Podcast Episode 1: 20+ Ways to Market Your Pro Organizing Business

Welcome to Podcast Episode 1: 20+ Ways to Market Your Professional Organizing Business.

In this episode, we're going to talk about over 20 different ways to market your professional organizing business. Some of these ways include YouTube, in person events, interviews, and so much more! Make sure you get your notebook and a pen... You're going to want to take notes on this one.

(00:00) - Introduction to this episode
(01:24) - How my perfectionism sabotaged my social media marketing
(04:03) - One great leveraged way to promote your business
(06:39) - What Kate Spade has to do with this next-level hack
(09:39) - How to network with intention
(12:08) - A major mistake I made when I started my business
(17:11) - A strategy that has been the backbone of my business
(27:16) - How to create a giveaway that will yield clients
(31:37) - How interviews can increase your credibility in the space
(35:52) - A really simple way to host events
(40:52) - If Twitter is your jam, pay attention to this tactic
(45:47) - An underutilized strategy for fans of blogs
(53:58) - Episode Wrap-Up

Takeaways

There are a lot of ways to market your professional organizing serveries. Remember that perfect does not exist and should not hold you back when getting your name and services out there. If social media is not your jam, don't sweat it. Social media is a great option, but certainly not the only way to attract your dream clients and establish yourself as an expert.

Full Transcript

All right. So guys, I printed out this post that I saw onPinterest that says 25 things you can do to market your business. And I printedit out because I'm going to talk about some of these things tonight in thechat. Basically I'm going to run through these 25 things because this pin kindof stood out to me because I've done some of these things and I haven't donesome of these other things. So I wanted to talk about that, I wanted to talkabout marketing tonight. We're going to jump right in. So 25 things you can doto market your business. Number one on the list that they wrote is socialmedia. That's a really big one to write for number one because they're justincluding all of social media in this number one thing you can do to marketyour business.

So I will be honest with you guys, when I started mybusiness, I wanted to do social media, I did not have a ton of time to do it. Ialso struggle with extreme perfectionism. And so what would happen is, so mybusiness name is Simplify Professional Organizing. So I started my ownInstagram, which I would do at the end of the day after I was organizing forclients. And I would come home, and I would try to figure out what to post onInstagram, and I had no idea. And so what I would do is I would post somethingand then a day later or three days later, I would delete it, and then I wouldpost something else, and I would delete that and post something else. I havethis huge problem with getting rid of stuff not just my stuff in my house, butI will get rid of stuff on social media if a week later it doesn't feel likethe right thing for me.

To be honest with you, I had a huge problem withconsistency. I had a Facebook page, I had Instagram. Snapchat wasn't aroundback when I started, I would have probably enjoy Snapchat more because it was alittle less formal. It was a little bit less, it had to be this perfectlystyled feed of pictures. As a side note, I think that that would be a reallygreat thing for you guys to try if you're interested. But in terms of socialmedia as a whole, I did not ever do consistent social media when I was inreally the heart of getting clients and building up my clientele with mybusiness. What I did do, and this is probably further down on this 25 lists ofthings, but what I did do with social media was I did interact with otherpeople's social media.

I didn't necessarily build this great like Facebook pageor Instagram or Twitter. Twitter is my least favorite of all the social media,and now you know. I have done it for this business, I have done it for ProOrganizer Studio somewhat, but it's not my favorite one. And when I was doingit for my organizing business, I literally was lost, I had no idea what topost. So as far as things you can do to market your business, social media,they put it as number one. I didn't do it consistently, that doesn't mean thatyou guys can't do a great job with it. And in fact, I think it has a lot ofpotential, but it wasn't for me the way that I got most of my clients.

So number two on the list is host a free training, recorda quick video training, host a webinar or free call sharing with yourexpertise. Remember to offer your services at the end for people who need moreassistance. This is also a great idea, it's not something I ever did. I neverdid this to get clients with my organizing business. If I were going to dothis, what I would do, in my city there are a couple of women's businessnetworking groups. And if I were going to really look into hosting a freetraining in order ... And guys keep this in mind when I'm talking about 25things you can do to market your business. I'm talking about things to get realclients not just to get my name out there or to build visibility. I'm talkingabout actually getting a paying client.

So if I were going to try and get a paying client, I wouldhost a free training with other women business owners. So I would look intogroups that had women's networking or other, a natural kind of fit forsomething that you're doing. I know a lot of you guys are focusing onorganizing for other small businesses or for other entrepreneurs. I think thatis a great idea. But the way that you guys could host a free training in orderto get more clients is to host a training that is specific to something thatyou know that they need like a business organizing, small business organizing,taxes, paperwork, not doing their taxes, but organizing their paperwork so thatthey are ready for tax season.

Number three is send notes to past clients, I haveabsolutely done this. Here's an interesting thing, here's a next level tip. Ireally felt like when I started my business that I needed to have this fancystationery that matched my business and looked really cool. But again, becauseI was struggling with a lack of time and I really felt like everything neededto be perfect, I kept over-analyzing, over-analyzing like my branding, I keptredoing my website. This is such a time suck after a certain point. I mean, youwant it to be good, but after a certain point you are losing your return onyour investment on this. And so one thing that I did when I sent notes to pastclients is instead of using something that was perfectly branded to me, I usedsomething that was already perfectly branded, but it was somebody else.

So I bought Kate Spade note cards and I was like,"Boom, I'm done. This makes me look good, it makes me look cute, classy.Everything that Kate spade looks like, now I look like." I went and boughtthose cards at this little local stationary shop, sent those to pass clients, andit was really cute. It got the job done. I'm just sharing that. I think thatwas a really smart move. And I'll also use those same note cards, this isrelated probably to something else on this list, but I use those same notecards to send thank you notes or notes to prospective clients too. I didn'tjust use them for past clients. It was just something to be cute and fun.

Number four is ask for referrals. Yes, I have done this.And once you guys join my masterclass, you will find out exactly how I recommendgoing about this. This is one of the main ways that I have built my business.So if you want to know more about that, it's in the master course. Number fiveis attend a meetup or networking event. Yes, I have done this. The comment onthis list says these are a gold mine to share your business, check with localChamber of Commerces business groups or business events you can attend andnetwork with others. I have pros and cons on this one, and you guys willprobably understand exactly what I'm talking about. When you go to a networkingevent, if you have ever been to a networking event for any other purpose, youknow that they are kind of awkward sometimes unless you're drinking.

They're kind of awkward because everybody is there for theexact same reason, and you're all kind of trying to act like you're not. Withthat said, one thing that that could be good for is getting leads for maybe notwho your next clients are going to be, but for who your next partners inbusiness in terms of promoting each other. One thing that I talk about isgetting to know other business owners that are in your local area that are atleast somewhat related to organizing. And so one thing that you could do whenyou're going to these networking events is looking for those people notnecessarily looking for people who are going to be like, "Oh, yes, I needto get organized." I mean, occasionally that may happen, but one thingthat is just nice is that once you've met some of these people and they canrefer you to, for example, their interior designer friend, like, oh my gosh,you guys should meet. So it's kind of a way to meet other related professions,I don't think it's a great way to get clients.

So I'm light on going to the networking events that don'treally ... If it's called a networking event, I would be wary of going to it.If it's not called a networking event, I'm thinking, okay, now that's a way forme to do some undercover missions. But if it's called networking, I would go ifyou have time. But I would not make that the central focus of the marketing foryour business. Number six is promote a discount or special offer. So a coupleof things about this. You guys know if you have been hanging out with me aboutmy package pricing. Built into my package pricing are discounts based on thelevel at which you're investing with me. So I already have discounts and Ialready have a free consultation.

So I really think that that speaks for itself. So in termsof number six promoting a discount or a special offer, I think that promotingyour free consultation as something that is not just free, like it's actuallysomething that is valuable for people because you are going to come in, givethem a few tips. You're not going to give away your entire knowledge base, butyou're going to be in their home which is valuable in itself. You are going toput your eyes on their situation, start to understand what it is they'redealing with. And once they already have you in there, I'm telling you that isreally what you should be aiming to do. Do as many consultations as possibleand keep the consultation free so that people don't have a reason to say no.

If they think they have an inkling that they might want towork with you and you get in their house and they see that you have thatability to kind of see beyond what it is that their situation is, then they'regoing to fall in love with you and want you to come back. That's what you guysshould all be working towards, work towards getting the consultation. And ifyou're not clear on what you need to do once you go into consultation, you haveto take my master class because that is what it is about, it is about sellingyourself, having the confidence to know what to say, what not to say, andbasically how to not lose the sale. Because once you have a flaky uncommittedperson commit to you coming to their house for an hour, meeting with you,walking you through everything. I personally think like this sale is yours tolose.

The way I feel about myself, and this is why I have sharedthis with you guys or I've kind of tried to lay this out for you guys in thisway is that if I can get in somebody's house, get me in their house, I am goingto make the sale. And so I want to share that knowledge with you guys so thatyou have that same confidence about your business. Number seven, email yoursubscriber list. Guess what? I've never done this because I didn't have asubscriber list, and I still kind of don't. I did not have a way to collectemail addresses when I started my website, which was a ... Actually, that's nottrue. If people submitted an inquiry on my website originally, then I wouldhave their email address or I'd have their phone number.

But I didn't have a way to collect people's emails justfor visiting my website. There's a lot of information. I mean, if you guys wantto know how to do this, Pinterest has a million tips for you, how to build upor promote a freebie so that when people come to your website that they'regoing to want to sign up just to get the freebie and then therefore then you'llhave their email address and be able to market to them in the future. It's abrilliant idea, but the amount of information that's out there on that nowwasn't something that was immediately not, maybe not that it wasn't available,but it wasn't immediately obvious to me when I started my business. So itwasn't something that I started doing on my website at the beginning. And soit's something that I used to build up my client base.

Like I said, I have my email addresses of people who havesent me an inquiry or who have worked with me. So I do have the ability toemail them. But if you guys are going to build a subscriber list, I know forexample, Lindsay, Lindsay who's in this group, her organizing businesses isSimplicity Reclaimed. She doing an opt-in freebie. If you guys want to see anexample of that, go onto her website. So that's an example of something thatbuilds up your subscribers. Or on my blog posts themselves, not on every singleblog post, but on some of them, I'll have a, they call it a content upgrade. Soit'll be a checklist or just a little worksheet that goes along with thecontent of your blog.

And so if people sign up, you can have people that mightnot even sign up for your big freebie. My big freebie is my email course, butif they want to sign up for your little freebie like a social media checklist,for example, that's for me. Then they're going to sign up to your email listthat way. So if you guys want to think about maximizing your subscriber list,go on Pinterest and search on this topic because there's a thousand articlesout there. All right, number eight is write a guest post. The blurb on thissays this will help you get in front of a brand new audience, choose anotherwebsite or blogger that has a similar target audience as you. I never did that,never did that for my organizing business, but for a short time, again, I'mrevealing, I'm telling you guys all the things I did wrong, I'm telling youjust blatantly.

So I did not commit very well to social media< wealready covered that in number one. I did write some blog posts, and then Ideleted them because I am insane and I'm so perfectionistic about stuff that Iwould write something and then it'd be like, "Oh my God, somebody whoknows me is going to find this." I was just freaking out about it, and Idon't know why because now it wouldn't be like that at all. So I did have ablog on my website for a while. It's not currently there anymore, so you guyscan't see it. The strategy is write a guest post, I didn't do that. But what Idid have was people who I had already kind of strategically partnered with inmy city. I had a few of them, I basically interviewed them for my website.

I would focus it around how they organize their smallbusinesses because I wanted to spotlight number one, how amazing and fun andsuccessful they are, but also how they are using organizing skills in theirbusiness. And so that was a way because they would share that post with theirclients and on their Facebook and their social media, which they were doing soawesome at. They would share that I had interviewed them and that made themlook good. That made me look good, and it brought more people to my websitethat didn't know about me before. So even if you don't write a guest post, havesomebody else write a post for you on your blog.

Number nine is strategic partnerships. Yes, I have donethis. This is one of the backbone main pieces of content within the thirdmodule of my masterclass. And I tell you guys exactly how to do it, what tosay, who to target, and how to not waste your time. So that is one of the waysthat your business is going to grow, that you're going to have really solidbase to work from when you're building up your clientele, people who know aboutyou, people who will recommend you, people who are already in your idealclients' homes that are going to be like, "Oh my gosh, you need Jen,"or "oh, you know Jen." They will give your business card, people whowill promote you all day long. So if you don't know how to do this and ifyou're totally confused or if it never dawned on you that you might need to dothis, you need to sign up for the master class because I lay it all out therefor you and it will become obvious to you how to get those partnerships going.

Okay, number 10, Facebook groups. Awesome, okay. Thelittle blurb about Facebook groups says these are groups made just fornetworking, groups filled with business owners of all industries. And you cando a simple search to find the right ones to start networking in. You could joinother Facebook groups that are relevant to your area, I think that's a reallybrilliant idea. You can also start your own, which I know some of the girls inour group have started their own Facebook groups in order to give away, notgive away everything they know, but give away some tips about organizing, sharetheir ideas, be able to interact with potential clients. I think it'sbrilliant. It's not something that I would probably spend a ton of hours onwhen you're starting. If you want to get clients now, I would not do this. Iwould call this a very slow strategy, it's not a fast I need clients yesterdaystrategy, it's just something that would be nice if you have time to do it.

Number 11 is create a YouTube video. It says YouTube has ahuge audience of viewers, and this could help you get in front of a whole newgroup of ideal clients. So yes, if you create a YouTube video, what are yougoing to do with it? You need to either be posting it on a Facebook page thatyou already have a hundred fans, and they're going to see it and then theywould share it for you. You need to be creating something that has some valueto it so that your strategic partners ... What number was that? Number nine,you need to be doing something that your strategic partners want to share foryou. That's really important.

You want to do a YouTube video that is going to showcaseyour expertise or otherwise promote something. It needs to showcase yourexpertise in organizing, but also maybe it would be a lead in to promote theidea of you doing a live free training. That was in number two. Because youcould point back to your YouTube video and say, "Well, so I love talkingabout this topic, here's a video I did on it." And you could show that. Itdoesn't have to be something that is super professional, something that'sshareable. Something that is going to make you look good, that you're going tobe proud of for a long time. Now, if you're posting YouTube videos just hopingto get local clients, you're not likely to get 100,000 views, so you reallyneed to have a strategy for what you're doing with that.

But again, it can be something that you aren't expectingto get 100,000 subscribers for, but that you want to be able to share to maybelocal TV stations or somebody else that could use that and say, "Hey, thisperson speaks well and presents well, and she seems like she knows what she'stalking about." And if you think that you could be using that to get otheropportunities, go for it.

Number 12, speak at local events. Sort of similar to numbertwo for the host of free training, but it's a little bit different. Forspeaking at local events, you don't really have to train people on how toorganize. You could just sort of speak on your industry or your topic. Again,this is something that if you're comfortable being in front of other people andyou're willing to speak at a local event, then you have the opportunity topromote your business, especially at the end, they're likely to want to getyour card or find out more about you or definitely go to your website.

This is something that I have not done either. I knowy'all are shocked right now because I seem like I talk a lot, but in real lifebusiness I did not have time for this. This was not one of my I need clientsnow strategies. This would have been something I would've done if somebody hadasked me, first of all. I don't know, there would've had to been something funabout it because I don't like networking for the sake of networking. I reallywant it to be something that's going to have a social aspect to it. And if Igot to talk about something that I was really excited about, that would becool. But I just wouldn't sign up just for any old local event.

For example, my local library has all kinds of speakersabout financial training and tax preparation. And I think that there was aprofessional organizer that spoke at one, I think that's how I knew about that.And that would be kind of boring to me. I love libraries, don't get me wrong,but it wouldn't be something that I would just be thrilled to go do on aWednesday night. Number 13, create a freebie. So it says create a high valueresource for your ideal fans that they can opt into your email list for,checklist, challenges, resource guides, or mini courses. This is also relatedto one we've already talked about, email your subscriber list. So this tiesinto number seven, email your subscriber list.

If you create a freebie, you must, must make sure that youhave a way for people to sign up on your email list in order to get thefreebie. Otherwise you're losing the opportunity to get their email address ortheir contact information or whatever. Now, here's something. I have literallylooked at hundreds of professional organizers' websites. And lot of what peopleuse as their freebie to get your email address or your phone number whatever isyour brochure or your pricing and more information about your business. Inorder to get more information, I need to take your email address and all thiskind of stuff. I personally don't believe in that.

I think that you need to post your pricing on your websiteso that people don't have to give you, they don't have to give you their emailaddress just to find out how much you cost because first of all, I think that'sgoing to end up wasting your time because you're going to have people on youremail list that weren't really interested or weren't really your true idealclients in the first place. They just wanted to find out the basic informationabout your website, and they had to put their email address in in order to getthat. That should not be your freebie, your freebie should be something likewhat this says, a challenge, a resource guide, mini courses, checklists.

I personally created ... Oh, sorry, I didn't say. Did I dothis or did I not do this? I have never done this. I never did this for myorganizing website, but I do have a template which I never used. I could stilldo this. I have a thousand ideas that things I could have done or should havedone, but I haven't done them yet. I have a template of a basic here's how Iwould organize an entire house plan.

Now, it's not customized at all for anybody's specialneeds. It's just like, here's how I would start, the three places I wouldstart, then the next three places, then the next three places, then the nextthree places. And then within 12 steps, that would be your entire house, likehere's the order in which I would attack. It's my personal order of operations.That is probably the number one thing I have thought I should have used that asmy freebie or I should have used that as my download because a lot of peoplethat come to your website are going to end up deciding that they should ... Andstay with me here, they're going to come to your website, they're going to seethe prices, they're going to see you. They're going to be like, "Oh, Iwish I could afford this girl, but I should do this on my own."

So if you had your own just basic template plan, and thatwas your freebie to download, then you could have those people put in theiremail address. They downloaded your template, and then let's say a month lateror two months later or three months later, they get an email from you. And itsays, "How are things going? Did you get your house organized?" And Iguarantee you 95% of them will be like, "Nope, I never did. I wanted to,but I couldn't do it on my own. I told myself I should do this, but then Iended up realizing I either don't have the time, I don't have the energy or Idon't know how to do this," or they tried to and they just got overwhelmedon step one. And that's where you have the opportunity to sell them on yourservices to come in and be like, "Perfect, I would love to help you ifyou're interested in doing the consultation. Here's some times I'mavailable." Boom, do it.

All right. Number 14, host a giveaway. It says, want toget new eyes on your brand, give something away, whether it's products or evena service. This can give you a pool of new people who need what you have tomarket to in the future. Oh, they need what you have to market to in thefuture. I never did this for my business, hosting a giving giveaway. If I weregoing to host a giveaway, now that's tough because I think most giveaways arejunky items, and I really hate that stuff. And I'm sure all of you guys do too.So I would be really hesitant to give away something to people who need to getorganized because most of them need to get rid of their crap not add to it.

So number 14, we're going to have to keep thinking aboutthat. How would you give away? So you could give away a session, and I know alot of people try that at first, especially if they're launching a new businessor they're launching a new Facebook page, then they'll say, I'm going to giveaway a session or I'm going to give away three sessions to whatever people meetthese requirements or I'm going to have a drawing. That's one way to go aboutit. I personally would not do free work, and I would not give away my sessionsunless I knew exactly who those people were. I wouldn't give away a session tojust anybody. I would make sure that it's somebody who is in my ideal client'snetwork, meaning she has other people that she would refer me to that would bewilling to pay and that would be the kind of people that I want to work with.

I also would make sure if I was doing free work that mypicture, I would take pictures of her house or my before and afters in herhouse, and I would make sure it looks like the kind of house like I want to beworking in. I don't want it to look like I went and did a charity project, Iwant it to look like I did a real job. And I'm trying to say that delicately,but I think you guys know what I mean. I know everybody has the best intentionsand they want to help every person out there. But if it's not the kind of jobthat looks like an ideal client job, do not do it for free. Don't even thinkabout it, don't even think about it. So if you give away something, be careful.

So number 15, sponsor an event. Find a way to give back toyour own community and either make a donation or contribute your services to anorganization in exchange for a business promotion. So I've never done thiseither, but I do think this could be a really great idea. It's kind of forsimilar reasons as the last one. If you are giving away, certainly, certainlyonce you've gotten to the point where your business is profitable, you'remaking money on a regular basis and you can afford to be a donor for a localcharity or organization, I would be thrilled for you guys to do that. And Ithink that's a wonderful way to put your name on something and to give back toa cause that you believe in.

But in terms of sponsoring, this is what this made methink of. It made me think of going to a charity gala where there's a silentauction and a lot of people will give away their services or they'll includetheir services as part of the auction. So I'll just speak on that here. I haveheard some good and bad stories about this, either it could be good. But youwant to just be careful because you're basically contracting or more or lesspromising that you're going to go and spend a package of time, a package ofsome amount of time with somebody who has won your auction, and you don't knowwho they are. I mean, it could be great, it could be wonderful or it could be notwonderful and it could be not good for your business. It could end up being awaste of time that you could have spent getting your ideal clients rather thangiving your services away to somebody who is never going to refer you tosomebody else and who is a pain to work with.

Number 17, interview others. Seek out industry influencersand interview them. Chances are good they share your interview with theirnetwork and help spread the word about your business. So I said this earlierwhen I was talked about number eight on write a guest post. So this oneinterview others does not have to be on your blog. But I did do this, I didinterview others. This will be industry influencers who shared my interviewwith their network. I did that on my blog for the time that I had my blogbefore I deleted my blog. Don't do that, don't be like me. Leave your contentthere and let it continue to grow your business for you. I was too nutty, I wastoo perfectionistic about it. And then I kind of let that go to waste, don't dothat.

All right. So if you did interview others, one thing youcould do, you could tie that back into making a YouTube video that you post.You could do it in person and write it up as an article. You could interviewyour clients and post their interviews on your blog or your website or yoursocial media. It could be like a very mini, it could be a mini interview. Itdoesn't have to be long, it can be longer or more involved than a testimonial.It could be more like an interview about what are the changes? What are thechanges that you have experienced in working with a professional organizer?What was it like when your parents were sick and you had to do these things onyour own? What was it like trying to work with your parents on your own or whatwas it like trying to negotiate between your own sisters and brothers who wasgoing to go and help your parents downsize?

You're really like digging into their situation and thenasking them, what are the benefits? What are the things that you have seen helpyour family? You're really digging in with them, it's more than just atestimonial where they say, "Oh my gosh, Jen was so great, she came in anddid her thing, and I would totally recommend her." A testimonial can be alittle bit surface level. And I think if you're interviewing a client, you canreally dig into their situation. And that shows your potential clients, likefor example, if you make it into a blog post, it shows your potential clientshow much you care about this stuff. It's not just about the people stuff, it'sabout improving their relationships with other people in their family andhelping their home run better.

Number 18, host your own event. It says charge a small feeto cover costs and blow people away by giving them a ton of value. Give themsomething to talk about and share with their network. So let's see if I weregoing to host my own event as a professional organizer, first of all, here's acrazy idea. Now, y'all really will think I'm crazy, but I can come up withideas all day long. You guys take these, run with them or hate them, I'mtotally fine with that. So I have a group of girls that I don't get to do thisvery often anymore, but years ago I had a group of girls who would get togetherfor what they called Pinterest night.

And this was in the early days of Pinterest when everybodyhad all these boards of crafts and recipes and stuff they want to do. And so wewould get together and it was like 8 or 10 girls for Pinterest night. And wewould all bring a snack or something that we made, like an appetizer from ourPinterest list of recipes that we wanted to try. We'd all bring a littleappetizer to share and then we would bring our own craft thing that we wereworking on and we would all just sit around a table and talk and work on our craftand drink our wine and eat the food. I mean, it was awesome, it was great. Soone thing that I thought when I started the organizing business is would it becrazy if people brought ... What if you had a little get together ... And youdon't have to charge a fee, this thing suggest charging a fee.

But what if you just have people BYOB, bring their ownwine. And if it was a group of people who know each other or at least loosely,invite your friends, friends invite friends, and you all got together and wentthrough paperwork or your jewelry drawer. What if you can bring your crap thatyou don't want to do, that you know that you need to go through and you canhold up to somebody else like, "Do I need this or do I not needthis?" And what if you had a professional organizer like yourself who hadthe expertise to tell you you don't need to keep a receipt from Kohl's from 10years ago. Good to go, you could throw it away.

What if you had a professional organizer who could justmake something that is not very fun fun for a lot of people in a socialsituation. Now, I know that that probably sounds like the nerdiest thing in theworld, and I've never shared this out loud before, but I would be so excited ifone of you guys did that and then your friends were like, "That wasactually a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be."

Now, is that going to get you more clients? I have noidea, but it could be just a way for people to know what a professionalorganizer is, which could also be a good thing. I think that would be a goodthing for your branding and your slow marketing strategies in the long run. Thenext thing is number 19, run a Facebook ad. Yes, I have done this. Yes, itworks. You guys have heard me talk about this. If you have watched any of my pastvideos the way I got my very first client, my first client ever was through aFacebook ad. So I do talk about Facebook ads in my master class, I tell you howto do it without spending a ton of money. I know it seems intimidating. I domake you guys take responsibility for the fact that you have to figure out yourown ...

Your website has to be on point, there's no getting aroundthat. You have to get your website to where it needs to be before the Facebookads are going to work, and you do have to do the technical side. You have tounderstand the technical side. But I have offered to my current students thatif they need help with any part of the technical side, the technical side ofjust implementing the Facebook ad in itself I will help you do it. I'm going tomake sure that it's not intimidating because y'all, if you've done any researchinto digital advertising, digital marketing, Facebook ads are still a really,really good return on investment. I think I shared this in the masterclass,this tidbit of information. I think that I started my very first Facebook adand within five days the woman who became our first client clicked on my ad,went to my site, submitted an inquiry form.

So that was my first inquiry ever. So I called her, andshe didn't call me back. Are we shocked? No, because she's disorganized, she isflaky. She was going through a very hard time in her life. So I would call herback like every two or three days, no big deal. After a week, I finally syncedup with her. We set up a time for me to go on the consultation, I went on theconsultation. She wrote me a check at the consultation. Again, this all workstogether. The consultation, the sales, the pricing, the marketing, thebranding, the ads, everything works together. But she was obviously completelysold on my services and she wrote me a check for $2,029. That was my firstclient ever.

She didn't know she was my first client, she knew that Ihad just recently started my business, so she knew that I was new. I want youguys to understand that my intention is to share every single thing that madethat sale happen, but also every sale that I had after that happened, becausenot every client is the same, not every situation is the same. But if you guyswant to know how to get people to write you four figure checks instead ofpaying you $30 an hour and having to ask for a check every single time that yougo to somebody's house and you have to follow up with them and you have to makesure that they pay you on time. I don't deal with that, and I didn't deal withthat from day one.

If you want to know how I do that, you need to be in themaster class, don't waste your time. Okay. Number 20, host a Twitter chat. No,I have never done this because I don't like Twitter. I know what a Twitter chatis. It says connect with other Twitter users and chat about topics you'reexperts in and use a cohesive hashtag and have everyone invite their fans tojoin. So if you guys do love Twitter and you want to have a Twitter chat, andif you're a professional organizer, what are you going to talk about? I wouldsuggest that you gear your Twitter chat around seasonal specific topics ratherthan just general organizing. I think that all of us are really passionateabout organizing for certain reasons, it helps you so much with stress and ithelps you be able to focus and it just makes your whole life better.

But I think that maybe if you're doing something like aTwitter chat, it really needs to be about a really specific topic. If it's taxseason, you're talking about paperwork or files. And if it's Christmas season,you're talking about organizing how to make the Christmas season less stressfulbecause blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I mean, you guys got to come up with yourown content. But to help you with this if you're interested in this, I do havea blog post on my blog for Pro Organizer Studio that is about seasonal content.And now it's geared towards if you guys want to blog and you want to haveseasonal content for your blog, this is what this post is about, but you couldrepurpose it into ideas for your next Twitter chat or for your next YouTubevideo.

It's all organized by month so that you're always workingon something that's about to be relevant for the next month, more or less. Yougotta look at it and plan your content out. So if you're interested in that, goto my blog or search, just Google Pro Organizer Studio blog content ideas for ayear. That's literally what it's called, yearly blog content ideas forprofessional organizers. I have this blog post and I just dumped my entirebrain into. This is every idea I've ever had that I put in a notebook I put itinto this post for you guys so that you have a constant flow of ideas and nomatter what month it is, it's all organized for you.

So you'll love it, so go look that up. Number 21 is reachout to local media. Contact local papers and news stations, and tell them aboutyour business. See if they will write a feature story on you. Yes, I have donethis. Yes, it works. It is so much easier than you think it is. If you areinterested in the masterclass, I give you actual scripts, emails, things tosay, ways to pitch your local news stations, local magazines. You could use itto do local blogs. If you have somebody local to you that is just killing itwith their blog and you think that that would help you as much as you can bepitching and people say, always be pitching something, always be pitchingsomebody. And I have no problem hearing no. Because that's what they say, it'skind of a numbers game, you just pitch, pitch, pitch, pitch.

But if you get one yes, great. Nine nos, who cares? Maybethey'll say not right now, maybe in the future or you can kind of refine youridea based on their feedback. If they tell you we need something more specificfrom you or maybe we're in the wrong season for that, then you can say,"All right, like I will follow up with you." And it's like thefortune is in the followup, you have to make sure that you're staying on top ofthese things.

Number 21 is reach out to local media, but also localmedia will reach you if you're doing the right things, and if you have yourmarketing is on point, branding is on point, you're showing that you are doinggreat work in this business. People will reach out to you because they want tohear your opinion and they want to have you come be the expert on their newshow or on their magazine or what have you. But reaching out to local media,you guys need to, if you're interested in that, check that out in themasterclass.

Number 22 is comment on blogs, comment on influencerblogs, make them thoughtful and relevance. Other fans will see them and beinterested in who you are. I got a couple of comments about that. Make sureyou're doing that strategically because it would be very, very easy for youguys to make yourself believe that you're doing work to market your business byreading and commenting on. And we're talking about local blogs, it's got to belocal or it's not going to get you clients. But even if you're doing localblogs, it would be easy for you to fool yourself into thinking, I am doing realwork, and I'm working on my business. But it might not be. What I would bemaking sure that you're doing is not just commenting on the blog. And this goesfor actually social media as well, it's not just about blogs, but it's about ifyou're following other people's Instagram, if you're following people'sFacebook pages, you need to make sure that you ... If you're engaging withthese people that you're not just putting a bunch of emojis and saying awesomeposts.

It needs to be thoughtful comments, and it needs to besomething that is building your relationship with that person. So to sum thisup is just to make sure that when you think about engagement that you'rethinking about building a real life relationship and not just an onlinerelationship. But your online relationship might lead to that real liferelationship. But if you're not working towards getting a face-to-face meetingwith these people, then I think that you're wasting your time. They would appreciatethe fact that you comment on their blog or comment on their social media, butunless you are taking the initiative. And it kind of like takes a little bit ofballs, you need to be the kind of person who you get to know somebody's workthrough their social media and then eventually you're just like, "I wouldlove to meet you, when can we get together for coffee?"

Takes a little bit of confidence in your approach, but itgets easier over time. And I hope you guys understand what I mean by that.These people, if they are going to really get to know you and want to recommendyou in terms of what it is you're doing, you're going into other people'shouses. So these people aren't going to recommend just anybody, they want torecommend somebody that they have met in person. So it's not just going to bebecause you leave comments on their blog, just make sure that you're really,really working towards building a real life relationship.

Number 24 is Periscope. This new social network is a greatway to put your value out in the world. Remember to ask viewers to share withtheir networks. I don't think Periscope is even a thing anymore. I mean, it is.Whenever this list was written, it was obviously a thing. Social networks likePeriscope can come and go so fast. And I think for example Snapchat issomething that has grown really, really, really, really slowly because peoplekept thinking it was just for teenagers, and now it's becoming something thatpeople are using for business. So I'm switching over to Snapchat instead ofPeriscope for just a minute, but we'll come back. Let me explain Snapchat foryou guys in terms of your overall marketing plan. Instagram and Facebook areeasy ways for people to find you, they don't know you or you can link to thosesocial media pages from your website. But once people know you, then I thinkSnapchat or Periscope or something like Periscope is a great way for people toreally be like your insider behind the scenes crew.

And that's the way I'm using Snapchat with you guys. I'mnot using Snapchat to be found by new people, I am using it as a way like,okay, you guys found me through, I don't know, YouTube, Pinterest, my blog orGoogle or whatever. You probably found the free course and then you came intothe Facebook group. And now some of you that are in the Facebook group, I wouldlove for more of you to follow me on Snapchat, but my Snapchat is really foryou guys, it's not for anybody else. I don't cater it towards the new peoplethat I might come across out on the online world. So Periscope, if you guyswere going to use something like this or have used something like Snapchat orused something like Periscope, I think that that would be a really cool way foryou to connect or you could do something like Facebook live if you do have aFacebook page or a group.

It would be a cool way for you to connect with people whoare already following you, but it's not going to be a way for you to get newclients. I think that it would be really fun once you have a client base, youcould tell your clients ... And this is a great value add actually, and I'venever thought about this before, but a great value add for your clients is onceyou're a client, you get invited to these once a month Facebook chats or once amonth Twitter chats or once a month Periscope videos. It just be a cool thingfor you to connect with them, it doesn't take a ton of your extra time andyou're just sharing expertise without giving it all away.

And one thing that's good y'all with organizing clients isthey're never going to do it all on their own, and they know that. So you beingkind of like an example to them or an influence to them is really, reallyvaluable just by itself because they know that they know you already and youare there sharing your passion or sharing your latest thoughts on whatevermaybe your specialty is. If you have a specialty in kids, organizing ortutoring children or helping kids with ADHD, I have no idea. Whatever yourspecialty could be, you have maybe a new book that you've read or a new coursethat you've taken and you just want to kind of share it with your clients fromthe past and also your potential clients, then that will be a really cool wayfor you to interact with them. So that can be something you guys think about.

All right, the last one. Number 25, guest posts on otherblogs. Is this not something that ... Oh my goodness, they repeated numbereight, write a guest post. It's the exact same thing. Number 25, guest post onother blogs. So we already talked about this, but it says get your content infront of as many people as you can. So since we talked about this in numbereight, we'll kind of cut it short on number 25. But the basic premise is, yes,get your content in front of as many people as you can. But I think personally thatif you really are in that stage where you're trying to get clients now that youneed to really focus your content on moving towards a one-on-one interaction assoon as possible.You don't need to spend a ton of time perfectingyour social media content when what you really need is you need to be havingone-on-one interactions with people who can either get you clients or become aclient. And when you're building your business, that has got to be your solefocus is just getting to that point as soon as possible. All right, good luck,good luck with your week. Work hard and keep letting me know what I can do tohelp you guys out or any other kind of questions you guys have. Good night.

Join our free Facebook group for podcast insiders to get notified about new episodes (plus get behind-the-scenes access and other goodies weekly)!

Get on our waiting list for more information about the Inspired Organizer® course.

Download the Professional Organizer's Roadmap to Success.