What I Wish I’d Known Before Becoming a Professional Organizer
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In Blogging Organizers, we usually talk about tools and strategies to help you get better results from your blog, but for a change of pace, I asked members the following question:
What do you wish you’d known before you became a professional organizer?
The answers I received covered everything from client interactions to setting a schedule to frustrations. Read about the experiences of six experienced organizers, and you’ll know more about what to expect in your new organizing business.
Julie Stobbe, Mind over Clutter
When I was considering becoming a Professional Organizer, I thought I would have to work evenings and weekends. I thought most of my clients would be working during the day. I wish I had known that you set your hours of operation to suit your own schedule. Clients will take vacation time and rearrange their schedules to work with me during the day. I work limited evenings and weekends. I think I would have started my business sooner knowing that it was possible to set a schedule where I could balance my work with my children’s schedules.
I would tell anyone thinking of becoming a Professional Organizer: you have complete control over your time. You can have a different schedule each day of week or month. Organize your time wisely.
Florena Davies, Organize by Flo
One of the key lessons I’ve learned is the tremendous value of networking. Investing time in networking has proven to be incredibly worthwhile for me as I have learned so much through the various people I have met and it has expanded my client base and job opportunities significantly.
Lastly, I wish I had realized earlier the importance of not doing everything yourself. Outsourcing tasks like building your website and SEO can greatly improve your site’s performance and impact.
Seana Turner, The Seana Method
My top frustration has always been technology, so knowing that was going to be a “thing” in advance. But that might have just been my age and when I got started.
Also, what a delight it is to meet and learn from so many different clients.
Finally, this job is less about stuff and more about people.
Sabrina Quairoli, Sabrina’s Admin Services
I wish I knew more about marketing. Creating a well thought out marketing plan (who to reach out to inform about my business, will I do free work with friends for testimonials, who do I want to work with and is there a market for that, what client needs my help, what will I do to get exposure for my business, etc.). It will help the start of the business and inspire me when I need to pivot to include other types of clientele if my initial client prospects do not work out.
Karen Caccavo, Personal Money Manager
I have met such a wide variety of people and families. Each look at the world differently. While my focus is daily money management, this is a people business and I’ve had the honor of becoming “second daughter” to so many over the last 17 years. I become an important part of their lives which I enjoy as much as the puzzle solving this work requires!
Claudia Winkler, WOW! Organized! LLC
The “Therapist” component…whether it’s just listening to whatever’s going on with them or being a mediator between different parties for a job It’s not a “one size fits all” “here’s how I’m gonna do this”. Each job is personalized for each unique client.
How much actual non-organizing there is and how much stuff like social media, SEO, blogging, blogging, gaining followers and that kind of stuff there is to do too.
Your Turn!
If you’re a new organizer, or thinking of becoming one, which of these answers surprised you the most?
If you’re already an organizer, please share your answer to the question in the Comments.
Photo by Pressmaster / Depositphotos
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Fun to see everyone’s comments. I agree with all of their thoughts! I didn’t know my comments were going to end up in a blog post… I might have taken a bit more time to make them nice. The sentiments are genuine, though. 🙂
Sorry about that, Seana! I’m pretty sure I mentioned it when I posted the question, but it was quite a while ago. I was waiting to gather more answers, and then it slipped off my radar until now. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts!
Great advice! Thanks for including me here. I also shared it with my start-up businesses Board on Pinterest and shared it and tagged everyone here on LinkedIn.
Thank you for answering the question and for sharing this post with your network. I appreciate you!
I love this! Since I missed it, what I wish I had known is that ir is not about the STUFF. It is about the ATTACHMENTS to the stuff. I’m sure there is more, but ….
That’s a good one, Pam!
What strikes me most is the variety of “wish I’d known before” responses you included. It speaks to how each person starts their business organizing with different skills and challenges. Just as no two clients are the same or have the same challenges, this is also the case for organizers.
The other aspect of starting a business is admitting that you won’t know everything. There will be a learning curve. As you and your business grow, you will encounter new challenges. As long as you continue to learn, collect resources, and are open to change, you and your business will thrive.
I was thinking something similar as I read the answers I received. It’s a bit like the question I ask in Organizer Interviews: “What’s the most surprising thing you’ve discovered about running an organizing business?” I don’t think one person has ever answered, “Nothing! It was exactly what I expected.”
What an interesting read. I know when I first started my business I worried about how I would find clients and if I would make enough money. What I didn’t realize was how much I would love the profession. I still enjoy working with my clients and improving their lives.
That’s wonderful, that you still love it after nearly 20 years! I still love my work, but it’s evolved a lot over that time.
Thank you for sharing your answer to the question!
Oh my gosh, so much of this resonates with me, either because I didn’t know it when I started or because I *did* and it made all the difference. Having left television, I wanted a career path that didn’t require me to be up early and dragging all day. As my fellow “Julie” notes, we do, indeed, get to set our own hours!
As Florena and Sabrina (hey, they rhyme) note, networking and marketing are key, and while I was happy to do the former right from the beginning, the pandemic got me out of the habit of it, and while I knew I’d have to do marketing (and how), all the educational and professional experience I had in 2002 isn’t particularly helpful in 2025. (I mean, I have a Master’s degree in television production and management, but nothing I learned in grad school is useful for making TikToks!)
And Karen and Claudia’s points about becoming like a member of the family (and like a therapist, but clearly NOT one) are so apt.
But the lessons I wish I’d had at the beginning? You can’t care more than your clients do: about systems, about maintenance, about consequences. If a client in real organizational wants to cancel appointments repeatedly because they’d rather “play,” you can only respond with consequences that support your business (cancelation fees, lack of favored-nation access in your schedule, etc.). No matter how much we care and extend ourselves, we can’t put more of ourselves into the work than the clients are willing to do. In the end, it’s their lives, their homes, their offices, and we can only support them the best way they allow us to.
Twenty-four years in, I continue to learn every day about the management of the business side and the art and science of helping the clients, and it’s eye-opening (and comforting) to see exactly how everyone else perceives it. Thanks for gathering these comments, Janet, and thanks to all of you who shared your experiences!
Julie, thank you so much for your thoughtful comment. When I read “You can’t care more than your clients do” I had a flashback of a client who wanted me to just toss stuff in the garbage without going through it or separating recyclables. That bothered me both because I’m big on recycling but also because I was less sure than he was that there was nothing important in there.
I couldn’t agree more with everything shared here. Each paragraph resonates so deeply — it’s clear these insights come from experience we all share. Thank you to everyone for putting into words what so many of us feel but don’t always express.
Thank you for popping by and sharing your thoughts!
Janet, what a fun article! So many super insightful answers . I particularly resonate with Julie Stobbes about the importance of setting a schedule and realizing that you are in control of your time. It took me many years to figure that one out!