For Lakewood Ranch business owner, saving time is personal

You live in Lakewood Ranch and you've accumulated a little something throughout your life.

Oh, let's be serious, you've accumulated a lot of little somethings. If you want to get the wife or husband the new Tesla Model 3, you can have the dealer park it in the driveway at midnight on Christmas Eve.

What you can't give her is more time.

It would be nice, wouldn't it, to bank a little time during this holiday season? Here's a box of 100 hours to use as you deem appropriate. Whenever you get a little worn out, you pull out three of your banked hours and head to the beach. The rest of the world stops around you.

It's just not going happen. But there might be a way to get the next best thing.

Amanda Broadway has forged ahead with a new business here in Lakewood Ranch called LifeSquire. At 36, Broadway wanted to be her own boss, so she went over items people might need, and of course, want to buy.

Time. Hmmm. That's the ticket.

She sought out Valerie Riley, who founded a personal assistant business, LifeSquire, in Oklahoma City. It focused on doing chores for busy people who just didn't have any time left to enjoy themselves.

Broadway loved the concept, and thought it would translate to the Lakewood Ranch area. Riley loved Broadway's energy, and it was a deal. LifeSquare is now open at 877-5188 in service to Lakewood Ranch.

"She is one of the most positive people I've ever met," said Riley, who sold Broadway a franchise and attended Broadway's business launch at the Yoga Shack in Lakewood Ranch.

Broadway opened for business in December.

The challenge for Broadway would appear to be assembling a stable of employees who can type up some business reports, vacuum the carpets and handle the Fed Ex deliveries. Can a person who can be a personal assistant for a business executive during a high-level board meeting be OK with doing the grocery shopping?

Broadway started searching over the last few months for employees who could transition seamlessly between duties that some might consider on opposite ends of the glamour spectrum. However, she has found four to six relative jack of all trades to begin.

Now she is keeping her fingers crossed.

"I was reading Entrepreneur Magazine about the top four franchises you haven't heard of," Broadway said. "One was personal assistant.

"I thought, I could use a personal assistant myself."

Broadway and her husband, former Triple A baseball player Larry Broadway, have two boys in 4-year-old Bourne and 1-year-old Brooks. Sure she could use some more time.

Couldn't we all?

Broadway got her business together and then started joining local organizations, such as the Manatee Chamber of Commerce and Business Networking International. She hopes hard work increases her luck.

"This is an area with a lot of growth," she said, not trying to disguise the hope in her voice.

She has done the studies, run the numbers, considering the area's average incomes. She knows she will have to compete against all those specialists who people with means call when they need a job done. It's going to be tricky.

Still, you have to give her credit. Lakewood Ranch is full of people who started thriving businesses by coming up with an idea everyone else thought was silly. These same people should be able to to understand her desire to run with an idea. We'll see.

Meanwhile, Broadway was naming off things her employees could accomplish for someone who needed a break. They could organize a closet, or wrap Christmas presents, or take the pet to the vet, or wait to the cable TV guy, or ...

She rattled off 15. She would have had more, too, but her friends were watching at her business's launch party.

She just didn't have the time.