Duty Calls

by Kylie Flemming
© Adelaide Matters, Issue 46 - April 2004

Abbie Martin started her lifestyle management company, Lifestyle Elements, to offer busy people a valuable commodity - more time. "I want to help people take the chaos out of life and give them more time for living," she says.

She acts as a "personal assistant, personal shopper and all-round organiser" by making appointments, arranging childcare, car servicing or delivering meals.

Abbie says the list of services is only limited by the client's imagination.

The idea for Lifestyle Elements came to Abbie when she was both studying a management degree and nannying for a single parent working in an executive position.

"I realised the majority of my time wasn't actually spent mannying but running around doing 101 things for my employer," she says. "My employer's friends would always say to her, 'I wish I had someone like that to help' and I guess the idea grew from there."

Returning from a working holiday in Europe, Abbie started researching the growing "lifestyle management" industry. She says she discovered busy people are outsourcing those life chores "which don't give emotional value."

While she admits the majority of her clients are young professional women juggling work with family, she doesn't want her business to be limited to this group.

"It's for anyone who's busy and needs a hand. Most people don't have a lot of time up their sleeves and a lot of people think they should be more on top of things," she says.

ABS statistics show more than 1.7 million Australians work more than 49 hours per week and demand for domestic help is booming. According to Business Review Weekly statistics of October 2003, the outsourcing of households now represents more than $50 billion a year in 2003 and almost a million new jobs in our workplace or 9.5 million people.

Lifestyle Elements charges $35 an hour for the casual standard rate and also offers five, 10, 20 and 50-hour blocks from $165 to $1400.

Gift vouchers are available in two, five and 10-hour blocks.

Lifestyle Elements, phone 8234 8657 or 0407 972 694
www.lifestyleelements.com.au