Professional Help: Cross That Off Your To-Do List

Why spend your precious personal time picking up after pets or running errands? Outsource it!

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For business owners, time is an especially precious commodity. That's why some are choosing not to spend those precious moments on the less rewarding details of daily life, like picking up after pooches, dropping off the dry cleaning, or toiling in the kitchen. Hiring someone else--or a whole team--to do it for you can be liberating, they say. Read on to learn how to staff up in your own home and what it will cost you.

Personal Assistant

Like growing a second pair of hands, but less disturbing

Sometimes a personal assistant is all you need. Deb Weidenhamer, president of Auction Systems Auctioneers & Appraisers in Phoenix, has a personal assistant who wears many hats. She picks up prescriptions, buys clothes, returns them to the store if they aren't right, picks up and drops off the dry cleaning, puts gas in the car, takes the clothes off the dry cleaner's hangers and puts them on regular hangers, handles grocery shopping, and does the prep work for dinner. Weidenhamer estimates this saves her about 20 hours a week. She thought she'd use the time to hang out with her husband and relax--instead, she's working on starting another business.

The price tag: A personal assistant typically commands a salary in the $30,000 to $45,000 range. A good one is hard to find. Weidenhamer found hers through referrals. If you don't think you can keep a personal assistant busy full time, consider outsourcing particular tasks. A new online bulletin board called DoMyStuff.com allows you to post a chore that needs doing--like, say, walking the dog--and then individuals or businesses in your area will bid on your proposal.

Chauffeur

Get stuff done in transit without endangering others

Drive time can be extremely productive when you turn the wheel over to someone else. Mike Faith, CEO of Headsets.com in San Francisco, has a driver who ferries him to work and anywhere else he needs to go during the day. Faith says he knocks off about 50 e-mails during his hourlong commute to work. Faith's driver doubles as a personal assistant when he's not behind the wheel, which is quite common. Many run errands--handling bank deposits, picking up and dropping off the dry cleaning, heading to your favorite warehouse store to get that great bargain on pickles--as well as do light office work.

The price tag: Figure on $45,000 a year and up, plus overtime. To find a driver, first try looking in your own organization--Faith's driver was already in his company but wanted a different kind of workday. If you don't want to use your own car, a good bet is to try a local car service. (Track one down at the National Limousine Association's search engine, NLAride.com.) If you have a car and just want a chauffeur, you could go through a personal staffing organization, such as Pavillion Agency (pavillionagency.com).

Chef

Dinner's on the table, and it's your favorite

If spending hours in the kitchen isn't feasible and you're sick of takeout, you might want to engage either a private or personal chef. A private chef works only with one family, handling the shopping and preparing all of the meals for the household. A personal chef serves several clients and can prepare as little as a few meals a week. Sometimes personal chefs do the preparation in their own kitchens and you simply reheat. Either way, a chef will work with you to create meals that suit you and your family's taste and dietary requirements.

The price tag: A private chef is a salaried position, and the amount depends on the chef's reputation and your location, but figure on $50,000 to $100,000 a year. A personal chef's services vary widely depending on how much of his or her time you're engaging. Find one by contacting the career services department of a cooking school. The Culinary Institute of America, for instance, connects its alumni--recent and more experienced--with prospective employers at ciachef.edu.

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