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When You Need Another You
Lori Welch, in Alexandria, has done projects for clients too stressed out to do hobbies that were once relaxing.
(Photo: Melina Mara/Post)
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Founded in 2000, the group has doubled in the past two years and has 650 members, including more than two dozen firms locally.
"Recently, the terminology of 'lifestyle management' has come across the pond, and concierges have embraced it because it's better terminology for what they do. . . . Originally, concierges were errand runners. Now it's 'Let me do everything for you so you don't have to,' " Giovanni said.
Confidentiality is important because of the volume of personal information the helpers are handed -- credit card numbers, health insurance papers, Social Security numbers. (Clients should check references before handing over such data, Giovanni said.)
"You see, hear and know it all," said Indra Books, who runs On the Go 4 U concierge service in Northern Virginia. "I personally would not give out the amount of information about myself that I have about my clients. It's amazing how much information people trust in me. It shows to me how much people really do need help."
She has refused clients who try to pawn off their parental duties, such as throwing a child's birthday party, although she will buy presents and cake.
Such personal helpers are often hired by mothers who want to appear as if they're doing it all and don't want their neighbors -- or husbands -- to know otherwise. One Leesburg company has its employees remove the magnetized signs from their cars when they visit certain homes.
An Arlington County woman wanted two key lime pies -- in the middle of winter. And a sitar player for one of her parties. By the end of the day, Glass had the two pies on her countertop in her kitchen. He found a sitar player, too (and when that guy broke his finger, he found another one).
When Maureen Coleman and her husband, Tim, moved to the area from New York City three years ago, she struggled with a chaotic schedule that included caring for their two young children, a busy career and remodeling their Potomac home. In addition, she and her husband have maintained their ties to New York firms; each works two to three days there every week.
Then her garage door broke.
"That's when I realized I need another 'me,' " she said.
The couple hired Judy Laist from Potomac Concierge, a firm that advertises its employees as multifaceted "problem solvers."
On a recent weekday, Laist and Coleman sat down in her dining room to discuss items in a binder Laist had made for house maintenance. Laist also handed her a thick folder of birthday cards she had chosen for Coleman's friends and family members, carefully stamped and arranged by month. Coleman had guiltily requested this after she had forgotten a relative's birthday.
