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"Research" question for my business
I am in the process of revamping my business completely. I realized recently after a poignant Bible study session that left me thinking a lot about what I was doing that I really don't enjoy going into other people's homes and doing the hands-on organizing...and if I'm going to have my own business, I want to LOVE what I'm doing or it defeats the purpose.
My revamp is instead of going in and actually helping people declutter/reorganize hands-on, I'm going to do coaching. For example, someone calls and wants help with a closet, so I'll go over and do a consult, they'll tell me which plan they want (I'll have 3 or 4 different ones to choose from with varying levels of me being involved, plan details, etc etc), and I'll go home and design a very detailed plan for what they need to do to get organized (I'll be checking in, going over to check on progress, talking them through it, the whole nine yards, and following through until the end...just not doing any actual organizing). This just fits where I want to go with my business so much better.
So, my question is...even for those of you who wouldn't ever hire an organizer period...hypothetically, if you WERE in a position to want/need help getting organized, would you be more likely to choose an organizing coach who would walk you through it from beginning to end, but not do hands-on, or would you prefer someone to come in and either do it for you or help you do it?
Every answer is helpful. Thanks!
Re: "Research" question for my business
I, personally, really like the idea. I feel that if I were to ever hire and organizer for my home, it would mean that I feel lost and unable to get control of my own clutter. Having someone just fix it wouldn't teach me anything, but being coached and doing it myself would give me some skills and I would know I did it.
Totally different but kind of along similar lines,-- I get running coaches. I prefer the ones who give me training plans on paper then we discuss how things are going and I get fedback etc bc I feel more like I am doing some stuff on my own and learning about myself in the process.
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That's kind of my feeling is that there might be more (or, just as many) people who would want to hire a coach as opposed to an actual organizer, for different reasons...some people don't want strangers all up in their stuff, they have a hard time when they feel pressured to let go of stuff, it's more complicated trying to schedule appointments when you have to work around the client AND your own schedule, etc etc...and it may be that only people who would be interested in hiring a hands-on organizer would ever even consider hiring an organizing coach.
Yes, the running coach analogy is EXACTLY what I would be aiming to do with my clients.
Would it make it any more likely for you to do it on your own if you knew I (or whoever) would be calling you, emailing you, and possibly coming by ~ depending on the plan you chose ~ to check on your progress?
I would want someone to do it for me. If I was going to do it myself, it would already be done.
I would not want the emailing/checking in. I think, for me, that would make the process too long and drawn out. I would want someone to come in and we could work together to make it happen quickly. Honestly, I would get annoyed if someone was emailing me/calling me and telling me what to do, especially if I hit a road block. I would want that person here, looking at what I was looking at. If I'm going to pay someone to doa job, I want them to do it. JMO, but I hope it's helpful.
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If someone came and checked up on me I would get is done. Never want to disappoint my teacher.
All good feedback; thanks so much. I know that there are obviously going to be people on either side (along with those who would never in a million years hire an organizer), so I am keeping that in mind, but it's good to know what people think either way.
I love the end result of helping people and getting them organized, but after about two years of going into people's homes, I realized that it wasn't what I really wanted to do. There may be times when I still do it, but I think I'm heading more in the coaching direction.
ITA with Rayskit
Ditto
Personally I would prefer this b/c I'm a person who knows how to organize but I get overwhelmed by the details and need someone to help me break it up into babysteps to get over the hump.
Let's say I wanted you to help me organize our files and a closet in our office. I would want suggestions and a plan and maybe a rendering of what you think would work best for us and then I would want to implement it and call you in when I have questions or need help.
I did this with my designer on my front office. I feel like I have too much knowledge and opinion on this subject to just hand it over, but I don't have enough time to come up with the grand plan. Does that make sense?
That being said you are definitely narrowing your audience by not being a turn-key organizer but I think that's ok in your situation. You've got other work you're doing. If this was strictly about making money, as in--need to make $30,000 this year or we'll go bankrupt--then I'd say you need to widen your focus regardless of what you enjoy.
I think your next step is to figure out how to reach your niche market. And I think a portion of your niche market might be control freaks like me
I would want someone there "helping". They don't have to do the physical labor, but the reason I have clutter is I can't get rid of some things. I need someone to say, "Allyson, you don't really need that dress. It's really cute, but you haven't worn it in over 5 years." If I'm on my own, I can always justify keeping something over getting rid of it.
I don't want someone to just check in on me. I want someone there cracking the whip.
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This is exactly my thought.
I wouldn't mind doing a lot of the work myself, but I'd definitely want (need?) somebody there to help just as much.
Can you just offer this as an option and see how many people take you up on it? Then you aren't completely cutting off your business if it is not well received, but you can kind of see how people prefer to book the services, so if it IS more towards coaching, then you can slowly pull off the services of actually manually doing the work with them.
Personally, I am more in rayskit's boat. If I am hiring an organizer, I would want to block off hours or a day and get whatever it is done that day - with the organizer in tow. If I have gone so far as to hire an organizer, that means I am fed up with the mess, and want to get it taken care of asap (or maybe before a certain time if guests are coming in town, etc.) If I put off certain parts of it or do it in parts at different times, I would just procrastinate them, and they would never get done (even with reminder emails - I would just blow you off with lame-o excuses.
). But I can see how parts of the process could be legitamately put off. Like, get it mostly done, but my "homework" is to go through this stack of bills when you are gone and file them (in the cabinet we already set up), instead of wasting your time watching as I go through them. Same with a closet - maybe you give me a space that I can fit clothes, and that last piece of the project is that I need to go through the clothes later and decide what I want to keep in order to accomodate the space.
im kind of a combination of all of the above answers. if it were my business i would offer variedbconsultation packages that include combinations of the above desires. if you dislikee the come in and do it work, charge more for that. if they want you to come in person to check in, charge per visit. like your base package includes 3 visits - start, checkin, and final touches. but you could charge for extra visits when clients keep getting stuck.
someone above mentioned breaking it down into baby steps. i like that and would be more willing to paay for that. and i would want so,eone who would be there in the very beginning to help me get going by doing some hands on work to show me the task isnt as insurmountable as it seems.
you know you could also have packages based on how cluttered someone is. if you have a hoarder they will need hands on help the whole way. if you have a packrat, maybe not quite as much but still more than the appproach you seem to be taking. and by the time someone needs a personal organizer as opposed to a closet system company, they need some in-person assistance.
- Paula Deen to 104.1 KRBE's Producer Eric 9/17/2011
Ditto.
It occurs to me that the type of person that needs professional help organizing their home is probably not going to ever do it on their own, coach or not.
i agree with rayskit.
i am an organized person, but sometimes just can't find the time to sit down and do it.
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because i have "shiny ball syndrome", i have a really hard time doing things like closet organization because i cannot stay on task for very long. i will get up to go put something in another location and get distracted by something in that location, then veer off task and drag out the closet organization for days.
it would be impractical for me to have a "coach" unless the coach was sitting there talking to me and keeping me on task while i'm doing the cleanout/organization.
the e-mail/stopping by thing would totally not work and only create more stress for me.
"here is a plan for you, now go carry it out!" when it comes to something like closet or pantry organization would not work for people like me. perhaps because i don't like plans...lol. i don't like business plans, vacation plans that are detailed, or a week of calendar filled in with things for me to do.
i also hate graph paper. just for your info ; )
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See, I think that's part of my "issue" with how things have been going previously...I feel like SO much time (and money) is wasted for both the client AND me because a good chunk of the time I spend with clients is watching them go through stuff. I feel like my time with them could be spent better, and I also know that there's so much that goes into purging/decluttering that really, only the client can do (like you're saying CareBear, sorting through bills/papers/etc). Maybe I'll think about/look into doing a combination approach of helping people get started ~ which was going to be in my plan anyway; I'd come out to the client's house initially and do a consultation to get them going ~ and then continuing to coach them and help them out here and there.
My plan was depending on the plan someone bought, they'd get a certain number of appointments during the process where I'd come in, check on their progress, and possibly help them out, too. So that might take care of some of the concerns y'all are talking about as far as you want someone there talking you through it. But instead of being there for 3-4 hours at a time like I was doing, it would be more like an hour at a time, maybe 1.5 hours, for a few different sessions. I think this would be a better balance for both the client AND me as far as cutting out any wasted time spent where the client is sorting through a box of trinkets or kitchen stuff, for example, and I'm just there (I always try to be proactive with my clients, but it's hard to avoid that scenario).
This is great feedback. Thanks again to everyone. I'm always open to suggestions! This is helping me refine what I'm trying to do...making me think that keeping in some face-time appointments during the coaching process for a client is a good idea. There's often so much that a client can do by herself/himself anyway, so most every appointment that I go to, I'm leaving them with quite a bit of homework anyway ~ stuff that I can't do ~ so it's seeming like a combined approach of coaching/some hands-on organizing might be best.
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Sounds to me, and this is just from my expertise as a Hoarders watcher lol, maybe you could be more hands on. Set ground rules with clients at the outset:
what do you know automatically goes? Oh, you're currently a size 10 and were a size 6 more than 8 years ago. Well, even if you end up a 6 again, these clothes are outdated so I'll put them all in the donate pile.
I agree that an organizer standing aroudn watching me would be a waste of time. I would expect to pay someone to get their hands dirty.
Exactly what she said.
Ditto, I love the "idea" of coaching but I would need the hands-on help.
Okay, so I totally should have rephrased what I said, because yeah, what I wrote does make it sound like I literally just STAND there...and that is NOT the case! What I meant to depict is this: let's pretend there's a huge box of papers (which I've had to do MANY, many times) sitting in front of us. I'll be on the floor with my client sorting through stuff, holding things up, and asking them what it is/why they're keeping it/etc etc. So yes, I definitely get my hands dirty in that respect, and am coaching them along the way. But I can't make those decisions myself...so every time I come across one single piece of paper, one trinket, etc, even if the client and I are working "separately" (ie, she's going through one box and I'm going through another one), I have to stop and ask her about it. It gets to be such a time suck, and instead of helping her come up with a plan (which I do, but not until later) or telling her a bulk rule for a certain thing (like you said above with the clothes), I feel like there's a better way to spend both my time and the client's time/money, you know? I think I sometimes feel like I'm "watching" them make decisions, even when I am also getting my hands dirty, because I'm holding up things, asking them about it, and waiting/watching for their decision.
Does that make sense? I would feel terrible if I was truly just standing there, but that's what it sounded like from what I wrote, and totally not what I actually do! I just feel often like it's inefficient for both the client and me to be sorting through boxes when I can't make the decisions for them and have to stop every minute to ask them about something. Same goes for when people hire me to do stuff when they're not there...I've done it a few times, and it can be really difficult because they're not there to answer questions...so then I just end up having to leave notes and stacks of stuff for them to sort through later.
So, I sort of feel already like I'm heading in the direction of more of a combination approach anyway, focusing maybe more on coaching with still having appointments where I'm there with them (but not for 3-4 hours at a time)...but now that y'all have put some feedback in, I think I have a clearer picture of what would be a good move for the business.
There are Nesties that can testify that I don't actually just sit around/stand and watch THEM organize, LOL! I should have read what I posted BEFORE I actually posted it
I just want to let you know that I will be using "shiny ball syndrome" somewhere in my marketing for the business. Probably as a tag line..."Do you have shiny ball syndrome? Then you need to call me to help you get organized!" or something along those lines. That is awesome.
I'm thinking of Clean Sweep now
Solution for things like papers 'OK, so what's in this box? OK, tonight I need you to go through and separate it. Put the bills in one pile, keepsakes in another, taxes in another, receipts in another. Throw away anything that's over X years old and that's just random paper you don't need for informational purposes. Tomorrow ( Friday, next week) I will help you put together agood filing system.'
Maybe you can go through the first bit with them.