Save that Number

One of my greatest frustrations comes when I know that I’ve been in too much of a rush to do something simple that will save me lots of time and aggravation later. A simple example of this is saving someone’s contact information in the right place – in my Outlook or on my cell phone.

You know what I’m talking about, right? You’re trying to call back someone that called you last Thursday in the afternoon so you scroll through your phone’s call log and accidently, dial at least one person who isn’t the right one. Now you have to make excuses, “Sorry, I dialed the wrong number, but yes, how are you…” How embarrassing.

Five minutes later, you’re running late and a call that should have taken you two minutes now is taken much longer. Yet, you still don’t know the number! Can you tell that this has happened to me at least once or twice?

I’ve made a new promise to myself. I’m always going to save contact information in the appropriate place starting now.

If you feel my pain, take the pledge!

Keepers of the Lists

I’m reading David Allen’s book “Getting Things Done.” His book outlines methods to increase your organization and therefore, productivity. I’m only on Chapter 2 so I’m sure I’ll have more to share as I delve deeper into his ideas.

So many of us walk around with endless lists in our heads of projects we need to get to and lists of tasks we need to check off. Allen describes this as one major barrier to being organized and getting things done. Our short term memories can only hold a limited amount of information. We clog it up when trying to keep these lists creating distraction, overwhelm and stress.

Allen also talks about the way in which we define our to-do lists. We often make a list of general projects – mom’s birthday or re-do kitchen – as opposed to defining the next step of a project as an action item:

“the real problem is a lack of clarity and definition about what a project really is, and what the associated next-action steps required are.”

He theorizes that establishing action items for outstanding projects and documenting those actions is a key to both getting them off of your mind so that you can focus on the task at hand and having a to-do list that is relevant.

In addition to reflecting on my own organizational skills it’s an important role that Fini Concierge plays in many of our client’s project/to-do list management. We have become a valuable tool in shaping our client’s to-do list into actionable items.
Working with Fini Concierge, clients can organize their life into actionable items by:

Regular Meetings – Schedule a consistent time to speak with Fini Concierge each week by phone or in person to download your to-do list. It also serves as a placeholder for clients to check in with themselves on the various aspects of their lives and talk things through.

The Fini List – Several of our clients have adopted a list that they keep with them, on their computer or in a notebook, that they review during their week. Clients jot down items that they want to pass along to us. It’s helpful as it gets the items out of their head and they don’t have to remember all of those tasks when they see us.

The Quick Email or Voicemail – As we all know, thoughts come to us at some of the strangest times. As Allen says, if we have a to-do in our head, our brain doesn’t know when to remind us of it or when to do something about it so it keeps popping up, and distracting us from other tasks. Shooting Fini Concierge a quick email, even if the whole project is not completely explained or leaving us a voicemail in the middle of the night is not uncommon from our clients because they know then that it is safely documented.

Fini Concierge serves as the “keepers of the list” for many of our clients. I can’t tell you how many clients have said with a sigh of relief – “Okay, that’s on your list now and I can forget about it, right?” And they can.

Life as a problem solver

We’re problem solvers.

The “come up with a creative solution to this specific problem” problem solvers, yes, we do that everyday. But what I’m referring to is the “staying on a problem until its fixed” type of problem solvers. Our client’s rely on us for our persistence and ability to see projects through until completion.

We pride ourselves on our resolve -- daily phone calls, insistent questions, detailed follow up -- the most professional forms of persistence.

Everyone has experienced the frustration of calling customer service call centers. Dealing with the endless wait times, talking to representatives who haven’t been schooled in customer service, and the frustration of a manager not being available to get a matter resolved. You’d imagine that no one would sign up willingly to tackle these types of tasks because they can be maddening. But we do! Our clients can’t wait to pass these seemingly small projects to us because these calls often produce so much stress and feel like such a complete waste of time. Yet they need to get done!

We still get miffed at companies or service professionals who just don’t seem to care about their work. The ones who don’t show up for an appointment and don’t bother to call, or do show up but don’t complete their work properly requiring a second visit. It’s important to our clients that we know how to handle these difficult situations and that we solve the problem for them.

Have you had a difficult experience with a company or service professional that you would like to share with us?

If anyone gets it, I do!

As you may be aware, I’ve been absent from my blog for a few months. I haven’t abandoned the Fini Concierge blog, but the truth is, I’ve been so busy that I haven’t found the time to write. Does that sound familiar to you?

Despite my lack of writing, I find solace in that I truly understand the need that Fini Concierge client’s have because most days I feel like I could use a personal concierge myself! I can honestly say that I understand and I think that makes me and the team at Fini Concierge better at what we do by helping other people and providing some relief.

People frequently ask me if my own life is well-organized. While I would like to say, “yes”, it couldn’t be farther from the truth. As they say, the cobbler’s children always have holes in their shoes. It’s true that it’s a lot more rewarding and fun for me to grocery shop for someone else or organize a client’s closet than my own. It also gives me great satisfaction at the end of the day to know that we completed a job well and as a result a client was able to spend some time with their child at the park or arrive to a well organized and unpacked new home. Or my favorite, that a client just sat on their couch and relaxed for a few minutes because of the help we provided.

The word “busy” means a lot more now since my husband and I started Fini Concierge. Notwithstanding the craziness that it adds to my own life, I truly still enjoy how we help people.

So, my goal is to get back to blogging starting with this post…stay tuned!

Going Green…trying to do our part!

With global warming, oil prices, melting ice caps and recycling headlines in our daily news, we couldn’t help but commit to finding ways that we could go green.

Cutting our consumption of gas isn’t an option but we have found a way to reduce the amount of paper and plastic consumption on our daily grocery shopping trips for clients.

We have decided to invest in reusable shopping bags that our team can use on each visit to the grocery store. We’re still offering to bag groceries in plastic or paper bags for clients who request them – for their personal use at home.

It’s a little step but we think that every step counts!

We’re interested in finding out strategies that you personally use or your company uses…how are you “going green”?

In a Rush?

In a Rush? Always feel like you’re in a hurry? Too much to do, not enough time? Most people we know would answer yes to all three of these questions. We think it’s one of the most widespread challenges of our time. This challenge is exactly the reason that we founded Fini Concierge – to provide an option for people to take advantage of, if and when they needed it, with the goal that our clients feel that they have more time and less to do.

We frequently read articles that touch on aspects of this phenomenon – too much technology, work-life balance, working parents, “having it all”, sleep deprivation, the culture of wanting it all, NOW!

I’m a firm believer that life is all about choices. The article “In a Rush? Learn to Ease Hurry Sickness” written by Maggie Jackson appearing in Sunday’s Boston Globe talks about just that…choosing to proactively combat the constant rush of life. Her article touches on the health effects that rushing has on a person. Many of us know too much about the mental and emotional effects that always trying to do too much can have, not to mention the toll on relationships with friends and families.

It’s not an easy life pattern to change but small steps can have a big impact on how you feel every day. Yoga, reading a book (for pleasure, not work!), meditation, locking your cell phone in a drawer for an hour each day or outsourcing…there are lots of choices to help slow down the pace of the internal race we’re running, even if for just a little while.

To read Maggie Jackson’s article, “In a Rush? Learn to Ease Hurry Sickness” click on the following link: “In a Rush? Learn to Ease Hurry Sickness”

What's the weirdest request you've ever gotten?

People always ask us at Fini Concierge, “What’s the weirdest request you’ve ever gotten?” We often struggle to find an answer because we honestly don’t find our client’s requests strange…for the most part they are just projects that come up in people’s everyday lives.

On the other hand, there are definitely projects that we wouldn’t have been able to imagine that we would have been tasked with.

Below is a list of the top 10 most common requested projects and a top 5 of projects that we wouldn’t have imagined.

10 Most Requested Projects:

• Dry Cleaning
• Groceries
• Car Service
• Hire home contractor i.e. plumber, electrician, handyman
• Book an airline or hotel reservation
• Organizing a room or closet
• Waiting for a home contractor i.e. cable tech, furniture deliveries, security company
• Gift ideas and purchasing i.e. birthdays, hostess, corporate gifts
• Peace of mind check in on homes while owners are out of town
• Coordinating home moves

5 Projects We Wouldn’t Have Imagined We’d Have The Chance to Work On:

• Purchasing a messenger pigeon for a client
• Meeting the top of a wedding cake that was shipped on a bus (with no passenger) and delivering it for a couple’s first wedding anniversary
• Providing player support to the Boston Lobster’s Professional Tennis Team
• Recruiting and hiring support for vacancies at client’s companies
• Leasing a car for a client