Episode Summary
What if your lead generation process could feel streamlined and under control instead of chaotic and scattered across endless to-dos?
If you’ve ever felt the stress of leads slipping through the cracks—or the constant pressure of juggling too many moving pieces—you’re not alone. In this episode, professional organizer and certified life coach Tracy Hoth shares a practical, five-step framework that helps you clear the clutter, calm the overwhelm, and finally set up a lead generation system you can trust.
In this episode, you will:
Discover how streamlining your lead generation can improve your results AND instantly calm your nervous system—and why getting organized isn’t about color coding or fancy systems
Find out the hidden cost of “I’m bad with organizing”—and how disorganization in your backend may be what’s really stalling your results.
Learn the 5-step SPACE framework for organizing anything—from podcast pitching to client follow-ups to your weekly calendar—and why it could be the fastest path to more leads with less stress.
Press play now to discover how to simplify your process, stop missing opportunities, and create the kind of organized flow that keeps your business growing with ease.
Links Mentioned
Get the free gift from Tracy Hoth: https://simplysquaredaway.com/5files
The Organized Coach Podcast: https://simplysquaredaway.com/podcast/
Tracy’s website: https://simplysquaredaway.com/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/tracyhoth
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyhoth/
Facebook: https://facebook.com/SimplySquaredAway
Work With Jenna
7-Week Mindset Block Reset: https://app.acuityscheduling.com/catalog.php?owner=12460168&action=addCart&clear=1&id=2031334
Questions? Book a coffee chat with me: https://theuncommonway.as.me/?appointmentType=14162313
Clarity Accelerator Mastermind:
Unlock your inner genius, streamline your strategies and offers, and dial in the inner world that lets you create uncommon success in business and life; https://www.theuncommonway.com/schedule
Private coaching: https://www.theuncommonway.com/schedule
Resources Mentioned:
Find Jenna on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theuncommonway/
Full Episode Transcript:
In this episode, you'll discover a simple process to organize and systematize your lead generation efforts. And it's going to extend into all other areas of your life if you let it. Welcome to the Uncommon Way, where high achieving women entrepreneurs and leaders ditch the rulebook and design success on their own terms.
I'm your host, Jenna Harrison, a top ranked business coach sharing business growth strategies, mindset mastery, and power moves to help you attract ideal clients, leverage your unique genius, and scale with freedom. Let's dive Welcome, welcome back to the Uncommon Way. I met a woman a few months ago who was a certified coach through the same organization as me, and I felt like I'd known her for years.
Not only do we have work in common, because both of us help entrepreneurs streamline their businesses so they can work less and earn more, but also she's one of those people who is so nice and down to earth and keeps everything so real. You'll see what I mean. So I decided to sit down for a conversation with her about her tips for streamlining lead generation, because it's obviously very aligned with what we talk about here, and I knew you'd find it really inspiring and also something that you can implement today.
In this episode, you will discover how streamlining your lead generation can improve your results and instantly calm your nervous system, and why getting organized is not about color coding or fancy systems or anything difficult. You'll find out the hidden cost of I'm bad with organizing, and how disorganization in your back end may be what's really stalling your results. And you'll learn the five-step space framework for organizing anything, from podcast pitching to client follow-ups to your weekly calendar, and why it could be the fastest path to more leads and less stress.
My guest Tracy Hoth is a 17-year veteran professional organizer and certified life coach who's on a mission to empower coaches to create streamlined and organized businesses. She is the host of the top 1% globally ranked Organized Coach podcast and creator of Organized Coach Academy, where she simplifies everything to help coaches become organized CEOs. And now, let's bring her on.
Welcome, Tracy. Thank you so much for being here. Jenna, I'm so glad that you're having me on and letting me talk about getting organized.
It's always a fun conversation. So first, I have to ask, how do you feel being the first ever non-client on the podcast? So honored. I feel like the most special ever.
Oh, that's so great. When Tracy and I started talking, we just knew that there were so many synergies, and I had to have her come on. So I'm glad that you'll be able to share with my audience some of the things that I've learned listening to your podcast.
Oh, yes. Wonderful. So I was wondering if we could dive in and just start talking about some of the misconceptions that people have when they think about getting organized in their business, or if they need to get organized in their business.
Yes. Well, first, when people say organized, they think it has to look a certain way. So that's one of the misconceptions is that it has to be a certain way, where organization just means that you know what you have, and you can find it when you need it.
So it doesn't mean anything more than that. It can look different depending on how your brain works and how your business is set up. So I've simplified some things to help in that, but just know that it doesn't have to look a certain way.
That's one of them. It doesn't have to be color-coded file tabs. Right.
Okay. Now it can, because that could be really fun. But it doesn't have to be.
Got it. Another misconception is that you need a big chunk of time. It's going to take a lot of time.
So good. And when people are thinking about their computer, and they have tons of files, and they think about how messed up all their systems are, and you know, then it does seem huge, but you can get organized in 15 minutes a day. You can organize each little section and get that done.
So you don't need a huge chunk of time. The other thing is that you don't need to get organized. You don't need to do organizing if it's not causing you problems.
Like if there's not something negative happening, you're not wasting a bunch of time. You're not feeling stressed because you can't find something, or because you don't have it. You're just like trying to make sure your outer appearance looks like you have it together.
Like that aspect of it, you would want to do something about it. But otherwise, it's not like everyone just needs to get organized and spend time doing that. If it's causing you problems, then address the problems that it's causing.
Interesting. Yeah. I have to admit, when you said that, though, I started thinking about ways in which, because one of the ways that I loved listening to your podcast pitching episode that you have on your podcast, and you talked about how you have everything that you'll need for all of these pitches put together.
And so it wasn't something that I felt I was having a problem with. But when I listened to you talk about it, I thought, Oh my gosh, that would be so much more streamlined. That would feel also just the cognitive load, right? There'd be less cognitive load.
So do you ever find that people come into your orbit, kind of like me, where we're not looking to get organized, but once we hear about it, we're like, Oh, that could really help. Yes. And I think that's part of it.
You've lived the way you've lived, that you don't realize what's possible. Like you don't realize that that part of your brain is overloaded, or there is, could be a better way. So it is fun for people to see different options and think, Okay, that's how I might want to try it.
I think the biggest thing is the wonderful one. It's a concept I have where thinking about that podcast pitching episode and how I pitched a podcast is that everything is in one place. So even just that part of it, it's like a spreadsheet I have that has the tabs at the bottom.
It has when podcasts I'm on go live. It has who I'm pitching to. It has what their response has been.
Everything's there in one place. And so it makes it so easy then to find what you need and you know exactly where to go. And your brain feels calm because it can find the things that you need.
And I can see, and I've learned as I've went, like I highlight if I haven't promoted that person's podcast. And so then I see, Oh, those are the three that I still need to promote. And then I can take that color off after, but like all that's in one place.
And it's so much easier than if I had it on a piece of paper, scrapped under a pile, you know, wherever it is. Okay. We definitely need to talk more about lead generation because I know my audience is going to gobble that up.
But first I'm wondering, what do you think, what is the true cost? Like what's it really costing business owners to put off getting organized? That nervous system that we were talking about, the nervous system and the stress. So even your own health, also confidence, like how you're coming across and how you're offering, making your offers and all of that. The confidence behind it, if you have it organized in the backend, just feel so much better, so much calmer.
So your confidence level and definitely time, spending time, looking for things, spending time, scrambling, remaking things, you know, all of that, that you could be doing other things. You could be working less because you can find things that you need quickly. And I think about the example of someone that put something on their calendar.
They think they're bad at time management. They put something on their calendar and they're like, okay, I'm going to do this task that I have. But then 30 minutes in, they finally found the pieces of it that they need in order to do it.
So then it's tying into, they think they're bad at time management when really, if they were organized, their files were organized, they would be able to find that and get the task done in the time they allotted for themselves. So there's so many things like cost, confidence, the time management piece, all of those things that are tied into getting organized. So I'm super curious, how did you get into this work? Tell us your story.
Tell us about you. Yeah. Well, I mean, I started organizing 17 years ago.
My youngest was in pre starting preschool and I was like, I need something to do. I knew I wanted to organize people, help friends, because I would say, let's go to the park with our kids because I stayed home. And my friends would be like, oh, I need to clean my house.
I need to organize. I was like, what? Come on, let's go do something fun. And then I had some friends who were like chronically disorganized.
And so I started my business. I started helping people get organized. I made a website, told people I was a professional organizer and then have done that, spoken on the topic.
And then in 2017, 2018, I got Life Coach certified. So I started bringing in the mindset and the identity work that goes with transformation to becoming the organized person who has an organized home and organized business. But when I started my online part of my business, it was challenging.
I'm like, I've never organized something online. I don't know where things are. Like I needed to organize and take my own steps, go into my own business and learn how to organize it from the back end.
So when I was doing that, I thought, how many other people that aren't organized, that don't know the steps that haven't done it or haven't been taught, how are they doing it? How are they finding things? Because I had challenges. And so I started helping then coaches and small business owners organize the back end of their business too. Oh, what a great story.
What a great story. And I'm sure that when you got your first clients with that, you had so much to give because you'd been doing it in other areas. And I bet they thought, this is where have you been my whole life? Yes.
So amazing. So helpful. Yeah.
I have one offer that I love so much. It's helping people get the three biggest areas, the three biggest return on investments. If they spent time organizing it, one's their files, one's their bookmarks bars.
I love helping people do those two things in particular. And we share our screens. We look at it and they're like, what? I did not know that the whole time.
What? Oh my gosh. Oh, you can do that. And it's just fun.
And it has such an impact that it's one of my favorite things to do. Oh my gosh. I can feel the joy you have in your business.
And I just love that you have taken your zone of genius and now built a business around it, but also that it is showing up in everything you do as well. Because even our interactions have just felt so calm and so clean and organized because of how you've done all the things you do, how you follow up, how you, and yeah, and so I'll just want to second that for anyone who's on the outside and didn't get to see all that. I really do have a very, even before we met, I had a very consistent and clear idea of how you were and how professional you were because of all of that.
That's so interesting. And I just listened to something where someone was talking about your strengths and they said, it's so, to think about it, to find your own strength, you think of something that you don't even think everybody doesn't know. I'm like, doesn't everybody do that? Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Absolutely. I've practiced for 17 years. I've used the same five steps.
I've practiced the same thing. I've trained my brain to think in that, to use that funnel sort of thing. So that is also like everyone can have that.
It's a skill that they can learn and they can be practicing. So just to encourage anybody who's like, well, I don't have that naturally. It's okay.
You can learn. Yes, yes. Great point.
So let's then talk about those kinds of steps when it comes to a lead generation system. Because getting organized with lead generation, like you do with the podcast, is something that I think everybody, one of the common threads that I hear as a business coach is I want to get more leads, right? Or I want to find more ideal clients, depending how thoughtful and intentional, sophisticated they are about it. But it's about connecting with more people and finding more people.
So I believe that if you're able to be more organized in your approach to that, then you're going to create more results rather than more doing on the other end. So let's talk about that. Yeah.
Well, specifically about the podcast, like I started the year saying I want more visibility. What that led to was more connections. And I hadn't really thought like that, I guess.
But as I started connecting with different podcast hosts, it was so beautiful. Like I get to know you and I get to now forever have this connection that we have. And it's been a really special treat to be allowed on someone's podcast and to have that connection.
So that's been fun. But yes, starting with the wonderful one, thinking of one place to organize all of that is key. And same with, let's say you are working on a funnel for your lead generation, a traditional funnel, like where you have a freebie and then you have an opt-in page, that kind of thing.
All the links need to be in one spot so you can find everything that you need. So I run my business off of, I call them dashboards. They're Google Sheets that have tabs at the bottom.
And one of my tabs is funnels. And I have the funnel name and I have all the links to all the assets that go with that funnel in one place. And that's linked on my bookmarks bar.
So when I'm going to work on that, I click on my bookmarks bar link. I open the sheet, which opens the sheet. I have all the links I need.
I click on a link to open that thing and work on it. And so it's all in one place. Same with the podcast pitching.
I just open that Google Sheet and I have everything related to the podcast that I need right there. So when you are working with clients on something like this and they're trying to create a sheet because I'm just imagining myself doing this, where I think I would stumble is that I wouldn't think ahead about all the things I should have, like all the tabs that I should have or all the pieces in the long process of lead generation. So how do you think through that? Well, I think first I would just give them the sheet already made.
So when I work with them, get a sheet and I can help them add those. But notice one of the things we think is we need all the things in the future. It's like going to Target and buying a bunch of containers.
And we don't know if we need those containers yet. So I suggest not making a bunch of extra things until you realize you need them. And that's how my sheet even was formed.
Like I knew I needed to keep track of who I was pitching to. The next tab was I know I need to keep track of when I've booked a session. So I made a new tab there.
And then I need to keep track of if I and I could keep all that on that same tab. If I've promoted that person, when their thing went live, the link to it, all that can be on one tab. And so I don't really need any more things or put those in place ahead of time, just as I need them, I can add them.
And I can totally see if someone's not used to using that I like to use what they feel comfortable with already. But if there's no system they have, then a Google Sheet is just an easy thing to start with. But yeah, how in the initially it might be intimidating.
And that's why you know, having someone there showing you and we share screens, and I can tell you where to click. So you're learning how to do it and able to then next time you're making something you have a better skill level. Yes, absolutely.
So in terms of other forms of lead generation, like a networking, or like maybe being a speaker, the same thing applies where you have all the information in one place. Yes. And you can use the system that you want to collect and gather all of that information.
Yes. And you can make it way more complicated. What I tell people is by starting with a Google Sheet, if you're not using something else, you know, like Notion or you know, some other form, or ClickUp or whatever it is, even though I'm so tempted to use all these other things, I'm like, I use the Google workspace, I'm going to keep it there.
I'm not going to go with all the distractions and all the temptations and everybody telling me well, this is better, it's way more robust. And I'm like, I don't necessarily need robust. I just need to have if I was networking, I would make one with names.
And one of my colleagues has this where she that's her main lead generation, she goes to events, she brings home business cards or contacts, and she puts them in there, she writes when she's reached out to them with a date, you can format it with a date in it. You just double click and the little calendar comes up and you put the date on it. You can put notes in there.
And now you have everything in one place, you just pull that up, you go back and through. You also can put follow up dates on there. And you can add those to your calendar so that you have the date that you're going to follow up with them.
There's drop downs where you can have was interested, reached out, sent something, you know, like all those kinds of things too. So you can keep it up to date on what if you have steps like a system in place of how you reach out to someone, those drop down menu could be in your Google Sheet. So all those things like in one place, and it's really simple.
And you just keep that on your bookmarks bar so you can access it in one second and one click. And there you have it. You're ready.
I'm noticing this theme of like very simplistic, streamlined, right? Like these are the words that keep coming up again, easy, calm, making it simple. It's all right there for you. And don't you have something where like you're so good about saying it's just about this or the essential this.
Don't you have something where it's like the core files that are essential or something where it makes it sounds like so key? Well, there's two things that I have. They're the steps to organizing, which spell the acronym SPACE. We start by sorting, then you purge, you assign homes, you contain.
So remember, that's the step where you don't buy containers or you don't decide on those until step four. And then the last one is energize. And you're energized by going and visiting that space.
You're energized by maintaining that organization that you have. So those are the five steps to organize. And those five steps work for organizing digital files.
It works for organizing your desk or your closets or your mind. Whenever you're overwhelmed, use those steps. Sort everything out of your mind.
Go back through. I sort into categories. So I'll sort into calls I need to make tasks for a certain project I need to do errands I need to run.
So when I'm sorting, and some of them might just be thoughts, I sort into categories, and then you go back through and you purge those categories. And maybe you can delegate, maybe there's something you want to delay until next month. You can even delegate and decide when you're going to do those things when you're going to think those thoughts when you're not going to think those thoughts, maybe some of them are delete.
Yeah. And then you assign homes on your calendar. You contain them with a time block like an end start and end time.
And then you energize, you maintain your calendar, you go back and look at it, you see how nice and neat it is. And you you make any adjustments that you need to. So people always think energizing or organizing just takes so much work.
And it's so hard. Not really, if you think that, then it will be right. Yes, of course.
energizing. It's so calming and so productive. I don't know.
It's just has that feature to it that I think people when they're in the midst of the overwhelm of it that they don't think about. Yes, I actually have a story about this, which is that we've moved into this place which has far less space than anything we ever had in the United States. But it's also very modern.
And so it has this very like clean, modern look that we wouldn't have chosen. But I'm really happy that we have now because it is creating such a simple organized space for us. But in the bathroom in particular, I walked in and I thought, how in the world, how in the world am I going to fit my bathroom things in here.
But it turns out that you I've bought, I've gotten into it. Now I've bought these little containers that are very cute that organize everything. And now, I would not have believed this before.
But when I walk into that bathroom, I light up every single time. I have such a smile on my face because it's all so well organized. And I wouldn't have thought before.
But the fact that I can just and I have everything in the front that I need right away in the morning. And I can just pull out there's my face cleanser, there's my toner. And I don't have to go down into a drawer and bend down low and get the thing.
And I still get to maintain the, you know, sink area super clean. It looks like something you'd see in a magazine. In there each time and I think this is what people are talking about.
This feels so energizing. Like you said, it feels so fun. So I didn't know who else I could geek out with on that.
I knew you'd be the perfect person who would actually get it. Well, I love to that you say, I didn't know it could be like that. Like that's what happens once you start doing this in one little area.
We start in business or I still have a home organizing program. We start in our home, it just bleeds into all of your life and overflows and starts creeping in and taking over. And you're just like, this is awesome.
Where before you probably didn't really think it was possible. Yes, yes. Yeah, I can see that.
I can see that I have an open glass desk area now. And I used to have a desk against a wall. And so there would be cords and all in the back.
Yeah, never even look at but that can't happen now, because it would just make the space look so awful, right? Untidy. And so I do take the time now I just it's part of my weekly thing that I reorganize my cords. Oh, I'm like, Oh, you should send a picture of that my cord.
I'm up against a window. So I don't see it. But even on my desk, I have so many cords.
How do you not do that? Oh, interesting. Yeah, it's fun. I mean, they actually I bought this really pretty basket at Ikea.
And all the cords stay in the basket. So there's one extension cord that goes into the wall. And then there's the outlet in the basket and all the cords and everything are in the basket.
And then I just have a few small ones coming out coming out. Oh, love it. Love it.
But of course, they're in the basket. It just turns into like craziness. So that's what I have to organize.
Yes. Yeah. Oh, gosh.
That's okay. Back to the fun segway. But I love that you are that you brought up this five part framework, because I was also going to ask you some of the clients that I work with, they find themselves getting disorganized with not so much with with life. And especially it seems like with children, you know, with kids, appointments and to dues and things that are needed from school. And so that framework that you talked about that applies. Same thing, right? Same with everything.
Yeah. So when they're sorting all of that out, they just put them into those categories, sorting like with like, and then going back through purging, which includes delegating, deleting, delaying, or deciding they're going to do it. So there's kind of four D's when you're looking at tasks, and then assigning homes to when they're going to do it.
So good. So what are give us just some main obstacles that get in the way for your clients when they start doing this work? Well, I don't have time. For sure.
Yes. Also the whole identity thing. So they might have thoughts like I'm not an organized person.
I never have been. I have ADHD. I can't do that.
It doesn't work the way my brain works. What are some other ones? It's too overwhelming. Those are probably the biggest ones like I don't have time.
It's too overwhelming. I should be able to do this myself. Oh, yes.
That's a huge one that keeps people stuck over and over. You know what I love about all of those? Not a single one of those was an actual issue with an actual thing that gets in the way. It was all thoughts and beliefs.
So anyone can organize what you're telling us. It is. And all the people in my, especially my life program, which is the home, they all say, Tracy, it's the mindset.
Like it's the mindset. I never knew how much my mindset was keeping me stuck. One lady even said like it's her worthiness.
She didn't think she was worth having an organized home or was valuable enough to have an organized home. And so it's so interesting because she remembers her mom telling her that she was messy. Her room was always messy.
So then that kind of came into her adult life, like her home is always messy and she didn't deserve it because she was messy. And so it's so interesting digging into those thoughts and beliefs that we have. And once she realized, oh, that's where it came from.
Now she's transforming her home. And we looked at different areas. Like she was super organized at work.
She was super organized planning vacations, like down to the details of it. And I'm like, so interesting that you can do that, but not your home. And now she's doing that in her home.
And it's so exciting. Oh, what a great story. What a great story.
It's true that the things that we, that often keep us, the mindset pieces that keep us from doing something are not necessarily logical. Like you would never logically think the reason that the home is messy is because I don't feel worthy. Right.
That's not a logical, obvious connection that we would make. But if you don't address that, then all of the tactics, all of the spreadsheets that you give them probably are not going to help. Yes.
Oh, I'm glad that, yes. So true. And we all, well, me, I always am like, just give me the practical, tell me what to do.
It takes that, like, okay, hold on. There's probably something that's keeping me from being able to do that, being able to maintain it, starting that, whatever it is, going into the mindset. Yeah.
Well, Tracy, it has been so refreshing and so nice having you on. I know people are going to want to know where they can find you. And I think you also have something special to offer the listeners, right? Tell us about all that.
Yeah. My website is simplysquaredaway.com. You can find everything on there. I also have my podcast, The Organized Coach Podcast. My free class that people can take is all about organizing your business. It's simply squared away.com forward slash the number five files, all one word. And in that I talk about the three, my framework, the three parts of an organized business.
And then I share my five files to organize all your digital business files on your computer, which I was going to share on here. I'll gladly tell people what they are. You tell us.
Yeah. So when you're organizing your digital files, I think of home and business. You have two things on your computer in business.
I think you can organize every single thing that you have in five files. Operations, which some people might call admin. It's anything behind the scenes in your business.
Marketing is anything outward facing in your business. The third one is my content. I always call it my content because it's anything you create.
And then the fourth one's education, which is anything anybody else has created. All those freebies you've downloaded, all those courses, your coaching, your certifications, all of that. And then the fifth one is clients.
So operations and marketing, my content and education, and then clients. And everything in your business will fit. I mean, I haven't found anybody that's needed to add another one unless they have a different style of business, which then we've had something, you know? And then I also, once you sign up to take, to watch that free class, we'll send you other tips on organizing in different areas of your business and just life in general.
Oh, perfect. Okay. I need to be on the list for sure.
I've already dabbled in your podcast, so I'd love to go deeper. Oh, Tracy, thank you so much for coming. It was such a just breath of fresh air and so inspiring to think about what else is available in the business.
Jenna, I'm honored to be here. Thanks for having me.