The Errand Runners

How often has your day been so busy, that you’ve run out of time to pick up the shopping or the dry cleaning? Joanna Gilmour knows how that feels which is why she came up with the solution - her successful home based business, The Errand Runners.

The Errand Runners offers a range of services including; grocery and personal shopping or exchanges; dropping off and picking up dry cleaning, postage, banking, prescriptions, as well as showing visitors around Perth; waiting in for tradespeople; regularly calling in to check on homes and pets and watering gardens during holidays.

“I haven’t been asked to do anything too strange, but I state on my website that I won’t do anything illegal or dangerous so I think that’s a pretty good deterrent.””

Before starting The Errand Runners, Joanna had always been involved in accounts and office administration. As a result, she also provides services as an office temp to businesses around Perth.

Joanna started The Errand Runners in January 2007 after getting fed up with working full time and missing out on quality time at home with her children.

She moved from full time work to part time, where the idea for Errand Runners first emerged. She identified a potential market assisting busy full time workers or people restricted at home.

While considering her business, Joanna contacted the Small Business Development Corporation and signed up for six of the workshops.

“The workshops showed me how to create a business plan and gave me lots of other handy hints that I have used along the way,” Joanna said.

Joanna loves working for herself and really enjoys the flexibility that comes with it.

“One of the drawbacks of starting your own business is just getting your name out there and choosing how best to do that,” Joanna said.

Marketing has proved to be Joanna’s main difficulty in getting her new business off the ground with advertising not being as successful as she had hoped. Now, Joanna mainly relies on word of mouth recommendations from current clients.

According to Joanna, the speed networking event held by SBDC late last year was a great opportunity to get the profile of her business out into the business community.

“The speed networking event was great! I really enjoyed it and got quite a few calls to my business as a result. I hope there’s another one soon!” Joanna said.

In the future, Joanna would like to expand her business particularly as competition has started to emerge in the Errand Running industry.

www.theerrandrunners.com.au