There’s something satisfying about walking into a well-organized pantry full of shelves lined with labeled baskets, matching jars, and color-coordinated canned goods. Sure, a trip to the Container Store or a scroll through Amazon’s most popular organizing products can help you turn a cluttered mess into an Insta-worthy space, but the easiest way to get the look you’re lusting over is hiring a professional organizer. And while it’s definitely a luxury to hire a pro to handle the job, a survey of 830 Good Housekeeping readers found that 52% people would hire a professional organizer for their home, given the opportunity.
To be clear, your friend who follows a few organizing profiles on Instagram (think: The Home Edit or NEAT Method) and likes to label things for fun is not a professional. There are, however, more than 3,500 members of the National Association of Productivity & Organizing Professionals who are. But if you think your before-and-after projects warrant a professional title, follow this guide on how to become a professional organizer, including tips and tricks from people who’ve done it themselves.
Many pro organizers, including Anna, a Thumbtack Pro and founder of Sorted by Anna, see if their passion is worth a career pivot with a provisional membership to NAPO. The educational membership, which costs $299, comes with three required online courses — basic organizing theory, how-to skills for hands-on organizing work, and review of NAPO’s code of ethics — as well as extra professional development options, like networking events and industry conferences.
But classes are just the beginning: If you’re trying to go pro, reach out to family and friends and ask if you can put your organizing skills to work. You never know where that experience can lead — for Anna, it propelled her business. After her friend posted pictures of her newly organized closet, a Facebook friend took notice and booked a session — and the rest is history.
During the early stages of launching a career as a pro organizer, there are several skills you can sharpen.
Know what kind of your organizer you want to be.
Organizing isn’t one-size-fits-all: There are different methods depending on the space you’re working with. Jeffrey Phillip, a New York City-based organizer and interior designer, specializes in spaces that prioritize function and fashion. “Some people prefer to focus on corporate organizing, or even work on more technical projects with clients who are hoarders or have specific needs,” he says. Regardless of what organizing type interests you most, Phillip clarifies that all projects — no matter the size — are a puzzle of sorts. “It’s creative problem solving at its finest. You’re always trying to figure out how to make something better and what the new solution is.”
Take advantage of social media.
There are currently more than 2 million posts tagged with #organization on Instagram — and that number is growing by the second. The Home Edit, a professional organizing duo beloved by celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow, Khloe Kardashian, and Reese Witherspoon, are part of the equation, and have 1.5 million Instagram followers of their own. While their rainbow-colored pantries are seemingly everywhere these days, social media domination was all a part of their strategy when they first started their business in 2015. “We wanted to make our work as Pinterest-worthy as possible, so we put an aesthetic spin on a functional practice,” Clea Shearer from The Home Edit explains. “In our early days, we offered our services to some celebrity contacts as a strictly promotional effort.” And it worked: When The Home Edit finished a project, they had their celebrity clients (ahem, Gwyneth) post a photo on their Instagram in exchange for the service, increasing their total follower count and client opportunities.
Lean into the emotional aspects of organizing.
While it may be easy for you to see someone else’s treasures as trash (sad but true), it’s important to remember that even your client’s cluttered drawers are full of sentiment. And even if you think you know your client well, you’ll discover even more about their life while digging through their belongings. “While going through things, try to understand their habits, body language, and routines and figure out how you can make a difference,” Phillip explains. “Sometimes, it requires reading between the lines to help clients get to their ultimate goal.”
Figure out your brand — and run with it.
Maybe you specialize in filling closets with floor-to-ceiling baskets. Or add clear acrylic bins to, well, every room possible. The Home Edit says that part of their success came from knowing the look that they wanted to achieve, and keeping it consistent from house to house. “We wanted a smart way to put our stamp on our work. Clea would hand label everything, but as we scaled, we had to work through a way to get our consistent labeling on different projects throughout the country,” Joanna Teplin from The Home Edit reflects. “We later turned Clea’s handwriting into a font, and now we have a signature aesthetic — literally.”
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