subject: Running Errands to Earn Extra Income by:Delphine La Rosa [print this page] Most of us find it difficult to make the ends meet with the
income earned from the primary job alone. The cost of living
keeps climbing up at breakneck pace while the meager incomes
crawl lazily. As a result millions of Americans have now
become creative and have devised ways to earn those extra
bucks. It seems like every one is doing one side job or
other to keep their lives going with the extra income.
While the financial experts will advise you to invest your
money in mutual funds and annuities, the fact remains that
you first have to actually have some extra money in order
to invest it. To obtain this extra income, some people
have starting turning their prowess at running errands into
a paying business.
It's really quite simple, you run errands for people who
have the money but don't have the time to do their grocery
shopping, gift shopping, running movies back, picking up dry
cleaning, and a host of other rather tedious activities. You
can do all these chores for them and earn a profit for
yourself. If you have the time to spare and you need cash,
you run errands for those who have the cash but not the time
to do all that.
Fortunately, the start up costs of an errand service are
relatively low so special financing considerations will not
be necessary. You will need a computer to help track
business expenses, generate invoices, and perform general
bookkeeping duties. Plus, you will definitely need a cell
phone so that you can always be accessible to your clients.
After you get some business cards and the necessary
business license, you are ready to start your errand
service!
Now it may be difficult at first to get clients that are
willing to pay you to run their errands. Frankly, the
errand service field is definitely a word-of-mouth business
where every past success or failure sets the stage for the
next step. You may want to try marketing in fitness clubs,
coffee shops, and beauty salons that allow you to leave a
business card for people to look at and get your number
from.
You have to remember when trying to build your customer
base who precisely your target market truly is. Business
professionals and small business owners are those most
likely to have the money, but not the time, to run their
errands. This is your target market so you need to focus
all of your marketing efforts on this demographic.
It's a good idea to start off by offering your services to
friends and family for little to no charge. It will help you
gain experience and build goodwill. It pays in the long run
as you can then use these people as potential references to
get more business.
Even if you never visualized doing something like this, the
fact remains that running an errand service is a viable
means of earning some extra income, and has unlimited income
potential. Once you establish your errand business, you can
earn anything between 15 to 100 dollars an hour for your
services. And, if all goes well this part-time business can
turn into your full-time profession that gives you the
freedom and financial independence that was not possible
doing a job.
About the author
Delphine La Rosa is the chief writer at For An Income, there's a wealth of knowledge on the website, plus why not sign up for the free Income newsletter. Read many more interesting articles on Income at: http://www.faincome.com
