People join professional associations for various reasons. In some cases, it’s a requirement if you want to work in a particular field. Some join because they feel it gives them credibility. Others hope to find new clients through the association’s referral program and/or online directory.
For many people, those are the only reasons to join, so they don’t see any benefit in actively participating in their association. I’ve even heard some people say "Why would I want to go to a meeting? It’s not like I’m going to get any business out of it." Those people are missing out! Not only can we learn a lot from our colleagues, I am living proof that active participation in a professional association can indeed bring in business.
My decision to join Professional Organizers in Canada (POC) when I started my business in 2002 was based mainly on the second and third reasons mentioned above, and my membership has certainly been worthwhile in both of these areas. However, my relationships with other members have brought me more additional benefits than I could ever have imagined.
- I’ve been hired by a member who specializes in home staging to organize her home office, and by another member who needed help organizing her email and computer files. Although we all call ourselves professional organizers, we don’t all have the same skills or offer the same services.
- I’ve received several referrals from members in other geographic areas who received inquiries from prospective clients in my area.
- I have had several opportunities to subcontract with other organizers on projects that were too large for one person to manage alone, or where they wanted to bring in someone with my expertise in office organization. I’ve also been able to bring in other organizers on my larger projects, or when I needed someone with expertise in home organization.
- One member left the organizing field to pursue other interests. This led to my being interviewed for a local radio show as well as an article in our local newspaper, which directly brought in new business.
These are all things that could happen to anyone, but for me, it hasn’t even stopped there.
When I’d been in business for about a year, a fellow member who knew about my ezine asked me to help her set one up. As I was doing so, she realized that she really wasn’t interested in learning how to do it, and offered to pay me to do it for her. I agreed, and realized I enjoyed that side of my business at least as much as helping people get organized. I had already been maintaining my sister’s website for several years and it occurred to me that I would be busier, and probably happier, if I expanded my business to offer virtual assistance as well as organizing services. That turned out to be a great decision for me, as my VA practice has grown steadily since that time and is now more than half of my business. Furthermore, because of my knowledge of the organizing industry, I’ve been chosen to provide virtual assistance and website design to a number of professional organizers across Canada and the United States. None of this would have happened if instead of joining POC, I had decided just to try things on my own. In fact, it’s very likely that I would have given up on my business and today, instead of working as my own boss in jeans and a sweatshirt in the comfort of my home office, I would be all dressed up, working for someone else, in some thankless job.
Need I say more?
One thing I’ve noticed working from home is that it’s harder to get into the Christmas spirit. Although theoretically I have the freedom and flexibility to listen to Christmas music while I’m working or to take time to decorate or slip out and shop, in reality I work harder than when I worked in an office, and am much less likely to do any of those things. Not just because if I don’t work, I don’t get paid (which is, of course, a big motivator) but because I enjoy my work so much that it doesn’t cross my mind.
