Thinking Outside the Boxes

Janet — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:58:07 +0000

As I've mentioned previously, there are many benefits to having multiple sources of income. Creating information products and joining one or more affiliate programs are two ways that many successful organizers supplement what they earn in their billable hours. But have you considered tapping into your knowledge from outside the realm of organizing? Stacey and Jane have!

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!

Can I Run My Organizing Business Part Time?

Janet — Mon, 04 May 2009 13:07:01 +0000

You have a passion and a flare for organizing, and you'd like to start your own business. How exciting! However, you're not sure that a full-time business is for you. Maybe you want to test the waters and make sure your business is going to take off before you leave the security of your full-time job, or need to supplement your regular income. Maybe you have young children and want to spend as much time with them as you can. Or maybe you have health issues that prevent you from working full time. Whatever reason you may have for considering a part-time organizing business, there are several factors you should look at before making this important decision.

Start by defining what "part time" means to you. How many hours per week do you want to work in your business? Keep in mind that there's more to being a professional organizer than working with clients. You'll need time for marketing your business, communicating with colleagues and potential clients, attending networking events, and general administrative tasks. When can you be available to work with clients, or speak with potential clients? If you have a regular day job, you will have difficulty tapping into the corporate market, as they'll generally want you to be available during standard business hours. However, being available on evenings and weekends could be a real plus for residential clients, as they won't have to take time off from their jobs to stay home for their organizing sessions. Are you flexible, or do you need to plan around family responsibilities or another job? If you can only devote two specific days per week to your business, will you be able to deal with emails and telephone inquiries that come in on off days? If not, you'll need to make it clear in your voicemail greeting and automated email reply when you will be responding, but even so, there's a risk that your prospective clients may find another organizer in the meantime. You also risk missing out on opportunities if a client's schedule doesn't coincide with your own. If you need help exploring your options, Maria Gracia's Ultimate Guide for Professional Organizers is a great resource that covers this and many other aspects of starting and growing your business. Many professional organizers have achieved success by starting out on a part-time basis. I was in an ideal situation, where I had outside employment with hours that were completely flexible, so I was able to change my shift whenever an opportunity conflicted with my schedule. In fact, it was when my job situation changed that I knew it was time for me to take my business full time! I've known others who started their business on a small scale while their children were young, and were then ready to go full time once the youngest started school. If you're an established organizer, my readers would love to know: Do you operate your business part-time, or did you start off that way? What challenges did you encounter? How did you overcome them?

Organized Assistant » part-time

Thinking Outside the Boxes

Can I Run My Organizing Business Part Time?