This program will completely eliminate the guesswork in starting up your new service!

A warning for people who are in the concierge industry ....

The concierge industry has been very lucky so far. We have had very few concierge scams and other nasty incidents. Mostly because we're a very young industry, and as such most people were not aware we even existed.

The good news is that the world has discovered our industry!

The bad news is that the world has discovered our industry.

As people become more aware of the concierge industry and begin to use them, unfortunately we have an equal number of people who have decided to run scams to see if they can make some quick money.

This week I sent out an email to the industry as I discovered one such scam. Apparently, this man is not only targeting U.S. companies, but also companies in the United Kingdom. I received an email from a concierge in London who actually spoke to the gentleman, and when he ignored her specific questions, she became suspicious.

Another concierge from France also emailed me. Apparently a couple of people were arrested there a few weeks ago. These people would contact concierge companies claiming they were Arabian princes and asking for high cost services and items and never paid the bills.

There are dozens more out there.

So please be careful!  A legitimate client will NOT ask you for your personal and contact information. It's the other way around ... you ask them for their information.  

So my advice? 

Always trust your intuition. If you think something is wrong, trust the feeling because you're probably right.

Until next time,

Katharine

Ron is always ranting about something. Sometimes he rants  because something irritated him, other times he offers a life or business tip to help people out.

From politics to family life to sensitive issues, you can bet that Ron will rant about it. He understands that not everyone will agree with him!  He's not trying to change opinions, he's just ranting.

Here are Ron’s thoughts for the week …

Hi everyone,

Every once in a while I sit here and look at the business websites with all the corporate information, stock prices and see which company is doing what. In doing so, I notice things.  

For example, when companies report that they did not hit their numbers.  As I read the article further, I notice that this one particular company did not hit a number that some desk jockey said they should have hit.  The so-called business analysts said that the company’s profits were not high enough because they should have hit say something like 58 cents per share. Since they only hit 57 cents per share, their numbers were not good. This report caused the company’s stock to fall.

Now I am not a financial guy, and maybe this is way ahead of my pay grade, but I always believed that profit is profit. So if a company made 100 million in profit, and not the 101 million that these desk jockeys say they should have made, shouldn’t that be what is important when it comes to what a company’s worth is? It's still a profitable and stable company.  Why does someone with a desk and a computer control what a company is worth? I mean as far as I am concerned, a lot of the money that flows through wall street is monopoly money. It's all make believe money created by computers. It is not necessarily the reality of what is really happening. 

Even more incredible are the companies who are giving out bonuses for failure.  There are so many people out there who really should not be getting bonuses!  Don't get me started on this topic.

I get a lot of calls from people wanting to be our investment managers. I try and refrain from telling them that I could use a dart board to pick stocks and funds I need to be in, and I could very well come out with a profit just as well as they can.  I say this because my local newspaper is doing it with dart board picks and 4 investment people.  Right now the dart board picks are in the middle of the 5 and are showing an 8 per cent profit. Two investment people are at 9 and 11 per cent, while the two are 7 and 8 per cent lost.  Although this is absolutely not scientific, it does help with my point that no one has a magic wand that can make millions.  Listen if they did, they would do it for themselves so they wouldn't have to chase business all the time!

So what I am saying is make sure that you do your due diligence and not give your money to just anyone. In fact, you can just go out and buy a dart board and play the stock game one week and the funds game the next, and you would probably come out close to where the professionals put you ... and it won't cost you a dime (except for the cost of the dartboard).

Be smart and be wise, make sure that you do what is right for you and not what is right for them

Ron

Business idea: Here's a thought ... some concierge are adding a "traveling waiter service" to their existing business as an additional revenue stream, although it's not an easy revenue stream if you are running errands and out and about for your clients. A Traveling Waiter service is a service that delivers food from restaurants that don’t deliver themselves. Many restaurants are open to being added to your restaurant vendor list for those clients who would like their food delivered instead of picking it up themselves.  Restaurants take orders over the phone then contact you to make the delivery ... and yes you would charge a delivery fee. Good luck!

WEBSITES: www.triangleconcierge.com; www.katharinegiovanni.com; www.newroadpublishing.com