Lourdes Carbó: "The first time they asked me for a private plane, my legs were shaking."

BarcelonaFor over 25 years, Lourdes Carbó has been managing the daily needs of multimillionaires and high-level professionals. After a period working alone as a personal assistant, she founded the agency Alberta La Grup, from which, she assures, they are able to obtain (almost) anything they request.

You and your team are dedicated to the lifestyle managementWhat is this, exactly?

— We manage lifestyles, which means we help you organize your personal life. We don't normally touch on business matters, at most, only briefly. It's also true that we work with people at a very high level, and so, for them, it's very difficult to separate their lifestyle into personal life, family life, leisure, travel, or day-to-day life. It's all one; it can't be separated. Of course, the private lives we organize are quite complicated and quite extraordinary at the same time. You say, "Oh, a private plane! Oh, a boat with 30 sailors! And houses here, houses there." For those who have between 5 and 15 houses around the world, you can imagine their family complications.

Have you worked for people who own 15 houses?

— Yes, yes, we work with people who have 15 homes. It's extraordinary and at the same time very complicated. Because, of course, they usually live between two or three places, but the life map includes the mountain chalet and the house in the south of France, for example. And the apartment in Amsterdam, where the daughter is, and the house where the mother lives, in Miami. And the inherited family home.

You offer personal assistant services. What does that entail?

— A personal assistant is a proactive figure. We anticipate what clients might need. We already know that the child is allergic to almonds, or that the grandmother likes opera or the piano, and we're behind the concert that that artist she likes to perform. Or that she likes to sit to the left of the audience because that way she can see the pianist's hands. We already know all these things, and we don't need to ask them. The personal assistant, or the personal angel, as we call it, will have anticipated and already made three different reservations at three different restaurants, because he already knows which one is the favorite or which one the child might like. Or if they once went to a restaurant that they didn't really like. Then there's the figure of the concierge, which is inspired by the concierges of five-star hotels and above, and serves visitors and more casual visitors. They are more reactive, responding to customer requests.

How did you start working as a personal assistant?

— Now we're a team, but I started alone. I come from a senior management secretarial background and worked for a Catalan family that became multimillionaires by selling and acquiring another company. I stopped managing the corporate side and started handling the personal side. I remember the first time they asked me for a private jet, my legs were shaking. They wanted to travel by private jet, and I thought, "Okay, but how do I do this? I'll just Google it and see if I get lucky." Managing my lifestyle isn't the same as managing high-level people. Plus, you don't know how much things cost. They tell you what they need, but not how much it costs. For example, a client told us his daughter wanted to go see Lana del Rey in concert. It seemed like an easy thing to do, but it turned out that year Lana del Rey wasn't touring, just a private concert at the Rose Ball in Monaco, a ball you can't even get into if you pay. The client asked us, "Tell me how much I have to pay the foundation to go," and we told him, "It doesn't work that way." In the end, we got them to go, and the client sent us a video of the two girls at the gala, who weren't expecting Lana del Rey to be there. It's about finding the turning point or the breaking point that allows you to get what they ask for.

What kind of clients do you have?

— More than business owners, we have clients who are investors, because very few directly manage the day-to-day operations of companies. Then we also have aristocratic families, and quite a few athletes. We've occasionally had celebrities on a one-off basis, but more to support their own personal assistants because they have a surge in work. In these cases, instead of bringing on a person for a few months, they hire an agency like ours.

Are they local clients or more international ones?

— More than 95% of our clients are international, ever since we started. We quickly realized it was too early to talk about what a personal assistant did with local clients. I went to see people who were likely to use the service, and some people would say, "But if you do all this, what would I do?" I realized there were barriers because they didn't fully understand what a personal assistant did. I quickly realized the audience had to be international, and things changed with the first American client. The first American client came here for a sabbatical year with their entire family. In total, there were 24 people, including children, service staff, etc. They stayed for a year, and we did absolutely everything for them. We always say that as long as it's legal and ethical, we organize everything: doctors, connections, arrivals, departures, trips, stocking the refrigerator, finding a chef or a nanny. We also discovered foreign clients in Barcelona.

Are you open to learning about the culture here?

— There's everything, but most are. We had a Japanese client who was the first to ask us to go to the market with her because she wanted to understand how meat is cut here, how things were ordered. She wanted to understand the customs. Americans also ask a lot of questions. Nordic countries aren't as transparent about assistance. I mean, they tend to do things themselves, even though they have very busy, high-end lives. I remember a Swedish family, who are still clients, telling me they didn't need a personal assistant, they just needed help arriving and that they would do it later, like they did at home. We found them two nannies, a cook, and a cleaner. In the first year, we handled 758 tasks. We've been working with them for nine years.

Can money achieve everything?

— Sometimes money is a problem, because you can't say who you're doing the work for. Because it's not convenient, or because it could be worse. And sometimes with money you can achieve many things, but we got some really good points without paying, like reminding a client who had been away for four days that it was her husband's saint's day. This doesn't cost money. You have to put yourself in the other person's shoes and empathize. Of course, there are many things that cost a lot of money. A lot, a lot of money.

How for example?

— For example, a hotel suite for 18,000 euros. We were working with the team and we said we had to book the room now because it had all the amenities they asked for, and we didn't want to be left without it. It seemed like a bargain. But suddenly, you stop for a moment and say, wait a minute, let's get our feet wet. If we take that out of context, we're saying that something that costs 18,000 euros for the night is very well priced. But like this, there are a thousand other things. A client asked us to throw him a party at a house in Empordà, which has a racetrack. We brought 15 thoroughbred horses and recreated Ascot for 25 adult friends, plus the kids. And we brought his country's Olympic swimming team to train with him. These things cost money. Bringing Paul McCartney to sing at your party, or some other good singer, costs money.

Is there anything you haven't been able to achieve?

— There's something we haven't wanted to do, but we haven't encountered any cases of abuse of power either. I remember one case of some clients who had bought a painting by an artist and wanted it delivered immediately. They told us: "Look who from the team can go, we'll pay for their plane ticket, their stay, their expenses." And I had to tell them we couldn't go to their country and leave with a painting under our arms. But I understood the message: they wanted that painting hanging in their dining room in two days. That's fine, but we do it properly. A transport company, insurance, someone to carry it and someone to hang it. And the day it was due, the painting was hanging. They're firing, but they're not telling you to do it illegally either.

In fiction, personal assistants are often treated quite badly by their clients. Have you encountered similar situations?

— There are tough times. In fact, we have a coach who accompanies us year-round. There are times of pressure. When you achieve something you've been chasing for a long time and, suddenly, the client tells you, "Well, we're not going to go in the end," it hits a nerve. You have to neutralize this because you have to continue working with this family, but at the same time, you can't act as if nothing happened. Because something did happen to you, and we're important too. When the time is right, it should be discussed, because ultimately, there's a bond. I know their blood tests, if they've changed their diet, if they're in the process of adopting a child, or if they're getting divorced. There's a fine line that should never be crossed, because otherwise, you can't help them.

The more money, the worse the deal?

— I wouldn't say it's directly proportional to the amount of money. From my experience and that of my team, it has more to do with cultural factors and the person's environment. There are things we don't go through. I like to say that we also decide whether we want a client or not. Sometimes, we've gotten rid of clients.

Because?

— Sometimes it's the way you treat people, or a combination of several things. Because, of course, you get involved in managing people's private lives and you cross certain thresholds. We also need to protect ourselves emotionally and in other ways. We once had a customer who slapped a waiter. Excuse me? Well, any day now he'll hit the cleaning lady or the waitress if he doesn't like the way they ironed his shirt. These are all signs. Money doesn't make you a better person; some things come naturally. They don't buy you happiness, although they don't take it away either, I have to tell you that.