Organized Assistant » certification

Interview with a Certified Family Manager Coach™

Janet — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 12:57:53 +0000

One of the wonderful things about the Professional Organizers Blog Carnival is the opportunity to connect with organizing consultants with a wide range of specialties. Today I've invited Ellen Delap, who is one of our Professional Organizers Blog Carnival Star Bloggers, to tell us about hers. Families are struggling with cohesiveness, communication and organization. It’s about who is making dinner, can the laundry get beyond the living room, and who is doing what when. Enter the Family Manager Coach! I have always had a special connection with my family clients, especially those with ADD. The struggles these families were experiencing could be helped. Certified Family Manager Coaches^TM offer a unique perspective, that of viewing your home like a business, to help families think about their connections and roles in a new way. Training I learned of this certification through the Wall Street Journal and looked into the program. Certified Family Manager Coaches^TM are trained under Kathy Peel, called “America’s Family Manager” by journalists and millions of women. She has authored 21 books which have sold over 2 million copies. Families find coaches through the www.familymanager.com website or through googling “family manager coach”. Over the course of 2 weeks and 6 modules which include several online tests and commenting on forums, I completed the certification in 2009. I have since renewed my certification with further review of modules and by taking an annual test. How it works As a coach, I have the opportunity to offer an online assessment tool for clients to find their strengths and challenges. Some clients like this option and some would prefer the initial assessment in person. Then we meet in one on one sessions, focusing on where they need a boost. Typically, we work together on setting up family routines, such as the family meeting and daily schedules, organizing areas throughout their home, and finding creative ways to share and delegate responsibilities. What clients say At the end of each session, my client has a fresh start and a fresh perspective.

“When I hired Ellen, I needed help with time management and decluttering of my home. With her help, I was able to implement a regular family meeting and created a command central. We also partnered to declutter and organize closets and the home office. Putting her knowledge in practice has helped me better manage my family's schedule and create the order I needed in my home.”

Helping families is a rewarding experience and makes a difference for all of us! I encourage you to look at www.familymanager.com to see if this would be a great addition to your business or if you could benefit from a session with a Family Manager Coach. Certified Professional Organizer and Certified Family Manager Coach Ellen Delap Website: www.professional-organizer.com Twitter: @TexasOrganizer Facebook: EllenDelapProfessionalOrganizer LinkedIn: EllenDelapProfOrganizer

Use the Power of Green to Grow Your Organizing Business

Janet — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 12:53:45 +0000

Based on this month's Professional Organizers Blog Carnival on green organizing, it's clear that many organizing consultants are aware of environmental issues and employ eco-friendly practices with their clients. I recently interviewed "The Eco-Organizer" Candita Clayton, and if you're committed to learning even more about this important subject, I'm sure you'll be interested in what she has to say. Candita, how long have you been a professional organizer, and why did you decide to focus on green organizing? I have been an organizer since 2001. I learned so much in my early years as an organizer through working with young families. Time after time I would find myself in homes with toxic cleaning products, furniture, toys, etc... I was upset and frustrated by this, which led me to write my book Clean Your Home Healthy, Green Cleaning Made Easy (April 2008, Morgan James Publishing). Green living has become my passion and I share my knowledge with anyone who asks. What is your 5 Steps to Green Program? The 5 Steps to Green Program was developed to aid Professional Organizers as well as other service professionals in adding green services to their organizing or service businesses. Presented as a series of Tele-Seminars, the program is a comprehensive approach to educating organizers about healthy living, sustainability and solutions to everyday issues they would find in their clients' homes. I am always looking for ways to use my knowledge to help other organizers improve their income. Is your program suitable for new organizers or established organizers? The program is suitable for both experienced and new organizers and can help any organizer establish a niche in the area of green living. These days, it's more important than ever to establish a niche for your business, so if you're interested in learning more about this unique opportunity, be sure to visit Candita's 5 Steps to Green website. Happy Earth Day!

Book Review: Get Rich Organizing

Janet — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:44:44 +0000

There is a ton of information online, including this blog, to help you start or grow a professional organizing business, but spending time researching various topics and sifting through all the search results can be very time-consuming. Even if you have lots of time on your hands, if you don't know that you need to learn about a particular subject, how can you even begin to explore it?

Anne Blumer solves that problem for you with her new book, Get Rich Organizing: The Professional Organizer Survival Guide to Launch, Manage, and Grow a Profitable Business. As a seasoned professional organizer with multiple certifications and founder of the Professional Organizer Training Institute, Anne is certainly qualified to write about this subject! The book contains a wealth of up-to-date information on working in the organizing industry, including certification, membership in industry associations, professional organizer specialties, desired characteristics, and even what's involved in a typical day. In addition, it covers topics that are important for all businesses, such as writing a business plan, setting fees, legal and taxation issues, as well as marketing and branding. That in itself would make this a useful reference, but Anne does not stop there. The second part of the book is devoted to specific aspects of working with clients. Many of the books I've read do not address the organizing process, assuming that you wouldn't become a professional organizer unless you already had organizing skills, but there is a world of difference between organizing for family and friends while you hang out together and organizing for strangers who are paying you good money for your expertise! This book will help to prepare you for a wide range of organizing projects and challenging clients and help you avoid embarrassing or costly mistakes. The thorough information is supplemented by a dozen forms you can adapt as needed for your own business, for needs assessments, letters of agreement, and much more. Most chapters include exercises to encourage you to put the information into practice, and in some cases, the assignment is to prepare a workshop based on the information in the chapter. I especially like this approach, because having material already developed means you'll be able to accept when someone asks you to speak on short notice. Does the title "Get Rich Organizing" put you off? It shouldn't! Sure, running your own organizing business is all about doing what you love, but you won't be in business very long if you're not making money at it. And if you can get rich while you're doing it, wouldn't that be a good thing? I have to admit that I was shocked when I first saw the price of the book, but now that I've read it and seen how packed it is with valuable information and resources, I am confident that it will help you earn back the cover price many times over.

Professional Organizers Blog Carnival – October 2009 Edition

Janet — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:07:14 +0000

Here it is once again – time for the Professional Organizers Blog Carnival! This monthly feature is a chance for you to share your best blog posts and learn from your colleagues in the organizing industry. We have a few new contributors this month, including a very special guest. I don't want to let the cat out of the bag, so read on and enjoy!

Let's begin with the 10 Best Reasons to Get Organized, in which Lelah Baker-Rabe shares some familiar and not-so-familiar reminders about how getting organized can improve your life. Next, a few Organizing Products and Systems you may wish to recommend to your clients, or use yourself: Jodi Granok has the solution for Fixing Our Food Storage Container Clutter in a photo essay, and Jeri Dansky answers a Reader Question: Organizing the Adult Toys. Margaret Lukens describes Three everyday uses for mind-maps, and Jacki Hollywood Brown blogs about The King of Classification:

This Professional Organizer built an easy to understand, simple to apply, easily modified classification system for all life on Earth over 300 years ago!

The value of Professional Organizer Training, Certification and Credentials are discussed by Geralin Thomas in Working with Hoarders: Training and Experience Highly Recommended and Janine Adams in Why training and credentials matter Business Strategy is a topic that's important to all of us, and Lisa Montanaro shares some great ideas in Time is on Your Side: 10 Ways to Reinvest in Your Business During a Slow Economy. Lisa says,

If business is slow for you, this may be the perfect time to do some of the business-building activities that you never have the time to do when you are too busy working in the business. This may also be a golden opportunity for professional development, reflection, and brainstorming.

Angela Esnouf states that:

To get change you need to make changes. This holds true for our clients as much as it does for our businesses.

Read her post Different Actions Get Different Results for an example. Since a carnival is all about having fun, we'll close this one with Dave Gary's light-hearted way of presenting both sides of the organizing coin (at least through the eyes of one PO's spouse) in Top 5 Reasons You Should Marry A Professional Organizer. Thanks for stopping by, and a special thanks to everyone who contributed to this month's Professional Organizers Blog Carnival! Be sure to read the above posts, leave some comments, and get to know one your organizing colleagues. If you didn't participate, I do hope you'll join us next time!

Organizer? Coach? Or How about Organizer Coach™?

Janet — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:59:49 +0000

There are so many interesting options for professional organizers in terms of specialization, training, and certification, it can be challenging to figure out which ones may be beneficial to you, your clients, and your business. One of my goals with this blog is to provide you with information to help you make those decisions, and with that in mind, Sue West is visiting today to tell us about The Coach Approach for Organizers™. "I wonder if he'll/she'll really experience a difference. Will she keep up with the organizing systems we collaborated on?" How many times have you finished a client meeting and had a whisper of a thought like the one above? You know you've done the best you can with the skills you have. Is there more you could do? Or how often have you thought: "I'd like to stay in touch and support her, even if we don't organize together. But how can I support her in a way that would work for her?" Or the client you worked with a year ago on her home office. She told you she'd act as a reference; she was on top of the world. You did the best you could at the time, educating with new skills, a systems focus, collaborating on ways that would work for him/her and the situation. Recently she admitted things are still better than before you assisted. But she's feeling out of control again. What can you do? You believe you've already done your best. Is there a different approach? A deeper way for the client to experience and engage in organizing with you? Yes. I'm a Certified Professional Organizer®, in business for nearly 6 years, and have felt every one of these experiences, as some of you have. There's a new credential in our organizing world which may be just right for your business practice. You may recognize the name Denslow Brown, The Organizer Coach. Denslow won the 2009 NAPO Founders' Award for the body of her work. If you're in the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization (NSGCD), you'll recognize her name from her many classes about working with clients with ADD, and other classes on processing modalities. She's established The Institute for Applied Coaching™, and the first application of coaching skills is with organizers. She designed the program and co-teaches with another expert in the coaching field, Cameron Gott, ADD Coach, certified by the Coaches Training Institute. Together they present the Coach Approach for Organizers™ training classes and shepherd us through to certification if that's what we choose.

"An Organizer Coach is trained to invite clients to both identify what they want and to commit to shifting their perspective (the mindset that created their disorganization). Whatever the organizing specialty: memorabilia, relocations or corporate, an Organizer Coach is able to support transformation for their clients…. Coaching is a distinct profession with its own expertise; it is no longer a truthful designation for someone who provides an informed and supportive conversation." from The Coach Approach website, Denslow Brown

What's innovative to me is that she's taken coaching skills and applied them to the organizing world. You could take traditional coaching classes, but you'd have to figure out how it all applies, or not, to your organizing client needs and to your practice. The program has extensive training on coaching people who have brain-based challenges, ADD being the most common, although others were covered as well. This is all within the organizing client context. Many of us in this first certification class learned something about ourselves we didn't know before. For me, it was that I'm not only visual, but I'm darn good at auditory processing (opposite of my perception before the class), and I'm quite a verbal processor (had an inkling, but now I know why it matters as a coach). How could you be the best coach you want to be for your clients, without knowing yourself in the way you expect to coach? You'll get to reexamine your own needs and values and understand how these affect and inform your coaching. (Okay, yes, the last time I checked in my values was way too long ago!) I can't say enough about the program, but you may not know me, so check out the Coach Approach website testimonials and read for yourself. You'll notice that most of us are experienced organizers, already certified as a CPO® or a CPO-CD®. This program will add to your skill set, beautifully complementing what you know to be true already. If you're going to the NSGCD Conference in early October, stop by Denslow's Coach Approach table. The Coach Approach is a bronze sponsor, and we'll be there, proudly supporting the program. Author: Sue West, CPO®, Organizer Coach™, Space4U Organizing,llc www.OrganizeNH.com Blog: http://organizenh.com/wordpress/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/Space4U LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/suewestspace4u Program contact: Denslow Brown, MCC, CPO-CD®, CPO®, SCAC THE ORGANIZER & COACH The Coach Approach for Organizers™ The Institute for Applied Coaching 417-683-1064 www.organizercoach.com www.coachapproachfororganizers.com LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/denslow-brown/13/868/604 Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Coach-Approach-for-Organizers-TM/211887680516?ref=ts

Would You Like to Work with Hoarders?

Janet — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:18:05 +0000

There's lots of buzz right now about A&E's new documentary series about real people whose compulsive hoarding is leading to serious problems in their everyday lives. If you didn't catch the premiere on Monday night, be sure to visit the Hoarders website to see what you missed.

I found it heartbreaking to witness the challenges faced by the compulsive hoarders on the show, and by their families. At the same time, I admire them, not only for taking the huge step of making positive changes in their lives, but for exposing themselves to the world in order to educate others. I also have a great deal of admiration and respect for the professional organizers who work with these individuals. You may never encounter a situation like those shown on Hoarders, but if you offer residential organizing, there's a chance that you will. I predict that it's even more likely now, because the show will help reduce the stigma associated with chronic disorganization, empowering viewers facing similar issues to take action. You can prepare yourself by downloading a free copy of the Clutter Hoarding Scale developed by the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization (NSGCD). The Clutter Hoarding Scale is an assessment that may be used during your initial consultation to determine the degree of household clutter and hoarding, and the level of support needed. In many cases, the client will need to work with a professional organizer with specialized training in chronic disorganization. If you are interested in this specialty, you should become a member of NSGCD. Before joining, you must first be a member of NAPO or POC, or provide documentation showing that you've been in business as a professional organizer for at least one year. NSGCD offers weekly teleclasses to help their members work towards various levels of certification. In addition, NSGCD also holds an annual conference for organizers and other professionals who work with chronic disorganization clients. This year's conference will take place from October 1 to 3 in Los Angeles, California. Registration fees go up after August 31, so if you're thinking of attending, you should register as soon as possible. If you're not sure whether chronic disorganization is your thing, you may wish to explore the subject further before investing in membership or the conference. In this case, you'll be pleased to know that NSGCD also offers a number of inexpensive publications which you may find of value.

Becoming a Certified Professional Organizer

Janet — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:02:29 +0000

Anyone can call herself (or himself) a professional organizer, regardless of training or experience, which can make it difficult for consumers to know whether the consultant they contact has the skills to effectively perform the services they require. For this reason, the Board of Certification for Professional Organizers was formed, and the first CPO designations granted in 2007.

Since at that time I was already moving away from organizing to focus on virtual assistance, I have no firsthand knowledge of the certification program, so I've asked some of my clients who have earned CPO certification to share their experience. Reasons for pursuing certification were different for each organizer. Hellen Buttigieg of We Organize U said:

I had been waiting to certify as a PO for years and was thrilled when I heard it was finally an option. I believe it gives credibility to our industry to have a certification process. I also feel it gives me credibility as a professional organizer.

Shelly Anderson of Come To Order said:

I pursued certification because I was veering off a bit from Organizing towards Coaching and felt that I had skipped a step. Being a PO for 5 years and moving into coaching I felt that I should take a step back and get my CPO before moving any further forward.

Jane Veldhoven of Get Organized! Professional Services said:

My reasons were two-fold for pursuing the BCPO certification. The main reason was because I was expanding my business more into corporate organizing and training and potential clients often asked about my qualifications. The CPO® designation gave me another level of credibility and allowed these clients to feel more confident in my abilities. In addition, I wanted to differentiate myself from other organizers in my market.

Their experience of the certification process varied as well. Jane described it as follows:

It's a very simple process. You just register on the BCPO website and then they let you know when the next exam date is in your area. I kept track of the number of billable hours in my business, since this is one of the main criteria for eligibility, and I read a lot of the books on the recommended reading list. On the appointed day of the exam, you just show up at a computer testing center in your city, complete the exam on the computer, and they give you your results right away! The stress of writing an exam and the fact that I had prepared for several months and really wanted to pass was the most difficult part. I believe that waiting until I had been in business for five years made it much easier, as my experience working with clients really came in handy when answering many of the questions.

Hellen's experience was similar:

The process was virtually painless. I had a lot of the recommended books on my bookcase anyway, so it was a matter of reading them again and making notes to study from. I live and breathe the topic so I don't feel it was difficult but I definitely had to think carefully about the answers. If I found myself unsure about the answers to the questions on the exam, I simply reflected back to my experiences with clients and that helped me choose.

Before you run off thinking it's going to be a walk in the park, be sure to read Shelly's comments!

I will not kid you, it is a very difficult process. The BCPO provides an outline on requirements and a outline of material included on the test that you need to know/study. I also took the NAPO CPO teleclass; the class was given well but I questioned the material. I wanted the class to be about the material that we needed to know to take the test. In the class they make it very clear that they are not allowed to give direct information that is on the test - just a wide view of professional organizing. I said that I felt that I was in college learning ABC's. After the class I decided really quick that I needed to devise my own way to study to be sure of success on the test. I created an index card system - very detailed; and studied for several weeks from these cards. I passed - then I received an audit letter. I spent probably over 20 hours filling out their forms with my information to prove my hours, etc. You cannot just make copies of your calendar - you must fill in their forms. After at least two weeks of working on this I sent in literally a one-inch notebook with copies of all certifications from classes, conference, etc. Then I received a rejection letter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh, I literally thought that I was going to die right then. All the work - all the money - and rejected. I was rejected on the basis that some of my hours were staging hours - not passing skills organizing. I wrote a letter to my staging clients and asked them to support me by sending a letter to BCPO explaining my process in staging/organizing their homes. My staging is like organizing on steroids. Then I appealed their decision with even more work on a letter explaining why I was appealing. THEN, it was overturned and I was accepted!

Having overcome these challenges, Shelly now says:

I tout the fact that I am a CPO! I am very, very proud of this accomplishment.

Jane echoes these thoughts, saying:

The main impact for me has been my sense of accomplishment and how that translates into a real sense of confidence when I am speaking to prospects and potential clients about my business. I also believe that as a result of this I was able to work with some great clients which had a positive impact on my bottom line.

The next exams will take place this coming October. For more information about BCPO^® Certification, visit The Board of Certification for Professional Organizers, where you can listen to an audio recording, Everything You Want to Know About Certification...But Were Afraid to Ask! In closing, I'd like to share some advice from Jane Woolsey of An Organized Vision, who is Past President of Professional Organizers in Canada and a nominee for the 2008 Harold Taylor Award in who has been nominated again this year:

Attaining your CPO contributes to the overall credibility of the organizing profession. It is not an easy process. The requirements for certification are rigorous and involve a high level of work experience hours as well as textbook knowledge in the various fields of organizing. It is definitely something that every organizer should work towards achieving. Attaining my CPO designation has certainly allowed me to gain a higher level of respect from my clients and especially in the business world. The other credibility factor is that this is not just a one-time deal, there are ongoing education requirements in order to retain your CPO designation. This is a certification program that deserves respect! Good luck to all those organizers who choose to pursue their certification and congratulations to those who have achieved it!

An Interview with Professional Organizer Geralin Thomas

Janet — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:44:32 +0000

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. Geralin, how long have you been a professional organizer? I joined NAPO, North Carolina in August of 2003 and consider that my "official" start date. Before that, I was on the 'friends and family plan', meaning I helped friends and relatives who knew I loved organizing people's time, space and stuff. I unofficially started calling myself an organizer a year before that. How did you get started? In elementary school, when we started diagramming sentences using the Reed-Kellogg system, I was in organizing geek heaven. I knew then and there that if organizing words could bring me such joy, organizing tangible stuff would be nirvana. Once I had children of my own, the organizational skills had to grow exponentially. My two boys, born only 14 months apart, provided all sorts of organizational challenges - not just their stuff, but their time, their activities, and how everything fit into our family's lives and our space. As every parent knows, children bring a new world of social networking, and the moms and dads I met all had their organizing challenges, too. I had fun helping solve some of their organizing puzzles, to the point where I realized this was a business opportunity; parents asked for my advice and hands-on solutions and were willing to pay for it. What kinds of changes have you seen in the organizing industry since you started your business? Thanks to TV shows, magazines, books and on-line programs devoted to organizing, storage, and time management, the number of professional organizers keeps growing. Technology does save time but generally we're all busier than ever. Phones and computers make us accessible 24/7, which means we don't allow ourselves to have much free time. More people are working from home, and their home offices are usually much smaller than a commercial space. So, our lives, our stuff, our time, and our spaces need to be streamlined and efficient so that we can free ourselves for some relaxation. Most Americans need a vacation from information; everyone needs to unplug for a while and recharge. Another change in the organizing industry is a global approach. Now, it's easier to study how other cultures solve their space, time, and possessions issues. For example, a few years ago, I started reading about the (Japanese) Kaizen method of making continuous, small changes. The more I learn about how other cultures do things, the better I get at running my business and applying those fresh ideas to client challenges. Please tell us about the training you offer for new organizers. My Boost Your Biz Training is a high-octane question and answer session for new organizers who have been in the organizing business less than four years. It's is a one-on-one program where they ask me anything they want related to organizing. It's not scripted, so time isn't wasted with dreadful introductions and sales pitches. It's part hand-holding and part education. I'm not exploring the "why." I help new organizers cut to the chase; we explore the "what," "when," and "how" of offering professional organizing services. Despite all the emailing, texting and online gadgets and gizmos, it's more important than ever to feel connected with someone who can get to the point and be direct. That's what I love doing. Is your training accessible to professional organizers who aren't located near you in North Carolina? Yes. In fact, most of my professionals-in-training aren't nearby. Metropolitan Organizing's Boost Your Biz has clients in Europe, Canada and as far away as the Philippines. Some clients live in rural areas or remote locals where there aren't any other organizing professionals; they're isolated. In addition, both NAPO and NSGCD offer teleclasses taught by well-respected, credentialed, experienced professionals. Are there any resources you would recommend to new or experienced professional organizers? Yes, I would advise them to explore a lot of websites and blogs outside the field of organizing. It's beneficial to investigate business ideas and models from somewhat related areas, such as record management companies, interior designers, therapists, handyman services, personal chefs, fitness trainers, etc. For parents reading this, your children's teachers are probably among the best organized people you will ever meet - volunteer in the classroom and watch a master of time management, space management, and stuff management at work! When you're at a friend's house, see how they organize their kitchen drawers, or their child's artwork and school supplies. You may be able to transpose an idea you saw for a kitchen drawer to a brilliant idea for sorting something totally different, like jewelry or office supplies. You never know what will jump out at you and trigger an idea for another application. What do you know now that you wish you'd known back in 2002? I wish I had known how much having a support system helps. My advice is to get a daily dose of 'vitamins' like, A, B and C. Administrative Before hiring you I put off tasks that exceeded my administrative capabilities. It's a relief to hand over the tasks I dread doing to a trusted professional and focus on the parts of my work I enjoy most. I like it when I'm being productive and earning. Books For years I struggled doing my own books and making sense of the data I was tracking. I was miserable. This is not my strength. Hiring a bookkeeper was one of the smartest things I did. In a fraction of the time it took me, she dazzles me with colorful charts and graphs creating crystal-clear, useful information about my time and money. I look forward to her monthly reports. It energizes me to see this information. Colleagues Being an extrovert, I crave chit-chat. I enjoy hearing from other organizers and am inspired by what they are doing in their personal and professional lives. For years, every time I've reached out for advice, my colleagues have been there for me. It's the very best feeling to pick up the phone or receive an email with sincere, genuine advice from a colleague who has been there, done that and willing to share their story. I'm humbled by the generosity of colleagues near and far. Janet, I'd like to conclude by telling readers how much I enjoy working with you and Scott. The quality of the work you do is top-notch, and your support means a lot to me. I'm thankful for your brilliance; you make me look good! Geralin, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to share this valuable information with my blog readers, and for your unsolicited testimonial! Readers, if there's something else you'd like to know, feel free to post your question either in the Comment section below or using the Ask a Question form, and I'm sure Geralin will be happy to answer it!

An Interview with Feng Shui Consultant Patricia John

Janet — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:44:45 +0000

Today I have a special treat for you - an interview with Patricia John of Room 2 Room Organizing, who is a professional organizer and certified Feng Shui Consultant. Patricia has been one of my clients since 2006, and has stopped by to explain what Feng Shui is all about and to help you decide whether it would be useful to you in your organizing business.

What exactly is Feng Shui? Feng Shui is about bringing balance and harmony into your environment. There are many ways you can do this... an example is by applying Feng Shui cures. When you apply Feng Shui cures, among other things, you will help create an environment that feels and looks better. It will make you want to come home at night because of the feeling that you get when you walk through the door. What do you mean by "Feng Shui cures?" What are they and how do they work? Can you describe one? An example of some Feng Shui cures are:

Furniture placement to help the energy in a room flow easier
Mirrors, water, or fountains
Color - either by using paint or color in objects

When you use Feng Shui cures and one or all of the 5 elements together (water, wood, metal, fire, earth) you will create a balanced and harmonized room. Of course, you have to apply the cures and elements with "intention" for Feng Shui to work. Is Feng Shui just for homes? Feng Shui can be used in your home, garden, property, schools and your office. Why did you decide to study Feng Shui? I have been interested in Feng Shui for many years now and decided it was time for me to take a course on it to fully understand the power of it and how I could use it to help myself as well as possibly my clients. What did you have to do to become certified, and how long did it take? I took the Feng Shui Practitioner Program with Katherine & Russ Loader of Power of Place, located in Oshawa. My course was every Sunday for 8-10 classes and each class was 6-8 hours in length. After you completed your classes, did you have to write an exam? Yes, I had to write an exam... It was several hours and very intense! What impact has being a certified Feng Shui Consultant had on your business? To be honest, it really hasn't had an impact on my business... Feng Shui is still very new in the Durham area, and I think it may take a while for it to be accepted and understood here... but I can wait! I loved learning more about Feng Shui and I love teaching other people about it and how it can help in all different areas of their lives. I took the course for my own benefit as well as my clients. Are there any books or other resources you would recommend to professional organizers who would like to learn more about Feng Shui? My course was on Professor Lin Yun "Black Sect" Feng Shui and there are many books out there on this type of Feng Shui, but the one I think would be best for Professional Organizers is Clear your Clutter with Feng Shui by Karen Kingston, because it deals with clutter and Feng Shui. Do you have any advice for your organizing colleagues? Decide what type of Feng Shui you want to learn about and then read as many books as you can about it first. The three different types of Feng Shui Schools are "Low Pan " - Compass, "Chi School" - Energy/Chi and "Black Sect School" which is what I took. Once you've read a few books and understand the basic principles, then you should consider taking a small course. After that, if your interest is still there, then you could take a course like the one I took. To find a program in your area, or to learn more about the three types of schools, just go onto the internet and type in Feng Shui. Trish, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to share this valuable information with my blog readers! If there's something else you'd like to know, feel free to post your question either in the Comment section below or using the Contact form, and I'm sure Trish will be happy to answer it!