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Rat
Race Rebellion Book Review
The
Concierge Manual (3d Edition) , by Katharine C.
Giovanni
(NewRoad Publishing,
2007, ISBN 1931109079, Paperback, $29.95)
Reviewed by Michael
Haaren
Given our prevailing
time-starved lifestyles, concierge
services would appear to have a strong future, and this book is likely
all the
reference you’ll need to prosper as a home-based concierge.
However, as the
author points out (to her credit, as
“how-to” books often go overboard on the “rah rah,” and downplay the
tough
parts of the task), these businesses are not for everyone. As she puts
it, you
must be the “[t]ype of person who can have a conversation with a post
in the
subway,” and you have to be willing to go the extra mile, too, at all
hours,
for your clients.
Giovanni comes with
impressive credentials. (Full
disclosure: She is also the RatRaceRebellion.com Contributing Expert on
the Concierge field.) She was a “meeting and event planner for over
20 years,” and is the
Chairman of the Board and Interim President of
the International Concierge and Errand Association.
She also has
considerable entrepreneurship and advisory experience
in concierge services, which comes through in cautions and guidance
conveyed in
grounded, pragmatic terms.
The book covers the
pre-launch areas that “newbies” will
need -- types of business entities, getting an employer ID number,
building a
Website, etc. -- but also thankfully devotes one of the larger chapters
to
sales and marketing, which is where so many microentrepreneurs drop the
baton.
I would differ with
the author on the weight given to
business plans (I think many microentrepreneurs get bogged down in
them, and
should focus instead on a marketing plan and landing the first client),
but
many experts split on that issue, and admittedly there are good
arguments on
both sides.
All in all, an
excellent roadmap for the aspiring concierge,
of whom we expect to see many more in the near future, even as demand
exceeds
supply.
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Rat Race Factoids
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Work
From Home Scams
There
is a 42-to-1 scam ratio among "work from home" ads on the Internet, and
that is not counting the ones that arrive as spam in your inbox. [Read
our press release on this statistic.]
Average
Annual Vacation Days by Country:
United
States...........13
Japan...............25
Canada...............26
Great
Britain............28
Brazil..............34
Germany...............35
France................37
Italy.................42
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