Yay to being his own boss

[Deltaberry]

Congratulations Lamingtons.

That's a first step towards a much more fulfilling life where your husband doesn't need to throw away his life for 30 years slaving away for somebody. It's great the thread has been an inspiration for you.

Trading your time to help somebody make $$$ is a rather unfortunate thing to do if it takes up the bulk of your life. Yet most people do it.

 

[Edge7]

Just thought I would give an update on this.

Any ideas on generating business from REAs is appreciated as I believe PMs would require ongoing maintenance.

Not sure about REA's but I heard of a successful lawn mowing business a couple of years ago. The guy running it offered to take care of fertilizing his customer's lawns for them a couple of times a year. This kept the grass growing and the repeat business coming in with the need to keep mowing all his clients lawns every two weeks even during winter.

 

[wylie]

Regarding getting business from agents, my brother went to school with a local agent and got one or two jobs. Without that contact, I would simply drop into a couple of local agents, give them your card and make yourself known.

With my brother, as time went on, they sent him more business when they had problems with their other mowing people. Once you get one or two jobs, and the agents know you do a good job, that will snowball as well.

 

[Lamingtons]

^^ Thanks Wylie, sorry for not replying earlier.

I just thought of this thread recently again.

Neighbours behind us (they are on battleaxe block) with a different driveway to us. They are selling as their 3 bedroom townhouse is no longer big enough for them - it's amazing how much room a baby takes up! We always had a cordial relationship so I appreciated that they asked before just plonking a huge for sale sign up whenever they liked (has happened before and I went all pregnant crazy woman on the REA). Since we had done up the garden, have awesome new lawn plus irrigation underground hubby called up the REA and told him it's going to be a really difficult to have a sign up against our fence and property. He made sure that he knew what business he was running and he expected referrals from him. Might as well be upfront with these guys right? Was told to drop off a stack of business cards into his office for him and he will use us in the future. Hope this stems into something as he wants a second vehicle this year.

 

[MIW]

Another update -> he's had the business for about 3 weeks now.
Clients who are invoiced are paying promptly A++++. No signage, no business cards, he's getting business from people walking their dogs. Calls from the old business for the suburb next to us. And has filled all his Saturday mornings. Woohoo.. Now just to get that job that i want and we're all ok!

Yes, people in a given established areas will use the same people through word of mouth. When I moved in to our new PPOR we hired the same gardner that my other two next door neighbours use.
We actually don't see them too often and we pay accounts online.
They decide when they mow (whether fortnightly or monthly, etc...) since they are often in the area, however there's a structure so either fortnighly in summer and monthly in winter.
They also provide other services like trimming and improving lawns, etc...
The pool maintenance person was also a local through word of mouth and the cleaners were spotted while I was walking our dog.
Then window cleaning also while walking in the street.
It all depends on the suburbs you select where these services are in demand....
I wouldn't even know if it's the owners of the business or whether they hire the help since I am happy with the service they provide, so perhaps slowly hiring and evaluating the hired help could grow the business....
A great story Lamingtons!

 

[Andrew_A]

Excellent thread. My experience with our own home is that reliability is the key for someone mowing the lawn, if they turn up on different days, miss weeks without letting you know in advance then that's a deal breaker. However for someone who is reliable, does a consistent job and has some potential to upsell other services (which I often use when asked) then there seems to be as much work as needed for the taking, which is encouraging in a country where everybody seems to be pessimistic about the economy sometimes.

 

[lizzie]

Also leave some cards at the local plant nursery's if you can. Assume he has a sign on the side of his truck ... if not, get one of those magnetic stick on ones made up. They're not very expensive.

All my tradies have been word of mouth - and often I'll ask for business cards from guys working, if I'm after a particular trade - so make sure he has plenty of cards in his truck

 

[Lamingtons]

Thought I'd come in and give an update!

Still working alone as it suited him better. When he had an assistant it was constantly crazy. Going to the wrong tip even after instructing him where to go as the usual was shut. It was not worth it as he was taking on clients that he didn't want just to fill the hours promised to the other person. Additional income wasn't worth the stress and everything.

Somehow word of mouth just spread, neighbours of customers walking up to ask him to do theirs. A very well network person around the corner from us became his client as she felt ripped off by a group recommended by her nursery. I happened to take my son around to see her chickens while she was working on the yard and got chatting. We are now friends and it's kind of nice to know a few people in our neighbourhood.

Hours are great as we have young children and he does not start till later but finishes early for daycare pickups. I drop off but he gets them ready in the morning. Things will get better when the boys are in school in terms of ability to work longer hours.

He hasn't been quiet over winters either and we had not put in any additional money to the business at all.

 

[Ideo]

Excellent news.

It sounds like he is working hard at something he enjoys and getting the justified rewards.

 

[devank]

What a positive story to read

If he is getting too may requests and doesn't want to hire anyone then why can't he simply increase his charges?
Or
Limit your area of service so that he doesn't need to spend time on driving.

 

[Lamingtons]

What a positive story to read

If he is getting too may requests and doesn't want to hire anyone then why can't he simply increase his charges?
Or
Limit your area of service so that he doesn't need to spend time on driving.

He is getting requests and will fit around his schedule. Eg my friend lives on the way to the tip (cheapest in our area but a little further) and he will take it on as it is regular. He prefers not to do the ones where "we'll call you in 6mths when we can't find our cat in the jungle" as it is a once off.

Thanks for the tip too re: limited area. Yes he has done that and has picked up a few regulars where we live. We are not gonna be millionaires off this but it suits us and what we need which is one of us needed the flexibility.

 

[Lamingtons]

Excellent news.

It sounds like he is working hard at something he enjoys and getting the justified rewards.

Yes I feel that he is enjoying it. He's always been an outdoors person and we upgraded the ute from single to dual cab so he takes the kids camping. Also our lovely neighbour always compliments and thanks him for his work. Few of her customers (home business she runs) that I know tell me how well maintained the australian native garden looks. Her garden will be an open to public as a example of living off our backyards for the council. Might get some referrals there!

Because it's physical work he cannot do this forever. But for the moment it's great. Also shocking how much gardeners overcharge their clients by hours and then they said that it doesn't even look like anything has been done!

 

[kathryn d]

What a great story.

Our furnace guy used to have lots of apprentices, but he then back to working by himself.A lot less stress.

 

[Colin Rice]

I can relate to this story.

I worked as an employee for over 20 years and always felt something wasn't right?

Took a calculated risk and quit a few years back and soon realised that I dont fit the employee mold.

Nothing wrong with being an employee but not for everyone.

Good to see another person take the leap of faith!

 

[lizzie]

Great to hear Lamingtons - I also know three self employed tradies who make good money - took on extra staff for the extra work - didn't make any more money themselves but increased their stress levels exponentially ... and two of them found the staff stealing large quantities of goods ...

... so much easier to work by oneself, with contacts or contractors for backup if required.