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No time? Personal assistants will get work done for you
| Wednesday, Aug 27 2008 5:56 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, Aug 28 2008 7:41 AM
Consider the stereotype of personal assistants: a harried young person fetching Perrier or gourmet coffee for the rich and famous.
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Earlena Cookie Morris, left, stops at the Kern County Department of Human Services, where Jana Slagle had a CD of images from the Heart Gallery project. Morris needed to deliver the CD to Creative Memories to help in the preparation of a display at this year's Kern County Fair.
Earlena Cookie Morris is a professional errand runner, offering a vital service to busy clients.
Think Anne Hathaway in “The Devil Wears Prada.”
In reality, though, personal assistants come with a wide range of backgrounds — all ages and levels of skill and experience.
And thanks to freelancers who charge by the task or by the hour, their clients aren’t always wealthy.
Leilani Scott, 42, a middle-class working mom in Bakersfield, has used a personal assistant for everything from Christmas cards to planning family vacations.
“If you have a busy lifestyle, it’s a way to get things you want done and not take away time from family and the things that really matter,” she said.
Iris Doyle is the owner of Simply Manners, a Bakersfield company that provides etiquette training to youngsters ages 4 to 17.
She hired a personal assistant in June to help with a weeklong workshop that drew about 25 children.
The assistant helped her photocopy and distribute handouts, register arriving students and set up easels and other displays.
Doyle also hired someone to collect her mail during a long vacation.
“Before I prevailed on a friend to do it, but by paying someone I could know that it would be handled professionally and not feel like I was taking advantage of a friend,” Doyle said.
Local companies that will run errands for those pressed for time include:
• At Your Service ( www.ayspas.com) charges $30 an hour, or various monthly plans are available.
• Time Ave. ( www.timeave.com) charges anywhere from $25 to $75 an hour, depending on the task.
Both rates include local mileage.
Or you can send work out of town.
A growing number of Web sites advertise virtual assistants who can take care of chores by e-mail or phone from across the United States or as far away as India.
Elance.com, based in Mountain View, Calif., matches users with freelancers worldwide. Rates vary depending on who you hire.
On AskSunday.com users pay from $19 for up to 10 “requests” a month to $135 for up to 90 requests over three months.
GetFriday.com has a pay-as-you-go rate of $15 an hour plus a $10 monthly administrative fee.
Time Ave. owner Earlena Morris mostly has clients who prefer working with assistants they can meet in person.
Morris, 56, founded her company in 2006 after working as a customer service representative and administrative assistant. She decided to strike out on her own after her last job in county government was eliminated.
Morris casually ticked off past tasks: navigating red tape in a bureaucracy, picking up dry cleaning, grocery shopping, event planning.
“This was all stuff I was doing before, anyway,” she said of her eclectic mix of duties.
Morris likes the flexibility of being self employed, and says even in a tough economy, some people would rather pay someone to handle mundane chores.
“I put it like this,” she said. “What is the end result worth to you to have this taken care of even just once in a while? What is it worth to have peace of mind?”
To busy mom Scott, the answer’s easy.
“Time is more valuable than money to me,” she said. “I love it. I simply love it.”