Although the organizing profession has been around for over 25 years, it really started gaining its popularity a few years ago with the advent of reality TV and shows like “Clean Sweep” and “Mission: Organization”. I often find myself having to be a little bit more descriptive about my business when meeting people for the first time. It’s difficult to pull that off in the “elevator speech” used when networking. (For those of you who don’t know what an “elevator speech” is, it’s the quick answer to the question, “What do you do?” The idea is this: if you meet someone on an elevator, you only have a short window of time to tell them who you are and what you do, so whatever you tell them better be good!)

When I first started my business five years ago, the fun part of perfecting my elevator speech was listening to the reaction I received afterwards. I’ve heard everything from, “Do you organize unions?” to “People actually PAY YOU for that?!” Wow - way to boost my confidence with that last comment, huh? It’s amazing what comes out of people’s mouths!

So I’ve learned over the years that the best way for me to describe what I do is to tell people about a client I’ve worked with. If I can paint a picture of a client and her situation, that usually triggers an “Ah ha!” moment for the person I’m speaking with. Inevitably this person either a) knows someone like the client, or b) is, himself, just like that client. Please note, when I do provide client examples I do not, under any circumstances, include my clients’ names or personal, confidential information. My intent genuinely is to find a common thread to illustrate my point. I would imagine each and every one of us, at some point in our lives, has needed assistance with getting organized. Even those of us who are perfectionists need to be told when to say when.

The purpose of my blogs going forward will be two-fold:
1. I want you, the public, to understand more about what Professional Organizers do and to raise awareness on the advantages, benefits, prosperity and abundance possible when living a well organized life.
2. I want the new Organizers who are just beginning their career in this industry to learn from my successes and failures. Our industry’s success depends on our collective efforts to share information and continue the learning process together.

A professional organizer enhances the lives of clients by designing systems and processes using organizing principles and by transferring organizing skills. A professional organizer also educates the public on organizing solutions and the resulting benefits. The National Association of Professional Organizers, or NAPO (pronounced NAY-poh), currently has close to 4,000 members throughout the U.S. and in 8 other countries

To find out exactly how we do what we do, stay tuned for more blogs!