It almost seems like everyone has some kind of side job on the side to make some extra money these days. Of course with the cost of living outpacing income increases, this is bound to happen. The truth is that most of us simply cannot make ends meet using the income from our primary job. This has forced millions of Americans to become rather creative when devising new means of earning some extra money.

While the financial experts will advise you to invest your money in mutual funds and annuities, the fact remains that you first have to actually have some extra money in order to invest it. To obtain this extra income, some people have starting turning their prowess at running errands into a paying business.

That's right: making money to run errands. Grocery shopping, gift shopping, running movies back, picking up dry cleaning, and a host of other rather tedious activities can all handled by you, for a profit of course! While some people simply do not have enough money to do the things they want in life, other people just plain do not have the time. If you are one of those people with time to spare and not the cash, then you need to get out there and start tending to the errands of those without the time to run them.

Fortunately, the start up costs of an errand service are relatively low so special financing considerations will not be necessary. You will need a computer to help track business expenses, generate invoices, and perform general bookkeeping duties. Plus, you will definitely need a cell phone so that you can always be accessible to your clients. After you get some business cards and the necessary business license, you are ready to start your errand service!

In the beginning it may be difficult to get people who are willing to shell out money to run errands. Remember, errand service relies greatly on word-of-mouth promotion making every successfully or miserably done task an advertisement (bad or good) for the subsequent business clients. You must consider marketing your business at places like fitness clubs, coffee shops, and beauty salons. These people let you leave your business card for people to look at and get your number from.

You must carefully study the demographics of the market to know who you need to target. Then only you must try to build a customer base. The likely customers for an errand service are business professionals and small business owners. These people have enough money but no time to run their errands. So you can focus on targeting these people.

It's a good idea to start off by offering your services to friends and family for little to no charge. It will help you gain experience and build goodwill. It pays in the long run as you can then use these people as potential references to get more business.

Even if you never visualized doing something like this, the fact remains that running an errand service is a viable means of earning some extra income, and has unlimited income potential. Once you establish your errand business, you can earn anything between 15 to 100 dollars an hour for your services. And, if all goes well this part-time business can turn into your full-time profession that gives you the freedom and financial independence that was not possible doing a job.