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Sooner or later everyone has dreamed of quitting their job and starting
their own business. Unfortunately the main thing that stops or prevents
someone from making the dream a reality is usualy what I call the 'two
F's', and this is 'friends' and 'funds'. You can probably understand
'funds' as a lack of money needed, but why 'friends' ? Because I have
said and I have heard others over the years say 'I am thinking of
starting my own business', as soon as you say this to your friends, do
they tell you it's a great idea ? No, they tell you 'oh it will fail',
or 'there's no money in that' or some other negative comment, friends
very rarely tell someone 'hey that is a great idea, you should try
it!', the reason why is because it wasn't their idea, or they were not
the one who first brought the idea up in conversation. I am telling you
right now, when it comes to starting your own business, the only friend
I want you to listen to is me, the one who wrote this article.
Can you answer 'yes' to these 2 questions ?
1. Can you or someone you trust devote some time to driving a vehicle ?
2. Is the vehicle dependable ?
If you can answer 'yes' to them two questions, you can start a ' Courier Service '.
What exactly does a courier do ? They pickup and deliver merchandise
and sometimes, people and pets to and from various places such as
businesses, airports, Hospitals and even peoples homes. These services
are in great demand, because there is always someone that needs a
package delivered to a nearby airport, or some other location ASAP, and
this is where a courier is needed. UPS and the Post Office have set
schedules and will only pick up at certain times, where a courier can
often deliver or pickup the item at any time of the day or night, when
it's needed.
You must decide what type of packages or things you will pick up and
deliver, and how many miles you will travel. If you live in the country
it will be harder due to the distance involved between, Hospitals,
airports, and businesses, and if you live in the city you will have to
deal with traffic and lots of stop and go driving, so both have their
advantages and disavantages.
The easiest way to determine your driving area, is to get a state map,
find your location and then make a circle with a compass with your town
or location as the area in the center where the compass point is. From
this point move the compass outward as far as the miles is your willing
to drive to a location, ie 30 miles, 50 miles, etc. Once you find the
right area of miles, make your circle with the compass, you now have
your area of service for your new Courier Business. I bet your getting
excited already and you should be.
Next you must carefully sit down and decide what type of items you will
courier. Will you do hazardous material, medications, explosives,
liquids. If so, you may need a special license and certification, you
may need to be bonded or approved by your local or state authorities or
public works departments. If I was you I would start out small only
hauling safe items. Make sure you have a photo ID card made, clearly
showing your image and the name of your Courier service, along with
your name and other info. In this day and age it's important for folks
to feel safe when dealing with a business especially a newly
established one.
If possible have a nice magnetic sign made for your vehicle, which
clearly shows your service, displaying the name, telephone number and
town, this is a cheap item, but it will help you build your customers
and it will also add credence and make your service seem more official
or real.
Check with your vehicle insurance company, to see if they charge
additional fees since you will now be using you vehicle a lot more for
business needs instead of personal use, it's better to be safe now than
sorry later. For your personal safety, you may wish to have any
passenger(s) sit in the rear seats, and place packages in the trunk or
rear areas behind the driver if this is possible, for this reason a
nice utility van or SUV makes the ultimate courier vehicle.
How will you choose your rates ? Sit down and call as many courier
services as you can and ask them what they charge per mile. Most charge
a fee per mile for gasoline, vehicle deterioration and business fees.
If you travel 10 miles to pick up a package and then travel another 50
miles to deliver it, you must also travel back to your home or courier
service location, this may be another 60 miles back. This is a total
trip of 120 miles from start to finish, if you charge only 50 cents per
mile, that is $60. You should be able to easily drive 120 miles in
roughly 2 hours or slightly more, so that averages out to $30 an hour
for your earnings.
Once you have the service area, and the fees you will charge, place a
small ad in local Newspaper's under the sections: Services Offered or
Work Wanted. You can also place flyers on store bulletin boards and
hand out business cards. Word of mouth is a great and free way to
increase your customers. When you start getting calls from a customer,
be sure to write down directions carefuly, and what is to be picked-up
and delivered. When the job is completed, It's a good idea to
telephone your customer and tell them that the job has been completed.
There is computer software that is made for someone that is starting or
already owns a small Courier Business. The software is available for
download at this website address:
You may publish this article in your ezine, newsletter on your web site
as long as it is reprinted in its entirety and without modification
except for formatting needs or grammar corrections.
Robert W. Benjamin has been in the software business on the internet
for over 5 years, and has been producing low-cost software for the past
25+ years. He first released products on the AMIGA and C64 computer
systems in the late 1970's-80's.
» left by arif husain from united states (3 years 234 days ago.)
I am really thrilled to read this article , as i was looking for this kind of information. It is very helpful. Respond to this comment
» left by Eric from Georgia (3 years 171 days ago.)
This article was very informative and easy to understand. Others should take note on how simplistic the author made this article.
» left by Earl from Los Angeles (3 years 165 days ago.)
Just what I was looking for! Simple, logical advice presented in a cronological format. Perfect for someone thinking of starting their own courier business. Great information. Thank you Robert. Respond to this comment
» left by Sizwe Khumalo from South Africa (3 years 144 days ago.)
Sizwe Khumalo from South Africa.(21 yrs)
What an interesting article, spot on, precise and very usefull. I love it. I am currently writing a business plan to start my own courier services company. Respond to this comment
» left by Anonymous (3 years 4 days ago.)
This article was very helpful for me and really easy to understand. Respond to this comment
» left by WDD (2 years 155 days ago.)
Thank you, you are God sent to me. I have been looking for some info on errand business and how do I charge and get it up and going everything you put into this article is very helpful. Do I need to get me a tax I.D. number also? Respond to this comment
» left by SHELTON MORELAND from ATLANTA GA. (2 years 78 days ago.)
ROBERT, THANK YOU FOR THIS INFO AND THE SOFTWARE LINK. IF ICAN EVER RETURN THE FAVOR, CONTACT ME . Respond to this comment
» left by Bobby from United Kingdom (2 years 64 days ago.)
Thank you very much very streight foward and simple to understand, after searching for help for hours on the net and nearly giving up i found your article and i now feel a million dollars and excited about starting my own courier business, Thank you very much Respond to this comment
» left by Gail from Johannesburg (1 year 198 days ago.)
Very informative.However, what other licences are required? Do I need to register another company or can I continue on the one I am currently using, . eg. ".... t/a ..Couriers.
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Article added to SearchWarp.com on 2/10/2006 10:17:44 AM. View other articles written byRobert Benjamin(1,693)
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