It’s that time of year again when all professional child proofers get together and share their trade tips, secrets and problems. As a member of the IAFCS since 1999 All-star baby safety considers their attendance mandatory to remain the leader in the childproofing industry on long island and new York city. For three days, new and old members will finally be able to relate in person the ups and downs of being a bay proofer. This is quite the exclusive industry. The entire state of California only has about 11 child proofing companies total.
So how does one become a professional babyproofer ? It used to be as simple as taking an ad out in the local parents magazine. In fact one child proofer, in his advertisement, claimed that he had successfully child proofer his own home and then helped baby proof a few of his friends home too, so it was time to start charging for their services. This is why customers should always check references as well as how long someone’s been in their chosen career.
We are thankful for the hard work of officers at the iafcs there is finally a certification and standard for child prooofers. Members of the organization can now opt for the test that will give customer confidence in making a decision. Sure this makes it a little harder to become a child proofer but when someone someone is charging you to make your home baby safe, it’s not right to have someone who has “helped a few friends” install (possibly incorrectly) potentially life saving devices in your home.
A old friend of mine Tom Connolly who distributes lifesaver pool fences in Massachusetts, and has been child proofing homes for 11 years, took the test on the same day as I. I met Tom many years ago when he worked at the child safety product distributor I used to order from. Both having Sunday afternoon and evening open we continued on with our discussion about best baby proofing installation tips, trick, and techniques.
We had some guest speakers and also a member of the IAFCS our own Peter Kerin did a 20 minute presentation on efficiency in the baby proofing service industry. Peter was so efficient in his task it only lasted 17 minutes. From outside our organization, somewhere further west than California and way left of Nancy Pelosi was the “baby planner”. A young woman so passionate about being “green” I have absolutely reassessed my own possible information overload during child safety consultation with my clients. Martin Simenc from california also talked to us about another direction his buisness took. He has added Senior Safety Services to his very poular child proofing company.
Making it a true “international” association my morning workout friend, Nancy Renolds, of Baby Secure in Canada made the trek from Montreal. It seems her mission in life if to find the perfect child safety gate. It seems like Nancy does more product research than Lindsy Lohan in a pharmacy. A true stickler for perfection I know one day we will see the biggest smile on her face carrying a baby gate into the conference for all of us to see.
Also from the west coast, the representatives of “Boo Boo Busters” (minus Kimberly) showed up and appeared to have breezed through their test. This company has baby proofed for the elite in and around Hollywood. I’ve had the pleasure to work for some big name but come on guys send me some client referrals in Manhattan already. Oh that right I forgot you partnered up with safety first and have started “The Safety First Squad”. Kind of like best buys Geek squad only with baby proofers instead of “geeks” . Alton Chen who was at last year’s conference took his mask and cape off this year and disclosed his true intentions as the leader of the safety first squad and product distributor. Quite a nice guy it’s unfortunate that so many small business are afraid this large company might take over the industry. I would point out that there are still very successful computer and audio techs in business side by side with geek squad.
