CHECKING IN WITH ... KIM AND MIKE KANE:

You’re so busy you haven’t even seen “Slumdog Millionaire” yet. Or checked out that new restaurant your friends are buzzing about. The biggest problem is finding a sitter for the kids. And even when you do you feel like calling home 50 times to check on them, especially if it’s a new sitter. What to do? You might want to consider Seeking Sitters. This week we check in with Kim and Mike Kane, who operate a Costa Mesa Seeking Sitters franchise.

Tell us about how your business, Seeking Sitters, works?

We do all of the work for you. We recruit, personally interview, qualify and extensively background investigate every sitter. All of our professional sitters have more than two years’ experience in child care from infant through school aged; they are CPR/First Aid certified and have reliable transportation. Our on demand baby-sitting service provides online convenience and reliability with access to sitter profiles, the ability to request specific sitters and pay by credit card.

At Seeking Sitters we are committed to providing personalized customer service by hand-selecting and matching each sitter to our member families as well as having preset hourly rates.

Our sitters don’t just sit; they arrive at your door with age-appropriate activities to interact and entertain your children.

Why did you want to get into the baby-sitting business?

We used the service while traveling to San Diego and were so impressed we researched the opportunity to purchase the franchise in Orange County.

Now that my children are in school full time, I was looking for something that I could do in addition to being a stay-at-home mom.

The Seeking Sitters franchise provides an opportunity to help busy moms like myself find quality professional sitters. Seeking Sitters provides the opportunity for me to take the stress and hassle out of finding great baby sitters for our members.

You launched your local franchise in November. How has business been? I wonder if less people are going out as the economy suffers.

We have improved every month since opening. The economy has definitely affected the growth of our business since families are spending less. However, families seeking an alternative to having a nanny or traditional child care have found our service very flexible and cost effective.

We have several members who rely on our service on a regular basis to provide quality in-home child care when they need it. As more moms find themselves having to go back to work to help support the family, we provide the peace of mind they need.

Seeking Sitters is all about customer service and our sitters focus on having a relationship with our member families.

You’re a California native, but you moved to Connecticut when you were 9, right? Where did you grow up when you were in California and what was it like to return to California?

I grew up in Pasadena and spent my summers on Balboa Island. I loved spending time at all of the amazing Orange County beaches when I was young, so moving back when I had the opportunity was not a difficult decision.

Returning to California was like returning home.

When you have a date night, where do you like to go?

One of our favorite things to do during the warmer months is rent a Duffy boat for a few hours and then stop off at a nice restaurant on the water for dinner.

Did you do any baby sitting when you were young? If so, tell us one of your funniest stories.

I did baby sit when I was young. I don’t have a particularly funny story, but I have always loved the hilarious truly innocent things kids say and do.

City Editor PAUL ANDERSON may be reached at (714) 966-4633 or at [email protected].