SHOULD I START MY OWN
COLLECTION AGENCY?
By Michelle Dunn
If you are wondering
if you should or can open your own collection agency,
the answer is yes, you can! There are some things you
should do before opening your own agency. You should
have experience in the collection industry. You must
know what type of business the collection business is
before you can understand what you are getting into.
You need to know the day-to-day activities of
collections. You need to know the laws in the state you
are in and the states you will be collecting in. You
want to have experience dealing with people and
negotiation skills.
You should also be
ready to spend a lot of time getting people interested
in your business. If you have worked in the industry
for other people, new clients will know you have
experience and be more comfortable placing accounts with
you. If you don’t have any experience, you need to
build credibility so potential clients will know you can
do the job and do it well.
Write a business
plan. If you are going to borrow money to start your
agency you will need a business plan to show the bank.
Usually a business plan is made up of:
An Executive Summary
A Business description
Marketing Strategies
Competitive analysis
Operations and management plans
Financial statements.
I have an example of
a Business Plan and a Marketing Plan in my book, How
to make money collecting money, Starting a Collection
Agency. You should also include a cover or folder
for your business plan. Include a title page and a
table of contents. This will be very professional and
impress any bank you may present it to. You should LOVE
collection work. You either love it or hate it! If you
love it, you will be passionate about making your
business work.
About the Author:
Michelle Dunn has
over 17 years experience in Credit and Debt collection.
She is the founder and president of Never Dunn
Publishing, LLC, is a writer, publisher, consultant
and the Editorial Advisor for
Eli Financial Debt Collection Compliance Alert
Newsletter.
Michelle started
M.A.D. Collection Agency in January 1998 and ran it
successfully until she sold it in December 2004. She
owns and runs Credit & Collections.com an online
community for credit and business professionals. She
has been featured in Ladies Home Journal, PC World, Home
Business Magazine, Home Business Journal, Entrepreneur,
The Internet Web Source, Professional Collector, and in
Home Based Business for Dummies, Shameless Marketing for
Brazen Hussies, From the Home-Front The Simple guide to
starting and Running a Home based business, she was a
featured guest on (NPR) National Public Radio and has
been in many newspapers nationwide. She has many
published articles and 3 published books to add to her
list of accomplishments. She is now publishing two more
titles in her Collecting Money Series as well as a boxed
set. Visit
www.michelledunn.com for more information on any of
Michelle’s books and services or email her at
michelle@michelledunn.com
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