Meet Tara Kenavan of 21times Professional Organizing

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tara Kenavan.

Tara, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was always organizing as a kid. My aunt and uncle took me to Lake George when I was 7. After a full day of activities, the story goes, I couldn’t wait to get back to the cabin to organize and re-organize my dresser every night. All I remember is I loved that trip!

I’m a native New Yorker. I was an actor for many years and while temping (as actors do!), I was offered a job as an Executive Assistant. I couldn’t understand why I loved it so much but in hindsight, I was organizing offices, staff, travel, programming and schedules all day so of course I loved it! Co-workers began asking me to organize their homes and so it began, although it would be a few years before I realized it was a profession. Years later, I was laid off and started organizing friends and family to keep my sanity. Again, people suggested I start a business and again I wasn’t sure it was a business to be started. My sister saw a professional organizer on TV and called me “It’s a thing to be! Turn on the TV!” I started my business that day. About a year later, I moved to LA.

Has it been a smooth road?
Learning how to run a business was completely new to me and in the beginning, I was more interested in organizing than running a business. When you start to learn about something you realize there’s so much more to learn than you thought so I just jumped in. I’m still learning as we go and I started to enjoy the whole ride. Deciding to move 3,000 miles away from anyone I knew when my business was very young was by far the hardest (self-induced) struggle. The biggest challenge straight away was to meet people. Lots of people. Fast.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
The name 21times stems from the theory that you can make or break a habit in 21 consecutive tries. Very often, being organized is just about changing habits. We specialize in residential organizing. Our clients are really busy people who have too much stuff and don’t know what to do with it. We help them edit, organize, and set up new systems and we take the stuff with us when we go! We also manage relocations from downsizing to unpacking and organizing on the other side.

What makes us different – they say you can take the girl out of New York but you can’t take the New York out of the girl. We can be a little New York sometimes! We have a sense of humor, we’re not going to waste your time and we’re going to get the job done. We think outside the box and that can be helpful in a challenging space. We’re able to see the space with a different perspective and make it functional.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I came to visit LA and within four days realized this was the place to be for a small business. Of course, there are disorganized homes across the country that can benefit from the services of professional organizers but there’s a vibe here in LA that’s conducive to running a small business and a collaborative energy that supports trying new things. I can’t imagine having the business that I have if I’d stayed in New York.

What can LA improve? There’s a bit of traffic here, no?

Contact Info:

• Website: www.21-times.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @21timesorganizing
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/twentyonex/
• Twitter: @21_times

Image Credit:
21times Professional Organizing

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