If you are thinking of starting a home based business, one idea is to start an errand service. With this home based business you will be running errands for people who either do not have the time or would rather pay someone else to do them.
What You Will Need
You will need a reliable vehicle (preferably a van), a pager, a cell-phone and a small area where you can call your office. It is also preferable if you live in a large metropolitan area and have access to a good number of businesses in your area.
Pricing
The rate that you charge will vary slightly, depending on the area, demographics and what the competition is charging. However, most errand services charge between $15 and $20 an hour.
Your Target Market
Your target market will most likely be white collar businesses. You will be targeting people with higher paying jobs such as business executives that are willing to pay a fee to have an errand run in order to free up some of their time. These errands will include services such as: food and delivery pick-up, dry-cleaning delivery and pick-up, grocery pick-up, etc.
If you are thinking of transporting people (including children), this typically requires a proper license.
Marketing Your Business
Once you have your first regular customer, the best marketing is positive word of mouth. You will want to always have your business cards available. A good idea is to advertise to business professionals that are in your area and stress the benefit of the time saved by using your service.
You will need to know the area that you will serving well and most importantly you are going to need to have good interpersonal skills and keep confidential with regard to your customers' business.
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