10.7.16 ubj smart sitters

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UBJ | 10.07.2016 14 | COVER | SMART SITTERS F inding a dependable babysitter no longer needs to be a hassle for Upstate parents. Smart Sitters, founded in 2010 by two Furman University graduates, is a Greenville-based babysitting placement agency that offers a variety of child care services — including occasional care (morning, after- noon, evening); overnight care; seasonal care (summer and/or school year); and full-time nannying — for parents in Greenville and nearby areas. “There is a great need [for babysitters], especially since Greenville has become so popular so fast in the last few years,” said owner Ashley Adams, who pur- chased the business in 2012. “We have a lot of people who aren’t connected to the community yet. They don’t have church families or connections in schools. We’ve been able to meet that need and give them reliable and trustworthy care.” But even for those who have lived in Greenville for a while, finding a babysitter can be a challenge, said Kelly Ford. Ford, who has a 6-year-old and an 8-year- old, has been using the agency for three years. She noted that Greenville is a “hard market” to find babysitters. “It’s weird because all of the colleges are here, so it seems like it would be easy, but it was really hard,” Ford said. Ford uses Smart Sitters because “there’s a system of accountability built into the service,” and everything is run effectively. “The biggest thing for me is that the babysitters don’t just come here and sit on their phones the whole time and have the kids watch television,” Ford said. “They play with them outside. They do fun things. They draw and have activities. I highly value that for my kids.” Allison Kitterman, who has a 10-month-old, is not new to Greenville but she is new to parenting. Kitter- man has been using Smart Sitters since August, and she heard about the service through a friend. It was the first source she turned to when trying to find a babysitter. “It’s extremely convenient. You just go on the website and someone contacts you … [The babysitters] are all older, so they’re all very capable of taking care of a baby. I was very pleased. It was very easy,” Kitterman said. But Smart Sitters isn’t just beneficial for parents who need reliable child care. For local college students or young professionals who are new to the area, it’s an effective channel to make connections in the commu- nity and quickly find babysitting gigs. “I moved to Greenville not knowing anybody … so this was a good way to get my foot in the door,” said Joan Aubrey Price, who has been with Smart Sitters for almost four years. Anna Bross, who has been with Smart Sitters since May, is also not originally from Greenville, so she didn’t have many contacts when she moved to the city. Al- though she had used Care.com to find babysitting jobs while doing an internship in Florida, she wanted to try a different approach. “I wanted a reputable company to work with,” she said. Smart Sitters currently has close to 100 sitters in the agency. All babysitters are either in college or college graduates. Potential sitters apply online and then meet for a one-on-one interview. For each potential sitter, the company conducts a background check and calls references. The key difference between Smart Sitters and other child care finder websites like Care.com is the presence of a middleman. It’s helpful for both sitters and parents to have a third-party point of contact, both for peace of mind and in case any issues arise between sitter and parent. “Care.com is all computer-generated. We see our- selves as the mediator between sitters and families,” said Adams. And with some websites, babysitters are “walking blindly into a home” and don’t always know what situation they’re getting themselves into, she explained. “I had done Care.com for a few months, but I didn’t feel confident … with it being a random website and A Greenville-based placement agency helps parents find their next sitter incorporated Kids Words by Emily Pietras | Photos by Will Crooks

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Page 1: 10.7.16 UBJ smart sitters

UBJ | 10.07.201614 | COVER | SMART SITTERS

F inding a dependable babysitter no longer needs to be a hassle for Upstate parents.

Smart Sitters, founded in 2010 by two Furman

University graduates, is a Greenville-based babysitting placement agency that offers a variety of child care services — including occasional care (morning, after-noon, evening); overnight care; seasonal care (summer and/or school year); and full-time nannying — for parents in Greenville and nearby areas.

“There is a great need [for babysitters], especially since Greenville has become so popular so fast in the last few years,” said owner Ashley Adams, who pur-chased the business in 2012. “We have a lot of people who aren’t connected to the community yet. They don’t have church families or connections in schools. We’ve been able to meet that need and give them reliable and trustworthy care.”

But even for those who have lived in Greenville for a while, finding a babysitter can be a challenge, said Kelly Ford. Ford, who has a 6-year-old and an 8-year-old, has been using the agency for three years. She noted that Greenville is a “hard market” to find babysitters. “It’s weird because all of the colleges are here, so it seems like it would be easy, but it was really hard,” Ford said.

Ford uses Smart Sitters because “there’s a system of accountability built into the service,” and everything is run effectively.

“The biggest thing for me is that the babysitters don’t just come here and sit on their phones the whole time and have the kids watch television,” Ford said. “They play with them outside. They do fun things. They draw and have activities. I highly value that for my kids.”

Allison Kitterman, who has a 10-month-old, is not new to Greenville but she is new to parenting. Kitter-man has been using Smart Sitters since August, and she heard about the service through a friend. It was the first source she turned to when trying to find a babysitter.

“It’s extremely convenient. You just go on the website and someone contacts you … [The babysitters] are all older, so they’re all very capable of taking care of a baby. I was very pleased. It was very easy,” Kitterman said.

But Smart Sitters isn’t just beneficial for parents who need reliable child care. For local college students or young professionals who are new to the area, it’s an effective channel to make connections in the commu-nity and quickly find babysitting gigs.

“I moved to Greenville not knowing anybody … so this was a good way to get my foot in the door,” said Joan Aubrey Price, who has been with Smart Sitters for almost four years.

Anna Bross, who has been with Smart Sitters since

May, is also not originally from Greenville, so she didn’t have many contacts when she moved to the city. Al-though she had used Care.com to find babysitting jobs while doing an internship in Florida, she wanted to try a different approach. “I wanted a reputable company to work with,” she said.

Smart Sitters currently has close to 100 sitters in the agency. All babysitters are either in college or college graduates. Potential sitters apply online and then meet for a one-on-one interview. For each potential sitter, the company conducts a background check and calls references.

The key difference between Smart Sitters and other child care finder websites like Care.com is the presence of a middleman. It’s helpful for both sitters and parents to have a third-party point of contact, both for peace of mind and in case any issues arise between sitter and parent.

“Care.com is all computer-generated. We see our-selves as the mediator between sitters and families,” said Adams. And with some websites, babysitters are “walking blindly into a home” and don’t always know what situation they’re getting themselves into, she explained.

“I had done Care.com for a few months, but I didn’t feel confident … with it being a random website and

A Greenville-based placement agency helps parents find their next sitter

incorporatedKidsWords by Emily Pietras | Photos by Will Crooks

Page 2: 10.7.16 UBJ smart sitters

10.07.2016 | upstatebusinessjournal.com

going to people’s houses and having no idea who they were,” said Livi Tant, who has been with Smart Sitters for three years. “I didn’t end up doing a lot of jobs for them.”

Bross added that while parents can have a “fear of the unknown" when they leave their children with someone they don’t know very well, babysitters can also be apprehensive about working with unfamiliar families.

However, that concern is alleviated when working through Smart Sitters. The agency does not actively vet families, but they “indirectly try to screen families by marketing strategically” at certain businesses, schools and other institutions, said Emily Kodat, hiring and marketing manager. The agency’s targeted demo-graphic is typically a dual-income household where “both spouses in the household work, so they need help with child care, and they are also more likely to be able to afford our booking fees,” she added. (A dual-income household, however, is not a requirement for clients.)

“I know [through Smart Sitters] that I can work with families I know will be good,” said Bross.

“We want them [our sitters] to feel safe and com-fortable,” said Adams. “And for parents, it helps them to have a person to talk to and walk through some of their questions and any fears they may have.”

Another benefit of working through Smart Sitters is that when sitters have issues with families, they can turn to the Smart Sitters staff, said Adams.

“Emily is wonderful and really watches out for the sitters. She makes sure everyone is taken care of, and if there are any problems … you feel really protected,” said Tant. “I know if I have any issues with a family, I can call her. I have the support of them. It’s not just me out there on my own.”

Adams also explained that the staff can actively “coach” their sitters by providing guidance and feed-back. “We’re trying to build relationships with our clientele, but we also work on behalf of our sitters,” she said. “We want to invest in our sitters and make it worthwhile for them as much as the families … We really see the business as a platform for them to have this be their first exposure to a job that they can network with and get to know the community. Some of these

girls get jobs with those families at their workplace because they’ve seen their work ethic.”

While Bross, Tant and Price are all either in school or have full-time jobs, Smart Sitters can be a great option for recent college graduates who are in the process of job hunting, or for those who are in between jobs, Adams said.

Price, who is an operating room nurse and also works at a baby and children’s boutique downtown, said that being able to work through Smart Sitters helped her while she looked for a permanent, full-time position.

“I was originally thinking about doing pediatric nursing, so I thought that would be a big help with all different developmental stages of children, and that would be give me a upper hand in it,” she said. Although her career trajectory changed, she said her experience at Smart Sitters has still been valuable.

“We’re trying to build relationships with our clientele, but we also work on behalf of our sitters. We want to invest in our sitters and make it worthwhile for them as much as the families.” Ashley Adams, owner

SMART SITTERS | COVER | 15

Page 3: 10.7.16 UBJ smart sitters

UBJ | 10.07.2016

“They play with them outside. They do fun things. They draw and have activities.

I highly value that for my kids.” Kelly Ford, Smart Sitter customer

16 | COVER | SMART SITTERS

“I enjoy the flexibility of it and just getting to meet all different kinds of people in the Greenville area,” said Price. “It’s helped me a lot with connections … I love hanging out with the kids.”

Tant, who is in her first year at The University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville, also said the flexibility of Smart Sitters is one reason why she continues to babysit while juggling the demands of school.

“We get an email every day or multiple times a day from Smart Sitters [with potential jobs]. If it isn’t a test week, then I can sit and make an extra bit of money,” she said. “[Parents] have access to all the sitters, so it isn’t like I have to directly turn a family down. I really enjoy getting to go back to the same families and building relationships with the kids and parents.”

“I love the community and fellowship of Smart

Sitters and working with families,” said Bross. As a sixth-grade teacher, Bross believes that her time in the classroom can have a positive influence on how she approaches babysitting.

“I hope with my experience that I can provide [kids with] activities and lessons they can’t always get with an everyday sitter,” she said. “I feel like, in a small way, I can impact the community [through Smart Sitters].”

“We’re local, and we love the city, so we think this is part of the community that’s being built in Green-ville,” said Adams.

For more information on services, client sign-up and sitter application, visit smartsittersgreenville.com.

Minimum Hourly Rates*1 child: $11.00/hour 2 children: $12.00/hour 3 children: $13.00/hour4 children: $14.00/hour5 children: $15.00/hour* A three-hour minimum is required. If a sitter is booked for less time, she must still be compensated for three hours.

Overnight Rates1–2 children: $175.00 (24 hours)3–5 children: $200.00 (24 hours) Booking Fees**$10 per date requested$10 regular $15 late $15 special/overnight**Nonrefundable

PAYING THE SITTERAnna Bross Joan Aubrey Price

Livi Tant