These days, providing an excellent service to customers means giving them what they want, exactly when they want it. Amazon’s demonstration of drone delivery might not quite have been a reality, but it certainly illustrated the demands of the 21st century consumer. As a result, if you’re thinking of setting up your own business, then you’d be wise to consider going mobile.
It certainly has its rewards as a different way of working, but there are certainly challenges to overcome.
Working Pattern
The mobile business must also be a flexible one. Customers want you to be able to travel not just where they want, but when they want.
In an ideal world, you need to be working beyond the normal working hours, so that people with your average 9-5 job can still call on you, whether you’re delivering something to them, or providing a service at their home. This does mean you’re going to be working longer hours than most, but always bear in mind that if you’re not covering the customer demand, then a rival company may well be.
Equipment
You’re going to need to take all of your equipment when you’re moving things around, so it’s important to keep things light and flexible. Sometimes this does mean spending a little bit more. As an example, you don’t want to be lugging round a huge laptop with you – it’s better to have an ultrabook or tablet.
There are also other things to think about such as payment – you’ll need to have a mobile card machine like the ones available from Card Cutters, because not everyone carries cash around anymore.
Time Management
This is a tricky one that requires good organisational skills. Not only do you need to manage your diary, you also need to work out what order it’s best to do things in.
For some mobile businesses, you might be making only one or two trips per day, but for others, it could be more than hourly. You need to travel the shortest distance possible each day to keep down the costs of fuel, and keep you on the job earning money rather than driving around. This will become easier as you become more experienced, but at first it can certainly be difficult to juggle everything without going back on yourself, or spending part of an afternoon not doing anything.
Takeaway
As the rule of thumb, running a mobile business with extra flexibility means that you need others’ help. I understand that it’s probably your desire to work alone. But whether you like it or not, to respond to your customers’ request and serve them better, you need to hire someone to help you.
Thanks to the Internet, it’s possible today to hire assistants who will work for you virtually. Let them help you with non-critical but must-do business activities, so that you can focus of growing your business.
Cover photo credit: Alex Prolmos / Flickr
