Get Organized with the Help of a Productivity Consultant
Every organizer should work with accountants and financial planners to bring value to the client relationship. --Debbie Gilster
Taking a high-tech approach is Debbie Gilster, an organizer in Laguna Nigel, Calif., whose business is called "Organize and Computerize." That's just what she does for her clients, who are small- to medium-sized businesses. She reconciles their books and financial statements, prepares their data, and interfaces with their accountants. Her clients consider her their chief financial officer; she calls herself a productivity consultant, a title she earned as a business process engineer for 20 years with Mazda. Gilster feels the planner-organizer partnership has tremendous potential. She routinely works with two planners, one whose focus is primarily on protection products like life insurance and disability, while the other concentrates on asset management. She thinks every organizer should work with accountants and financial planners to bring value to the client relationship.
To illustrate the value of her work, Gilster recalls finding misplaced cash, checks, and even stock certificates in envelopes for her clients. She also describes one of her clients, a stockbroker who neither knew his own bank balance nor could delegate work. With the help of her coaching, he has boosted his efficiency and bottom line by learning how to work a PDA and use database software and Quicken to manage his personal banking.
-Debbie Gilster, an organizer in Laguna Nigel, Calif., in Get Your Act Together
and 