Meet Elizabeth Jones of Nest & Transformation in Fort Worth

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elizabeth Jones.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
“Don’t ever tell anyone that story.” That was the advice a colleague gave me when I was just starting out as a professional organizer six years ago. Having just met, she asked me how I got started in the business. And I told her. Basically, people thought I was crazy the first 37 years of my life. It all started in 1973 when I came out of the womb and immediately began arranging the hospital staff by height, then alphabetically by the last name.

I was the precocious, OCD, Type A, only child of a very endearing single mother. We lived in the cutest converted garage apartment attached to my grandparents’ home on Maxwell Drive in Midland, TX. My grandfather was a beloved football coach at Highland Park High School in Dallas before taking a position as equally beloved athletic director for Midland ISD. And my grandmother was the stunning wife who always did and said the right thing in quiet, conservative West Texas.

So, here I came, the outspoken kid who, between the hours of 8:00 and 3:00, managed to stick out like a sore thumb in the elementary school circles of West Texas. And after hours, I spent my time alphabetizing, color coordinating, aligning, re-aligning, arranging, re-arranging, folding, re-folding, and organizing every item in our family home. My grandmother put me to good use in our harvest gold kitchen pantry and family refrigerator. I loved cleaning out and organizing the fridge… mostly because there were chocolate covered cherries there.

My teenage and adult years were more of that. Times 100. People think they understand what you mean when you say you like things “lined up.” Then someone opens a cabinet door and realizes everything is a) categorized, b) alphabetized, c) labels facing exactly the same way or you’re dead to me and d) in a perfect line.

And for the first 3 1/2 decades of my life, I wandered the planet wondering if I’d ever find a place {professionally and personally} where people got me. Until one day when I turned on the TV in Pasadena, CA {where I worked for seven years} and saw a show called The Amandas. It followed the life of a professional organizer whose perfectionistic tendencies and impossibly high standards matched my own. And not only that – a staff of people who listened to her, a client base who hung on her every word, and a TV crew who found it interesting enough to document.

I’d caught a glimpse of “my people.” And the rest was history. I moved back to Texas and started my life as a professional organizer. I say I get paid to rifle through people’s things. But seriously, I found my place in this world. The things that make me quirky in my personal life make me a client’s dream come true in my professional one.

If any of you are wondering the same thing… if you’re currently roaming the desert looking for your people, let me be very clear: “The place you seek is seeking you. The place you need needs you.” {Mary Baker Eddy}.

PS… don’t ever let anyone convince you not to tell your story. In her article In the Service of Life, Rachel Naomi Remen says ” When I help I am very aware of my own strength. But we don’t serve with our strength, we serve with ourselves. We draw from all of our experiences. Our limitations serve, our wounds serve, even our darkness can serve. The wholeness in us serves the wholeness in others and the wholeness in life.” People will want to hire you precisely for the experience that brings you to their table.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Certainly, there have been bumps along the way. And there are things I want to be better at. I would rather do almost anything than have to advertise or sell myself. I hate that part of owning a business. And anyone who works for themselves knows the free fall that comes when you don’t have the security of a steady paycheck every single month.

But there is something absolutely magical that happens when your purpose in life clicks into place. The road rises up to meet you. Doors open. And opportunities present themselves like a Starbucks on every corner. I’ll have a bald spot on my calendar and wonder “what am I going to do next week?” Then I’ll get a call out of nowhere – from a person who heard about me from a friend in Boston and who’s moving to the Metroplex and needs my help unpacking. And at that moment, I know that I am exactly where I am meant to be.

When most people are exhausted by the end of their workday, I can work 12 hours, be the last person to leave a job site, and drive home so excited and on fire about my job that I can hardly wait to go back the next morning.

Please tell us about Nest & Transformation.
My company is Nest & Transformation. And we specialize in visually stunning home organizing. We don’t just organize. We beautifully style every nook and cranny so our clients are delighted every time they open a door or drawer. No day is the same. One week, I might be organizing a client’s beloved family photos or their extensive collection of Victorian-era dishware. The next week, I might be organizing a pantry, master closet, or home office.

And the next week, I might be laying 17 rooms of drawer and shelf liner or completely unpacking a client after their move. I’ve worked on spaces as small as 700 square feet and ones as large as 28,000 square feet. I love them all. People also hire me to speak about organizing. There’s nothing I love more than geeking out about how to make your boots stand up on a shelf or how to purge all the terrible gifts you got last Christmas to a room full of women daintily eating chicken Caesar salad. It’s the best.

Something happens when people sort through their belongings. They find themselves. One of my favorite quotes is from Michelangelo – “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” That’s always my goal when working with a client… to chip away at the things they realize they don’t want or love until we get to the masterpiece of their lives. The average home has 300,000 things in it {The National Association of Productivity & Organizing Professionals}. That’s a lot of marble.

If I had to name one thing I’m most proud of, it would be the trust my clients have in me. There’s something sacred about being in another person’s inner sanctuary. There’s a vulnerability there that you have to protect. They have to have an absolute faith that a) I won’t judge them and b) I’ll see the solutions when they can’t. I can absolutely walk into any room in a client’s home and see its stunning potential. I don’t see the mess or the boxes or the stacks of paper or the hundreds of Legos daring to be stepped on. I see a completely finished space with everything in its place. I’ll freak out if I’m not 45 minutes early to a movie. But I never freak out about a project.

And I have the most darling clients on the planet – some whom I’ve had for years. I even visit some who have moved away. There is a bond that happens when you cherish and find a way to celebrate all the little things in a person’s home. I know the names of all their children, and pets, and the special occasions in their lives. They could call me years later and I’d still remember what is sitting on the second shelf to the right as you walk into their pantry.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I was 17 and sitting in Mr. Womack’s economics class in Lubbock, TX. I’d dropped out the year before. Even though I was a straight-A student, I hated high school. But I decided to come back the following school year.

So there I was, watching Mr. Womack standing on top of a desk, so excited about economics at 8:35 in the morning {He was the best teacher} when someone came to the door with a note calling me down to the principal’s office. Now you all remember getting a note to come to the principal’s office, don’t you? It is the longest walk – and you’re racking your brain the whole time wondering what in the world you could have done. Even Mr. Womack looked worried for me.

When I got there, there were two people from the Lubbock Optimist Club. As it turned out, two students from every high school in Lubbock had been nominated for a college scholarship for overcoming adversity to stay in school and graduate. I was one of those students. I can still tell you everything about that day…what I was wearing, where I was sitting, the facial details of my two completely unexpected benefactors. That day changed my entire life. I spent seven of the best years at Texas Tech University.

Where I’d been a textbook wallflower in high school, I was now president of the Dean’s Council and emceeing Human Sciences Week and being social chair of my honor society. Social. Chair. I graduated with my master’s degree in Human Development and Family Studies. I went on to work with at-risk teens for 10 years after that. And everything I learned in those seven years has been invaluable to me as an organizer working with people.

You never know when life is going to throw you a surprise party. It doesn’t matter how old you are, there are still serendipities to be had. Things you could never in a million years have planned for yourself. Wait for it.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nestandtransformation.com
• Phone: 626-394-3194
• Email: Jonezie127@gmail.com

Image Credit:
Paisley Layne Photography

Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.