Do you want to be a PO?

I had a call yesterday asking how to become a PO. Here are some ideas.

You can get a lot of great materials at this very website. Go to http://www.getorganizednow.com/po.html

You can take classes online from the National Association of Professional Organizers at www.napo.net

You can look in online book stores for books on the subject.

You can take classes from the Insitute for Challenging Disorganization at http://www.nsgcd.org/

You can work as an assistant for a PO and get on-the-job training.

(Note- normally, we do not allow links but these above links are ones the owner of this website has approved.)

All good ideas Lea. I have found that my communication and counseling training for my job, which included such topics as how to handle angry clients, how to communicate to mentally ill clients. As I had to coach and supervise trainees to the court system, I took many other courses to handle situations we had to deal with on the job on a daily basis. I also took university courses in how to help families in distress, this education has really enabled me to be a better PO for my clients.

So if newbies have a chance to take some university level courses in communication and counseling, they will find it to be an asset in their new profession.

You don't have to take full loads at university, you may be able to take some for adult ed where you pick and choose which ones you need. You aren't going for a degree so this is a great way to learn new skills which will help you on the job.

One thing to keep in mind when starting out that even though there are basic principles for starting a business or organizing in general that there really are no hard and fast rules.

For every 10 organizers I meet, I find 3 that do something one way, 3 that do it another way and the last 4 do yet something else. And each of those feels that their way is the best, only way to do it!