As children, some people play house with dolls. Others may play army. Some may even play doctor.
But when Alyssa Mosher was growing up, she was playing as an organizer. Her life-long obsession with keeping things tidy eventually culminated into her own business, A-List Organizing.
"When I was younger and (had) friends over, I'd always have them helping organize my stuff," Alyssa Mosher said.
She doesn't remember a time when she was not very organized and the habits followed her through life.
Roughly three years ago she started helping a few friends who were moving out of Yellowknife and found herself in her element.
"I was telling my friend's mom how I loved it and she suggested I make a business out of it," said Mosher. "I didn't even think it was a thing, then I looked up and realized professional organizing was huge in North America."
After researching what it would actually take to start a business in Yellowknife, she had a feeling that a city like this would have a strong need for a professional organizer.
"I thought about it and knew that in Yellowknife people are so transient," said Mosher. "I had a feeling there would be a need for it, so I just went for it."
Since 2016, Mosher has been running an organizational service where she goes into her client's home and offers a wide variety of options. This involves helping people organize their pictures on their PC, helping with a home filing system, digitizing files, completely revamping a room or helping people prepare to move.
"People will say their kitchen cupboards are cluttered and full and I'll go on in and rework it according to their needs and what I feel will work most efficiently," she said.
As it turned out, the transient crowd does not make up the majority of Mosher's clients. Rather, it is mostly people who have lived here for years and accumulated a lifetime of belongings.
"I've had some clients for a full year," said Mosher. "Every couple weeks I go over and spend a couple hours going through each room. Other clients are just a one-off organization of a closet, but every month I'm getting at least two new clients."
Mosher's services as a professional organizer do not just involve going and organizing or cleaning her client's space. She actually develops a plan of action to keep the spaces clean.
"It's not necessarily just about cleaning and tidying up; its about creating a system that works for their lifestyle or how they're using a space," Mosher said. "The idea is that it needs to be maintainable. I don't want to come back and keep re-organizing a space."
Mosher runs her business while working a full-time job with the CBC. Currently, she has no plans to move her business to full-time or to hire any more employees.
"I'm pretty happy with the way things are going," she said. "I'd like to devote more time to marketing and communications on social media, but that's just when I can find time."
Currently Mosher is working on courses to be able to professionally draw floor plans. She is is also working towards getting an international certificate in professional organizing.
The next step in an expansion may be to focus her efforts completely on her business, but that's not something she's interested in.
"I'm quite busy," said Mosher. "With my day job I just try to sneak in clients whenever I can or work weekends. But I can't imagine quitting either of my jobs."
When Mosher is organizing she's doing what she loves and she says it doesn't feel like work at all.
