How to Start a Document Shredding Business

With identity theft and privacy concerns at an all time high, now is the perfect time to learn how to start a document shredding business.  A document shredding business provides a much needed service for companies looking to protect proprietary or otherwise sensitive documents from being taken or copied.

Another option with this kind of business is to offer your services to individual consumers.  Especially during tax season, you can provide a valuable service that will help to reduce instances of identity theft.  Some services also offer mobile shredding, where they pick up and shred junk mail and other documents for people.

Your primary focus will most likely be commercial customers though.  They are the ones who have high volumes of paper that needs to be shredded.  And it is less expensive to hire a document shredding company than for them to pay their own employees to stand at a shredder.  It is more secure as well.

An additional service that you might consider offering is electronic media destruction.  As companies move from paper to electronic data storage solutions, there is a serious concern about these types of media getting into the wrong hands.  Offering a service to destroy hard drives and diskettes can provide another needed service to clients while providing you with another revenue stream.

What You’ll Need to Start a Document Shredding Business

As with any business, you will want to have basic business skills to start a document shredding business.  This includes some knowledge of accounting and bookkeeping, as well as how to plan – and how to implement your plan.

When hiring for positions within your company, be sure to put measures in place to security screen applicants.  You will want to run background checks for criminal records and any other risk factors.  Remember, your clients are counting on your company to keep them safe from identity theft and wrongful distribution of their confidential materials.  Make sure you hire people who you would trust with your own confidential documents.

You can run a document shredding business out of your home initially, but you will need to have a place to shred documents and a way to transport the shredded paper to a recycling center.  Most people start out in a warehouse environment.

Whatever method you use to shred and handle documents in your possession, it will need to be completely secure.  You’ll want to be able to guarantee your clients that you have measures in place to absolutely protect their privacy and identity.

The most important thing you can have going for you when you start a document shredding business is trust and credibility.  It takes time to earn these, so be patient, and start small.  Then, once you have serviced some satisfied customers, ask for testimonials and referrals.

Also consider getting certified by the National Association of Information Destruction (NAID).  This will give you credibility and show that you know your business well.

Take great care of your customers, prove you can be trusted to keep them from becoming the victims of identity theft, and you’ll have a lucrative document shredding business before you know it.

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