Preconference Workshops -
Wednesday, March 22
Preconference workshops are extra-fee events.
8am-5pm
PO-101: Starting an Organizing Business (PC1)
Porter Knight
Designed for new and prospective professional organizers, this all-inclusive NAPO class delivers a blueprint for launching and growing your business. Take charge of your career. Learn the elements of successful needs assessment, effective marketing, and business basics. Students will develop a learning plan for themselves so they will have some clear next steps. This is a must-take class to gain the knowledge and confidence to ensure success.
You will learn to
- recognize the skills needed to run a professional organizing business
- identify ideas for marketing your business
- determine the fair market value of your services
- conduct a preliminary needs assessment
- plan your next steps in developing your business
- access additional resources for the topics presented.
Porter Knight, Organized by Knight, Bristol, VT, developed and has taught NAPO education courses PO-001T and PO-101. She is one of NAPO’s most popular presenters.
Lunch is included in the registration fee.
8 am–Noon
PO-201: Residential Needs Assessments:
Kathy Waddill’s Eyes of a Stranger Method™ (PC2)
Kathy Waddill, 2005 President’s Award Recipient
One of the trickiest aspects of our work as professional organizers is answering two key questions with our new clients:
“What is going on here?”
“What does this client really need?”
Kathy Waddill has developed a tried-and-true way to answer these questions. In this course, she will teach you the details of her Eyes of a Stranger Method™ for conducting residential needs assessments. It’s not the form you use that makes your assessment an extremely valuable resource for your client – it’s knowing what to write on the form! At the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Book an assessment appointment with a potential client
- Conduct a comprehensive assessment of a client’s home
- Understand the client by asking judgment-free and open-ended questions
- Recognize the real issues underlying the client’s organizing challenges
- Explain the situation so the client sees the underlying issues clearly
- Think creatively about a client’s situation to find solutions that will work for the client
- Create a “To Do List” for the client, including a buying list
- Recommend courses of action to address the client’s organizing issues and put them into a written, customized plan
- Address possible client objections to a recommended course of action
- Incorporate the client’s ideas into the organizing plan
- Incorporate the client’s organizing style into the organizing plan
- Demonstrate her/his expertise so the client can see how valuable it is
- Book a follow-up appointment to do the hands-on organizing work
Kathy Waddill has been offering needs assessments to her residential clients since 1993 when she started her organizing business (www.theuntangledweb.com). She introduced the Eyes of a Stranger Method™ to the public in 2001 in her book The Organizing Sourcebook: Nine Strategies for Simplifying Your Life. Kathy also presented various aspects of the Method at four of the last six NAPO National Conferences. This course allows her to teach the Method in much greater detail.
Kathy Waddill is a member of the National Chapter Relations Committee, past president of NAPO-San Francisco Bay Area, and founder of NAPO-New England. She has been nominated twice for the Founders’ Award for her contributions to the organizing industry. She is delighted to partner with NAPO to present her ideas as part of NAPO’s education curriculum.
1–5 pm
Coaching Skills: Leading-Edge Tools for Maximum Results (PC3)
Laura Berman Fortgang
You work with your clients in ways that change their lives. Adding coaching skills to your tool kit could be exactly what will take your work from here to extraordinary. Join Laura Berman Fortgang, MCC, a pioneer of the personal coaching field and author of three coaching books, for this highly interactive workshop. You will gain insight about coaching and learn practical tools you will be able to use right away. If you’ve ever been curious about this complementary skill set or are wondering how to continue to grow as a professional organizer, this session is for you. Learn from a pro, practice the skills, grow on the spot!
Laura Fortgang, an internationally recognized pioneer in the personal coaching field, is the author of Living Your Best Life, Take Yourself to the Top, and Now What? 90 Days to a New Life Direction.
1-5pm
How to Create, Market, and Sell Information Products on the Web (PC4)
Michael Port
If you want to learn how to make money with your own e-books, audio CDs, home-study courses, and teleseminars, plan to join info guru Michael Port for this immediately useful, content-rich workshop.
You’ll discover how to
- get good product ideas and make sure they will sell before you spend any time or money
- create juicy content that sells with little work and in lightning speed
- outsource all the busy work for less money than you ever thought possible
- market your products online and offline to generate instant sales
- automate the entire process—from promotion to sending money to the bank—so you can make sales without lifting a finger
- and much more.
After this session, you’ll have an outline for your own signature info product and a step-by-step action plan you can implement immediately.
Michael Port is known as “the guy to call when you’re tired of thinking small.” He has lectured to, trained, or provided consulting services to more than 20,000 solo business owners.