We were lucky to catch up with Donna McGovern recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Donna thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Alright, so we’d love to hear about how you got your first client or customer. What’s the story?

I was in the events industry doing very large sacle events like The Heisman Trophy Dinner, Macy’s Day Parade and Fashion Shows but had no real connection to the Principals. I decided to do what I considered smaller events, 75 people or less to try and build relationships with the Principals. After completed a Board of Directors Meeting for the President of a hedgefund, he asked to meet with me. He said he liked the way I worked and trusted me; would I consider managing aspects of his personal life. I was honest and said “I have no idea what that means but okay”!

It started out small with requests like getting him into restaurants for client dinners to producing a charity luncheon event and slowly grew organically.

Donna, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a Luxury Lifestyle Attaché working with ultra-high net worth individuals, corporations and celebrity clientele. I deliver services that include travel, events, entertainment experiences, dinner reservations, wellness, investment property research, and personal shopping.

I am based in New York City but work globally. My clients engage me because they know I use diplomacy and discretion when working with them. They also love that I only make recommendations to them that I have personally experienced. It helps to ensure their expectations will be met.

My background includes events and being a Personal Assistant for wealthy families.

I think what sets me apart is I really focus on the business relationship I am creating and try and align myself with clients that share my values. I’m very proud of my business model being about quality of service vs quantity of clients. I am also very transparent and I’m not afriad to say “I don’t know but let me do some research and get back to you”. I customize my services to each individual client vs having steadfast rules and only one way to do it. Everyone is different and being flexible is crucial in my industry. For example, some clients only like to text and never want me to call or email. Others are the exact opposite and only want me to email them. Being able to adjust and adapt is very important.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I think like most people the Pandemic taught me to be resilent. This was a terrible time for the world but it gave me the chance to look at my life and my career and decide what was most important to me. During this time I learned some valuable life lessons about some of my clients.

I chose to have work life balance and let go of clients that were not aligned with my values. This was very scary as a business owner and because I counted on those clients to fund my business. I chose to be brave even though I was terrified. I knew it was the right thing to do.

Slowy I am growing back my business with the right clients for me and the types of people I desire to work with. I love what I do and working with the right clients allows me to continue to truly enjoy my job.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

My most effective strategy for growing my clientele has been word of mouth. I love that my business is based on organic growth. It may take longer to build up the clientele but I don’t mind. For me there is no greater joy than having someone reach out to me because a client told them how wonderful it was to work with me.

Contact Info:

• Email: donna@donnam.net.
• Website: awaywithdonna.com
• Instagram: @awaywithdonna

Image Credits
I took the photos myself