In addition to our in-person and distance-based productivity and organizing solutions, our founder, Joshua Zerkel, CPO® is available for speaking at your event or webinar.

Here’s Joshua Zerkel in action at a recent event:

Some of our popular topics include:

Evernote in Action

Curious about Evernote? In this workshop, you’ll learn first-hand all the great ways that Evernote can boost productivity and organization, including the many ways you can create notes, organizing and finding your notes easily, managing your tasks and to-dos, going paperless, how to integrate Evernote with other productivity tools, and much more! This workshop is all about ACTION. Bring your laptop, because you’ll set up and start using your Evernote account right on the spot!

Skyrocket Your Productivity with Online Tools

In the ever-changing world of technology, it’s hard to know what tools will be time-wasters and which ones can actually help you get your work done more effectively. In this seminar, we’ll share the tools we use both in our own business and with our clients to help streamline and simplify many common business tasks. Best of all, each of the apps, sites, and tools we share are either FREE or low cost – but all can help you save time, stress, or money!

Get Organized – Tools to Boost Your Productivity at Work

With so many details to keep track of, running a business can be tough. How can you save time, money, and be more effective in your small business? By getting more organized! In this information-packed class, you’ll learn effective, proven strategies for managing your space, your “stuff,” and paper and your time, so you can focus on boosting your productivity and profits.

Master Your Paperless Office

If you have stacks of paper in your office, it can be easy to get overwhelmed. Going paperless can help reduce your distractions and boost your productivity – but which tech tools can help get the papers off your desk and into your computer? In this seminar, I’ll share with you best practices for getting started, along with the tools and services that will remove your paper backlog so you can regain your focus and boost your productivity.

Control Your Contacts with CRM

If you’ve been collecting business cards and they end up in a stack, pile, or in the bottom of a drawer, you’re missing out on opportunities and revenue, and all that time you spent networking with those people was wasted if you’re not following up with them. Contacts are essentially “dead” when you don’t have an effective system to consolidate information about each person and your relationship with them, and then strategies for following up regularly. Luckily, technology is to the rescue in the form of CRM – customer/client relationship managers, which can help you manage your entire relationship with your people, close more sales, and save you time. But what are CRMs, how do they work, and most importantly, how do you evaluate which one to choose? In this seminar, I’ll walk you through what CRMs can – and can’t – do, and how to choose which one is right for you.

Each presentation offers the chance for full interactivity, with plenty of opportunities for Q&A. All programs can be customized to meet the needs of your group, association, or event.

A sampling of the groups who have hosted us:

  • Association of Certified Professional Wedding Consultants
  • Association of Professional Landscape Designers, Bay Area Chapter
  • Bay Networking Group
  • Blue Mango Learning / Clarify
  • Comcast
  • Dress for Success – Professional Women’s Group
  • East Bay Coaches
  • eBay-PayPal
  • Entrepreneur & Small Business Academy Meetup
  • Evernote
  • Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM)
  • Ginko Home Furnishings
  • Guarantee Mortgage
  • IDEO
  • Intuit
  • National Association of Professional Organizers – National Conference
  • National Association of Professional Organizers – San Francisco Bay Area Regional Conference
  • The Neat Company
  • North Bay Coaches
  • Office of the Public Defender, San Francisco
  • OfficeDrop
  • Pacific Union Real Estate
  • Pharmaca Integrative Medicine
  • PR Divas
  • Professional Organizers in Canada – National Conference
  • QuickBooks & Business Coaches Meetup
  • Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center
  • Sandbox Suites
  • San Bruno Recovery Center / American Red Cross
  • San Francisco Coaches
  • San Francisco Chamber of Commerce
  • San Francisco Entrepreneurs for Co-Working Meetup
  • San Mateo Professional Alliance
  • Shoeboxed
  • Small Business Administration, San Francisco
  • Small Business Development Center, Contra Costa County
  • Small Business Development Center, Walnut Creek
  • Smith-Craine Finance
  • Spark & Hustle
  • Stitch Labs
  • South Bay Coaches
  • The Tamalpais
  • University of California, Berkeley
  • Westin San Francisco
  • Women in Consulting

Would you like to schedule a speaking engagement with us? Contact us today.


What our hosts and attendees are saying:

Joshua Zerkel from Custom Living Solutions has taught several classes at SBA on organizational skills for entrepreneurs and we’ve always been delighted with the presentations. The class audiences have commented enthusiastically on his insights, his approachability and how useful the information he shares is. We have several hundred volunteer teachers and Josh remains one of my favorites.

Gary Marshall, Business Development Specialist | Small Business Administration, SF

Joshua Zerkel spoke about “Free (& Cheap) Online Productivity Tools” at the meeting of the Entrepreneur & Small Business Academy in Berkeley, California. He was a pleasure to work with and I would recommend him as a speaker without qualification. The attendees had resoundingly positive feedback on his presentation and I have already heard how some have put his simple but powerful tips to work in their own businesses. Josh is clearly an expert in the field of productivity, organization and technology utilization, and I fully expect to see his name on bigger and bigger events as word spreads about the value he delivers. Thank you, Josh, for making our meeting such a great success.

Patrick Schwerdtfeger, Organizer | Entrepreneur & Small Business Academy Meetup

Josh presented to the Women In Consulting (WIC) Marin/North Bay Satellite Group on the topic of online productivity tools. Our group came away fired up with ideas on ways to improve both their productivity and bottom line. The only complaint was that people wanted more time with him! Attendees gave him the highest rating possible for both the content of his presentation and his presentation skills. As co-chair of the group, I had the added benefit of enjoying his professionalism in preparing for the meeting and his gracious handling of some last minute snafus. Highly recommended. Book him for your group now!

Suzanne Skyvara, Coordinator | Women in Consulting

The mission of Dress for Success San Francisco is to promote the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life. We depend on generous and talented volunteers such as Joshua Zerkel to continue serving Bay Area women.

Mr. Zerkel donated his time and expert advice to the PWG group in 2010 by presenting a session entitled “Staying Organized on the Job.” This informational session provided about 30 PWG members with tools and strategies to improve their productivity and manage stress as they reenter the workforce. Joshua was able to provide both healthy “big picture” perspective on organization in addition to specific step-by-step strategies for approaching challenges such as procrastination, a messy work environment, and stress.

The ladies of the Dress for Success San Francisco truly benefited from Joshua’s years of experience and his willingness to share organizational wisdom in a practical, positive manner. We are truly grateful for his generosity with his time and expertise!

Kate Lillig, Program Manager | Dress for Success – Professional Women’s Group

I highly recommend Joshua Zerkel for anyone who needs help getting organized, being more productive and learning new work systems. Let’s face it, unless you’re Martha Stewart, that’s all of us! Joshua was kind enough to share a multitude of practical, achievable and useful tips on how to be more productive and less stressed in the workplace with my professional networking group. His natural sense of humor also made the presentation fun and engaging. I’ve already implemented several of the ideas he had and am seeing big changes in my stress level and desk clutter. He was extremely well-prepared, articulate and professional. I am looking forward to working with him again!

Tami von Isakovics, Coordinator | PR Divas

Joshua Zerkel put together a great presentation for our group on how to rid busy parents homes of clutter using systems to sort mail, to organize kids’ toys and how to maximize storage. Feedback from group was positive with stories of members finding more time to spend with their kids rather than spending weekends clearing piles of mail stacked on the kitchen table. I personally adopted several of his organizing systems in my home which resulted in a serious reduction in the amount of random stuff that used to end up in our family room. If you’re looking for a great speaker with practical tips on how to get organized, I highly recommend Joshua!

Eunice Louie, Associate Manager, Global Content | eBay-PayPal

After hearing Joshua Zerkel give presentations on two different topics, I was impressed enough to invite him to be the first guest speaker at my monthly teleclass. When Josh speaks he imparts a great amount of valuable information. He connects with his audience in a calm and easy manner, and is adept at answering questions while still keeping to his timeline. I highly recommend Josh as a presenter!

Annette Bourget | Calling Forth Coaching

Joshua gave an amazing presentation about “Free (& Cheap) Online Productivity Tools” to a group of entrepreneurs and small business owners at our organization. It was clear that he put in a lot of effort into the presentation and thoroughly researched all the tools before recommending it to others. He seemed to know everything about the tools, even the smallest, most hidden features. I was really impressed.

I highly recommend him as a speaker for business events and conferences.

Sasha Vasilyuk, Owner | Sandbox Suites

I have seen Josh make two presentations and both had me wanting to learn more. Josh has excellent delivery, and educates the audience on the strengths and weaknesses of the solutions being discussed. Audience members said they enjoyed the exposure to inexpensive and useful productivity tools.

Steve Petersen, Coordinator | QuickBooks & Business Coaches Meetup

The information Josh presented was cutting edge, original and very helpful. The presentation was technical, but Josh made it accessible and fun for all levels. Josh showed how being organized online can be easy and inexpensive. We are definitely looking forward to having Josh speak to our group again!

Deborah Moody, Director | Association of Certified Professional Wedding Consultants

Josh is an excellent presenter and an excellent teacher: articulate, somehow finds an information balance that honors both beginners and class participants more experienced in the topic, understands the questions even if the questioners don’t quite have quite the right “asking vocabulary,” fills the time with good information without leaving participants feeling out of breath, and he doesn’t tell jokes but his talk is full of humor and fun. Rather than race through a hundred potential examples, he monitors his time well, cutting out some things in order to give what he keeps in its full due. His generosity of spirit in sharing so much and giving us all great leads and links to follow is impressive. I think Josh could make a presentation feel intimate with a hundred people in the room.

Hester Lox | Professional Organizer

Would you like to schedule a speaking engagement with us? Contact us today.

FTC compliance statement: Results not typical. Individual results may vary. None of the people providing testimonials have been given compensation for their testimonials.

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