At first glance, Lynn Colett’s business—An Organized Move—which she operates with her son Connor, is to simply move household items from one place to another for the clients who hire them. But the work is so much more involved than that. An Organized Move is really about the art and practice of moving people from one stage of their lives to the next with care, attention and compassion.
Fully licensed and focused on the senior sector, An Organized Move takes people and their belongings from homes to independent living or assisted living with patience and love. They also help folks who have lost a spouse or are simply downsizing—no job is too large or small. Lynn and Connor do the work themselves; 25-year-old Connor manages the heavy lifting, while Lynn oversees the delicate packing and unpacking of priceless, sentimental valuables that have lifetimes of meaning and memories in them.
Lynn is an expert in assisted living facilities’ complicated rules. She manages the difficult decisions people have to make about what possessions they can and cannot bring with them. She offers information to families on what’s available in memory care, and how to gently move people who many not understand why they are moving at all.
“This is a huge adjustment for people and none of it is easy,” Lynn explains. “When we work with a client, we are discrete, respectful, and more than anything else, we listen. There are so many levels to what we do. We work hand in hand with realtors to get properties ready for sale. We refer attorneys, doctors, memory care and we become a part of the family.”
“This is not a 9 to 5 job,” says Connor, who graduated from USF with a degree in marketing before coming home to help run the business his mother founded. “You never know when or how a client is going to need your help, or what you are going to discover when you help them move. We have found tens of thousands of dollars in cash hidden in furniture that was supposed to go to donations. We have found bags of diamonds and rubies. It takes discretion to do this. And people need you to care.”
Lynn is delighted to work with Connor, to expand her business and bring in the next generation. “I am so proud of him,” says Lynn, also mother to Reid and Frankie, and wife to Frank. “I am so blessed because Connor loves our clients as much as I do. He has such patience. I am so proud everyday when I see his level of kindness.”
“We are just getting started,” Connor says. “This could be a much bigger enterprise if we wanted it to be, but we are choosing to keep it at a boutique scale because we don’t want to lose the personal connection we have with our clients. I like going out on our trucks and moving the furniture myself. Everyday is completely different than the day before. I know that if we did not come in and help these folks, no one else would come and help them the way that we do.”
“Our relationships with our clients last forever,” says Lynn.
An Organized Move. 941.408.3624. AnOrganizedMove@yahoo.com