What To Do When Your Kid Wants To Start an Errand Business

There is an increase in the area of service-providing jobs. There just seems to be an endless number of services you could render to people for a fee of course. So if your kid wants to run a business that is in line with providing service then he or she could start with something simple like running errands. Before your kid gets into the errand business, you need to know that doing this type of work means that your kid must have a heart or passion for serving others. Entrepreneurship isn’t just about making money or helping your kid to groom up skills of becoming an entrepreneur buy it also contains selfless service and learning how to bring solutions to people’s problems.

The type of errand business that best suits kids are the type that deals with errand service to assist elderly people in the community. This type of business can be managed within the community or area that your kid stays. This business allows the clients that your kid will serve to live an independent lifestyle despite the difficulties. It is also a rewarding way to earn a living while providing a valuable service. So your kids business performs a social good too.

Perhaps it is your first time starting a business for your kid, it can be quite daunting but just follow the steps below and you will get started at no time.

1. Type of business

The first step will be to determine the type of service your kid would like to offer the elderly clients. Depending on your kid’s age and his or her capabilities, you could both sit and find out what they like doing. Ask him or her to list down the kids of errands they can do and would like to do. This could range from picking up the dry cleaning, shopping and taking the client’s pet to the groomer, etc. The business could be limited or curtailed at the start but with expansion, your kid could include other services once they get workers under them.

2. Legalities

This is a very important step and as a parent, you have to ensure that, your kid is capable of starting a business under the law. Local governments have laws that regulate home business and child labor too so try to find out the requirements necessary to start. Failure to meet some of these requirements may have consequences and this would be bad for your kid’s ambition, so make sure to do the right thing.

3. Start-up cost

Good thing about the errand business is that it does not need too many supplies to get started. If your kid is capable of driving and have a car they could use it to run errands and so the fuel will be the expenditure in this case. The cost of advertising and marketing is should also be considered, such as business cards and brochures which are quite helpful marketing tools. A cellphone too especially is a smartphone is quite ideal if, your kid has not got one yet. This is because, sometimes, while on errands you may be required to snap some pictures of an item for your client while shopping.

The funding may come from you or you can tell your kid to add to the cost from his bank account if he has one or his piggy bank. A list of all the things need and their prices must be written down.

4. Qualification and skills

Your kid has to be one that loves running errands and shopping because there business will require them to they will spend lots of time at the malls, grocery stores and specialty shops to search for specific items that a clients want or needs. There should be a sense of sensitivity when running these errands because your kid must understand how elderly clients feel about strangers doing stuff for them.

5. Advertising and marketing

Now that you have set up your kids business, you will need to let people out there know about it. This can be done by passing out business cards in a senior center or housing facility. You could also advertise in the local newspapers or set up a website for the purpose of your business so that clients can know more about the services you offer and rates as well. You should help your kid target seniors as well as their adult children.

6. Rates

Businesses are mainly set up to make a profit and there is no business which will thrive without profits. This is why you have to know how much you will charge for your services. In order to reach a reasonable and comfortable rate, you and your kid will have to find out how much competitors are charging too. This helps you to determine the best rate to place your services at or else you risk the chance of charging too high or too low. This might drive away customers or easily make you want to close the business down.

Tips on running an errand

1. Use a simple grocery shopping agreement to spell out the details, such as the cost of each trip, how to order, payment, where to put groceries if a client is not home and so on. Whatever details that will make it easier for you to spell out what your client needs and how it is going to get done.

2. Pass out a several copies of a simple list to each client, divided into the sections found at most supermarkets, such as produce, baked goods, meat, breakfast cereals, dairy, frozen foods, etc. This makes it easier for them to remember all the items they want you to purchase.

3. Take the time to sit down with each new client before the first shopping trip to talk about personal preferences, such as brands, sizes, and other details

4. Put together a supply of re-usable shopping bags in different colors so, when you are shopping for several clients at one time, each client’s groceries are color-coded to prevent mix-ups.

5. Pay for each client’s groceries separately and get a duplicate receipt – one for the client and one for your records.

6. Carry your cell phone on every trip so you can call a client if an item on their list is not available, or not the size or brand they prefer, or not within their budget. You can’t be making mistakes anyhow.

7. Be firm about extra charges. Your time is income, and you don’t want to waste it running from store to store to please a picky customer.

8. Have a printed rate card so your clients know what the cost of a shopping trip will be.

An errand runner does just that—they run errands for people who are unable to, typically seniors. It’s a great way to help others and make a good profit doing it. It’s a common sense job—we all run errands every week so it should be no problem to do. It is a good venture that your kid will prosper from if he or she is someone that likes to do activities. Help your kid, work and do a good service for others. Sometimes it is not just about the money but the character and skills your kid will get from doing such businesses like this.