Average Joe’s Concierge
Founder: Keith Marshall
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info@averagejoesconcierge.com
Average Joe’s Concierge, headquartered in Dallas, is a concierge service dedicated to the idea that you don’t need to be rich to afford personal service. Need dry cleaning picked up? Groceries bought and delivered to your door? Average Joe’s can handle it — for a reasonable price.
HOW MENTORING WILL HELP: “The money is just a bonus; the true benefit is the networking and mentoring opportunities,” Marshall says. “I’ve been with corporate America for more than 10 years, and this venture will be a challenge — so securing a good mentor and meeting individuals in the logistics or service industry is what I hope to gain. I’d like to learn as much as possible so that I avoid the pitfalls of other startups.”
HOW $10,000 WILL HELP: “My plan is to use the grant money to assist me in key initial purchases to get my business up and running,” Marshall says. “Since I don’t sell a product, my main concern is getting my Web site developed and branding my name in my target market.”
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LIFE’S DAILY CHORES — going to the grocery or the drugstore, picking up the dry cleaning — can be so dreary. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could employ someone to do them all for you?
Aiming to provide personal services to people not named Rockefeller or Gates is Keith Marshall, the founder of Dallas-based Average Joe’s Concierge. “After I had lived in downtown Dallas for a year, the need to get simple chores done was tedious,” Marshall, 36, says. “I lead a pretty busy life, and most times, buying and hauling groceries home was a pretty boring and time-wasting task. . . . I figured, why not look into starting a concierge business, and focus on the services most professionals use — grocery delivery and dry cleaning? However, there would be a little twist: Instead of needing to be rich to afford a personal assistant, why not make that luxury service a commodity? Thus Average Joe’s Concierge was born.”
Marshall is the entire business at the moment — “I’m the owner, accountant, janitor and only employee,” he says — and his target market right now consists of metro Dallas, with plans to expand services to Fort Worth as the company grows. Marshall’s plan right now is to get Average Joe’s up and running in the prototype stage by July 2011, and be fully operational by the fourth quarter of the year. •
