| | |  | Home Business Books | Home » » Born to Organize: Everything You Need to Know About a Career As a Professional Organizer | | | | | | | Description: | | Written by veteran organizer Sara Pedersen, this book will answer all your questions about the amazing career of professional organizing and guide you through the process of starting your own organizing business. It is designed to give prospective and new professional organizers the inside scoop on today's organizing industry. Its easy-to-read style will answer all your questions about this amazing career. SARA GUIDES YOU through the process of starting your own organizing business, teaching you fundamental lessons and clarifying expectations. As you read this book, you'll: Review talent, skill, & education recommendations + Set salary & time commitment expectations + Understand your clients' clutter tendencies + Walk through a typical client assessment & organizing session + Learn affordable, business-boosting marketing ideas + Get the inside scoop on personal & business safety + Identify a variety of small business resources + Uncover donation resources for your clients' cast-offs + Give yourself an advantage over other new organizers. THE BOOK ALSO INCLUDES: stores that carry great organizing products; donation resources; sample assessment form, press release, announcement letter, coupons; and more! ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Veteran Professional Organizer Sara Pedersen has offered hands-on organizing assistance for countless Twin Cities residents. She helps them organize, simplify, and discover time to do the things they love. She also coaches new and prospective professional organizers and offers marketing services and products for small business owners. | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Sara Pedersen | | Paperback:
| 104 pages | | Publisher:
| Time to Organize | | Publication Date:
| May 30, 2008 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 0978673344 | | Package Length:
| 10.6 inches | | Package Width:
| 8.1 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.5 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.75 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 29 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 29 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 30 found the following review helpful:
 Look no further if you are a new PO! It's all right here!Jun 04, 2008
By Kimberly L. Gibson
"Clutter Free Kimberly"
I have purchased and read 15 "Organizing" books from Amazon.com in the past 3 months. I can tell you for certain there is no book as helpful for starting your Professional Organizing career as this one! I have been organizing for friends and family all my adult life (yes, only for the FUN of it), until 3 months ago when someone suggested I look into doing it as a career. At first I laughed since I had never heard of that job title before. I did some quick research one night-- and boy was I way off. Not only has the industry doubled in popularity in recent years, but the profession is very well paying, very diverse in specialities, and allows many opportunities for growth and education (especially when paired with the association NAPO).
One of the first book titles that fell into my hands was Sara's. This is now almost my daily reference guide! With her helpful pro-con advice I was able to make an educated decison about launching my career in this field. I have taken all of her advice, especially about not underpricing myself, and only 2 months into taking paying clients I have had 9 clients, 3 of which have and/or are currently doing thier WHOLE house AND storage units with me! I average about $1000-1500 per individual contract now. Did I mention I have hardly had to advertise yet? Sara's referral system is incredibly lucrative, and I am highly confident when things slow down her solid marketing techniques will keep me afloat. She is so creative, clear, and organized in her text that it gets me pumped up everytime I crack the pages. I learned something new and profound for my business on every page. NO LIE! I especially appreciated her 8 week start up plan, and her many resource lists (I think I've used them all by now). What more do I need to say? If you are new in this business and aren't going to buy this book-- well then you will simply be missing out on TONS of education, TONS of clients (and tons of money), and I will be perfectly happy to have your business!:) Thank you Sara for writing such a fantastic HOW TO manual for this bizz with terrific insight for the new PO's!
Great Thanks from "Clutter Free Kimberly" in Fairfax, VA
31 of 33 found the following review helpful:
 Not enough details to be helpul for meFeb 24, 2009
By cowgirlimposter
I am quite disappointed with this book. After reading the reviews, I expected it to be helpful and insightful, especially since it was so much more expensive than most of the others. Frankly, I think it would be more effective as a brochure. It is short: 100 pages, MOST of which have tons of white space. It is overly simplistic: I was looking for details, checklists, specifics, etc and what I got was general introductory ideas to lots of important topics but none of the actual meat. I kept looking for great suggestions that I could highlight for future reference and never found any - it was all too vague and simple.
If you spend thirty minutes shared between the results of a Google search on "how to be a professional organizer" and the NAPO web site, you'll know just as much as you will after spending thirty bucks on this book.
My suggestion would be to skip this book and buy Dawn Noble's book, How to Start a Home-Based Professional Organizing Business, (which I bought at the same time). Noble's book has all the details you could want and covers many more topics in much more depth - at half the price. It was significantly more helpful.
One other thought: before Pederson's book even arrived, I got an email from the author (why the heck does she have my email address, first of all). Her email was of the "thanks for buying my book, let me tell you a little about myself" genre. In her email, she spent plenty of time telling me about the services she offers (for a fee) to help new professional organizers. I thought it was a little odd but I just deleted it and moved on. Then when I got the book, and finished reading it (which took about two hours), I realized that I didn't really get very many answers in the book and I had an aha moment: does the author use this book as a front to sell her services to train new POs? I'm not sure that she does, but if feels a little fishy to me.
Noble's book (mentioned above) does none of this. She gives answers, real tips and complete step-by-step advice. I wish I had saved my money and only bought the Noble book.
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
Start your business by reading Born To Organize FIRSTJun 06, 2008
By J. Sanchez
"Organize & Prosper, LLC"
If I had read Born To Organize before I started my organizing business, I would have saved hundreds of dollars and at least a dozen hours. This book leads one through a step-by-step process. Sara Pedersen, the author, includes the fun stuff (client interaction) and the not-so-fun stuff (bookkeeping). It's unbelievable. She leaves no stone unturned. Even with an established business, I picked up valuable information and was thrilled to discover new ideas and inspiration. Sara Pedersen knows her stuff. Read this book and enjoy your new (or old) organizing business!
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
It Doesn't Get Better Than ThisMay 22, 2008
By Maureen Dolan
Sara really knows her stuff. This book is so easy-to-read and organized. She covers everything from exploring the idea of becoming a Professional Organizer to actually marketing the career. My favorite part of the book is the 8-week Business Jump Start Plan in which she guides you through starting your career, step-by-step. I highly recommend this book to anyone thinking about becoming a Professional Organizer and to those just starting out.
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
Excellent and Organized!May 21, 2008
By Paula
This book by Sara Pederson is very easy to follow, extremely well organized, and full of lots of extras. She explains the Professional Organization career with both the pros and cons so anyone planning to pursue this can make a well informed decision about the "fit" as a career. The chapter on "Getting Your Business in Order" is especially helpful in starting out so you can be sure you are keeping the proper records, charge a fair price, and are realistic about how long it may take to make it profitable. "Working With Clients" is a great reality check for the possible situations you may encounter that would never occur to the average person. She has great ideas for marketing that have been well tested for success, and her step-by-step proceess for starting your business is logical and easy to follow. One of the most useful "extras" is the appendix with all the resources. Even if you just wanted to get yourself organized, these would be very helpful. Overall, a very good book for starting a career in this most interesting field!
See all 29 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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