How Caroline Guntur Pivoted From On-Site Professional Organizer To Become The Digital Swedish Organizer

Entrepreneur: Caroline Guntur

Biz: The Swedish Organizer

Tilt: Empowering creatives and entrepreneurs with digital systems, project management skills, and productivity strategies.

Primary Channel: Website (courses)

Other Channels: Newsletter (1.5K) LinkedIn (1K), YouTube (400), Instagram (1.4K), X (1K), TikTok (125), Pinterest (21.2K)

Time to First Dollar: 1 month

Rev Streams: Courses, coaching, workshops

Our Favorite Actionable Advice

• Create a business for your life: Caroline had a professional organizing business, but she could only do it by traveling to her clients’ homes. When that didn’t work for her life, she pivoted to digital decluttering and shortly thereafter launched online courses to help others organize their lives and businesses.
• Build a ladder: Her offerings start with a $50 mini-course and progress to a $6K program. In each offering, she promotes the next-level opportunity.
• Use free content to attract leads: From her first free YouTube course, Caroline adopted the strategy of giving away content to get people into her database and eventually convert them into customers.
• Scrub away: Her newsletter list grew to over 8K, but most subscribers weren’t engaged. So Caroline scrubbed the list over time and now has 1.5K subscribers and an open rate of more than 50%.

The Story of Caroline Guntur

Caroline Guntur didn’t want to stay in Sweden after graduating high school in 1999. 

“I wanted to broaden my horizons, and I didn’t feel inspired by what was around me. I needed something different,” she says.

Three months later, a spin of the globe (literally) led Caroline to Hawaii Pacific University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in visual communications.

Upon graduation, Caroline, who had a temporary student US work permit, accepted a year-long internship. By then, she and her husband, whom she met in Hawaii, decided to move to Chicago, where she earned a master’s degree in media management.

While waiting for her work permit, she started a family and became a stay-at-home mom for a few years.

Starting the business and then a pivot

In 2009, with her permit paperwork in order, Caroline turned her hobby of organizing friends’ houses into a business. It was profitable from day one.

While she enjoyed the work, Caroline found having a company that required her to travel and be on site at her clients’ homes didn’t fit with her family’s home life and visits to their families in Sweden and India (where her husband is from).

In 2014, she pivoted her business to help with decluttering of a different sort – digital asset management. She recognized more and more people were struggling with photos, documents, and other files scattered across various devices. 

“It was a natural transition,” Caroline says. “I realized I could help them organize their digital lives from anywhere.”

Launching course ladder

A year later, Caroline entered into content entrepreneurship by way of content marketing. After teaching classes for the National Association of Productivity & Organizing Professionals and The Photo Managers, she launched her first course – The Organizing Formula. The course had started as a lead magnet for an email nurturing program. 

“I decided to put it on YouTube for free. This way, anyone can find and take the course. I was like, ‘Nobody will ever know how smart I am and my expertise on this topic unless I share it,’” she explains.

In 2016, she launched a paid course, DPO Pro, which teaches individuals how to consolidate and organize their digital photos. It generated over $25K at launch. “DPO Pro was a game changer. It allowed me to scale my business and focus on teaching. It is what has kept the business stable through the past eight years.”

Building on the success of DPO Pro, Caroline developed additional courses: Creative Systems Architect (CSA) and Mindful Monday Mapping (MMM). 

CSA is a systems and operations course for creative entrepreneurs. Its seven modules cover selecting the right systems, documenting your processes, understanding your workflow, and leveraging your knowledge. The $1.5K course also includes monthly group coaching, private community access, templates, workshops, and email support.

MMM is Caroline’s high-ticket group program. The $6K program shows entrepreneurs how to create a shorter work week and still get everything done. It also includes access to the CSA and DPO courses and benefits and a private coaching call for students who pay upfront.

Developing a funnel Approach and Expanding Services

Caroline built the model so students can progress up the ladder of offers. The first paid rung is a $50 mini-course called The Bookend Approach to Productivity, a mini-course priced at $50 that helps clients with daily productivity.  Each course promotes the next level course.

For those who don’t know what they need or where to start, Caroline offers a flowchart with questions to help them learn the best route for them. “The flowchart is a natural fit for a professional organizer as well,” she says.

In addition to her courses, Caroline offers quarterly planning workshops ($250). These three-hour workshops help clients set clear, actionable goals for the upcoming quarter 

“It’s interesting. People who have been in business a long time tend to stay [in the quarterly planning workshops membership]. I think that if you’ve been in business for more than three years, you’ve realized that if I plan my next quarter, it’s going to go much better. Unfortunately, newer entrepreneurs don’t seem to see the benefit of quarterly planning, but they are the ones that need it the most,” Caroline says.

One-on-one coaching packages start at $3.2K for eight sessions. Caroline dedicates eight slots a month for this program. 

Managing a growing newsletter

Despite her success, Caroline has faced challenges, especially when managing her newsletter. Though the subscriber list grew to over 8K, she realized many of them weren’t engaged. So, she scrubbed the list over time, and it now has 1.5K highly engaged subscribers.

 “I’m not interested in vanity metrics. I’d rather have a small, loyal audience than a big, uninterested one,” she says.

The move paid off, resulting in an impressive 55.7% open rate.

Caroline also experimented with different formats for her lead magnets, such as free courses and downloads, to attract more targeted subscribers. She currently uses The 6 Easiest Ways to Increase Daily Productivity as a lead magnet to drive people to her site and subscribe to the newsletter. By focusing on quality rather than quantity, she’s built a community of dedicated followers who are more likely to purchase her courses and services.

Advice for content entrepreneurs

Among Caroline’s advice for content entrepreneurs:

• Embrace teaching. If you use your expertise to teach others, you empower your clients to take control of their own problems. It’s a win-win for everyone. A lot of people don’t want to learn; they want someone to do whatever it is for them. Your goal as a content entrepreneur is to show them the benefit of learning and being empowered.
• Plan and be more productive. Every content entrepreneur, especially those starting out, needs to embrace quarterly planning to stay focused on what truly matters in the business. “It’s all about focusing on what moves the needle and allows you to hold yourself accountable,” Caroline says.
• Don’t be afraid to pivot. Being the first to fill a gap in the marketplace, especially a brand new gap in knowledge, can be the right recipe for success, but only if you are willing to pivot and seize the opportunities.

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