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AUSTRALIANS are so busy juggling careers, family and lifestyle they find little time or energy to devote to things they used to do for themselves.
August 6, 2007
Like walking the dog, assembling new furniture or remembering to buy fresh toothbrushes.
Witness a unique age of opportunity for a quirky range of personal-service businesses, filling niches that would traditionally have had business advisers shaking their heads.
More than ever, Australia has turned into “a do-it-for-me market as opposed to a do-it-yourself one”, says Franchise Council of Australia chairman John O’Brien.
“Everybody’s dual-income, cash-rich and time-poor.”
Australian Bureau of Statistics census figures show that 15 per cent of all families have a sole parent, while 23 per cent of people live alone.
These trends, along with the buoyant jobs market, have spurred unprecedented growth in the last year for home handyman service provider Hire A Hubby, chief executive Brendan Green says.
Hire A Hubby services include putting up shelving and installing smoke alarms.
Growth in disposable income has ramped up demand for businesses offering “pampering services”, says IBISWorld Australia general manager Jason Baker. It’s just as likely to be pampering services for pets as for people.
Aussie Pooch Mobile – founded by then 21-year-old Brisbane dog lover Chris Taylor in 1991 – now washes 25,000 dogs nationwide every month, sending them home smelling of rosemary, lavender and coconut oil.
Last month, another young entrepreneur launched findadogminder.com.au.
Alex Bedwani, 19, has turned a childhood penchant for taking care of other people’s dogs into a nationwide service.
“(People) want quality, family-style dog minding as opposed to being locked up with 50 other dogs,” Bedwani says.
Findadogminder provides an online database of “registered dog minders”, searchable by postcode nationwide.
The company – which presently consists of Bedwani and two website developers – charges members registration fees from $50, while dog minders earn their own fees of $15 and upwards a day for taking in other people’s pets.
Since the launch of the site a fortnight ago, 50 dog minders have signed up, including four in Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
Now is the time to launch a quirky business idea, says Grant Thornton business advisory services director Ian Judson.
“There’s an insatiable demand from the consumer at the moment for services and products to try and assist with lifestyle, which by and large the general Aussie public can now afford a little bit more easily.
“So because of that, we’re tending to find a lot of smaller businesses – that might seem a little bit ridiculous in concept – as a business opportunity, have actually got legs,” he says.
“You think, ‘how on earth would that be possible?’
“But they’re working in an environment now where those sorts of things are actually being demanded by a certain sector of the public.”
Enterprising babysitters take note – Judson is tipping a surge in demand for nanny and housekeeping services.
This brings the opportunity to formalise something beyond “the old neighbourhood (babysitting) network”, he says.
However, KPMG family business services manager Anthea Moores warns that the rise of niche service businesses is tied to prosperity.
“The economy’s booming at the moment and a lot of the service industries are doing very, very well out of that,” she says. “If you do a good job, then the financial benefits probably outweigh the costs at the moment – but that could all change.”
Just fancy that
Dog rentals
Flexpetz: The US-based dog rental service last week announced plans to open in Sydney. People who can’t “make a full-time commitment to a dog” can pay by the day for their four-legged friend (a higher rate on weekends).
Toothbrush delivery
MyBrush: A Brisbane-based toothbrush replacement subscription service.
Mobile massage
A host of businesses such as Corporate Wellness take the “knead” for therapy into the workplace, with services including the “seated office massage”.
Coaching for life
A plethora of “life coaches” has sprung up to help the well-heeled and time-poor rebuild their social lives, pay their bills and boost their careers.
Man about the house
Hire A Hubby: Started out as a single-man operation, offering handyman services around the home – from putting up shelves to cleaning gutters. It’s now a network of 240 franchises nationwide, with the company enlisting celebrity carpenter Scott Cams in the drive to recruit more handymen.
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