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Book Review: The Other Side of Organized

Janet — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 10:00:50 +0000

I often say there are two types of professional organizers: those for whom organizing comes naturally, and those who teach others the skills they’ve acquired to overcome their own struggles with organization. The Other Side of Organized is an excellent resource, no matter which group you fit into. There are lots of excellent organizing books that describe strategies to use in different situations, but in her book, Linda Samuels guides us through the other side of organizing, particularly the emotional issues associated with life changes. If you are a natural organizer, you excel at planning and implementing systems for your clients. Your easiest client is likely someone who is naturally organized as well, but needs you to set up a system which he or she can maintain. Although clients requiring more support are more challenging for you, you can work with them successfully if you are able to demonstrate empathy.

Empathy… means feeling yourself into, or participating in, the inner world of another while remaining yourself. ~ Alfred Benjamin, from The Helping Interview

The Other Side of Organized can help you to achieve empathy by describing the personal challenges your clients may be facing so you can better understand them. It also contains many motivational strategies to apply that may not always come to you naturally. Even if it’s easy for you to empathize with your clients, you’re sure to find Linda’s advice inspiring, whether for your own benefit or that of your clients. Her description of the five stages of change as they relate to the organizing process is especially valuable. She also shares some of the practices she’s developed in her own organizing business and her definition of the role of the professional organizer. The main thing that distinguishes The Other Side of Organized from other organizing books is the emphasis on each person finding the right balance between being organized and having time for what’s most important to them. As Linda says,

We can always make improvements, but it’s important to know when to just let things be.

I was privileged to receive a copy of the book from one of my clients, who told me that she regularly gives copies to her clients. I think that is a great token of appreciation for their business, as well as a valuable resource to help them stay on track after her work with them has been completed! The Other Side of Organized is available in the Organizing – General department of The Bookstore for Professional Organizers.

Professional Organizers Blog Carnival for September 2011: Organizing Home Libraries

Janet — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:22:09 +0000

I think you can learn a lot about a person from seeing what books they read, which ones they choose to keep, and how they organize their personal library. This month, I’ve asked professional organizers to share their own strategies for organizing home libraries. Visit their blogs to find out what they said, leave a comment or two, and share your favorite posts with your social networks. Then, be sure to read through to the end of this post for a special invitation! For the first time in many months, we have no new participants or new Professional Organizers Blog Carnival Star Bloggers to introduce, so without further ado, here are this month’s submissions! Audrey Cupo - Take A Look At Your Books - Are They Organized? Barbara Tako - Organize your books! A home library? Yes! Jeri Dansky - Books: Weeding the Collection Janice Russell - So Many Books, So Little Time! Julie Bestry - Book 'em, Danno! Organizing Your Beloved Books Ellen Delap - Organizing Your Library Tracy Hoth - Tracy's Tip ~ When Organizing Books...Think Outside the Book Rivka Caroline - It's What You Do After You Buy The Book That Counts Jane Veldhoven - Are Your Books Excess Clutter or Beautiful Possessions? Natalie Conrad - Books - Organizing Our Personal Libraries I’m a book lover myself (you can connect with me on Goodreads if you like) so I thoroughly enjoyed reading all the different ideas. I was surprised and maybe even a little disappointed that hardly anyone included a photo in their post, so I created a photo album on Facebook called Organizing Home Libraries, and I’m inviting you to upload your pictures there – whether or not you participated in the Blog Carnival. Once you’ve done that, you can start thinking about next month’s Professional Organizers Blog Carnival, when our topic will be Organizing Tips for Creative Types. Submissions will be accepted from now until midnight Eastern time on Monday, October 10^th.

Book Review: Apartment Therapy

Janet — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 15:06:12 +0000

Published in 2006, Apartment Therapy is not a new book, but it is one that escaped my attention until recently. Having downsized from a house to an apartment several years ago, I've decided it's about time I start to personalize my space, and came upon it in my local Indigo while searching for a book to inspire me. One of the things that impressed me about Apartment Therapy was the way that author Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan described the close connection between decorating, organizing, cleaning, and living in harmony with one's surroundings. For the first time, I understand what feng shui is really about. I had always considered decorating to be about esthetics and organizing about function, but this book made me realize that dealing with one and not the other may leave your client feeling less than satisfied. The harmonized step-by-step approach to creating a happy and healthy home provides an excellent framework for developing an organizing plan that incorporates other work your client may need to complete or hire another professional to do – reinforcing the importance of forming alliances with decorators, contractors, and other service providers. The questions Gillingham-Ryan asks his clients during the initial interview might also prove helpful to you. They won't help you determine your client's organizing needs, but will give you important insight into what you can expect while working with him or her, and can therefore be a valuable addition to what you're already asking. As the title suggests, the book focuses on people living in apartments, but many of the principles would apply equally to any residence. This book is a must-read for all home organizers, especially those who specialize in clients who are downsizing or already living in small spaces. Apartment Therapy is available in the Home Organization department of The Bookstore for Professional Organizers.

Professional Organizers Blog Carnival for September 2010: Technology

Janet — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 13:20:05 +0000

Welcome to the Technology issue of the Professional Organizers Blog Carnival! You'll find lots of great tips here for using technology to organize today's busy lives and for organizing your (or your clients') technology. Be sure to read the posts and leave some comments – it's a fun way to network with your organizing colleagues! Five Productive Jobs for Evernote by Margaret Lukens

Over time, Evernote has proven its usefulness again and again. The more I use it to deal with those information bits on the desk and in the brain, the more I love it.

How to Manage and Organize your Social Web by Elaine Shannon Site-Saving Bookmarklets: Keeping Up With Online Reading While Reducing Paper Clutter by Julie Bestry

If you're a voracious web reader, it sometimes seems like you have only two alternatives: paper (printout) clutter or an endlessly scrolling tower of bookmarks. These nifty bookmarklets offers the chance to keep up with your reading without cluttering up your home, office or computer.

3 Firefox Add-Ons That Increase Your Productivity by Deb Lee Getting Organized in the Google Era by Jeri Dansky

This book, which was published earlier this year, talks about ways to use technology effectively. Do you organize information - or just search for it when you need it?

Technology and You! by Ellen Delap Ergonomics in the Office - Using your computer safely by Clare Kumar

Technology brings many benefits, but using it safely is critical. Set up a comfortable workstation and enjoy maximum productivity.

Cozy Up To Cozi by Janice Russell TeuxDeux (To Do - an online list maker) by Margarita Ibbott

Are you a chronic list maker? Do you feel a sense of accomplishment when you cross that item off your list? How about writing a list out electronically that you can access from any computer? Find out about a simple and easy to use on-line list maker from TeuxDeux.

Before wrapping up this month's Carnival, I'd like to welcome two new Professional Organizers Blog Carnival Star Bloggers, who have each contributed to 10 Blog Carnivals to date: In her post, Clutter-free gifts: Technology, Lelah Baker-Rabe tells us how to

Help the tech-savvy people in your life stay clutter-free with some thoughtful gifts of technology that won't add to their box of random cords and cables.

Digital photographers are sure to appreciate Geralin Thomas' Four Steps to Organizing Your Photos. Congratulations, Lelah and Geralin, and thank you to everyone who took part in this month's Carnival. Next month, our theme will be Bathroom Organizing – please submit your posts by noon EDT on October 12, 2010. In November, we'll celebrate Food, Glorious Food! so get ready to submit your posts about organizing refrigerators, pantries, recipes, or another related topic. Photo: joiseyshowaa

Write Blog Posts that Get Results

Janet — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:52:22 +0000

I hope last week's interview with Lynette Chandler of Blog Energizer answered some of the questions you may have had about blogging. Today I'm excited to tell you about a brand new resource that will improve your blogging and drive your readers to buy your product or services, or join your mailing list. There are many ways to drive traffic to your blog, but if it isn't well-written, it's unlikely readers will stick around, and you'll miss out on the opportunity to gain a new subscriber or a client. According to a new e-book by Darren Rowse and Glenn Murray, several things make the difference between a good blog post, a great post, and a not-so-good post. These can be organized as follows:

Writing style
Scannability
Search engine optimization
Grammar

The Copywriting Scorecard for Bloggers outlines these factors in detail and provides you with a scorecard for evaluating your blog posts before you publish them. I suggest printing out the two-page planning questionnaire and the scorecard and inserting them in plastic sheet protectors. By using dry-erase markers to fill them out for each post, you can simply wipe them off and use them again next time, instead of wasting paper and ink to print out multiple copies. Before writing today's post, I used the two-page questionnaire to help me organize my thoughts, and after writing my first draft, I used the scorecard to see what improvements I could make. My original score for this post was 54 (shows promise). After checking it against the scorecard and applying the recommendations, I was able to bring it up to 69 (very good). Furthermore, by following this system, I was able to focus more on my writing and get it done in less time than usual. I can just tell that my blogging will continue to improve as these strategies become second nature to me. Wouldn't you like to experience the satisfaction of knowing that your blog is getting read – and bringing you results? For a simple and inexpensive yet valuable tool to improve your blogging, I highly recommend The Copywriting Scorecard for Bloggers. Order it by tomorrow, and you'll pay only $9.97 – plus you'll receive an updated version (which will sell for $29.97) with 50 pages of additional material and access to a Q&A session with the authors – all at no extra charge! Once you've tried it out, come back and tell us about your results!

Book Review: Take Back Your Life!

Janet — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:49:53 +0000

For many years, I wanted to take advantage of Microsoft Outlook® as a time management tool, but was frustrated because the courses I took covered only the basics, and none of the books I read went sufficiently in depth to satisfy me. My woes ended when I discovered Sally McGhee's Take Back Your Life! Using Microsoft Outlook® to Get Organized and Stay Organized in 2005.

Take Back Your Life! outlines steps for creating a system to help you to maximize productivity, which will help you to take control of your personal and professional life, and to support your clients who struggle with time management. Some of McGhee's recommendations are similar to those found in other time management books; for example:

Implement personal boundaries to allow scheduled, uninterrupted work time.
You can't create more time; you can only make the most of the time you have by setting priorities.
Process and organize your e-mail (and paper mail) by following the four D's for decision making (Delete/Do/Delegate/Defer)

One of the parts I found especially valuable was the guidance around the use of Outlook Tasks. McGhee recommends disregarding Outlook's default categories such as "Client" and "Personal" and replacing them with your own planning categories (to keep track of objectives and supporting projects) and action categories (to keep track of the individual tasks to be completed). She also suggests placing all telephone calls in one category so you can quickly and easily make those calls when you have time between appointments, and all errands in another category, to make it easier to keep track of them and reduce the number of trips you have to make. McGhee understands that technology can only facilitate increased productivity when users know how to use its features to full advantage, and are prepared to let go of ineffective habits. Willingness to make behavior changes is a key component of her system, as some of the strategies she describes will be quite foreign to many, particularly those who struggle with structure and details. Of course, to rely fully on Outlook for time management requires the use of a smartphone or other portable device that can be synchronized with your main computer, and many people can't afford or don't wish to use these tools, or have no desire to give up their paper planners. Nonetheless, although Take Back Your Life! is primarily about using Outlook, it offers many helpful time management tips that may be adopted even by non-Outlook users. Many new enhancements were made when Outlook 2007 was released, so McGhee wrote an updated version of her book, along with John Wittry, Take Back Your Life! Using Microsoft Office Outlook® 2007 to get organized and stay organized, which includes nearly 100 pages of new material. Both editions are available in the Time Management department of The Bookstore for Professional Organizers.

Professional Organizers Blog Carnival for July 2010: Book Reviews

Janet — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 15:34:55 +0000

Most of the professional organizers I know have a genuine thirst for knowledge and are continuously reading and taking courses. Since small business owners tend to be plagued by "so many books, so little time" syndrome, this month's Blog Carnival is a collection of book reviews submitted by our readers, to help you choose your future reading material.

When choosing the theme for this month's Professional Organizers Blog Carnival, it occurred to me that I might receive multiple reviews for the same titles, but decided that wouldn't be an issue, since it could be interesting to read different people's perspective. Much to my surprise, every single submission was unique. Without further ado, here are the book reviews, in alphabetical order by title. Please note that to make it easier for you to follow, I've replaced the post titles with the name of the book being reviewed. The Accidental Organiser reviewed by Angela Esnouf, who describes it as:

A down-to-earth look at organising from a down-to-earth woman. And a great example of getting it done. Wendy went from an inkling of an idea to the bookstores in less than a year. A great example for all would-be authors.

Crush It! Why NOW is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion reviewed by Elaine Shannon Digging Out reviewed by Jeri Dansky, who says:

I've blogged about many organizing-related books, so it was initially hard to pick which one to include in the carnival. But Digging Out is one of the best organizing books I've read in a long time, so the choice wound up being easy, after all.

Everything I Know about Perfectionism I Learned From My Breasts reviewed by Julie Bestry Following Through reviewed by Ellen Delap Get Rich Organizing reviewed by Janet Barclay (Hey, that's me!) Gift from the Sea reviewed by Joan Kosmachuk The Myth of Multitasking: How "Doing It All" Gets Nothing Done reviewed by Stephanie LH Calahan On Top of Everything reviewed by Jacki Hollywood Brown, who says:

Busy family? Busy job? Busy life? Learn a professional organizer's tricks for staying On Top of Everything!

Organizing Outside the Box reviewed by Lelah Baker-Rabe, who tells us that:

I love reading new books about organizing, and Organizing Outside the Box is a fantastic resource and just the latest book review on my blog.

Overcoming Compulsive Hoarding reviewed by Dr. Renae Reinardy on Geralin Thomas' blog Someone Will Be With You Shortly: Notes From A Perfectly Imperfect Life reviewed by Margarita Ibbott, who says:

I recently had the great opportunity to participate in a Twitter Party hosted by Julie Morgenstern for her friend and "O" Magazine writer Lisa Kogan. I wrote this review on my blog because I really enjoyed the book. It was also great that at the Twitter Party, I won a LARGE BOX OF BOOKS, courtesy of Ms. Kogan's publisher. I am making this suggestion to you this month because I loved this book and found it very funny. A great summer read.

Thanks to all of you for sharing your book reviews with us. If you'd like to recommend another book, feel free to leave a comment below, with a link to your review, if applicable. For more book suggestions, be sure to check out The Bookstore for Professional Organizers. Our theme for August will be Getting Organized for Back to School, and the deadline for submissions is Thursday, August 12, 2010. I've been delighted to learn that many of you plan your blog content around the monthly Blog Carnival themes. In that case, make a note that our theme for September will be Technology – whether it's organizing your cables, your emails, your passwords – you name it!

Respecting Your Clients’ Uniqueness

Janet — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 18:04:48 +0000

Years before I heard of professional organizers, I noticed that time management and organizing were easier for me than they were for some of the other people I knew, and wondered if I could teach these skills to others. After completing the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator^®,(MBTI^®), I learned that I was born with personality type preferences (ISTJ) that naturally tend towards systems and order.

When I explored the subject further, I learned about the organizing profession, and discovered that many were drawn to the field because they had the same or similar personality types to mine. It made sense to me that people who are naturally organized would enjoy this type of work. It soon became apparent, however, that the kinds of systems that work for us wouldn't necessarily be effective for people for whom organization was less comfortable. They may be able to manage it for a while, but will most likely slip back into their old ways after not too long. It's like learning to write with your non-dominant hand – you can do it if you have to because of an injury, but you'll go back to doing what comes naturally as soon as you're able to. That is not to say that only people who are born with those personality type preferences can be organized – not at all! I’ve met many organizing consultants who are successful because they have a thorough understanding of what it’s like to struggle with organizational challenges, and have developed specialized strategies for overcoming those challenges which they are able to share with their clients. As a qualified MBTI^®practitioner and the author of Organizing Your Life, Your Way, I was invited to speak to a group of professional organizers about this topic last week. When one of them asked me the best way to convert clients to their way of organizing, I explained that rather than trying to make the clients fit into their systems, they need to adapt their systems to fit their clients. There is no such thing as a "one size fits all" organizing solution! If your client has difficulty using a detailed to-do list and schedule, look for alternatives. One person has created an adaption of David Allen's Getting Things Done system by using a Cambridge Wirebound Notebook with Avery removable colored write-on tabs to divide the pad into several sections representing the various projects he's using it for, e.g., job hunting, household projects, medical notes, household repairs, shopping notes, gift ideas. If he needs more room in a section, he creates another section with a write-on tab. In each section, he keeps Daily and Project logs with the following column headings: Date/time Entry: log, notes, thoughts Next to do By identifying an immediate "next to do" action, it is easier for him to jump back on the project or task when time allows, and keeping a running log with thoughts, notes and feelings enables him to pick up where he left off. It is important for him to remember his feelings and thoughts on a particular project to keep up the momentum, since that's how he makes his decisions and gets motivated. He uses colored pens and markers to keep it interesting, and to break it up. The spiral allows him to rip out and redo pages when necessary, to keep the log looking neat. Rewriting his notes helps him think things through, since he considers himself an auditory / kinetic learner who has trouble visualizing and thinking without words. This is just one example of how a traditional left-brained organizing strategy can be adapted to meet the needs of a right-brained creative individual. For more insight on this subject, order a copy of my e-book, Organizing Your Life, Your Way, or read any of the titles listed under Learning Style / Personality Type in our Bookstore for Professional Organizers.

Checklists and Contracts and Agreements – Oh my!

Janet — Wed, 26 May 2010 12:50:35 +0000

It's amazing how many different forms you need in order to operate a professional organizing business! Some are just for your own use, such as client information sheets, assessment forms, and checklists. Others, such as invoices and letters of agreement, communicate important information to your clients.

Any forms you'll be using with clients must be completely error-free, easy to read, and reflect your professional image. This isn't quite as critical for those that are for internal use only, but you will still need them to be well-designed so they are easy for you to follow and so you're not stumbling over your words when you're speaking to your clients. It will be easier for you to develop an appropriate organizing plan for each of your clients by having a set of standard questions that you ask, whether this is done in person or over the telephone. Figuring out just what those questions should be can be a real challenge when you're just starting out in your business and don't really know what things are important to ask about. Writing up your first agreement can also be difficult, because until you've run into situations such as client cancellations, you may not think of addressing them in your contract. Fortunately, a lot of seasoned organizers have made their expertise available to you, so you don’t have to learn by trial and error. Here are a few resources that I recommend:

Geralin Thomas's Tools for Organizers include a detailed Client Intake, Assessment, & Activity Log, a Client Letter of Agreement, and a Client Invoice. The Invoice is a downloadable Word document, so you can customize it with your own branding and business information. The other two forms are in PDF format, so you can simply print them off and start using them right away.
When you sign up for the Comprehensive Training Program for Professional Organizers, whether you choose the in-person seminars, the on-demand webinars, or the self-study guides, you will receive fully customizable, industry-specific forms that every organizer should have, including letters of agreement, invoices, confidentiality agreements, needs analysis forms, receipts, and much more.
If you're handy with a word processor, you can create your own forms following the guidelines provided in Anne Blumer's guide for professional organizers, Get Rich Organizing.
Maria Gracia's Ultimate Guide For Professional Organizers also includes a collection of fill-in forms which you can copy and use. The Ultimate Guide is available in either PDF or print format.

Should you require assistance in customizing purchased templates or creating your own forms, you can always contact Organized Assistant. Above are samples of some of the forms we've created for our clients. Here's a question for the experienced organizers: what forms do you use most often in your business?

How to be a Better Business Writer

Janet — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:28:39 +0000

As a business owner and manager, I'm sure that not a day goes by where you don't have to write an email, a blog post, a proposal, or some other type of business document. Since everything you write is a reflection of you and your business, you need to make sure that your vocabulary and writing style are suited to your reader and that your spelling and grammar are flawless.

Today I continue my Improve Management Skills Month series with a few ways to ensure that your writing is the best that it possibly can be. Before you send out any important correspondence, read it over carefully, checking in particular for the following. Is your spelling accurate? Don't rely on your spellchecker to catch your typing errors! If your misspelled word just happens to be a valid dictionary word, your spellchecker won't catch it. Furthermore, spellcheckers often don't recognize certain words such as place names, and one of my former government co-workers created a letter template with a return address of "Hailstone, Ontario" because the spellchecker told her that was the correct spelling for "Hamilton." For quick checks, you can use an online dictionary site such as Dictionary.com. I like Merriam-Webster Online because I was able to add it to my search engine list in Firefox so I can simply type in a word to check the spelling without having to first navigate to the website. Sometimes though, you'll need to refer to a proper dictionary, and it's a worthwhile investment to have an up-to-date edition on hand. Not a week goes by that I don't refer to my Oxford Canadian Dictionary. Is your grammar correct? Software is even less reliable when it comes to checking grammar, so you really need to be on your toes to avoid errors. Daily Writing Tips has an online Grammar Test you can take to see whether your grammar skills are up to snuff. Warning: it's not as easy as it looks! Fortunately, the site also includes an archive of writing tips which includes punctuation, word usage, and much more. Is your document readable? Your writing should be easy for people to read, or they won't bother. One way to do this is to avoid using overly long sentences and words that they may not understand, such as industry jargon and acronyms. There's an interesting article on Wikipedia that explains the Flesch-Kincaid readability tests and how they relate to different types of writing. Is your writing style appropriate? Writing for the web is not like writing for print publications, because readers approach it very differently. People may not take the time to read dense blocks of text in a printed document, but they are even less likely to do so on a web page. The Longman Guide to Style and Writing on the Internet is an excellent resource for writing and formatting effective web documents. Are you confident that your document says exactly what you want it to say? Keep in mind that once you've sent off that proposal or ezine, it's too late to make changes. Sure, you can send off a message saying "I meant to say..." but what is that going to do for your professional image? Is it worth missing out on an opportunity because your potential client thinks you are careless or don't have a good eye for detail, or because he or she doesn't understand what you're trying to say? If you're interested in improving your business writing skills, you need to download Bad Language's free ebook, 30 Days to Better Business Writing. It's an amazing 116-page self-study guide that you can complete in just one month. Even if you have excellent language skills, it's very easy to overlook your mistakes because your brain already knows what you're trying to say, so that's what it sees on the page or screen. For your really important documents, it's well worth it to have someone else review your writing before you send it out, whether it's a colleague, a family member, or a virtual assistant.