Professional Organizer's Think Tank podcast

In this week's podcast episode, Lisa talks with her former partner, Carol Lahke of Carol Lahke Interior Design, Home Organization and Home Staging. Carol worked with Lisa over several years when Lisa's Professional Organizing Business grew too big for just her! Carol and Lisa talk about what it's like to tag team projects, how to effectively use a team to organize homes and large spaces and just in general, what it was like to work with Lisa. Are you looking to grow a team? Are you wanting to work for a Professional Organizer on their team? If so, this podcast is for you! You can listen to the podcast here. 

In this week's episode, Lisa talks about helping someone put their financial info in a binder and making scrapbooks as a great way to add income to your Professional Organizing business. She talks about networking and advertising through Google, websites and other advertising methods.  Listen in to hear how Lisa made five figures in just ONE month! 

This week on the podcast, Lisa dives deep into the Professional Organizer Friday Workbox like:  What's in it? How does it work? What online communities do you receive with your purchase to keep you on track, accountable and to answer any questions you might have? She talks about when and how to follow up with your clients and leads and gives you a look into the mindset of your potential client and how to approach them.  The Professional Organizer Friday Workbox contains  A 22 page "playbook"  Two (2) sets of rainbow slash pockets - one set that matches your Sunday Basket slash pockets and one set for each day of the work week  One (1) set of 2.0 slash pockets - Five (5) each of pink, purple, green and blue to organize your leads, clients/sales, money/finances and team/growth/professional development A Workbox in the color of your choosing On demand videos in your dashboard on Organize365.com Membership in the Organize 365 Workboxes Facebook group where Lisa answers your questions live on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of every month at 9:30 am EST.    You can learn more and/or purchase the Professional Organizer Friday Workbox here. 

This week on the podcast, Lisa Woodruff interviews Kelly Sammon of The Organizing Advantage. Kelly resides in Lakeville, MN with her husband, Scott and her two sets of identical twins!  Kelly participated in Organize 365's mentorship program and in addition to being a Sunday Basket Workshop Organizer, she also represents the Direct Sales Workbox and the Entrepreneur Workbox.  She was a stay-at-home mom thinking about what she wanted to do when I went back to work when she found Lisa's podcasts.She has always loved organizing, it comes easily to her and gets her excited. When she lived at home, she completely organized her parent's home and offices, top to bottom just for fun and would jump at the chance to help family and friends. Once she realized this was an actual industry, she knew she wanted to be an organizer instead of going back to a corporate job. She loves helping people and creating systems that make their life easier.    Her advice for anyone considering becoming a Professional Organizer is two fold.  1) Just start and don't worry about having everything ready. You learn as you go and you improve and tweak along the way.   2) Say yes and do it afraid.  If someone asks you to speak or organize something you haven't done before, just say yes and go figure it out. Allow yourself to stretch beyond your comfort zone. It's how you learn and grow.  Just act "as if" you've done it many times before and nobody will be the wiser.     Listen in to learn more about Kelly and the Organizing Advantage! 

Suzanne Lindsey of Lighthouse Organizing is a Professional Organizer in Canton, Mississippi, nearby to Jackson and has owned Lighthouse Organizing for almost 2 years.  When she started looking for a business she could start, she had no idea that Professional Organizing was a business.  She was looking for something she could do to serve others and make a difference in their life.  Around that same time she started to "binge listen" to Lisa's podcast.  She has a long time friend that mentioned the Sunday Basket while they were exercising together.   She started at the beginning and listened all the way through.  She learned that Professional Organizing was a business she could start that would also help people change their lives.  She learned about the mentorship program Organize 365 had at the time and she decided to invest. Since then she has become a Certified Sunday Basket Workshop Organizer and is also Certified to teach all four (4) binders through Organize 365 - the Medical, Financial, Home Reference and Home Operations. She has also attended both boot camps! (She just hired this same friend that introduced her to the podcast 2 days prior to this podcast recording as a contractor to help on a large job and she could not believe how well they worked together.) When asked for her advice to anyone considering being a Professional Organizer, she says, "I would suggest 2 things.  First, offer to organize a friend’s space for free and see that you love it. Then if you decide to start your own business, you could possibly use before and after pictures from that job.  Your friend could give you a review as well. Second, I wouldn’t go at it alone.  Learn as much as you can from the leaders in the industry.  Listen to podcasts, read books, read POTT Facebook posts- join in and ask questions.  In addition to doing those things I made some great friends at the first Bootcamp you had in Cincinnati. From that circle of friends I have 2 mastermind groups where we meet regularly to set goals, discuss business issues and hold each other accountable." Suzanne and her husband, David, have been married for 26 years, and they have 5 children - ages 21, 19, 17, 16 and 14 along with 2 dogs and a cat and she focuses on helping people during a home renovation or move. 

In this week's podcast episode, Lisa Woodruff interviews Lauren Wolf of Her Kind By Design. Lauren has been a Professional Organizer for almost a year, is Certified by Organize 365 as a Sunday Basket Workshop Organizer and she is Certified to teach the Direct Sales Workbox and all of the Organize 365 Binders. She lives in Leland, NC with her husband and two pre-teen children, Jack and Lily.  Lauren found Lisa when she was Googling how to organize kids school papers and stumbled upon her blogpost and podcast. She has been a faithful listener ever since. When asked what her advice is for anyone who is thinking about starting a Professional Organizer, she says, "Just start. Right where you are. Live the methods you teach and talk to people. The websites, logos, newsletters, etc. will come. Just go for it!" Lauren is passionate about helping parents of children with medical needs, helping them find "control over the chaos." Listen in this week as Lauren shares her story of her first year as the CEO of Her Kind By Design! 

Holly is a Certified Sunday Basket Workshop Organizer, promoting her Professional Organization Business, as a partner with Organize 365.  In this week's podcast episode Lisa poses many questions to Holly, who is now in her second year in business. Holly decided to become a Professional Organizer working full time for a corporation, doing a job she loves. She never intended to set out to own her own business,but has been inspired by women who retired "from corporate life" in their 50s to work on their own businesses full time. She was a huge fan of Lisa Woodruff and Organize 365. She was feeling good and getting her house under control, and it made her curious to see what other organizing podcasts were out there. She stumbled on this podcast, when it was first released, was a listener and thought it would be fun as a career after she retired. Inspired by Organize 365, she decided to take the plunge!  Her advice for anyone considering becoming a Professional Organizer? "Listen to POTtank and suck up as much knowledge from that as possible to get started. Come to Lisa's live events to hear her motivate you in person and network with other POs. But really if you're starting a business yourself and you want to be your own boss you have to look inward, find your passion/your "why" and everything else can fall into place. Like Lisa says 'you are enough' - you have it in you to be what you want to be, so you have to find the confidence to know you're worth it and deserve it. Get to know yourself so you can develop a unique personal brand and go after clients that you will work with well. Having your own business means you don't have to work with anyone and everyone. Hiring a coach you can have one-on-one sessions with really helps with this personal development. Oh and don't compare yourself to the what everyone else is doing. There is no 'right way'. It does help to find a mentor/model who is only a tiny bit further than you in the process of starting the business." One thing that Holly feels is unique about her business/services is her name. "I picked my name HAP Organizing Solutions to mean various things. On one hand it stands for my initials Holly A. Perez, but it really stands for Happy and Productive. This is the emotional base for what I'm offering to clients. It also can abbreviate Home offices and Paper. :) I use my corporate experience to focus on efficiency and streamlining the home's operations as if you were improving processes at work. It's about gaining savings of time and money. My philosophy is that we don't need to waste time/money on organizing products in order to make a significant impact. It's all about prioritizing the client's most impactful project to build momentum and experience the benefits right away." Listen in as Holly and Lisa share what it's like to be a Professional Organizer today!  You can listen here! You can learn more about Holly's business here!

Lisa talks about adding photo organization services to your service offerings in this episode.  To learn more about Organize 365's photo organization services, click here: https://organize365.com/photos

You've built such a strong business that you think it's time to add a few more people to help with the workload. Now what?? This episode discusses how to schedule your week and when you should hire helpers. 

Working side by side with your client to help them eliminate the excess is easy, but what if they are away from home while you are there working? This episode discusses how to organize for the client when they are not home! 

What if you are a jack rabbit and your client is a turtle? This episode discusses how to set the pace with your clients so you are both happy with a hard day's work! 

As a Professional Organizer, you probably know how to Organize, but organizing someone else can be intimidating. Lisa talks about how to organize anything - for anyone in this episode! 

The easiest and most cost effective way to grow ANY business is through referrals. In this episode, Lisa shares how to get happy clients to refer you! 

There really is a science to networking that makes it work. Just showing up doesn't cut it. Listen in while Lisa shares some helpful tips on making networking work for you.

Being in business for yourself means you have to really be disciplined about how you spend your time (wisely). Let's listen in while Lisa shares what she has learned about this critical component of your business start up!     

Ah, the issue of money. How do you decide what is the right hourly rate? When will you collect? Let's listen in and hear what Lisa has learned about these important factors! 

Many Professional Organizers get asked to do House Cleaning jobs also. How will you decide if you want to add this to your Professional Organizing Business? Listen in to find out! 

What will your initial consultation look like? How will you handle cancellations? Listen in to learn what Lisa has to say about these two important factors when starting your business! 

Let's talk about contracts! What should your contract contain? Listen in to learn more! 

In this episode, Lisa discusses branding and niching down your Professional Organization Business. What will set you apart in the marketplace? Listen in to learn more! 

In this episode, Lisa discusses the first few items on the Checklist to start your Professional Organization Business such as filing for an LLC, Business Insurance, EIN Numbers, Vendors Sales Tax License, Bank Accounts, PO Boxes and Business Cards. 

In this first episode, Lisa and Emily have a conversation about how the Professional Organizer's Think Tank started, what expertise they each bring to the table, and of course, a few stories from their childhood.   

I guess I’m a slow learner… it took me until my 40s to determine that my love and gift of organizing was actually my BUSINESS. So, here’s how I got the business part started… For more information go to www.ProfessionalOrganizersThinkTank.com

Like I shared last week… I have spent the last 2 decades helping women start their own direct sales businesses while I grew my own Professional Organization business, blog and coaching practice. This podcast is JUST for professional organizers who want to START and GROW their own businesses. In the next 3 weeks, I am going to share with you my story of how I turned my love of organization in to a full time business with a team. For more information go to www.ProfessionalOrganizersThinkTank.com

I’m SO excited!! I have spent the last 2 decades helping women start their own direct sales businesses while I grew my own Professional Organization business, blog and coaching practice. Today, I am launching a podcast JUST for professional organizers who want to START and GROW their own businesses. In the next 3 weeks I am going to share with you my story of how I turned my love of organization in to a full time business with a team. It all started when I was sent to my room as a punishment. For more information go to www.ProfessionalOrganizersThinkTank.com