Hi everyone.

I'm planning to start a new small business in my local area, a small furniture removals service.

Initially, my target market will be divided into 2 groups:
1. Students (mainly University and College students)
2. Local residents

So far, I can only think of the following areas that I need to carefully research:
1. Target Market (potential buyers as mentioned above)
2. Capital (vehicle purchase, maintenance cost, operational cost)
3. Competitors (any local removals companies)
4. Vehicle type (I'm thinking of buying a Van, i.e. a Ford Transit or Toyota Commuter)
5. Software and website (online booking to take booking/orders)

My current situation is this...
I'm living in a rented unit, I'm currently working as a freelance website developer from 9AM to 4PM, and from 4PM to 8PM work a part-time pizza delivery job.

The reason I want to do this furniture removals business is that I think I see a good opportunity especially in the student removals market. Most students especially those who study here from overseas don't have drivers licence, nor any vehicles.

I've had a marketing lesson back in college (that was 6 years ago ), I remember a subject called SWOT analysis which stands for Strengths Weaknesses Objectives Time analysis, please correct me if I'm wrong.

By the way, apart from those 4 points above, is there any other thing I should take into account, especially I'm currently in the research stage?
Any thoughts, especially advice, comments will be highly appreciated, and don't be shy to brain-storm too

Between your two jobs when do you plan to do removals?

Anyway, you'll need a 1 ton vehicle. Most people who move and need a truck have furniture. If people just have personal stuff then an ordinary car will do it in one or two trips.

Have a look at the prices that others are charging in your area. That's about the same price you'll get too.

You won't need a website. Self-emloyed removalists don't get customers that way. Just post up lots of ads on notice boards in the colleges around you. Run some ads in the local newspaper of the colleges, run ads in the local newspaper too. Paint your number on the side of the vehicle.

Insurance, breakage costs, your wage, vehicle running costs, fuel, depreciation, advertising, time lost to inefficiencies, phone costs and cost of vehicle are all the things you'll have to pay for.

Get a spreadsheet and work through the costs. You need to come up with an hourly cost of operation about half what you can charge. That'd be about $20 to $30 per hour for charges of $40 to $60 per hour.

Let me warn you that self-employed furniture removalists don't earn lots. It's largely a job without joy and a constant effort to gain clients. The reason for the poor levels of money is that it is so easy to get into and needs no skills apart from driving, so lots of people who can't or won't do anything else do furn. removals.

By furniture removal, do you mean stuff they don't want and you just take it away, or moving it?

Also, I doubt small furniture would be a big market either way because small furniture, as opposed to big, is a lot easier to transport. All you'd need is either a small bed truck, van, or a hatchback or car with some nice trunk space.

And I've always thought families and senior citizens were the best demographic for any type of moving or removal business because those 2 demographics are usually the ones most pressed for time and either unwilling or unable to move furniture. You'd think college students would be the ones most willing to take a crack at it.