welcome back to the daily mastermind george reich the third with your daily dose of inspiration motivation and education and once again we have brought you a great topic a great expert i'm super happy to have as our guests today miriam ortiz epino how are you i'm good thanks for having me yeah thank you i'm so glad you're here now before we get going though i want to kind of give people a little bit of your background and we'll talk a little bit about it. But I really was fascinated by some of the stuff I came across. I really try to spend a little bit of time and look into things before we bring on guests and we want to find people. And you have such a diverse background. I mean, guys, if you're listening, she's a certified professional organizer, simplicity expert, but also money breakthrough business coaching consultant. So she's got a diverse background, but ultimately an entrepreneur, blogger, TV show host, and the creator of several different systems. But the Streamline Solution is one we might talk about today. But her company is more than organized. And I really think that's something that many people on this show probably would love to get some more productivity hacks on. So I'm super excited about it. But why don't you, Mary, why don't you take a second and just fill in the background? Because I don't think anybody gets out of school and says, you know what, let's get into organization. So how did you get there? What is the, what took you on that path? Give us a couple minutes on your backstory. Yeah. So it's a little bit circuitous, but I was always fascinated by entrepreneurship as a kid. I would even play restaurant and detective agency and photojournalist. And I thought And I'd be an entrepreneur one day. And then I went to college and studied business and marketing. And I hated it. It was the 80s. It was greed is good. And I literally had my senior project sabotaged. So I quickly transferred last semester my education and got a different degree in communication. So I still hadn't thought I'd do marketing. um and i went to san francisco i went to interior design school instead men right um and last minute but you got it you got it done okay yeah i hated it and so i was in san francisco going i should probably not move across country again without figuring out who i want to be when i grow up so i tried on a bunch of different jobs i did finally get a job at an ad agency i worked for a big retailer in all the different departments, including inventory control. And I worked at a music venue where I was in charge of organizing the volunteers. So there was lots of training involved. There was lots of seeing bigger picture and supervisory type stuff. And when I became unemployable, I decided to start my own thing and did some assessments and figured out that organization was one of my strengths. I already knew that, but the test proved it. And so I decided to move back to Albuquerque and start my business. So let me ask you a question, because I want to, I want to, I want to back you up just a second, because you used a term that a lot of really high achievers I have found used. And it's actually a term, I own an apparel company and I create, and I put that on a shirt and it just sold the lights out and it was unemployable. You made that comment, you said, you know, I became unemployable. I think a lot of entrepreneurs and people that have passions and things they want to do, they want the freedom and flexibility. They, at a point in their life, they become unemployable. Was there something that triggered that? Did you always just feel that way? And what made you use that term? I'm really curious. I think, so I got the term from michael o'neill who has the solopreneur hour podcast and i coached with him for a while um but he summed it up as you know too much at one point you're in there in a meeting or something and you're like these people don't know what they're doing what am i still doing here and it's true like i can't go to any restaurant or music venue or retail shop without automatically going, I can see the 20 things that are wrong or what I would improve. And so there's that, but I also, I'm one of those weird people that I have a hard time working with people who are not in charge. Yeah, that's, that is a hundred, you hit it right on the head. I think most people that are entrepreneurs have identified the fact that they have a confidence level, they could even if they don't know it, they'll figure it out. So I just I just and I just don't want to be controlled by a boss and an environment. And it's not so much that you want to do the controlling. It's it's more that you just don't want to be controlled. You want flexibility and you want to be able to grow how you want to grow. Correct. Yeah. And there's a certain aspect of not wanting to do tasks that don't make sense. Like why? As long as you can tell me why I'm doing a particular task, it can be drudgery and I will be fine with it. I used to unload trucks when I was the inventory control manager. I would help unload the trucks because I had to check in the merchandise, make sure we got what we ordered. Yeah. And that was more fun because I knew why I was doing it, but it was also physical and it was so much more fun than sitting there typing in the order. Yeah. So very few people, very few people, here's the problem with most of the, the marketplaces, very few people even question why they do certain things. And when you start to find you're asking questions about why you do something, the positive part of that is you're really kind of trying to figure out how to get an ROI on what you're doing. Is what I'm doing make a difference? Is it doing anything? If not, why am I doing it? And that's a thought process, those aha moments that once you start getting those, there's no turning back. Like you're on your own. And it's not, I mean, it's a, it's the waves of, uh, of life and business, but at least you're riding them on your terms, right? Yeah. And it's interesting because that's what led me to realize that I needed to start my own thing. And as part of that process, figuring out what it was I liked about my job versus what I didn't like about my job, I went really deep and, you know, realized it was the why I need to know why I'm doing. I love that. But I also love that you had a lot of, you had business background, which leads to why you do business consulting right now, not just organization. You didn't just go into it. You experienced it in the workplace and the business and your work life. And then you took that experience to create your company. So I love that. What brought you into, like, how did that merge into, and I've talked about a little bit about it in the past, but this connection between mindset and organization or simplicity, which we can then lead into productivity, right? But what's the, how do you draw that connection and why did that become such a big spotlight in your business rather than just get organized and get simplified, you know? Right. So part of that whole process the last year I was in San Francisco I used that last year to do everything I could to start my business so every single day I did something towards starting my business knowing I was moving as soon as I was fully vested I'd maxed out my vacation days like turning back right um and so I kind of had a timeline and I kind of I was doing that what is it about this job that I like that I want to carry forward into a business that I start. And I did some really fun exercises with some, it was a book called Crazy Dog's Guide to Happier Life. I don't think it's in print anymore, but it was this guy, it was an early coach walking people through how to figure out if you like your job or you don't like the tasks or you don't like the people or which part of your job is not satisfying. So it was just kind of fun. So I was experimenting with that. um this the voluntary simplicity move was really big in the late 90s and so it's what predated minimalism and so I was living a simple life I was doing all kinds of stuff to simplify and streamline my own life and I thought well that makes perfect sense for the organizing thing I can pull on this thread of streamlining and simplifying and use that as my main message and targeting. And then as I moved into actually working with clients, it became so evident that everyone's life has gotten so complicated. And this is 23 years ago. It had gotten so complicated that they had too much stuff and they couldn't manage all the moving parts of their lives. And now it's even worse. Well, and you would think intuitively that our lives would be simpler and easier. Like I know certain things I do are easier because I use voice with the lady on the thing I'm not going to mention because she always turns on when I'm in my, it rhymes with Palexa. I'll see she just turned on. But you'd think life would be simpler and more organized, but we've just packed it in with other stuff. And now we actually multitask 10 times more because it's easier and we could do everything ourselves and set out. Why do you think that is? Why do you think we haven't used technology to simplify and yet our lives should be simpler? I will say marketing. People are selling stuff. We're influenced. Yeah. And no one takes the time. It's what you said with jobs. We don't take the time to figure out why or what or how. We just do. We go along to get along instead of actually creating a life, designing a life of meaning for ourselves and satisfaction. When you do that first, bringing in the mindset piece of it all, when you dream it first, you can then start having decision criteria when you do bring something new into your life. Everybody runs around asking me, what tool do you use? What tool do you use? What app is for that? And I'm like, oh my God, if you can't do it on paper, you can't do it with technology. So you have to learn the system first manually. You know, you map out what is the actual flow and then you figure out what will help me achieve that. And it doesn't matter what I think, because if you don't like the interface, you're not going to use it. I love that you said that. And I have to just super highlight that, highlight, highlight. And that is you said three things that I just really want people to take note of. Number one, if you don't stop and become aware, and this applies to time management, organization, simplicity, business, whatever. If you don't stop to become aware and analyze what you're doing, it will never get better. Then you talked about you got to design and create it. Just like we talk about your inner world, outer world, your business, your organization. if you don't design and create the systems you want to do, it will never go forward. But when you do take the time to design and create it, you said something that I just said to one of my real high-end mentoring clients. I said, once you're clear on what you're doing, you can bump everything up against it on a litmus test. Because I've had individuals that have said, well, I've got so many opportunities. I'm like, well, how does it compare to where you want to be? Well, I never thought about that. I've just been looking at all the different things I'm working on. No, you've designed and created a life you want compared to that. But if you haven't become aware, you haven't created a plan, you have nothing to compare it against. Would you agree? Oh, 100%. I love that that common thing you said, like, I love that. Yeah, it's so many people. I will ask them, well, why do you have this extra pen? Someone handed it to me. okay do you like this then no it's been in the jar for 10 years well can we get rid of it and use your favorite oh i don't know it's back to asking questions and analyzing right i mean yeah i i love that you you've said that and i love that we're super highlighting this because sometimes it's difficult for me to get people to become aware and create but if we can come at it from a point of simplifying and organizing, people are like, I do want that. I do want a simpler life. I do want a more organized life. I know my mindset has something to do with it. I know my productivity will completely change because of it. So talk to me a little bit about what process you take people through. I know you have the streamlined solution. Is this a process that helps people to simplify and organize? Explain to me what that is. Yeah. So my signature system is the streamlined solution it's based on um four steps five kind of it depends on if people believe the last one is a step um but we start by dreaming it i realize how many people can't even imagine what life would be like differently and if covid taught us one thing it's that we don't do well with uncertainty yeah we like certainty but life is uncertain every single minute of every single day and so So figuring out that you can create some structures or systems that help you anticipate as much uncertainty as possible, but still be resilient enough to flow. That's where we start. Can I make a comment on that? Because I think I love that you start there because I know, you know, people like Tony and everybody else, we talk about six core human needs. One's uncertainty and one's certainty. You want to have certainty, but it's boring unless you have a certain amount of uncertainty. I believe as an entrepreneur, the key is what you just said, and that is the ability to create certainty in an uncertain world. You're constantly living outside your comfort zone. You're growing and building and moving. But if you can learn to find ways to create certainty in an uncertain world, so you're saying step one is dream it. Think about what you want to create. I love that. Okay, go keep going yeah so then we reverse engineer and the second step is we actually declutter because it doesn't matter if we're just working on time management or we're just working on your business systems or whatever there is stuff in the way and that's why you don't have clarity you have things in your way and our unconscious brain is processing all this stuff we have to take care of or do or dust or deal with and it doesn't ever get to clarity because it's just spinning around in circles, trying to figure out how to deal with all this stuff. What are the biggest things people you deal with? Like, you're an expert on this, right? What are the biggest things people have to declutter that you look at and you go, man, that's one thing if you decluttered would make a massive difference. Give me an example of something. Because I know I can think of a bunch, but like what's a good example? Well, almost 100% of my clients have a paper problem. and the fact that we're supposed to be paperless is never going to happen everybody just know that correct i agree because even if you have gone more paperless now i'm willing to bet you have at least one to 87 boxes of old papers somewhere in your house or office it's hard to get away from paper and the problem is when you're done with all those where do they all go well they go in that pile right there but then what like that's because you don't have a system exactly yeah um so there's kind of two layers to it but paper for sure um depending on the person the next one is either in the kitchen or in their closet okay because it's the simple self-care things it's again it's foundational stuff to take care of ourselves to get out in the world to put our thing into the world you have to have certain foundation of of life right you have to be fed and closed and clean, kind of. Yeah. Are most of your clients, and do you find most people now, is moving to where they're home office based? Or do you work with people in their home as well as their business setting and kind of go through both of those things? Is it as important? It's as important, but I think the home is more important. Okay. Because it doesn't actually matter which end I start on. Almost all of my clients are small business owners. Got it. I rarely actually work in their office. Got it. Some of my coaching clients I do for sure. And they're mostly home-based, but it's, it's a weird thing. Like someone will call me in for their office and we take care of a thing and it's kind of a one-off and then their assistants and employees work with it. But the home is the constant ongoing thing that feels like it changes so much but it doesn have to You did it to yourself But it influences your mind and stuff right Yeah exactly Okay, so dream it and declutter it. Declutter it. And then when we know what you actually have that supports that dream and all the stuff that doesn't support that dream is out of the way, we can start designing systems. So that's when we design. Third step of systems? Yeah. Got it. So that's the actual placement of things. If it needs a container around it or not, if it needs reminders set up, if it needs communication with other people, we create the system around how that's going to work. Let me ask you a question because I've struggled with this. I know a lot of people do. When you hear the word systems, it sounds like a word. And I know the goal behind a system is it shouldn't be work. But, you know, I'll have clients or businesses that I own and people are like, we got Slack, we got Monday, we got this, we got that, YouTube, you know, Google Sheets and everything. Like when you say systems, is the goal to find the right system for people according to where they're at? Or is there a system? And how do you tackle that? Because that to me, how do you stay consistent with a system? Or is the goal to have a system that doesn't need you to constantly make it consistent, right? Does that make sense? Yes. And that's the problem. And it's back to that app or a tool that'll solve it for me. Okay. Unfortunately, we still have to do the work. So what I do is I design the workflow system. So I've got both five essential business systems and five essential home systems. And we set that up. But it doesn't look the exact same for everybody. So I'm going to put how you think and how you process and your style of, you know, are you, just to use some very generic examples, are you the kind of person that actually gets your clothes into the hamper? or are you the kind of person that puts it on the floor next to the hamper or on the floor near where you got undressed and then grumble, grumble, grumble every time someone reminds you to put it in the hamper. So we work with, okay, well, where does the hamper need to be to make that easier? And maybe it doesn't need a lid so that you don't have to pick up the lid to get it in there. So it's easier. Well, that sounds so intuitive, but I know it's things people don't think about, But you just totally answered my question. And that was, it's not about finding off the shelf solutions to fit people into. It's about mapping the flow and creating systems to streamline it. Right. So according to who you are and what you do and how you do it. And I tell people that about daily rituals too. People are like, well, you know, Tim Ferriss says journal, meditate, dah, dah, dah. Well, guess what? I need to work out first or my brain ain't even moving. Once I work out, it's way better, easier for me to meditate, but it depends on where I am. So you're saying those tailored things are important to have a system, know the workflow, right? Yes. And that's a great segue because all the systems work together as well. So it's the gears in a system, closed, highly adaptive, complex, adaptive system. It's the same thing, whether we're talking about nature, creative process, business, home life, the way our brains work, It's all a complex adaptive system, right? So once you understand that you are creating that part and you look at where the bottlenecks are, you know what to fine tune next because it's piling up there. That pile of notes you took on that paper. Yeah. It's in a big pile on the edge of the desk. What do you do with it? Well, next step might be to block time to process the notes you took for the week. Love it. And get them into where they want to do. I love it. But maybe it's just review them and read them and throw them in the trash. Yep. But it has to be built in to what's the next step. Yeah. I love that you say that though, because, and I don't want you to lose your track here, but I feel like one of the reasons I've been able to create success is I've tried as much as I can over time to create as many systems as possible, but I take time to review what I'm doing to try to make it better. And so I have one question related to systems before you go to the last step, and that is when your systems interact with other people, is the goal, how do you create a system and make sure that people are educated on it so they can fall into it? for example, you have employees, you have people you're distributing content to, you're trying to collaborate. Is that in those cases, you need the tool or do you try to understand their way as well when you interconnect systems with multiple people and you're not just some solopreneur, right? Is that a good question? Yes, it's a great question. And you hit the nail on the head with the education. You have to have training. So again, it doesn't matter what system you use. You mentioned Slack and Monday and what was the other thing you used? Anyway. Well, there's a ton because, I mean, some people are using Google Sheets. Some are using Google Docs, iDrive. And it's so complicated. But every time someone, I just joined a program and they wanted us to use Voxer. And I'm like, okay, but we also have a Facebook group and we have weekly meetings. So why do I, and we have each other's emails. So now you want me to check a fourth place? And it just feels like too much. So the number one thing is what can you get? What can you strip out of the process and still get the result? Pareto principle, maybe still get 80% of the result. What do you need? And then keep it. It's so funny. You brought up Pareto. Literally the last three high end entrepreneurs I've talked to has been like, if you don't understand Pareto principle, 80, 20, or even, you know, Parkinson's law, you are never going to manage your time. and it's just these simple success leaves clues. You're an expert at this. It's clearly important for people to be having this on their mind. Yeah, and it's foundational, this understanding that it's systems, that it's habits, that it is, and none of those principles are 100% all the time. It is- Right, fifth of all. They adapt. It's the concept of you do this to get that, or you repeat something and it gets easier. or, you know, there's just so many pieces of that where it's an examined thing and it's the way everything works. It's physical rules and regulations of the universe, right? Yeah. Well, it's funny though, because I feel like just like anything else in self-mastery, we talk about why you should have a coach, why you should have a mentor. A lot of times it's because you can't see the forest through the trees in your own life. And I think organization and simplicity city is the same thing. You may not even realize how much time you're wasting 80% of the time, right? On things until someone goes, why are you doing this? And you're like, well, I never thought about it. I always spend time doing emails in the morning and I just keep them on read and I just like da-da-da, right? Go through them five times without that third party. That's funny. Yeah. We can't see our own stuff. I forgot to ask you if I could use bad words on your thing. I almost let it fly. And see our own stuff. And there's, we always need mentors and people to be sounding boards. And, you know, I always have my own. If you're willing to, if you want to have a better life, you've got to invest in yourself. Okay. So I tend to get us off track. So dream it, declutter, create systems, keep going. And then you develop habits. So the routine and the habit to use the systems to support your life, to get you to your dream. What's the biggest thing that keeps people that you've been working with from creating the habits? Because I know all of us have tried new systems. We've tried to declutter at times, but you hit it on the head. If you don't create habits, which you'll do through daily rituals, you'll organize yourself and do that. what's the biggest thing that knocks people out of their habits or out of creating a habit? They give up when they fail the first time instead of realizing that it's part of the habit development process. And so I try to walk them through, you've got to anticipate the fact that you going to fail at this like a hundred times before you get into the actual habit and don have to think about it anymore So what are you going to do to remind yourself that that okay let do it I also walk them through the muscle memory piece of it So let's say you forget to hang your keys on the hook one day and you're trying to develop the habit of always knowing where your keys are. You can't just then leave the house once you find the key. You have to actually put the key back on that hook and then take it off the hook before you leave the house or you're, it just speeds up that process, that unconscious development of the habit to put it on the hook. Cause now you're looking for it on the hook. Yeah. Cause that whole concept of neuroplasticity, repetition and frequency, you're trying to embed it right in your, in your neuroscience to do that. So I love that you catch yourself, go back and do what you need to do. I also love that your first step, I think sets you up for success with habits because Because when you give up because you failed, it's easy to give up unless you have a really crystal clear goal of where you want to be and by dreaming it. And, you know, when you have something and you're like, oh, this isn't working, you blame the system or something. You won't even be thinking that way because you'll be thinking, hey, look, I know where I want to get. I'm not giving up. Like, it's not an option. I've got to get organized. I want a simpler life. I want flexibility. Right? Yeah. And it's everything is connected. everything's emotion all the time that complex adaptive system and if i can't make those connections back for you that you're doing this because so that you can attain your juicy desired outcome and have a more satisfying and meaningful life through the process of organization and looking at it from a what's working what's not working because our brains love curiosity and problem solving and if you don't have a problem for it to solve it will create one for you so you might as well solve the ones you want to um and just making all those connections it doesn't have to be so hard it can be really kind of mind-blowing and experimental to approach it this way and that keeps even the dull stuff a little more interesting in my opinion well i i agree with you a hundred percent and what i love because i love the reason i love doing these interviews is it makes my mind kind of start turning i start thinking to myself most of you listening to this podcast, you're probably thinking, okay, time management, organization, lots of stuff. And those are great ideas, but man, it's heavy lifting. But what you're failing to realize is if the goal is to live your best life in a creative state, in a beautiful state, as Tony would say, you've got to free up your mind, your time, your productivity. So it's not about being more productive. It's about taking it a step further and saying, be more productive so you can be creative and do what you love and spend less time doing the crap. And when you constantly are aware of that, it's not just time management anymore. It's not productivity anymore. It's a process and path to get you where you want. Your best life, right? I love it. Yeah. Yeah. But even taking it back to the ritual, like the morning ritual, Well, if you are journaling and or learning something by listening to a podcast, why not listen to that podcast while you're also working out? Yeah. Because now you're triggering two things you enjoy in your life. Yeah. Okay. I know not everybody enjoys working out, but you could. Well, you would if you weren't trying to cram it in and your life wasn't so crazy about other things to do. You could find your shoes, you know, all those things. Yeah. Make it easy. Yeah. Okay. So, well, okay. So one other question, was there another fifth step or was that part of the habit process that you said might be a step if people saw it as a step? No, the thing that might be a step is then you delight in your days because you know where your things are and you're working towards your dreams. You live the experience of being more free and flexible. I love that is a step. No question. Living your life is the final step of doing it, right? I love that. Yeah. Well, so I know we're kind of out of time, but you had mentioned when we were talking before that you had a gift for our listeners. I always like to try to give you guys something tactical, strategic. Could you explain to us a little bit about what you have for them? And then I'll put it in the show notes and things like this. But what do you have for them and how will it help them? Yeah, so I've got the One Minute Mail Solution. It is a process map and a methodology for processing your mail. I call it mail, but it works for email and paper mail. I just know most clients have both those issues. And it's really the same thing. And I think we got a little out of hand when we thought that email was different. And so now everybody has 93,000 emails and they've got 27 pieces of paper in the mailbox every day and they think they're different somehow, but they're not. It's the same thing. It's information you didn't want coming at you and you have to make a decision. I love it. So it's a process to help you make those decisions and process it quicker. And you can find that at morethanorganized.net slash one O-N-E minute mail. Got it. And I'm going to, like I said, guys, I'm going to put that in the show notes, but I want to mention something. I want to recommend you go and check this out. And the reason I want you to do this is because you may think, I got my mail handled. I just take it here and I dump it in the garbage, you know, or whatever. It's not the point. The point is systems and processes, there's success and clues in successful systems. You may learn something from this that'll apply to something completely unrelated or dealing with your inbox at the office or whatever. So go check out the One Minute Mail solution. And then Miriam, what's the best way for people to connect with you? Where can they find you? Where's the best place to connect with you? And I'll try to put some of your links in the show notes too, but where do you kind of live the most? I live the most on... probably facebook so it's it's facebook.com slash more than organized um and i have a youtube channel as well that i put out a lot of content over there um but i'll put both those i'll put both the links in but i think also if they go and they get this free gift um you know then they can they can be on your uh your your mail list and they can get other tips and strategies and things so that'll be good as well um well i'll tell you i have enjoyed our time i wish it wasn't over but But I really do love your concepts of simplicity and organization in order to grow your business, live your best life and and create more focus, smoke the focus on the most important things. Is there anything else you want to kind of leave the listeners with before we we end here? Yeah, I just want to tie back to the point you just made about looking at the one minute mail solution as a process and how you can apply that to other things, because that is the whole point. Most of my clients get overwhelmed because they can't figure out what, or they consider everything so unique. It can't possibly fall under that same process. But really, it's about how to create a process. and when you look at it that way, it really is, everything is all the same. Every single kind of thing that's in your way, whether it's scheduling issues, it's random thoughts, whether it's clutter, physical clutter, whether it's clothes, whether it's papers, whether it's too many meetings, all of those things, it's about process. How are you gonna fix the process? I love that. I'd love to also, we'll have to have you back with our private Mastermind Academy, which we have so our members can maybe do a little bit of a deep dive into a particular process or two. So we'll have to do that. I'd love that. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here. Guys, listen, I've said it a million times, but it's never too late to start living the life that you're meant to live. And if you're struggling with being organized, or maybe it's not even that, maybe you just don't find enough time for yourself in the things you love to do, it could come back to creating systems in your life. And so do what you can to make those changes, follow your daily rituals, and just that conscious effort is going to make a difference. So make sure you hit subscribe on the show so you don't miss any episodes and go follow me and give me some feedback on The Daily Mastermind on Facebook or Instagram. Love to hear from you. Love to hear what you're struggling with and also what you're doing when you're crushing your goals. And I'll look forward to talking with you soon. Once again, this is George Wright III, and this has been The Daily Mastermind. Talk to you soon. .
