Starting Your Own Personal Assistant Service Business

Starting Your Own Personal Assistant Service Business

You have probably heard of cleaning services. They drop by your home once a week or more depending on the arrangement and they fix up the place for a certain fee. Did you know that there are personal assistant services as well?

But what does a personal assistant service actually do? Someone from their office will deliver or pick up personal items, wait for contractors, deliveries or installations in your home, shop for gifts, groceries and other items, take your car for repair or cleaning, take your pet to the vet, arrange business or personal travel, simply your way of paying bills and organize your home or office space.

Since you don’t need the personal assistant service all the time, you can simply call them up and only pay them for the number of hours rendered. Some companies have a flat rate for an hour or two which is more than enough to get a simple task done when you are busy doing something else.

You can find a personal assistant service online or through the phone directory and be happy to know that most of these are bonded and insured.

Given that the idea of a personal assistant service is not hard to do, you can make one yourself if there are not that many yet where you live. In fact, you can start by doing this at home and then when you take the call, you do the work or have some other people do it for you.

The skills you need to have to get into the personal assistant service business are not that difficult. You and your team should be internet savvy, knowledgeable about the latest gadgets, be able to do some basic financing and be well organized.

You then advertise to your neighbors and friends about your business and hopefully get referrals whenever it is needed.

The amount you charge depends on the kind of service you are providing. The best way is to aim for an annual salary so if you are able to finish the job in a much shorter time than expected, what you earn stays the same.

But if you are just establishing your presence in the market, it is best to charge hourly. You can charge extra when your services extend beyond the agreed upon time. Be sure to put everything written in a contract and have them sign it. You should be paid for your services the minute that the job is done. When things pick up, you can demand that clients should pay for this a month in advance.

Don’t forget to be bonded and insured so you will never be accused of theft if something is missing. You should also apply for disability and insurance to protect yourself and the people you send over.

To make yourself credible, you should have a bank reference and belong to the small business association, better business bureau or the chamber of commerce. After working with a few clients, use them as your reference since the client will probably do a background check and feel safe knowing you are a legitimate business.

Having a personal assistant service business is great since you don’t have to work everyday. You get a job whenever the phone rings while the rest of the time, you get to relax and enjoy doing some other activities.