We currently live in a wobbly economy, which means that starting a business – any business – is a risk. However, there are many people that weigh the risk in the economy with the possible future that their business could have and decide that it is worth it. If you have an idea that could be profitable for you in a service or product that people will want, and you can see the realities of the business idea that you have, then you shouldn’t let something like a wobbling economy put you off. If there is one thing that people will always need the services of, it’s a removal company. There are over 7 billion people on the planet, and people relocate their businesses and their residential lives every single day, which means that the demand for a removal company is pretty high. Entrepreneurship may be a scary prospect when the banks are tightening their borrowing belts, but if you have a business idea that is solid and strong with enough capital to back you, then you are in a good position to be starting a removal company of your very own.
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You can start small when it comes to removals, without the need for the rental of a warehouse or large removal trucks. However, that shouldn’t stop you from putting some money into the right sized vehicles that can make your business lucrative. Starting with one truck and building up to more is a smart idea, and it keeps your business small to start with, with the promise of a fleet of trucks and drivers later on. You can go to truckdealersaustralia.com.au for the best trucks to buy for your removal business, and starting with just one large truck can be everything for local community jobs. In most large cities, almost all of the moving jobs available are smaller jobs, for which you won’t need warehouse or storage facilities. This makes your business far more affordable to start with and you can still offer a quality moving service. Just because you are starting small, doesn’t mean you will be losing out on a profit. Removal companies are notoriously expensive for the most part if you are the one hiring them, and there’s a reason for that. Moving is hard labor, and if you are hiring in a team to work for you, you have to consider their salaries, insurance, fuel and truck costs on top of everything else.
There are many different types of removals companies, so you have to decide which one you want to begin before you even put a plan together. There are removal companies that stay local and stay fairly cheap in terms of cost. There are removal companies that offer their services long distance but within the same country. There are removal services that are global and include both residential and business relocation moves. A lot of removal companies choose to go for either commercial or residential moves and rarely both, however, this then gives you a lot of scope to choose which way you want your removals business to go. Starting a business – any business – takes a huge investment of your time, and the steps you have to follow are not all that different from each other. We’ve put together some of the steps that you need to think about below, so that you can put the right amount of effort into your new removals company.
Business Planning
You don’t have to do this alone anymore. There are many business planning services and boutiques that can offer you bespoke advice when it comes to your business plan. It’s almost impossible to start a business without a relevant business plan, especially as your plan should not just be about the type of business you want to open, but where you see it going over three to five years. It doesn’t matter whether you plan to start a small company with one truck for local moves or deliveries, or whether you want to go in with both barrels and hire a fleet of lorries for an overseas business. You still need to have a solid, workable business plan that you can fall back on at any time. Your plan should help you to answer your own questions about how to start the business. It should also forecast the development that you anticipate for your company. It’s a plan to help you bring your business to success, and it’s also a place you can write down any forecasted issues that you could encounter. The moving industry today is absolutely saturated with companies of all shapes and sizes, so you should be doing as much research as possible to ensure that your company can offer something more.
Permits & Insurance
With any business, there are legal loopholes to jump through and for a moving business, you need to look at permits and insurance. The permits you will be required to have for your business will vary depending on your state, and so you should look here to get the information that you need for licensing and registration of your new removals business. Insurance is a big deal when it comes to your removal company, as you need to have liability insurance and cargo insurance. You can often get these with the same insurance company, but you should be shopping around for the best insurance price where you can.
Advertising
You are starting a company, so you need to think about how you plan to give your brand lift off. You need a great, catchy company name and choose it carefully so you’re not stepping on the toes of another similar business. Put some money into a design company to help you draft a logo that you can copyright, and work toward developing a brand that can really stand out. Look to your competitors for an idea of how much they are charging, how they are advertising themselves and what money they are putting into plugging their own brand. You don’t have to copy what they do, but learn from it and work out where you can be competitive in your pricing structure. You should be ensuring that your logo is on any professional uniform you want your movers to where, and you should ensure that you have a decal on the side of your moving van so that people can recognize you.
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Online
Your online presence is going to be the clincher here, as you want to advertise where people can find you and if your removal company is going to be a global one, then you need to be online as much as possible. You first need to have a very well-designed website that is easy to use by everyone. Keeping it simply is the key, as you want people of all ages to be able to find and contact you. Aside from your own professional site, you should have a strong social media presence so that you can interact with customers and give your customers a voice to connect with you and leave their own opinions and reviews. List your services and prices as openly as possible and advertise all reviews, too, as people prefer to listen to reviews than the company itself when it comes to positive feedback.
Training
When you bring people onto your team to help with removals, you should be ensuring that they are fully vetted and checked, with a background check done into their driving history and licenses. This means checking criminal history and ensuring that you aren’t hiring anyone with points on their license or felonies for driving in the past. You also want to ensure that people that you hire are of good character, as they will be customer facing and dealing with their possessions – so the job itself is not an easy one to manage. All of your staff should be trained carefully on handling fragile materials and goods, and if you are offering a packing service then mandatory customer service and health and safety training should be offered and carried out. There are many outside companies that you can use for this, so this should be something that you factor into your budget when you do your business plan and financials. Employing people with a background in sales can be advantageous when it comes to up-selling other services that you offer, from packaging materials to installation of appliances or computing equipment.
People like companies that are transparent and open about their figures, with no hidden costs. Beginning a removal business isn’t going to be the easiest venture in the world, and there are a lot of things that can go wrong. However, with careful planning and the right idea, you can start as small as you like and build year on year into a company that can become a global force in the field. Just because the moving industry is a large one, doesn’t mean you cannot be a big fish in that big pond! It takes effort and as long as you are investing the time, you can be a success.
