Should i be a professional organizer

This is just a great way for them to make extra money on the side with the skills they already have. Choosing to have the full-time career you have now and ALSO have a side hustle is a totally valid option, and I want you to know that you are not alone. You also have the option to become a certified pro organizer … or not! Abundance mentality for the win! I bet you that the reason why you ask yourself that is because there is nobody around you who has ever even heard of a professional organizer career.

Am I right? Guess what? And now that you know that professional organizing is a thing, this is a little bit mind-blowing, right? As you are moving through your everyday life, realize that this is a superpower that not everyone has. There are people out there who would love to pay you to get that result in their own homes and in their own lives.

You are going to be asking people to invest in themselves every single day with you, by utilizing your services and your expertise, so that they can experience great benefit to their life for years to come. Learning to sell yourself is not optional. By hiring a pro organizer, your clients know they are investing in themselves by actively looking for ways to save time and decrease stress. You have to walk the walk, too. I start with a brief phone consultation to qualify them.

Will they be a good match for me and I for them? At the first session, I spend anywhere from minutes doing an on-site assessment using my Client Assessment Form. Then we dig in for the remainder of the time usually three hours per session. I work alongside them the entire time, coaching, teaching skills, setting up new systems, watching for fatigue, and encouraging them. When we wrap up, I offer homework assignments if they want to work on them between sessions on their own.

It gives them accountability and gets the project done faster. I always bring my label maker, as well as a small arsenal of basic organizing supplies that work in just about any situation. The list is included in my book, Born to Organize. Beyond the basics, if clients ask for product recommendations, I give them.

But a lack of storage containers is not usually the problem. Of course, there are some fabulous organizing products out there peruse my blog for some of my favs , and they do make organizing so much more fun for both me and my clients. Yes, for sure. If you are not a member, ask your trusted friends or local business owners for recommendations. If you have a business, you need a website. Also, sending a monthly e-newsletter will help you stay in touch with prospects on a regular basis. I regularly receive emails from people who are interested in becoming a professional organizer, asking me if I am hiring or asking how to start an organizing business.

It occurred to me that I could save them the time writing and be helpful to people too bashful to write , if I created a blog post with the information I usually write to these folks. Love people. In my experience, being a PO is more about the people and less about the organizing. Invest in professional association memberships. But we do now. Joining NAPO not only gives you credibility, it gives you access to the knowledge of a thousands of organizers through its chapters and its online communities and conferences.

Go to NAPO. If you live outside the U. Invest in training and education. I started taking their teleclasses immediately; not only were they a great education for me, they also gave my confidence a boost. I applaud this emphasis on education! Invest in conferences. I love them. Think about a training program.

A number of professional organizers offer training programs for new POs. Get coaching from another organizer. One great way to get personalized help is to hire an organizer to work with you one-on-one with you, either in person or on the phone.

Get your website going. I think a good website is absolutely essential. I know for a fact that my website brings in the majority of my business. It was designed by the fabulous web designer Nora Brown. I created my other blog, Organize Your Family History , myself on Wordpress and it was much more time consuming than I expected. I ended up hiring a graphic designer to create a header for it because my DIY one was not up to snuff. Do freebies if necessary. In my first six months of business, I did freebies for friends in exchange for testimonials and before-and-after pictures for my website.

It gave me valuable, relatively low-stress organizing experience we took these sessions very seriously and it helped me build my website. That worked very well for me. Listen to a podcast. Even after 15 years as an organizer, I listen to this podcast as soon as it comes out. You might also benefit from listening to business- or entrepreneur-related podcasts or any podcast that helps you understand your target market.

Blogging has been exceedingly helpful in drawing traffic to my website. Other types of social media can also drive traffic to your website, give you a presence outside as well as inside your local area and help build relationships with colleagues and companies in related industries.

At the very least, choose one social media outlet and try to create a presence there. Becoming a professional organizer is a fairly low-overhead proposition. You may also want to check out my New Organizer Bundle that includes five guides that will go into much more depth than a blog post can. Tagged with: becoming a po , icd , napo. Great post, Janine!

Reading is another way to expand your knowledge. You might want to read a bit about personal safety issues. I have read The Gift of Fear — it was highly recommended to me, and I in turn recommend it to others. Thank you so much for adding those valuable resources. But more than that, aspiring professional organizers need to build relationships with their colleagues, both via social networking, as you mentioned, Janine, and via those old-fashioned methods of speaking face-to-face and on the telephone.

Do you have an opinion? And Jeri is so spot on regarding reading. Read everything, and not only about organizing. Read about psychology. About time management. About business practices and social trends. Read until your eyes are tired and your brain is full, then take a nap and read some more. Investing in yourself means investing in your intellectual growth, which I believe is the only way you can have professional growth.

Love it, Julie! One of the things I loved most about becoming an organizer was getting to dive into all the learning and reading. You and I are both conference enthusiasts and I know we agree on the value of that face-to-face interaction with our colleagues. Thanks Janine for a great post and everyone else for these great comments! Lots of people are good at keeping themselves organized, but helping another person to get and stay organized is a completely different skill set.

If the thought of marketing yourself churns your stomach, as it did me! You can find ways that work for you and it becomes a seamless part of your existence. Professional Organizers in Canada also has a yearly conference, which will be in Toronto this November.

Thank you Janine, Jeri, Julie and my other colleagues for your combined input, great post! Anyone else have another good source to add? Just like we tell our clients, there is no quick way to sucess…it takes time! I believe that the success of my business has been due to the fact that I wanted to own a business first, and be an organizer second. I work face-to-face with clients 16 — 20 hours a week. I work 35 — 40 hours a week total. Do the math. There is so much finance, strategy, sales, administration, and marketing that goes into running a successful business.

I caution those interested in becoming a PO to make extra sure they want to be a business owner. I took a night class for entrepreneurs at my local university before opening my business and that was invaluable.

Thank you for that very important point, Melissa! Actual organizing with clients is just a small part of what I do for my business.

Like you, I spend at least as much if not more of my time running the business than I do working with clients. This is so great! It was just this week that I finally decided to save a draft in Word of my response to inquiries from interested maybe-one-day-organizers! Very good advice! I agree! I also stressed that they will need to work hard to be sure their website comes up in a search that their potential clients would do. I, too, get a large percentage of my business from internet searches!

After helping friends if they still love organizing tell everyone they know, hand out their cards, speak if at all possible , participate in a GO Month project and join a chamber or network group! Love your site, Janine. Hi, Tracy! Thanks so much for your comment. In terms of SEO, I think that blogging regularly helps my website come up on internet searches.

But it takes awhile to get there. Networking is essential! Thanks for pointing that out. Glad you posted this! Excellent list. I get the emails too. You might be able to make a living but it will take some time to build a solid reputation and expertise. Leaving a lucrative job and beginning an organizing company is a leap of faith. Decide also what will be the measure of your success.

Is it a monetary number? Hey guys, this was very helpful. I am interested in learning more about becoming an organizer, but need help finding classes that are interactive webinars or in class. I still am working in the corporate world and want to make sure I really enjoy professional organizing as much as I think I will before joining associations if possible.

I live in NJ. Does anyone have any suggestions? Looking forward to my first DC chapter meeting to introduce myself and meet the people in this field. I reached out to Janine and she mentioned I should post about our business in the comments section, so here I am! My wife and I run ProfitableOrganizer. This includes training, the forms you need, your website, marketing strategies, and support. Great info Janine. Great idea to have a post like this one. I recommend hiring an well-known, well trained and trusted organizer who helps new organizers I hired Geralin Thomas.

In addition, I advise new organizers to start reading blogs written by POs. And, last but not least, consider hiring a Virtual Assistant. A good resource for that is Virtual Assistanville. All the investment, both in time and money pays off with a full calendar, happy clients and a better understanding of our industry, clients and our business. Helena, thank you for adding so much fabulous information!! I think your advice and recommendations are spot on. I appreciate your taking the time to contribute to this post.

Such a great and informative post about getting organized. This will really help busy people. Thanks for sharing and keep posting. What great information! I passed the link along to my office manager who receives many calls from wanna-be POs. Thanks for sharing this great time-saver. I recently launched OrganizingU. All of our courses and business forms are downloadable, so you can learn on your own time! Please spread the word, we are adding new information every day!

Thank you! If you have a local NAPO chapter, get involved! I bought my forms from Sara Pederson www. Adam and his wife Cynthia have created a comprehensive professional organizer training program at www.

Check out their free intro video. I am honored to be a guest expert on their live training webinars. I am a former Office Management Specialist with the U.

Department of State and I recently re-located back to the civilian life. An almost perfect transition from my former profession to the regular non-federal life, would be to become a professional organizer! Am I way off? Your clients would be able to turn it off once the job is done, but you as the expert would always be examining, analyzing spaces.