Starting my own buisness ..any help or advice ?

[Andy_B]

Guys due to this economic crap going on i am going to be made redundant early-mid next year..I have been with my company for 20 years since i left school employed as a multi skilled engineer..so as i have loads of experience in electrical/plumbing and engineering ...i have decided to try a handyman service..Now ...i work a 4 on 6 off pattern so i would like to try it for 6-8 months on my days off to see if it would be a viable thing to plough some of my redundancy into ...i have done a basic flyer on the pc but its BASIC i would like it to be a bit more eye catching and professional...has anybody any experience on starting this kind of thing up ??

[ayjay]

Be careful about spending a lot of money setting yourself up it its rarely cost effective

I was a teacher for 30 years and needed a change so took my pension at 50 and started doing general building work --Id done some of it in my spare time previously --got business cards, flyers,etc but none of it ever got me any work!
Ive got a lot of friend and associates in building they all say advertising is a waste of money( look in your yellow pages how many ads there are for builders)

Start off by letting everyone you know that you you will be doing whatever it is and expect to build up slowly from recommends.If you are any good you wont be short of work for long . Expect at least 12 months to build up. Once I got past that point Ive never been without work.

I hope it works out for you

PS A good accountant IS cost effective

[aerosam]

Learning to spell the word business would be a good start

Good luck with it!

[robo]

Originally Posted by aerosam

Learning to spell the word business would be a good start

Good luck with it!

Yew bich

Bob

[MarkB]

Originally Posted by Andy_B

Guys due to this economic crap going on i am going to be made redundant early-mid next year..I have been with my company for 20 years since i left school employed as a multi skilled engineer..so as i have loads of experience in electrical/plumbing and engineering ...i have decided to try a handyman service..Now ...i work a 4 on 6 off pattern so i would like to try it for 6-8 months on my days off to see if it would be a viable thing to plough some of my redundancy into ...i have done a basic flyer on the pc but its BASIC i would like it to be a bit more eye catching and professional...has anybody any experience on starting this kind of thing up ??

Go for it you won't regret working for yourself, yes it can lead to some long hard hours but it's for you and not lining someone else's pocket.
Advertising doesn't really work, being referred by others ie word of mouth is far better as is doing the job 110% with no slip ups.
The thing is folk only remember the mistakes or cock ups no matter how trivial or genuine they are so do you upmost to ensure cockups are sorted or avoided. cock something up...bin it, don't offer it cheaper as it undermines what you are trying to do and cheapens your product or service.

after all that.......do it and you will wish you did it years ago.

Good Luck with it
Mark.

[Enoch]

I have started 4 businesses now. The best bit of advice that I could give anybody is - don't consider yourself a builder, plumber, tradesman or whatever - you must think of yourself as a business person. Hundreds of really good tradespeople start a business and fail, it's hardly ever because they are bad at their trade, it's nearly always because they are bad at business. You have to constantly think of returns on investment, profit margins, cost of sale etc etc. Forget that lot and your business will fail. Effective advertising is possible. The problem I have is that about 90 per cent of my advertising budget gets wasted, identifying the 10 per cent that works is virtually impossible.
Good accountants are worth their weight in gold. Talk to one before you set up in business, they can help you determine the best legal status (Plc, sole trader, partnership) for your business. Getting the foundation right is vital. Keep your costs as low as possible, stay away from debt as best as you can. Most importantly believe in yourself.
Best of luck with whatever you do,
Dave

[Bonzo]

Originally Posted by MarkB

Cock something up...bin it, don't offer it cheaper as it undermines what you are trying to do and cheapens your product or service.

Mark.

The words Kettle & Black springs to mid there Mark

Whilst you were trading as Triron Race Products, I seem to remember that you routinely sold your seconds at a reduced price to anyone that would buy them
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Back on topic

Agreed, word of mouth is by far the best method of advertising.

My thoughts for what they are worth.

Do a good professional job, let quality become your business mantra.

Whilst working in peoples homes, try to work as cleanly as possible & try to leave the place as clean as you found it.

Take care on your pricing, not very nice to recieve a bill much larger than expected.
Extra costs are unavoidable at times so keep customers up to date with the budget.

Turn up to do the job when you told the customer that you would.

Never commit the cardinal sin of taking on more work than you can handle or even worse, take money in advance for work that you unable to commit too

Get all of those basics right & you will soon have a good local pool of clients

[CTWV50]

If I had your skills and experience I would setup my own business installing solar panels for home electrical generation and also for heating and water. Cost of energy these days the market is only going to grow bigger! I run a small I.T. business and best advise I can give is quality of service is key!

[MarkB]

[quote=Bonzo;64347]The words Kettle & Black springs to mid there Mark

Whilst you were trading as Triron Race Products, I seem to remember that you routinely sold your seconds at a reduced price to anyone that would buy them
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Oh deary Me Ronnie did you get out the wrong side of the bed today?

My post was NOT aimed at anyone it's a general statement and one I was lectured on when I first started out on my own 10 years ago by someone with the experience of starting up in business.

[wylliezx9r]

I think certain people should be reviewing their own business acumen before passing advice onto others.