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Learn about the home organizer professional industryFind out where to get help organizing home or if you are qualified to share your home organizing idea (s) as an organizer.By now you probably have heard of a home organizer professional. Do you know one? Discovering that there is an industry to help organizing home (other than yours!) is invigorating, enlightening, and exciting! It can also be overwhelming. I felt the same way! If you are looking for help organizing home, contact me using the form provided in my navigational bar. If you've just realized you want to share your home organizing idea with others, you have probably searched the web for everything relating to home organizer professionals. You may have found a lot of information out there and are slightly dismayed by all of the competition you are about to face. Don't worry about the competition!Whenever a prospective home organizer professional calls me to get information on starting their own business they often sound hesitant. I can tell that they want to ask a lot of questions and are holding back.I start out by saying," Do not worry about competition amongst the home organizer professional industry." So many people out there need help organizing home that there is plenty of clutter and stuff to go around that all home organizer professionals can stay busy (provided they are marketing correctly)! You can develop a thriving professional organizers business with the tools mentioned and linked to below. There is no official protocol as of yet, although the National and International Association of Professional Organizers is working on some form of accreditation. Follow the recommendations on this page for business development and training. Find out if you would make a good home organizer professional, it is not only about what home organizing idea you have!I know you are wondering if you are even qualified for the industry. The following are questions you may want to ask yourself:-Do you have a good sense of how space can be utilized? Can you walk into a room and think of ways to make use of the space, through moving a piece of furniture, for example? -Are you able to visualize a clutter-free and functional environment? -Do you know how to sort paper, making things easier to find? -Have you helped others get organized? -Do you have experience in business-charging for services, dealing with consumers, finances, networking, marketing, and development? -Are you familiar with products and what is on the market? -Have you always been organized? Please do not worry if you answered "No" to many of the questions above. You do not need to have been organized all your life or be a seasoned entreprenuer. The truth is, knowing many a home organizing idea isn't what being a home organizer professional is all about. It is about being able to work with people. You do need motivation , however. You can learn, cultivate, develop, and acquire any skill as long as you are motivated.
Even if you have not been clutter free all of your life yet you conquered your old habits and want to continue doing so, potentially helping others do the same, you still can qualify as a great home organizer professional.
How to become a professional organizerSo you've decided you want to become a home organizer professional. Now what?When I got started, I called another organizer from my local area and she told me that she felt there are two most important tasks towards getting started. 1. a business card 2. branding, or a "look"-including a business name and logo
3. a website. (I've added this one because I feel it is important to establishing your credibility).
1) A business cardHaving a business card is important. I thought, however, it was jumping the gun for the business card to be #1 on the list. What about the legalities, insurance, professional associations to join, training, etc.?Yes there are other important tasks to complete when you are starting an organizing business, but the NUMBER ONE thing that is going to determine whether or not you enjoy the work of a home organizer professional- is experience. You must have some kind of experience organizing for others before you decide to go through the lengths of forming your company. The only way you are going to get experience, is by spreading your name. The best way to spread your name is with a business card! (Okay, you don't need to give your biz card to your sister and parents but if you want to organize for someone else, you need to give them your contact info in a professional way!) If you still feel unsure of yourself, try this. Put your business card somewhere just to see what happens. Perhaps at your local exercise facility or moms club. When you get a call, you can tell them that you are somewhat of a newbie professional organizer and you would be happy to give a discount. You are not yet bonded or insured, but that is okay because you will not break anything! :) If you are concerned about spending too much money in the beginning on the printing costs of business cards, have no fear! There is a company called Vistaprint that offers 250 business cards for free. They have nice looking templates that you can use at no cost. If you are looking for something a little bit more elaborate, you can even use their free design service. I've ordered from Vistaprint dozens of times especially when I wasn't quite sure what I wanted my look to be. (I recently ordered again because I finalized the logo for my local business-more on that later) I happen to prefer working with the design service for business cards because on some of the free layouts, the fonts are really small so you need to make sure on the preview that you've enlarged the text size. 2) A Look
I used logoworks for my logo design and I love my logo! I also loved working with them. All of my contact with them was over email or the phone and I could look at loads of other company's logo creations to pick out my favorite ones and formulate my ideas for a "look". It was such a breeze-within 2 days, a designer came up with a look that was 80% there. I made 2 corrections and voila- it was done! They have something like 200 designers with different people bidding to do your job. All you have to do is select the best design. Whatever you decide, you definitely must brand yourself with a "look".
(After they design your logo, you can easily upload it to Vistaprint to create your business card or brochures).
3) A WebsiteMany organizers do indeed have websites. Yet, potential clients do not actually find the organizer from the web. It is primarily a "brochure" for the organizer.
I'm devoting a separate page to the website module that I recommend. If you have a LOCAL service business with LOCAL clients, and you want a website that actually drives traffic (most websites don't), you need to
Isn't there more to do?You don't need to go nuts when you first start your home organizer professional business. I just told you the first 3 things you need to do. (website, branding, business card)There are two others tasks I would list as important first steps: Go to your local small business administration. Ask them how to start a business. Read every book you can get your hands on about organizing. This is where you'll get a lot of your home organizing idea for help organizing home of others.
Two of my top recommendations are written by veteran organizers-they are everything you need to know about starting a professional organizing biz.
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