Client Spotlight
Home Aide of Brevard
Busyness means more assistants
BY MARIA SONNENBERG • FOR FLORIDA TODAY • May 10, 2008
After hiring a personal assistant three months ago, Dr. Frank Curington can't imagine life without her.
"It's not a luxury, it's a necessity," the Rockledge single parent said.
Mary Dowty of Home Aide of Brevard primarily focuses on straightening out Curington's home, but she also helps him with almost any odd job that needs doing, from preparing for parties to keeping an eye on the dog.
"She does so much more than I would do, and her fees are so reasonable," Curington said.
A concierge, according to Webster's Dictionary, is a "gatekeeper" or "keeper of the keys." Once employed by French aristocracy, they can now be found in hospitality, retail and academic settings as well as in the homes and businesses of clients who contract from privately owned services like Dowty's.
The industry lacks hard and fast statistics, but the Chicago-based National Concierge Association, a network of both hotel and personal concierges, notes that personal concierge services are growing.
Although concierge services in urban areas can cost up to $125 an hour, in Brevard they average between $16 and $40.
Different niches
Several operate in the Space Coast, marketing themselves to different niches.
"The industry has a very wide range," said Christine Thompson, who started Personal Assistant for a Day six weeks ago. "We do everything within legal limits."
While Dowty focuses on residential services, Thompson aims for business customers.
"I'm Christine Thompson, and I want to be your personal assistant" is the way Thompson introduces herself at chamber functions, which have proven the best venue to explain her services.
Although 30 percent of her customers are residential, most hire her to help with marketing efforts, office organizations, paperwork filing, reservations or special event or business meeting planning.
If anything, the economic slump has given her company a boost.
"My clients tell me they need to hire a person but can't afford someone on a regular basis," said Thompson."These are people who need help but can't hire someone part or full-time."
Thompson's most unusual job has been to babysit a customer's cell phone so the individual could enjoy time off.
She's found that some of her business clients also will also ask for her help with home chores.
Concierge services remain somewhat of a status symbol for some customers. That's fine with Thompson.
"I'm often working with a higher end clientele," she said.
Working with money
Because of a background in banking, Elaine Shelton of Space Coast Services specializes in concierge services with money in mind.
"My business targets money management but also offers other services, such as running errands, companion services and light housekeeping," said Shelton, of Titusville.
About half of her clients need money management help. Some may be newlyweds or newly divorced people who need a little guidance, while others, primarily seniors, may need regular help balancing checkbooks and paying bills.
"Some people can do the work but just don't want to be bothered," she said. "They want to enjoy themselves and are perfectly happy to let someone else do the job."
Because she primarily targets senior clients, she is not worried that the economy will impact her company.
"The economy in Brevard, especially with the shuttle program, isn't good, but my senior base of clients is pretty established," she said.
Because the job requires travel, personal assistants are concerned about rising gasoline prices. To keep fuel costs down, they typically serve specific geographic areas. Shelton, for example, stays in the north end of the county.
Like Thompson and Dowty, Shelton started her business when, caring for ailing relatives, she realized the need for it in her own life.
"It struck me that there must be a lot of people like me out there," she said.
Dowty was juggling a full-time job and caring for three kids and ailing parents when the lightbulb went on.
"I was struggling to do it, and I thought I surely couldn't be the only one," she said.
The appeal of personal assistants lies in their ability to provide clients with that most precious of commodities: time.
"We're stuck with 24 hours in a day and that's not enough," said Dowty. "We're not for the wealthy, we're for the busy."