Start a Personal Concierge Service
Small Business Idea for Organized Individuals
People are always looking for ways to free up time. Cash in on this trend by offering personal concierge services.
Many people are looking for just the right home business to start. Fortunately, many others are willing to trade money for time. Those with a knack for organization may find success with a personal concierge service (a.k.a. personal assistant service).
What Kind of Services Do Personal Concierges Offer?
They may choose to specialize in a few types of services like grocery store runs, gift shopping, or business services. However, they may wish to diversify and offer numerous services to their clients. Anything that can free up a client’s time is fair game.
Personal Concierge Service Ideas
- Gift shopping and wrapping
- Grocery shopping and delivery (with or without meal planning)
- Special event planning (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.)
- Invitation addressing and mailing
- Returning or exchanging items
- House sitting (when out of town) or waiting service (for the cable guy, for car repairs, etc.
- Appointment setting
- Dry cleaning drop off and pick up
- Pet walking
- Courier service (including package delivery such as to FedEx)
- Plant care
- Mail pick up
Ideal Personal Concierge Clients
A prime target customer for personal concierge services is someone with discretionary income who feels a little overwhelmed with their to-do lists. This may include new parents, busy moms, two-worker families, or small business owners.
Target #1: New Parents. Upon the arrival of a newborn baby, suddenly grocery shopping and any other type of outside-of-the-home activity becomes an ordeal. New parents may wish to call in extra help during the first few months until they adjust to life with baby.
Target #2: Busy Moms. It isn’t exactly fun to drag three kids to the post office and try to keep them from running around while waiting in line. Busy moms can greatly benefit from errand running services.
Target #3: Two Income Families. A household with two workers is bound to be behind on errands or household tasks because the majority of their combined awake time is most likely devoted to work. Many working individuals use vacation time or other days off to run errands. Those who don’t do this often run errands on the weekend, which leaves little time to relax and spend time with family.
Target #4: Small Business Owners. A business owner’s time is better spent drumming up business than making reservations or dropping off UPS packages. It is often more economical to outsource small tasks. The cost of passing along tasks to a personal assistant is often outweighed by the important tasks the business owner is freed up to tackle instead. Services could include Internet research, writing services, website design, website maintenance, courier service, or data entry.
A personal concierge can customize their offerings. They may choose which services to offer and when to conduct business, making this a fairly flexible job. Specific credentials are not required, but anyone interested in this home business should possess people skills and a knack for organization.
