{While not a mom yet, Alison’s venture is so helpful to all moms, I had to write about it. It’s a great venture idea.}
When the business model changed at the company in Brooklyn where she worked, Alison Greenspon found she had been downsized out of a job. She was regularly dog sitting for her parents at their home in CT and living there was looking pretty good. Her parents were traveling a good bit and liked to have Alison in the house and taking care of their dog anyway.
Her brother in San Francisco, told her about a young mom who offered a personal concierge service. He thought it would be a great venture for Alison to start. She looked at the gal’s web site and reached out for an informational phone call. “She was so great and she gave me the blueprint to get started. I was basically providing these services to my parents so why not branch out and gather more clients.”
Alison figured there were a lot of positives about starting a concierge service. There were no upfront costs, she could set up a simple web site with a list of services she would provide, and she would email everyone she knew to get the word out. To expand on her skills, she organized her mom’s entire filing system and paperwork. This worked to her favor when her mom told someone at the salon that her daughter was helping her with her files. The woman at the salon became her first client outside of her parents.
Then Alison’s email to her world got her another client – a working woman who needed her to do tons of errands like pick up dry cleaning, take the car in to be serviced and gift shopping. “She asked me to find a gift for a new baby. I sent her several choices via email and she looked at the links and picked one. I ordered it, wrapped it and delivered it to her in time for the shower.” Alison will also drop flowers for dinner parties, return things to stores, drop at goodwill, take in clothing repairs in addition to house and pet sitting. With her client base growing, “Some people leave me a key and when I show up there are sticky notes on piles of things that need to be attended to.” 
Who doesn’t need a concierge at one time or another. Alison says sometimes the mom in a family has an injury and needs someone to pick up dinner. And she’ll be happy to stay with your kids while you’re away on a trip. She’ll even wait at your house for the cable guy to show up.
Alison is looking to help more people with whatever they need. When asked what is the most usual thing she’s done, “One client asked me to take their remote control cars to the toy repair shop.” She may not be a mom yet, but she can do all the mom things that you may not have time for.
VentureMom Value
Get a 5 hour package in the VentureMom Shop or call her and mention VentureMom and get the first hour free. Can be used over time.
Contact: [email protected]
VentureMom Tip
Use the blue print from another venture to get yours started.
