Cristina, assistant to millionaires: “We don’t decide what they ask of us, whether it is authorized and ethical we attempt to obtain it”


These professionals are devoted to helping individuals with “nice wealth” in order that they do not have to fret a few factor. Their companies embody at the least 300 classes which can be employed based on the shopper’s wants. They calculate that they perform some 5,600 duties per household per 12 months.

His job is to get forward and forestall his purchasers from worrying about such trivial issues as shopping for birthday presents, emptying transferring containers or discovering cleansing employees. They are private assistants, or private angels as they prefer to name themselves, as a result of it’s what they think about themselves to be, guardian angels of those that make life simpler.

And the reality is that a number of the assignments they face are a problem that may deserve heavenly assist, even when they succeed with out blinking an eye fixed. Like selecting up a forgotten teddy bear in a European village in the midst of the mountains, convincing the Little Mermaid herself to point out up at a personal pool celebration for an American woman in Spain, or taking a sure model of water from Geneva to Kazakhstan for some clients who solely drank that specific model.

Cristina Martí (42 years previous) is among the protagonists of those achievements, she has been working as a private assistant for prime internet price people for nearly ten years and feedback on these challenges (which they face day by day) naturally. It’s her job, she explains, the shopper asks and he or she (and her staff) get it.

Like when he traveled to New York to brighten a lodge room for Halloween to shock the youngsters of a household, or when he needed to decide up a automotive in Rome and drive it to Geneva, in order that the senior government he was working for might arrive on time for a gathering with out worrying about her sports activities automotive, which in fact Cristina returned spotless and with a full tank of gasoline.

Requests that arrive at Alberta La Grup Lifestyle Business, SL, the company the place he works and the place they distribute their companies in at the least 300 classes equivalent to house and household, aged care, purchasing, journey, household actions or custody of residences.

The shopper contracts the service and hours modality and from there the magic begins, which might go from making the acquisition to what’s referred to as “smooth touchdown” (probably the most demanded companies) and which is nothing greater than facilitating the “touchdown” of an individual who settles again within the nation.

“That was considered one of my first jobs and I keep in mind it fondly. A shopper was transferring to Spain and he or she employed us to facilitate the switch. She needed to journey round Europe for a month so we ready her home, put the garments as she needed, we crammed her fridge together with her favourite meals. We left every thing prepared, the backyard cared for, her pet at house, employed service personnel, her kids at college. When she arrived, she discovered a house up and operating,” she explains.

A fairy godmother job that because it started has been carried out many occasions. “We deal with every thing, in order that once they settle they do not miss the nation. We attempt to make their arrival not traumatic.”

That is why amongst their purchasers (of those that don’t present knowledge) are lately employed soccer gamers from different international locations, executives with out time, and individuals who desire to pay and take their worries away.

“The very first thing we do is a survey to get to know them higher. Find out what wants they’ve, if it could be only for that particular person or for the entire household, what number of hours they want, what they’re like, what they like.

Question: And from there they provide their customized companies.

R. We turned your circle of belief, with out truly being buddies. We will set up every thing you ask us for. Show them hairdressers, faculties that match what they’re in search of, we assist them or do the paperwork for education, we discover them a gymnasium or a coach. But we additionally keep in mind if they’ve an appointment with the physician, if the kid has extracurriculars. That is why a lot of our work is to anticipate wants.

Question: In different phrases, along with what they ask of you, they give you.

A. For instance, we all know that it’s your companion’s birthday, we propose you go to dinner at a sure restaurant that we have now beforehand notified in order that they’re pending and it could be that there are flowers, or some particular order. It can also be that the shopper has instructed us that he loves Formula 1 and Red Bull, so we propose going to the Red Bull Paddock in Miami and we are going to set up the journey for him if he needs.

Question: Are you accessible 24 hours?

Answer: There are many modalities, there are those that solely require consideration till 6 p.m. and people who rent a 24-hour service, that’s the reason we’re a staff in order that they’re by no means left unassisted.

That somebody is accessible is essential. It could possibly be {that a} shopper calls them to elucidate that he has left his medication and that he’s touring, so that they must catch a airplane and “take it to Dubai”, or {that a} pipe breaks in a chalet within the mountains at midnight they usually must “accommodate the household in a lodge at 3 within the morning” whereas they’re in command of fixing the difficulty with the insurance coverage.

Question: Have you rejected any of the requests which have been made to you?

A: We don’t play what they ask of us, so long as it’s authorized and ethical we attempt to obtain it. It is a problem for the staff. A shopper lately instructed us that her daughter was very unhappy as a result of within the United States she was a pal of the Little Mermaid, whom she had met at a celebration and with whom she corresponded. When she got here to Spain to stay that relationship was sophisticated, so she appeared for a Spanish Little Mermaid. We organized a pool celebration and the woman met the brand new Little Mermaid there. The shopper and the woman had been delighted.

Q. As far as you possibly can inform, they do not get bored.

A. Not every thing is that thrilling, we even have easier challenges. We deal with paying a high quality, {that a} taxi takes you the charger in case you have forgotten it, we accompany the kid to basketball or we show you how to set up a dinner with buddies. But sure, we have now thrilling assignments. Right now we’re organizing a visit to Disney for a household and we not solely deal with the airplane, arrival, keep, and many others. The group begins earlier, who’s going to deal with the home, the pets, the backyard, who is known as if the alarm goes off, who takes them to the airport.

Q. And some request has been resisted.

A. We attempt to not. We have already got a earlier job finished and we take nice care of the suppliers. If you desire a reservation in an unique restaurant there they already know us. If you want us to take your go well with urgently to a dry cleaner, we already know the place. And if we don’t discover what you want we will adapt it. It could also be that you’ve a service particular person that you just like however they do not know how one can cook dinner what you need, or they do not know how one can iron your shirt the way in which you want, what we do is educate them.

Q. Have you ever turned away a shopper for being impolite or inappropriate?

A. Our purchasers know who we’re, and we all know them properly too. If there’s somebody who doesn’t ask for issues politely, we all know that it’s not a private difficulty and we work professionally, except they’re an individual with steady private disrespect, we have now additionally mentioned no to many.

Q. What are the necessities to be an assistant?

R. Once we started to rely them and there have been 137 talents that we gathered as assistants, however principally they’re summed up in having the need or phantasm of wanting to do that job as a result of it’s vocational and demanding. In addition, you need to have skilled ethics, time administration, your feelings, a sure schooling, know languages, know how one can be and be versatile. The similar factor you set up a really high itinerary that you need to run to choose up the gymnasium bag.

A job that, based on what the CEO of the company in Barcelona, ​​Lourdes Carbó, instructed NIUS, may be very properly paid. “We begin with a minimal of 60,000 euros a 12 months, nevertheless it all will depend on the household that requests help,” she acknowledged. But sure, they earn it, based on her calculations all year long they perform a median of 5,600 duties per household.