Community Tour Guide

Startup Costs: $10,000 - $50,000
Home Based: Can be operated from home.
Part Time: Can be operated part-time.
Franchises Available? Yes
Online Operation? No

If you live in an area frequented by tourists and are a real people-person, why not consider starting a personal tour guide service? It can be started for virtually peanuts, and has the potential to generate an income that can easily top $50,000 per year if you work at it full-time. Promote your tours aggressively by building contacts with businesses and individuals who can refer your personally guided tours to their clients. These people and businesses include coach and taxi drivers, event planners, hotels, restaurants and travel agents. In addition to the usual fare of stopping at the oldest building, the best beach and area museums, also show some of the more unusual sights in your community'crime scenes, television or movie set locations, and past or present celebrity houses. Personal tour guides are charging $150 to $200 for half-day tours, and up to $350 for full-day tours plus the cost of transportation and tickets to events and attractions. Provide clients with an unforgettably fun experience combined with incredible service and you will have the two main ingredients to secure lots of referral and repeat business. Also market your services to corporations that want to treat their visiting out-of-town customers, employees and executives to a special event.