Phil (Real Customer) Shares Tip #1

For the last 18 months a favorite client and I have worked together to establish order, limit stress, and add well-deserved free time to his busy life. He’s given me permission to post some of what we’ve learned. Check in over the next couple of weeks and read all about how Phil’s* partnership with At Your Service adds value to his lifestyle.

Tip #1: Picture your ideal lifestyle.
Everyone wants more of some things and less of others. Here’s a note I found from my very first meeting with Philip: “More golf, less laundry.” That was our jumping off point.

In less than an hour we’d agreed on a schedule for At Your Service to handle Phil’s laundry, his dry cleaning, getting his dog groomed, coordinate his yard care, pick his car up at the office parking garage once a week and return it after filling the gas tank and getting the car cleaned inside and out. We decided to try the schedule for a month and modify it if necessary. Well, a year and a half later, with only some slight adjustments, At Your Service is still doing all those things, plus lots more.

Phil estimates that before he called At Your Service he’d been spending about six hours each week on just those menial tasks we started with–when he did them at all. By hiring At Your Service he’s added more than 425 hours of free time into his life. Whoa! 17+ days! One extra day a month! That’s amazing. What’s the service been worth to him?

“At Your Service has been a life-changer for me. Before Kathryn and her people came in, I was spinning my wheels trying to care of all these things myself. I felt like nothing was ever really handled the way I wanted. I work sixty to seventy hours every week. I travel constantly. When I get home, the yard, car, dry cleaning, changing light bulbs–all that stuff that has to be done–it just doesn’t appeal to me. Don’t get me wrong, I like everything organized and running like clockwork. I like clean clothes in my drawers. I want my shirts done right and hanging in the closet a certain way. I want my shoes polished. I want to get in my car and know there’s gas in the tank. I want the bushes in front of the house to be trimmed. When it was up to me, it either didn’t happen or wasn’t handled very well. Now that I have At Your Service I know it’s all going to be done just like I want it to be. And my free time is mine.”

Think about it, when you choose to spend irreplaceable time on mindless tasks instead of pursuing your passions–work or play–you’re devaluing yourself. What’s an hour of of extra time with your kids worth? If you could add an hour of laser-like focus every day to building your small business, would it pay off? Are you in a trap of working for the weekend, only to wonder where it all went on Sunday night? What would you do with the time if you could add 24 hours into every month? Don’t kid yourself, if you’re spending a significant part of your day doing tasks that aren’t contributing to your life goals, then you’re wasting your time.

*Phil isn’t really my client’s name. I’m just calling him Phil because I’m a big fan of Philip Marlowe–the detective in Raymond Chandler’s novels. Not coincidentally they’re both smart, driven, rakish, handsome, funny, and just a little philosophical at times.