Looking for a new niche for your organizing business – how about Student Organizing?
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This post features Amanda Lecaudé, who was one of the speakers at this year’s NAPO Conference. I asked Amanda, who is a Productivity & Organizing Blog Carnival Star Blogger, to share the highlights of her presentation, Student Organizing – The What, Why, and Is It for You? If you’re thinking about adding something new to your service offerings, you’ll want to learn what she had to say.
In April this year I was able to virtually attend and present at the NAPO2021 conference (National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals). My session was titled ‘Student Organising – the what, why and is it for you?’
Let me firstly set the record straight on the word ‘organising’ as I am from Australia we spell it with an ‘s’ rather than a ‘z’! Whatever – it is the same thing, right?
I welcomed the opportunity to present to my fellow peers, despite the fact it was done virtually, and I was unable to achieve my long term goal of attending in person due to the global pandemic. I must say it was much harder having to prerecord the session and speak only to yourself and the technician than attending and speaking live to an audience.
The key objectives of this presentation were about sharing my knowledge on what student organising was all about as well as the key elements to see if this might be an area of interest for others to develop in their businesses. It was important to me to share my story in moving from a general organising professional when I started into establishing myself in this niche space. The importance of sharing this was to demonstrate to others that they too could do the same or if it wasn’t student organising then maybe they could find another niche that sparks enjoyment for them to go to work everyday!
As an Academic Life Coach or Executive Function Coach, it is about making a difference to the lives of students not just at school but in life in general. Just like general organising, every student and their experiences are different so no two sessions are ever the same. It took me a few years, but I can now say that I am fulfilling my passion every day and in presenting to NAPO I was hoping to instil in others that they too can find something whether it be student organising or something else!
In this presentation I asked attendees lots of questions to ask themselves to determine if this was a space they might want to consider adding to their business or reshaping it all together. I also shared my top 10 tips on establishing a student organising business or another niche.
Here are 3 of these tips:
- Do you due-diligence/homework – spend time researching and learning as much as you can to see if the niche is for you or not – competition, market size, profitability, test your ideas/market etc.
- Undertake training and professional development – there are many providers out there who provide both free and paid courses. This is a great way to get more of a sense of the industry and if it is for you or not.
- Start small and grow over time – you don’t need to try and do it all right away; pick an area or approach and start from there; and the outlay is minimal to start working in this space.
If you have any interest to learn more then you can check this session out at NAPO University.
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I have yet to listen to Amanda’s presentation, but am looking forward to it. I agree that education is important when choosing a niche.
I especially like Amanda’s comment about courses being a way to not just learn HOW to do something, but WHETHER you even want to. I remember going to a session at a POC Conference about working with seniors, thinking it might be something I could add to my services. By the end of the session, I realized it wasn’t a good fit for me. Saved me a lot of time, money, and stress!
I wasn’t able to attend Amanda’s session but it sounds terrific. Glad I have access to it til the end of the year!
What a great benefit!
I can’t think of anything more important than working with a young mind and encouraging helpful lifelong skills and habits. This is a wide open field. There are many families that would welcome the help as life for kids becomes more stressful.
One of my favorite consultations was working with an eight-year-old, teaching her how to fold and organize her closet, drawers, books. When I returned six months, a year later, everything was just as we left it.
How rewarding! I never worked with children, but I have experienced the feeling of returning to a client site months after working with them and seeing lasting results.
What comes across so clearly is Amanda’s obvious passion for the work she’s doing- helping students tap into their potential in and out of school. I love that! This is such a gift to have found your niche and be able to do great work in the world.
Absolutely! We are often afraid to “niche down” thinking it will limit our options, but what it really does is help us attract the right clients and spend more time doing things we’re passionate about.
I worked with some kids over the years, primarily in high school and starting college. I found that it was great to work with these young adults, and it seemed to help them see their best possible way of organizing their tasks. Time management in college is key. Many times, moms and dads help too much in high school, which leaves the students nervous and overwhelmed with all the tasks that need completing. It is a very fulfilling career option if you love kids and can break down processes easier for them to understand. Complexity is hard for children, so making it easy was helpful. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
What a great point, Sabrina! How often do well-meaning parents fail to provide their children with necessary life skills by providing too much support? I’m pretty sure mine did…
I work with college students sometimes, but have only worked with middle and high schoolers on a few occasions. I have so much respect for my colleagues who work in this area, and look forward to listening to Amanda’s presentation, as I missed it due to a conflicting session during NAPO2021.