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.

What I Talk About:

(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 on Pinterest that says 25 things you can do to market your business. And I printed it out because I’m going to talk about some of these things tonight in the chat. Basically I’m going to run through these 25 things because this pin kind of stood out to me because I’ve done some of these things and I haven’t done some of these other things. So I wanted to talk about that, I wanted to talk about marketing tonight. We’re going to jump right in. So 25 things you can do to market your business. Number one on the list that they wrote is social media. That’s a really big one to write for number one because they’re just including all of social media in this number one thing you can do to market your business.

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

To be honest with you, I had a huge problem with consistency. I had a Facebook page, I had Instagram. Snapchat wasn’t around back when I started, I would have probably enjoy Snapchat more because it was a little less formal. It was a little bit less, it had to be this perfectly styled feed of pictures. As a side note, I think that that would be a really great thing for you guys to try if you’re interested. But in terms of social media as a whole, I did not ever do consistent social media when I was in really the heart of getting clients and building up my clientele with my business. What I did do, and this is probably further down on this 25 lists of things, but what I did do with social media was I did interact with other people’s social media.

I didn’t necessarily build this great like Facebook page or 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 Pro Organizer Studio somewhat, but it’s not my favorite one. And when I was doing it for my organizing business, I literally was lost, I had no idea what to post. 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 that you guys can’t do a great job with it. And in fact, I think it has a lot of potential, 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, record a quick video training, host a webinar or free call sharing with your expertise. Remember to offer your services at the end for people who need more assistance. This is also a great idea, it’s not something I ever did. I never did this to get clients with my organizing business. If I were going to do this, what I would do, in my city there are a couple of women’s business networking groups. And if I were going to really look into hosting a free training in order … And guys keep this in mind when I’m talking about 25 things you can do to market your business. I’m talking about things to get real clients not just to get my name out there or to build visibility. I’m talking about actually getting a paying client.

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

Number three is send notes to past clients, I have absolutely done this. Here’s an interesting thing, here’s a next level tip. I really felt like when I started my business that I needed to have this fancy stationery that matched my business and looked really cool. But again, because I was struggling with a lack of time and I really felt like everything needed to be perfect, I kept over-analyzing, over-analyzing like my branding, I kept redoing my website. This is such a time suck after a certain point. I mean, you want it to be good, but after a certain point you are losing your return on your investment on this. And so one thing that I did when I sent notes to past clients is instead of using something that was perfectly branded to me, I used something 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 bought those cards at this little local stationary shop, sent those to pass clients, and it was really cute. It got the job done. I’m just sharing that. I think that was a really smart move. And I’ll also use those same note cards, this is related probably to something else on this list, but I use those same note cards to send thank you notes or notes to prospective clients too. I didn’t just 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 recommend going 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 five is attend a meetup or networking event. Yes, I have done this. The comment on this list says these are a gold mine to share your business, check with local Chamber of Commerces business groups or business events you can attend and network with others. I have pros and cons on this one, and you guys will probably understand exactly what I’m talking about. When you go to a networking event, if you have ever been to a networking event for any other purpose, you know that they are kind of awkward sometimes unless you’re drinking.

They’re kind of awkward because everybody is there for the exact same reason, and you’re all kind of trying to act like you’re not. With that said, one thing that that could be good for is getting leads for maybe not who your next clients are going to be, but for who your next partners in business in terms of promoting each other. One thing that I talk about is getting to know other business owners that are in your local area that are at least somewhat related to organizing. And so one thing that you could do when you’re going to these networking events is looking for those people not necessarily looking for people who are going to be like, “Oh, yes, I need to get organized.” I mean, occasionally that may happen, but one thing that is just nice is that once you’ve met some of these people and they can refer 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’t really … 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 for me to do some undercover missions. But if it’s called networking, I would go if you have time. But I would not make that the central focus of the marketing for your business. Number six is promote a discount or special offer. So a couple of things about this. You guys know if you have been hanging out with me about my package pricing. Built into my package pricing are discounts based on the level at which you’re investing with me. So I already have discounts and I already have a free consultation.

So I really think that that speaks for itself. So in terms of number six promoting a discount or a special offer, I think that promoting your free consultation as something that is not just free, like it’s actually something that is valuable for people because you are going to come in, give them a few tips. You’re not going to give away your entire knowledge base, but you’re going to be in their home which is valuable in itself. You are going to put your eyes on their situation, start to understand what it is they’re dealing with. And once they already have you in there, I’m telling you that is really what you should be aiming to do. Do as many consultations as possible and 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 to work with you and you get in their house and they see that you have that ability to kind of see beyond what it is that their situation is, then they’re going to fall in love with you and want you to come back. That’s what you guys should all be working towards, work towards getting the consultation. And if you’re not clear on what you need to do once you go into consultation, you have to take my master class because that is what it is about, it is about selling yourself, having the confidence to know what to say, what not to say, and basically how to not lose the sale. Because once you have a flaky uncommitted person 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 to lose.

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

But I didn’t have a way to collect people’s emails just for visiting my website. There’s a lot of information. I mean, if you guys want to know how to do this, Pinterest has a million tips for you, how to build up or promote a freebie so that when people come to your website that they’re going to want to sign up just to get the freebie and then therefore then you’ll have their email address and be able to market to them in the future. It’s a brilliant idea, but the amount of information that’s out there on that now wasn’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 it wasn’t something that I started doing on my website at the beginning. And so it’s something that I used to build up my client base.

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

And so if people sign up, you can have people that might not even sign up for your big freebie. My big freebie is my email course, but if 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 list that 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 articles out there. All right, number eight is write a guest post. The blurb on this says this will help you get in front of a brand new audience, choose another website 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’m revealing, I’m telling you guys all the things I did wrong, I’m telling you just blatantly.

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

I would focus it around how they organize their small businesses because I wanted to spotlight number one, how amazing and fun and successful they are, but also how they are using organizing skills in their business. And so that was a way because they would share that post with their clients and on their Facebook and their social media, which they were doing so awesome at. They would share that I had interviewed them and that made them look good. That made me look good, and it brought more people to my website that didn’t know about me before. So even if you don’t write a guest post, have somebody else write a post for you on your blog.

Number nine is strategic partnerships. Yes, I have done this. This is one of the backbone main pieces of content within the third module of my masterclass. And I tell you guys exactly how to do it, what to say, who to target, and how to not waste your time. So that is one of the ways that your business is going to grow, that you’re going to have really solid base to work from when you’re building up your clientele, people who know about you, people who will recommend you, people who are already in your ideal clients’ 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 who will promote you all day long. So if you don’t know how to do this and if you’re totally confused or if it never dawned on you that you might need to do this, you need to sign up for the master class because I lay it all out there for you and it will become obvious to you how to get those partnerships going.

Okay, number 10, Facebook groups. Awesome, okay. The little blurb about Facebook groups says these are groups made just for networking, groups filled with business owners of all industries. And you can do a simple search to find the right ones to start networking in. You could join other Facebook groups that are relevant to your area, I think that’s a really brilliant idea. You can also start your own, which I know some of the girls in our group have started their own Facebook groups in order to give away, not give away everything they know, but give away some tips about organizing, share their ideas, be able to interact with potential clients. I think it’s brilliant. It’s not something that I would probably spend a ton of hours on when you’re starting. If you want to get clients now, I would not do this. I would call this a very slow strategy, it’s not a fast I need clients yesterday strategy, 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 a huge audience of viewers, and this could help you get in front of a whole new group of ideal clients. So yes, if you create a YouTube video, what are you going to do with it? You need to either be posting it on a Facebook page that you already have a hundred fans, and they’re going to see it and then they would share it for you. You need to be creating something that has some value to 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 for you. That’s really important.

You want to do a YouTube video that is going to showcase your expertise or otherwise promote something. It needs to showcase your expertise in organizing, but also maybe it would be a lead in to promote the idea of you doing a live free training. That was in number two. Because you could point back to your YouTube video and say, “Well, so I love talking about this topic, here’s a video I did on it.” And you could show that. It doesn’t have to be something that is super professional, something that’s shareable. Something that is going to make you look good, that you’re going to be proud of for a long time. Now, if you’re posting YouTube videos just hoping to get local clients, you’re not likely to get 100,000 views, so you really need to have a strategy for what you’re doing with that.

But again, it can be something that you aren’t expecting to get 100,000 subscribers for, but that you want to be able to share to maybe local TV stations or somebody else that could use that and say, “Hey, this person speaks well and presents well, and she seems like she knows what she’s talking about.” And if you think that you could be using that to get other opportunities, go for it.

Number 12, speak at local events. Sort of similar to number two for the host of free training, but it’s a little bit different. For speaking at local events, you don’t really have to train people on how to organize. 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 and you’re willing to speak at a local event, then you have the opportunity to promote your business, especially at the end, they’re likely to want to get your card or find out more about you or definitely go to your website.

This is something that I have not done either. I know y’all are shocked right now because I seem like I talk a lot, but in real life business I did not have time for this. This was not one of my I need clients now strategies. This would have been something I would’ve done if somebody had asked me, first of all. I don’t know, there would’ve had to been something fun about it because I don’t like networking for the sake of networking. I really want it to be something that’s going to have a social aspect to it. And if I got to talk about something that I was really excited about, that would be cool. But I just wouldn’t sign up just for any old local event.

For example, my local library has all kinds of speakers about financial training and tax preparation. And I think that there was a professional 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 a Wednesday night. Number 13, create a freebie. So it says create a high value resource for your ideal fans that they can opt into your email list for, checklist, challenges, resource guides, or mini courses. This is also related to one we’ve already talked about, email your subscriber list. So this ties into number seven, email your subscriber list.

If you create a freebie, you must, must make sure that you have a way for people to sign up on your email list in order to get the freebie. Otherwise you’re losing the opportunity to get their email address or their contact information or whatever. Now, here’s something. I have literally looked at hundreds of professional organizers’ websites. And lot of what people use as their freebie to get your email address or your phone number whatever is your brochure or your pricing and more information about your business. In order to get more information, I need to take your email address and all this kind of stuff. I personally don’t believe in that.

I think that you need to post your pricing on your website so that people don’t have to give you, they don’t have to give you their email address just to find out how much you cost because first of all, I think that’s going to end up wasting your time because you’re going to have people on your email list that weren’t really interested or weren’t really your true ideal clients in the first place. They just wanted to find out the basic information about your website, and they had to put their email address in in order to get that. That should not be your freebie, your freebie should be something like what this says, a challenge, a resource guide, mini courses, checklists.

I personally created … Oh, sorry, I didn’t say. Did I do this or did I not do this? I have never done this. I never did this for my organizing website, but I do have a template which I never used. I could still do this. I have a thousand ideas that things I could have done or should have done, but I haven’t done them yet. I have a template of a basic here’s how I would organize an entire house plan.

Now, it’s not customized at all for anybody’s special needs. It’s just like, here’s how I would start, the three places I would start, then the next three places, then the next three places, then the next three places. And then within 12 steps, that would be your entire house, like here’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 as my freebie or I should have used that as my download because a lot of people that come to your website are going to end up deciding that they should … And stay with me here, they’re going to come to your website, they’re going to see the prices, they’re going to see you. They’re going to be like, “Oh, I wish I could afford this girl, but I should do this on my own.”

So if you had your own just basic template plan, and that was your freebie to download, then you could have those people put in their email address. They downloaded your template, and then let’s say a month later or two months later or three months later, they get an email from you. And it says, “How are things going? Did you get your house organized?” And I guarantee 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 I ended up realizing I either don’t have the time, I don’t have the energy or I don’t know how to do this,” or they tried to and they just got overwhelmed on step one. And that’s where you have the opportunity to sell them on your services to come in and be like, “Perfect, I would love to help you if you’re interested in doing the consultation. Here’s some times I’m available.” Boom, do it.

All right. Number 14, host a giveaway. It says, want to get new eyes on your brand, give something away, whether it’s products or even a service. This can give you a pool of new people who need what you have to market to in the future. Oh, they need what you have to market to in the future. I never did this for my business, hosting a giving giveaway. If I were going to host a giveaway, now that’s tough because I think most giveaways are junky 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 get organized 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 about that. How would you give away? So you could give away a session, and I know a lot of people try that at first, especially if they’re launching a new business or they’re launching a new Facebook page, then they’ll say, I’m going to give away a session or I’m going to give away three sessions to whatever people meet these requirements or I’m going to have a drawing. That’s one way to go about it. I personally would not do free work, and I would not give away my sessions unless I knew exactly who those people were. I wouldn’t give away a session to just anybody. I would make sure that it’s somebody who is in my ideal client’s network, meaning she has other people that she would refer me to that would be willing 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 my picture, I would take pictures of her house or my before and afters in her house, and I would make sure it looks like the kind of house like I want to be working in. I don’t want it to look like I went and did a charity project, I want 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 intentions and they want to help every person out there. But if it’s not the kind of job that looks like an ideal client job, do not do it for free. Don’t even think about 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 to your own community and either make a donation or contribute your services to an organization in exchange for a business promotion. So I’ve never done this either, but I do think this could be a really great idea. It’s kind of for similar reasons as the last one. If you are giving away, certainly, certainly once you’ve gotten to the point where your business is profitable, you’re making money on a regular basis and you can afford to be a donor for a local charity or organization, I would be thrilled for you guys to do that. And I think that’s a wonderful way to put your name on something and to give back to a cause that you believe in.

But in terms of sponsoring, this is what this made me think of. It made me think of going to a charity gala where there’s a silent auction and a lot of people will give away their services or they’ll include their services as part of the auction. So I’ll just speak on that here. I have heard some good and bad stories about this, either it could be good. But you want to just be careful because you’re basically contracting or more or less promising that you’re going to go and spend a package of time, a package of some amount of time with somebody who has won your auction, and you don’t know who they are. I mean, it could be great, it could be wonderful or it could be not wonderful and it could be not good for your business. It could end up being a waste of time that you could have spent getting your ideal clients rather than giving your services away to somebody who is never going to refer you to somebody else and who is a pain to work with.

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

All right. So if you did interview others, one thing you could 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 interview your clients and post their interviews on your blog or your website or your social media. It could be like a very mini, it could be a mini interview. It doesn’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 the changes 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 on your own? What was it like trying to work with your parents on your own or what was it like trying to negotiate between your own sisters and brothers who was going to go and help your parents downsize?

You’re really like digging into their situation and then asking them, what are the benefits? What are the things that you have seen help your family? You’re really digging in with them, it’s more than just a testimonial where they say, “Oh my gosh, Jen was so great, she came in and did her thing, and I would totally recommend her.” A testimonial can be a little bit surface level. And I think if you’re interviewing a client, you can really dig into their situation. And that shows your potential clients, like for example, if you make it into a blog post, it shows your potential clients how much you care about this stuff. It’s not just about the people stuff, it’s about improving their relationships with other people in their family and helping their home run better.

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

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

But what if you just have people BYOB, bring their own wine. 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 went through paperwork or your jewelry drawer. What if you can bring your crap that you don’t want to do, that you know that you need to go through and you can hold up to somebody else like, “Do I need this or do I not need this?” And what if you had a professional organizer like yourself who had the expertise to tell you you don’t need to keep a receipt from Kohl’s from 10 years ago. Good to go, you could throw it away.

What if you had a professional organizer who could just make something that is not very fun fun for a lot of people in a social situation. Now, I know that that probably sounds like the nerdiest thing in the world, and I’ve never shared this out loud before, but I would be so excited if one of you guys did that and then your friends were like, “That was actually a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be.”

Now, is that going to get you more clients? I have no idea, but it could be just a way for people to know what a professional organizer is, which could also be a good thing. I think that would be a good thing for your branding and your slow marketing strategies in the long run. The next thing is number 19, run a Facebook ad. Yes, I have done this. Yes, it works. You guys have heard me talk about this. If you have watched any of my past videos the way I got my very first client, my first client ever was through a Facebook ad. So I do talk about Facebook ads in my master class, I tell you how to do it without spending a ton of money. I know it seems intimidating. I do make you guys take responsibility for the fact that you have to figure out your own …

Your website has to be on point, there’s no getting around that. You have to get your website to where it needs to be before the Facebook ads are going to work, and you do have to do the technical side. You have to understand the technical side. But I have offered to my current students that if they need help with any part of the technical side, the technical side of just implementing the Facebook ad in itself I will help you do it. I’m going to make sure that it’s not intimidating because y’all, if you’ve done any research into 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 ad and 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, and she didn’t call me back. Are we shocked? No, because she’s disorganized, she is flaky. She was going through a very hard time in her life. So I would call her back like every two or three days, no big deal. After a week, I finally synced up with her. We set up a time for me to go on the consultation, I went on the consultation. She wrote me a check at the consultation. Again, this all works together. The consultation, the sales, the pricing, the marketing, the branding, the ads, everything works together. But she was obviously completely sold on my services and she wrote me a check for $2,029. That was my first client ever.

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

If you want to know how I do that, you need to be in the master 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 chat is. It says connect with other Twitter users and chat about topics you’re experts in and use a cohesive hashtag and have everyone invite their fans to join. So if you guys do love Twitter and you want to have a Twitter chat, and if you’re a professional organizer, what are you going to talk about? I would suggest that you gear your Twitter chat around seasonal specific topics rather than just general organizing. I think that all of us are really passionate about organizing for certain reasons, it helps you so much with stress and it helps you be able to focus and it just makes your whole life better.

But I think that maybe if you’re doing something like a Twitter chat, it really needs to be about a really specific topic. If it’s tax season, 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 stressful because blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I mean, you guys got to come up with your own content. But to help you with this if you’re interested in this, I do have a 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 have seasonal content for your blog, this is what this post is about, but you could repurpose it into ideas for your next Twitter chat or for your next YouTube video.

It’s all organized by month so that you’re always working on something that’s about to be relevant for the next month, more or less. You gotta look at it and plan your content out. So if you’re interested in that, go to my blog or search, just Google Pro Organizer Studio blog content ideas for a year. That’s literally what it’s called, yearly blog content ideas for professional organizers. I have this blog post and I just dumped my entire brain into. This is every idea I’ve ever had that I put in a notebook I put it into this post for you guys so that you have a constant flow of ideas and no matter what month it is, it’s all organized for you.

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

But if you get one yes, great. Nine nos, who cares? Maybe they’ll say not right now, maybe in the future or you can kind of refine your idea based on their feedback. If they tell you we need something more specific from 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 the fortune is in the followup, you have to make sure that you’re staying on top of these things.

Number 21 is reach out to local media, but also local media will reach you if you’re doing the right things, and if you have your marketing is on point, branding is on point, you’re showing that you are doing great work in this business. People will reach out to you because they want to hear your opinion and they want to have you come be the expert on their new show 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 the masterclass.

Number 22 is comment on blogs, comment on influencer blogs, make them thoughtful and relevance. Other fans will see them and be interested in who you are. I got a couple of comments about that. Make sure you’re doing that strategically because it would be very, very easy for you guys to make yourself believe that you’re doing work to market your business by reading and commenting on. And we’re talking about local blogs, it’s got to be local or it’s not going to get you clients. But even if you’re doing local blogs, it would be easy for you to fool yourself into thinking, I am doing real work, and I’m working on my business. But it might not be. What I would be making sure that you’re doing is not just commenting on the blog. And this goes for actually social media as well, it’s not just about blogs, but it’s about if you’re following other people’s Instagram, if you’re following people’s Facebook pages, you need to make sure that you … If you’re engaging with these people that you’re not just putting a bunch of emojis and saying awesome posts.

It needs to be thoughtful comments, and it needs to be something that is building your relationship with that person. So to sum this up is just to make sure that when you think about engagement that you’re thinking about building a real life relationship and not just an online relationship. But your online relationship might lead to that real life relationship. But if you’re not working towards getting a face-to-face meeting with these people, then I think that you’re wasting your time. They would appreciate the fact that you comment on their blog or comment on their social media, but unless you are taking the initiative. And it kind of like takes a little bit of balls, you need to be the kind of person who you get to know somebody’s work through their social media and then eventually you’re just like, “I would love to meet you, when can we get together for coffee?”

Takes a little bit of confidence in your approach, but it gets 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 recommend you in terms of what it is you’re doing, you’re going into other people’s houses. So these people aren’t going to recommend just anybody, they want to recommend somebody that they have met in person. So it’s not just going to be because 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 great way to put your value out in the world. Remember to ask viewers to share with their 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 like Periscope can come and go so fast. And I think for example Snapchat is something that has grown really, really, really, really slowly because people kept thinking it was just for teenagers, and now it’s becoming something that people are using for business. So I’m switching over to Snapchat instead of Periscope for just a minute, but we’ll come back. Let me explain Snapchat for you guys in terms of your overall marketing plan. Instagram and Facebook are easy ways for people to find you, they don’t know you or you can link to those social media pages from your website. But once people know you, then I think Snapchat or Periscope or something like Periscope is a great way for people to really be like your insider behind the scenes crew.

And that’s the way I’m using Snapchat with you guys. I’m not 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 or Google or whatever. You probably found the free course and then you came into the Facebook group. And now some of you that are in the Facebook group, I would love for more of you to follow me on Snapchat, but my Snapchat is really for you guys, it’s not for anybody else. I don’t cater it towards the new people that I might come across out on the online world. So Periscope, if you guys were going to use something like this or have used something like Snapchat or used something like Periscope, I think that that would be a really cool way for you to connect or you could do something like Facebook live if you do have a Facebook page or a group.

It would be a cool way for you to connect with people who are already following you, but it’s not going to be a way for you to get new clients. I think that it would be really fun once you have a client base, you could tell your clients … And this is a great value add actually, and I’ve never thought about this before, but a great value add for your clients is once you’re a client, you get invited to these once a month Facebook chats or once a month Twitter chats or once a month Periscope videos. It just be a cool thing for you to connect with them, it doesn’t take a ton of your extra time and you’re just sharing expertise without giving it all away.

And one thing that’s good y’all with organizing clients is they’re never going to do it all on their own, and they know that. So you being kind of like an example to them or an influence to them is really, really valuable just by itself because they know that they know you already and you are there sharing your passion or sharing your latest thoughts on whatever maybe your specialty is. If you have a specialty in kids, organizing or tutoring children or helping kids with ADHD, I have no idea. Whatever your specialty could be, you have maybe a new book that you’ve read or a new course that you’ve taken and you just want to kind of share it with your clients from the past and also your potential clients, then that will be a really cool way for you to interact with them. So that can be something you guys think about.

All right, the last one. Number 25, guest posts on other blogs. Is this not something that … Oh my goodness, they repeated number eight, write a guest post. It’s the exact same thing. Number 25, guest post on other blogs. So we already talked about this, but it says get your content in front of as many people as you can. So since we talked about this in number eight, 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 that if you really are in that stage where you’re trying to get clients now that you need to really focus your content on moving towards a one-on-one interaction as soon as possible. You don’t need to spend a ton of time perfecting your social media content when what you really need is you need to be having one-on-one interactions with people who can either get you clients or become a client. And when you’re building your business, that has got to be your sole focus 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 to help you guys out or any other kind of questions you guys have. Good night.

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