeah.

And I just gave myself grace of, you know what, I have no control over anything except for myself, but I want to show up for myself and I want to make sure that my home looks and feels good. And if that means that, you know, it's a little bit messy today, but maybe I could clean a toilet, I'm gonna pick that and I'm gonna celebrate that win. And then tomorrow I'm gonna do maybe a little bit more, and then a little bit more, and then it starts looking and feeling good and it becomes easier to maintain, but it's going to take a while. I mean, you can't go from 0 to 60, doesn't work, especially with organization.

I agree with you. That's again another principle we need to apply to our businesses. Like, you're not gonna be, you know, the Instagram queen yesterday, or if you, you know, maybe you were— like, I know for myself, I like used to do a lot of social media content, and I, I mean, I've been in business for 10 years online, so if for me it's like, yeah, I used to really enjoy it because it was new and it was fun and exciting. And everybody was like doing it and now I hate it. And now I'm like, okay, how else am I going to show up? And what am I going to do? And what is that going to look different? And I think a lot of us just don't give ourselves permission to do it differently because we're afraid that that means one, we failed, we have guilt and shame about it. And then on top of that, we feel like we should be doing it faster. It should get done faster. I should be organized faster. I should have my room together faster, all of these things. And I think— to your point, is like, give yourself the grace. Give yourself the grace to figure it out.

Well, you— I think the biggest lie is the overnight success that they talk about. It's a fat lie. Nobody ever— it was years in the making of blood, sweat, and tears. And for anyone to expect true lasting results, you have to realize that it's going to take some time. There's no magic pill to take you you from, I just started a business, to I'm a massive success. You have to learn. And even if you do become successful, there are still— you're still learning, you're still growing. There are still going to be challenges. It's not like you reach a level in anything and you're like, I'm done, I don't need to eat healthy anymore because I've lost all the weight. Well, that's great, you're gonna do all the good things. You have to keep showing up for yourself no matter what level you're at. And it's harder in the beginning because you're not used to doing that. Yeah, it gets easier once you set up the systems.

Yeah, so, so true. So Allison, if someone's listening to this today and they're like, okay, so take my time, you know, set up some systems, how would you support them in creating that support for them? Like, what does it look like if they were in your world?

Okay, and my website is in the process of being changed, so hopefully by the end of the first week of March it'll be implemented. But I'm offering 3 services. One is like, uh, I need a little bit of help. It's just a very intense 2-hour session where we go through everything, and then I'm going to create a plan for you that you can use. And then a couple weeks later, you're going to follow up with like an hour session to make sure that everything is working, tweak what needs to be tweaked. So that's great for people who need a little bit of support and just, you know, can probably do it on their own. And then I offer 3 and 6 months. 3 months, you're probably going through a room every other week. And the 6 months, you're probably doing it 2 sessions on one room. And, you know, we're going to learn, like, who are you? What are your struggles? How much clutter do you have? How do you want this place to look and feel? Are there anything that might be getting in the way of the success? How do you set up systems? You know, let's take a deep dive into who you are so we can create a working plan for you so that you can be successful, because I want you to stay motivated. I want you to see small successes and be able to build on that. So by the end of it, you walk away and you've built systems that you can tweak yourself and that you can easily maintain. Without needing continuous guidance. If you want that continuous guidance because you feel like that helps you with accountability, that's fine too. But I want you to at least feel comfortable being able to do that on your own.

Yeah.

I hear so often from women who have chronic illness feel like they don't know who they are anymore.

Yeah.

You know, you're going through what you're going through depending on the phases, because I have, you know, I talk about this in the show, different phases, you know, either you're baby on, like, baby chronic illness warrior, like you just discovered you have chronic illness. Then you have what I call like the figuring out the teenager version of chronic illness where you're figuring out, you getting into your, you know, your, your stride, you figuring how things go. And then I call it OG where you've been doing this for years and you have started to really understand that there are ebbs and flows. There's no stagnant way of you being.

Yeah.

How, can you help someone who's like, you asked me who I am. I don't know who I am right now because I don't even understand what's happening with me. I want to be more organized. I think a lot of people want to be more organized because they feel like it gives them a little bit more— it does. It gives them a little bit more clarity, more peace, less decisions. But if part of the purpose is to discover who they are, is this a process that helps them with that?

I think so. And I mean, honestly, with someone like that, because you never know from moment to moment, where your energy is going to be. And it's really about like making a plan of like, what is one small thing I can do for myself today where I can show up for myself? And just sort of starting with something small. And maybe it's just putting a dish in the dishwasher, you know, starting really small where I can do that one small thing. And then maybe the The next day you have a little bit more energy to do another small thing, and it's just about creating these small little changes that you can then build on. And again, I had this last year. I was doing, you know, weeding for 2 minutes and then stopping and resting. And maybe that's— you do a little bit, you stop, you rest. You do a little bit, you stop, you rest. And, you know, there's been— sometimes it's taken me, you know, an entire day to get through changing the sheets on my bed, but I did a little, I stopped, I rested. I did I stopped, I rested. And it's, it's doing that. And maybe, maybe it's setting a timer for 1 minute and you clearing off as much of a surface as you can, and just— or, or clearing off the surface by saying, this is garbage, this is garbage, this is garbage, this is garbage. And then the next time I go, I'm gonna say, these things don't belong in this room. I'm gonna put it in a box, and when I can put them where they belong, then I'm gonna take the next Next time I go in, I'm going to put the items back where they belong in that room instead of on the table.

Baby steps is what I hear. Baby steps. Give yourself permission for those baby steps.

And then celebrate the wins because, yeah, to somebody else, maybe that's nothing, but to you, you did that. That's amazing. And then the more that you sell it, that's why I like the gratitude thing. Sometimes I'm like, I had energy today. I did this. And I did that. And to some other people, they might be like, whoop-de-doo. And I'm like, I'm what you doing, okay? Yeah, I am. Yeah. You know, by ending my day by just recognizing 3 things that I'm grateful about or that I accomplished helps me go to sleep easier and feel like, yeah, I'm showing up in my own life.

So I love that. Well, thank you so much, Allison, for sharing everything that you've shared today. I think it's gonna be super helpful for someone who's in that space, who's shaming or guilting themselves or beating themselves up. I feel like this is such an encouraging conversation around like, just give yourself the space and like, you don't have to do it a one kind of way. And it sounds like too, when you do it with someone else, it also brings you some more of that peace and ease as well.

Yeah, it does.

All right. How can we find you? Is— are you on— well, if you're not on Facebook, are you um, where are you and where can we find you?

Okay, so my business is called From Clutter to Confidence. So my website is fromcluttertoconfidence.com. I'm on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. And LinkedIn is by— with my name, Alison Kiro. Everything else is From Clutter to Confidence.

Great. And we'll have everything, of course, in the show notes. But thank you so much for being here. I have one last question for you. What is something that when you started your business that you thought was true that is no longer true? You know it's a lie. You know it's a lie.

Oh, that's a good question. I mean, we kind of covered a lot of that, of just, you know, yeah, I have to be like, well, have to be on Facebook, or, you know, I think it's you have to be what everybody else wants you to be. And if you try to be that perfect somebody to everybody, you're no good to anybody, and, and you don't have a target market. You really have to figure out who are the people I I can really help, and just keep focusing on them, because then they're going to see that message and go, this is for me, this is the person I'm supposed to be working with. And you, you'll run yourself ragged trying to be the perfect person for everybody.

True, very true. So believe you. Yes, yes. Well, thank you again. Thank you so much.

Thank you. I really enjoyed this conversation.

Me too.

That's a wrap for this episode of Business with Chronic Illness. If you enjoyed this conversation, be sure to follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. It helps more entrepreneurs living with chronic illness and autoimmune disorders find these conversations. You can check the show notes for links, resources, and ways to stay connected. And if you have a question or story you'd like to share, visit craftedtothrive.com to leave a voice message for the podcast. I'd love to hear from you. Until next time, remember, you can build a thriving business without sacrificing your health, your peace, or your profit.