User:Xanthus3232/A Man with a Van

"A Man with a Van" refers to the British removalists company "A Man with a Van”or a historical review about a graduate who could not secure a job registered a movers company. The "British removalists" story was in circulation by 1876, when an article in The Times noted, “The practice of the firm was to send to customers a man with a van .”

"A Man with a Van" also refers to the precedent of self employment and entrepreneurship or emerging removalists industry and culture.

History
In 1870s, a graduate who could not secure a job in Britain started work on removalist business. Originally, he was called "white van man" on account of his white skin and the white van. He rapidly became famous because he provided any kinds of services people requires for removals. He was the person who would move costumers' belongings to the new flat, or take them to the rubbish tip, or any other odd jobs that need a large vehicle and an extra pair of hands. In years, the increasing number of costumers made the "white van man" decide to recruit employees and established the removalist company. The employees of the company was then called "a Man with a Van". The removalists business was particularly common in the early 19th century in London where there are a lot of people moving and fewer people have cars. Moving has always been an issue because few families own big trucks that can accommodate their property. Moving also requires time, and that made it inconvenient for people with busy schedule to move.

"A Man with a Van" was the first removalists business in Britain. However, moving was never evolved to be commercialized until the invention of vehicles. People have been struggling with how they can relocate without interfering with their daily activities. Years back people used to move on carts but the invention of vehicles eased the process. There are many people who move daily hence creating a ready market for removalists businesses. To start a removalists business one needs a truck and a business permit. The size of the company does not matter as it grows with the increase in customers, revenue and profits. This provided an opportunity to entrepreneurs. Starting a movers business requires a business plan just like other businesses. This is a strategic plan of how to start the business, the objectives and the strategies to implement to achieve the business objectives. These objectives act as targets and motivators to the entrepreneur.

In 1990s, more and more removalists companies were registered and caused the increasing population of removalists employees. In 1993, The Sunday Times writer called Jonathan Leake published an article headlined“Number is up for white van man-scourge of the road." The phenomenon of White Van Man—"a tattooed species often with a cigarette in his mouth, who is prone to flashing his lights as he descends on his prey" has been identified in a report by the Freight Transport Association (FTA).

Services
“A Man with a Van" works on home moving services. Workers arrive at customer' home, loads all property to the van and offers the transportation services. "A Man with a Van" also provides office removals, after-removal cleaning and delivery for both long and short distances . In recent years, DIY moving is offered which refers to use of truck rental service, or borrowing costumers similar hardware simply.Typically, the parties who are moving borrow or rent a truck or trailer large enough to carry their household goods and, if necessary, obtain moving equipment such as dollies, furniture pads, and cargo belts to protect the furniture or to facilitate the moving process itself.

The moving process also involves finding or buying materials such as boxes, paper, tape, and bubble wrap with which to pack boxable and/or protect fragile household goods, and to consolidate the carrying and stacking on moving day. Self-service moving offer another viable option: the person moving buys space on one or more trailers or shipping containers. These containers are then driven by professionals to the new location.

Generally,“A Man with a Van” is not limited to moving services only. This company transfers deliveries whenever needed, and also offer pickup services. This is a strategy for the "A Man with a Van" to increase the number of customers which in turn leads to an increase in revenue and profits. Offering different services is a strategy for product diversification hence increasing the number of potential customers. "A Man with a Van" has also increased the number of trucks and employees. This is a way of ensuring that the company is capable of serving the increasing number of customers. This strategy also leads an increase in customer satisfaction because they save the waiting time for customers when workers travel on their way to the appointed location. The aim of every single service for“A Man with a Van” is to ensure all property has arrived to its destination within the country safely, quickly and efficiently.

Business structure
"A Man with a Van" is a sole trader. It is the simplest form of business structure. It is also relatively easy and inexpensive to set up. The founder employed other people to work in the business but the founder is the person who provides all finance, make all the divisions, earns all the profits/losses and takes all the responsibility for the operation of the business. A sole trader is not regraded as a separate legal entity, this is, the founder and the business are regarded as the same.

Benefits
"A Man with a Van" is a private company where the owner determines the policies and strategies that help in achieving the goals of the business. It makes income flexible to the founder. Being employed limits the flexibility of one's income because salary and allowances are determined by the owner of the employer. One's productivity does not dictate income. However, this is not the case in "A Man with a Van" because the founder's income is determined by the orders placed. The founder of "A Man with a Van" was poor because he could not secure a job but the business has flourished and earning more than employed people. Understanding that self-employment provides one with income flexibility and their income is dependent on their productivity makes the founder start their businesses "A Man with a Van".

Limitations
"A Man with a Van" has the threat of huge losses in case the business does not counter its costs. Start-ups are not guaranteed of high revenue. When this business was started, the founder was not sure if the business would grow. Business founder take a risk that is not taken by employees. Workers are guaranteed of their monthly income even when the organization incurs losses. Incurring losses is part of the company's growth, but these losses should not be experienced over a long time because the business might fail to finance its processes. Therefore,"A Man with a Van" is risky in that profits are not guaranteed like salaries.

Social influence
The founder of "A Man with a Van" removalists company was one of earliest working on self employment and entrepreneurship.

Precedent of self employment and entrepreneurship
Many people are venturing into self-employment without enough information on the nature of the industry that they are getting into, and what is required of them to develop the business from a startup to a prosperous business. Reid Hoffman is the founder of LinkedIn and argues that for startups to be successful they have to be developed at “neck breaking” speed. This shows that strategies need to be implemented fast even when they seem to be dangerous. Risks are meant to be taken by businesses if they are to achieve high rewards. However, one has to weigh the risk and the intended reward before concluding on the process to implement. One should only take a high risk if the intended reward is higher than the anticipated risk. The world’s population is increasing at a high rate, and that has increase the demand for jobs. The little job opportunities are filled and many people are left without jobs. This increase in population shows that there will be an increase in the rate of self-employment in the future. This is also facilitated by many people who have started their businesses and they have excelled such as "A Man with a Van". This is a motivation to both employed and unemployed people to start their businesses as a way of stabilizing their income and securing their source of income. The richest people in the world own their business and not employees.

Emerging removalists industry decreases unemployment rate
Unemployment has been one of the main challenges in society, the spring up of removalists decrease the population of unemployment. The removalists services do not require high education background. Unemployment also can be countered by self-employment. There are many opportunities that can be exploited to improve the income status of people. The founder of “A Man with a Van” was unemployment despite being a graduate. However, he came up with a business idea of starting a “movers” business which has become prosperous in Britain. According to Colombo and Piva 2008, starting a business does not require a lot of capital because “A Man with a Van” was started by a van. The business was marketed by customers who had been satisfied by the quality of services provided.

Motivating entrepreneurship
The graduate who started this business was desperate for a job but they could not get employed. Becoming one's boss is one of life's achievements of many people. Desperation turned into a great business where the owner follows their rules rather than being governed by a manager. This is one of the aspects that motivate business people. Many people do not like it when they have to take orders from another person. This is the reason even employees are motivated when they are involved in the decision-making process of the company so that they can feel that they have power in the organization. The capability of following your policies and strategies is an advantage that makes people to start their businesses like "A Man with a Van".