Why would a business that involves running errands for others make a lot of money. For some their business and family commitments make it impossible to do all the chores they want to. For those with physical/ health impairments if they had people they trusted to run errands they would gladly pay for the privilege. In both cases you can help - and charge for the badly needed service you provide.

The market is vast and you are advised to specialise if you can. The two main areas for this service are domestic errands and corporate errands. The way you sell your service to these markets will differ considerably. In the corporate field you may be running errands for senior executives, shopping for them, organising events and generally helping businesses in the tasks that their own staff are to busy (and too highly paid) to do themselves. Domestic errand services include shopping and collecting dry cleaning, but may also involve light tidying up, getting repairs and maintenance tasks completed and even taking care of home security when families are on holiday. You may even want to specialise in providing this service to elderly people including services such as daily visits, transportation to medical appointments (make sure you have appropriate insurances) as well as grocery shopping and light house keeping duties.

You can charge by the hour or for each errand. Corporate clients pay more, but may be more demanding. Domestic errand services are less profitable but there are more potential customers. Either way charge out your time at between £10.00 and £20.00 per hour. This is a business for organised individuals. You will save a lot of time if you combine errands, shopping for several customers at the same time, for example. Also, try to arrange to visit clients who live close together on the same day to minimise travel time.

Start Your Own Personal Concierge Service: Your Step-By-Step Guide to Success (Entrepreneur Magazine's Start Ups) by Lisa Addison