March 18, 2007
April 25th will mark the 3 year anniversary of the day I realized I needed to make a change in my life. I was working at a job I hated and was feeling very under-appreciated. I had spent my entire working life in jobs I felt were boring, unchallenging and offered little opportunity for promotion. I'd had enough of being a 9-5 worker stuck in an office trying to figure out ways to kill time.
So I quit my job 2 months later and embarked upon one of the greatest journey's of my life. I started my own concierge business. I spent that summer learning how to run a business, filling out the proper paper work and writing my business plan. By late October I'd finished everything, designed my website and had my business cards, letterhead and brochures all set. I was ready to get started!
My only problem was, I had a great company and no one knew about it. It made me wish I'd taken an actual marketing course in college, but who knew I'd start my business? Back then I figured what I was meant to do would come to me after I graduated; and it did: it just sucked it didn't happen until I was 30. So what to do? I tried all sorts of marketing ideas. Spent thousands of dollars on ad compaigns that rarely worked.
I joined a networking group. Once a week, this diehard non-morning person dragged herself out of bed at 5 a.m. to get to the group by 7 a. m. and tried to convince others how great her company was. What was wrong with it were a few things: first, I hate people that early in the morning, and second, if you're in the wrong group, no amount of faked cheeriness is going to help you. I quit after a year and slept in happily. However, I will say that going every week did help me improve my networking skills in general.
In the meantime, through meeting hundreds of people, I was able to finally start getting clients. The greatest part is that no two clients are alike. They all have different needs and I get to figure out how to help them. That's the greatest benefit to having a concierge business. One day a week I do bill payment, quickbooks and the occasional general errand for a client. Another asks me to take their car in for servicing.
Recently I worked with a client suffering from hoarding. I worked with the family to help them figure out how to help their mother with minimum stress. It was a great learning experience for myself and I now can help others free their lives with clutter even better than I could before.
So I quit my job 2 months later and embarked upon one of the greatest journey's of my life. I started my own concierge business. I spent that summer learning how to run a business, filling out the proper paper work and writing my business plan. By late October I'd finished everything, designed my website and had my business cards, letterhead and brochures all set. I was ready to get started!
My only problem was, I had a great company and no one knew about it. It made me wish I'd taken an actual marketing course in college, but who knew I'd start my business? Back then I figured what I was meant to do would come to me after I graduated; and it did: it just sucked it didn't happen until I was 30. So what to do? I tried all sorts of marketing ideas. Spent thousands of dollars on ad compaigns that rarely worked.
I joined a networking group. Once a week, this diehard non-morning person dragged herself out of bed at 5 a.m. to get to the group by 7 a. m. and tried to convince others how great her company was. What was wrong with it were a few things: first, I hate people that early in the morning, and second, if you're in the wrong group, no amount of faked cheeriness is going to help you. I quit after a year and slept in happily. However, I will say that going every week did help me improve my networking skills in general.
In the meantime, through meeting hundreds of people, I was able to finally start getting clients. The greatest part is that no two clients are alike. They all have different needs and I get to figure out how to help them. That's the greatest benefit to having a concierge business. One day a week I do bill payment, quickbooks and the occasional general errand for a client. Another asks me to take their car in for servicing.
Recently I worked with a client suffering from hoarding. I worked with the family to help them figure out how to help their mother with minimum stress. It was a great learning experience for myself and I now can help others free their lives with clutter even better than I could before.
Lastly, I was pleased to recently assist a friend in re-organizing her kitchen. She felt she was ready to make a change and we were able to free up a ton of space and place like items together so she knew where to find everything. She has managed to maintain her kitchen and now even spends time in there now that she can use her table. Check above for the before and after shots.
