A couple of post back I mentioned a woman working as a caregiver. That was based on a woman I know
who does these things. She was just putting business cards on cork boards around grocery stores, hospital boards (buy & sell public interest), court house, etc. It was getting her work but only sporadically.
She was working for a person I knew and volunteered with. He was in his mid 80's and just needed a domestic helper. She was trying to build a clientele of a few dependable families that would be able to offer her 15 hours a week of work where she could offer full services at around $20 an hour. So she asked for my help with a website and some 8 1/2 handbill advertising.
I generated this image for her to showcase her skills and suggest her ability with multitasking.
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http://djsaan.homestead.com/housekeeping.png[/img]
We got a legal size secretary's vinyl tablet and slid one of these under the clear vinyl cover on the front of the tablet. So when she first met with a client she would take notes as to their contact info at work,
the needs of the one she would be looking out for, whether she would be working during the days or nights, week ends etc. If domestic chores, what those would entail. If she were to cook for them what they would like to eat and she had numerous meal plans to offer with photos of her cooking in her face book. She had an 6 quart instant pot pressure cooker she could bring along with her and would inquire of the appliances they had in their kitchen. If she would be expected to do any grocery shopping etc. All of this led to making as much as $25 an hour for some clients.
She never went beyond high school in her education. But she learned her domestic skills when growing up. As she told me there are a lot of women who just don't want to do this work as they are educated and making six figure plus incomes now. Her having a website and advertising, coming to an interview with a tablet (much like a "Day Timer", menu hand outs, and so forth made her a cut above other people doing the same thing.
For me the art work was simple as I lifted a graphic from a photo ready software I owned and modified it. This was used in the website and for her handbills and establishing a "brand" for her work.
She mentioned to me that in the interviews she was often asked about the dependability of her car. She would mention that it had a recent State Inspection sticker on the window after tires, brakes, battery, etc were all checked out and the vehicle less than five years old. So she had dependable transportation.
She told me that often the people she was looking after were asleep m of most of the time she was there, thus enabling her to do the domestic chores and have a dinner meal on the table when they arrived home. She figured their dinner meal if they ate out including the tip would cost at least one hour of her service. When I asked her about cooking she indicated she had gone to the County Health Dept and had a TB skin test, and sit thru a two seminar to get her food handling certificate card. (which was free)
The purpose of this post is to assure those reading it that you may be better than you realize even without higher education, a trade, or technical skills. If you only have a Cell and can check emails, text messages, and voice mails, you could be in business like she was.
