When I chose this month’s topic of Financial Organizing, I was a bit concerned that we might have a whole bunch of similar posts, so I was really pleased to see the wide range of submissions that came in!

We have:

Budgeting tips from Christine Simiriglia in Organize Your Money and Save for What You Want and Joan Kosmachuk in Get Organized for the Holidays – Make a Spending Budget

Money management tips from Ellen Delap in Getting Organized with Your Money and Finances and Ramona Creel in Ten Steps To Financial Freedom. Ramona says,

Financial independence is well within our grasp — we just have to make a few fundamental shifts in the way we choose between instant gratification and future security.

Credit card tips in Playing Your Cards Right: How The CARD Act Helps Organize Your Finances from Julie Bestry, who says,

A major key to getting and keeping your finances in order is understanding the credit and debt infrastructure–the rules that determine how much interest you’re charged and the fees you are assessed. As they say, forewarned is forearmed!

Tips for filing financial paperwork from Michelle Deo in Files & Taxes, Margarita Ibbott in Homebox – One Spot Document Holder and Filing System, and Elaine Shannon in How to organize your Finances

Financial document retention tips from Angie Weid in Do I Really Need My Last 5 Years of Electric Bills?

And last but not least, some spectacular piggy banks for storing your change from Jeri Dansky, the product-finding organizer, in Piggy Banks That Aren’t Pigs: A Glyptodon, A Goat, and More.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this month’s Professional Organizers Blog Carnival!

In honor of Earth Day, the theme for April will be green organizing, and you are welcome to submit your post at any time.

For those of you who like to plan ahead, the topic for May will be organizing tips for busy moms, but no submissions will be accepted for May’s Carnival until after April 10^th.

If you’d like to suggest a topic for a future Professional Organizers Blog Carnival, please feel free to leave a comment or to contact me directly.

Please visit Professional Organizers Blog Carnival for March 2010: Financial Organizing to comment on this post.

Blog: A blog is a specific type of Website, where new content is continually added to previous content, rather than replacing it. Most blogs allow for communication between the author and his or her readers, in the form of comments.

Browser (or Web Browser): A software program used to display Web Pages. Internet Explorer has traditionally been the most widely used, as it comes pre-installed on Windows-based computers, but Firefox is starting to overtake it in number of users. Other popular browsers include Chrome, Safari, and Opera. It’s important to realize that Web Pages may display differently in different browsers.

Domain Name: The name that identifies a Website, e.g. organizedassistant.com. A domain name is purchased from a domain registrar such as MyDomain and must be renewed annually, usually at a cost of around $10.00 per year. Your domain name needs to point to your Web Hosting in order to function.

Downloading: The act of transferring files from the Internet to a local computer.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol): A method for Uploading and Downloading files over the Internet, usually using software such as Filezilla.

Hosting (or Web Hosting): Just as files are stored on your personal computer, every website must be stored on a computer on the Internet. You need to purchase this service from a hosting company such as HostGator – think of it as renting a home for your website. Fees for hosting vary widely, depending on the features and amount of storage you require. You can sometimes find free web hosting, but keep in mind that free services are usually funded by advertising which will appear on your website.

Metatag: Coding on a web page that is used to give Search Engines information about that page. The most important are the Title tag (which appears at the top of your Browser window while viewing the page), the Description tag (which may appear in the search results), and the Keywords tag (which provides keywords for the Search Engines to associate with your page).

Permalink: A URL that points to a specific Blog post, as opposed to the main page of the Website. The permalink appears in the address bar at the top of the Browser window. You can see that the permalink for this post is http://organizedassistant.com/2010/03/05/website-owners-guide-for-non-techies.

Search Engine: A computer program used to search and index the millions of pages of available information on the web. Although Google is the most widely used, there are many others, including Yahoo and Bing.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): A technique used to increase the likelihood of your Website coming up high in search results by making it more visible to Search Engines.

Uploading: The act of transferring files to the Internet from a local computer. Some websites have uploading features built in, but others require that you have FTP access.

URL: This is the web address you give people so they can go to your website, e.g. http://www.organizedassistant.com or http://organizedassistant.com/services/wordpress-website-and-blog-design/. Please note how this differs from the Domain Name.

Web Page: A single document displayed on the Internet.

Website: A collection of related Web Pages belonging to an individual, a company, or an organization.

WordPress: Free software used for creating both blogs and websites. When installed on your Web Hosting account, it can be completely customized in terms of both design and function. You can use WordPress at WordPress.com without purchasing web hosting or a domain name, but it is much more limited, unless you upgrade to a premium account.

If there’s terminology that puzzles you which I have not included here, you may be able to find a definition on one W3Schools.com or Build Web Site For You, which I found helpful while creating this post. For further clarification, feel free to ask me a question.

Please visit Website Owner’s Guide for Non-Techies to comment on this post.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is one of the most reputable personality assessments available. Based on the psychological theory of Carl Jung, it has been in use since 1942, and has been updated many times to keep up with changes in language and society. As a qualified MBTI consultant, I’m pleased to offer you a number of options for learning about this fascinating and important subject.

If you live in Ontario, or will be visiting the area on Wednesday, March 24, you can catch my popular “Organizing Your Life, Your Way” presentation at the Southwestern Ontario Chapter meeting of Professional Organizers in Canada. Attendees will have the option of ordering my Organizing Your Life, Your Way e-book for a reduced price of $20.00 (including tax) instead of the regular price of $24.95 plus tax. For location and other details about this event, visit the POC website. If you’re unable to attend, you can order a copy of my e-book right here.

If you’re an auditory learner, you might appreciate a digital copy of a seminar I presented last year on The Power of Personality Type. Although the audience was virtual assistants rather than professional organizers, the principles of personality type are the same, and you’re bound to find it informative. For $19.95, you will receive:

• A 45-minute audio recording of the teleclass
• A 28-page PDF of the accompanying PowerPoint presentation
• 7 pages of bonus notes, including Organizing Profiles for the 16 personality types and a reading resource list

This is the first time this presentation has been offered as a standalone product.

You can save $10.00 by ordering a bundle which includes the Organizing Your Life, Your Way e-book AND The Power of Personality Type!

Learning about personality type and the way it influences our relationship with time and space was one of the reasons I decided to become a professional organizer in the first place, and I’m sure you will find it fascinating too.

Please visit Learn About Organizing for Personality Types to comment on this post.

Of course, I don’t mean you should literally go out and hire sales personnel, but you can certainly expand your reach by allowing others to promote your products on their websites in exchange for a percentage of the profits. Don’t be afraid to share! Would you rather have 75% of $1000 in sales, or 100% of $100 in sales?

Practice Pay Solutions and E-Junkie are two of the online services that you can use both for selling products on your own website and for managing an affiliate program. When someone becomes an affiliate, they receive their own linking code which will identify them when a purchase originates from their website. The system will keep track of everything; you just need to pay out the commission each month, or at whatever interval you choose.

Here are three things you can do to make it easier for your affiliates to generate sales on your behalf:

1. Create individual links for each product that you offer.

If you offer a number of different products, and the affiliate can only link to your homepage, it’s going to be much more difficult for them to promote a specific product. If bloggers can’t easily send their readers to the appropriate order page, they might not feel it’s worth it to blog about your product.

2. Offer an attractive commission.

Affiliates are more likely to make an effort to actively promote your product if they feel it’s worth their while. With digital products where you don’t have high overhead costs, it’s not uncommon to offer commissions in the area of 50%. If you’re only offering 10%, there’s a good chance that your affiliates will not be willing to do anything other than just slapping up a link somewhere and hoping it gets noticed. If you don’t feel that you can afford to pay a higher commission rate, consider increasing the price of your product to increase your profit margin – just make sure that you don’t charge more than your product is worth!

3. Offer a number of tools to help your affiliates promote your products.

Different affiliates will want to display your product links in different ways. While some will be happy with a simple text link, many will want a 125×125 pixel graphic which they can place in the sidebar of their blog, and others might prefer a small, medium, or large banner ad. Successful affiliate managers go the extra mile to provide all of these options, as well as pre-written articles, blog posts, email campaigns, and even tweets.

Keep in mind that this is just my perspective, as someone who has been participating in various affiliate programs for a number of years now. I must confess that although I offer a number of my own information products, I haven’t yet taken the step of creating an affiliate program. When I do, I will definitely take my own advice and implement the three steps outlined above.

Fortunately, you don’t have to rely on my experience, because you can receive Free Affiliate Manager Tips from Internet Marketing Sweetie. When you sign up, you’ll learn how to start and manage an effective affiliate program, recruit, train and motivate your affiliates, and provide them with powerful marketing materials.

For a small investment, you can order the Affiliate Management Training Tool Bundle, a comprehensive collection of resources which you can customize with your own logo and information and provide to your affiliates so they’ll be equipped to promote your products through various media. Until February 26^th only, you can save 30% off the regular price by entering the coupon code 90928.

He who refuses to embrace a unique opportunity loses the prize as surely as if he had failed.

William James

Please visit Grow Your Sales Team, Grow Your Income to comment on this post.

As always, there will be some excellent opportunities to learn from experts, network with your colleagues, and discover new organizing products and services, as well as enjoy delicious food and take in the local sights and sounds. For a quick summary, check out this video message from NAPO President Laura Leist:

The theme, INNOVATE, CONNECT, and INSPIRE, will be reinforced by the three keynote speakers:

• Tim Sanders – Innovating How We Connect
• Gina Schreck – Connecting Via Technology
• Monica Wofford – Inspiration: Contagious Leadership™ of You, Your Customers and Your Business

In addition, there are educational sessions covering a wide range of topics to meet the needs of organizing consultants at all levels, including:

• Porter Knight – Starting an Organizing Business
• Krista Green – 4 Keys to Business Mastery in the Organizing Industry
• Allison Carter and Brandie Kajino – How to Make Money with Virtual Classes

Be sure to plan ahead so you can take advantage of the early bird discount, which is available until March 22.

If you’re on Twitter, watch for the hashtag #napo10 to keep track of who’s going to the conference and what they’re saying about it. I understand a Tweet-up is in the works, so if you’re planning to attend, you’ll want to register for that as well, since it’s not an official NAPO activity.

Visit the NAPO website to download a complete program or register for the conference. It’s one of the best investments in your business you can make!

Please visit Time to Register for NAPO Conference 2010! to comment on this post.

Stacey Larocque is a home staging professional and mother of two. When it was time to wean her toddler son from breastfeeding, she was frustrated by the lack of helpful information available, and ended up developing her own method. After successfully implementing her system with her son and later with her daughter, she decided to help other parents in the same situation, and earn a little extra cash, by selling her solution online. Stacey hired Organized Assistant to take her written content and format it as an e-book, complete with appropriate clipart and an attractive cover. We then created a simple one-page website to promote and sell her e-book, It’s a Bye Bye Boobie Party!

Jane Woolsey is a Certified Professional Organizer, Past President of Professional Organizers in Canada, and an avid dog lover. Last year the Founder of An Organized Vision and her friend Paul had a different type of vision, where they would share information about alternative and traditional medical treatments for dogs through a blog called Our Dog Blog where they would answer questions submitted by readers. They hired Organized Assistant to design a customized WordPress theme, to research relevant affiliate programs and set up the blog in a way that would allow them to receive and respond to reader questions easily. They are not charging for their expertise, but hope to generate some passive income through affiliate marketing and pay-per-click advertising.

I don’t think either Stacey or Jane expects to get rich from their ventures, but they’ve both discovered the income potential of their passions and have done something about it. These are projects in which I’ve been personally involved, but I’m sure that many other organizers have set up equally innovative side businesses.

If you’d like to generate some income from your own interests, How to Make Extra Cash From Your Hobbies: Three Easy Steps is a great post on Dumb Little Man that will help you brainstorm some ideas.

If you’ve already started such an enterprise, feel free to promote it in the comments!

Please visit Thinking Outside the Boxes to comment on this post.

Last year I blogged about A Few of my Favorite Books, and to that list I would add the recently published Get Rich Organizing: The Professional Organizer Survival Guide to Launch, Manage, and Grow a Profitable Business by Anne Blumer and Organizing Outside the Box by Hellen Buttigieg.

For your convenience, I’ve created The Bookstore for Professional Organizers, featuring my personal favorites as well as many other books which are recommended reading for professional organizers. Canadian readers may prefer to shop at The Bookstore for Canadian Professional Organizers.

If I’ve missed any of your top picks or other important titles, please leave a comment, and I’ll be sure to add it.

Happy Reading!

Please visit Recommended Reading for Professional Organizers to comment on this post.

Jane, I read in your blog about your recent Professional Organizer Retreat, and I’m sure my readers would love to know what it involved, and how they can do something similar.

Can you tell us what happens at a Professional Organizer Retreat?

The main objective is for us to get together to create our strategic plan for the new year.

Was it all about work, or did you get a chance for some R&R?

Oh yes, this year we started what will definitely become a part of our annual planning – we went to a fabulous spa for 7 hours where we did yoga, soaked in hot baths and steam rooms, and had a massage the day before our work.  It was truly amazing.

How much advance planning was required?

It was a team effort for sure but didn’t require a whole lot of advance planning – about 6 weeks.  We investigated the spa back in early December and the two of us who were flying booked our flights by mid-December so we could arrange the actual days we were together.

How many people attended?

We have five professional organizers in our group.

How did you find other organizers to team up with for the retreat?

We all attended a Strategic Planning Bootcamp for Organizers in January 2008.

It sounds like a lot of your focus was on planning for the coming months. Do you have a system in place to stay connected and follow up on each others’ plans?

Yes, we do.  We ‘meet’ by phone quarterly to review where we are and where we are going, hold each accountable for our plan and motivate one another as well.

Will you do it again in the future? With the same group?

Absolutely – January 2011 is on.  Plus we have planned a relax day together at a spa in Montreal following the POC conference.  Obviously we need a lot of relaxing in order to be strategic – ha!

Do you think a retreat is appropriate for new organizers, established organizers, or both?

I would say you need to be in business for three years before this process would be beneficial.  New organizers, though, should definitely sign up for some type of basic business planning workshops in their hometown.

Is it better for the group to be at the same stage in their business, or at different stages?

We have all been in business for at least five years and that seems to work well.  However, our vision for each business and our personal goals are very different which also works.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?

Since I started this process in 2008 I have been able to grow my business significantly. I would have to say that the time spent planning and creating a strategy has been a key component, but having a support group of other organizers has been the most amazing experience.

Readers, I don’t know about you, but to me this sounds like a wonderful way to work on your business and get a little R&R at the same time! What do you think?

Please visit A Retreat for Professional Organizers to comment on this post.

The first step to any time management system is Setting Priorities. As Lisa Montanaro says in Time: The Great Equalizer:

The problem with time management is that it is an oxymoron. We can’t manage time itself – only what we choose to do with it. Until we stop blaming time and take responsibility for our role in “time management,” we won’t be able to fully change our relationship with it.

Kimberly Eagles tells us how she plans her time in Organizing My Time- My Ideal Work Week. Kim says that:

Setting priorities is so important when trying to maximize the use of time. I think knowing what is most important is the starting point to being productive and can take you from being very busy to very effective!

To free up time to focus on our priorities, Christine Simiriglia suggests that we Erase Some Tasks, because:

Some times less really is more!

If it seems that other people are taking you away from your priorities, you need to read Ramona Creel’s post, Teaching People How To Use Your Time. Ramona says:

I can’t tell you how often I hear my friends, colleagues, and clients complain about how other people just don’t respect their time. You’ve probably experienced it too — either at home or at work. But it doesn’t have to happen that way!

Sometimes it’s not other people, but our own habits that keep us from completing our most important tasks. Does this sound familiar?

“I can’t help it!  I was born to procrastinate.” That was the statement I heard when talking with a new client about a week ago.

So I asked her, “Are you happy with your procrastination?  Does it serve you well?”

“No!” she exclaimed.  “That is why I called you.  I’m missing important deadlines and my co-workers and family are fed up with me.”

Do these statements resonate with you?  If so, then keep reading. You can overcome procrastination if you learn a few simple secrets.

Stephanie LH Calahan covers this common problem in Learn 5 Secrets to Put Procrastination Off Until Tomorrow.

I found it interesting that two people both recommended an online tool called Rescue Time. Is someone trying to tell me something? If you’ve ever run out of day before you ran out of work, be sure to read Joan Kosmachuk’s Where does the time go? A free tool to track your computer time and Margaret Lukens‘ Need a Net Nanny? Rescue Time Provides the Loving Discipline.

Once you’ve identified your challenges and determined your priorities, you’re ready to begin Scheduling.

Elaine Shannon suggests Batching Tasks a Recipe to Manage What you do with Your Time, and Jane Veldhoven describes her system in her series which begins with Keys To Effective Time Management #1.

If the thought of a schedule seems too confining, you need to read Sarah Kimmel’s post on Changing Your Mind About Rules & Routines. Sarah tells us to:

Change your attitude about having a set routine for the day. It will actually allow you MORE freedom!

Of course, it’s much easier to create and maintain a schedule when you have a time management system that suits your learning style, and Hellen Buttigieg provides some great tips in her post, How To Choose the Best Calendar for You.

Several bloggers contributed their favorite Time Saving Tips, including Michelle, who offers a Quick Tip : Keep Reading Material Handy.

Angela Esnouf reminds us that time is The Precious Gift and asks:

Do we treat each of our precious hours as a gift?  Do we value our time enough?

Ellen Delap recommends Delegating at Work, informing us that:

Delegating can be one of the most important tools for productivity!

There’s a lot of excellent time management advice here, but if you know someone who needs a more structured approach to learning, take a look at Anne Blumer’s 4 Weeks to Reclaim Your Time eBook, which she describes as follows:

For 28 days follow my Four Week Plan to More Effective Time Management and I will teach you habits that will lead to more control over your time and skills to manage yourself within your time more effectively.

Each week covers a different focus: Week One (habits 1-7) creating new habits, goal setting (the foundation of effective time management) and prioritizing Week Two (habits 8-14) time management tools Week Three (habits 15-21) planning and scheduling Week Four (habits 22-28) addressing procrastination.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this month’s Professional Organizers Blog Carnival! I’m sorry I couldn’t accept all the posts that were submitted. Although all organizing strategies will ultimately save the individual time, I wanted to focus on the specific topic of time management, so I hope no one was offended.

To help people get ready for tax time, the theme for March will be financial organization, and you are welcome to submit your post at any time.

For those of you who like to plan ahead, the topic for April will be green organizing.

If you’d like to suggest a topic for a future Professional Organizers Blog Carnival, please feel free to leave a comment or to contact me directly.

Please visit Professional Organizers Blog Carnival for February 2010: Time Management to comment on this post.

Before we get started, keep in mind that Twitter isn’t a popularity contest! It’s more important to have a small group of genuine followers than thousands of so-called followers who don’t actually read your tweets or connect with you in any way, so don’t get caught up in schemes that promise you thousands of new followers overnight. Your focus should be on attracting followers who are the type of people you need to have in your network, including representatives from businesses who provide products or services which complement your own, potential clients, and others who can help you grow your business in some way.

One way to get noticed by these people is to get listed in Twitter directories. Several of these are mentioned in an earlier post, Finding Tweeple in Your Area to Follow. Although the focus of that post was locating people by region, some of these sites also allow users to search by keyword. You can find many more similar sites simply by entering “twitter directory” in a Google search. Always remember, before entering your Twitter user name and password into any website, make sure it uses OAuth, so you can be confident that your information is secure. If you have any doubt whatsoever about the authenticity or integrity of a website, don’t take chances.

When people first see you on Twitter, they’ll generally only take a couple of seconds to decide whether or not to follow you, so make sure your profile is compelling. You don’t necessarily need to fuss about creating a custom background, since people who use TweetDeck and similar tools won’t see it anyway, but you should make sure that your user name and picture represent you effectively. Using your bio section to make a sales pitch can put people off very quickly, so instead create a message that will make people interested in learning more about you and what you have to say.

Potential followers will usually scan your recent tweets to determine the answer to their number one question, “What’s in it for me?” If they see that you share valuable information and engage with others, they’re much more likely to follow you than if all they see is comments about the weather, the traffic, Survivor, and what you are having for lunch today.

You probably started following people in your target audience in the hopes that they would follow you back. This is not necessarily a bad strategy, since many users automatically follow everyone who follows them. (Of course, if they’re using an automated system to do so, they still may not realize that you exist.) Whether they do or not, it’s up to you to attract their attention so you can begin building a relationship. Some people will stop following someone, then start following them again, hoping that maybe this time it will work. It probably won’t. It’s more likely to make you look desperate or stalkerish. A better way to get someone’s attention is to retweet or respond to what they’ve posted, tweet about them on “Follow Friday” or another Twitter meme, or recommend them on Mr. Tweet.

Lastly, it may seem obvious, but let everyone know how to find you on Twitter. This means that your Twitter ID or a link to your profile should be prominently displayed on your website, your blog, your other social networking profiles, your email signature, and even your business card.

By implementing these strategies, I’ve grown my Twitter following in the past year from 85 to over 1100.

Please leave a comment describing what works for you. And if you’re not already, please follow me on Twitter!

Please visit Five Ways to Get Followers on Twitter to comment on this post.