WESST Client Profiles

Emma Fountain Solutions offers professional organizing and personal assistant services tailored to small businesses and individuals. Services for small business clients tend to be straightforward with bookkeeping, organizing, small projects, and office relocation. With personal assistant services, taking care of someone’s to-do-list is an everchanging service that has included anything from rearing baby chicks to driving someone’s Bentley.

Starting her personal service-based company was surprisingly free of obstacles. Emma drew on her corporate project management skills. She was good at helping folks design systems and create efficient habits to stay organized. The main challenge was in translating those skills into a more personalized service for individuals and/or small businesses.

Another challenge for Emma was adjusting to the amount of paid leave offered in the United States versus what is typical in the United Kingdom. Emma grew up in the UK and had 7 weeks paid leave within a corporate job prior to moving to the United States. Here she found the standard two weeks’ vacation with possibly three weeks after five years crippling. That might sound crazy to the average American, but for Emma it was soul-crushing. Emma Fountain Solutions allows for flexibility. She doesn’t get paid leave as she did before, but she can take 7 weeks off if she chooses to. Emma can manage her workload to accommodate those weeks where she won’t be earning an income, even if it does mean she works some weekends.

During her bi-weekly, one-on-one meetings with WESST Santa Fe, WESST staff helped Emma focus on the value of her time and skill set. One key point WESST proposed was to shift her fee structure by calculating hidden costs, which includes all the ‘non-billable’ time that goes into maintaining a client, payment fees, materials, self-employment tax percentages, etc. This really helped shift Emma’s perspective on the real monetary value of her services.

In offering services based on integrity, attention to detail and responsiveness, her community of clients enjoys a more relaxed, calm lifestyle which enables some of them to remain living independently. Emma is always an advocate for her clients and has heartfelt connections with each of them. This personal touch reminds her that life is so much better when we relate with respect, kindness and care. She would like to think this carries over to her clients, and even to their greater community that are encountered via medical visits or even just grocery shopping.