Name: Christa Wagner
Age: 36
Location: Vancouver, B.C. Education: B.A. in Speech Communication, Indiana University
Job Title: Certified professional organizer and founder of Savvy Solutions Organizing, Inc.
What She Does: Christa’s company focuses specifically on helping business and residential clients put organizational systems in place that make better use of their time and space. Her tasks range from helping a professional conquer desktop clutter to unpacking a residential client after a move. Additionally, Christa also leads corporate training seminars and gives motivational workshops to reach a wider audience.
How She Got Her Gig: After working in a marketing industry position that took her from Pittsburgh to Seattle, Christa quit to become her own boss. She’d long had a passion for organizing, so she became certified through the National Association for Professional Organizers and founded Savvy Solutions Organizing, Inc.
Growing Her Business: Christa has used every outlet, from her local chamber of commerce to her blog, to drum up new clients. In the organizer business, however, much of a company’s growth is tied to word-of-mouth recommendations. “Mostly, it’s existing, happy clients that refer me. That’s pretty much how we’ve gotten our clients through the years,” she says.
Working 9 to 5: Christa’s client appointments dictate her schedule, though she restricts her work hours to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Often, her days include a consultation with a client or two and administrative tasks such as networking or sending out her newsletter.
Book Bound: Some of Christa’s favorite guides are The Organizing Source Book by Kathy Waddill and Organizing for Your Brain Type by Lanna Nakone. “Organizing for Your Brain Type is a book I reference all the time because I do work with a variety of different types of people,” she says. “My clients aren’t hoarders. Mostly, they have just gotten a little off track when something happened in their life—maybe they moved or got married or got a new job.”
Feel-Good Factor: For Christa, the best part of her job is knowing she’s improved a client’s day-to-day existence. “They are visibly feeling fantastic and they’ve seen the light,” she says. “I’ve had people handing me a check saying, ‘I love you, you have changed my life.’”
This Job’s for You if: You have compassion for stressed-out people, a knack for leading them toward doable solutions, and an ability to read a client’s personality to uncover what type of organizing setup will work best for them. And a willingness to be educated in the art of organizing helps too, even it’s just reading up on the subject. “There are a lot of organizers that have no education and just start working with clients,” she says. “Get the proper education. Just because you’re organized doesn’t mean you should be paid to work for clients.”
