Everything to consider when starting a business?

[mtt.tr]

Learn how to manage staff and jobs. If you cant you won't keep hold of people, and the ones that do will slowly do less and less

[Stephen Blair]

On 13/12/2020 at 07:25, Will C said:

What have you got in the way of Capital (never share your bank balance but are you able to invest if needed) and or gear owned already? 
 

the big thing to remember is to not sell your self short, find out what everyone else is charging in your area and match it, and never be available to fit a job in next week apart from genuine emergencies. You ARE always busy when asked, a trades man (in any industry) that isn’t busy can’t be much good in the public’s eyes. 

Bullshit maybe looks good to other bullshitters!  Not a client base I'm after and totally see through in the eyes of most.

  Be honest, work hard and you are now a 7 days a week, 24 hrs a day, 365 days a year service.

  My answer to everything is ' no probs '!

  And yes, money jobs rise to the top of the to do list!

[Rough Hewn]

Bullshit maybe looks good to other bullshitters!  Not a client base I'm after and totally see through in the eyes of most.
  Be honest, work hard and you are now a 7 days a week, 24 hrs a day, 365 days a year service.
  My answer to everything is ' no probs '!
  And yes, money jobs rise to the top of the to do list!

This. 100%
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[Kent Arboreal]

Get a Bluetooth card machine do a good job and take payment before you leave. Saves hours of chasing. If you get corporate contracts make sure you know their payment terms and make sure they stick to them. If they don’t, send a final invoice and get out. A £25k contract will just end up leaving you thousands out of pocket if they don’t pay. I have three corporate contracts that pay like clockwork. I’ve had others that never had any intention of paying. If you get caught by one of them you’ll be surprised how quickly they pay when you turn up at the head office and talk loudly about it in front of the suits.

[Conorjm10]

I'm 2 years in as a business owner and have learned this year that managing yourself is as hard as managing your company. Once you get busy don't run yourself into the ground, you would be surprised how quickly you get fatigued and less efficient. The days of just having to deal with just getting a tree on the ground safely will be gone as the majority of the time you are in the tree you will be thinking "I need to call back Mr Smith or Shit I never sent that email to the council".  If you market your company well and sell yourself well then you won't have any problems bringing the work in. Be very friendly/polite when quoting, not overly formal but also concise and to the point. It's a skill to read the customer within the first 10 seconds to figure out what approach is best to deal with them. Every quote is a 5 minute interview and you will walk away from some really confident and others feeling like you didn't perform well. When you do 15-20 quotes a week aswell as climbing every day and sending emails until 9pm scheduling work it soon takes its toll. These are problems you dream of having when first setting up but they soon come around. This isn't trying to put you off, overall I love running my own company but there are times when you want to switch it off (which you can't). Best of luck whatever you plan to do!

 

Also some other advice from my short experience - 

• Live on the bare minimum and keep re-investing.
• Charge a good but fair price for the work.
• Be organised.
• Book in time off.
• Buy good/reliable equipment (if possible)
• You can have the best website in the world but if nobody see's it then its a waste, market well.

 

 

Edited December 20, 2020 by Conorjm10