Ashley Murphy: Founder & CEO of NEAT Method

Episode 643

On this episode of The Kara Goldin Show, we’re joined by Ashley Murphy, Co-Founder and CEO of NEAT Method. Ashley turned her passion for organization into North America’s largest home organization company, with over 100 boutique franchises and an exclusive product line. NEAT Method is celebrating 15 years of creating calm and order in homes, and now Ashley is sharing her expertise in a new book launching in January 2025.
Ashley takes us through her journey, from co-founding NEAT Method to scaling it into a prestige lifestyle brand. We explore the impact of organization on health and happiness, the challenges of maintaining quality across franchises, and how Ashley balances innovation with staying true to NEAT’s mission. If you’re curious about entrepreneurship, the power of organization, or building a purpose-driven brand, this episode is a must-listen. Tune in now on The Kara Goldin Show!

Resources from
this episode:

Transcript

Kara Goldin 0:00
I am unwilling to give up that I will start over from scratch as many times as it takes to get where I want to be. I want to be you. Just want to make sure you will get knocked down. But just make sure you don’t get knocked out, knocked out. So your only choice should be go focus on what you can control. Control. Hi everyone, and welcome to the Kara Goldin show. Join me each week for inspiring conversations with some of the world’s greatest leaders. We’ll talk with founders, entrepreneurs, CEOs and really, some of the most interesting people of our time. Can’t wait to get started. Let’s go. Let’s go. Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Kara Goldin show. Super, super excited to have my next guest here, Ashley Murphy, who is the co founder and CEO of NEAT Method and born with a passion for organization, she turned her love for creating order into the largest home organization company in North America with over 100 boutique franchise locations, a growing product line. Her products are amazing, and now a brand new book that I have right here. And I told her, as I was reading it, it was so good, but I had to stop a third of the way through because I was like, kept looking at every corner of my house and saying, My God, that’s what I should do here. It’s so good, and I will go back to it for sure. But it’s so so good, so neat. Method has reshaped how we think about organization as a tool for enhancing everyday living, and I cannot wait to get into everything that she’s doing at NEAT Method. She’s celebrating 15 years in business. We were just chatting that she started with her co founder in San Francisco. Now she is living in Chicago, so I cannot wait to get more into all about the company and her journey. So welcome, Ashley. How are you? Hi,

Ashley Murphy 2:04
I’m great. Yes, I left beautiful San Francisco for freezing cold Chicago, but somehow it makes me stronger, is what I tell myself Exactly,

Kara Goldin 2:12
exactly. So what is NEAT Method, for those who aren’t familiar with your company, and what inspired you to co found it? Yeah.

Ashley Murphy 2:20
So NEAT Method is at our core, our like beginning days, we are a luxury home organizing business. So we started in San Francisco as just two of us that really wanted we were living out a passion for sure. We really wanted to make a difference in how just the people of San Francisco lived their lives. I honestly would say at the time, we did not necessarily have a vision that, oh, you know, could this expand all over the country? It really was just we wanted to make a difference there. And started right away. I would almost say it took off much easier than we expected. We loved our clients, and they loved us, and we made a major impact in how they were all living. I would say there was a lot of people moving into San Francisco, so we would move them into their homes, and I think that became our, our best known asset, basically, is, oh, wow, these women show up and they unpack every single box, and overnight, we’re going from, you know, one home to the next. And it kind of everybody just started calling us and asking us if we could do this all over San Francisco.

Kara Goldin 3:42
I love it. And so this was a services business initially, correct, yeah. So it was a service based

Ashley Murphy 3:49
business initially, and we did the majority of our shopping at places like the Container Store. We would, we would come into your home, we would organize it, and we would then make decisions on, oh, you know, what do they need to live in their most organized way? So we would then take all these measurements, leave your home, go to The Container Store, and come back with just bags and bags of organizing products. And definitely, in the beginning days, we were like, gosh, it’d be kind of amazing if we could make these products even cooler than what other retailers had to offer. And we felt that because we were seen behind the scenes of these beautiful homes, behind the cabinets, the doors, the closets, like we knew exactly what esthetic homes needed, and it didn’t exist. So it was definitely a goal early on that we were like, Let’s see if we could ever make products. But again, that was kind of just thinking, Oh, just for the San Francisco area. We definitely were very humbled when we. Started receiving calls from other women with the same passion as us, and they were very much so like, Oh, could you teach me how to do this? Like, could you teach me how to start this same business? And at first we were like, uh, I don’t know. Like, could we? And we dove right into creating that playbook, per se. And I mean, it took a village, and it took a lot of trial and error, but we eventually came up with this playbook. I guess that was 13 years ago that we then could hand to somebody else in any other major city or any city anywhere. No, it doesn’t matter the size, and say to them, okay, here’s exactly the tools you need to start this business as well. So that’s when things really started coming full circle for us. So

Kara Goldin 5:56
you have a co founder in the company. How did you two connect? Yeah.

Ashley Murphy 6:01
So we actually met somewhat out of fate. I’ll say I had just moved to San Francisco for my husband’s job, and she had as well. And we met actually on the streets of San Francisco, which sounds kind of funny, but it was one of those things where we were like, Oh, you had just moved. Like, we both connected. And we were like, Oh, you just moved here from Chicago. So did I? We should get to know each other. We should maybe grab a coffee or lunch. So when we did, of course, in that moment, you’re sharing, like, what your career was in your previous life, like, why are you what are you going to do now here in San Francisco? So we both had started asking each other that, and she used to be a teacher. I actually worked in the fitness industry, and we, I was like, So what are you going to do now that you’re here in San Francisco? And she was like, Well, I’m actually thinking about going into professional organizing. And I it was almost one of those, like mic drop drop moments where I was like, wait, wait, wait, I actually as a side hustle to my previous career I would organize because my my career before, was going into people’s homes and working as a personal trainer, it’s a very like intimate boutique, feel for sure, or, you know, quaint, I guess you could say it wasn’t a big gym. I’d go into their homes and I’d see the way they lived, and I was very much so well, you know, you would definitely live a healthier life if your kitchen were more organized, or your food or whatever that was. So I had said to Molly, I was like, This is crazy. I really did do this as a side hustle. It was called neat Chicago, and I it’s crazy that she’s bringing up to me that she wanted to go into professional organizing. So it really was one of those things where we were like, Well, you seem normal, and I think I seem normal to you, so let’s start this together. So we did. So we were like, We dove right in. It was called Meet San Francisco at first. And when we started hearing from people that lived in Marin, many of those questions were, oh, well, do you come all the way to Marin? I know the name is San Francisco, but would you service out here? So we were like, We need to fix this. We need to make sure that we embody this name of a company that could be anywhere. So that’s how we evolved into method. Kind of coming from the fitness industry a bit too.

Kara Goldin 8:41
So you’ve grown to over 100 boutique franchises, franchise locations. So what was the point, I guess. How long did it take before you decided to move into a franchise model? And did you know anything about the franchise world?

Ashley Murphy 8:59
No. So we when? So in 2012 I actually moved back to Chicago, where I was from, and I moved back pregnant with my first child. Really wasn’t sure where this was going to go. Our very first employee, kind of joined the team. Her name is Marissa, and she’s now running the company with me today. So moved back to Chicago, and we were like, Let’s just see if what we created in San Francisco could work in another city. So dove right into this like trial and error. Will clients let us in their homes here? Will they trust us? And we proved to that to ourselves pretty quickly, like, oh, okay, they do. They they really do, let us in the home, and they call us back for more. Um, so at that point, that’s when other women started reaching out to us. So about two years, two and a half years into. This. And I think once people started seeing, Oh, you’re now NEAT Method in Chicago as well as San Francisco. Could we do this in DC, Fort Lauderdale, like all these Dallas, and so initially we started as a licensing opportunity. So we created, and that felt very tangible. Where we were, like, we’re not really sure you know what we are telling them in this playbook to do or to not do you know. So we were very much so just dipping our toes. And then when we realized they wanted it all, they wanted to know what operating system, what financial system, like, everything we evolved into this franchise model, which there are some layers to that story. Along the way, we were acquired, we bought the company back. There’s a whole there’s a whole thing, which I don’t know how much you want me to get into, but that kind of that is what evolved from license to franchise and the rest is kind of history straight. Yeah, I love

Kara Goldin 11:06
it. Well, that was my next question. So what was it like to sell your business and then buy it back, and what lessons came from that experience? Yeah,

Ashley Murphy 11:15
oh my gosh. I could go on and on with this question. So what it was like it for for me personally, this was started out of this, like deep, rooted passion that initially just started as I had this passion for organizing people’s lives, then when it evolved into helping other women start businesses, obviously your entire vision and passion shifts a bit, and I didn’t even know I was capable of that. So I think that for us to then sell to a product manufacturing company, we were very much so protective of all of our people, and we were just very cautious, like, Wait a minute. Like, this feels like we’re selling our baby. So it went great. I mean, actually, the relationship with the product manufacturing company was wonderful. We really just somewhat outgrew each other as time went on, and it felt that the best decision was to buy the company back at a much larger scale. But we do. We have a saying right now that we’re like So remember when we sold the company as an infant and then you bought it back as an unruly teenager? So it definitely has been. We bought it back two years ago. It’s definitely been a roller coaster of just like, wow, there’s a lot more to this business now. Um, but it’s been wonderful. Like, we really are we? I feel like we’re almost finding our NEAT Method 3.0 where we’re like, okay, like, here we go. This is this new vision. I mean, obviously we’re now in full command, so that feels a little different again. Um, but it’s great. I definitely it feels like we got our kid

Kara Goldin 13:10
back. Yeah. How long were you? Were you a part of the business still? Or had

Ashley Murphy 13:16
you we were still running the show? Um, but they were majority owners. They owned it for five years, and then we decided to mutually part ways.

Kara Goldin 13:27
Got it very, very interesting. So, uh, how do you ensure today that the NEAT Method brand stays consistent across so many franchises? I mean, when you first started, you were a services company. You were going to The Container Store and grabbing, you know, different things, and selling those to your clients. But today, you have incredible products, and then you also have a book that you just launched. The book, by the way, is the NEAT Method organizing recipe book. And I think there’s so there’s so much inspiration in the book, but there’s also, it’s just so visual, and your photography is beautiful. Such a nice job. First of all, like, well, let’s talk about the how do you keep the consistency first?

Ashley Murphy 14:23
So I would say that might be the one thing we’ve excelled at, is just staying true to our core and staying true to just like who’s representing us ourselves, included how we how we choose to show up as a brand. And I would, I would almost say that we just preach that everywhere to our internal people, all 100 owners, our team of around 20 employees, like we, embody this particular vision, I would say, and that really is just to stay very. Very grounded and to stay very kind in this world. I think that especially with the nature of what we do, we are it’s a very personal service in the book, and the products are just an extension of that personality. I guess is how I would answer that, where, when you’re going into these homes, many people get a little like, Oh my gosh. They’re going to see everything. What are they going to think of me? What is this going to be like? And our number one goal is to just ease that concern and to make sure you know, like, Okay, we’ve we’ve been doing this for over a decade, we know what we’re doing. We’ve seen it all. You have nothing to be embarrassed of, like everybody has skeletons in the closet, you know, like we’ve got you. And so I think that we just try to continue to show up as that. So even with this book, we want it to be something that is not overwhelming. I think that the world is already overwhelming enough. And I just like for for anybody to approach this way of living, to just show up and open one page and you’re, you know, you’re like, Oh, what am I going to do today? That’s going to be one step closer to living this organized life. It could just be one recipe in the book and you already feel that much better. It could be 15 minutes of something, or it could be an hour. So it really sets that tone, so that you’re not overwhelmed and you’re just able to make these small steps towards progress, basically.

Kara Goldin 16:33
So I would imagine you’re no longer doing the organizing in the market, and you have all these different franchise locations. But can you share a little bit about the business model overall? And so initially it was a services business and then a products business. And how difficult has that been to kind of grow and scale? It is there one that’s been easier than the other.

Ashley Murphy 17:02
I would actually say the franchise service business felt like our bread and butter, just in the sense of like we knew what we were talking about, and we knew we grew alongside that concept. So to my knowledge, nobody else was organizing in the manner that we decided to create our model from. So we our approach to this industry is that we come in as a team, and we actually say to our clients, you go away for the day. We’ve got this. We’re going to transform this without we really don’t need your input in order to put the puzzle together. So to my knowledge, that really wasn’t a major service offering at the time, especially in the San Francisco area. So we from there, we were like, We this needs to be even more turnkey. There needs to be even more service components to this. So that is where the product side of it came in. I mean, we take it as far as consigning your items, donating your items, managing all of that. So it is very like, I would almost say it’s a full logistics of getting this way of achieving this way of life, yeah, how it evolved. So when this product manufacturing company came along, truly, we were like, Whoa, this is the answer for us. Like, we don’t know how anything about developing products, how to sell them, what this looks like. So they were instrumental in helping us what understand that side of the business. So then we became this two prong business where we had products for our franchise owners, and we also started to sell it direct to consumer. So we had a website that was an extension of our service website that we then began selling the product. Um, then came along retailers, which all of this, it honestly was like, wow. Like, the fact that people were giving us those nods was amazing. Where we were like, okay, Bloomingdale’s is calling us. They want our product. So it was almost like we made it up as we went along. Now we’re very secure in these various avenues and various models, and they all work in, I mean, we’re all it all works together, I guess is how I would say is that it’s very synchronized in how we plug each one of them for sure.

Kara Goldin 19:41
So you’re actually selling through retail as well. Yes, we are. That’s amazing. And what are like the biggest retailers that you’re working with? Um,

Ashley Murphy 19:51
the biggest for us, I’ll give the for the top two are Crate and Barrel and food 52 Oh,

Kara Goldin 19:58
that’s amazing. That’s so. So that’s great. And then, obviously, on your own website, and and then through it, through the franchise, ease too. So, so if you could go back to day one and and sort of not go through any of the mistakes that you’ve made along the way, I’m sure you know, you’ll I always think about this question is, when you have your a cousin or somebody who you really care about, a friend who’s starting a business, don’t do this, right? Is there something that you say, okay, definitely make sure that you do X, gosh,

Ashley Murphy 20:41
I would say for us, we often reflect on if we would have just trusted our gut a bit more. And being confident, it’s almost, I almost would say it’s not what to do, but what to do, in a way, being very confident that even though, as an entrepreneur, you might be making something up, or you might just be winging it, and you’re giving it your best shot. You’ve got a lot of grit and determination trust that, because I think what oftentimes can happen is especially as you scale to a much larger size you you do question like, oh my gosh, how did I get here? Do I know what I’m doing? Can I take this to the next level? And I think all along the different milestones for us, we’ve almost reassured ourselves of that, but we’ve definitely doubted ourselves within that where you’re just, you know you’re going along and you’re like, I don’t know like, do I know anything about direct to consumer, and are we going to fail? And I think that we’ve just learned it’s okay to fail. And if you can just stay true to that beginner person, the person that the passion of why you started this, you can still pick yourself back up after failure, you know? Um, yeah. And I mean, what not to do, I guess, is just don’t doubt yourself. And,

Kara Goldin 22:14
yeah, I don’t know.

Ashley Murphy 22:15
I could really, I could really take that one far. There’s a lot of mistakes along the way, but those miss you wouldn’t, the company wouldn’t be and you wouldn’t be who you are without those mistakes.

Kara Goldin 22:26
Yeah, definitely, when you when you think about a story, maybe it’s a you know, maybe it’s one of yours, maybe it’s one that a franchisee has told you about, but a consumer story where it’s really sat with you for a long time, how it’s maybe helped somebody change their life. I’m sure you’re getting so much feedback constantly. I know it’s especially when somebody comes in and does it for you, and you know they just didn’t see the vision, and then all sudden, they’re like, Oh my God, where have you been my whole life? It’s that sort of response.

Ashley Murphy 23:09
Take this in a couple different directions, how I will how I will explain this is that much of what we do is during a major life transition for people, whether that’s like, I like I said it, whether it’s a move that you are making, maybe somebody’s welcoming a child, maybe people are getting divorced, maybe somebody’s sick and they need some assistance with just making sure the house is in its best format. So there’s a lot of like, tug at your heartstrings moments along the way where you just go in. And I think that oftentimes people don’t completely know what to expect from our service. Oftentimes they’re like, Oh, you can just do my kitchen in a couple hours, right? And it’s like, no, no. Like, this takes a full day with a team of us, maybe multiple days, and so often there’s a little bit of hesitation, and they’re like, Okay, I’m just gonna trust you and we’re gonna do this. And people are left in tears of just pure joy, pure, like, gratitude. You know that they’re just so, like, thankful that this actually existed for them. So I do have very particular clients along the way. Stories I still hear. One of our first clients in San Francisco from 2011 is still a major client of ours. Now lives in Manhattan, and he, to this day is like, this is truly one of the best services that you could ever have to just like, calm your life at home. So there are a lot of those along the way of just this, like, tug at your heart string moments. But on the flip side, one. We will. It’s interesting. There are a lot of people that come to us and they’re like, Oh, I’m really organized. Like, I live a really organized life. I don’t really need you, but I just kind of want to learn how you’re going to make my life more organized. And they’re actually, I would say we are their favorite, because at first there’s that hesitation from a I already live organized. Not really sure why I’m calling you. I’m just kind of curious. And then when we work our magic, they’re like, Oh, I had no idea I could be even more organized. So they have such an appreciation because they already were living somewhat this way. And then when you really show them what it’s like, and you give them the full, the full story within their life, they’re they are clients for life as well, where they’re just like, whoa. I had no idea that you could transform that easily.

Kara Goldin 25:53
What is the number one organizational mistake people make?

Ashley Murphy 25:59
I’ve got this one. This is an easy one. People will oftentimes buy products before organizing. And I think what they often think is that, oh, maybe this will motivate me. Maybe once those containers and bins and baskets are in my home, it will motivate me to go do that organizing. But you have to understand the puzzle first and where items live and how they’re going to be categorized. You know what their what their home is going to be within that space before you even know what items that you need to purchase to help you keep that that organized way of living, basically, definitely.

Kara Goldin 26:43
So what’s next for NEAT Method as you look to the future? It’s It’s really exciting. I love what you guys are doing. Like I said, the product is great. The service is amazing. What you’ve built, you should be so so proud of it. The book is absolutely awesome. It’s so inspiring and gives such great ideas. So what is next for NEAT Method as you look to the future?

Ashley Murphy 27:15
So what’s next for NEAT Method? So as you heard, we are two years post acquiring the company back. We feel that we are fully our feet are on the ground. We are ready to go. There’s a lot of fun things ahead. I definitely you are going to see more franchises pop up across North America. We right now only have four owners in the Canadian region, and we are chomping at the bit to get a handful more owners up north. Uh, our product offering is going to expand, which we are really excited about. We’ve been a bit on pause, and I think I mean, our hope is to continue with some of our really devoted retail relationships and just see what we can make happen. From that front, we might even have an exclusive line of products coming out with a retailer, wink, wink, but yeah, there’s a lot of excitement. There’s a lot of growth. We actually have a handful of exciting hires happening within the corporate team, so just buckling up for all the all the excitement ahead.

Kara Goldin 28:30
I love it. Ashley, thank you so much for joining us on The Kara Goldin show. Your journey with NEAT Method is incredible, and you’ve really built something that I think is is really terrific. Shows your passion and vision and resilience, and not only selling the company, but then buying it back. I mean, just like so much to learn from you too, and it’s you just make everything so much neater on many, many levels. So for everyone listening, be sure to check out NEAT Method and Ashley’s new book, which is so great. And we’ll have all the info in the show notes as well. But thank you again, Ashley. Have a wonderful rest of the week and and New Year and everything you as well. Thank you. Thanks again for listening to the Kara Goldin show. If you would please give us a review and feel free to share this podcast with others who would benefit and of course, feel free to subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode of our podcast. Just a reminder that I can be found on all platforms at Kara Goldin. I would love to hear from you, too. So feel free to DM me, and if you want to hear more about my journey, I hope you will have a listen or pick up a copy of my Wall Street Journal, best selling book, undaunted, where I share more about my journey, including. Founding and building hint we are here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Thanks for listening, and goodbye for now you.

Click to subscribe:

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen OnApple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify
Listen OnSpotify
Listen on Overcast
Listen OnOvercast
Listen on PlayerFM
Listen OnPlayerFM

People Also Liked

644

Leah Solivan: Founder of TaskRabbit

642

Giselle Boxer: Founder of East Healing

641

Samantha Miller: Co-Founder & CEO of Cadence OTC

640

Jessica Schaefer: Founder & CEO of Lushi

639

Chad Sanschagrin: Author of Keep Telling Yourself