NRI entrepreneur Pooja Gugnani helps people organize their lives

Her favourite quote is "Don't be afraid to fail. Be afraid not to try". Born and raised in India, Pooja Gugnani spent her formative years in Mumbai and still calls it her hometown. Marriage moved her to Chicago, Illinois in the United States where she soon realised her dream. While many others may rue her work, Pooja relishes it and has managed to make a business out of organising peoples lives. She started her company Organizing With You in 2009 to help sift through the everyday chaos of everyday people's lives.


What does India represent for you?
Home, family, Warmth. India to me represents my roots and a reminder of who I am at the core.The values instilled in me growing up in India, have remained with me as I have traveled and succeeded.

What makes you keep going?
The aftermath of success keeps me motivated. The feeling of relief, elation, satisfaction after meeting my goals or doing a good job is the impetus to continue trying and hopefully succeeding for me.

When faced with obstacles, how do you react?
When the going gets tough, is exactly the time to not give up. I believe it is a blessing to face trials and tribulations as they can foster growth in ways that life's regular challenges cannot. It is the most opportune time, when times are tough, to develop virtues of resilience, patience and tenacity. If you get through tough times, they can leave with you with many intangible gifts.

Of all the challenges to come you way, which has been the toughest?
My biggest challenge has been launching my business on such a unique concept. Offering organizing services for a livelihood is a risk at a time when people do not still entirely understand and see the value in hiring professional organizing services to meet their organizing needs.I have the dual task of learning how to be an entrepreneur as well as increasing awareness on the service I am offering.

How did you decide to get into the business or organizing other people’s lives?
Having seen firsthand the benefits of being organized and informally helped neighbors, friends, professors etc organize their space, I always knew there was a need. After getting married and relocating to Chicago, I wanted to switch careers and do something a little more meaningful to me. I wanted a way to improve people's lives. I believe organization clears the pathway to life's other important destinations. That's when I found the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and took courses/workshops to enhance my skills and innate organizing abilities and then launched my business.
 
What would you rate as your biggest achievement?
My biggest achievement is helping a wide demographic of people, working with clients who have physical limitations, ADD, anxiety, depression and/or are coping with major life transitions to have a better physical space to cope in.

Is there someone who saw what you could do and encouraged you?
My husband was certainly the first person to recognize my potential and provide me the support to pursue this venture. He saw firsthand what I had done for our own space and how it had transformed our lives and he pushed me to explore the potential of offering this type of service to others.I am really grateful for that.

Who do consider your biggest inspiration in life?
Anyone who has the courage to follow their heart and dream, even when the moral support is't available or  resources are limited or finds a way to channel his/her passion- is an inspiration to me. I come across inspirational figures in my daily life; a single mother raising her kids or while growing up my maid who kept a smiling face throughout her trying circumstances, were inspiration enough to keep going.

If you weren’t doing what you do, what would you be doing?
I would have been an artist. Painting is my hobby and my passion. While kids collected toys, I collected crayons. I would probably pursue my art as a profession, if I wasn't doing what I am right now.