All that said, it is actually a great time to start a business. Starting [...]]]> Today’s tough economy is enough to scare just about anyone about their financial future. Following foreclosure or employment rates, listening to our politicians, or experiencing the effects of the economic downturn on our friends, family, and selves can be downright depressing.

All that said, it is actually a great time to start a business. Starting your own business is an excellent way to take control of your future, build the life you want to live, or simply create an additional revenue stream. A personal concierge business in particular can be an fantastic fit as you can adapt it to the services needed in your area, work unique hours (allowing for a 9-5 if you have that as well), connect you with incredible people, increase your sense of self-worth, and put you on a positive track.

I’ve had many individuals who are considering starting a personal concierge business email me with concerns regarding the economy and worries that people are cutting back on luxury goods and services. If you are targetting the middle class, this is certainly true. The middle class is difficult to pursue even in a good economy as you will have to work at lower margins and will still have your costs questioned. However, if you target the upper class you shouldn’t have an issue. Those with true wealth can afford to fully appreciate the value of free time and, if you are successful in providing them more free time and reduced stress, they won’t question paying for your services.

If you are going to start a personal concierge business, be sure to do your research and start your business on a solid foundation. Most businesses fail because the owners failed to look at and manage the big picture (client base, demand, marketing, operations, finances, quality of services, and everything in between). The nice thing about this business is that, if you don’t hire employees in the beginning, you can start with very little upfront costs and very low fixed monthly costs. A profit can be turned quite quickly.

So for those of you still debating what to do next in your life, here’s one of my favorite inspirational quotes to get you moving:

We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action. — Frank Tibolt

Whatever you decide to do, I wish you the best of luck!

Image adapted from After Christmas Sale by Kevin Dooley per Creative Commons license.

Before I reduced my business down to my few favorite (and highest paying) clients so I could pursue other businesses and hobbies (like this site), I had about 65 clients that I personally managed. That means 65 different [...]]]> When it comes down to it, a successful personal concierge is truly a master at managing projects.

Before I reduced my business down to my few favorite (and highest paying) clients so I could pursue other businesses and hobbies (like this site), I had about 65 clients that I personally managed. That means 65 different stories to keep straight in my mind, not to mention the variety of projects I was working on with each client. Some were occasional clients so I just needed to remember specifics like their kids names, what groceries brands they prefer, and any other lessons I needed to remember so my work would be consistent when they called me for new jobs. Then there were the more regular clients who had me so involved in their family lives that I felt like I knew more about their households than I did my own home.

Knowing all this about my clients was, of course, only a portion of my business as it didn’t include basic business management such as tracking hours, employee oversight, marketing, and accounting.

How do we provide excellent service and stay on top of all these details? By having a great arsenal of project management tools.

These are the tools I have used or have had clients (other concierges I’ve consulted for) use successfully. The secret to a successful project management tool is that it manages what you need in the simplest form possible without any extra bells or whistles. Any extra steps you must take to, for example, enter a task make the tool more of a pain than a benefit and those extra steps or the tracking of uneccesary information may lead you to use the tool inconsistently. If you don’t use your management tools consistently, they won’t provide the benefits you need. Benefits can include being able to pull up client information (including history) quickly and easily, tracking time painlessly, and the piece of mind in knowing that everything is being remembered and tracked for you so you don’t have to. With that, here are the tools:

OmniFocus - Mac and Mac mobile devices only – OmniFocus is a truly fantastic GTD (Getting Things Done) project management solution. In a clean format, you can have folders for each of your client projects with tasks within those folders. The folders and tasks have a variety of options including keeping notes and related documents, start and due dates, review dates (if it is something tabled to approach again later), contexts, estimated time, and assignments to employees. It also has a very nice iPhone/iPad app that will cross sync with the desktop version. While it frustrates me that it is not online and is designed more for personal use, I’ve always come back to it and been the most productive when I use it solely.

Pros: simple interface with excellent archive feature. Cons: Mac only without a purely online solution, which limits who can access it.

Highrise - While I love 37Signals’ Basecamp for large projects, it isn’t an ideal fit for a personal concierge. Highrise, however, can be quite useful. As a CRM solution, Highrise will not only track all information on your clients but also gives you the opportunity to manage projects (aka opportunies) within it. While not exactly designed for this, you can add tasks to projects and track projects within Highrise. However, the best use of Highrise is going to be for tracking and managing your network (clients, vendors, and other networking partners). Not only can you keep records of your interactions with all individuals (will automatically pull emails if you would like it to), but Highrise also integrates with eNewsletters such as MailChimp so you can keep your online marketing endeavors up-to-date.

Pros: excellent online tracking of individuals and businesses with nice integration with various other tools. Cons: Is more a CRM solution than a project management solution. If you wanted to stay super simple, you could link it with the free Ta-da List also by 37Signals.

Remember The Milk - In the end, much of it comes down to finding a to-do list that tracks just what you need. Some may just use their email program to-do list, but I find that the best to-do lists are the ones that your employees can access too. Remember the Milk is also based off the GTD concept and is a very simple, but very useful online task list. Not only does it let you organize tasks however you want, have due dates, track locations, and assign employees to tasks, but it’s only $25 a year. Not bad! It may be too simplistic for many, but is a great way to track things simply.

Pros: tracks just what you need and is accessible wherever you are. Cons: may be too simplistic for many businesses.

Freshbooks - I’ve brought up Fresbooks before for being an excellent system to track time and invoice clients. It creates great invoices, accepts credit card payments, and has a nice client portal if you want to give your clients access to their billing history. I really love this well-priced solution. The part I may not have mentioned is that you can also give your employees limited access so that they can enter their hours and purchases directly into Freshbooks. Why is this such a big deal? It will save you a great deal of time at the end of the month as Freshbooks will automatically pull hours and expenses into the invoices for the clients without you having to re-enter anything. LOVE IT!

Pros: clean interface with great tracking features and lovely invoices. Cons: Is not a full accounting solution, but could work for small businesses. Disclaimer: While I’d recommend Freshbooks no matter what, they do have an affiliate deal for me if you sign up. Since I give away my advice for free, I hope you don’t mind if I get a few bucks from Freshbooks if you end up loving this service as much as I do!

TeamLab - So TeamLab is relatively new to the scene and I’m not as experienced with it, but I already love it. It’s opensource and, as long as you don’t store massive files online, totally free. Not only is it free, but it is a comprehensive solution. It will manage your CRM (tracking not only individuals, but particular leads), manage all of your projects (with to-do lists, discussion boards, time tracking, and anything else you might need), has an online document repository for docs your employees may need access to, and has a full online community section for you to keep up with your employees through. Did I mention that all this is free? I’m not sure how long it will remain free, but it is a great service nonetheless as it will give you everything you need to manage your business (just create projects for marketing and other business tasks), your clients, and your staff. The only thing it doesn’t do is manage your accounting!

Pros: All-in-one solution at an unbeatable price. Cons: none unless I compare it to Basecamp…which has more features than a personal concierge would probably need anyway.

Overall, whether the solutions are separate or combined, you’ll likely want a CRM solution, project management solution, and accounting system. Taking the time to find the right fits for you and your business model will save you a great deal of time, stress, and loss productivity.

One thing to keep in mind with any solution you decide upon is how you handle personal client information such as credit cards and social security numbers. If you’re client gives you this kind of information, be absolutely sure it is secure. Not much would be worse for your business if someone used your client files to get private information on all of your clients and it was tracked back to you. Not only would it be an enormous blow to your reputation and probably would lose you a great deal of business, but there could be some legal and financial repercussions as well.

I hope some of these solutions are new and exciting to you. If anyone else has found a great solution that works well for them, please share!

I receive many questions about vendors. Everything from what type of vendors I recommend hiring to ways to profit from vendor work. If you have or are starting a small personal concierge business, it is likely you will need to or have brought in some vendors for services you and your staff [...]]]>

I receive many questions about vendors. Everything from what type of vendors I recommend hiring to ways to profit from vendor work. If you have or are starting a small personal concierge business, it is likely you will need to or have brought in some vendors for services you and your staff cannot provide. Here is what you should keep in mind with vendors:

Wait until you need them – Unless you are building connections while simultaneously networking, do not waste your time on creating a rolodex before you actually need them. It’s anti-climatic for the potential vendor, can start the relationship off on the wrong foot, and requires that you keep up a relationship with someone you may never need to hire. So wait until clients start asking about particular services and then seek out the vendors for those jobs.

Use your network to find great vendors – If you’ve been networking, you’ve probably met a great deal of service providers. Now is the time to use that network to create a win-win for you and the vendor you select. You can also use Angie’s List if it is used in your town along with attending specific networking groups that this particular type of vendor would attend. However, I think the best route is calling around and finding someone who has worked with a vendor they recommend for the job you need done. See if you can do a quick phone call or face-to-face before setting up the appointment for the client’s job to see if others reviews match your initial impression.

Ensure the vendor knows that this could be the first of many jobs - I find that small vendors love the opportunity to connect with someone who can bring them in on multiple jobs. So I make it clear what I do and what other possible jobs I may have for that vendor in the future. Why? Because I want this vendor to do their absolute best work for my client. In a way, I’m telling the vendor that this first job is their interview into winning many more jobs in the future.

Figure out payment - There are many ways to pay vendors and you’ll find that you’ll want to use different methods for different jobs. Here are some of the options for you:

• Vendor bills client directly – I use this if I’m concerned about the level of work the vendor is doing and don’t want to be liable. For instance, I’d never have my company pay for a private helicopter ride because I know that my business is not insured for that and the cost is high. I’d rather have my client sign the paperwork and pay the vendor so they are aware of and responsible for the risks involved.
• You pay vendor and bill client, treating vendor as an outside service - This is what I usually do. I’ll pay the vendor for their work and then bill my client, noting in the invoice that I’m billing for that vendor’s time at the vendor’s rate. I personally do not up-charge as I charge for my time finding, hiring, and overseeing the vendor’s work. I don’t find it appropriate to get a margin on top of that and also like that I can provide vendor invoices to my clients upon request.
• You pay vendor and bill client, treating vendor as an internal service - So this means that you struck a deal with the vendor that they would act as if they were a part of your company. In this situation, you will want to insure that the vendor rate is lower than your set rate so you can build in a margin as you will not be able to charge for the time finding that vendor if you’re going to act like they are part of your company. I see a lot of concierge owners liking this in concept, but I’ve never found it to work as well in practice. Vendors are more expensive than employees so your margins will be low. Also, if something does go wrong, it will completely be up to you to correct it, costing time and money.

Confirm insurance - Check to make sure this vendor has appropriate insurance or that your insurance will cover their work. Personally I wouldn’t want to have my business be responsible for the cleaning company breaking the glass sculpture, but it may come to that if they aren’t properly covered.

Oversee the job - However hands-on or hands-off your client is, you may be arranging and overseeing the job or just connecting your client with the vendor. Either way, do what you can to ensure that the job goes smoothly.

Get tax documentation with invoice – If you are paying the vendor under $600 (as of 2012) and know you won’t hire them again, there is no need to get a tax document. However, if you are paying the vendor over $600 or believe you will within the year, be sure to have them fill out a Form W-9 so you have what you need for tax reporting on file. Believe me, if you work with a lot of vendors you won’t want to try to figure this out at the end of the year!

Nurture the relationship - I’ll assume you build a good relationship with the vendor during the process of finding, hiring, and overseeing them doing the job. Now don’t lose what you have! If you like their work, let them know and ask them if there is anything you could have helped them with to make the project go more smoothly. Ask how you can help them get more business and what kind of clients they are looking for. See if they have any potential clients they can pass on your way. Then be sure to follow up on finding them potential clients, bringing them in on jobs, and doing small things like sending them a holiday card or doing a catch-up email occasionally. Take care of your network and it will take care of you!

Cut the relationship if the job went poorly - If for any reason you or the client was unsatisfied with the work and you don’t think the vendor is capable of or cares enough to “do better” next time, don’t waste any more energy on this relationship. Keep that vendor in your rolodex with a note of why you won’t hire them again (so you remember!) and move on.

There is one more item I’d like to discuss before wrapping this up and that is kickbacks. There are many back-end deals to be had and it is up to you to decide what is appropriate for your company. Personally, while I’ll happily use that “repair 7 shoes, get one shoe repair free” coupon to my advantage, I do not like doing personal deals with vendors. Why? Because it may sway me to hire that vendor for a job when someone else is a better fit for the particular job. Essentially, I may work for the deals and not in the best interest of my clients. Again – I leave this to you.

You’ll find that as your business grows, the diversity of vendors you’ll need will also grow. Standard vendors I used often were a cleaning company, a handyman, and an excellent tech company. Over time I built relationships with florists, cupcake bakers, event planners, piano tuners, caricaturists, photographers, and many other excellent people. They became my team and I still appreciate all of them!

A reader recently posted the following comment: “I was thinking how helpful it would be to hear about how you got your VERY first client, what exactly lead up to that moment and what happened afterward?” While I usually answer questions via email, I thought this one worth sharing with everyone.

For those interested [...]]]>

A reader recently posted the following comment: “I was thinking how helpful it would be to hear about how you got your VERY first client, what exactly lead up to that moment and what happened afterward?” While I usually answer questions via email, I thought this one worth sharing with everyone.

For those interested in my recommendation of how to get your first clients, please read The Best Way to Get Your First Clients. For my personal story, read on!

Back in April 2007, I had been networking for a few weeks while finishing up my business plan, finalizing my stationary, and building my website. In the process, I had come up with a list of 10 strong leads and almost a 100 weaker leads. The strong leads were wealthy individuals recommended to me by friends or family who were willing to let me drop their name in my initial letter. I didn’t know any of the leads, only that they needed my help and were considered wonderful people to work for.

When I was ready, I sent out handwritten letters on my Cameron Concierge stationary to those 10 leads. I don’t have a draft of that note, but it included my name; that I recently started a concierge company; a quick explanation of some of the services I offer that I tried to align with what I knew about the individual; that “so-and-so” recommended that I contact them and that I’d love to be of service; and then I thanked them for their time and said I’d call in a week to see if I could be of service.

A week later, I called the 10 leads. A couple loved my business idea, but were shortly leaving the country for summer vacation (most of them became clients in the fall), a few didn’t read my letter before I called and asked me to get back to them later (about half of these became clients in the end), two didn’t understand why they’d hire me and I didn’t successfully sell the idea to them, and three of them were very interested in having me help them immediately. One of the very interested individuals became my first client and also my favorite client to this day. For the sake of this story, I’ll call her Cindy.

My father is a landscape architect that had designed her yard so she immediately knew who I was when I called. Cindy was in her late 60s and it seemed to me that she just wanted to talk. She asked me all about the services I offered while bringing up possible projects that she was overwhelmed by, why I wanted to be a personal concierge, and how many other clients I had. All of these questions were very conversational and she seemed truly interested in me and my business. We ended the call with a date for me  to come out to meet her and look at the projects she had in mind for me. While she had thrown out many ideas, the first project she was interested in hiring me for was organizing her basement storage/laundry room (I swear that organizing is a great opening service!).

I was quite nervous as I drove out to Cindy’s home. It was much further out of town than I had wanted to go, but I couldn’t say no to my first client! I turned into a heavily developed suburban community and wondered what I was driving to as all the matching houses rolled by. Then I turned onto a private drive hidden between two matching homes and drove through the private gate. Suddenly I’m in a different world. Large swathes of beautifully manicured land on both sides of me, a large pool house, pool, three car garage, and a beautiful house overlooking the Willamette river. I pulled up in my old little Honda CR-V, straightened my professional-yet-casual outfit I had spent too much time thinking about and walked up to the house.

Cindy opened the door before I could ring the bell. She was on the phone so I walked into the living room and looked at the incredible view of the river 300 feet below. When she got off the phone, she was very complimentary of my outfit, asked about my father, and offered me a bottled water, which I accepted. We then went down to the basement and looked at the project she had in mind. It was a massive room with shelves full of everything you could imagine, shoved in however humanly possible. I estimated it would be about 5 hours for my assistant and I  to organize the space and take away the culled items. I recommended that she be around as I’d have her come down at certain points during the project to review piles and confirm what was to toss and to keep. She showed me some other potential projects and we set a date for the basement organization job.

A week later I arrived with my assistant, a great deal of Crate and Barrel storage boxes, a couple labelers, and we set to work. The job was quite successful and left us with a great deal of interesting stuff the client didn’t want. My assistant was thrilled at the “bonus” stuff she took home and I was happy the job went so well. I spoke with Cindy about the other jobs she had talked about and we arranged future dates. That first month was a flurry of big organization jobs followed by a huge 3-day family reunion she had me plan and run two months later. Over the course of the first couple months, I became irreplaceable in her eyes as I took over all household management (including book-keeping, repairs, and overall organization), ran all of her errands, managed her events, and essentially managed her life. After 6 months we set up a monthly retainer and I’ve been on that same monthly retainer (with a few price increases) with Cindy since 2007.

I feel so lucky that Cindy was my first client. She made it possible for me to be profitable that first month and introduced me to many of my clients over the years.

If anyone else would like to share their story, please do! Either below as a comment or email them to me (cameron@personalconciergeinfo.com) and I’ll do up a post with your stories and links to your businesses. While the stories of failures are probably better lessons to share, all stories have something to teach others.

Let’s imagine that you’ve found the ideal candidates for hire, have tested them appropriately, and are ready to bring them on officially as employees (or possibly contractors) of your company. Or perhaps you’ve already found and hired these individuals. Congratulations. Either way, there are a [...]]]> This is part three of a three-part series on employees.

Let’s imagine that you’ve found the ideal candidates for hire, have tested them appropriately, and are ready to bring them on officially as employees (or possibly contractors) of your company. Or perhaps you’ve already found and hired these individuals. Congratulations. Either way, there are a few big questions you need to figure out before you can successfully manage employees:

Employee versus Independent Contractor

There are a great deal of articles about this topic (like here and, to scare you a bit, the IRS definition and potential punishments) so I’m not going to provide much detail here. In my opinion, if you want your staff to represent your company (and not their own businesses), you should make them employees. You have little legal control over independent contractors (requesting particular work hours, multiple client jobs, etc.) and your business insurance may not cover damage caused by an independent contractor. It is also likely that your staff will fall into the IRS definition of being employees and I’m not a big fan of ignoring IRS regulations.

Background Check, Forms, and Contracts

Before hiring, do a background check on your employees that you find appropriate. Some companies will do a full credit check and maybe a drug test. I personally kept to calling prior employers and listening to my instincts. However, I definitely had all of my employees fill out and sign all the appropriate forms: The I-9, W-4, and a non-solicitation, nondisclosure, and inventions agreement. The contract is a key item that, as I understand it, you need your employee to sign on their first day of employment for it to be valid. Please get legal advice as this contract will differ by location and possibly by your particular business model. Remember that this contract protects YOU and your business. Very important!

How Much to Pay

How much you pay your staff is entirely up to you and the idea you have for your business. Keep in mind of what talent you are trying to retain. If you’re simply hiring a few errand runners, you can probably pay them something close to minimum wage. However, if your employees will be interacting directly with your high-end client base, you’ll want to pay them enough to show them that you respect their talent and hard work. Another thing to take into account is how much work you can provide them…if you can only provide very part-time work, you’ll want to pay more to ensure they don’t take another job that overlaps with your business. Back in 2010, I was starting my employees at $15/hr and one employee was up to $25/hr. Since I charged $65/hr for my employees’ time, I was making a hefty margin. However, they also felt well-paid for the work they were doing and recognized that the rate I charged for them wasn’t simply lining my pockets (although most of it was). I didn’t provide any additional benefits, but those can also affect pay.

What Benefits to Provide

You can provide an array of benefits to make the position more appealing. From simple things like cell phones to larger bargaining chips like health insurance, you really are limited by your imagination on what you can provide staff. More unique offers would be letting them keep all client hand-me-downs (my wealthy clients toss much impressive stuff), expense-paid vacations, access to a company car, the potential for an ownership stake in the company, or whatever else might entice an employee. This is entirely up to you and what you understand about your employees. Maybe by the time you read this you’ll be required by law to provide health insurance, but who knows? I found that my employees appreciated higher pay more and enjoyed the occasional thank you gift I’d surprise them with.

Workers’ Compensation, Unemployment Insurance, and Withheld Taxes

One reason many business owners would rather have independent contractors is because employees cost you more than they’re salary and any set benefits. You’ll pay a part of their tax withholdings and will need to pay for workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance. These aren’t a large burden and, if you use a payroll company or software that takes care of payroll for you (like Quickbooks), dealing with these becomes automated.

Giving your Employees Business Credit Cards versus Reimbursing Them

Imagine how many items you have to buy for your clients in a usual week. For me, it was a ridiculous amount (my clients have me buy everything from groceries to new computers). So much so that I made a nice chunk of change each month with my 5% cash-back business credit card. Now this goes back to my article on invoicing clients as you may require your clients to pay for things upfront. However, if you do use your credit card and bill afterwards, you may want to consider giving your employees credit cards as well. If you do, make sure you’ve done appropriate background checks on your employees and definitely put limits on their cards. Also create a process for reporting. I kept my process simple: my employees had report all expenses in Freshbooks (noting the client and the items bought) and drop off the receipts in a receipts box on my office desk each week. I could then automatically add those expenses to client invoices. You’ll probably want a process for what happens if an employee improperly uses a credit card as well.

Of course the list goes on as you may want to think about training, attire, retaining talent, personnel issues, vacation time, and the vast array of items that come along with hiring employees. However, these are some big ones that you’ll definitely want to have an answer to.

When looking for employees, you’ll want them to meet specific attributes to best serve your clients and promote your business image. If they will only do backend work, look for integrity, problem solving skills, efficiency, and flexibility. If they will also interact with clients, you’ll [...]]]> This is part two of a three-part series on employees.

When looking for employees, you’ll want them to meet specific attributes to best serve your clients and promote your business image. If they will only do backend work, look for integrity, problem solving skills, efficiency, and flexibility. If they will also interact with clients, you’ll want to add charisma, appropriate appearance, and an ability to successfully communicate with those in higher income brackets.

While it would be fabulous to find employees that will commit to your business longterm (I was incredibly fortunate in that regard), it’s not a realistic request. Don’t look for people that you can “groom” over time, look for people that will fit your business and make your clients happy immediately.

Perhaps you’ll want additional or specific attributes for your employees. Make sure you figure out what you are looking for before you begin your search.

How to Hire 

First, clearly define the role and post it to various job posting boards and share with your personal and business networks. While Craigslist may stick you 200+ resumes to dig through, there often is the diamond in the rough if you’re willing to put in the time.

No matter how many resumes you get, please don’t interview more than 10 people for the role. If you find yourself looking at more than 10 people, you didn’t do a good job culling the resumes. The more people you interview, the more difficult your decision can be and the more time you waste on people you probably shouldn’t have interviewed in the first place. If your first round of interviews isn’t successful, do it again.

Once you’re in the interviews and realize that the person you’re talking to fits your needs, it’s time to test them. The simplest test is to provide them with a variety of unique problems you have faced or conceivably could face in your business and let them tell you how they’d resolve the issue.

For an example, I often asked for them to walk me through how they’d tackle a large organization project (I usually give some more specifics). It can be quite revealing how they respond: some will want to jump right into the project and others will want to discuss it more with the client; some will pull everything out and put it in piles while others will start talking about labeling; and some may not know how to begin answering your question. By their answers, you’ll understand if they understand how to handle the given task and if their style of working fits your business.

If they sound like a good fit, put them on a probationary period to test them further. Try to take them to one or two clients’ homes to assist you in large projects (for free for the client) or put them to work on a couple back-end projects that will help you better gauge their skills. I usually pay minimum wage for this time and have them work 4-8 hours for me over the course of a week or two before I decide to hire them. Believe me, I’ve turned a few away after seeing how they interact with my clients, the speed at which they work, and the way they catch and solve (or don’t) problems.

After you hire them, it’s your call whether you want to keep them on some sort of probationary period with a review in a set time or accept them as part of your team. Pat yourself on the back as you’ve found someone great and get ready to set them up for success!

Stay tuned for part three of this three-part series: Training, Paying and Managing Employees