Personal assistant

<b>Concierge business offers variety of services to clients</b>

by Denise Massie

After Cathy Turner spends all day running errands, organizing spaces and cleaning for other people, she doesn’t always have the energy to complete her own home tasks.

“When you do a job all day, you don’t want to come home and do the job all over again,” she said.

After working as a personal assistant for a local resident for a number of years, Turner found herself in the market for a new job. She had an associate’s degree in administrative specialty, and she had experience with clerical work.

“I thought, ‘I have to do something I enjoy and use my degree in some way,’” she said.

While researching personal assistant jobs on the Internet, Turner said the term “concierge” kept showing up on the search lists.

“I really thought the Lord was shining a light down on me,” she said.

She decided to form her own business, Ideal Concierge.

She said her Internet research indicated that more and more people were becoming interested in the concierge business.

“It provides a lot of services that people need,” she said.

The biggest challenge with is building clientele. Turner said with any new business she has heard it can take anywhere from three to five years to build a list of clients.

Turner offers a variety of services, including house cleaning, banking, laundry services, grocery shopping, prescription pick-ups, organizing spaces, clerical work, everyday house duties, watering plants, floral delivery arrangements, holiday gift shopping and vacation planning. She even helped a local resident trim her bushes and lay mulch.

“There’s pretty much nothing I won’t do,” she said.

Turner said she started cleaning when she was a little girl. While at her aunt’s house, she said, she used to get the cleaner out and scrub the sink.

Turner said most of her customers schedule blocks of time weekly, bi-weekly or once a month. This allows the job to stay different from day to day and offer a variety of work.

“I really enjoy all aspects, but I’ve been told I’m really good at organization,” she said.

Turner said there is no targeted age group for her businesses, but she said a lot of calls come from older residents, who are usually very appreciative of her help, she said.

In her line of work, Turner also values honesty. She said if she finds even a penny while cleaning, she will place it on the table.

“To me that’s part of who I am,” she said. “That’s very important.”

Building relationships and forming trust with her customers is also important. The friendships she’s developed over the years also mean a lot.

“With a lot of people, you’ll feel blessed to have crossed paths,” she said.

She even keeps in touch with a former client, who moved to New York.

”It’s neat how you become very close with them,” Turner said.

Turner said others might enjoy the job because of the flexibility and variety it offers. She added it’s nice to not have to sit at a desk from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. everyday.

Most of the time, she said, people will call and don’t need her until 1 p.m. Some days are longer than others though. Turner said the most she has worked in one day was 12 hours.

Turner says she’s prepared for whatever the jobs brings her way.

“I love new challenges and learning new things,” she said.

Denise Massie can be reached at (574) 732-5151 or via e-mail at denise.massie@pharostribune.com

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