How to Start a Courier Business in 9 Easy Steps - GetJoobs
Starting your own local shipping business can be easy and fast, or it can be a slow, difficult and frustrating process. Here are nine basic steps to make your messenger business easy, painless, and fast.
Step 1. Find your place. Create your unique “niche” to ensure success. If you live in a metropolitan area with many existing mail service businesses, this is an important step. Even in a small town, this will give you a "jump start" to target your new customers.
Talk to your prospects, whether they're lawyers who need a book delivered the same day, or diners who want a meal ready at the same time every day, to find out what they want, and then give them that. Give it at a reasonable price. This is the secret to the success of any business - giving customers what they want or need. One of the best niches is filling the UPS/FEDEX gap by offering local business and local same-day delivery.
Step 2. Don't make money. Be prepared to spend money when you're starting out. If you have a reliable car for pickup and delivery, don't spend thousands on a new delivery vehicle. You can use what you already have, or buy secondhand for half the price. Keep your office at home if possible to avoid unnecessary investment in rent, office, and overhead. Think and act like crap until you're making real money with your new mortgage service.
Step 3. Legal process. When starting a messenger business, it is important to decide on the legal framework for the new business. Will you run it as a sole proprietor, as an LC, or as a corporation? Before applying for a business license in your city or state and obtaining a federal tax identification number, you must first obtain one. At Nolo.com you'll find tons of free information on which systems might be best.
Step 4. Finding customers. After setting up your business and finding a niche or two that makes sense for you, start looking for clients. All you need is a few good people, so start prospecting by calling or visiting local businesses in person to find out how you can help them solve their messenger needs. What kind of job do you want? No "hard sell" is needed, just a helpful attitude will do.
Step 5. Instructions Once you have your "core" customers and have been doing well with them for a while, ask them for referrals. Tell them you're still growing your business and could use a few good customers like them. Offer free delivery or a discount on one month's service in exchange for referrals who become regular, repeat customers.
Step 6. Set your rates. Many new business owners make the mistake of not paying enough to cover all their expenses, because they haven't been in business long enough to know about all the little fees, like business license renewal fees. Which can add up a lot. money.. one year period. Other examples include bookkeeping fees, Social Security taxes and car maintenance, and many others. A good rule of thumb to remember is to increase your salary by around 30-35% to get a reasonable rate that allows you to make a profit and still attract customers. you are happy After a few months, check back and see if your rate is still giving you the net hourly rate you need. The current national wage is $36 an hour.
Step 7. Provide special services. If you provide great customer service, you will be successful and soon you will have all the customers you can handle. For example, if you promise to work for two hours, deliver 90 minutes. It will make your customers happy and they'll tell their friends about you.
Step 8. Track your customers and their deliveries through one of the free appointment booking programs, such as checkappointments.com or clickbook.net. Another best option is one of the calendar programs offered by Google or Microsoft. For a small monthly fee, you can also use them to pay online with PayPal. In fact, it can be used with your smartphone while you're on the move.
Step 9. Track your expenses. Similar to scheduling software programs, there are programs that will help you create your books. My favorite, which makes it easy to keep track of your small business income, even if you can't add or subtract, is outright.com, which is about $10 a month and reminds you when taxes are due or when you take deductions. Ignore the.
As for the deduction... the one most mailers will be interested in is the business mile deduction, now 55 cents per mile. Many ministers have used this deduction to upgrade their car to a new fuel-efficient model, such as a Toyota Prius, and found that the fuel savings far outweighed their car bills! A side benefit is that when you upgrade to an oil burner, you've become a "green" service business, which customers love!
Follow these nine simple steps, and you'll be on your way to a successful email service business.
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