smallbusiness.co.uk: Helping your business think big

Some agencies already offer this sort of service. For example, Absentia (www.home-and-pets.co.uk; 01279-777412) has a network of employees across the country and is ready to provide short-term, live-in caretakers. All their employees are thoroughly vetted and mostly come from professional backgrounds. If you were not determined to start your own business in this area, you could try to see if you could join them.

However, if you want to start your own business there are some precautions you need to take. First, you need to set up your business in an organised fashion, keeping all your records and recording all your transaction so that you can produce accounts at the end of your accounting year. You need to notify the Inland Revenue and Contributions Agency that you have started a business. While on the subject of paperwork, you would need to set up standard contracts to protect yourself in the case of dispute.

Insurance is a big item to sort out. You would need employer’s liability, public liability and professional indemnity policies. Clearly, any prospective client is going to be worried about giving you the run of the house and so you need to provide confidence-boosting references. If a prospective client checks you out, you need to be confident that nothing detrimental about your honesty or behaviour emerges.

Once you have sorted out the paperwork and record keeping, your next consideration is how to market your services. You could try cards in local shops if you intend your business to be local and for each job to be a regular arrangement for a short period.