So you're ready to ditch the clutter and embrace organized bliss! Amanda's Guide to Hiring a Pro Organizer is here to help! Learn how to find the perfect match, ask the right questions, and get the most out of your organizing sessions. There are tips for things to think about before you make a call and 10 things to consider when you're "interviewing" organizers for your job.
What do Professional Organizers Do?
We're taking chaos and creating order. We're taking clutter and making it easy to use, or just getting rid of it in general. That is what we are doing. We're taking things that are not purposeful and making purpose out of them sometimes.
What to think about before talking to Organizers
What are the spaces you are looking to get organized? What are the areas that are currently causing you stress? What do you need help with? Narrowing down what you need help with is always gonna be that first item.
What is your budget? You might not understand or know what that organizer is going to charge 'cause it might not be on their website or how they invoice and how they invoice and do packages. But what is going to be a feasible amount that you want to pay somebody to get organized? It is an investment! The national average for organizing is $40/hr per organizer. This can vary between cities, being a little higher in higher-end cities.
What is important to you when you bring someone into your home? What are some of those values or what is that personality you're looking for? Hiring a professional organizer is a very intimate thing. Your organizer will probably tell you not to pick up before they come and that is on purpose. We want to see what you live in it in a day-to-day life. An organizer that is going to be a good fit for you is somebody that you feel comfortable with. Somebody that you can talk with and open up with, somebody that, you can be transparent with, and vice versa, because it is a very intimate thing to bring an organizer in. You should never be judged because your space is disorganized. If somebody, if specifically an organizer is judging you because of your disorganized space. That is not okay.
What do you want to be able to feel when working with this person?
Do you want to feel like you can, they can be your best friend.
Do you feel like they understand you?
Can you communicate effectively?
Is punctuality extremely important?
Is phone etiquette and professionalism extremely important?
Understanding what they are going to do. You can learn a little bit of this off of their website, but understand what are their services.
Things to Consider When Hiring a Professional Organizer
Services & Niche - If you are looking for somebody to help you with your kitchen, wouldn't you want somebody who niches, who always does a great job of kitchens, when you look at their before and after photos, it is the kitchens you love the most.
Solo Organizer versus Team of Organizers - If you find a solo organizer, consider whether you are looking to spend more time with them. It might take longer to complete a job. That person might need you to work alongside them versus a team. And again, no two teams are created equal or the same, but. With a team, generally, things can get done faster, as opposed to a solo person. See our last episode for more information on solo vs. teams.
If you want a team, are they 1099 employees or are they W 2 employees? Again, there is no right answer. Each state is different but for my team, they are all W2 employees. They can be covered under my workers comp, I can train them how I see fit, and they all wear a uniform. 1099 works for so many teams and that is perfect for the people who it works for. But consider what are, what are things that are important to you. 1099 generally means that it might be cheaper To, but it's not always a guarantee, not going to guarantee that 1099 means that the people that are working underneath the organizer, that lead organizer, the owner of the business generally are going to be more experienced which means they have a lot more knowledge about things since they are considered to be kind of more experts and non-trainable by the owner.
Session Times & Availability - Some organizers can only do evenings and will only do three to four hours at a time. Some organizers will work starting in the morning and I work a six-hour day. I'm available all days except for Tuesdays and Sundays. Some organizers can only work the weekend. Make sure that the availability of the organizer you're looking to hire matches up well with your specific availability and what your expectations are for time.
Overall Process - This kind of goes back to solo versus teams a little bit more, but is it expected that you work alongside the organizer or is it expected that you're only there to make decisions on things? Is it expected that the organizer is going to bring the product with them or do you have to buy the product?
Pricing - Organizers, we are not cheap. We should charge what we are worth. Sometimes I get clients who think that we are about the same cost as a cleaner, and that is not true. We generally do not have the same cost as cleaners. Because we're doing a lot more work. We're making a lot more decisions. It's a lot of decision fatigue that we potentially can hit. We tend to do tons of training. Pricing is always different between organizers. Consider your budget and what you are looking for. We want to help you within your wallet, and within your budget. We don't want you to break the bank getting organized.
Certification, Education, and Membership - This is one of the bigger hot-button items in the organizing world, alongside 1099 versus an employee. Certification. There are no certification requirements to become a professional organizer, there are none. There are certification courses out there that you can do and pay for, but not required. If you do get a certification, we highly recommend ASPO (American Society of Professional Organizers). Their focus on community, inclusion, and education makes it a great choice! Check out March's podcast for more info on this!
Complimentary Services - Some organizers will do complimentary donation runs, complimentary product purchasing, and planning. Some organizers charge for some of these items as well. Consider what are some of the key benefits when you hire them.
Personality & Values - Probably the NUMBER ONE thing to consider when hiring a professional organizer. You do not want somebody who does not value transparency, honesty, respect, professionalism, or whatever the values are important to you, you do not want to hire somebody that you think is borderline, not going to respect those values of yours, your values and your organizer's values should line up. You should agree with them. They should agree with yours.
Reviews - In my opinion, reviews are huge, especially ones that have text with them. Somebody has gone out of their way to write a beautiful five-star written review for the business. Take your time to read that. You will glean a lot of insight from the client's perspective of the process that they experienced when you look at their reviews. As somebody who has also had one bad review, it is also very important to read the reviews. Sometimes things are not in my control and I get reviewed on it anyway, even though it wasn't in my control whatsoever. Check out the reviews, but also more importantly, read the reviews!
What is cluttering my Life?
What is currently cluttering my life during my week off of organizing jobs is I've got to get caught up on paper filing. I've finally got caught up in my mail! Mail has cluttered my life for a long time, but I've finally gotten caught up. Now I have to put the paper away.
Coming Up!
May celebrates one year with talk clutter to me, talk clutter to me will have been around a whole year in May. I want to thank everybody who has become a subscriber, who has listened to the podcast, who shared the podcast.
I am excited to announce, I will be starting up two episodes a month! Episode number one in May is going to be on decluttering steps, my very unique decluttering style, and steps that make it easy to get organized without being overwhelmed. And then about the middle of the month, you'll get episode number two, which is a fun episode that I am going to be recording during my organizers retreat that I'm doing end of April where I am going to get a bunch of organizers to tell me all of their little golden tidbits and rules.