5 Things To Know Before Becoming a Professional Organizer
Want to start your career and become a professional organizer? You need these professional organizer tips
If you’ve taken your questions about getting started in the professional organizing industry to Google, you’ve probably been totally overwhelmed by an array of cluttered, outdated advice.
The truth is that it will cost you almost nothing to put yourself out there and get started, but if you're trying to piece together a business plan from random websites, it's incredibly easy to let the internet swallow you with irrelevant advice.
Early on in my organizing business, I had a ton of wins that I noticed weren't "the norm" in my research about how most professional organizers structured their services.
The reason I'm a business coach today is because of the crazy things I have tried in my own business that actually worked, and the big myths I realized were holding women in this industry back from greater success.
Here are my top 5 Professional Organizer Tips when it comes to a pro. organizer career
1. It’s not all-or-nothing.
There are many women out there in the professional organizing world who are side-hustling a professional organizer career alongside a day job that they may eventually leave. (And some of them have no intention of ever leaving.) This is just a great way for them to make extra money on the side with the skills they already have.
Choosing to have the full-time career you have now and ALSO have a side hustle is a totally valid option, and I want you to know that you are not alone. You also have the option to become a certified pro organizer... or not!
What's known as a side-hustle can be anything from organizing for a client once a month or once every few months, or maybe only taking clients on the weekends. This is a very flexible business that you can fit into whatever it is you're doing right now, and the skillset that you bring to the table is going to be unique.
You’re going to be offering something that your ideal client needs, and you will find clients that want to work with you during the hours that you're available. Abundance mentality for the win!
You don’t have to jump all the way in to follow this dream.
2. You’re already legit.
"Why would somebody pay me to organize their home, when they could just do it themselves?", you ask.
I bet you that the reason why you ask yourself that is because there is nobody around you who has ever even heard of a professional organizer career. Am I right?
Guess what? All of them do have a professional organizer already, and it's you. You have been silently organizing anyone and everyone around you, whether it's at home in your family or at school, for years. And now that you know that professional organizing is a thing, this is a little bit mind-blowing, right?
It's time for you to stop working for free and start to open your eyes to the value of what it is you do.
As you are moving through your everyday life, realize that this is a superpower that not everyone has. There are people out there who would love to pay you to get that result in their own homes and in their own lives. You’ve only been missing the “packaging it into a business” piece.
3. Your clients are looking for the total package.
You are going to be asking people to invest in themselves every single day with you, by utilizing your services and your expertise, so that they can experience great benefit to their life for years to come.
Learning to sell yourself is not optional. But one of the ways to get more comfortable with it is to be a person who knows what it’s like to invest in a service instead of DIYing your way through life.
By hiring a pro organizer, your clients know they are investing in themselves by actively looking for ways to save time and decrease stress.
So, if you're not the kind of person that has ever done anything like that, it's going to feel very, very difficult to ever get comfortable selling your services. You have to walk the walk, too.
There are some small ways that you can get started on your professional organizer career immediately. Go on Amazon and buy a book about a topic that interests you about business skills, or join a free Facebook group about personal development, and really put the tools to use.
Every step you take toward building self-knowledge is going to be a part of the total package that you bring because it’s not only about organizing their stuff. You're also kind of a “blend” of a life coach, therapist, personal trainer, and more.
A professional organizer has the ability to impact someone on multiple levels, so you’ve got to bring lots of layers of value to the table to land amazing clients.
4. Perfectionism works against you.
You really want to do things the right way.
So when you get feedback in your business (whether from a client, peer, or mentor), instead of taking that data and working it into your business plan and seeing how you feel about it, you perceive it as a criticism.
I want you to know that if you have ever felt that way, you are not alone. In fact, when I became a professional organizer, this is something I struggled with big-time in my career. I was afraid to allow anyone to help me because I thought that it made me look weak or like I was unwilling to do it all on my own.
If you are that person, I want you to know that any type of learning that you receive on this business journey is going to be a good thing to level up in organizing industry.
I know that can hurt our pride a little bit sometimes, but I want you to begin to think of yourself as being willing to receive the gifts of feedback in any form at any time, and that none of it is personal to you.
You can take it and put it in your suitcase and unpack it later and decide what of it is helpful to you and what you can just let go of.
Exactly like how you would help organize your clients, right?
5. It’s a dream career, but it’s not all glamorous.
If you covet every ROYGBIV post from The Home Edit and have Konmari’d your closet, your desk, your fridge, and your friends, you in good company.
The acts of decluttering and organizing are incredibly satisfying, and combining that feeling with a paycheck pretty much seems too good to be true.
Plus, there are no requirements for calling yourself a professional organizer, which makes it the perfect side-hustle to start immediately.
So what’s the catch, exactly?
Most people who want to become a professional organizer (or start any career, for that matter) simply aren’t willing to put in the work it takes to brand, market, and sell their services in order to compete in the organizing industry.
People also unwittingly believe professional organizing is about making a space Pinterest-perfect, when really, it goes far beyond that.
Becoming a professional organizer is really about holding the space for change to happen. So most of the time, knowing The Container Store inside and out isn't the real game.
It's being able to stand there as a confident and supportive coach... holding the trash bag. Giving permission to let things go. Helping your client down their path. And that is a more satisfying feeling than any label-maker in the world can give you.
Building a professional organizing career is extremely rewarding, but it's always good to know the great, the bad and the ugly. If you enjoyed these Professional Organizer Tips and are on the path to starting or building this career, make sure you check out our most frequently asked questions page to get even more information on creating a dream job in organizing!
Related Links:
Make your first 1k on a budget
Achieving Goals regardless of obstacles
How to Know if Pro Organizing is right for you
How to become a professional organizer
Are you subscribed to my podcast? If not, I want to encourage you to do that if you don't want to miss an episode. Click here to subscribe to the podcast!
Get on our waiting list for more information about the Inspired Organizer® course.
Download the Professional Organizer's Roadmap to Success to learn more about starting and scaling your professional organizing career.
