 How To Start Up And Operate Your Own Home Typing ServiceA home typing service is an ideal
venture to get into on a part-time basis. While it won’t make
you a millionaire, you can expect a few hundred dollars per month.
I’m sure you could use that. However, if you are fast and good
at it, you will find plenty of business coming your way from
referrals and recommendations and your monthly income could very well
skyrocket, making it a great home business idea. There are thousands of typing
possibilities and even more people looking for the services of a
typing agency. Typing requests will come from business people,
doctors, lawyers, authors, students and even job seekers. Some
possible typing jobs may include resumes, sales letters, flyers,
lawyers letters, student assignments, announcements, manuscripts,
newsletters, etc. Getting Started Once your home office is ready, it is
time to spread the word around about your new typing service. You
should start with having business cards made and pass around to
places like doctors’ rooms, libraries, hospitals, etc. A great
idea is to make up small posters and pin them up on bulletin boards
in shopping centers, community centers, message boards on campuses
and colleges nearby. Any high foot traffic area is also recommended. You may consider placing a few
classified ads in your local papers. One such ad may look like this: Al’s Typing Service. All kinds of
typing done professionally at reasonable rates. Quick and reliable.
Tel: xxxxxxxxx You may also consider advertising in the Yellow Pages.
This is an advertising opportunity that works very well in this type
of field. Pricing Your rates will normally be based on a
per hour basis. The best way to determine your starting rates is to
have a look at what your competition is charging. Phone them, quiz
them on their rates for various items. Set your price a little lower
than theirs. As you gain experience and people start recommending you
for your excellent work and reliability, you can gradually start
increasing your rates. Customer Service As with any other business, customer
service is of paramount importance, sometimes the deciding factor on
success or failure. Make sure, if possible, that there is a ‘live’
person taking enquiries from your clients and enquirers to your ads.
If this person is not going to be you, make sure that the person you
appoint possess sufficient knowledgeable to field the calls. You can
easily ensure this is possible by providing him/her with the correct
training. If you must use a telephone answering service, do so only
as a last resort. Research has shown that if an enquirer is calling
after reading your offer from a medium where there are similar
offerings to your own like in classified listings, they will simply
move on to the next ad if they get an answering machine when they
call you. This is because most people are impulsive by nature –
if they want to use a typing service then they want all the
information like rates, time frame, etc. now! Good Work Etiquette When you receive a typing job request,
make sure you quote correctly. You also need to decide whether you
can handle that type of request due to time constraints or if you
have the sufficient typing skills to do a job that is quite
intricate. Give realistic completion estimates to
your clients and it is a good idea to allow an extra day in case
something goes wrong. Always honor the completion time with your
clients but do not be forced into promising an earlier finishing time
when you know that it’s going to be impossible. Make separate folders for each of your
clients and name it accordingly. You may want to back up your data
daily on either a cd rom or any other external storage device for
safety reasons. The last thing you need is to lose all your hard work
in the event of a serious system crash. This is really a good, workable
business idea, especially for the house-bound although it can work
for just about anybody. Take it easy, start small and expand slowly.
All the best! |
