Opportunity Knocking - Return of the Housecall

The other day I received an email from my son's playgroup list about her friend's hairdressing service.  Due to the same life and family demands many of us parents face, she created a new opportunity for herself.  Parts of the email are reproduced below, emphases are added.

Just wanted to share some info in case some of you other moms find it helpful.  I had a hair dresser that I loved before Alexa was born but she got pregnant as well and decided to stay at home with her son.  The fact is she loves cutting and doing hair so in her town she has started going to women's homes on the weekends and doing their hair in the homes to give them the convenience of not having to find someone to watch their kids.  I just recently made contact with her again and every other Friday she drives to Atlanta and does hair  so I got to have my hair done at my house this past Friday.   

She charges $40 for a hair cut, and charged me a total of $135 for a cut, and some high and low lights I'm not sure what her other prices are, but you can email to ask her.   She said a group of ladies in her town get together on a regular basis and have brunch and have her do the their hair in someone's home while the kids play.  She said its a lot of fun and she get mult. people's hair done while others are processing.  Could be a fun event for moms club or a play group at some point for those who wanted to try it.  I asked her if I could share her info and she said sure! 

Her facebook page is:
https://www.facebook.com/cayladoeshair  It has her number and her email on it.  

There is a number of reasons why this so simple idea is so perfect for small businesses in our town.

1)  This is Dunwoody.  You can't throw a stick without hitting a playgroup somewhere.  So if your company markets to moms, dads, and/or kids, you can meet potential customers in a group all at once.  That's a big demographic at your disposal!

2)  Because playgroups and kids' activities are so hard to balance with work (including housework, on top of  "the regular job") any chance to multitask is welcomed.

3)  Housecalls take advantage of a large loophole in the "home business" ordinances.  The Home Occupation laws say that a business owner must jump through a number of SLUP hoops - paperwork, public hearings, etc - to see customers in THEIR OWN home.  However, the ordinance is silent regarding a business owner seeing a customer in the CUSTOMER'S home.  No SLUP, no paperwork, no hearings.  In addition, there is no complaint regarding cars on the street, traffic or other objections that routinely get raised in the SLUP process.  

If your business - storefront or home-based - can be adjusted to provide housecalls, you may open up a whole new customer base and a whole new level of service that sets you apart from others in your field.  It works - I've already tried it!

Happy Wednesday!

Happy Halloween!

It was one helluva night last night!
Check out the photos on Patch.
I'll upload some video "views from the swamp" sometime when my desk clears.  In the mean time here's a photo I've been waiting for a month to post.  Nancy, next time, my house.  Go have a hot toddy and get over that cold!

Even Nancy's most mean-spirited detractors are human beings and deserve to be right one day out of the year.

Moving on now to All Saints Day, the real holiday in our family calendar preceded by Halloween.

Opportunity Knocking - Clean, Shine, Fix-Up Dunwoody

Right after the tempest regarding Dunwoody Glen hit Category 5 status, an announcement was released by City Hall regarding "Clean, Shine, Fix Up Dunwoody" day on November 5.

This got me wondering:  where exactly is all this cleaning, shining, and fixing up going to happen?  The City Council and City employees have decided that the east side needs drastic redevelopment.  Has there been any attempt to do any volunteer fixup in this area?

Here's the event announcement from City Hall.  There's a vague reference to assignments and some mentions of Brook Run (stream cleanup, etc).  Sounds great!  More information on another website.  Let's click....

Now we're at the North Atlanta Church of Christ website.  Wait a minute - I thought this was a City event.  Public/private partnership maybe?  That would be OK.  But say that on the announcement.  There's no search box and the clean-up event isn't on the front page.  Let's dig around a bit.

Under Calendars and Events, we find "Serve Day". No mention of a City of Dunwoody project, just anyone who wants to do some community fixer-upper service, just sign up and show up. This doesn't look like a City project, despite the main website saying, "...the City will be holding its Third Annual Clean up Dunwoody Day..."

The FAQ page has the following regarding what projects are going to be worked on:

Dunwoody Nature Center
⇒  Fire hydrant painting throughout the city of Dunwoody
⇒  City of Refuge
⇒  Ronald McDonald House
⇒  Many more!

Nothing outstanding here.  Fire hydrant painting projects have happened in town before.  Dunwoody Nature Center is an oldie but a goodie for community service.  What is City of Refuge?  Where is Dunwoody's Ronald McDonald House?  What constitutes "many more"??

There's several videos from past years included as well.  Brook Run and the Nature Center, Ebenezer Primitive Baptist, are obvious, but some other outdoor locations weren't clear.

Here's my question for anyone who knows:  if Winter's Chapel / PIB is such a terrible part of Dunwoody that entire housing developments have to be removed to improve it, where is the volunteer effort to improve areas of that part of town?  For example, everyone wants to "adopt a triangle" near the Farmhouse, who will adopt the traffic triangle at the intersection of Peeler and Winter's Chapel?  Everyone wants to spruce up the landscaping at Brook Run, who wants to do the same on unused lots along Winter's Chapel?

There is NO criticism here of any of the charity work that has been done thus far under the banner of "Clean Up Dunwoody".  I would like to know what volunteer efforts under this program have been done in the "less popular" parts of our City.  They're not readily apparent, they're not in any of the videos I saw on the church site, and they're not listed on the City website.  If the eastern parts of Dunwoody need to be "spruced" or "fixed", where are the volunteer efforts to do so?  The comments section is open.