Idea Napkin No. 2

Mom-Mobile

The Bigger Picture

For those of you just coming onto my blog, my concept is a car service for children, specifically children who are in afterschool activities such as sports. 

You: I am a mom. A single mother that holds down a full-time job, while going to school and raising a VERY active soon-to-be 9 year old daughter. I have also worked in childcare and have been a preschool teacher. I can now add volleyball coach to my resume, which is what got my wheels turning in the first place. I am pretty good with kids, firm but fair. My aspirations would be to have a reputable service that caters to children ages 6-16. I care about reputation when it comes to my kid and I know that other parents do too, so it is important for me to have a safe, reputable business that serves children. 

What are you offering to customers? I would be offering safe transportation for children to get to or to/from practices. It's a paid car-pool service. I would also be offering part-time jobs to moms who otherwise would be stay-at-home moms. With these jobs, they would be able to take their children with them, they would not have to worry about child care while working.

Who are you offering it to? I am offering it to parents: single parents, very busy parents, parents with odd work hours, parents of multiple children.

Why do they care? They care about their children. They want their children to be active so they sign them up for sports, but they can't always get them to practice on time. Their children have to miss out on practice, maybe because one child is sick and the parent can't get out or maybe both parents have to work late on a day that practice is scheduled. They don't want their child to miss out. 

What are your core competencies? I am a mother of a child who is in this age range, who is also active in spring and fall sports. I have also been employed with the State Attorney's Office for over 10 years so I KNOW what goes on in our world and have a sensitivity to it. I think what I would have that no one else does is extra security measures for that very reason. I would have an alert system, notifying the parent of when the child was picked up and dropped off at practice as well as a webcam in the car so the parent could log on and see that the child was secured in the vehicle. It has also been suggested that I have GPS tracking in place as well, which I will be looking into. The drivers would also go through a Level II background check, have a test drive (or two) and random drug screens. We all want our children to be safe, but can't always be with them. I completely understand that position and want to create a business that people can trust and rely on. 

I believe that these elements do fit together. I believe that I have experience, both as a parent and as a provider. Like some of my feedback has said, this is something that parents already do for free. I agree. I have done it. I have picked up players and coaches and taken them to practice. What about the players that don't have someone close to take them? What about the players that might not know anyone, that are new to town? There are 1,000 "what ifs." There will be parents who would not put their kid in a care to save their life and that is fine, I understand that and appreciate it. My whole idea is based on a concept that is primarily for the children, but also fills a need for the parent.  

Feedback memo:
I only got one comment on my Idea Napkin No. 1. I did not incorporate any feedback into this assignment, as I had none. The commenter believed that I was setting my idea apart from competition in "a possibly saturated market" by it being a shuttle service for sports practices and games. This would be a great comment and something to think about if there were a saturated market. However, it is not. There are only two companies in Gainesville that offer this service, neither of which are highly marketed. It is my belief that not many parents know about these services. My thoughts on my business idea remain the same.