Hello,

My friend and I are looking at starting a Paper shredding business. We
would like to start by offering the service to small and medium
businesses in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, PA.

Looking for guidelines and important issues related to operating the business. 

1. Marketing: What are good methods for marketing our services? 

2. Equipment leasing: Does any company lease the trucks on a six
monthly or yearly basis that we could use? Companies that lease
shredders: Do manufacturers/resellers of shredders typically have
lease options?

3. Would we have to give a certificate to the customer after each
shredding process certifying that x amount of material was shredded?

4. What is the typical cycle for shredding documents for small and
medium enterprises? Weekly, Fortnightly, Monthly ??

5. Links to previous studies on market trends for this business and
for ROI analysis for this business.

6. Existing franchise opportunities in the shredding business.

Any other comments/guidelines about this line of business would be
appreciated. We have already addressed the disposal of the shredded
material (through subcontracting).

Looking for an answer - with good amount of details.

Thanks,
Pat79-ga