Office Organizing
Harold Taylor is a time management expert. He produces a monthly newsletter. Here is one of his articles. I hope you enjoy it.
Harold Taylor of Taylor in Time
Managing E-mail
Do you respond to a lot more email messages than you originate? Are you deleting emails unanswered or unread? Are you spending so much time reacting to email that you don’t have time for creativity, relaxation and renewal? If so, calculate your “Reactive Ratio.”
Reactive Ratio
Count the total number of email messages you receive during the day. Include spam, egroup messages and newsletters whether you still read them or not. Divide the total number of incoming email messages by the number that you send during the day. The resulting ratio should be as low as possible.
You can easily calculate this ratio if you don’t delete or move anything until the end of the day – even those that you have answered. The next morning, quickly count the total number of emails received the previous day as well as those sent the same day.
If the ratio is high, take action by cancelling newsletters that you seldom read, getting off groups you don’t participate in, placing spam filters at higher levels, and getting off mailing lists. Consider using a different email address for purchases to avoid spam. Question whether all incoming messages require a reply. For instance, don’t thank people for thanking you. Consider adding “No reply necessary” to many of your outgoing messages. And investigate apps such as “unroll.me.”
Control Outgoing Email
Your outgoing messages also consume time and generate incoming messages. So question whether a quick phone call is better. Don’t copy people who have no need for the information.Decide whether a quick phone call is more productive than sending an email. Share on X
Reduce the Total Time Spent on Emailing
Even more important than your “Reactive Ratio” is the total time you spend on email each day. Keep messages brief. Use text replacement software for longer & repetitive replies such as instructions or directions. Allocate specific times to check and respond to email. This could be one hour late morning and one hour late afternoon. If you can get by with less time, so much the better. But don’t fragment your day by checking email every few minutes or every hour.
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Share a hack that helps you to control the amount of time you spend on email.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
I support continuing education for everyone in whatever field you are interested in. I know that you agree because you are reading blogs to learn more about organizing and to improve your skills. I continue to do that too.
I have attended some interesting conferences over the years .Conferences help you to expand your horizons, learn new information, meet new people, travel to new places and improve your skill set. Share on X
Association of Professional Declutterers and Organizers Conference
This is the professional organization in Britain. I attended a conference in London England. I had a chance to learn from and share ideas with Professional Organizers from Scotland, Wales, Dubai, the United States and the Netherlands. I enjoyed the sessions on Minimalism, Chronic Disorganization, learning about the brain- executive function system, making videos with your cellphone and becoming a better speaker. Not so enjoyable but very necessary was a session on the new information privacy policies in Europe which also affect us in Canada. At the conference, they were organizing their yearly Spring Clearing Week. I liked the idea of Spring Clearing instead of Spring Cleaning and started using this term in my information. We really don’t do a big spring cleaning anymore because our houses, furnaces, air quality and society are much cleaner. In the past, it was important to clean thoroughly after being shut inside with fireplaces burning, dirt floors, wooden walls, and unpaved streets. Now it is important to take control of the clutter that develops as we move from season to season changing clothing and activities. Clutter affects our well-being so remember to do spring and fall clearing. Lastly, the food was delicious and the networking fantastic.
Association of Russian Professional Organizer Conference
Association of Russian Professional Organizers
I was contacted to be a surprise North American speaker for their conference. We connected over Skype and they interviewed me about how I operate my business and how the industry of Professional Organizing runs in Canada. Russia is a big country. To give you a feel for the size, it has 10 time zones, Canada has 5 time zones. There were 84 participants from many parts of Russia and Japan. It was a fun experience and so rewarding to see their smiles and hear their gasps when I was introduced. The conference organizer would ask a question in Russian, the interpreter asked it to me in English, I answered in English, the interpreter translated to Russian and then the audience laughed. They run their businesses very similarly to the way most organizers in North American setup their businesses. They have the same difficulties as we do marketing effectively and getting clients. I was so excited to learn from their enthusiasm, joy and dedication.
Professional Organizers in Canada Conference
This conference was in Kelowna, British Columbia. The theme was Renew and Recharge. Many of the presentations built on each other. We started with a session about dealing with fears that hold you back from taking the next step. Write down your fears, determine how to overcome them and what steps you will take. This theme continued in a marketing session and a session on Minimalism about taking steps to change your lifestyle. In a session on bullet journaling one of the things that was touched on was about how to reflect on successes and failures. It was an interesting thread that carried through a number of sessions, accidentally. That year I went to conference as a presenter for the first time. It was nerve racking but rewarding and fun. I talked about how to make your office more productive, creative, inspired and healthy by making small changes to the workplace environment. Make conscious decisions about the type of lighting, paint colour, room temperature, drinking water, having plants in your office. Stop multitasking, use music to help you focus on tasks, identify productivity pit-stops, things that draw your attention away from the task you are doing. Apply good ergonomic design concepts in your office, get enough sleep, change your working position every 30 minutes from standing to sitting, change the type of task you are doing to avoid repetitive strain injuries and change the location of where you are working because your posture will change and that causes you to use different muscle groups. The food was fantastic and it was fun to start each morning with a yoga class.
Take a fresh approach to conferences
A common thread in my conference experience is great people, food and information. But going to conferences in your professional field may start to feel unproductive after a number of years. I took a fresh approach this year. Focus on the participants and share ideas and learn from each other. Watch how other people network and improve your networking skills. Look at presentations with a new eye and learn how to improve your presentations and speaking style. Conquer a fear, become one of the presenters at your national conference. It will help you grow in knowledge and expertise. Combine your conference experience with travel. I enjoyed traveling on the tube and exploring London, England and seeing the Harry Potter movie set. Kelowna is a lovely town to walk around, hike up a local mountain or go on a wine tour. Expand your horizons learn new information, meet new people, travel to new places and improve your skill set.
Tell me about your conference experience.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
My guest blogger is Olivia Cordell from AppsGrooves
AppGrooves, just published this article on the Best Apps for Making Digital To-Do Lists which I thought would be super helpful to busy people like you! AppGrooves has one of the most comprehensive collections of app-related analytics data, and we use it to rank the top apps on the App Store in over 600 categories that we designed. We do this to save you the time and stress of figuring out which apps are best to download and use.
Best 10 To Do List Apps
AppGrooves has filtered the best 10 apps for “To Do List” in Productivity from 1,939 apps. Check it out!
1 Any.do: To-do list, Calendar, Reminders & Planner
By Any.do
Why we love this
- An intuitive, straightforward planner! Instantly create quick memos & organize your monthly calendar in a matter of seconds
- Need to buy fruit next time you visit a grocery store? Set up a smart reminder that will alert you when you reach a specific location
- With the powerful Home Widget, you have your entire, neatly organized to-do list right on the home screen
2. TickTick: To Do List with Reminder, Day Planner
By Appest Inc.
How to manage time⏳, get things done ✔ and accomplish tasks! ??
Why we love this
- Thanks to Smart Date Parsing, adding notes via voice or type input automatically sets a reminder without you having to do anything.
- Smart with your productivity! Discover useful statistics that turn your working schedules into a beautiful graph.
3. To-Do List
by Splend Apps
SplenDO is a smart task list for everyday use. Truly usable, and splendid in action!
Collaborate with your friends & coworkers! Create joint task lists & effortlessly sync your mutual to-dos.
Why we love this
- The ability to group tasks in neat Task Lists makes sure your to-do list stays organized no matter how many notes you add.
- Staying organized made easy! Quickly set up due dates, view tasks that are past due & check off completed tasks to stay efficient.
- In a hurry? Instantly add tasks to the Quick Task Bar whenever you need to schedule something important.
4. To Do Reminder with Alarm
By App Innovation
Why we love this
- Remembers everything for you! Easily add reminders, set alarms & quickly sync with Facebook or Gmail to automatically add birthdays & anniversaries
- Scheduled a meeting two weeks ago? Easily send reminders to other people with a single tap
- Stay organized even while driving! The smart Drive Mode allows you to safely handle notifications without taking your eyes off the road
5. Todoist: To-do lists for task management & errands
By Doist
Stress less about getting things done. Create your task list & accomplish more.
To-do lists for task management & errands
Why we love this
- Remove the stress with colours! Use colour-coding to easily pinpoint crucial tasks and add a little fun
- Adding recurring tasks is super easy! Simply type “every second Thursday” & see notes magically appear on the calendar exactly as you want
- The intuitive Drag&Drop feature makes organizing folders & subfolders as easy as turning on your device.
6. To-Do List, Task List
By Pocket Universe, LLC
A playful to-do list in the spirit of Eisenhower’s priority matrix
7. Wunderlist: To-Do List & Tasks
By 6 Wunderkinder GmbH
8. GTasks: Todo List & Task List
By Appest Inc.
Synchronize Your To Do Tasks | List with Google
9. Tasks: Astrid To-Do List Clone
By Alex Baker
10. Microsoft To-Do
By Microsoft Corporation
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She enjoys working with her clients to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She reduces clutter, streamlines processes and manages time to help her clients be more effective in reaching their goals. Julie can coach you to break-free of the physical or emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Do you want your desk to say you are a leader, hard worker, and creative? Could your desk say that you are messy, boring, and behind the times? Let your workspace be your business card. You may have a physical office or a portable office, organize it to suit your needs so you can work efficiently, and show your clients that you are knowledgeable and a leader in your field.
This mobile work station can help to keep your work organized
Technology
Use technology that helps you accomplish your business. Having state of the art technology that you don’t understand and can’t use competently or having outdated technology will give your clients the wrong impression. Purchase the technology that is right for you and your budget. Don’t fall into the trap of buying technology that is more powerful than you need to make a “good” impression. Clients may feel like you are showing off. Show your clients that you are knowledgeable, prepared appropriately and ready to lead them through the task at hand.
Desk Photo / Screen Saver
Use a photo that lets your clients learn something new about you. Make yourself memorable to your clients. Make sure it is in good taste, you want to make a professional impression on your potential clients. Be authentic, not boring. An interesting screen saver on your laptop will have the same effect.
Business Cards
Have them close at hand so you can give them out at the appropriate time. You don’t want people to take them because they feel obligated, you want them to have them because they are interested in you. Make sure your business card is professionally designed. If you want to show you are a leader don’t use the free sites. Make sure they are readable, scannable, classic and interesting. Good supplies show that you value quality and do quality work.
Piles on Your Desk / Piles of Paper in Your Bag
This relates to your organizing style. Too many piles give the impression you are behind in your work and may not be able to help your clients in a timely manner. The perfect office will make some clients feel uncomfortable because they will feel like they are not good enough to work with you. Determine how you function best, piles, filing cabinets, trays, desktoppers. Remember to keep loose papers neatly piled or stored in the way that works best for you. Lead by example, if you are prepared to work then others follow your work ethic making it easier to accomplish the job on time.
Lighting
When you enter your office is it dark and stark or bright and light? What does that say about you? I don’t care, I don’t notice details or I am open and I want you to be comfortable. Adding lighting to your office can make the space more inviting, and interesting and make it easier for clients to read information. If you are dealing with an older population eyesight can be declining. Good lighting makes it easier for them to engage with the information. The more ways you show your clients you understand their needs the more likely they are to trust that you are an expert.
Books
Keep up with popular books in your industry, even if you don’t find them interesting. Your clients may ask you about them. You want to be able to make a comment that helps them to understand the value of the book or article. You can also display a few books to show your clients that you have diverse interests in intriguing topics. It shows them that you like to expand your knowledge. Leaders develop many skills not just the ones directly related to their business. Skills and knowledge learned from others make you a better leader.
Pictures on the Wall
Displaying your certification and education reassures clients of your expertise. But a wall full of outdated certificates may not give the best impression. Have a couple that shows your current accomplishments. You want your clients to know you value education and keeping current is important.
Try to Avoid
- Leaving your unfinished lunch on display
- Having your desk cluttered with staplers, pens, tape dispensers, post-it notes, etc. Keep them in your desk drawer or in a box. Have your desk say that you are a leader and expert.
- Silly objects, you are trying to show your clients that you are a leader, not a funny one.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
Do You Play Well with Others? A look at cooperative competition
Coopetition occurs when companies work together for parts of their business where they do not believe they have competitive advantage and where they believe they can share common costs. (Source: Wikipedia)
In my experience, most professional organizers are very happy to share resources and expertise with their colleagues and reap many rewards from doing so. I asked my client, Julie Stobbe, about her thoughts on the subject, and was so impressed that I invited her to share them here today as my guest blogger.
Cooperating with someone in your line of business is a great way to get to know people, brainstorm and learn ideas and help each other with areas that you are weak in.
When I decided to try coopetition, I did it on a project basis. I used it to help me to market better, because marketing is not my strength.
I would think about something I would like to have (product development) or something I would like to do (offer a new service) and think about someone who had mentioned that they had an interest in the same thing. I would approach them with an idea and see if they were interested in working together to develop and implement the plan. It was nice to have a partner to walk the path with and hold my hand.
The payoff is having to do half the work while increasing business for both parties with the understanding that if they get busy and need help, they would approach me first, and I would do the same for them. If you develop a service with a partner, if someone gets sick, you have the other person as backup. I always selected someone who lived east of my main marketing area. This made it easy to get materials delivered over a larger area – half the work, twice the area covered. This gave us both exposure to a larger market.
Here are some examples of projects I’ve worked on with people in my field and with complementary businesses:
- Developing organizing tip booklets; we have 4 different topics.
- Developing courses to offer to colleges, school boards and groups; we have 3 different 3 hour courses prepared.
- Advertising someone else’s electronic resources (because I don’t want to develop them at this time) in exchange for services.
- Advertising together so the cost of printing is shared by both companies.
- Recommending specialty services to clients, such as clutter removal service, rug cleaning, and website design.
- Inviting someone to attend new meetings and events with me. That way I don’t have to walk in alone, and perhaps they can make introductions too.
Although I have been fortunate and careful with whom I partner, there are always things to consider.
- The person you partner with now represents your company as well as their own. Make sure you have similar business ethics or your company’s reputation may be adversely affected.
- If you are producing a product and the quality of what they produce is not up to your standards, you may be disappointed. However, you have both contributed time and money to the project so they may use it the way they want to.
- One of the companies may work much harder at marketing the product or service than the other company. Make sure that you can live with it if you realize that you are marketing them but they are not marketing you.
Overall, I have gained a lot from coopetition with others. I have grown as a business person, I have learned new skills, I have made good friends I can depend on, and I have learned to be flexible. I hope my coopetition partners have found me to be reasonable, supportive and hard working. Taking a chance to work with good people is really making a sure bet.
Thanks to Janet Barclay of Organized Assistant for interviewing me.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
In October 2015 Professional Organizers in Canada celebrated their 15th National Conference in Toronto. Often times people look at the cost of a conference and decide it is not worth going. There are 6 reasons to go to a conference.
1. Grow Your Business
You will learn new information and other peoples’ perspectives on the information. We had great speakers that taught us about marketing our business with speaking for Success by Sarah Hilton, Marketing for Success by Sarah Buckwalter and networking and volunteering to grow your business by Mary Dystra
2. Learn new Online Skills
Social media changes quickly. Whether through a session or while networking you can gain tips to help you better understand social media. We had the opportunity to learn about blogging from Janet Barclay, and apps and online tools from Samantha Kristoferson
Social media can be a challenge
3. Become Better at Your Profession
Go to learn new skills and niches in your profession. We learned about the specialized skills we need to do Digital Photo Organizing by Lisa Kurtz, to work with Special Needs’ Clients and Their Families by Leslie Josel and Dr, Regina Lark and to know how to help Clients with Traumatic Illness & Injury by Lisa Mark and Maureen DeGarmo
Leslie Josel also works with students
4. Become Passionate about What you Do
Having a passion for your profession helps to make you the best you can be at what you do. Sometimes you lose that passion. Spending time with liked minded people at a conference can spark that passion again. Lisa Layden helped us to discover our Big Visions and Big Dreams and Elaine Quinn focused on Secrets to Loving our Business. Val Low helped us to move from being Unfocused to Unstoppable
Lisa has courses on her website to help grow your business
5. Become Involved in Your Association
When you attend a conference you get a glimpse into what is needed to run a professional association. You can see how becoming involved in growing your profession helps you to grow as a person and develop skills. Carolyn Caldwell and Elinor Warkentin helped to develop a model on how to make ethical decisions.
6. Have Fun
Getting outside your comfort zone meeting new people, visiting a new city and trying new things can be fun. We had the opportunity to get a massage from the students at Trillium College Toronto, see the Blue Jays at the Rogers Center or Nathan Phillips Square, and enjoy shopping and restaurants. The conference is about people and building relationships in the way that works best for you.
Let me know why you attend conferences.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually through Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
There are many networking groups available to business people to make connections with potential clients and 
businesses. Groups meet for breakfast, lunch or supper. Some groups have an educational component. Most networking groups are based on building relationships with the members of the group so to be successful choose a group that you can attend regularly for two years. If you are looking for a networking group go to the Meetup.com site to find a group in your area.
Some people do find that they don’t have enough time in their day to exercise. Here are 2 ways to combine networking and exercise.
1. Netwalking – Instead of meeting for a coffee, meet while walking. During the good weather walk outside during cooler weather, walk inside on a track, at a mall or along hallways. Most malls open early and have mall walking programs.
2. Sweatworking – Fitness clubs are starting networking groups. In this environment, you naturally have a common interest, health and exercise. This is a more relaxed atmosphere to build relationships with other networkers. Here is a great article describing sweat working. http://www.forbes.com/sites/learnvest/2015/06/01/sweatworking-the-new-way-to-advance-your-career/2/
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
It starts again on July 1, 2015
You may remember that in April I joined the Ultimate Blogging Challenge where you blog every day for a month. I started out great for the first 10 days feeling like I had some fun content. The suggestions they sent as part of the resources were somewhat helpful. I had forgotten about blogging about books. They suggested blogging about fun days and so I talked about the world figure skating championships. However, as time went on my business got very busy and I felt like I didn’t have interesting content so I blogged less. I am glad I tried this experiment because:
1. It is not for me, once a week is a good time frame for me. I can keep up with the schedule and I have content I am proud to share
2. I discovered that my new blog had not been set up the way I thought and articles were not being shared with my social media sites. Since I was blogging regularly I noticed the change and got it corrected.
3. I received 30 different ideas for blogging. Most were personal rather than business topics but they are excellent for brainstorming new ideas and new approaches to blogging.
So overall I think the experiment was valuable. Give it a try, it starts again on July 1, 2015 and let me know how it went for you.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of teaching to reduce clutter, in your home, office, mind and time. She guides and supports you to be accountable for your time, to complete projects and to reach your goals. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
What is a virtual assistant?
Virtual Assistants are professionals who supply businesses with help in areas where the owner can’t or doesn’t want to do certain tasks. This allows the owner to do the work that they are good at and hire a Virtual Assistant for as many hours as they need or can afford.
Who is Janet Barclay?
Janet Barclay of Organized Assistant www.organizedassistant.com is a fantastic Virtual Assistant. She specializes in website design and social media. She designed my first website 13 years ago and redesign my new responsive WordPress website. She takes care of hosting the site and letting me know what directories I might want my site on in addition to the directories she has already used. She is a wealth of information and will answer my questions quickly and clearly.
An Organized Assistant can help you virtually all the time
Need blogging help?
She also is a blogger. She runs Blogging Organizers for, yes, Professional Organizers who blog and Professional Organizers Blog Carnival. This blog has a different topic each month and contains lots of information for the public, submitted by Professional Organizers. Her current topic is Organizing Basements and Attics http://organizedassistant.com/organizing-basements-and-attics-professional-organizers-blog-carnival/ She helps the industry and Professionals Organizer become better known to the public. If you are in a specific industry, look at her blogs and how she is helping the industry to grow, increasing her visibility and helping other people in the industry. It is a great model to explore if you want to become a leader in your industry and love blogging.
Website design
Janet is a website design and website maintenance virtual organizer. She helps you take care of your website so it is backed up, virus free, has good SEO and is updated regularly.
There are many Virtual Assistants who each specialize in different areas such as,
- bookkeeping,
- social media,
- webcast videos,
- and specific software programs. etc.
Janet facilitates the Golden Horseshoe Virtual Assistants Association www.GHVA.ca. Check out this site if you need help virtually all the time.
Let me know in the comments what tasks you hire out to a virtual assistant.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Click here to learn more about her online course Create an Organized Home.
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
If you are interested in starting your own home based business, how to start a home-based…. is a great series of books. They contain information about the field of business, clients and practical materials such as forms. Some of the books in this series are Computer Repair Business, Personal Chef Business, Interior Design Business and Professional Organizing Business.
Great series of books for information on how to start a business
how to start a home-based Professional Organizing Business has sections on:
- helping you to decide if Professional Organizing is for you,
- setting up your office,
- finding and working with clients,
- products and
- forms
For approximately $20.00 you will have enough information to confidently start your business. The book contains a script for the first phone conversation with a new client. This is very helpful, especially with your very first client. It has sections on setting your rate and a number of different ways to charge along with the pros and cons of each way. The book lists a number of ways to market your business.
Chapters on skills to be a competent organizer.
Along with the business side of professional organizing, half the book contains skills and information a person needs to be a competent organizer. It teaches the psychology of clutter, why areas become disorganized, how to declutter a space and products to use to organize a client.
Forms
The section containing forms is very helpful and they are easy to customize to your own business. There are assessment forms, invoices, mileage records, marketing planning sheets etc.
This book is written by Professional Organizer Dawn Noble. It is easy to read and use.
If you want to start a business see if this series contains a book that could help you be successful.
If you want to talk about becoming a Professional Organizer contact me, I would love to chat with you.
Julie Stobbe is a Trained Professional Organizer and Lifestyle Organizing Coach who brings happiness to homes and organization to offices, coaching you virtually using Zoom. She has been working with clients since 2006 to provide customized organizing solutions to suit their individual needs and situations. She uses her love of physical activity to reduce clutter, in your home and office. She guides and supports you in managing your time. If you’re in a difficult transition Julie can coach you to break-free of emotional clutter constraining you from living life on your terms. Online courses are available to help instruct, coach and support your organizing projects. Get started by downloading Tips for Reorganizing 9 Rooms.
Contact her at julie@mindoverclutter.ca
Twitter – Facebook – Facebook group Organizing Mind and Space
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