Business At A Glance
Startup Costs: Under $2,000
Home Based: Can be operated from home.
Part Time: Can be operated part-time.
Online Operation? No
Business Overview
The average businessperson faces a daily avalanche ofinformation–e-mail, snail mail, faxes, memos, reports, revisions,agendas, addenda, ad infinitum–and is nearly swept under by the sheermass of all this stuff. If you’re a neat freak with a passion for orderand efficiency, then you can save the day as an executive organizer.
You’ll work with businesspeople and their employees to bring order tochaos. You’ll streamline paper flow, set up filing systems, clean upand organize desks and work spaces, rearrange schedules, delegatetasks, and even create quiet times to maximize office efficiency. Ifyou’re a computer person, you can turn your talents to organizingWindows desktops and document storage, too.
The advantages to thisbusiness are that you can start part time, it’s creative, you canexplore the business worlds of lots of different people, and once youget going, you can earn extra income giving seminars. You can also–asmost professional organizers do–take on tasks in private homes as apersonal organizer.
The key ingredient here is, of course,organizational ability, which you must be able to apply to otherpeople’s situations. You’ll have to diagnose how an office works aswell as how it should work and then apply that diagnosis to do-ablesolutions for your clients.
You’ll also need to be anorganization-oriented shopper with a keen knowledge of what furniture,accessory, software and office supply products are in the marketplaceso you can make recommendations.
The Market
Your clients can be any corporation, executive or small-business owner.Rein in these prospects by networking with business consultants,interior designers and architects, and professional and civicorganizations.
Place ads in the business section of your local paperand in the Yellow Pages. Write articles and press releases for localpublications. Give seminars and workshops at local colleges andalternative learning centers, and give talks to local business groups.
Join professional organizing associations–these can be terrificsources of referrals.
Needed Equipment
All you really need to get started is yourself and a planning book, butonce you get up and running, you’ll want a computer, a laser printerand a fax machine, along with the usual office software. You may alsowant special time-management and form-design or desktop-publishingsoftware.