If you’ve ever wanted to start your own home business but didn’t know where to start, consider a delivery service. Operating a delivery service out of your home is one of the easiest businesses to start. It requires minimal starting capital, and you can be the entire operation if you desire. To start out you’ll need little more than a vehicle and a cell phone—it’s that easy. With the increase in e-commerce, companies like Amazon are struggling to find couriers that can ship their products. Check out these tips on starting your own delivery business and get rolling today.
Form a Legal Entity
You want to protect yourself, personally, from any lawsuits or legal entanglements. Forming an LLC or incorporating your business will protect you. Any lawsuits will be brought against the company, not you. Forming an LLC is the most popular tactic right now, but investigate what’s best for you.
Set Your Delivery Area
Do you want to deliver locally, nationally, or statewide? These are questions you need to answer before you go any further. Where you want to operate will determine a lot. If you stay local, then you won’t need as big a vehicle to transport the smaller items, whereas a nationwide delivery service will put you in competition with UPS and FedEx for small packages. If you have a CDL and a semi-truck, then you could deliver large items. The best bet for a home business, though, is small package delivery, locally. Then you can do same-day runs across town at a decent rate.
Determine Your Rates
Before you can start selling your services, you will need to set your prices. Do you want to charge by the pound, by the mile, or at a flat rate? However you choose to do it, write it down and try to cover all eventualities so when the phone starts ringing, you are ready.
Get Reliable Transportation
You will need something to carry all the parcels in, and odds are your car won’t be large enough. You don’t have to get a massive moving truck—unless that’s what you want. Look around at cargo vans or smaller LCF box trucks that are nimble in urban areas but can still carry a decent load. Then ask if you want to buy new or used? Gas or diesel engines? There are advantages to both, so shop around and get what fits your budget and your business model.
Start Marketing Your Business
The digital age makes it easier than ever to promote your business and find work. Start promoting your business on social media to get the word out. Then use online delivery services like goshare.com and parcelmonkey.com that will direct work to you. Finally, jump into the big time and sign up with Amazon delivery services. Going that route is more involved and a lot of work, but it’s more profitable.
