It’s great to see so many professional organizers making use of Twitter. It is, after all, a fun and easy way to communicate with organizing colleagues that you may or may not have met before, and to learn about new organizing products and industry trends. But what’s it doing for your bottom line?
Through my business, Organized Assistant, I have the privilege of supporting a number of successful professional organizers with various Internet marketing activities and other projects. One of my clients is Geralin Thomas of Metropolitan Organizing, a Certified Professional Organizer in Chronic Disorganization. Geralin has stopped by today to talk about the training she offers to newcomers to the field of professional organizing, and to experienced organizers who want to optimize their business practices.
One of my readers asked me the following: “I just wanted to find out from you if you were organized from the beginning? Do you believe that some people are just born organized?” In response to the first question, I’ll start with an excerpt from a speech my sister Kathy made at a party in my honour.
“I love to organize, and I’m good at it too! In fact, I could probably be pretty successful as a professional organizer if I could just land a few more clients… someone said I didn’t seem confident enough, so I changed my approach, but now I think I’m scaring people off! What can I do? I’m an organizer, not a salesperson!”
I think there are basically two types of bloggers: those who are enthusiastic and have lots of ideas, possibly more than they have time to write about, and those who’ve started a blog because someone like me told them it was a good idea, but then struggle to come up with topics to write about. Fortunately, there are some great resources out there to help you with your blogging challenges.
If you’re thinking about becoming a professional organizer, chances are pretty good that you already have a knack for organizing, but there’s much more to it than just working with clients. You also need to know how to set your fees and policies, conduct an initial assessment, and of course, market your business so you have clients to work with. I’m covering many of these topics here at Your Organizing Business, but if you’re ready to get going, you probably want to learn a lot more – and quickly!
Welcome to this month’s issue of the Professional Organizers Blog Carnival, a monthly collection of blog posts submitted by some of the organizing consultants who enjoy reading Your Organizing Business. Please visit their blogs, read their posts, and leave a comment or two. It’s an awesome way to learn something new and grow your network at the same time! Beginning this month, each contributor’s name is linked to her (or his) Twitter profile, so you can get connected that way too!
As a professional office organizer, I found that the majority of people sought my help because of the piles of paperwork that were encroaching on their workspace. Some clients had basic organizing skills, and often a fairly decent filing system, but were simply not making time to file their paid bills, completed projects, and so on. For the majority, however, it was not that simple.
I have written before about the power of public speaking, both as a marketing tool and as a way to support charitable organizations. Another great way to share your expertise with others is by speaking at national or regional conferences, and there are a couple of opportunities coming up you may want to think about.
One of the hardest decisions you have to make as a professional organizer is how much to charge for your services. The biggest mistake you can make is to base your hourly rate on what you earned in your last job. After all, as an employee, you were paid for every hour you worked, you weren’t responsible for covering such expenses as your office furniture or computer, and your employer may have borne the costs of training and health benefits. Furthermore, it wasn’t up to you to pay for business cards or other marketing materials!
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