Chamber of Commerce

Fini Concierge became a member of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce earlier this year. As a new member, we have been welcomed into this group warmly and been given many new opportunities to connect with fellow members. Most of which we haven’t even taken advantage of yet.

Similarly, we just recently joined the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce and received a similarly inviting reception. Within days of joining the Chamber, it had reached out to our Cape Cod staff member Allison and invited her to several events. They made several announcements regarding our launch of the Cape Cod office through its website and Twitter account.

As with any opportunity or group, most of your success is based on what you make of it – how much time and energy you put into developing relationships with fellow members. How much you give of yourself in the process, volunteering to help out on committees and making time to meet with members to learn about them. But when you join a group and have the reception that we have had with both Chambers, it makes you more eager to want to put that time and energy in – which is always in competition with some other valuable activity. Both Allison and I have been very impressed with the respective Chambers that we are involved in and appreciative their outreach to us.

Fini Concierge: Volunteering Policy

Over the years Fini Concierge as volunteered our time to various charity events. It’s a fundamental goal of ours to give back to the communities that we live and work in and something that we want to continue as Fini Concierge grows.

We’ve participated in charity walks and bike rides , delivered pies for Pie in the Sky , and supported many fundraising events with auction gift certificates for Fini Concierge services. At times, Eddie and I still felt that we were far off from our goal to consistently support the many great causes that have so many needs in our community.

Most recently, Liz Moran, one of our team members, volunteered her time for the Caritas Good Samaritan Hospice luncheon and auction fundraiser. When she returned from the event not only did she feel really good about being involved but she had had a really great time – and had felt excited that she was not just representing herself but Fini Concierge.

It was at that time that Eddie and I decided to take a first step in implementing a volunteering program that would grow into the type of community commitment that we eventually hope to make through the business. Our staff is now strongly encouraged to volunteer up to four hours on ‘company time’ per quarter to a charity of their choosing. In an effort to support our team in making this commitment, we discuss volunteer opportunities at staff meetings and share ideas about what they are interested in so that we can help them get matched up with rewarding opportunities.

Our hope is that we are on a pathway to developing a strong community based organization that supports those in need around us and that we create opportunities for our team to make an important impact through volunteering. I know that there are many companies out there that have well developed volunteering programs and I look forward to learning more from them and from our future volunteering experiences.

And the winner is...

Over the last several years we’ve had our share of experiences with good vendors and with some bad ones (and some really, really, really bad ones!). When we find a business that we respect, both for their work and business conduct, we strive to build a strong relationship with them that benefits our business and our clients, and that provides them with repeat business. Through all of our moving coordination, we have had the chance to work extensively with Arlington’s Big Foot Moving and Storage – a fellow small business run by Mike Bavuso. While we have a strong relationship with Mike, we’ve also gotten to know most of his moving staff – who end up being the face of Big Foot Moving and the ones who make or break the company with each client experience.

Because of our positive experiences with the Big Foot team, we continue to refer our clients to them.

Along with Fini Concierge, Big Foot is a member of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce. Last week the organization held their annual Excellence in Business Awards to recognize the achievements and community involvement of their member businesses. Big Foot Moving and Storage was not only nominated as a candidate for Small Business of the Year Award, but won!

I want to congratulate the Big Foot team but more importantly recognize that I understand why they were deserving of the award. Big Foot’s team is dedicated to the same values that we embrace – ensuring that client’s needs come first and that they have a good experience when they work with them. In addition, it’s about developing strong partnerships with fellow vendors and with your community. It’s about doing business in an ethical and responsible way, with a good team of people who enjoy what they do.

Congratulations to the Big Foot Moving and Storage team!

Cape Cod office officially up and running...

It’s been about a month since we launched our newest office in East Orleans on Cape Cod, serving Cape Cod and the Islands. The office will serve year round residents, part-time residents with second homes located there and vacationers.

In addition to the day-to-day services that we offer our Greater Boston clients, we also offer activities such as opening and closing seasonal homes, stocking kitchens prior to guest’s arrivals and conducting home check-ins during the winter months for second home owners that are not available to come down to the Cape frequently. Our Cape staff will handle small projects - such as taking clothes to the laundromat - that make a big difference to people on vacation or with limited time to enjoy their vacation homes. On the other end of the scale, we’re available to manage large projects such as planning seaside weddings and family reunions.

So far, the reception has been very strong – and the summer season hasn’t even kicked into high gear yet.

Keeping you posted from Cape Cod…

Passing the "secret" along

There’s not a better feeling than when a potential client contacts Fini Concierge based on a current client’s recommendation. Not only does it confirm that our clients are happy with the service and support that we are providing to them but it also means that we have a big enough impact on their daily life that they think to share information about us with their friends and family. It also strikes me that they care enough about Fini Concierge to help us grow and expand.

As a business owner, I want to make it easy for our clients to refer us on to their contacts but never as a burden to them. Our clients certainly don’t need another thing on their to-do list…that’s why they have us! We do have a “tell a friend” type of program at Fini Concierge. But when it happens naturally is when I get most excited because it feels as if they are passing along a “secret” – the secret to living a simplified life!

Jim Blasingame – The Small Business Advocate

Many of our clients, vendors and contacts are business owners themselves – which is one of the aspects of this job that I enjoy the most. Through our service, we are exposed to so many industries, work with many entrepreneurial people, and learn about the ins and outs of their businesses. Sharing resources with each other is a great benefit of the relationships I’ve built with other like-minded business owners.

Recently, I was interviewed by Jim Blasingame on The Small Business Advocate radio show for the second time. Jim has been very supportive of the Fini Concierge concept but also of our perspective on doing business in this climate.

Check out his website, which is full of useful resources for small business owners: The Small Business Advocate

And you can listen to both of my radio interviews at this link: Chantal Boxer with Jim Blasingame

Many thanks to Jim and his staff for having me on his show and giving me an opportunity to share a bit about our story.

Valuing Time and Money

These days it’s a daily question – “how’s your business surviving ?” My answer is always the same – we’re doing really well. Now that’s not to say that we haven’t seen things change in the past few months but as a business we’re feeling really positive about our current position and our future. We’ve retained all of our clients and have signed up many new ones that are using us consistently as well. We are even opening a second office in the Spring which means adding an additional staff person and many new opportunities. Of course, like many other companies, we’ve had a few clients that are using us less frequently than they have in the past, but that is to be expected. Overall, morale is good . We are enjoying our work because in many instances its valued even more by our clients because they are working longer hours and have more stress and less time to focus on their personal lives.
People often think that a person must value either their time or their money – but we offer people the opportunity to do both. Our flexible model allows our clients to utilize our support when needed and budget the amount of money they allocate to our services accordingly. We’re here to help them regardless of whether they use us one hour a month or 15 hours a week. Good economy or not, our business model is the same – we offer personal assistance to people on an as needed basis to make their lives simplified.