Busy mum struggling to juggle everything? Jo Burgess created just the app for you. And it's genius.

It’s not easy to discover a gap in the market when it comes to app ideas, but Jo Burgess has always had an entrepreneurial streak, becoming the owner of two business by the time she was 23.

But it wasn’t until she faced one of life’s greatest juggling acts – motherhood – that she came up with a genius app idea.

Feeling overwhelmed at her growing list of commitments and jiggling “all the things”, Jo saw an opportunity to create an app that would solve the problems of being a busy mum.

And so Life Sorted was born. Mamamia spoke to Jo to find out how she turned her own struggles into a genius invention.

Tell us about Life Sorted… What is it?

Most families struggle to manage and coordinate their busy lives. We have created a shared family organiser app that keeps everything in one central place, reducing stress and improving communication.

What is Life Sorted?

Life Sorted is a mobile and desktop family organiser app, among the highest rated family organiser apps in the app stores. Life Sorted is a shared family organiser app, designed specifically to reduce stress and overwhelm around family scheduling, through increasing productivity and improving family communication.

The Life Sorted app is packed with features, including a shared calendar, birthdays, anniversaries, shopping lists and to-do lists. It takes the family’s everyday tasks and combines them in one easy-to-use app that everyone can access.

Sophisticated yet simple to use, Life Sorted harnesses the very latest technologies to help families supercharge their organisational powers and live happier, less stressful lives.

 

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A post shared by Life Sorted (@lifesorted) on Apr 10, 2019 at 12:56am PDT

What were you doing before you went into business for yourself?

I have been a serial entrepreneur since a very young age. I didn’t even finish high school.

At the age of 16, I started a hairdressing apprenticeship. By the time I was 21, I was a salon owner and and had two salons by the time I was 23. Around this same time, I was lucky enough to meet two entrepreneurial software developers fresh out of uni and together we created salon software which is now sold in over 45 countries.

Since having my family I have only worked three days a week in this business (and still do). When raising my family and juggling ‘all the things’ I began to get very overwhelmed and saw an opportunity to create an app to solve my specific problems that I figured could help others too.

What made you want to start your own business?

I wanted to be my own boss, work my own hours doing what I love and executing on my own ideas.

How did you come up with the name?

There are three areas to each of our lives – ourselves, our family and our career/work. I wanted to create an app that would help people organise their whole lives across those areas. So, I called my app Life Sorted.

I designed my logo myself – it is meant to represent the twists and turns of a busy life (hence the twisty font of the word Life) and then some order with the word SORTED (in caps) with a full stop at the end, all encapsulated in a circle to represent ‘keeping everyone in the loop’.

What’s the single best piece of advice you got?

To clearly understand what you want and more importantly why you want it. And also that everything is figureoutable – someone has solved all your problems already.

What’s the one bit of advice you would give yourself if you were starting again?

Put the intention out for what you want and trust that the universe will provide exactly what you need at exactly the right time. Be happy and find joy throughout the process of building your business without being too attached to every single outcome. Oh, and invest in your personal growth.

 

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A post shared by Life Sorted (@lifesorted) on Mar 22, 2019 at 12:09am PDT

What do you do when you’re feeling like you’re in a hole emotionally (or financially)?

I take time out. I have learned that in order to do my best work and be my most productive I must rest often. The busier I am, the more I rest.

Tell us about your proudest moment.

We recently hit 10,000 downloads which was a huge milestone for me. Mainly when I think about how many families I am helping, this makes me feel so proud.

What can you recommend to women who might want to get their own hustle going?

Just start. Take one small step, followed by another, then another.

You can read more about Jo’s Life Sorted app here and follow their Instagram account @lifesorted for all the #organisationporn.

Been thinking about taking control of your life and becoming your own boss? Interested in becoming a Lady Startup yourself or know someone ready to chase their own bus? You’re invited to join Mia Freedman for this online course where she will personally take you through every step and give you every resource to go from idea to launch. Enrolments are open for a very limited time starting now. Find out all about the Lady Startup Activation Plan here.