Man with a van
Everyone needs to move large items sometimes, whether it is an old sofa, filing cabinets, or trash generated from a spring clean. In Taipei, where I live, there are hundreds of little blue trucks that do these kinds of jobs all day long. An open truck of course is not as practical as a van in bad weather and presumably wouldnˇ¦t be used for carrying items such as paper, fabrics etc.
When I lived in the UK, I never paid for removals companies as they were expensive and I was young and short of cash. I moved house several times with nothing more than a Luton bodied van and some help from family and friends.
Vans are not expensive, and if you are willing to give up your current car (assuming you have one) you could probably get a great trade in. This is because vans tend to be bought and sold net of tax, as they are owned and operated (on the whole) by businesses.
Your target market is people who do not have the time or ability to move their own items, who want things delivered locally and who are willing to pay for your time as well as the use of your van.
Believe it or not, you donˇ¦t need to give up your day job to do this. Many people want to move things outside of work hours, either at the end of the day when a job has just been finished, or after they have finished work, or at weekends when they have tie to organise personal matters. Of course if you want to fully utilise the van then you could hire some casual labour to drive it during the day when you are at work, but be aware that their attitude towards your customers will shape how your new business is perceived.
OK, so you have a van, how are you going to find jobs?
Friends/Family/Colleagues
Advertise
Printing / advertising firms & Mechanics
Garden Centres & Brown & White goods stores
Whilst friends/family and colleagues can be a great source of support when you start out you need to be sure that you wonˇ¦t be embarrassed to charge them your full rate. Before you start work out what you want to charge and produce a term sheet or price list covering things like charge per mile, per hour, maximum weights for lifting jobs etc. Then start telling people about your new business and when they ask you can just get them a copy of the term sheet. You can offer a standard discount for those close to you say 10-15% but make sure everyone knows the rules and your life will be much easier.
Advertising scares many would be entrepreneurs, we tend to think of Television immediately upon hearing the word, and yet it can be as simple as putting up notices, and handing out flyers initially. You are looking for local jobs that you can do quickly in your spare time, so stay local, and use local advertising methods. Donˇ¦t expect business straight away, but keep advertising and people will come to you.
Some firms generate delivery type work purely by the nature of what they do. They often send the least skilled or least busy person to run errands but of course you could save them time and money if they could wait until the end of the day. Approach small business owners such as those in the print industry, small mechanics workshops etc and let them know that you could save their staff time on a job to job basis, which should free them up to make more money. You will need to do this in person to build trust, and make sure you take a business card and price list/term sheet for them to keep or better yet pin up in the office.
Garden centres often have large items that people cannot fit in their car and yet cannot always offer a delivery service. Equally some independent electrical and furniture stores often have delivery times days or even weeks out from when the customer wants to buy. These delays can cost sales. Make sure that you speak to as many owners of these kinds of businesses as possible and tell them that you can help them on a casual basis at the drop of a hat, providing it is within certain hours (i.e. outside of work hours).
If you are too successful at the marketing you will have too much work for just you. This might seem a nice problem to have, but it could mean that you lose business if you have to turn down 2-3 jobs from one customer.
Every business we recommend needs to be scaleable. This is no different. You can advertise for people with their own vans to moonlight for you and keep a nominal percentage for finding the jobs, or you can invest in a 2nd or 3rd second hand van. My preference is to go down the moonlighting route as it requires less investment and by their nature a fleet of vans will depreciate.
This is a simple business but it is all about the people. You need to hire employees who will treat your customers right. You need to train them about things like customer service (which you will learn very fast) and you need to be able to fire anyone who is making you look bad.