Kim Daly has worn many hats during her professional career from an Executive Briefing Program Manger to the Director of Global Travel Operations. In her previous life, Kim was working a full 40-hour week and spending 20 additional hours running errands and doing a plethora of other miscellaneous tasks. Her free time was hardly spent doing the things she wanted to do. She soon discovered that there were many people in the same position– their lives were lost to mundane chores.

So, Kim created The Urbane Concierge for people like her. But rather than simply start a personal assistant service, she wanted to offer something special. For 30+ years Kim worked as an event planner and global travel arranger, and her clients demanded a unique experience. And that’s what she vowed her new company would offer. Kim’s concierges are experts at delivering intangibles beyond simply serving your needs. They become an extension of yourself, anticipating your requirements and accomplishing tasks the way you would want them to be done. That’s why all her services are customized and Kim wouldn’t have it any other way. Many people start businesses out of necessity, and that is certainly the case with The Urbane Concierge. Kim was ready for a change.

Wanted: Chief of Staff for Your Life

The very definition of an urbane concierge is: affable, balanced, cosmopolitan, courteous, cultivated, gracious and mannerly.  These days, hiring the equivalent of a “Chief of Staff” is more common than you think for everyone from business owners to corporate managers and stay-at-home moms. Yet, as our lives get more complicated, the role of personal assistant has grown in scope to include highly sensitive and confidential tasks such as project managing small business owners, paying bills, managing the individual services for your home (i.e. gardening, housekeeping, remodeling), personal & business travel arrangements, even overseeing your social calendar. There are tremendous benefits to having someone within arm’s reach who can juggle what you never have time for.

Kim believes that in reality, work time is intermixed with personal time.  Her clients need far more than a junior assistant, they need a trusted adviser, a concierge who is standing by 24/7. The Urbane Concierge provides customized packages so clients can focus on their core competencies and strengths and leave what they don’t enjoy doing in the capable hands of a concierge.  In return, life is simplified and clients can have more balance to enjoy non-work time with friends and family.

I Can’t Get No Satisfaction

Kim started her business after 30 years in the corporate sector because she was extremely unhappy in her professional life. She felt like she was selling her soul to her employers and had to compromise her values to make a good living. In March of 2007 she quit her job and began to research what else was out there.

Knowing her strengths, she enjoyed the organization and detail orientation skills that came naturally to her as well as helping others. But, she wanted to do it on her own terms. Kim was a frequent conference attendee at the Professional Business Women of California (PBWC) events and became inspired to branch out on her own after attending a PBWC program.

With the input of a SCORE (Counselors to America’s Small Businesses) advisor, Kim quickly developed a business plan, a web design logo and applied for a tax ID number.  Soon after she assembled an amazing team of women whom she knew and trusted from her professional contacts and the business officially launched in October of 2007.

She chose the name The Urbane Concierge because she wanted to reflect the unique services offered that distinguished her from other personal assistant companies out there. Branding is especially important for a new business and Kim did a lot of self reflection and research to consider what her special sauce would be in this service industry.

A Very Special Valley Girl

Demographic research was also very important when Kim decided where to focus her business. She has captured a niche market in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco region. 95% of her clients are men and 90% come from within the San Francisco area. These young professionals are very busy and career focused so they need The Urbane Concierge services to handle their multi faceted lives. This high-end clientele is the definition of urbane and they see having a personal concierge as a status symbol as well as a necessity and that’s good for business.

In her business, Kim often has access to a client’s personal bills and medical records, etc. so discretion and confidentiality is of the utmost importance for her and her staff.  Kim relies on having a stellar reputation as well as positive recommendations from clients. This is the number one way that her business grows.

The old adage – The customer is always right! – is alive and well. However, there are some clients that just can’t be helped, according to Kim and she has learned that in some cases she must turn down a client if she thinks it won’t be a good fit for her or her staff. This is the beauty of running your own shop – you can say no to business you don’t want.

Über Organized

In some cases, Kim talks about working herself out of a job because she gets a client so organized that they don’t need her anymore. But that is usually a good thing because it results in a strong referral and the original client most often comes back for another service down the road.

While being organized is what Kim does best, she admits that some clients seem to have monumental tasks to accomplish. She trains her staff to keep their games faces on and to remember that “fear breeds courage” and to persevere at all costs. Since her team is made up 100% of contractors, she hand picks which concierges on her staff are best suited for particular assignments. Kim does the original client intake to build trust and determine how The Urbane Concierge can best help.

At the end of the day, Kim now values that she is completely accountable and responsible for the satisfaction of her clientele. She runs her business on integrity and trust and feels like she is making a contribution in the lives of real people that she gets to know very well. Developing these strong professional relationships has given her a newfound satisfaction on the job and she enjoys being her own boss.

One-Stop Shop

The goal is to make the client aware that a concierge is a one-stop-shop for all of their needs. Kim offers customized packaged and pricing for each client based on what they require. A sampling of services includes, but is not limited to:

• Appointment setting
• Home life organizer
• Project Managing Small Business Owners
• Travel & event planner
• Personal shopper
• Errand runner/ courier
• Home greeter
• Pet care
• Project manager

Your Wish is My Command

Kim has developed packages and customized services for individual and corporate clients so the possibilities are endless depending on what a person needs. The first question in an intake is usually about cost. Why should they employ someone to do what they usually do for free? Kim has them to fill out her Urbane Concierge Time/Cost Assessment, something she encourages clients to do before they even make an initial appointment. Suddenly, their mindset changes and they realize they actually need a concierge because Kim adeptly shows them that their time is valuable and time = money.

Here is an example from one of Kim’s customers. The client billed $300/hour as a business coach. She also estimated she spent 10 hours per week running errands, shopping, and so on. That is $3,000 per week at her billing rate, $156,000 a year! After employing The Urbane Concierge, she not only saved money and time, but also found she had more energy to devote to both her business and her personal life.

Studies have shown that 75% of employees handle personal responsibilities while on the job. To make matters worse, 92% of employees admit to taking personal time off just to keep on top of their errands and personal responsibilities. Kim’s business mission is to take care of people’s needs so they can focus on their core competencies and enjoy life more.

Time Flies

The business launch in October of 2007 seems like more than 3 years ago and Kim is thriving as a business owner.  In 2009, she was named one of the Top 50 Women Entrepreneurs by Savor the Success.  In 2010, Kim was awarded a full scholarship by Wells Fargo for the Fearless Entrepreneur Program.  Future goals include continuing to build her clientele as well as her team of experienced concierges so she can focus more on growing the business and handling select clients.   She is conscious about staying on top of current trends, techniques, and technologies to better serve her clients.

Kim is now living her philosophy that time is money and she appreciates having control over her own time now. She has numerous client testimonials on her site that endorse The Urbane Concierge and validate that Kim’s career reinvention was well worth it!

Kim’s Advice and Action Steps:

• Find the right people when building your staff.
• Be tenacious for what you really want.
• Realize that some clients can’t be helped and that is no reflection on you –   simply move on.
• Use technology to your best advantage. Keep abreast of new gadgets, programs and features that can help you in your work and life.

Quote:

“People have hired me because of me.” Kim Daly

Resources:

The Urbane Concierge www.theurbaneconcierge.com

Savor the Success www.savorthesuccess.com

Professional Business Women of California www.pbwc.org

SCORE http://www.score.org/index.html

Wells Fargo Fearless Entrepreneur Program

http://www.futurewomenleaders.net/entrepreneurship-program