Personal assistant - what services would you like?

samtheman_2

Petmidget wrote: »

i have a nice little service which i use which would probably be popular with a lot of busy people.

When I am out of the office I have my phone messages briefly texted to me so I can return important stuff immediately. Clients love it when my assistant says I am not available but they will pass on the message, I get messsage about 2 mins later and if I can (or want to) call them straight back.

another nice one - I mean who has the time to read emails when hard at work or out and about! really great for those important messages. With all these ideas it seems fairly feasible for a small start up. I'm still trying to word or put my service in a box but it seems the best thing is to get out there and ask what everyone would like. Forums seem good for this at the moment.

ukbill69

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

I need someone to ensure my teenage son does his GCSE coursework on schedule, and hands over any letters from school. This is a thankless task, but one faced by many parents all over the UK ... Anyone who can do this without consider violence or resorting to shouting is OFFICIALLY a saint ...

Offer him a car when he turns 17 if he hits the grades.

Savvy_Sue

ukbill69 wrote: »

Offer him a car when he turns 17 if he hits the grades.

Nice thought, but too far off ... plus it would be very hard to know where to set the bar (he is very bright, but it's always been hard to work out quite how bright and where his greatest strengths are), not to mention unfair on his older brothers who were probably equally blase, but less in-your-face indolent.

At the moment we've resorted to deprivation of leisure activities: according to HIM the reason he has not done two pieces of English, one piece of RE, one piece of History and one piece of Science is because he has "not had time"! *

Since he's spent the last six months pretty much horizontal on the settee in front of the TV, flatly denying that he has any homework, it seems a reasonable start. Over the weekend he polished off both English and the RE, and I'm not sure he can be allowed to go to bed before the History or Science are done.

* These are the ones I know about: Parents' Evening is early next term and I know his Art teacher wants to see us: he says he doesn't know why but I'm taking an educated guess ...

And yes, I know I should not have believed him when he said he did not have any homework, but the older two did a lot of their work at school (or on the bus), and I rarely saw them DO any work, so it was an easy mistake to make.

Seriously, there are times when an independent intermediary between parent and child would make a lot of sense. And no, the teachers can't be it, because they're on the parents' side ... :rotfl:

nearlyrich

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

And yes, I know I should not have believed him when he said he did not have any homework, but the older two did a lot of their work at school (or on the bus), and I rarely saw them DO any work, so it was an easy mistake to make.
quote]

Boys who would have them! I am sure he will turn out ok

samtheman_2

I used to tutor. I eventually laid it straight with the kids 15 year olds and over who weren't interested. Mind you they have a lot of life learning and plenty more chances.

Tootling away with my business idea. I'm off to gumtree to find price of premises? anyone know cheapest way to get 1000 leaflets?

rjh090384

hi sam
just been reading this and i would totally love to do the same thing. are u any closer to getting this off the ground? dont worry i am not going to rival u...i dont ahve any money to set up lmao! and i am probably in a different are form u neway!

rjh090384

mean are not form! have blonde brain on today!

The_doomed

samtheman wrote: »

If I was launching it would be in September/October as it would be presumbaly the busiest and best time to launch given Christmas is coming up.

therefore start sooner so your up and running, make sure you can cope and dont damage reputation early on

acemoola

Hi Sam,
Not sure where you are in the UK, but I've also been thinking of doing the same and hope to put it into action soon. By now you'll have done your research and found there are a lot of these lifestyle managment companies - especially in the South East. I think the downside of some of these companies is that a) they are v expensive b) more often than not you either have to pay a subscription or block book hours. So you need to find your point of differentiation - be it price or style of operation.
Good luck and have fun. Let me know how you get on!
Ace

adypem

I used to work for a company that offered similar services paying in cheques, visits to post offices, etc.... One good one is birthday card/anniversary card buying. It didn't cost a great deal, but it was worth a hell of a lot when you haven't got the time.
Once good one which I also used was asking them to buy/pickup some flowers from a florist, as the ones from the petrol stations don't go down too well