BeyondWork

Home

Balance

Personal Errand Services


	Archive Articles The Simple Life Work/Life Tools Family and Friends

Personal Errand Services

Several years ago, Kimberly Drobot of Requests Unlimited answered a very unusual call. On the other end of the telephone line was a Realtor who wanted to hire Kimberly and her staff to clean a home prior to its being put up for sale. The trouble was, explained the Realtor, that this house was "just a bit" messier than usual.

Arriving at the home, located in an upscale section of San Jose, CA, Drobot was shocked to discover that along with human occupants it had sheltered a strange assortment of would-be pets, including goats, sheep, ducks and chickens. "It wasn't so much a house, as it was a shelter for an ongoing 4-H project!" she exclaims.

After nearly 150 hours of cleaning, most of it shovel work, the house was ready for a new paint job and new flooring before it eventually went on the market. "My crew hated me for a long, long time," Drobot recalls. But such is the life of a person who hires out to do "almost anything and everything."

Generally, however, professional errand and concierge services are employed to perform more mundane tasks. These service providers do everything from arranging lawn-care service to personal shopping and paying bills. And not all their clients are wealthy. As Drobot explains, "Mostly good old working-class families use us for [tasks like] errand running, laundry service and home party planning." Typically, she gets an initial call from someone who has seen her ad and wants to hire her for a single, very specific job. Then, over time, the client usually upgrades to multiple services.

This is an idea whose time has come! In today's fast-paced world, a personal-errand service just might be a good step toward restoring some sanity to a hectic, over-busy life.