Friday, February 24, 2006
Phelps consultant will help promote businesses

The Ontario County Connection- March 2005 (view as pdf file)
Get Your Life Back
By LINDA S. BURNETT

Finding time for the things that are really important in life can be one of the biggest challenges that working people face.

"I'd like to get away from it all," a man was recently heard to say. "This world is just going too fast. I just can't keep up with it."

"If the next ten years go as fast as the last ten, it will soon be all over," a middle-aged woman remarked, "and I haven't accomplished half of the things I wanted to. There's just not enough time!"

If life is going by too fast for you, and you have too much to accomplish on a day-to-day basis, perhaps it's time to find yourself some more time. Yes, that's what I said - more time. No, you can't actually walk into a department store and pick it up, but you can buy it, and you can use it to accomplish some of those mundane, but necessary tasks that steal valuable time you could spend with your family. You can purchase it from "Creators of Time," a new concierge and personal assistant service business that strives to give you your life back!

"I opened the business in October last year, inspired mostly by what my own family was going through," says business founder and owner Kathy Jacobs of
Phelps. "Both my husband and I worked. My husband, Brad, is a partner in his family's mason contracting business with his dad and brothers, so he's always busy. I worked as a project manager for M&T Bank and was traveling to Buffalo 2-3 days a week and working from home the other two. We have three children between the ages of 4 and 1, and it was a definite challenge to coordinate everything that needed to get done at home and in my career on a daily basis."

While Kathy's husband was wonderfully supportive of her career, she couldn't help feeling that she needed to get her priorities reorganized. Driving back and forth to Buffalo every other day gave her plenty of time to think about it. She realized that she certainly wasn't unique in her problem. Almost everyone she knew struggled with the same thing. In fact, the idea for the business stemmed from a comment one of her customers made to her about five years ago.

"He had just gone into business for himself, and he was absolutely crazy busy," she explains. "His work was piling up around him in the office, and he was working well into the night and on weekends to take care of everything he needed to, missing family dinners and quality family time. Hea sked me if I happened to know anyone that would be willing to just come in for a couple of hours, 2-3 days a week, to take care of the little things - filing, dusting, phone calls, stuffing envelopes. He had called a couple of temporary agencies, but they were more geared toward big companies who needed skilled labor, and he couldn't afford their rates. He just needed reliable help. And that's when the idea came to me. It's what I've built
my entire business plan around."

Kathy believes that people who are able to spend time in the areas of their life that are most important to them feel increased satisfaction, reduced stress and a greater sense of fulfillment. This type of lifestyle enrichment reaches out to every aspect of their lives - their career, family, relationships, community involvement and personal health. If you make sure you have time for the things that are really important, everything else will fall into place.

"We can do just about any task for you that takes up too much of your important time," Kathy states. "We specialize in personal errands. We can go get your groceries, run to the post office for you, go to the drug store or the bank, take care of your dry cleaning. Whatever you need to get done and you just can't find enough time for, we can do it for you, adding a large block of time back to your life."

Her clients have hired her for shopping assignments such as finding birthday presents or ordering and sending flowers on special occasions. She has taken care of merchandise exchanges, handled gift-wrapping, and even done merchandise comparison shopping so that her customers know exactly where to go to get the best quality at the lowest price. Sometimes, she says, it's just the research and legwork that customers find time consuming.

Creators of Time will take your car to the shop for you for repairs or an inspection so that you don't have to take time out of your day to do it. They'll wash, wax and clean it for you and even go to the DMV and stand in line to take care of the paperwork!

They can schedule appointments for you, or be there to meet service men at your home so you don't have to reschedule your entire day around home repairs. They can even schedule the repairs for you. Do you need flight
arrangements made for a trip? That can take up a considerable amount of time on the phone. Creators of Time can take care of all of that for you, as well as schedule your hotel accommodations and rental cars. They can even schedule tee times at the golf club to fill in all the extra time you'll suddenly have!

Planning a party? Let Creators of Time handle the event for you. They can plan and coordinate all the details, saving you days and days of work and preparation. They can walk your dog or take him to his vet or grooming appointment. If you're going to be away for a few days, they can schedule regular visits to make sure your pet is well cared for in your absence. "

When I opened the business, I assumed that the greatest number of our customers would be individuals who needed help with errands, a personal assistant if you will," Kathy remarks, "but I'm discovering that the businesses are very interested in our services as well. Many of the businesses are using our services as incentive or benefit programs for their employees. For instance, the top salesman of the month may get their car washed and waxed every Friday night for a month. Or if an employee makes their quota, they may give them a certificate for an hour of free service around their home. There are just so many different possibilities, and what better gift than the gift of time?"

"I like to get to know my clients and understand exactly what it is they want and need, so that I comprehend their situation clearly," she states. "Once I have a good handle on what it is they expect, it's easier for me to choose someone to handle the task for them if they want it done on a regular basis. This business is all about service, and our goal is to provide the very best service they have ever gotten, as well as relieving them of time-stealing
tasks."

Pricing for her service can be found on her website at www.creatorsoftime.com. Gift certificates are available (minimum 2 hours), and members can purchase blocks of time each month at additional discounts.If you need something done that isn't listed, give her a call. In all probability, she can handle the task and probably on relatively short notice. People who use her services regularly can become members, and members can sign in on the website and leave their requests. Kathy checks the website every morning at 7:00 a.m. and addresses what needs to be done immediately.

Other common tasks that are successfully accomplished by Creators of Time include light bookkeeping, account reconciliation and bill paying, web-banking setups, screening and the coordination of hired help, baby-proofing homes, photo inventory of the household for insurance, professional organizing assistance, and even grave site maintenance! You can even hire Creators of Time as a personal assistant, to coordinate and manage all the details of your life so that you can focus your spare time on what's really important to you.

"What I think is most important for people to understand is that there's no wrong way to use this company," Kathy states. "Some people feel guilty if they need to call for help, like they've somehow failed at what it is they're supposed to be doing, and it shouldn't be that way. Life is hectic and full of challenges. If you value time for yourself, time you can spend with your kids, your spouse, your parents, your church, or even yourcommunity, then this service is so worth it. We can give you back your time, and help you make the best use of the time you have."

Finger Lake Times - February 2005
Phelps firm offers help to busy parents, others
By SAMANTHA ROTH
Times Staff Writer

PHELPS — Local working parents can now afford their own personal assistant.
Kathy Jacobs, owner of Creators of Time, at 36 S. Newark St., is offering a variety of services designed to cut down on the tasks working families must juggle.
“I designed the entire business plan around what I would appreciate in the way of services,” Jacobs said. A mother of three, the idea came to her as she was making the daily commute to her former job in Buffalo.
Services range from mundane (dog walking) to obscure (grave site management). Current business hours are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday; after-hours services can be arranged at an additional cost.
“Time is a huge constraint these days,” Jacobs said. She cites the large percentage of dual-income families in the United States as evidence that people are stretched for time. In 2000, husbands and wives were both working in 53.2 percent of all two-parent homes.
Jacobs said errands can get in the way of spending quality time with their children, their spouses and each other.
Beginning in November, Creators of Time was popular with individuals during the holiday season.
Jacobs received one distressed call from a Rochester woman who needed help setting up her Christmas tree. She had never done it without her husband, who was then on business in China. Jacobs was able to send over a representative to assist the woman and the tree was up just in time for the husband’s return.
Popular at any time is the handyman service, Jacobs said. Her husband, Bradley Jacobs, has been busy fixing windows and doors or even carrying heavy items, mainly for older widows.
Time is billed in 15-minute intervals with discounts available for members. With a $100 membership fee, customers receive a 10-percent discount on fees and an hour of free service at holiday time. An hour of errands would be $20 for a non-member, $18 for a member.
Creators of Time also offers services for small businesses.
Jacobs is able to do errands for small business owners who don’t have other employees to count on or she can offer services as a non-traditional benefit for small employers.
One client, a small consulting firm that employs only four individuals, hires Jacobs for what she calls “Fresh Fridays.” The employees’ cars are cleaned and filled with gas so that they can begin the weekend “fresh.”
Jacobs said she likes to think these serves are “a neat perk” for smaller employers to offer when they cannot afford benefits on the same scale as larger companies.
The amount of response from the business community has surprised Jacobs, who initially thought the services would be more popular with individuals. But after the holiday season, services performed for individuals have dropped off.
Now with established clients, word of mouth is spreading and Jacobs is looking forward to more business in the coming months.