Our guests from afar, the National Event

Since APOI's inception, I have been in charge of external relations, and I immediately pursued my main goal: to forge relationships with P.O.s internationally. I was very clear about the immense value of engaging with the world of the profession in different cultures, in order to have a global and more comprehensive view of the growth of the profession, cultivating contacts with great professionals who brought this beautiful work to life decades before us.

It was during APOI's last National Event, in celebration of the Association's 10-year anniversary, that we wanted to celebrate our Association's flagship event by dedicating space to international guests who are always a discovery, not only for their high level of preparation, but also for their generosity and desire to share experiences!

Our first guest

Patty Cruz, our first virtual guest, is a professional organizer of Guatemalan origin who lives and works in London. Patty was our guest at the first APOI event in 2014, in Bologna, and it was meaningful to celebrate this birthday with an interview with her, as she witnessed our first steps, the birth and growth of the Association.

Patty's experience as a P.O., starts from her first job: for 15 years she worked as a management consultant for IBM and financial partner for Barclays Capital, where she learned to be disciplined and structured, with extreme attention to detail!

This experience combined with her passion for organizing and natural aptitude for helping people led her to create her own professional organizer business in 2012, giving birth to Organised & Simple: organizing, decluttering and productivity services.

In 2012 he attended a training program in the United States, where he obtained certification in Clear and Simple Systems™.

Patty's statements moved us. To question, answer.

"Patty you met us from our first steps, tell us about your memories, feelings and emotions." When I walked into Sala Borsa in Bologna, I immediately sensed a special charge, a structured teamwork: you were sowing seeds for the future of the profession in Italy and all the elements to make it a success, and it was!

"If you had to give one suggestion to professional organizers entering the profession today, what would you tell them?" Three important suggestions:

1. Associate, as life within an association gives the opportunity to meet colleagues with whom to share experiences and knowledge related to the trade, access potential clients, learn about the market, and be inspired to volunteer within the association itself. I also suggest looking out, later, to an international association.
2. Train to acquire the right methodology and professionalism, as it helps to be more structured and the client himself will have more confidence in your work.
3. Treating one's work as a freelancer from the very beginning-it's a business not a hobby-specializing and standing out in what one does best.

"Every professional organizer, sooner or later, faces personal challenges that undermine the professional sphere. What message would you like to share in this regard?"
Sooner or later, we all face work-related challenges and issues.
We can also learn something from these experiences, because every mistake is a teaching opportunity. Also, communication is a very important tool in our work that we need to pay close attention to.

"From your early days in the profession to today, what do you think has changed, and what should or could we do to facilitate the growth of the profession internationally?"
Since I started my P.O. business, the profession is much better known and this has made it easier to meet the market. But to make it even easier for the profession to grow worldwide, I encourage all P.O.s to write books, do interviews, and find partners to work with to popularize it as much as possible.

Peter, our second special guest

Peter Walsh, global industry representative who has been working internationally for more than 20 years. His motto: "Eliminate mental clutter to become your best self and lighten up. Love what you have, get what you need, be happier with less."

Born and raised in Australia, he has lived in Los Angeles since '90, where and started his first TV series Clean Sweep, for Discovery's TLC network with 120 episodes, then worked for five seasons on The Oprah Winfrey Show, was a weekly guest on theOprah XM Radio Channel and is still a contributor to Oprah Magazine.

Peter emphasized how important it is to dwell not only on what we find inside the homes, but rather on what goes into the homes, that is, to address the problem upstream by asking the question of why people buy so much without having the proper awareness of why they do so.

He dwelt on the phenomenon of social media, denouncing the harm it brings to society because of the kind of message they propose: "more is better" instead of "less is more" that is, "less is more or, even more clearly, less is better." In addition, this language today presses on and reinforces the problem of comparison with others: people compulsively compulsively buy with the retropense that they are buying happiness, when in fact they are walking the road to unhappiness.

He urged us business professionals to encourage our clients to be more environmentally conscious by limiting their plastic purchases. He also emphasized how much clients need to be enlightened about how objects in themselves do not bring happiness and how it is relationships and experiences that bring wealth.
Finally, he told us that he does not know what the future holds for the profession, but that he is confident that as professional organizers, we all have a vital role to play in helping people and the world become a better place.
Thank you Peter!

Not only during the National Event, but throughout the year APOI offers members webinars related to the #APOIinternationalGuest project. A valuable opportunity to meet leading figures from the world of international professional organizing.