Oscar

The gig economy has made the prospect of becoming your own boss as enticing as ever, but starting a courier business requires more than computer and typing skills. If you want to be financially independent and work your own hours as a courier, you’ll have to put in the work.

While it’s never easy to start your own company, the process of becoming a business owner and hiring courier drivers can be simpler if you make smart choices and avoid common mistakes.

Profits on Wheels: Advice on Starting up and Managing Deliveries

A courier business can be a lucrative venture with low overheads. Still, knowing where to start can be tricky, but our 6 step guide should put you on the track to success in no time.

Step 1: Choose the Right Vehicle

Every courier service worth its salt needs a reliable source of transportation. Otherwise, you won’t be able to deliver packages on time and intact. Most full-time couriers drive cargo vans as they provide ample amount of cargo space, minimizing reloading amount and maximizing time.

Alternatively, you could buy a fleet of pickup trucks. You can choose to cover your truck box, but if you leave it open, you can deliver large items, like mattresses, if they’re protected and secure.

Step 2: Buy the Best Equipment

Most of your employees will be strong enough to deliver small packages, but if you’re transporting awkward boxes or heavy loads, you’ll need equipment. It’s better to buy dollies and hand trucks right off the hop to save your couriers from back pain or prolonged fatigue.

Don’t forget to buy courier management software and GPS tracking. With these systems, you and your customers will benefit from fast delivery and an up-to-date tracking number.

Step 3: Name and Brand Your Business

Branding is essential for all businesses as it tells others what you value. Before deciding on a name, check with the secretary of state to make sure your business name isn’t taken. Then, start buying your domain name and social media slugs to stay consistent across platforms.

After becoming a sole proprietorship or LLC, you can start focusing on the small details. Think about which colors, fonts, images, and slogans you want to use to represent your brand.

Step 4: Ensure You’re Insured

Get business insurance as soon as possible. Some banks or insurance companies will offer a full package plan that’s specific to your industry, but you may need to mix and match depending on your needs. Search for deals on vehicle and cargo insurance, as you’ll definitely need these.

If you don’t apply for insurance fast enough, you’ll soon notice that other companies won’t work for you. That’s because you’re considered a liability risk or a customer relations nightmare.

Step 5: Market Your Service

Without marketing, how will others know about your company? Start your marketing journey by asking your friends and family to share your courier service on social media like Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, and Instagram. Make a business page specifically for this purpose.

Online marketing and advertising is an effective, low-cost way to target business owners. Place marketing material on your delivery vehicles, so everyone can see you’re looking for employees.

Step 6: Save All Receipts

Self-employed individuals are responsible for tracking their expenses. Set up a separate business checking account to keep your personal purchases separate if you haven’t already. This will make tax time much easier as you won’t have to sift through one account yearly.

Keep your receipts, even ones you think won’t be used as a tax write-off, because you never know. Track miles you drive with a tracking app, as they can be written off in some cases.

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What is the absolute truth about owning a business?

There are a number of reasons that someone can decide to start up a business venture. Some look for the freedom of controlling their schedules, while others want to work from home. Still, others have an idea for doing something differently than it has ever been done before.

For every entrepreneur, however, there is a basic desire to pursue a passion or a dream. While there are a lot of benefits to launching a company, here are some things to remember when it comes to the truth about owning a business:

Not every customer is the ideal customer. It’s easy for business owners to get tunnel vision when it comes to their products or services. Rather than trying to convince everyone that they need your product, look for the customers who are excited to use your products, who buy into the vision and mission of your brand, and satisfy these customers. Chances are that they’ll be advocates for your brand in the community, which is the kind of press that you can’t buy.

The product or service that your company offers isn’t necessarily unique. In any business category, you can find competitors who offer similar things. What differentiates you from your competitors is not necessarily what you do or what you offer, but rather how your company interacts with its customers, the purpose driving you to offer your product or service, and what defines you as a business. These factors all come together to make your company unique.

Sometimes seeking the cheapest option decreases the value of your company. If you spend a lot of time having to shop for the latest deal and are focused on spending as little money as you possibly can, chances are that you are devaluing the cost of your time. If you have to constantly replace the things that you are buying, it may be time to start thinking about the places that you have focused too much energy on saving cost and not enough energy on creating value with the money you spend.

It isn’t always true that the customer is always right. You never want your business to be overly controlled by either the customer or by your own opinions. In any situation, there are compromises to be made. Some customers simply will not be happy, no matter how much you do to try to make things better. In any given situation with a customer, try to look at the consequences, both positive and negative, for handling the situations in different ways before deciding how to proceed.

Always put things in writing. When dealing with other businesses, no matter how small they are, it is important to put agreements down in written form. Even if you are trading services with another company, having a written agreement that details exactly what each company will provide can help to ensure that you continue to have a good working relationship with the other company long after your agreement is completed.

Deal with your finances carefully. Be careful about categorizing every single purchase as one made for the business. The best way to make sure that you are handling your company’s finances in a responsible (and legal) way is to hire an accountant who can help you to navigate the intricacies of owning and managing a business.

Technology can be helpful, but it isn’t a fix-all solution. Yes, it’s great to have nice equipment, but a new computer won’t fix a broken business strategy.

Learn the art of delegation. When you first start a company, every decision rests with you. As your business grows, however, it is important that you grow and set up systems that allow others to take on responsibilities so that you can focus on getting the things done that no one else can. When you try to control too many things, you’ll end up burning out and hurting your company in the long run. This also allows you to enlist the help of people who are experts in certain kinds of tasks. When you trust the right people to help you, your whole company can benefit.

Schedule time to listen to others. In business, it’s easy to get stuck in “sales” mode, always pitching your products or services to others. By taking the time to listen to what your customers, employees, and even competitors have to say, you create an opportunity to work on your business, rather than just working within your business.

Look ahead to the next step. The businesses that grow the fastest are the ones that have set themselves up for growth by planning for the next step. This allows business owners to hire and make decisions that will benefit their long-term growth, rather than trying to catch up after the growth happens.

Only hire people you are willing to trust. When you have a trusted team in place, you don’t have to micromanage them because you know that they will make the right decisions along the way to help your business to grow and succeed.

Success takes time. Even the fastest growing businesses may have taken months or years of planning before they were launched. It may seem like it takes a long time to grow your business, so create realistic goals and celebrate your wins along the way.

Always come in with fresh eyes. How do your customers experience your business? If you can begin to ask that question regularly, you’ll be astonished at how your decision-making processes become more straightforward and more effective.

Set time aside for yourself. If you aren’t healthy, your business won’t be healthy. If you are trapped in the cycle always serving your business, giving it your full attention at every second of the day, it may be time to step back and change some of the things that you do.

The truth about owning a business is that it can be harder than you’d ever imagine, but also more rewarding than you ever thought possible. By creating a healthy environment for yourself and your business, you gain the tools to succeed and overcome the obstacles that you may encounter along the way.

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These high-level positions will often pay more, and thus, hiring managers may want to take extra steps to ensure you’re a good fit. With that in mind, this article is going to go over six necessary skills you should include on your resume if you are looking to get a management or executive position.

Leadership

Of course, because a manager is often a leadership position, it makes sense that these people should be comfortable leading others. You need to be willing to lead and guide others, while also being able to be a valuable member of the team yourself.

You need to be able to motivate and inspire those who answer to you and be able to build their trust in you. There are a variety of different leadership styles that you can adopt and use, as well. If you can’t effectively lead, you likely aren’t right for a position with people working under you.

Communication

What are the most vital skills in the workplace?

In business, few things are more important than communication. As a result, if you want to find yourself in a management position, you need to be able to communicate effectively. You need to be able to quickly and effectively present ideas, solutions, feedback and even praise. In addition to in-person communication, you should also be well-versed in digital communication, since many interactions now take place online.

Decision-Making

Business is all about making decisions. Everything from deciding which employee to hire or which marketing campaign to go with is a momentous decision that could make or break a company. As a result, you need to be comfortable and skilled when it comes to making tough decisions.

Making the right or wrong decision could have a huge impact, so you need to possess this skill. Decisions should be made based on data, if possible, and the quick and obvious decision isn’t always the right one. Take time to consider multiple options when it comes to making a decision if the timing allows for it.

Also, whichever decision you make, you need to be accountable for it. If you make a decision, and then put your head in the sand when it doesn’t go well, you may lose the respect of your team.

Delegation

Delegation is all about passing tasks and authority to those working under you. Depending on workloads and who is around, you may need to assign different tasks to different people to achieve optimal results. Successful delegation avoids wasting time and ensures everyone is as productive as possible at all times.

Delegating, especially in adverse conditions, can be tough to do. People might not always be receptive to what they have been given, so be sure to illustrate how important their work will be. If you struggle with assigning the right people to the right tasks, being a manager could prove difficult.

Problem-Solving

No matter how perfect a company or team might be, problems will often arise. It is often up to the manager of the team to solve these problems with an acceptable solution. You need to be able to get the root cause of an issue, and quickly find out the best way to handle it.

Even when the situation is difficult, a good manager or executive is still able to traverse the rough waters and iron out a solution that works well.

Ethics and Honesty

In most businesses, being ethical and having a solid reputation is incredibly important. If you want to succeed in a management position, you need to have integrity. Behaving ethically, doing things by the book and simply being a good person can go a long way.

Hiring managers want those in their positions of power to be honest and have unquestioned ethics, so be sure to have those skills and show them off in the hiring process. In conclusion, the skills included in this article are essential to have if you are looking to work in a management or executive position.

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