Stand Out

Today on the podcast we are chatting with Amy Vance of Eco Modern Concierge to see how this professional organizer is preparing for the new year and making adjustments to her business for continued success.

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Sometimes skills are invisible to their owners. It takes someone saying to us, "Wow! You're really good at that," before we realize that not everyone can do what we can do.

In this episode of Stand Out: Growing Your Organizing and Productivity Business, host Sarah Karakaian talks with Jan Lehman. Jan found out early in her career that not everyone has the same level of problem-solving skills. She puts those skills to work and encourages others in the field of productivity consulting to embrace these skills and take them to the bank.

Your ability to see where workflow can improve, the tools you have developed and learned to maximize your time and help clients maximize theirs – that amounts to some golden opportunities. In this episode, Jan shares her best ideas on growing a productivity consultancy.

Jan is an executive coach, productivity consultant and speaker. She is the founder and CEO of CTC Productivity. CTC is a Twin Cities-based, woman-owned and operated business. With over 20 years of corporate consulting experience, Jan is not just an expert in the field of productivity, she personally understands the unique challenges of leading a busy professional life. With three young children and a company to run, Jan gets the importance of maintaining a work-life balance.

The roots of Jan's business acumen and people-first attitude can be traced back to her formal education. She earned a business degree in Operations and Systems Management with a minor in Psychology from Indiana University Kelley School of Business. CTC is the perfect forum for her to blend her people skills and productivity expertise.

• Why the ROI for business productivity consultants is generally larger than the personal productivity side
• Why your problem-solving skills as a productivity specialist are so valuable
• How to look for and encourage employee skills and interests beyond the job description
• What you need to know to run a corporate productivity business
• How connecting with people in a NAPO special interest group (SIG) can get you asking and answering the right questions to solve problems and gain knowledge
• Why online communities like SIGs are such a great source of information, referrals and comradery
• How to capitalize on opportunities to advise on productivity challenges, as well as opportunities to implement changes for greater productivity
• Why productivity consultants are uniquely qualified to run their own businesses

Every day, we are gaining more expertise as organizers and productivity specialists. And we would not be in this business if we didn't have a passion for it. Well, that's all you need to add a whole new revenue stream into your business! That's right, you could become a paid public speaker. That idea might be a little scary for some of us, but it doesn't have to be.

On this episode of Stand Out, Sarah talks with guest David Newman about tons of marketing tips, and then they get down to the business of public speaking; how to get started, what to charge, how to stay sharp as a speaker. So if the idea of adding thousands of dollars to your monthly revenue sounds interesting, check out this episode.

David Newman is the author of the Amazon #1 bestseller Do It! Marketing: 77 Instant-Action Ideas to Boost Sales, Maximize Profits and Crush Your Competition.

David works with executives and entrepreneurs who want to position themselves as thought-leaders and generate MORE leads, BETTER prospects and BIGGER sales.

David's background overlaps three key areas. First, David has worked inside organizations as the client; he has also worked as a speaker and consultant himself for Fortune 500 companies; and finally, he's helped over 500 speakers, authors, consultants, and experts raise their game and deliver their highest value.

• The difference between lead generating and paid speaking
• How to really hit your targets with the equation: price x quantity = total
• Why you can't let a client's budget dictate your fee
• The dynamic speaker compared with the magnetic speaker
• The art of "one-to-many" prospecting
• How to find speaking gigs
• The key question that turns speaking into clients
• How to price yourself as a professional speaker, not an amateur
• How to make it simple for people to know that you are a speaker
• Why participating in your Toastmasters chapter is like going to the gym

Time is one of those resources that you can't get back once you use it. Helping our clients with productivity is great, but what about our own productivity? Running a business can feel like running in circles sometimes.

On our 22nd episode of Stand Out: Growing Your Organizing and Productivity Business, host Sarah Karakaian talks with guest Amy Tokos. Amy has a background in Lean Engineering, which she has translated very nicely into helping people lead what she calls "lean living" – which is not a diet plan! It does take into account the preciousness of time in all that we do.

Amy Tokos is the owner of Freshly Organized. Her mission is to help others make their lives more streamlined and organized. Amy's background is in engineering. Her work focused on making manufacturing processes simpler and more efficient, also known as lean manufacturing.

Her lean thinking maximizes time and space. Because of this background and her passion for time management, Amy helps clients be more strategic instead of reactive. She believes in time blocking. She's also a fan of focus, not multitasking.

• Aligning your work with your values, lifestyle, and priorities
• Strategic decision-making around time management
• The wide variety of resources available to better understand productivity
• The value of family meetings
• Understanding your monetary value as an expert, and billing accordingly.
• Time blocking dos and don'ts – and permission to make exceptions
• The power of connecting with influencers as word-of-mouth endorsement of your work
• Learning to say "yes" or "no" based on your priorities and the money or time ROI
• How to monitor the time you spend on technology

You know you are an expert organizer or productivity specialist, but does the world know? Blogging in 2018 is still a great way to tell people who you are, how you can help, and your unique point of view as an expert. Maybe you started a blog a few years ago and have let it slide down the priority list. Maybe you've been thinking about it and just don't know how to get started.

On this episode, Sarah talks with Brittany Bailey of prettyhandygirl.com about how to start and maintain a blog or any content creation platform. Brittany started blogging nearly 10 years ago, and has built up a great reputation in the DIY space. She specializes in "how-to" posts that walk people step-by-step through simple to complex home improvement project. She does all of this with the message (about blogging and DIY) "You can do it!"

Brittany is a licensed general contractor, artist, graphic designer, web designer, photographer and lover of doing everything herself.

Through her renovation projects, blogging, and social media posts, Brittany is all about breaking down the stereotype that women aren't handy.

• Understanding simple publishing tools like WordPress
• When to hire someone to help with your content
• How to become a contributor or add contributors to your blog
• Using Pinterest to your best advantage
• Setting up a content calendar
• Why there is plenty of room for more content
• How and why to treat your content creation like a business
• How to be confident in your POV even as you are starting out

There is no one way to be a productivity and organization professional. The opportunities and potential niche markets in the field are vast. Standolyn Robertson has found her niche in residential organizing. Funny and engaging, she shares in our 20th podcast episode of Stand Out how education, certification as a CPO®, volunteering and connecting with peers has been invaluable in helping her find her way, and encouraging others to find their unique fit.

Standolyn Robertson is an organizing expert, speaker and writer. She founded her business, Things in Place in the year 2000. She has been featured in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Women's Day, USA Today, the Boston Globe, CBS, Boston, NPR, and the Emmy-nominated show, Hoarders.

• The value of attending conferences with industry peers
• How volunteering on boards and committees opens doors and develops relationships
• Why understanding your expenses and not just your gross revenue is so important
• The importance of doing the work that inspires you rather than conforming to someone else's standard of success.
• How to get paid for your wisdom, not just your hands-on work
• The value of becoming a Certified Professional Organizer (CPO®)
• How to manage and exceed client expectations
• Using the question, "What are you going to do about that?" to get unstuck from indecision
• How to value your own talents and interests and avoid imposter syndrome
• Why having employees, sub-contractors, or working on your own doesn't have to be a one-and-done decision

People can be frustrating. You can even frustrate yourself when you try to do things you're not good at and it comes back to bite you. Knowing and understanding ourselves better and understanding our clients will only enhance our business, and ease up on our frustration levels!

In our 19th episode of Stand Out: Growing Your Organizing and Productivity Business, host Sarah Karakaian talks with guest Jessica Butts about understanding personality types, strengths, weaknesses, and how to use this information to make your business stronger.

Jessica is all about motivating, educating, and inspiring people to live their life in the front seat, using their innate abilities. Jessica was once living a life that was chosen for her instead of a life she had chosen for herself. She was working in corporate human resources, totally uninspired when a life changing event in her marriage finally got her to take control of her life and go back to graduate school and pursue her dreams of becoming a therapist.

She now teaches corporate workshops, conducts keynote speeches around the country, and is the author of two amazing books: Live Your Life from the Front Seat, and Don't Do Stuff You Suck At.Want to know more about your personality and what makes you tick? You're invited to use Jessica's assessment tool here: https://jessicabutts.com/front-seat-life-personality-assessment/

• How to implement systems, structure, and singular focus into your practice
• Getting to the point where your side hustle can be your main thing
• Understanding who you are and then being in relationship with people who are different from you
• How to get back to the essential person we were before we started believing other people's stories about us
• What it means to be in the driver's seat, to be the co-pilot, and how to shut up your drunk uncle in the back seat
• How the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator can help you understand yourself and your clients better
• The importance of understanding who your ideal clients are and how to best serve them
• How to set up a 90 Day Focus sheet

Engaging with potential customers and sharing your expertise on social media is smart business. As a productivity and organization professional, you want to showcase your work, and be an active part of that online community of people who share your interests and appreciate what you do. For many, including our guest Samantha Pregenzer, Instagram is a natural fit for showcasing organization projects and sharing tips and demonstrating your expertise. She currently has 450,000 Instagram followers, so she has a lot to teach us about best practices and building your brand through social media.

Samantha is the founder of Simply Organized. She is a residential professional organizer, Evernote community leader, blogger, keynote speaker, Better Homes and Garden style maker for 2016 and 2017 and has been featured in Family Circle magazine, Redbook magazine, Oprah.com, Huffington Post, Good Housekeeping, Buzzfeed and Apartment Therapy.

• How to use Instagram to gain credibility in the industry
• Why listening is such an important part of the job of a professional organizer
• Managing your social media presence probably means focusing on one or two platforms
• Why a visual medium like Instagram might call for an investment in some photography training
• How to embrace that quirky thing you've become known for, like taking pictures of the contents of a refrigerator
• Tips for getting brands to notice you on Instagram
• Great tips on upping your hashtag game
• Best practices for permissions and reposting photos on social media
• How being yourself on social media can be a great asset to your brand

Do you ever feel like your life has been something of a crooked path? It is safe to say we have all been there. My guest is very familiar with curves in the road, and she has learned how to navigate them well. Her latest life turn is as a career and life coach.

In this episode, my guest Allison Task and I discuss the power of believing that dreams can come true. Allison has made a career out of guiding people through their thought processes and into the answers they already know. She likes to say, "You have answers, I have questions." Those questions have served her and her clients well.

Allison Task is a career and life coach who has helped hundreds of people transform their lives. By actively pursuing meaningful personal and career goals, Allison's clients have changed careers, launched companies, retired early, moved their families across the country — and around the world.

Prior to coaching, Allison was an on-camera cooking host, cookbook author, and marketing executive. She was the host of Yahoo's Blue Ribbon Hunter, Lifetime's Cook Yourself Thin and TLC's Home Made Simple.

Allison has a degree in Human Development and Family Studies from Cornell University, a coaching certificate and Master's Degree from New York University, and a culinary degree from the Institute of Culinary Education. Her latest book is Personal (R)evolution: How To Be Happy, Change Your Life, and Do That Thing You've Always Wanted To Do.

• How working in a dreams-come-true environment can have a huge impact on your attitude and how you approach challenges and opportunity
• Why asking a life coach about ROI is an important and legitimate question
• How coaching is about helping people process what they already know
• Why hiring different coaches for different decisions or challenges can be the smart move
• How, why and when to break up with a coach
• The difference between a life coach, a career coach, and a therapist
• Why, if you are not at baseline mentally, you need a therapist before you need a coach
• How life coaching looks beyond career, as important as career is, to satisfaction with your whole life

Many of us work with individuals on organizing in the home. Maybe you've thought about working on a larger scale – with an individual or department in a big company. And maybe that feels a bit overwhelming! It definitely does not have to. Guest Heather Cocozza worked in the corporate setting for several years before starting out as a productivity and organizing professional. She started out working in homes – like many of us – but has found a nice niche in assisting corporate clients. And there's no reason you can't enter this space as well.

Heather Cocozza is the owner of Cocozza Organizing & Design, LLC which serves business and residential clients. She has been organizing for 12 years, and her clients include large establishments such as the Smithsonian Institution and National Institute of Health (NIH). She is a Certified Professional Organizer® (CPO®) and a Certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

Cocozza has participated in the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals (NAPO) in numerous capacities, from teaching to D.C. area chapter president.

Prior to entering the organizing industry, Cocozza worked at IBM / PricewaterhouseCoopers as an ERP project manager on financial system integration projects for 13 years. She managed teams of up to 40 people. In 2005, she left the life of a road warrior, traveling full-time, and became an entrepreneur with the launch of Cocozza Organizing & Design, LLC in 2006.

Through her paid and volunteer work, Cocozza strives to enrich the work and personal lives of the members of her community, citizens living and working in the nation's capital, and colleagues that participate in the larger, global world.

• How to expand your business to serve corporate clients
• Multiple ways our guest found NAPO to be a resource and a springboard for her career
• The role of strategic partnerships in business development
• How to leverage small corporate jobs into larger scale work
• The many benefits of project management certification
• Why volunteering to lead a group is a perfect way to start in project management
• How becoming a Certified Professional Organizer can be a great first step toward project management certification
• How to think bigger and dream bigger when it comes to your own business goals
• The reason listening for client pain points is the best way to prepare a work proposal
• How to scale your business up or down depending on the scale work at any given time