Luxury Lifestyle Logistics | Jennifer Laurence

 

About Jennifer Laurence

Jennifer is the founder and President of Luxury Lifestyle Logistics. She is a consummate hospitality professional who has loved domesticity for as long as she can remember. Early in her college career, she discovered the world of professional home management and private service through an estate management internship and knew she had found her calling. Her passionate commitment to pursuing unique educational experiences lead her to attend the only all women’s hospitality school in North America; a unique Bachelor’s program where the business of hospitality was always balanced with elevating the art of domestic service. She has continued to devote herself to professional development in private service, completing a Wine Sommelier certificate, a Visual Communications certificate, and attending the prestigious Charles McPherson Academy for Butlers and Household Managers where she graduated top of her class.

For over 17 years she has worked in all areas of hospitality and private domestic service, as well as in commercial property management and facility services. This blend of experiences has made her a very successful private service professional because she uses her strong hospitality and facilities management business foundation and balances it with the grace and decorum needed to work in private service. Throughout her career she has served affluent clients, celebrities, and successful business professionals in their home and office settings, making even the smallest details extraordinary for the people she serves. Since moving to Chicago in 2007, she has been consulting privately in the field, blending her experiences on the residential and commercial sides of the industry. Ms. Laurence frequently travels to meet client needs and can be contracted for brief or extended on-site visits. She is passionate about the private service industry and serves as the President of the Chicago chapter of the Domestic Estate Managers Association.

In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, ballroom dancing, and teaching essential oil aromatherapy. Jennifer and her husband Greg live on 40 acres in Wadsworth, Illinois.

Episode Transcript of: Luxury Lifestyle Logistics | Jennifer Laurence

Alan
Welcome back. I’m here today with Jennifer Lawrence of luxury Lifestyle Logistics. Welcome to today’s show.

Jennifer
Thank you so much for having me. I’m delighted to be here.

Alan
So Jennifer, for the background of the listeners, can you give us you know, the timeline and how you got to where you are today?

Jennifer
Sure! So I think I’ve been predisposed to be in all things hospitality and home since since I was a little girl. True story. When other girls were getting Cosmopolitan magazine, I literally had a subscription to Martha Stewart Living at 12 years old. So I just loved all things floral and design and hearth and home. My original major was music business. So I moved from San Francisco, California to Nashville, Tennessee, and I worked in radio promotions, advertising. And I also worked at a record label, where I got to support a lot of high net worth individuals, celebrities, people in the public eye. So it was really a great case study and how to be a support mechanism for someone with that type of public lifestyle. There’s so many people that take care of all of that for them. And through an event planning colleague, I was able to host a party at a beautiful estate for one of our clients. And I saw the world of home management for the first time and it was phenomenal. There were you know, drivers and chefs and butlers and maids and all these things that were running this beautiful home and I had never known that that could be a full time career. So I pivoted, I changed my major I moved to Chicago, Illinois, to a small Women’s College, the Women’s College had an undercurrent of domestic service to the curriculum. It wasn’t specifically a domestic service degree, but it was a full four year degree in hospitality and the conversation because it was a woman’s college was, you know, how do we professionalize the art of home management? How do we bring our business sense to the world? How do we bring that woman’s touch to our work environment. And so it’s a really unique opportunity to showcase how you can kind of professionalize the art of home management and systematize it as as if you were a business. So I knew I wanted to be a butler and household manager. And that was the best school that I could get my undergrad in. And after that I did a year of wine Smalley a studies I did a year of Visual Communication School. And then I went on to the Charles McPherson for bottlers, and household managers Academy in Toronto, Canada. And so that was an amazing opportunity. I was trained under some of the world’s best bottlers that we had the butler one week for the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland, in Europe and would tell us stories of the you know, Queen and Prince Philip coming to dinner and all the anecdotes that would happen with with the staff and the team there. And, you know, here in America, we don’t necessarily think of the butler tradition, you know, and entertaining. So formally, but we still have high net worth individuals that need home management. And so I knew that I would be a household manager here in the US, and I thought that my calling was to be in that support role that I had learned to vary on.

Alan
So as you started out this venture, how did you get going? I mean, you had a degree from the College and now you’re you put your stake out and you say, Okay, now I’m in business?

Jennifer
Yeah, for sure. Well, my, the butler school was certainly instrumental in setting me off on the right path. They have several placement agencies in the US that only staff are domestic household staffing. So they were wonderful and getting my my first jobs in the industry. And then we also have an excellent professional association, the domestic estate Managers Association, and they support our industry, there’s 23 chapters nationwide and two in Europe and all of us that work in private service come together, we share stories, we network together, we get professional development. So it’s really a great opportunity to to hone your craft and be with other professionals in a very unique environment.

Alan
We talked about the a lot of emphasis is on the butler’s but do you do you delve into like personal assistants also?

Jennifer
Yes, thank you for that question. It is a misnomer. This Butler kind of household manager divide. And, as I mentioned previously in Europe, there is still the butler tradition, because they entertain much more formally, you know, we think of them depicted in movies as the staunch older gentleman opening the door and a coat and tails, you know, that type of thing. But here in North America, they’re called household managers. And it’s very much more an administrative role. They support the needs at the household level or personal level for a high net worth individual who can support payroll for for a modest staff. And they can have multiple titles, they can be a personal assistant, they can be an executive assistant house manager, basically anyone who’s taking care of their personal needs so that they can go be the better professional that they’re been meant to be in the world. They take care of their, their, their properties, their automobiles, you know, concierge services, such as booking tickets and travel and things. So it really is a full time role and it can be very challenging and exciting.

Alan
You know, for the layperson, that this may be foreign to them, but individuals that are in that cabin Korea understand that really to manage the size of these estates really takes a team.

Jennifer
It does. It does. I mean, you can imagine a 20,000 square foot estate, it’s like running a full time hotel, but it’s for one person or one family. So there’s a lot of property management that goes into that facility management. The fine finishes and fixtures take a lot of care to curate, you’re almost like a little curator of a museum, the art, the oriental rugs, the, you know, the marble countertops, all of that has to be maintained on a schedule. And so I love to kind of compare and contrast for those of us that don’t live in a multi million dollar mansion, the ways in which they can systematize their home to be more, you know, really just taking the time to do things in a systematic way, so that the maintenance of the household doesn’t overtake what they need to be successful, you know, changing the HVAC filters on an annual basis, getting that oil change on the car. I mean, it sounds like simple stuff, but it can really overtake people’s weekends. And so I think the takeaway for people who purchase or you know, paid staff to do this is that they’re buying back their time. And so I want, you know, regular people to buy back their time to with a more systematic approach.

Alan
I’m visiting here today with Jennifer Lawrence of Luxury Lifestyle Logistics and Jennifer, I need to take a quick break and we’ll be right back after these messages.

Alan
Welcome back, I’m here today with Jennifer Lawrence of luxury, lifestyle logistics. And Jennifer, the company that you found is is specialize in really helping the the ultra fluent to manage households and in their wealth and estates. But how does an individual know when they’re ready for your services?

Jennifer
Oh, absolutely. That’s a great question. People struggle with this quite a bit. I think that there’s a modesty, there’s this hard work ethic in America that they want to do everything themselves, and they want to be that supermom or the super dad that can go to work and also manage the household. But I really feel like when the details of your life overtake the enjoyment of it, that’s the first telltale sign that it’s time to start hiring some household help. And we usually refer to the frontline defenses as the the frontline employees are the first level employees that would be like a nanny or a housekeeper. And starting off with either one of those depending on the makeup of your family will really help to bolster up you know, the cogs in the wheel that keep everything turning for your household. And once you kind of get in a groove of managing that individual, if you feel like you need to add on more staff after that. It just would depend on your particular needs. If the family doesn’t have children, let’s say and it’s an older distinguished gentleman, he has to drive to work back and forth every day and he’s an executive, maybe a chauffeur might be more in line with his needs at the time. So hiring staff is challenging because you’re kind of running a little side business in addition to your regular life. Now you’re an employer of households, a staffing structure. So it’s important to maintain the right level of staff and get them hired and trained effectively. And really make sure that they’re serving your needs effectively.

Alan
Now your your your title, luxury, luxury lifestyles, logistics seem to indicate that you’re not just going to take anybody that calls you up, but is there a certain criteria an individual needs to make before they’ll become a one of your clients?

Jennifer
Um, it’s not necessarily a monetized criteria, I think that when the logistics of their luxurious lifestyle become overwhelming, I have a systematic approach in terms of writing a policy and procedure manual and streamlining efficiency of operations for their household staff to train each silo. Like let’s say food and beverage, housekeeping, you know, wardrobe management, finishes and fixtures, management, all of those things in a more systematic way. And when all of those details become so overwhelming, they know that they need kind of an outside consultant to come in and give them an organizational assessment.

Alan
Okay, so between so you have North America you go worldwide with your show

Jennifer
would love to go anywhere my passport will take me so that’s a lot of fun. I have clients all over the US currently. And they do have multiple properties multiple properties for one family might run very differently if they have a beach home. It runs different than a ski chalet and Aspen so even though we want to recreate the preferences for the family in those particular environments, we want to embody the feel and the spirit of the home that they’re trying to create their for their family, the holiday home and in the mountains. You know, we want to Make sure that the staff is aware on how to run that to give them that feeling of coziness over their beach house, let’s say that might be a little bit more casual.

Alan
Will you help these clients also, in their decisions of hiring the right individual will do do some interviews? Or how does that?

Jennifer
Absolutely. So I coordinate with the domestic placement agencies throughout the US, I’m aware of about 40 or 45, domestic placement agencies it, it sounds like a lot, but they they do so very much for our industry, they’re really the gatekeepers between the clients and the candidates. And so I come in as a liaison, when perhaps the staff is not working out very well, there’s a personality conflict, even if they have hired someone fantastic. They just need training for the particular skill set, you know, an average person might not have ever touched the types of finishes and fixtures that they’re going to be working with. And so it takes a real care and concern and consideration to care for some couture items, you know, these gorgeous wardrobes that they’re going to have to be pressing and steaming and laundering, you know, how does one go about doing that if they’ve never shopped in those department stores. So that is where my training comes in. And also, my professional association offers a lot of professional development

Alan
I’m visit here, Jennifer Lawrence of Luxury Lifestyle Logistics, and Jennifer, I need to take another break. And we’ll be right back after these messages.

Alan
Welcome back and visiting here today with Jennifer Lawrence of Luxury Lifestyle Logistics and Jennifer in the prior segments, were talking about how you got into the model of assisting the ultra fluent with their management of household and staff. And but I want to I want to move now into the the operational side of what is some of the mistakes individuals make when they start to engage household this staff?

Jennifer
Absolutely. Staffing a home is a really unique challenge. And there is a line of decorum and discretion that is unique to any other business model. You know, you’re working in someone’s personal space. And so it’s important to have the staff be be friendly, be personable, but not too personal with, you know, the family that they’re serving. So there’s this line of discretion, I think that’s the first crux is to kind of navigate that personal relationship into your work environment, but it’s their home, you kind of want to be seen and not heard as you’re as you’re doing your work and not disturb the family, but also create that magic, that luxury, just things just happening on their own, you know, and they, they might move from one location to the next in a household, and then all of a sudden, they go back to that room and it’s already prepared for them again, you know, and those are the types of things that I like to train on. So I think that would be the first mistake is just not knowing how to navigate that interpersonal relationship. The second I think is not training them and paying them as professionals, there is a stigma in the domestic service industry about being kind of an indentured servant. And, you know, this is one of the oldest professions since the Romans built the roads, you know, we’ve had hospitality and people traveling and staying with other people. So I think it’s, um, you know, not been up until this point of very educated career path. But now, with the professionalization and the principles that we’re serving, are still very well educated, they’re leaders of industry, and so you really have to be on your game, to keep up with the people that we serve. You know, they’re they’re leading fortune 500 companies, and they’re CEOs and things. So that individual, we would refer to them as the principal homeowner, they really need to give the autonomy to the staff to, to grow into the position to have parameters like they would in a business, have benchmarks for success, have checklists have standard operating procedures, and really some things that they can sink their teeth into to be successful every day. The problem I face a lot in my consulting practice is when households tend to do this delegation like popcorn style and they text message their staff and really frantic approach and say, oh, I need to pick up the dry cleaning or I need tickets to Paris. And it’s always this rush, rush rush, you know, and if things were more systematic and if people had a system for calendar management, maintenance, management schedules, those types of things, they really everything is much more at ease and so they don’t have to feel so hurried all the time.

Alan
You know, it is an art trying to take care of these these families and especially when they’re on the move multiple properties, logistics locations, what have you found in your experience of of Some of the real challenges, how do you get the right staff when you have multiple locations and properties?

Jennifer
That’s a great question. The staffing agencies do an excellent job in their markets of knowing the candidate pool, we have a blog role that goes out nationwide every morning. And it’s a very small number of jobs. Sometimes there’s only 10 or 12 jobs that morning for all of the United States. And so it’s best to work with the domestic placement agencies, they fully vet, the staff, they do background checks, they help with the training and coaching and all of that type of thing. But then also, they really go into the interpersonal aspect of it, like I mentioned previously, and make sure that if the job description requires that the staff travel to meet the needs of the family, that they’re willing to do that, or they staff those multiple homes separately, and just call them in when the family is going to be there if it is a vacation property. So there’s multiple approaches, I think it’s not a one fit all solution. But I really do think that attracting the right candidates and paying them appropriately with benefits and making sure that they are W two employees, you know, I just run into so much of people that think that a 1099 is acceptable. And really the IRS has very stringent terminology on what can be considered an independent contractor versus a W two employee. So I would just encourage your audience to speak with their tax professional and make sure that they really understand that they are an employer and they run a business now and they want to be protected not only on the tax information, but also for insurance purposes. So reach out to their advisors for that.

Alan
Yeah, I think what people fail to realize is that labor laws play into this about paid vacation and overtime and

Jennifer
absolutely, and there is no HR department when you work for a family you know, they might work you 60 or 80 hours a week, you know you’re on call 24/7 Believe me, I’ve gotten phone calls when the TV remote has not worked in the upstairs, you know, master bedroom. And like you mentioned, they’re traveling to multiple households there around the world. They’re on planes all the time. Sometimes they just want the ball game on and they can’t remember how to work the cable box. And so it can be something as minut as laminating a sheet for them next to the remote control to remember how to get the TiVo on, versus throwing a party for 400 people on the lawn for a cocktail party, you know, so you never know what the day will bring.

Alan
There’s an old saying in the Agatha Christie mystery mystery is that The Butler Did It. Yeah, yeah. And what I want to go somewhat into because in the luxury lifestyles, yeah. How does a family protect themselves? Because they’re this individual this servants coming in? And they’re surrounded by some sometimes some really pricey things

Jennifer
And sensitive information. Absolutely. So that is a great question. My first week in Butler school, we actually delved into all of the, the ways that boilers are depicted in the media and in, you know, historical application. And the word Butler actually means like cup bearer, and it was a trusted adviser of the king. They were their closest confidant, they were their right hand, man. And so the bottlers role, I’ll turn it I’ll pivot that question a little bit is really to protect the family and be this liaison, this gatekeeper between the outside world that is very much wanting their time and attention and protect them and say, No, you know, Mister missus, are not available, or can I assist you with that. And, you know, it’s a very symbiotic relationship, and it has to be very closely guarded. So it’s really important to get the right person in that role, because they’re going to be your secret keeper, they’re going to be the doorway to everything. And if you’re creating your home is your castle this respite away from the world, you really want it to be to be the right fit.

Alan
I’m going to touch on the calendaring and systematizing you know, the schedules for these individuals that that are your clients?

Jennifer
Absolutely, thank you for that question. In order to delegate a very complicated lifestyle with all of these details, and the more family grows in stature, the bigger the job description gets, because they have so many details that they have to manage. And if that is all coming into the inbox of the owner, it’s just going to be overwhelming. And they’re going to continue to delegate it without ever having the freedom to just enjoy the lifestyle they’ve created. So it’s important to systematize, all of this, and I have a three step approach. My first approach is to create a Google account for the household, something that’s not associated with the family’s last name, because that would be a security risk. So please don’t do like smith@gmail.com or something like that. But keep it neutral and create a virtual office for the family. So once you have this domain, this domain set up as Gmail account, you’re going to be inboxing all of your administrative needs for the household that are not sensitive. And so let me break that down a little bit. Let’s say the dentist appointment for your child you want to send those reminders to that inbox rather than your own maintenance on the car, vehicle appraisals, warranty information, all of that type of thing. So not only are you creating Cal During because then you’re going to calendar on that Google account. But then you’re creating a manual because they can go back and reference all of that information, you’ve got contacts in there for your vendors, your art appraisers, that type of thing. And then you can pass it off effectively to a staff member, once you gather all of those details, so my first thing is to do that Google account and have it all digitized so that it is accessible by an outside staff member. Secondly, I recommend to create a policy and procedure manual because how the family interacts with those to do lists might be very different. When we put a holiday on your calendar, and on my calendar, mine might look very different than your household. And so you need to break that down for your household and what is expected on entertaining aspects. And, you know, who do we need to call to get the flowers in to get the caterer there, you know, and so that manual can really be something that is a living, breathing document, it’s not stagnant, because as the family evolves, you want to change those details. And then the third thing I would recommend is a database like a CRM for the contacts of the family, you’re going to want to put vendor names in there, family members names, you know, just name, address telephone number, but something with a Notes feature so that when you have an interaction with that particular person or entity, you create a time date stamp for when they were on your property. Let’s say the pool maintenance man was servicing the pool and the pump went out. So now you have a place to put a note that says they were here on a particular day they changed the pump, you know, and put it into a file. You know, that way if something goes wrong, you can reference it. And I think that this like little triad of administrative support is the is the best foundation in which to have the household really be successful and administratively.

Alan
So Jennifer, if an individual wants to contact you for your services, how would they go about?

Jennifer
Thank you, um, they can reach me at my website, which is www.luxurylifestylelogistics.com The name of my company, so it’s all run together luxurylifestylelogistics.com.

Alan
Jennifer, I appreciate you being on today’s show. And we’ve been busy here today with Jennifer Lawrence of luxury lifestyle logistics. Thanks for being here with us today on American Dreams and join us next week right here on this station.

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This transcript was generated by software and may not accurately reflect exactly what was said.

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