"My business has taken a new direction," said Birkey, who responds to calls for notarizing documents by going to homes, hotel lobbies, attorney's offices and even county jails. She also works on site for companies, organizing office layouts, setting up filing systems, buying furniture and handling other tasks.

Going "mobile" may not have been what Birkey planned for in 1995 when she started a home-based secretarial business, but she found it to be the quickest way to expand her customer base.

Service-oriented businesses on wheels can be found in almost every field, from traditional areas like plumbing and interior design to newer efforts like pet grooming and tanning salons.

Dick Luedke, spokesman for in Illinois, noted that in the last few years the insurer has noticed an increase in the number of policies — both car and property insurance — being issued for businesses on wheels.

Expert say these entrepreneurs are profiting from two trends: consumer demand for convenience and great gadgets that facilitate mobile connections. These small businesses also face unique challenges when it comes to typical concerns such as marketing and hiring.

Mark E. Parry, professor of marketing at the , pointed to the rising number of households with a single head and the increasing numbers of working women.

Consider that between 1969 and 1999, the number of working couples almost doubled — from 24 percent to 43 percent of married couples age 25 to 54, said Michael R. Martin, assistant professor of business at .

This has created more income for households and less time — the perfect niche for a business willing to meet customers where they are and charge them more.

"People with computers, for example, don't have time to pack them up and take them in for repair," Martin said. "It's easier — but more expensive — to pick up the phone and call someone to fix it."

"A mobile business should be charging a higher price because they are providing greater value," said Bob Kolich, business consultant with the at .

A mobile pet groomer can expect to charge $10 to $15 more than a groomer in a fixed location, said Dennis Gnetz, owner of , an Indiana company that manufactures conversion vans equipped for pet groomers.

Working out of a sports car, Beadles carries common computer parts and uses a cellular phone and a caller identification system to discern business calls from personal ones.

"If you're using a personal car for business, you are driving more miles, and the premium would reflect that because it is a measure of risk," he said.

Business owners whose vehicles are customized with expensive equipment such as a dog grooming van would pay more for property insurance as well, he said.

Gas prices were high — about $2.50 a gallon — in September 2005 when Beadles started his business, he said. Now, they are even higher.

Rather than bill customers for mileage, Beadles factors the cost of travel into his hourly rates. He charges $59 an hour for service calls in the area and $75 an hour for those outside that area.

"If the price gets above $3 a gallon, I may make some changes to what kind of business I'm doing rather than raising my rates," he said. "Lately, I've been seeking more contract or small-project work to reduce driving and fuel expenses."

One way to handle fluctuations in fuel costs is with a surcharge, an additional charge that is not absorbed in the overall price, said Kolich of the Kansas small business center.

"The surcharge should be spread over all the products and services that the company is providing so that no one customer has to shoulder the cost alone,"' he said.

Beadles said he promotes his company through direct mail and advertising on the Internet. But probably the most powerful promotional strategy is one he doesn't completely control — customer referrals.

To get the word out about her business, Sally Wolf, who started in 1999 in Kansas City, donates gift certificates for an hour of her services to silent auctions and other fundraisers.

Mark Thompson, owner of , promotes his business simply by driving around and parking. Eye-catching white trucks are painted with the name of the company against a large black-and-white checkerboard. The phone number appears on a bright red streak.

The Overland Park company operates custom-equipped vans that allow driver/mechanics to perform preventive maintenance at a customer's location and at the time most convenient for the business.

Thompson started his business — part of a nationwide network — in 2002 with one van and an independent contractor. He now has four trucks and four employees.

Mobile Pit Stop goes to businesses within a 100-mile radius of Kansas City to service fleets of vehicles. Before buying the franchise, Thompson spent 25 years in the transportation industry.

Having contacts in the industry helped Thompson to quickly establish a customer base, and he brought in additional business by expanding services beyond oil changes. Preventive maintenance services and driver safety training brought in about 15 percent more business.

Kolich said that corporate parks have begun bringing services such as dry cleaning pickup and delivery, consigner services and mobile chiropractors to their sites for the companies that lease their space.

Such an arrangement is ideal for a mobile business because it allows the business owner to serve many customers in one location rather than driving from place to place to serve one customer at a time.

"Mobile businesses that succeed usually have created a larger market saturation or density," Kolich said. "You can't have too much windshield time or you're not generating enough income."

Nationwide, there are about 2,000 mobile notaries, representing only 5 percent to 10 percent of all notaries, said Chuck Galvan, president of based in California.

Galvan said he and his wife founded the mobile notary association in 1997. In 1999, Galvan said, the concept took off as home mortgage interest rates fell and the demand for loan signings rose.

Although , has an office in North Kansas City, the company has 10 employees work in taxing jurisdictions nationwide. Crews take pictures of and collect data about properties for governmental bodies that levy assessments.

Hiring requirements for mobile employees are necessarily a lot more stringent, said Marlene Jeffers, who founded the business 20 years ago after working 12 years as a deputy county assessor.

Cell phones, wireless communications, Global Positioning Systems and the ability to process credit- and debit-card transactions from remote locations allow businesses to work productively and efficiently without being tethered to a desktop.

, for example, offers the TeleNav and the TeleNavtrack, which offer mobile capabilities to locate, navigate, track and manage a mobile work force.

And just last month, launched the Field Force Manager as a way for businesses to use wireless phones to map the location of field workers, schedule and dispatch jobs and receive worker reports.

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