Son and I Possibly Starting an Errand Business

Yes! This is a part of the business I now have. It has been pretty amazing.

My business motto is my personal motto "I can do that!".

I do the things others cannot do or do not know how to do or do not want to do.

I decorate homes for the holidays. This includes putting up their Christmas decorations inside their homes and then taking it all down and putting it it in storage for the clients. I design these trees and staircases, mantles, etc also., We do a bit of outdoor, but I now suggest they hire a crew. I train these guys on how it should look. But I no longer actually light homes and yards..

I gift wrap. I run errands.

I set up and run parties so at the end of the night the hostess does not have to clean up, it is all clean once the last guest leaves!

I have helped organize so many wakes for after Funerals. I swear I have fed half of Central Austin whole they were dressed in black.

Pet sitting, when people go out of town. Dogs, cats, birds, toads, nematodes (they eat blood worms, frozen cubes..) yucky!

House sitting.

Grocery shop, personal shopper for clothing. I am famous for picking out gifts, so people call me to help them come up with the "Perfect gift" for people that already have everything.

Our daughter helps teach older people how to use the computer, internet and their cell phones. She is a graphc artist so we can come up with some amazing personalized items for people.

I do custom deliveries. One of my largest companies, I purchase/deliver and set up fresh fruit in 3 different locations for their employees. It is enough fruit for a week for 200 employees. I do a lot of special events with them too.

I do special events, everything from kids parties to Weddings, private Carnivals.

I clear out homes when people downsize or pass away so the homes can be placed on the market.

And since I am a Native Austinite, if I cannot do it, I know who can do what needs to be done and I refer them..

I charge by the hour. $35. for the first hour and $20 for each extra hour. Some jobs I bid on the whole thing.

I did a Retirement event for the State this last week and I had 2 employees so I included everything in the bid. The client was blown away. And I was very pleased.

You can do this! There is a market out there!

Sunshine-

I think a good barometer for setting prices would be to call a few local laundromats and see what they charge for pick up/ drop off laundry service. Same is true for supermarkets (which will shop for you and deliver) for a flat fee.

I would speak with your local insurance agent and figure out what kind of coverage you should buy and how much it would cost. If you are in their home providing a service to them, for pay, you are no longer a guest, but, if memory serves me correctly, a business invitee and their own home owner's insurance might not extend you full services.

Finally, speak with the condo service. They might have strictures preventing people from plying a business on their premises.

Best,
F. B.

It's called a Personal Assistant. You do things for people who are too busy or unable to do things.

If you are going to do something like this? You need to be licensed, bonded and insured. That means opening a REAL business. When you get licensed, bonded and insured - you will need to get fingerprints taken as well as a background check run to ensure there are no reasons for an insurance company NOT to insure you.

You will also need to get an LLC (Limited Liability Company) started, get a business plan in place, make a catchy name for your business, get business cards and start advertising. You will also need a company checking account - you do NOT want to mix company money with personal money....it makes doing taxes a bear.

If you want to talk with the owners of the condo establishment that your mother in law lives in and see if they are open to it, then you'll get direct business right away.

You need to have money in your pocket to cover the expenses BEFORE you pick the stuff up. That means you need to ensure that you know how much stuff will cost BEFORE you pick it up. Do you have a credit card that can carry a balance until your customer pays you? It would be a good idea to get a company credit card, just for this reason.

When picking up prescriptions? You need to make sure they are NOT "controlled" drugs - if they are - you need to have something set up to be allowed to pick up their controlled medications.

So get a business plan. Figure out how much money you have to set aside to cover the costs of doing these things...your set up allowance to get your company going.

As you can see - this isn't just a "fly by night" idea. People are entrusting you with their personal business....you need to make sure you're covered.

Check in your local newspaper and see what other service organizations are charging customers. See what they offer and what will set you apart from their business to attract customers to you.

What would I pay for someone to run to the grocery store for me? Sorry. Nothing. I can order my groceries on line and have them delivered. If we didn't have the service here? I'd probably pay $15 to $20 an hour (our county is NOT cheap).

To clean my house? I pay $85 a week to have a service come in and clean (dust, mop, vacuum, etc.). I've paid upwards of $115 per week as well. Depends upon your neighborhood and what the economy is like in your area.

Good luck!

A friend of mine started a business like this. She had to be bonded and have fingerprints done too as well as personal references.

I had a similar kind of job which was a visiting homemaker service. We did "light" cleaning and light shopping. I had this job through a company and was paid slightly over minimum wage which was fine because I was a teen with no expenses.

Do your research and your homework? Sometimes people would be willing to hire a kid over an adult when they are having stuff done around their homes. I agree with others for checking into other places that would have the services you are offering and see what they charge for it if anything.

Start small by word of mouth. Perhaps your mom could give you a good review and recommend you to her friends. Lastly there certainly may be some rules and regulations where your mom lives prohibiting soliciting. You will definitely want to check this out.

Good luck in your business endeavor.

I will tell you that opening a bank account DBA, Doing Business As, would be a good thing. You can keep a complete accounting of your income through it. The bank can help you do the quarterly taxes and more. This will help you when your accountant does your taxes. Having a home business is a good way of getting more refund. You can count part of your utilities, office equipment, phone both cell and landline if they're on the business card, printing costs, wear and tear on your vehicle, gasoline costs, etc....many many many things can be taken off taxes. Using every advantage you can to make money and be successful will help provide your son with a good example of a business and working to meet goals and be sucessful.

Also, having people make out a check for Sunshinestate mom and son helping hands will give you more credibility that just paying an individual would.

Another thing is becoming an LLC, Limited Liability Company/Corporation. It's a safe guard to keep your personal property separate from any possible lawsuit against you and your company. It happens but it's part of having a home business. If you don't do anything but do run errands for someone and you don't have protection you could be setting yourself up for a great deal of stress if something is broken or lost and they want you to pay for it.

Regardless of taking people in your vehicle or not you'd have to bump your car insurance up to include destruction of property you might be hauling such as a person's groceries and even adding personal liability in case you get sued.

Having the basics taken care of allows you to enjoy the work and being able to help people.

I think there could be a good market for this. Look in the phone book and on FB pages to see if anyone else is already doing this.

Also look in all the laundry areas to see if other people already have fliers up. If you find tons of this sort of stuff then there might not be a market for this.

There are a couple of services like that in my area (North Dallas). I have no idea about what they charge.

The list can be endless... I would research pricing for other errand companies in your area to get a gist for your price point.

Laurie has great advice on this topic.

Good ideas from Taskrabbit.com

Hopefully, grandma just offered the money and he did not charge her!