Consultants Make It Easy to Cope--but Not Cheaply
A few years ago, Sally Ryan was forced to acknowledge that her business had grown a little quicker than she had expected. Her office was such a mess that it might have qualified as a community redevelopment project. She didn’t hide behind mere piles of files and paper work; her vision was obscured by mountain ranges of the stuff.
When Ryan, a public relations specialist based in Granada Hills, spotted an ad for an office organizing service in Los Angeles magazine, she wasted no time hiring an expert to help sort through the paper jam--even though it meant spending a few hundred dollars.
“It has brought order and sense into my life,” Ryan said. “It was well worth the money I spent to have an office that functions. I could never have done it myself.”
Like Ryan, a growing number of people are turning to consultants to solve problems that were once considered to be within the exclusive purview of the individual or the family. In the Los Angeles area, there are people who can plan a wedding, baby-proof a home, help one dress for success and tend to the needs of a depressed family dog.
Up to $5,000
Naturally, such services aren’t cheap. A party consultant can charge $3,000 to $5,000 for a single event, and that fee doesn’t cover the food or entertainment. An image consultant may charge a minimum of $75 an hour. But in today’s frenzied society, there seem to be plenty of people willing to spend their hard-earned dollars to let somebody else do the thinking and worrying for them.
Carol Viamant, an image consultant who, along with partner Shelly Wessler, runs At Your Service in Tarzana, offers personalized shopping at $50 an hour. Typically, the women will interview a client (and sometimes do a color consultation) before going to department stores to choose a selection of outfits.
They’re not the only ones who see green in color and image consulting. Vivian Dobay, who runs Style Connection in Encino, has done costuming for television shows for 12 years and has had her own business for the last eight years. She charges $35 an hour.
Her clients range from college graduates on a limited budget to those who have made it and don’t mind spending it. Thus, her shopping expeditions can take her to Rodeo Drive or the Cooper Building downtown. “It’s easy to buy a wardrobe for somebody who has $5,000 to spend,” she said. “It’s harder for someone who has only $500. And those people still have to look good.”
(For $500, Dobay said, a man can count on a suit, a couple of shirts and ties, and a pair of shoes. A woman might get a couple of business dresses, an evening dress--no designer labels--and various accessories. Five thousand dollars buys some variety. A male client might expect several suits, sweaters and shirts, some sportswear, a coat and accessories. A woman could add designer-label suits and dresses and gowns--or even some custom-made outfits--to her closet.)
Essential Service
It’s a service that Patricia Foote said she couldn’t live without. Over the last four years, the Monrovia woman has used Style Connection dozens of times. “I tell her what I want, and she finds it. It’s not only a service, she has an uncanny talent for putting together a wardrobe.”
Of course, clothes are only part of the picture. Brian Brase, a Reseda-based trainer, charges $60 an hour to visit clients in their homes, where he constructs and supervises custom-tailored fitness programs. His clients range from the “very sedentary” to “high-level athletes in the prime of their lives.”
Brase, who has a background in business and athletics, has about 35 clients--some of whom he works with at gyms such as the Mid-Valley Athletic Club, Gold’s Gym in Northridge and the Nautilus Fitness Center at Cal State Northridge.
“These people use a trainer to make the time they are exercising more efficient,” Brase said. “A lot of people go to the gym unsupervised and spend a majority of their time not working out purposefully. This is a very good use of discretionary time.”
Maureen McDade, a Northridge resident who works in the finance division of First Interstate Bank, uses Brase’s services as often as three times a week. “There’s a lot more to exercise than just sitting on a machine,” she said. “I want to get the maximum results out of my workouts.”
Elaborate Parties
People who want the maximum results from their parties sometimes turn to consultants. Life’s A Party! in Van Nuys will produce elaborate handmade invitations, have them delivered by limousine, concoct a multi-course menu and set up elaborate decorations that can transform a back yard into, say, a Polynesian paradise.
And as if all this isn’t enough to make one’s head spin, the firm can arrange to have parachutists drop in on the gala event, or can orchestrate a dolphin show in the swimming pool. All, of course, for a hefty price--which can range anywhere from $5,000 to $100,000.
“People today want to do something different. They want a fabulous evening, but they don’t have the time or the inclination to do it themselves,” said company President Charlie Scola. Life’s A Party! subcontracts much of the work to other firms; it generally charges a 10% to 15% service fee for its efforts.
Marti Snider runs A-to-Z Organizing Services, a Van Nuys company that eliminates office clutter for $35 to $65 an hour. “Some people are notoriously behind in handling paper work. They get to the point where they can’t do their job efficiently,” she said. “We help them sort everything out. Afterward, they usually feel freed from something that has been bugging them for years.”
A typical job can take anywhere from two hours to two weeks, but Snider also offers a maintenance service to prevent things from slipping back into chaos. In addition, she handles closets and storage areas in the home.
How does one decide on a qualified consultant? According to David Lord, managing editor of Consultants News, a trade publication based in Fitzwilliam, N. H., it’s best to check references and ask if a consultant belongs to an association that has specific guidelines, if not a code of conduct. “It’s important to see if they can really do for you what they profess to have done for others,” he said. “There are some people with some weird schemes out there.”
