Meet Anna Mann | Organizer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Anna Mann and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Anna, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I had recently gone back to school and gotten my bachelor’s degree and then went back to working the job I had before going back to school. I hated it. It wasn’t where I wanted to be and it wasn’t what I wanted to be doing anymore. I started organizing my home during the pandemic and it became almost therapeutic and someone suggested I try doing that as my job. So, I started Anna’s Organizing Service. I also took a part time job as music coordinator for my spiritual fellowship called Spiritual Soul Center here in Wilmington and I absolutely love that too. It’s a different kind of organizing. I love organizing music events and would love for that to become a source of income for me somehow as well.

As far as the thought process behind going self-employed, I just really needed to love life again. I needed to feel like what I was doing with my time was important and helpful. Home organizing isn’t just closets and pantries for the rich and well-off. Sometimes it’s helping people who need to downsize or move. Sometimes it’s helping folks who’ve lost loved ones. Sometimes it’s helping someone who’s been through a trauma and the result is massive clutter. I may not know what I want to do when I grow up, but I really love doing this for now.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
A lot of organizers will turn down a mess if it’s too big. Not me. I want the bigger messes. I want to work with hoarders and people who are so completely overwhelmed that they need help to get out of it. Those are the jobs that excite me the most.

I landed here, honestly, because I have an anxiety disorder. I had already been diagnosed before the pandemic because of an unusually high number of losses of family and friends and then the pandemic hit and I became catatonic. For weeks at a time, I couldn’t eat, sleep, shower, or leave the house. I couldn’t get out of bed. I was panicking all the time. I avoided medication for a long time but finally gave in the summer of 2020. By the end of the summer, I started feeling better and organized my whole house. Then I couldn’t stop. It felt too good and eventually when quarantine was over, we had guests who noticed what I was doing and suggested I take it on the road. I brushed it off for a while but the more I thought about it at a job I couldn’t stand, the more sense it made.

It’s definitely not easy to transition to self-employment. You’re always looking for your next job and there are days and weeks that can be very slow. That’s always frightening but I have a very strong will to keep going. Something I learned in my mental health journey is to “never never never give up” and I have applied that to life and to my business. I will never give up.

I want the world to know that I believe humans are more valuable than things. So many of my clients have incredibly low self-esteem and they hang on to things because they believe their stuff is more valuable than them! I love clearing out rooms to be used for guests because a lot of times my clients won’t have had friends over for months or years because of the clutter. I want to help my clients start living life again instead of just acting as storage for things that are getting in their way, figuratively and literally.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m a bit of a homebody these days but if I had a guest from out of town I would definitely take them to Old Books on Front Street and then to a local coffee shop like Brooklyn Cafe, Folk’s Cafe, or Luna Caffe. Elemental Grove is a fantastic new shop on Castle Street and I would definitely stop in there. And I’m a vegetarian so I have to take them to Sealevel City Vegan Diner, Panacea Brewing Company, or The Green House for a bit of a fancier vegan meal. As for drinks (if they drink) I really love Lula’s A Pub, Bottega Art and Wine, and Fermental.

Those are all locally owned businesses. As for the bigger adventures, obviously we have Wrightsville and Carolina/Kure beaches. We also have some wonderful hiking trails.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would definitely want to shoutout to my parents for supporting me in making this move to self-employment. Without them, this would not be possible. Also to my friend, Paula Zabkar, who gave me the encouragement I needed to try it out and keep going. And all the clients and friends who have kept encouraging me along the way.

Website: https://annamann910.wixsite.com/annamann910

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annas_organizing_service?igsh=cG92cDBtdWJrc2dl&utm_source=qr

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnnasOrganizingService?mibextid=PtKPJ9

Yelp: https://m.yelp.com/biz/annas-organizing-service-wilmington?override_cta=Request%20a%20Quote

Image Credits
The images are a little out of order. I hope you can see which before and after photos go together. If not, let me know and I’ll clarify.