Q&A
Noel Stephens of Errand Genie
ERRAND GENIE is a professional errand service serving the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, with services tailored to the unique needs of their customers, owned by Noel and Arlene Stephens. They provide a helping hand with a variety of things most people don’t have the time, energy or patience to do. They specialize in helping small businesses, busy professionals, the elderly, new parents or individuals with short or long term illness, by eliminating things from their “to do” list.
They also monitor the security and integrity of homes during vacation periods or at times when home owners are away. They are licensed, bonded and insured for our customer’s protection. Their mission is to deliver reliable, quality service while maintaining privacy.
What led you to start your business?
We returned to Arizona upon retirement and soon realized we missed helping people. We had over 40 years of work in the blindness field and felt we would take advantage of this experience and create a business in which we could continue to be of service to others.
Tell me something about your business that people might not know.
Being semi-retired, we are very flexible with our time. Therefore, we are able to respond to our customer requests on short notice and we work to complete the errand in a timely, reliable and accurate manner. Remember, when you call on the Genie, “It’s Like Magic!”
What are the biggest challenges you’ve had to overcome as a business owner?
The initial start-up steps in creating a small business and the time it took to get our first sale, took longer than we expected. But, by persistence and face-to-face networking, our business began to grow.
What drives your passion in this business?
Errand Genie provides us an avenue to be active in our retirement, meet wonderful business colleagues and participate in the business community.
What advice would you give somebody starting their own business?
Join your local Chamber of Commerce. Our experiences with the Chandler Chamber of Commerce and the Ahwatukee Foothills Chamber of Commerce have been so important to our business growth. Cultivating a core of business colleagues, by participating in Chamber sponsored business education and networking opportunities, is the real key to building trust and ultimately leading to a very successful small business.
Stuart’s Business Tip:
Noel mentions a longer ramp-up time than he expected for those first sales. New business owners always hope the cash register starts ringing away on Day One. However, they need to plan for that to happen much slower than expected. Try to keep expenses down and focus on sales and marketing in those early days. Then, the cash will start to flow!
To contact Errand Genie, LLC, Call Noel or Arline at (480) 907-7844 or visit www.errand genie.biz.
Written by By Stuart Preston, MyBusiness Advisors
