When professional organizers work with clients, emotions and psychology often come into play. Our guest today is Dr. Ania Schwartzman, who combines her clinical psychology degree with a lifetime love of fashion into her personal styling business The Fashionologist. Ania joins us to talk about what professional organizers can learn from a client's closet, and how we can better help our clients through the organizing process by listening and asking key questions. She also tells us a little about how fashion is changing and gives us ideas about pro organizer work wardrobes as a bonus. 

Ania can be found at thefashionologist.com or on Instagram at @thefashionologistnyc. 

(01:00) Introduction; working with clients (04:00) Why people work with a personal stylist (05:30) What questions to use with clients when organizing to help them make decisions (09:00) What deep things closets can tell you about your clients (15:30) Fashion changes/current trends (18:45) Fashion for professional organizers (24:00) "Enclothed Cognition"-dressing influences actions (29:00) The power of clothing and how we help clients (31:00) Showing up for our clients (34:30) Pivoting for businesses like ours

Jen and Melissa are talking about one of our favorite topics--when is it time to make some investments in your pro organizing business? "Investment" doesn't have to mean multi thousands of dollars--it can mean "when is it time to hire a web designer" or "when is it time to stop using a free spreadsheet and start using an accounting system." Knowing when to invest--and what to invest in--is important, and Jen and Melissa talk about their (sometimes very different!) philosophies on spending for your business.

(01:00) Topic intro (02:00) Jen's philosophy on investing (04:24) Keeping promises to yourself (06:00) Investing in yourself  (08:00) Melissa's lessons on under-investing (10:00) Jen's guideposts on investing (12:00) Doing the work to get value out of an investment (14:00) Delegating-not doing everything yourself  (16:00) Freeing yourself to be a better entrepreneur (18:30) Your business goals (20:00) Wrap-up 

Entrepreneurship can sometimes feel a little lonely. Developing a network, and finding people who can be a professional support system is important--but can be overwhelming. Today Melissa Klug and our guest Laura Brown of The Sisters of Industry podcast talk about steps you can take to build a network and a personal "board of directors" to strengthen you as an entrepreneur and a person. 

Your website and Instagram are often the first ways a potential client has to connect with you--and showing your best self there is important. We offer you specifics on how to look at your website and Instagram feeds a little differently, all to provide a simpler and better experience for your dream clients. For pro organizers, your online content is key--make it fantastic!

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Learn more about our Inspired Organizer® course + community

Check out our brand new workshop, The 4-Part Plan for Landing your Dream Clients in 2021. 

The rest of the show notes can be found here:

proorganizerstudio.com/podcast

Jen and Melissa break down the serious (and not so serious) things we learned this year, and what we can take with us into 2021 for our professional organizing businesses. 

Kay Patterson is also known as The Organized Soprano on YouTube, where she makes fun videos about home organizing, cleaning and life as a professional classical singer in Boston. She is a professional home organization and clutter coach, helping clients both virtually and in-person. Her co-star Clover is the most organized dog in America! Kay invited Jen on a YouTube Live recently and we are happy to have it here today for you to hear their conversation. 

She can be found here on YouTube and here on the great internet!

Dalys Macon is the entrepreneur behind D'Vine Order, an organizing firm, and the Instagram handle Black Girls Who Organize. Dalys is passionate about many things, and our wide ranging interview covers her background, how she came to the organizing business, and how important representation is to our industry. 

Carly Tizzano is a professional organizer and life coach who specializes in New Year's Resolution coaching. She joins Melissa Klug of Pro Organizer Studio to talk about how we can do realistic goal setting for 2021--even when things might still be in flux. 

You can find more information on Carly here:

Continuing on our thread from last week--we are talking about whether now is a good time to start a pro organizing business. For Thanksgiving week, we present one of our most popular episodes: "Make Your First $1k on a Budget." We believe it's a great time to start a business in the organizing industry, and this episode is a great primer on how you can start your business with very minimal investment. We'd also love to see you in our new free workshop, at poroadmap.com --learn even more about the pro organizing industry from two experts. 

Jen and Melissa discuss whether now is a good time to get into the organizing industry. If you have been contemplating a career change or starting a side hustle or part time business, but question if now is the right time in crazy 2020--we give you our wisdom (along with things we've learned from our Inspired Organizer community.)