[luke1300]

Hi to all,

I have just discovered this forum, and I am amazed - It lives up to what the internet promised.

I am interested in how a lot of you are conducting your business. I am sure some of you have rather established businesses and shop front locations, or recieve outlab work from retail businesses.

I work part-time at a 1 hour photolab here in Australia, being reasonably familiar with photoshop and studying digital imaging at uni I have begun to do customers restoration work at home as a hobby. Through this, and charging only in-store dust-spot removal pricing ( which goes to the store ) I have learnt a great deal about this type of work.

Now I would be interested in starting to gain my own paying clients, as a part-time side earner. Obviously the customers at the store are out of the question. I am not sure therefore how to physically conduct the business, as I do not have access to a store front etc. Any experiences and ideas would be welcome. Has anyone provided a local pick-up and delivery? I enjoy this work and am willing to go out of my way to make it happen.

Advertising would be done via letter drops, local paper ads and community notice boards.

Look forward to hearing some ideas!

Luke

[G. Couch]

I have considered doing local pick up and delivery. I am not really interested in doing more than a few jobs a month anyway, so I don't perceive it to be much of a problem. If are really looking to get more work than that, you should consider just how frustrating it might become to spend half of your time driving around town, rather than doing what you enjoy.

By the way, welcome to the forum!

[Vikki]

Hi and welcome!

You might try a collaboration with local shops where potential customers might frequent, such as camera shops, framers, or even photographers. If you present a good portfolio, you may be able to strike a deal to work on an "as needed", freelance basis, with perhaps a small commission going to the shop owner. You would probably have to agree to 100% customer satisfaction, to ensure that such business does not compromise the shop's good name.

This is what I do, and it is working very well for me.

Be sure to let us know how you are progressing!

Vikki

[Doug Nelson]

So now I find myself interested in this same topic. How many of you work from home, and how many share space, and how many have a standalone office/store/whatever? Pros? Cons? Whys?

[Ed_L]

Hi Luke,

Glad to have you on board. The only thing I would like to say is that if you do pickups and deliveries, be sure you include *all* of your costs for doing business. This is a common mistake for new businesses, and that can put you out of business in a hurry.

Ed