I wrote a long reply to this last night and It didn't post?!?!?!
It went into the harsh realities of being a sole rider/depatcher courier business.

I don't want this to sound crass, but if you dream of tearing up liverpool on a brakeless fixed wheel with a swish messenger bag on your shoulder sporting knackered jeans, this isn't the route to go.


I've dreamt about and spent alot of time seriously considering the business side of things.
My london figures came out at a gross of£40k (yes gross not profit).
Any less and it wasn't worth it.
You needed a certain level of business happening to keep generating business.


no doubt some will gasp at such a "huge" sum of money.
It's a shit salary considering what the realities of what you are doing are.
remember you aren't riding for someone else now you are riding for yourself.
It's shit money for a minimum of 250 days a year working.
you'll lose weekends doing a lot of paper work:
a limited companies figures are public.

insurance:
yes you'll need insurance for what you carry.
You should also think very hard about personal insurance and loss of income insurance.
Why should anyone want to use you again after you've failed on their contracts for the last 6 weeks because you've been repairing a broken wrist?
Bike insurance too.

As these are all trade use not domestic insurance packages they aren't cheap.
They will be cheaper in liverpool than the london quotes i got.

How will you be able to provide a service (I'm asking rhetorically, but you need to be aware of this) monday to friday 52 weeks a year?
What do you do if you get sick?
get a mate to cover?

You will never be able to go on holiday without telling all our clients way in advance and then you risk losing them.

being a limited company is a very good idea, not because you'd go bankrupt, you wouldn't as a sole rider/despatcher courier business, but incase someone chose to sue your company. They'd be suing the company and not you personally.

Don't go into business intending to undercut the established big boys.
Cheap is not good, especially for you.

You need to be aware that you will be providing a very personal service>>>you will be able to account for every aspect of the business from your bike instantly.
Why should this better service be cheaper?

Ring up every courier firm in liverpool and ask for a cash quote on a simple motorbike single drop 3 mile journey.
This should give you an idea of what you should be charging, not an idea of what to charge less than.

You'll rely on cash jobs to begin with.

No one is going to open an account with an unknown entity.
You'll need to be ready to invoice on the go.
A mini laptop (that new asus eee at £220 would be ideal) and portable printer would be very slick and sharp, but nowhere near essential.
All you'd need is pre-printed invoices, pen and carbon paper.

managing accounts on the go would be slighty trickier, but at it's most basic level would just be a log book.

Don't give out freebies.
You'd spend a week doing those and never get anymore work from the companies.

I'd written more yesterday, but can't remember it now.

basically if you want to be a cycle messenger move to london.
If you want to go into business remove any romantic notion of cycling etc from your head and think money and how it impacts on your life. The basic model could be a good one, but you will need to think very creativley about how to generate business.
flower shops spring to mind.
Those ebay companies that sell your stuff for you. I'm sure there would be one in liverpool.

it makes earning £11000 pedaling for someone else a lot less depressing.

Don't take my word for it though.
There is a guy from manchester who actually does it rather then thinks about it like me.
He'll be able to give you pointers.

Would that manchester guy be the legend that is Jon Chan?He went up there years ago and started his own courier comp.They're still going too I think.

yeah i rang bms askin for a job but no luck
and also there website was down yesterday

Look, don't let this lot put you off - instead of going into business all on you ownsome why not consider freelancing. You visit half a dozen of the more reliable courier firms in Liverpool, chat up the controller/operator, and suggest that if they ever need a bit of back up on some of their shorter jobs that you are available. The advantages are quite massive: you walk into an already established client-base, you don't need to do any billing, no extra insurance needed, if you really don't fancy a particular run you can turn it down (be apologetic and don't do it too often), you can make you own hours, take time off etc. You do the maths. And as you get known on the various circuits you can pick up one or two clients of your own - do it for cash if you like, and don't steal clients from the people who are paying you. I'm a solo operator in Manchester and fully half my income derives from five other courier firms. Easy.



btw, ask around - who's the real Manchester legend...

always visit courier companies, ringing never works

I like that one!

Roger.

Cant wait to see the new gnashers.

Unlike me who's had the whole week off so far for an infected tooth (had no pain relief for the whole of monday and half of tuesday... hell!) and now a swollen cheek and distorted face.

Lovely.