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Interview With . . . Patricia Coughlan Clutter-Free Professional Organizing Edmonton, Alberta, Canada by Maria Gracia 1. What is the name of your company? Where are you located? How long have you been in business? My name is Patricia Coughlan and I am the consultant for Clutter-Free Professional Organizing. I am located in Edmonton, Alberta (Canada). I have been in business for approximately two and a half years. 2. Is this your primary business, or a part-time business? To date, my business is still part-time. 3. Are you a member of NAPO? (Please indicate if you're an officer.) I am a member of POC (Professional Organizers in Canada) and the POC-West chapter. 4. Why did you become a professional organizer? I have done this (organizing) all my life for friends and family. When I decided to make a career change, I began checking into things and discovered that there was actually a profession called 'professional organizer'. It was a perfect fit! 5. What type of organizing do you specialize in (home, office, etc.)? I offer my services to both businesses and homes and have had clients from both arenas. 6. Do you sell products, services, or seminars? Please describe. I offer hands-on organizing of spaces, filing systems, paper - and pretty much everything. I also offer seminars on getting organized, time management, handling paper, and lifestyles. 7. Have you written a book(s)? If so, what is the title(s)? No book yet! 8. Do you publish a newsletter? If so, is it a print newsletter, or an e-zine? Is it free, or is there a charge? No newsletter. 9. Do you have a web site? If so, what is the address? A web site is under consideration. 10. Is travel a big part of your business? Travel is a small part of my business to date. I have travelled out of province for one client and I have travelled to deliver seminars. 11. Who is your primary target audience? I target my services to everyone I come in contact with. I have offered presentations to real estate agents about house dressing. I speak to women's groups and administrative staffs of corporate businesses. I recently met a woman with a direct market business who has decided she would love to have me work with her and her sales staff and help them all get their home offices organized. Generally, my clients are women. 12. Describe your typical workday. As I mentioned, I am still operating on a part-time basis. On days when I do not have a client booked, I usually use the morning to take care of my home and personal concerns and spend the afternoons working on seminar materials, researching organizing, and making contacts to market my services. 13. Every person interested in entering the professional organizing field is wondering, "Can I make enough money doing this?" What is your outlook on this question? I definitely believe the field of professional organizing is in the earliest of industry development stages. The sky's the limit for anyone who loves to do this kind of work. Fees are generally high enough to cover non-billable hours and the rewards and satisfaction is great. 14. Which of the following marketing vehicles have you used to help you grow your business (direct mail, newspaper advertising, free workshops, radio, television, web site, e-zine, telemarketing, yellow pages, joint ventures with other professionals, publicity, other: please describe)? I have received free publicity through newspaper interviews, volunteering my services, and through speaking engagements and seminars. 15. Which one marketing technique have you found works the best for you? Please describe. This service is still so new that we are continually looking for ways to offer the general public more product awareness. The best marketing technique I have found is word-of-mouth. People will call because their friends used my services and they were thrilled. People want to contact someone they know is 'safe' and does a good job. 16. Describe a successful, creative marketing technique that you use, or that you've used in the past. What I have discovered is that no one marketing technique is always successful with everyone. You have to find what works for you and go with it. Everyone's market will be dictated somewhat by where they live and what the demands are. This means everyone's marketing strategy and techniques will be unique. 17. Do you feel that networking plays a big role in growing your business? Definitely. Keep talking about your business to everyone. Distribute your business cards. Trade services with other professionals. It all helps. 18. What do you do to generate referrals? I like to make information available whenever asked for it. When people know I am willing to help - even offering free advice - they recommend or refer my services to their friends, too. And I try to remember to ask for testimonials from clients to use in my brochures and portfolio. 19. What do you find to be the most exciting part of your business? Speaking and offering seminars is definitely the most exciting part for me. I love having the opportunity to share how to have an 'organized lifestyle' with others. I love interacting with a group of individuals who want to learn. It's the teacher in me, I guess. Second to this, I love organizing spaces - making a room function more efficiently and look beautiful, too. 20. What do you find to be the most frustrating part of your business? Having clients who say they want to get organized but have no intention of downsizing or editing all their stuff. You can't organize clutter. 21. Describe your greatest success in this field. My favorite client has been a retired school teacher. She was super motivated. We organized several rooms in her home before she ran out of money but she never ran out of motivation. She is still working on her home and making even greater changes every month on her own. She continually re-evaluates her decisions and maintains her systems on a regular basis. She is even helping her daughter get organized. She is a great success story. 22. As a professional organizer, do you have a funny story to share? More sad than funny, I had a client who was such a pack rat, she had to be convinced that no one recycles old dentures and that she should part with her deceased father's choppers. But, once she threw away the teeth, we had to start all over with the reasons to throw away the container that the dentures were stored in! And don't get me started on her deceased (20+ years ago!) mother's old underwear. 23. As an organizer, what professional organizing information or tools are you always on the lookout for? I continually look for new organizing ideas, as opposed to organizing tools. Tools do not organize you; they only contain the stuff that is organized. 24. Looking ahead, what do you see as your greatest challenge? I fight a daily battle with my tendency to procrastinate. And, I love to organize but I am my own worst enemy when it comes to blowing my own horn and making cold calls on potential clients. 25. What is your best tip for people interested in becoming professional organizers? My advice to those interested in this field is to jump right in and offer to organize anything for anyone, for free or for pay. Remember to take pictures, count all your volunteer work as experience, and continually remind yourself that you can do this! 
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