Visiting this forum because you are thinking about becoming a professional organizer?

We'd love to help you and are open to chatting about any questions you may have.

Even if you are "just thinking," I'd suggest you get organized! (Which I know you can do since you are here ) Set up some files for this project- including some electronic files to bookmark important websites- like this one.

Here are some topics you'll want to make files for and gather information:

Getting a business license
Becoming insured
Where to get training or education
What services you want to offer
Handling finances, taxes and bank accounts
How you will market your company


Let us know how we can help. We'd love to hear what stage you are at in your business plans.

I was all set to stick my toe in the water so to speak and then my "day job" got crazy busy. I used to have a quiet little part time job and now I'm working pretty much full time even if it is from home.

I just don't want to work any more than that right now and yet, I'm still super interested in being a PO!

Keep in mind that organizing part-time is a viable alternative. I've had people ask me in the past if they should quit their job to do this and I tell them no because it takes time to build a client base.

But you are right ChefSam to wait until you can focus some time on it. Doing it part-time still means attention to details.

You are in a good situation to eventually do this because you do work from home and I assume manage your own hours. That way you can juggle organizing appointments on your calendar with your to-do list from your other job.

When I first started, I had needed two days for another job- but those two days, or 16 hours, were my own to schedule. I'd look at my calendar and block them in- make appointments with myself for that time and then book the other time. Being on my own clock also enabled me to visit breakfast or noon time networking groups and chamber functions, which was very important.

This is exactly where I'm at right now...."just thinking" and wondering about the timing of jumping in. The subject of hours is a big question mark for me.....I have a year ahead with two little ones in pre-k/K in the morning, and I thought this might be the time to actually commit to moving forward instead of "just thinking." How flexible do I need to be with hours, from a client standpoint? Childcare is not readily available for me during non-school hours.

I suppose I'm putting the cart ahead of the horse and I should be spending my time just getting ready, from the business end. But I don't want to start into something and then find out my schedule is prohibitive to getting any work done. Any advice would be so appreciated!! I've read this website for a year and am finally moving on actually doing something. Thanks!!

JenaMarie-

Welcome to the forum! So happy to have you here!

Keep in mind that working on the many details and research needed to start doing this is indeed doing something! So if that was all you did- from develop a business plan, to business marketing, to brochures to build a web site and all of the many details - then when you do have more time, you'd be so ready to launch. There are many things to do before actually taking clients.

Now as to your question about hours.

The nice thing about being my own boss is that I can make my own hours. You can have this business be part-time or full-time. I will say that it takes much more time than you can imagine from a home-office point of view. I know you are asking about client- hours but you should know that I spend a lot of time doing accounting, marketing, advertising, networking at home. There are many things you can and will want to do from home- like blogging or writing a newsletter or twittering webtips- and you can work those in around your kids' schedule.

As for taking client's restricted to the kid's schedule, I think it can be done. For one thing, your first client base will most likely come from people you know and the people they know. You can target market other young mothers. Their schedule will be similar to yours.

Can you work on Saturday or any evenings? Since you control the calendar, you can decide how much or little to do. Perhaps you could have child care for two Saturday's a month where you could take on longer jobs? I've had inquires into evening jobs, such as helping someone with their home office after they get off of work. I don't want to work at night so I haven't done this but the opportunity is there.

Clearly we are in business to make money- it isn't a hobby. However, for you starting out with limited hours, you might have a goal to break-even. If you could, within say 6 months, repay your start-up costs, then you could turn a small profit.

Consider getting quotes on insurance, your business license and other things. This will tell you what kind of money you need to start. Then you can look at the hours you have available to work and see how long it might take you to earn back your investment. Then you could see if you'd be okay with that- then you'd know if you should proceed.

Thanks so much for your input and your willingness to help! I finally bought the PO Guide from the website and I'm looking forward to reading over that in the next few weeks.

Your comment about not working evenings really told me a lot. I was concerned about "having" to work evenings/weekends in order to work around clients' schedules. If you've made a go of it during regular business hours, then maybe I can too. And you're absolutely right about working with other moms....I'm sure there are lots of jobs all around me in the preschool drop-off line!

What I had planned to do while I worked on the business/paperwork end of this project was do a few projects for free--probably for family--and take lots of pictures to build up a portfolio. My thinking being that, once I was ready to launch, I'd have a collection of finished jobs for people to reference. Thoughts?

Thanks again for your advice. I need to look at this one little step at a time....When I look too far out I get overwhelmed!

That sounds like a good plan JenaMaria. Take a bit of time to think about how you would handle a real client. What questions would you ask on the phone? What would you look at, do, ask or measure to start a project? Make a list and when you go to work on it, tell them you are going to pretend they are a stranger and ask all the questions you would if they were a stranger. This will be very good practice.

Also, once you've done a few of those, consider doing a volunteer project but not for family. Perhaps at church or school or community group. This gives you experience beyond family and a reference!

I'm not sure that I can mention the organization's name in the forum, but there is a non-profit group with chapters nation-wide where volunteers who are working and retired executives and business owners will mentor people who are trying to start their own businesses. This might be a place to start to make sure you're thinking of everything on the business side of things. My understanding is that it's a free service.

Hi Dr. Org. You certainly can mention it. I am sure you are talking about SCORE, the Service Corp of Retired Executives. They are so great.

To clarify, we ask that folks not mention other organizing products or organizing websites- and of course the retired executives are neither. We also ask that you not put in web addresses or links.

Thanks, Lea. Wasn't sure if it was considered as competing with some of Maria's start-up products.

Yes, I was referring to SCORE. I definitely plan to go to them for advice at such time as I take the plunge into owning my own business (plans on hold until DD and any future siblings are older).