Mom Offers An Extra Hour, For A Price
A CPA, she works full time, has two pre-school children, a husband and a house. Her to-do list is long: Job, kids, housework, shopping, chauffeuring and spending time with her spouse, parents, siblings and friends. Then there’s exercise and hobbies.
Relaxation doesn’t make the cut.
She’s not alone. “There are really a lot of working mothers and professionals that don’t have time to get basic things done during the day. You don’t want to leave your family at night, it’s the only two hours you have with them,” she says.
Lahra Martin might have a solution. Her business, Extra Hour Errand Service, is designed to give over-committed, beleaguered people more time. She opened an errand service in October when her desire to slow down, simplify and spend more time with her children became undeniable.
About five years ago, she saw a story in “Parents Magazine” talking about ways to work from home. The woman in the story ran errands as a business and made it sound like fun, she says.
When she had her second son two and a half years ago, her schedule imploded. As an executive assistant at a doctor’s office she was torn. “I was a full-time mother, a full-time wife, a full-time friend and a full-time employee. I looked around for someone to help out, and there wasn’t anyone.”
Other moms were in the same position. “They were feeling the same pressure. I wanted to slow down and live my life, not race through my life,” Martin says.
She researched the errand service idea and put together a list of chores she would do, from house sitting and bill paying to moving assistance, pet services and event planning. She’s open to other odd jobs. If it’s not immoral and “doesn’t get me injured or arrested, I’ll find a way to do it,” Martin says.
Next, she spread the word.
Customers can set up chores by phone the day before. Prices start at $10 and she’s open to creative pricing and pre-payment.
People don’t know what it’s like to have unscheduled free time, says Martin, mother of two. “Everyone tells us to simplify but no one tells us how to do that. You still have your son in soccer, your daughter in dance and you work full time.”
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