Last Friday we had a meeting of the Nova Scotia Chapter of Professional Organizers in Canada (POC), our first one since June. We had a number of guests at our meeting who were new to the business or thinking about getting into the business.
Anyway, we got into a long discussion about being qualified, which courses to take, how many designations, if any, one should have and so on. Not an easy question to answer so it turns out. People will often ask me how I got into this business and sometimes I do get the direct question from a fellow business person, “So what makes you qualified to be a Professional Organizer?” Of course, since I received my Certified Professional Organizer® designation I think I have a good answer for that. However, in my mind it’s not as much about the exam and book knowledge as it is about the eight years experience.
Some members of our group were adamant that we should have as many designations as we can and be constantly taking courses and upgrading our skills. Some of our potential members were on the opposite end of the scale where they are not interested in taking any courses, they just want to start organizing. The latter scares me just a little, I must say. Without some foundational priniciples for organizing and an understanding of the unique challenges our clients face I don’t think we can provide the best possible service.
But where is the cut off? How many courses should a person take? Where is the trade off between book learning and actual experience? I can only speak for myself. I have to take 15 hours of continuing education every year to maintain my certification so I’m always on the hunt for the latest discovery around productivity or the newest time management technique to help my clients manage their time more effectively.
In addition, I do love to read a good organizing book now and again. My weakness, however, is looking a pretty organizing products – I admit it, I’m a junkie! We all know how many gorgeous things you can find on the internet – I just love to check out all the pretty products even though half of them I can’t even get in Canada, darn it.
There I go again, off topic. Well kind of off topic. Knowing about the newest and prettiest organizing products is part of the service I provide so in a sense is part of my continuing education and it’s fun too boot!
As a business owner I think there is a happy compromise in there somewhere. We all need to keep on top of what is going on in our industry but we also need to earn a living. I suspect if we narrow our focus and get really good at a few things, educate ourselves on an ongoing basis, and learn by doing, we’ll provide the best service we can to our customers.
I’m not sure that immersing ourselves in studying and attending conferences and putting more letters behind our name is always the best way. Unless, as one of my clients always reminds me, you’re building bridges and then I would be inclined to advise all those engineers out there to take lots of bridge-building courses
Toodles.
cool website
Great article Jane! I certainly think that all organizers need training. However, I don’t think it is necessary to take training in a area to help you with clients you wouldn’t service.
For example, if you are not interested in dealing with hoarding clients, you should have enough training to allow you to recognize a hoarding client and recommend an organizer with extensive training in hoarding. If your target market is records and information management or technology, you may find a course on wardrobe management interesting but extensive qualification in that area may not be worth your while.
The bonus part to all of this is that each organizer will be the best in what they enjoy most and we end up building a strong referral base in our local area.
Just think about it this way – would you expect your heart surgeon to spend time training at “Mike’s muffler repair” shop?
What I think is absolutely wonderful is that you had several people at the meeting who are interested in the industry and that you were even having the conversation about the value of continuing education. Keep up the great work!
What would I have done without the magical “gizmos” that put my daughters purse collection into perfect order, thanks to Jane the Organizer!!
Where does one take courses to be a professional organizer? There are several online ones, but how do I know if they are legitimate and which is the best to take.
Hi Lorraine,
Depending on what you are looking for you have two excellent options.
1. If you go to the Professional Organizers in Canada (POC) website at http://www.organizersincanada.com you will see a series of teleclasses under Education on the website. This is the only national association of professional organizers in the country and these classes will give you an introduction to all the pieces of the organizing profession with several short courses on the business basics but most of the focus on the ‘how to’ organize. As well, you can write an exam upon completion of the required courses if you wish to receive a certificate. Also, the national conference for POC is coming up in November in Montreal.
2. If you go to http://www.professionalorganizers.com you will see their Comprehensive Training Program. This is a 3-day program to help you start an organizing business and is very focused on everything you need to know from the business perspective. You will leave this program with a marketing plan and everything you need to hit the ground running as the saying goes. The program goes into much more detail about the skills needed to run your business but not much into the ‘how to’ organize.
The two are a nice combination. I would start with the Should I Become an Organizer! teleclass through POC and take it from there.
If you have any further questions, please email me at janev@get-organized.ca .
Cheers!
Jane.