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Discovered! 505
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How to Make
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You Can Own
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WHEN MY husband and I moved to White Plains, New York, with our three-month-old son I had to leave my job as office administrator and public relations counsel for a national organization. I sought part-time work in my new home town but was offered only full-time work which would have kept me away from my child for too many hours.

It was during our quest for a reliable baby sitter that I hit upon the idea which has given me a great deal of pleasure, has occupied my spare time, and, incidentally, adds a small amount to the family income.

Our new neighbors were mostly couples our age with small children and there were no older women to whom we could turn when we wanted to get out for an evening. While the high school students could sit when we were only a few blocks from home we did not like to go far leaving a teen-ager in charge. So I ran an advertisement in the local paper for a mature, reliable sitter.

I was flooded with answers. As I spoke with some of the women who responded it became clear to me that there were excellent baby sitters available in the community but that they had no organized way to make their services known—and I felt sure there were many parents like ourselves who sought this kind of help. Why not take my knowledge of promotion and administration and offer the community a baby sitting service?

BEFORE I made a move I selected one of the sitters to mind Steve while I made the rounds of the heads of the P.-T.A.'s, women's groups, etc. and discussed my idea. I met with unanimous enthusiasm. Everyone was eager to help and two of them immediately said they would avail themselves of the service.

Armed with this success I decided to go ahead. I gave myself three months to put Sitters Service on a self-supporting basis and figured my capital accordingly. First, I decided to incorporate because even the most cautiously run business can run into trouble and it cost only $50; however, a more daring entrepreneur might skip this expense. Next I had a business telephone installed so that I could get a business listing in the directory—and I signed up with the local answering service so that I could be reached at all times. This cost $4 monthly for the phone and $15 to have it answered. Printing of stationery, billheads and circulars advertising the service cost $35. Leaving a margin of $30 for incidentals—and to pay sitters until the first money came in—I invested a total of less than $150—and I had a job without having to leave my son for a minute.

While the mechanical processes of printing, etc., were going forward I was busy with the human element of establishing Sitters Service, Inc. I interviewed nearly sixty women. I tried to have my baby Steve present as often as possible to determine whether they really liked children or were just interested in earning some easy money. If I became convinced that they were fond of children and had a confident manner with them—actual experience, I find, is less important than relaxed manner with children—I checked four references on each one. I spoke with at least two people whose children they had cared for and obtained two character references including, preferably, their doctors.

I can't say enough for the help I received from the local doctors. First of all, when I checked with them about the ability of these women to care for children I received, I am sure, far more detailed answers than I would have if the work had not involved such tremendous responsibility. One doctor even told me that a patient had a tendency to alcoholism.

The doctors, too, were delighted to have a responsible source to which to refer patients who needed baby sitters. As one of them remarked, "I get enraged every time I get an emergency call which results from inadequate baby sitting."

One doctor volunteered to be on emergency call for the service and this lends me, the sitters, and the parents a lot of confidence. While I have not yet had a real crisis, he has been invaluable in advising about quarantine periods and other minor problems.

WHEN I had selected about twenty sitters in White Plains and an equal number from near-by towns I invited them all to a meeting at my home-office to discuss our arrangements and to talk with a representative of the National Safety Council who was delighted to further my project.

I felt that since most of the women were older and more experienced than I, they would accept instruction from an official source better than from me—and the teacher brought up many points that would have evaded me. She suggested:

1. Always check to find the back exit in case a fire should occur in the front.
2. Locate the nearest fire alarm box.
3. If cooking is to be done make sure you know the correct way to operate the stove.
4. Do not administer any medicine without speaking directly to the doctor.

I added a few instructions of my own:

1. Ask that all instructions be in writing so that there can be no argument.
2. Do not use television or raid the icebox without the parents' express permission.
3. Arrive promptly for all assignments—as a parent I know how frustrating it is to wait for a sitter who comes late or not at all.

Besides referrals by physicians, important sources of the customers for my service have been the various women's clubs, church groups, mothers' clubs and the Parent-Teacher Association. Before starting my service I wrote to or telephoned the heads of these various groups asking them to call it to the attention of their members. I had a circular printed explaining just how my service operates and including the rules laid down for the sitters. Whenever the birth of a baby is announced in the local paper I note the address and send the parents one of the circulars. Or if I read of the formation of a new social group, likely to be made up of young parents, I send circulars to its members or officers.

AS FOR the financial arrangements, I determined to try a system which is it little unusual in the baby sitting field but has proved highly successful. The parents do not pay the sitters directly but are billed by me each week and I pay the sitters every Friday for all work done during the week. This eliminates the awkward making of change, figuring hours and, occasionally, having the children witness the exchange of money, and generally makes a pleasanter relationship between sitter and parent. Incidentally, it lets all the money pass through my hands, which makes a lot of bookkeeping but also protects me.

I request both customers and sitters to make all appointments through me but when customers call sitters directly, as they inevitably do, I asked the sitters to let me know. Only once in the year I have been in business have I discovered a sitter on a job which I should have booked.

When a customer calls me I try to select the sitter best qualified in terms of number of children, hours and location. I check with the sitter and, if she is available, I arrange transportation (I have all the local bus schedules and several maps on my desk) and then re-call the customer to give her the information. Sitters are reimbursed for transportation but are usually taken home late at night by a parent. Three of my sitters have cars and I try to save them for calls from outlying areas.

Rates are set according to the going rate of the community—which is high. Sitters in White Plains receive 70 cents an hour during the day and 60 cents an hour after 8 o'clock at night. Customers are charged $1 an hour during the day and 85 cents at night. For this they get excellent care of their children but no housework and I do not permit customers to impose on the sitters.

LATELY I have branched into an even more profitable type of work for which there is considerable demand. I supply substitute "mothers" when parents go away on vacation, mothers are ill or need help in caring for new babies. Local doctors are delighted to have a source of help for this last work. Prices are adjusted according to the work involved but range around $7 or $8 a day with the service getting an extra dollar a day. Since there is little more work involved in arranging these jobs they are highly desirable from my point of view.

My biggest problem is to remain in touch with my answering service whenever I am away from home. They are extremely efficient about reaching me when I know where I will be and they always assure parents that a sitter will be available unless their call is a complicated one to fill.