A Market in Reinvention
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My wife and I have a code when we talk about successful people. It's a play off Woody Allen's oft-quoted bromide that most of success has to do with just "showing up."
When we see someone who is making something of themselves, we often nod and agree.
"They showed up."
Indra Books of Leesburg shows up.
She ain't rich. But she is nothing if not resourceful and unafraid. And with the business drawing $75,000 a year, she's happy. She is her own boss and her experience offers valuable lessons on reinventing yourself and starting your own business. Her life is one big tax deduction, but we will get to that later.
Autoworkers, Wall Street orphans and Microsoft employees and anyone else anxious about getting a pink slip, listen up.
Books is 39 and runs a concierge service called On The Go 4 U, which will do your shopping, wait for the cable guy, help with the bookkeeping at your business, make your vacation plans and scratch off just about anything else on your "to do" list.
It's her third career, after Spanish teacher and State Department employee.
Back around 2002, "I was working for the U.S. State Department as an [information technology] manager and was shopping at Ann Taylor at Dulles Town Center one day when I was helping a girlfriend pick out some clothes," Books said. Another woman overheard her and asked whether Books was a personal shopper. "I said, 'Why, do you need some help?' I helped her pick out pants, a blouse and a jacket in five minutes."
On the way out that day, her friend suggested she start her own company and become a personal shopper. That means buying stuff for people who don't have the time or inclination to navigate the retail world. "I said, 'Do you know what I make right now?' " recalls Books, who was earning $90,000 a year with the federal government. "I blew it off as the worst idea of my life."
Fast forward a year and a half to spring of 2004. Books was visiting her sister in Philadelphia. She kept getting sick traveling around the world on federal IT business, so her sister suggested she find something else.
Books said she needed a personal assistant in her own life, so they talked about a business built around it. Just for fun, they batted around names, and Books paid a few dollars and registered the name OnTheGo4U.com for a possible Web site.
