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Poe-fessional organization

By NATE HUBBARD/Staff

Wytheville’s pre-eminent organizing expert is many things: personable, confident and, well, quite organized.
But she’s not a pro.
She’s something a little more original. She’s a Poe.
Chasity Poe of PoeFessional Organizing has been helping area businesses and a few individuals get papers filed and clothes sorted for nearly a year.
Starting last week, though, Poe began offering a new twist to her business model – a neatness pay it forward.
When a client purchases a 10-hour organizing package, Poe will work an additional two free hours for another organization or person of her client’s choice.
“I think everybody could use more organization – even me,” she said. “It’s always a process.”
Poe said she envisions her new offer being used to help a nonprofit agency or someone who just might need some extra motivation to get started on an organizing project.
While the choice of the two-hour donation is entirely up to the client, Poe said her offer isn’t meant to be a surprise gift.
“A surprise sounds nice, but the only problem is a person has to want to get organized for it to work,” she said.
Poe generally charges $35 per hour for her organizing work, but the 10-hour packages are offered for $250 and any subsequent hours continue at the lower $25/hour rate.
So just what does Poe do?
Pretty much anything that involves sorting, filing, arranging, cataloging or just straightening up.
“There’s always something to work on,” she said. “I mean there’s cars and there’s purses and there’s houses and there’s your calendar and time management.”
Poe, who grew up in West Virginia, started her business in Florida in June 2006 after previously working in the insurance industry.
She said she’s always had the knack for organizing and initially thought she’d come up with a unique way to turn her talent into a business.
“I thought it was my great idea to be a professional organizer and then I started researching it and found that it was a growing profession,” she said.
While Poe said she’s not aware of any other organizers in Bland or Wythe counties, she added that she knows of a few people doing organizing work in the Roanoke area.
She also belongs to the National Association of Professional Organizers, which, according to the organization’s Web site, claims thousands of members and 33 chapters around the country.
Poe’s parents live in Rocky Gap and she initially moved to Bland last year before recently moving to Wytheville.
While she said most of her clients in the area have been Wythe County businesses, she said she’s eager to work with any business or individual in Bland or Wythe counties or even surrounding areas such as Bluefield.
When starting a new job, Poe said she’ll usually first spend some time assessing the area that needs to be organized.
After the consultation, Poe generally works side-by-side with her clients so she can demonstrate her techniques and ask their opinion on keeping or throwing out items.
“It’s kind of like an accountability partner,” she said. “When I’m doing it they learn tips and they learn the system so that when I leave, they can keep up with the system.”
Even though a neater house or business is the goal, Poe said her emphasis is on functionality – not perfection.
“I’m a realistic organizer,” she said, adding that striving for a flawless room actually often inhibits the process.
She said she lets the client and the task dictate the organizing pace, citing some people that like to spend an entire Saturday attacking a messy room while others prefer to work in two or three hour blocks each week.
In addition to organizing physical items, Poe also works with clients to better manage their daily schedules.
“I think time management is the root of evil,” she said. “It’s the root of most disorganization.”
“It’s all about scheduling,” she continued. “If you can really get your time organized then I think everything else falls into place.”
Although Poe said she’s willing to tackle about any project, she said she does have to draw the line at chronic hoarders or pack rats.
She said organizers joke that they’re partially therapists, but she said some people actually need professional counseling before any professional organizing services.
Making a personal connection with clients, though, is a big part of the job, Poe said, emphasizing that her clients have to be comfortable with her to allow her to dig through their closet or financial documents.
“When I was growing up I always wanted to choose professions where I could help people,” she said. “When I’m organizing I enjoy it, but that’s not the big part. The big part is at the end when the person looks around and they’re like ‘Wow.’
“And I mean some of the things they tell me, like that I’ve changed their life, like really changed their life, that’s really – it’s the end that’s the big part. You work hour after hour to get to the good part.”
Nate Hubbard can be reached at 228-6611 or .

Get Organized
To learn more about PoeFessional Organizing:
Visit http://www.poefessionalorganizing.com or call (276) 722-2995.