Monday, July 13, 2009

"Personal-Services Company Started By Moms Aims to Serve Other Moms"

We are so excited about our awesome article in the San Jose Mercury News! Here are some excerpts:


One was an attorney, the other an engineer. With high-pressure careers, young children and busy households to manage, both were tired of running full speed on the Silicon Valley treadmill.

"We were leading hectic, corporate lives," said Carmela Guizar-Sanchez, the engineer.

"I had a second job just managing the housekeeper, gardener, the girl who came in to do chores a few times a week," said Selena Ontiveros, the attorney. Two years ago, the friends began fantasizing about a household helper who would oversee these seemingly simple yet time-consuming tasks of everyday living. "We decided if we needed help like this, there must be others just like us."

In early 2008, they launched Simplify Home Solutions, a personal assistant/concierge/contractor/therapist service rolled into one. Both left their corporate jobs to concentrate on the new business, which they run out of their homes; Ontiveros recently returned to practicing law and leaves the daily operation of Simplify to her partner.

The lifestyle and home concierge, as they like to describe their business, was started with an investment of less than $10,000, one client and a roster of service providers the women had selected after road-testing them in their own homes and doing background checks.

"We looked at the market, did a little research and knew there wasn't anything like this out there," said Guizar-Sanchez.
 
Their target clients would be overworked, time-crunched multi-tasking women like the ones they saw in the mirror each morning. They would do it all: grocery shopping, picking up dry cleaning, cooking, laundry, yardwork, chauffering kids, paying bills, organizing paperwork, waiting for repairmen or the cable guy.

Ontiveros and Guizar-Sanchez would be the conduits who found the right workers, made the calls, set up the appointments.

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In less than 18 months, they've grown from one client to about 30, most of them finding Simplify through word of mouth or through various mothers' groups.

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Their most common request is for household organizing — daily chores such as laundry, picking up toys, tidying the house, grocery shopping.

"It's amazing what a stress burden those things ares when you've got too much else going on," said Guizar-Sanchez.

Gail Chapman, a Willow Glen mom to four children who works part-time, said she heard about Simplify but was reluctant to call for months, thinking she should be able to do it all on her own.
"Meanwhile, everything was getting further and further behind," she said. Frustrated that her weekends were spent doing laundry instead of spending quality time with her family, Chapman caved and called Simplify in April.

"Carmela came over and asked if she could look around," she said. "I was horrified and embarrassed, but she was totally non-judgmental and suggested little things, like getting help cleaning out drawers and organizing cupboards. Then she introduced me to Diane."

Diane is the household assistant who helps Chapman a couple of times a week, four hours at time.

"Now my weekends are for me and my family, not the laundry or the grocery shopping," Chapman said. "It's like I bought time to be with my family; it gives me peace of mind."

Like Chapman, many clients approach Simplify feeling guilty about not being able to do everything themselves.

"There's an emotional aspect to asking for household help," said Ontiveros, "It's the fear of losing control of your home and feeling guilty that you can't do it all."


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2 comments:

Michele said...

I'm so behind on my blog reader and just saw this. Congratulations on the positive press. You ladies offer an wonderful service and it's nice to see it featured!

Selena said...

Thanks Michelle! We're so excited about the article and it seemed like kismet the way it all happened!