If you are looking to start up your own business this year you may want to consider starting a medical courier service. Owning your own business and being able to work for yourself is some of the most rewarding work you can do. At the beginning, you can pick up as much work as you like, starting with minimal expense by doing everything yourself such as working as the delivery driver. But you could potentially grow the business to a significant size utilising office space, with a fleet of employees and vehicles to cover the demands. In this article will work through to start a medical courier service, what vehicles to use, transportation types, administration and office needs.
Make A Business Plan
If you are looking to borrow some money for your start up, you will need to create a business plan. Your business plan should outline what you are wanting to achieve, what your budget is, who your market is, logistics and operations. Tell them how you wish to grow your company. It should start off with a mission statement and description of your organisation. Make sure you tell them how you intend to return any money borrowed. If you have a small amount of capital that you have saved yourself then you wouldn’t necessarily need a business plan but having one will help you work out if you heading towards your goals on the right timeline and can help you adjust what you are doing so you stay on budget. You may find you are doing better than expected so you can adjust the business plan to include the growth your business is seeing.
Get an Office
Starting small you will need some sort of office; this can be in your house just try and keep it a designated area for work so everything you need access is in the vicinity. You can look for work by contacting local medical practise, pharmacy’s, hospitals and nursing homes. Look for private clinics that would need this service. Putting adverts in local papers, community boards and starting a social media advert will help grow your cliental. You need to get out there and let people know what services you are offering.
When you grow in size you can look for a more public office space, but that doesn’t need to be done right away. You can use your own vehicle to start with and deliver yourself so you can really start with minimal over heads. When you expand you will have to choose what vehicles are suitable for what you are delivering. If you are delivering wheelchairs you will need a slightly bigger vehicle than what you would need if you were just delivering patient notes or files. You will need to make sure you have commercial insurance and liability; these are easily got but it will make sure you are covered for accident or stolen of items. In some cases these will be legal requirements, but that depends on where about you live and the laws in your local county.
Know About Your Employee
Anyone that works for should have a criminal record check, a clean licence and have good customer service. Your employee is a reflection of your company, so they need to be helpful, polite and well presented. Have a uniform that has your company’s logo on and ID badges, the uniform should be cleaned at a high temperature and always fresh.
The company vehicles should also be kept clean inside and out. Training may be required for your employees depending on what they are delivering and handling on a daily basis, as some deliveries may be sensitive in nature.
Delivering wheelchairs and hospital beds would only need manual handling training, if they are handling biological matter like samples or blood your employees will need to know how to handle and what to do if there is a spill or contamination. Your staff will need to check how the item needs to be kept though the delivery process, if they are transporting organs they will need to be kept at a low temperature and ensure that the correct equipment is in their vehicle so it can be moved in the right manner. Remember to consider these things when taking on new contracts, make sure you know how things need to be transported and kept. Some vaccines need to be kept out of direct sunlight and have a short shelf life so wouldn’t be able to wait an extra day before the delivery is made, make sure you are capable of fulfilling the order before you take it on. This is all part of logistics and planning.
Scrutinize Properly
Admin is a task that can also be done by yourself but as you grow you may need to hire someone to take care of this for you. Every delivery needs to be logged such as what comes in, where it comes from, who it travels with and where it ends up. Payments and invoices need to be kept and recorded for end of financial year to enable taxing, you will also need to know how much you spent compared to how much you earnt to adjust your business plan and help you business grow to exactly where you want it.
Starting your own medical courier service doesn’t have to be expensive or difficult, especially not at the start. You can look to keep your overheads to a minimum by undertaking the majority of the work yourself in the early stages of your business plan. When you begin to expand you will need to take into account such things as employee training, uniform and contractual obligations in terms of how medical items are to be carried. When your business does start growing, you will need to invest in a fleet of vehicles that are up to the job.
The Verdict
Being a medical courier is often a time sensitive occupation and you don’t want to let your clients down due to vehicles not being fit for purpose. At the end of the financial year, you will need to complete your books to ensure you have paid the correct amount of tax and evaluate your spend, you can do this yourself or simply outsource it. Medical couriers are a service that is constantly in demand and as long as you are aware of how to transport certain goods, there is no reason as to why your new business venture should not grow.
