If you’re thinking about establishing an organizing business, you’ll find lots of helpful information right here on Your Organizing Business and elsewhere on the Internet, but sometimes it’s really helpful to have a comprehensive guide to keep on hand as a reference manual, both as you get started and down the road.

As a professional organizer, you can get paid to do hands-on organizing, to give people organizing ideas, or both. The FabJob Guide to Become a Professional Organizer holds nearly 300 pages of valuable information on this rapidly growing field, including:

• Background about the organizing industry to help you decide if this is the right career for you
• A room-by-room guide to home organizing and reducing clutter, with proven systems for deciding if something is treasure, toy, tool or trash
• Tips for organizing businesses, including workflow management, filing systems, and space planning
• Personal organization and time management strategies
• Advice to help you start a professional organizing business, set your prices, and attract customers
• Marketing techniques, from public speaking to article writing

You’ll also read profiles of a number of industry experts, including Laurene Livesey Park, former President of Professional Organizers in Canada (POC), and Barry Izsak, former President of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO).

Originally developed as an e-book, the FabJob Guide to Become a Professional Organizer is now available in a printed version for just a few dollars more. The print book includes a bonus CD-ROM with forms and checklists you can use in your organizing business.

Other FabJob guides that may be of interest include:

• Become a Home Stager
• Become an Interior Redesigner
• Become a Life Coach
• Become a Business Consultant

As an affiliate for FabJob.com, I will receive a small commission on any purchases originating from this post. Although I have not read all of the guides mentioned above, I have read some of their other publications and am confident you will find them to be helpful resources.

Please visit Your Organizing Business to read and comment on Becoming a Professional Organizer.

One of the first books I read when I became serious about organizing was Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern. Despite the explosive growth in the industry, to this day, I can’t think of a professional organizer who is more well known.

Just imagine what it would do for your skill level, your credibility, and your self-confidence to be trained by the Julie Morgenstern Organizing Institute! Julie has developed cutting-edge training courses to teach her methods to both new and experienced organizers, including the following two programs scheduled for the fall.

Organizing Clients from the Inside Out – Friday, October 21 and Saturday, October 22, 2011

To earn your clients’ loyalty, you need to understand how they think and function. Knowing how to make things look good just isn’t enough! Based on the Organizing from the Inside Out book, this workshop will train you to organize people rather than things, and to design systems that are customized to your client’s unique habits, style and goals. After two days, you’ll know how to provide exceptional client service that will increase your referrals and help you stand out from your competition.

Conducting a Needs Assessment – Sunday, October 23, 2011

This workshop was designed to develop your analytic, diagnostic and closing skills, which are completely different than those required for hands-on organizing. It provides focused study and practice of each stage of a two-hour, billable needs assessment, from the first 5 minutes through the presentation and close. You’ll learn to walk into any new organizing project and map out a winning plan of action based on the client’s unique needs.

I conducted a lot of free 30-minute consultations before I realized it wasn’t giving me a good return on investment, and switched to a longer, billable assessment. I’d have saved myself a lot of time and energy if I’d taken this one-day workshop, and it would have paid for itself very quickly!

These workshops will be held in Midtown New York, and you can save $200 if you sign up for both. This is an amazing deal, especially if you’re traveling in from out of town for the weekend. Sign up before September 15 and get a 10% early bird discount!

Click here for further details and registration information.

Will you do me a favor? When you register, please fill out the form as follows to let Julie know you learned about the workshops from me. (Disclosure: I will receive a referral fee if you do.)

Please share: What’s the most valuable thing you’ve learned from Julie Morgenstern?

Please visit Your Organizing Business to read and comment on Do You Want to Organize Like Julie Morgenstern?.

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.

© visi.stock - Fotolia.com

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

Please visit Your Organizing Business to read and comment on Interview with a Certified Family Manager Coach™.

Although December is the busiest month in the retail industry, as a professional organizer, you may find that business is slow at this time of year, as clients are busy with holiday shopping, parties, and preparations. Why not take advantage of this downtime to review your activities and achievements over the past year?

If you have a formal business plan, hopefully you have been following it throughout the year, but if it’s just been sitting in a file or on a shelf somewhere, take it out and dust it off. Even if you started the year with just a few goals or ideas scribbled on a piece of paper, dig them out, or at least try to remember what they were. Because each business and each individual is unique, there is no single standard of measurement of success, and the only way to assess your accomplishments during the year is to look at where you are now in comparison with where you had aspired to be at this time.

Even if you didn’t make any specific goals for the year, you can ask yourself the following questions.

What have I achieved this year?

Did you reach or surpass your goals? Did you accomplish something you didn’t expect?

What worked well?

Who were your most profitable clients? How did they find you – or how did you find them? This information will help you determine where to focus your marketing efforts.

What didn’t work? What can be improved?

If you fell short of your goals in certain areas, see if you can determine why. Was the goal unrealistic? Were there unforeseen circumstances? What would have had to be different for things to have gone the way you planned?

What do I want to achieve by the end of next year?

What is important to you? More clients? More speaking opportunities? More income? More free time?

If you’re a long range thinker, this exercise may be easy, but even if you’re not, I strongly encourage you to take a pen and paper and write down your thoughts. According to the Law of Attraction, the simple act of writing down your goals actually sets things in motion. I’ve actually experienced this myself!

One time when I was doing this exercise, I discovered that many of the things I’d been looking forward to at the beginning of the year had come about, even though I didn’t consciously try to make them happen. How much more could you accomplish if you really set your mind to it?

What do I need to help me reach my goals for next year?

Do you have the skills and resources you need? Should you take any courses or read particular books? Would it help you to work with a business coach?

It’s important that you set aside time in your schedule for activities that will bring you closer to reaching your goals. Would partnering with a virtual assistant free up time for you to do so?

By taking time to do this review before the end of the year, you will arm yourself with a plan and the motivation to carry it through, and increase your potential for success in the new year.

Please visit Your Organizing Business to read and comment on The Year-End Wrap-Up.

Time sure is funny sometimes. It seems like POC just announced their 10th Annual Conference was being held in Montreal from November 5 to 7, 2010, but in reality, it was several months ago, and the Conference is now only six weeks away!

This year’s theme is Communication, and there will be two inspiring keynote speakers as well as a wide selection of breakout sessions for professional organizers at all levels.

At 3:30 PM on Friday, November 5, I’ll be conducting a workshop on Social Media Strategies for Professional Organizers, which I’m very excited about. It’s a huge topic to cover in only 75 minutes, so I’ve prepared some great worksheets you’ll be able to take away and work on after the Conference.

If you go to Montreal early, you can also take the Professional Organizers.com Comprehensive Training Program, attend some POC Trained Professional Organizer Credit Courses, and write your POC Trained Professional Organizer or NSGCD Exams – not to mention a chance to explore one of Canada’s most exciting cities!

I’m really looking forward to the Gala Dinner on Saturday night for networking, a great meal, comedian Franco Taddeo, and finding out who will receive this year’s Harold Taylor Award.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out all the details on the POC website, where you can also download a complete Conference Program. Members of NAPO and NSGCD get to pay the same reduced rate as POC members, and early bird registration rates are in effect until October 3. That’s just around the corner, so don’t wait too long!

I can’t wait to meet some of my readers for the first time, and to reconnect with people I haven’t seen since I last attended a POC Conference in 2006. If you’re going, please leave me a comment below or contact me personally so we don’t miss each other in the crowd!

Please visit Your Organizing Business to read and comment on Meet Me in Montreal.

I’ve often said that if one wanted to, it would be possible to attend a seminar, workshop, webinar or teleclass on a topic of interest every single week, if not every day! Most of us don’t have quite that much time (or training budget) available, but it is important to keep on learning. Here are a few events taking place over the next couple of months that you just may want to consider.

The Organized Child
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 – 10 a.m. (Eastern)
Teleclass

7 Secrets to a Successful Workshop
Wednesday, September 1, 2010 – 10 a.m. (Eastern)
Teleclass

Comprehensive Training Program for Professional Organizers
September 13 – 15, 2010
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

2010 Australasian Association of Professional Organisers (AAPO) Conference
September 13 – 14, 2010
Christchurch, New Zealand

Innovative Closet Organizing
Wednesday, September 15, 2010 – 10 a.m. (Eastern)
Teleclass

Organizer’s Boot Camp
September 21 & 23, 2010 – 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Cambridge, Ontario, Canada

Comprehensive Training Program for Professional Organizers
September 22 – 24, 2010
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

NSGCD Fall 2010 Conference
September 23 – 25, 2010
Austin, Texas

Professional Organizer Training Institute™ program
September 27 – 29, 2010
Lake Oswego, Oregon

Orvention 2010
Friday, October 1, 2010
Gelderland, The Netherlands

Mid Atlantic Regional Conference for Professional Organizers (MARCPO)
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Bethesda, Maryland

Organize In Your Own Learning Style
Wednesday, October 4, 2010 – 10 a.m. (Eastern)
Teleclass

Addressing Hoarding Through Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
Thursday, October 7, 2010 – 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Brantford, Ontario, Canada

Comprehensive Training Program for Professional Organizers
October 11 – 13, 2010
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

This is by no means a complete list, so if you know of other classes or conferences that are taking place soon, please leave a comment below.

I’m thinking about adding an event calendar page on this site – is this something you’d like to see here?

Please visit Your Organizing Business to read and comment on Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities.

I love it that I still have connections within Professional Organizers of Canada! Following my successful presentation last month for the Southwestern Ontario Chapter, I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be speaking at two Chapter meetings in May. Here are the details of these and other upcoming professional organizer events in Ontario.

On Monday, May 10, I’ll be speaking about Facebook for Professional Organizers for the Halton-Peel Chapter, at Tansley Woods, 1996 Itabashi Way, Burlington. Doors open at 6:45, and the meeting runs to about 9:00. All members and guests are requested to RSVP to halton-peel@organizersincanada.com.

On Wednesday, May 26, I’ll be speaking about Organizing for Personality Types for the North-GTA Chapter, at Williams Coffee Pub, 192 McEwan Drive East, Bolton. Doors open at 6:30, and the meeting runs to about 9:00. All members and guests are requested to RSVP to north-gta@organizersincanada.com.

Both of the above meetings are free for POC members and $15 for guests. I’m looking forward to talking to some of my former colleagues, as well as meeting many of my online contacts face-to-face for the first time.

Of course, it’s not all about me, and there are some other educational activities taking place in the area that you won’t want to miss!

The POC Toronto Chapter is holding a Professional Development Day on Tuesday, May 11, featuring three dynamic speakers, who will address Business Planning, Communication, and Media Relations. It sounds like a fantastic event and I would love to go myself, but my calendar for May is pretty full, since I’ve signed up for the Social Media Success Summit.

Jane Woolsey of ProfessionalOrganizers.com told me that she is planning to attend, so it would be a great chance to ask her any questions you might have about getting started as a professional organizer. (Be sure to sign up for her Solutions newsletter, if you’re not already a subscriber, because in her May issue she’s going to be announcing a Special Summer Price on the next Comprehensive Training Program for Professional Organizers in Toronto!)

Wherever you are, there are countless educational events taking place not just in May, but every month. Never say you are too busy or can’t afford it! Instead, consider the value of lifelong learning, both for your business, and for yourself.

If you want to earn more – learn more. If you want to get more out of the world you must put more into the world. For, after all, men will get no more out of life than they put into it.

William J.H. Boetcker

Please visit Your Organizing Business to read and comment on Learning Opportunities for Professional Organizers in Southern Ontario.

There have been a number of exciting changes since last year when I blogged about The Comprehensive Training Program for Professional Organizers!  I’ve known about the changes for several weeks, but was waiting for a few details before I could share them with you.

For starters, Jane Woolsey is the new President of ProfessionalOrganizers.com. I know Jane quite well, having had the pleasure of working with her on the National Board of Directors for Professional Organizers in Canada. She is an experienced corporate trainer as well as a Certified Professional Organizer who has been running her organizing business since 2002, so this new role is right up her alley.

One of the first things Jane did was to schedule live training programs this spring in Montreal, Toronto, Halifax, Vancouver, and Winnipeg. Every one of the facilitators served on the POC Board with us, so I can tell you right now that they all know their stuff and that you’ll be in good hands when you go through the training. Be sure to visit the website for dates and additional details about The Comprehensive Training Program for Professional Organizers.

If you think that The Comprehensive Training Program for Professional Organizers is just what you need to kickstart your organizing business but you can’t get to any of the scheduled sessions, you’ll be happy to know that it’s also available as a series of nine one-hour webinars you can access for 60 days from the comfort of your own home.

The live sessions and the webinars each include the following three manuals:

• Create your Business as a Professional Organizer
• Marketing Basics for your Organizing Business
• Client Relationship Management and The Practical Approach Manual

If you can’t afford the three-day program or the webinar series, don’t despair! Each of the manuals may be purchased separately as a Self-Study Guide, or you can save money by purchasing them all at once.

Are you an experienced organizer? That’s okay – there are Continuing Education Webinars just for you! With topics ranging from basics such as conducting an initial assessment and setting rates, to specialized areas like working with seniors and organizing a gluten-free kitchen – with other webinars on home and office organization as well – there is literally something for everyone.

I know that’s a lot of news to absorb at once, but there’s more – I’m going to be part of the ProfessionalOrganizers.com team as well! I’ll be sharing information about new webinars, upcoming training programs, and other news on Twitter, so be sure to follow me, if you’re not already.

Please visit Your Organizing Business to read and comment on What’s New at ProfessionalOrganizers.com.

Over the last couple of months, we’ve heard about professional organizer conferences in Africa, Australia, Los Angeles and Washington DC, and today we wrap up this year’s conference tour with the Professional Organizers in Canada Conference held in Calgary last month. It’s only fitting that our guest blogger is Jacki Hollywood Brown, whom I first met at a POC Conference a few years ago.

For me, the annual POC Conference is three things: a place to network with colleagues, a place to learn new things and a vacation.

I headed out to Calgary two days early. The hotel was fabulous with a gym, pool and water slide! Of course I took advantage of that as soon as I checked in. After travelling all day it was great to relax. Also, I don’t often have the opportunity to take a vacation away from my family so yes, I DID take advantage of having time to myself.

The day before conference I participated in POC’s Trained Professional Organizer classes. All year long these classes are offered by POC via teleconference but it was nice to actually see the facilitator in person.

The first official day of conference, the National Board was presented with white cowboy hats and they became honorary Calgarians. The conference committee pulled out all the stops making us feel welcome as they had the Calgary Stampede mascot running around “branding” people with a red inked stamp!

The POC Chapter Executives seemed very enthused about this year’s Leadership Forum. I didn’t attend that session as I was a “mentor” in the First Timer’s Forum. Seasoned conference attendees get introduced to POC’s newest members and spend time answering their questions about the industry, the Association and the conference. I met some great people!

The Vendor Expo took place all afternoon and there were some good vendors. Of course Taylor in Time products were there and I ended up buying “The Whole Enchilada” — all of the Taylor in Time products on a jump drive! That certainly made it easy to pack in my suitcase for the trip home. And as I said to Mr. Taylor, having that much information to go through will keep me out of trouble until next year!

During the weekend I attended some great sessions. In the session on Canada’s Privacy Legislation, I realized that I must update my privacy statement, delete a bunch of old client files on my computer, and shred a bunch of documents! The “Ask a Senior Organizer” Panel, chaired by Michelle Nichols. The senior organizers were Kristie Demke and Jane Woolsey. It was interesting hearing their perspectives on corporate organizing. They also described the training they felt was the most valuable for them and the marketing techniques which they felt worked best for their businesses. One of the sessions that I found interesting was a presentation by a CLIENT of an organizer. She shared the perspective of how clients felt when they have an organizer going through their stuff.

While both of the keynote speakers were super, the one that stood out for me was Chris Flett who spoke about “What men don’t tell women about business”. He spoke about how women sabotage themselves in business and how they can re-work their presentation style to better communicate with men.

What I loved most about conference was seeing people I hadn’t seen in a year and learning about their businesses and what they were working on. It always reminds me that there is no ONE business model but as many different types as there are organizers. The learning portion of conference is great and I always come away with my brain full of new ideas but networking with my colleagues always fills my heart with joy and my soul with inspiration.

The secret great part about conference?

I got to go to Spruce Meadows, a world class show jumping facility. It has been on my list of places to visit since I was twelve. I took some pictures of the organizational tools they use to keep their operations running smoothly and hopefully I can use those ideas for my own equestrian clients!

Jacki Hollywood Brown, the founder of J-organize, specializes in home organizing, office organizing and equestrian organizing.

Please visit Your Organizing Business to read and comment on 9th Annual POC Conference in Calgary.

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.

Please visit Your Organizing Business to read and comment on Book Review: Get Rich Organizing.