I Love NAPO!

From Thursday, April 4 to Sunday, April 7, Laurie and I were thrilled to meet with hundreds of professional organizers from around the country (and around the world) for the annual convention of NAPO (National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals) in Fort Worth, Texas. What an amazing weekend! I attended presentations on topics as diverse as "From IDEA to Death Cleaning: Swedish Concepts in Organizing", "Let's Make a Shidduch" (I bet you're curious about that one!), "Tech Tools for Writing", "Branding and Monetizing Your Business", and "Helping Clients Identify the Value in their Objects" and many more. We discussed tips that work well for our businesses and how to best meet all of our clients' needs. We ate a lot, laughed at our obsessive tendencies, and enjoyed being with likeminded people. We even danced to 80's music together! Although organizers tend to be a very serious and focused group that is  passionate about order, we also love to have fun!

NAPO has been invaluable from before I even launched Shipshape Solutions. I have learned so much from not only the conferences, but also the online classes, the daily email and Facebook discussions, online classes, and consulting with other NAPO organizers. NAPO gives me a standard of quality and exemplary ethics in all aspects of my business and gives me all of the tools and encouragement I need to deliver excellent organizing services. I can't wait to share the ideas I learned at the NAPO conference with my clients.

*By the way, in case you can't read it, our matching shirts say, "Fill your life with adventures. Have stories to show, not stuff to show." Laurie and I are passionate about this concept. We have seen our clients enjoy the freedom that can come from living clutter-free, and we want to help more people achieve that goal.