Go Virtual!

Learn to give virtual classes to anyone anywhere!

Do you take teleclasses and attend webinars and wonder how you can do that too?
You can learn the secrets and tricks to putting on an outstanding virtual class and make money from anywhere.

Brandie Kajino, the Soho Solutionist and Allison Carter, CPO®, Certified Professional Organizer, show you the ins and outs of virtual classes: Webinars, Teleclasses and On-Demand classes in our new webinar:

How to Make Money with Virtual Classes

Join us June 17 for this content-filled class.
We will cover the technical side, timeline of tasks, the systems, tips, tricks  and  resources.
This class does not cover how to teach a class or put together content.

Get more information and register HERE:
http://theprofessionalorganizer.com/organizeru/virtual/

– Allison

Do you need a contract to work with clients?

Question of the day for professional organizers and other professionals who may want to voice an opinion.

Q: Do you need a contract to work with clients?
From Jennifer, in Beckley, WV
Comment with your short, concise answers!

Tags: client, contract, Q&A

What to bring to a conference

The annual conference of the National Association of Professional Organizers begins tomorrow in Columbus, Ohio.

We bring you this compiled list of things to bring and the kinds of goals you can set to get the most out of your conference, or any conference or meeting you attend.

• Think about what you want to get out of conference. This will help determine  how you spend your time and with whom.
• A lot of people don’t know anyone. Reach out to unfamiliar faces, start conversations and learn how other people do what they do. If you want to have a more memorable relationship, ask questions besides what they do and where they are from.  Try asking if they brought a bathing suit, what their favorite class is, what books they are reading, etc.

• Use your time there to practice your elevator speech. You’ll probably
  meet at least 50 new people. Try out your elevator speech at least 20 times.

• Do take a photo with the president and others from your community. You can use them for PR.
  Good photos to take:
  A group of organizers who all live in the same geographic area. They all have their own little newspapers that
  will often run a photo.
  Organizers who are all have the same niche. If all the local Senior
  Organizers take a photo and submit a press release to a senior newspaper, it
  could see print.

The ultimate list ow what to pack:

* Lots of business cards
* Checkbook and business credit card (if you have one)
* Writing pad and pens
* Highlighter and sharpie pens - for hilighting conference handouts
* Return address labels for the sign up sheets at the many vendor booths
* Business card plastic sheets with three holes to organize all the business
cards you get, or a business card wallet
* A plastic envelope for brochures you collect
* Camera for PR & fun photos with the president and other organizers
* Name label for your conference notebook
* Big tote bag so you don’t have the exact same one that everyone else is
carrying.
* Luggage tag for (or something obvious to mark) the bag you might carry
around during conference.
* Bathing suit
* Exercise clothing
* Sweater/jacket for cold meeting rooms and cold nights
* Your hotel and airline reservation info!
* Post it notes/flags for marking the pages of your conference handouts

* chargers for your Cell phone, pda and other gadgets - marked with your name in case you leave them behind.
* A great attitude

After Conference:

• Avoid having a work day the day you return from conference. You’ll want some time to decompress, unpack, and process all the information you learned.
• Contact all the people who offered extra resources for you in their workshops and get the info.
• Fill out your evaluations so you get CEU credits
• Chat with others on the NAPO chat and find out what the best sessions were that you missed so you can get a copy of the recording.
• Send emails or handwritten notes to the people you met and would like to keep in touch with.

See you in Columbus!

I’ll be teaching a workshop on Making Money from Virtual Classes.
The corresponding workbook will be available starting on Saturday 4/24/10 at http://tinyurl.com/napocon2010

– Allison

Tags: conference, NAPO

Organize for a Workplace Move Webinar

We have a new class for professional organizers, HR professionals, office managers and administrative assistants:

Get Moving! Organize for an Office Move

The most important part about an office move is preparing the clients themselves.
This presentation will help you organize a smooth move for your office clients.
Organizer Janice Simon knows firsthand all the ins and outs of preparing an office.
She was the “Move Coordinator” for her department at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
As move coordinator, she helped her department move from a larger space to a smaller but better organized space.

You will learn to:

• Prepare clients for an office move
• Establish a “records retention” policy for the office
• Handle sensitive date during a move
• Pare down office desk “shrines”
• Create a “move team” to transition after move

Date: Thursday April 1
Time: 8pm – 9pm ET / 5pm – 6pm PT
* Listen live from your phone or via the internet where you may also view the presentation
* When you register you also receive access to download the recording.
* Handouts of the presentation are provided for all.
* Certificate of attendance and a certificate of completion will be provided so that those listening to the recording may submit the class for CEUs.
Price $25.00
Register by March 25 for early bird price of $19.00 (enter code: move to receive discount)

Registration:

About Janice Marie Simon, MA, CPO®

Janice Marie Simon is an in-house organizer for The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX.
In addition to her in-house organizing work, she runs The Clutter Princess and write a blog at www.theclutterprincess.com.
She is in the inaugural class of the Certified Professional Organizers.
Janice has been a member of NAPO since 2001 and has held offices in the local NAPO-Houston chapter.
She has served as Conference Program Chair for NAPO’s 2009 Orlando Conference; past chair on the Conference Program for NAPO’s 2010 Columbus Conference and is NAPO’s new Education Committee Chair.
Before joining MD Anderson, Simon worked at the Galveston school district as a media coordinator and a journalist at the Galveston County Daily News, where she covered crime, arts, and education.

Class free for beginning organizers

If you are new to the organizing industry, you may be interested in attending a teleseminar next week (3/10/10) called Clutter Bootcamp. I will be presenting this to business owners who are looking for ways to organize at home and in business. You can listen in at no cost and perhaps get some ideas to use with your own clients.

The class is part of the Your Path to Success Telesummit. (check out all the fantastic speakers!)
No cost to register here: http://tinyurl.com/clutterbootcamp

You will get access to this class and all the other classes.
If you want the recordings, just sign up for the upgrade and there is a fee for those classes.

– Allison

Asking for Testimonials

Many people are uncomfortable asking for recommendations and testimonials from clients. They don’t know how to word the question so it isn’t awkward.
But people in business have to ask for what they need or wait forever to get it by chance.

Here are 3 ways you can get testimonial quotes from your clients:

1. Catch it.
When you are working directly with a client, they often will say something about how they feel better,  praise their own accomplishment or yours, or rave about how the space looks. Catch them when they do this; tell them how nice it is to hear and ask if you can write that down to use for your website.  Ask if they would like to remain anonymous or if they don’t mind lending their name (because it is more credible that way.)

2. Ask for it.
I got this lovely little note from someone I have hired to do design work. I was impressed with her work, so I had no trouble shooting out a quick couple of sentences for her.  Here is what she wrote:

“Hello there my much appreciated client!
I’ll be updating my website very soon and that includes adding some more-current client buzz.  If you’re interested in submitting a short comment about the joys of working with me please click the link below.  I’ll include a link to your website (whether I’ve designed it or not) along with your comments.  If you need examples, I’ve put a link to the current buzz page below as well.”

Not only is it a win for her, but a win for me as well because she will link back to my website… which shows off her work.

3. Give recommendations
On Linked In, the social networking website,  when you recommend someone, the program automatically asks if they would like to recommend you. Take advantage of that gift!  On the same note, you can write a recommendation on someone’s fan page on facebook. If the business owner has worked with you, you may get a recommendation back.

4. Send a survey
Send a survey to your clients after a day’s work or after the final job (but that sometimes never comes.) In the survey, ask open ended questions that would spark a positive comment such as: What did you learn from your organizer? What made you happiest about working with your organizer today?  If you send a survey after a class, you might ask “What do you think was the best part of the class?” or “What did you like about the speaker?” When you word at least one question that way, you can only get positive answers.

What are your tried and true methods for getting testimonials?

Manage client expectations class

I love what A Red Bench is doing.
A Red Bench started a teleclass business for professional organizers a couple of years back.

The owners are aware that more and more organizers are looking for continuing education and they’re providing the classes that many of us need.

In just a few days, Mindy Godding presents a class on Managing Client Expectations which you may not know you need until you  need it. (Helpful for dealing with cancellations, who does what and when, payment, etc.) When you and your client are clear what to expect, it saves you from all kinds of trouble down the road.

Check out this class and other classes and recordings at A Red Bench.
Full disclosure: The link is my affiliate link just so you are aware. If you sign up, it helps our business as well.

– Allison

Tags: class, classes, clients

PO business good for SAHM?

This is part of our Q&A series. To see previous answers, please click on the Q&A link in the right hand column.

Q: Is this a good job for a stay at home mom? from Kim in Minnesota

A: Yes and no.

If you have support to take care of small children it’s a great job.
If you don’t, it is nearly impossible to do the job unless you put children into care or  in school.

You will need to be able to leave your home for  for 3-5 hours at a time to work on site with clients unless you are doing virtual organizing.
The benefits are awesome. You can make your schedule match school hours as you children get bigger. You can take days off when children are sick, have functions to go to, or just for vacation. You truly can set your own schedule to match your life.

This is the primary reason I chose organizing as a profession.

Top 5 Ways to Market a PO Business

This is part of our ongoing Q&A series.
To see previous answers, click on the Q&A category in the right-hand column.

Q: What are the top 5 ways to market an organizing business? from Cynthia in San Antonio, TX

A: This is changing daily with new technology, but these are some of the best FREE ways to market in 2010:

1. Build a social networking following and relationships

2. Build your raving fan base! These are the clients who will tell all of their friends about you!

3. Create strategic alliances and network with other professionals who meet similar clients. Share business information and referrals.

4. Website/blogsite that rocks!! It must offer something to the people that visit. If it is merely a brochure on the web, you are boring them. Offer tips, solutions, quizzes, etc.

5. Talk, talk, talk. Do speaking engagements. If you don’t like public speaking, offer to do q&a for 10-30 minutes with very small groups that have meetings so you don’t have to prepare quite as much. This establishes you as an expert.

What are the legal aspects to consider?

This is part of our ongoing series of Q&As on professional organizing.
To see previous answers, please click the Q&A category link in the right hand column

Julie in Marietta, GA asks:

Q: What are the legal aspects?

A: Since I’m not a lawyer, I will only be able to give you the basic areas to think about when starting and running an organizing business.

These are the legal matters that affect you most:

Trademark/Servicemark: Do not choose the name of your business without first checking with http://uspto.gov to see if someone holds a federal servicemark on the name.  Servicemark is like a trademark for a service. Next check websites. If the name is in use anywhere, it is best to stay away from it for brand confusion, but it is not illegal unless there is a trademark.

Insurance: you may need it.  Insurance is about how much risk you’re willing to take so it is up to you if you think you need it and how much.

You want to look into basic business insurance which protects your place of business, database, and items you own. Next you may need business liability insurance which covers things like advice you give.
Errors and omissions would be useful if you’re dealing with a lot of paperwork. You also may need other insurance if you have employees, do installations, or work on computers.

Incorporation: You may need to see a lawyer and an accountant about incorporating and finding out whether it will protect you legally and/or financially.

Copyright: Be careful about what you put on your website. There are laws regarding copyright that many people are not aware of. Essentially, if you didn’t write something yourself, you don’t own the copyright and cannot use it on your website.  You cannot use wording from other websites, books, blogs or even facebook and twitter. If you like what someone else has said, either re-write it in your own words, or ask permission to use it.
The same goes for cartoons, drawings, photos, video, music and anything that can be duplicated.
I have added some good websites you can look to for further information:

Copyright and Fair Use rules

10 myths about copyright explained

copyright info for teachers