Cash In On Home Repair Business

Hello all,

We have gone through the basics of starting a handyman business. The final step would be to start thinking about how you will exit your handyman business. What, wait a minute, we just started our business why would someone already be thinking about exiting the business?

The reason is this, you probably do not want to work forever. At some point in time, whether by choice or not, you will want to stop working. If you start planning for that day sooner, rather than later, you will not be forced to make rash decisions.

How does someone exit their own business? You can sell the business to someone else, or you can just close the doors. Do not make the assumption that because you are a service business you have nothing to sell. Yes you will have tools and maybe a work vehicle that you can sell. You also have your customer list, and that list is a gold mine for a new owner.

When you start, keep you end goal in mind. How do you want to exit from your handyman business?

Until next time.

Hello all,

OK so we have our business up and running and you are getting customers. Now what? When you start a handyman business you need to be thinking a couple of steps ahead. What I mean by this is you need to decide where you want to take your business. You need a plan.

In a perfect world everyone who starts a business will write a business plan before they start their business. However, lets face it, most people who want to start a handyman business want to get it up and running quickly. Since this is a relatively easy business to start, many people will not plan for the future. Do not make that mistake.

Once you have started to get customers and bring in some money, you need to really do some thinking about what direction do you want to take your business. You need to have an advertising budget, you need to have a cash flow plan. In its simplest form this is making sure you have enough cash on hand to get through the slow times. Other items you need to consider, will you expand the work you do? Will you hire employees?

All of this should be written down, even if all you do is hand write it, so that you have some idea of what you want to do. You do not want to get into a bind then have to make important decisions like these.

There are a lot of books written about business plans and you can find many at your local library. I suggest that you pick up a couple and go through them. They will give you some good ideas on what you need to included in your plan.

However, do not let this important step go to long without getting it completed. Your business survival depends on how well you plan for the future.

Until next time.

Hello again,

Well we have covered a lot of ground in our first 4 steps. Hopefully you have completed them all and are ready for the next step, getting customers. When you start a handyman business you will need customers. (Of course.) How do you go about finding customers?

There are a lot of free ways to generate customers. You can start with your family, friends and co-workers. Ask your neighbors. Make sure you have business cards and pass them out. Put up flyer's around town. Join your local area Chamber of Commerce. Get in touch with real estate agents and see if they ever need someone to help fix up homes that are being listed or just sold.

The best way to obtain customers is through referrals or word of mouth. People telling others about your business is the best way to obtain customers. If you give great service, getting people to refer business to you should not be to difficult.

If you put your thinking cap on, I am sure you can come up with a lot of different ways to generate leads for your handyman business.

Until next time.

Hello again,

Now that school has started again, I should have more time to spend posting to this blog.

If you have been following the steps I have been laying out, you should have decided that starting a handyman business is for you. Picked out a name for your handyman business, set up your entity and decided what services and prices you will charge.

Now you are set to start your handyman business. Not quite. You will need to get your insurance and licenses in place before you begin doing any handyman work.

What type of insurance might you need. Well you will need to make sure you have the correct coverage for the vehicle you will be using for business. You will also need to check into your states requirements about workers compensation. If you are going to be the only employee you may not need workers compensation, however if you have even one part time employee you need to make sure you are following your states requirements. You also may need to be bonded in some municipalities if you do certain types of jobs. Be sure to check all of this out, before you begin working.

Licenses that you may need include possible a business license, plumbers license and or electrical license depending on what is required of your state and local municipalities.

For example, because we installed water heaters we had to have one person licensed as a plumber with our county. Permit and inspections were required for this type of work and in order to get a permit you had to be licensed.

Every state and every municipality will be different so be sure to check this all out and have what you need before you start your handyman business.

Until next time.

Hello again,

I am assuming that you have picked out a name for your business and decided on how you will set up your handyman business. What's next? When you start your handyman business you will need to decide what services you will offer and set your prices.

What is a good way to figure this out? What services your handyman business will offer will depend on what you can fix. Most handyman are a jack of all trades, they do a little bit of everything. However if you are not familiar with replacing lights, then you can either learn how to do it, or just not offer that service.

Sit down and make a list of what services you initially plan to offer. I say initially because this list will probably change over time. Start with what you know how to do, then go ask people what they need. Ask you family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, landlords, ask to see what need their is, but is not being filled by your competitors.

After you have done this, do some research of your competitors. Call them. Ask questions like, how much do you charge for this? What services do you offer? Do you do free estimates? Do you charge a service fee? How do they respond? What do they do well when speaking to you? What can you improve on?

You can learn a lot from researching your competitors. Take the time do to the necessary work. Have a plan. Just because you maybe starting a small business, starting a handyman business is still a business. Make sure you do your homework.

Until next time.

Hello again,

So if you are still reading this, then I am assuming you have decided that starting a handyman business, or any business, is something you really want to do. That you are willing to do the things others are not willing to do and that you have decided what type of help you may need with running your handyman business.

If that is the case, lets move on to step 2, some of the nuts and bolts of beginning a business. You will need a name for your business. Something that gives people an idea of what it is that you do. It can be something catchy, but keep it short and simple if possible. it would be a good idea to include either the words handyman or home repair business or something similar. Just remember to keep it simple.

Next you need to decide how you will set up your business. What type of legal entity you will choose. This topic alone will take several post, or in reality an entire book to cover. I have posted on this topic before. To help you get started I suggest you go to your local library and get a book on the subject. Most libraries will have several books on this topic. You want to spend some time educating yourself on this topic. It would probably be a good idea to consult with an attorney and accountant before you decide anything. How you set yourself up is very important and you do not want to do it wrong.

I am neither an accountant or lawyer, but these are your basic choices when deciding on an entity. Sole proprietorship, corporation, sub chapter S corporation, LLC, partnership. Each has their pros and cons, so again you will probably want to consult with the professionals for help in deciding which one to choose.

Since this is a pretty heavy topic and if done correctly will take some work on your part (remember when you start a handyman business you must be willing to do what others are not) I will end this post on just this topic.

If you have any questions just post a comment or send me an email and I will get back to you. dcmense@centurytel.net

Until next time

Hello again,

So today lets start at the beginning. You want to start a handyman business, but what is the first step? Step one, start with yourself. I have blogged about this before, however staring with yourself really is the first step.

What do I mean by this? Whether you are starting a handyman business or any business, you are the ultimate factor that will determine if your handyman business succeeds or not. So step one, do you have what it takes to be a business owner? Are you willing to do things that others are not. Will you stick to your business when things get tough? Can you handle the ups and downs that a business will have? Ups and downs that will include how much you make each month.

If all you really want to do is fix things, then maybe you should consider getting someone to manage the business portion for you. A spouse or significant other is a good place to look. Ideally this person would be someone who would not want a huge salary if you are just starting out. This is really important, managing your business is just as important as the fixing part of your business.

Maybe you are just the opposite, you would rather do the managing and marketing of the business, and hire someone to do the fixing part of the business.

Once you decide what part of the business you will handle, then its time to move on to step 2, which I will talk about next.

Until then