Welcome to the August issue of the Professional Organizers Blog Carnival! I sincerely appreciate all the submissions, but am just catching up on my work after a mini-vacation, so I hope you’ll forgive me for not inserting my usual commentary, and simply publishing a list of the back-to-school organizing posts submitted by my readers. Please enjoy, comment, and share!

This is a busy time for families with school-aged children, so it’s not surprising that many bloggers focused on this audience. Don’t make the mistake of thinking these posts are much the same, as you’ll find tips here on organizing school lunches, school supplies, daily routines, and a lot more. You’re sure to find some advice here to benefit your clients, or even your own family!

Audrey Cupo – Start The New School Year Being Organized

Geralin Thomas – Getting Organized for School Lunches

Ellen Delap – Back to School Preparation Checklist: Being organized and having a list makes all the difference for a successful school year.

Heather Burke – Getting Organized for the New School Year

Tina Blazer – Organizing Ideas for Back to School

Clare Kumar – Be Prepared for Back to Class: Although many of us are reluctant to think about the coming school year while we’re still reveling in summer, planning now will pay off in a smoother transition for you and the kids.  I’ve included 5 quick tips to get you started.

Jane Veldhoven – Yikes – Back to School Already?

Jacquie Ross – Top 12 Back to School Organizing Tips – Shopping for School Supplies: Organizing tips for shopping for back to school supplies.

Barbara Tako – Three frugal simple ways to get organized for back to school: Frugality and simplicity can work together here.

Janet Baker – Organization Is The Key When Going Back To School

Kimberly Eagles – Staying Sane During the School Year

Back-to-school isn’t just about young children, and a couple of our posts are geared towards high school and college students:

Jacki Hollywood Brown – Summer Job Organizing: It’s important to prepare for the school year but it’s also essential to record necessary information to help you in your job search for next summer. Here are some tips to help you keep your employment information organized!

Anne Blumer – My son leaves for college in one month…so, what does that have to do with organizing?

As always, I’d like to thank all the bloggers who have participated in this month’s Professional Organizers Blog Carnival. This is a monthly event, so if you didn’t submit a post, feel free to join us next time, when our topic will be Technology. It’s an important part of our lives now, so we can all use tips to keep it organized, or to use it to keep us organized! The deadline for submissions is noon EDT on Thursday, September 9.

The October Blog Carnival will focus on Bathroom Organizing.

In the meantime, be sure to check out this month’s posts, leave some comments, and get to know one another!

Please visit Your Organizing Business to read and comment on Professional Organizers Blog Carnival for August 2010: Getting Organized for Back to School.

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!

Please visit Your Organizing Business to read and comment on An Interview with Professional Organizer Geralin Thomas.

With summer fast approaching, this can be an ideal time of year for marketing to teachers and others who work in the school system. Between school years is the perfect time for them to get organized, either at home or in the classroom.

Teachers, especially at the elementary school level, tend to accumulate a lot of craft supplies, books, lesson ideas, and other items they might find useful in the future, especially with reduced budgets. Of course, none of these items are of any value if they can’t put their hands on them when they need them, so they need your guidance to help them identify what they really need to keep, as well as your expertise to organize things efficiently.

Ideally, you’ll be working with the teacher in his or her classroom, but many bring their materials home with them over the summer. Since they are usually quickly tossed into bags and boxes, just sorting things out can be a huge job. I once worked with a teacher whose home office was filled with bags and boxes of lesson plans, pamphlets from school trips, and other materials she’d brought home from school over the course of the year. It took a couple of days of sorting and purging before I even realized there was a desk under there!

Organizing classroom materials at the teacher’s house presents another challenge, in that you can’t place things in their permanent homes. Instead, you have to treat it like a moving job, making sure that all boxes are clearly labelled as to their contents and where they should be placed once they’re returned to the school.

Check out Organizing Teacher, a blog by teacher Valerie McInall, for some insight into organizing teachers.

Since teachers have most of the summer off, it’s also a great time for them to focus on getting organized personally!

To tap into this market, be sure to start promoting your services well before the end of the school year. Start by contacting anyone you know who works at a school or school board. Consider offering to go in to do a Lunch & Learn about getting organized, and do a draw for a tips booklet or a gift certificate to generate interest. You should definitely hand out flyers, possibly including a special offer. Even if you’re not comfortable public speaking, or if you’re unable to schedule a speaking session, ask if you can leave some flyers at the school to be distributed to the staff or posted in the lunch room. I’ve attached a flyer I used one year to give you some ideas. If you don’t have the time or creative abilities to design your own flyer, please feel free to contact me; I’d love to be of assistance.

If you’ve got any great tips for working with or marketing to teachers, please share them in the Comments section below.

Please visit Your Organizing Business to read and comment on Organizing Teachers.