What do you think about my business idea

This is probably a billion dollar idea, or it may already exist. Or the idea may suck so let me know. There are people like me who work nonstop and cannot make quality friendships with reliable people. I have people that I call so called "friends" but I cannot rely on them for anything. Just now I am hundreds of miles away from my house and received a call from ADT that my alarm is going off. I planned for this by installing internet cams throughout my house to keep an eye on things. Guess what, the internet is out in my area wtf are the odds of that! The police came by and checked and said everything is OK but they didn't climb over my 8 foot fence so I assume they did a thorough job inspecting the windows and doors.

So I really have no one reliable to call or check on something like this, or to help me with other chores that I cannot do myself such as moving or transporting a heavy object. My idea would be to create a network of people (employees perhaps) who go through a background check and such who can do these small tasks for you. I could charge a monthly fee for this service. This may be a bad idea since most of you guys have family and friends that are dependable.

The only friends I have are the ones who only call when they want to hang out and never answer their phone if I call. What do you think of this idea? Especially now since more people are glued to the internet and are not social, this applies to them as well.

 

This whole idea of 'a network of people/organizations' model is something that intrigues me. I definitely think there's a future for it - but in your case, you'd be silly to think bogstandard background checks are good enough to clear and trust people to carry out some tasks which rely heavily on the idea of trust.

I could have the cleanest record, but be too lazy to carry out tasks to the finest details... Where does that leave your idea?

 

I think that zmanblog raises valid points about the extent of trust and, therefore, activities that you would want such a person to do unsupervised. You know, sarahhk, there are times that I'd like to hire a hubby, even though I am one, myself. I have not seen such a service in my area.

Getting back to the OP's need: I am thinking that perhaps it could be a "neighborhood online exchange" in which people living near you could do some things while you were away, likely for compensation of some sort. I think that a lot of people might sign up to be alerted to an opportunity to help a local neighbor for a small sum of money. Vetting is still a concern, of course, but I suppose that you could build up trust points with each successfully completed task. The website/service could charge a small fee on top of what the buyer pays the seller. The key would be to target specific neighborhoods to get density of buyer/sellers in one small geography. The single member in Bozeman, MT is going to have a long wait...

 

Hire a hubby sounds like a good idea. It probably can handle those little tasks too.

About social network, the key problem is trust. How you will trust to someone who you don't really know?

For example, you are not sure that police did its job thoroughly, but you would believe if some "friend" from network checks your things? How do you know that he will not sell them when you are not looking?

 

Very interesting. In my book its quite an original idea. And I agree with xmanblog, there's definitely a future for your idea. But then again as mentioned above the whole thing revolves around trust.

 

i like the idea, but I would try to do something like "neighbourhood watch", where you call your local area, and have them check on things for you.
The place I work at, when the alarm goes off, the security company dispatches security guards to the property, and will wait for the owner to show up -> again, doesnt help if you are far away but their might be some security companies that will do this for you (ie go inside the property, organise emergency window / door / lock repairs), but dont expect it to be affordable. If I had the money, I would prefer to have security guards (from the alarm company) at the property when the alarm goes off (rather then someone else). At least then, they can check to see if it was a false alarm, look at improving the alarm system, and ensure that the alarm really is doing its job.
Besides, *if* you are american, and you have a 'handyman' interrupting a burglary... I would hate to see the outcome.

I like your current setup with internet cams and so on (are you sure this is for security and not for making porn films ), there are devices I have seen online, where it can use your current internet cable, as well as connect to your local phone tower (needs sim card for this), of course the sim might cost alot more, but handy to have as a backup option.

As for the comment regarding friends... I know what you mean. If you work at one place long enough, you do make some solid relationships, but if you move around alot, (or depending on your job) it makes it very hard, and you are right, even with solid friends, they aren't necessarily available 24/7. If I moved house, my friends would show up to help, but if I needed something urgent, they have their work or something that they have to do (cause they have to make ends meet as well) and they have their own families to look after. Same, if my friends call me mon-fri, they are on their own... just no time....

 

It sounds to me like a a local version of freelancing for low-end, basic types of tasks. I think if the tasks focus on home related stuff then you'll have trouble appealing to buyers. Worse, the service may become popular but unprofitable due to legal issues.

 

They've had stuff like this for awhile now.

 

I am also one person who have the same problem like you.

 

You cant trust anyone these days...why do you think 10 employees sitting at their desk
can not do their jobs, on their cell, personal chit-chatting, so therefore you have managers
that over the employees that ensure they perform their duties....

If you can not trust anyone, then its not for you, just stay home, because you think you
trust the police, before you know it, they think you are the bad guy and shoot you in the back....

and that is what liability insurance is for....
If you have an employee that goes whack-o on a clients house, your covered....
They go to jail (maybe) but you will never get anything out of them, then
before you know it, your liability is now skyrocketing, then you have out of business sale...

people are just completely unpredictable!

 

You need to differentiate what is a unique business vs what is a unique marketing approach. Your
"business" idea is not unique simply because that is what every business on the planet does every
day, exchange services or goods for a fee. However, you may have a good way to market your
business by classifying it as a help "network". Best of luck!

 

I wouldn't say that this is a bad idea.
This is actually a good idea. But these kind of services involve the governments permission.
So here's something i can tell you, this thing doesn't have much of a market.
I mean there is a market that exists, but the thing is that this market is very small that there would be a point where this business would come to the point where its going to be dull and it would remain constant.
Unless you bring up something and more innovative than that, then maybe this business might go well amongst even other people who socialize.
Because even when you socialize, you can't always be sure if the detail about the person can be true or not. Rumors tend to spread faster than you, but sometimes rumors are just rumors and they aren't the truth. So that's why the government details about the person is also important in this and that is why you would also have to involve the government in it. This is kind of CIA thing, so you need to think about this.