One Man Shows?

Bsecdone

How many of you are one man shows, aka work by yourself?
I keep hearing people say that you need employees to make money. How much of that saying or line of thought is true?

cbtexas

Last year I grossed 1.2 million by myself. I netted some money but possibly could have made more by having employees after I paid for their expenses and put up with their headaches. I do OK by myself and will more than likely keep it that way. I have never had employees and am intimidated by all the things that go along with hiring employees.

CB

mahlere

cb, what kind of marketing? how much of that $1.2 went to independent contractors? what would your COGS look like?

b...the reason is simple, in electrical work, you can always make a living working by yourself, but do the math...

let's say you actually generate $100/billable hour for labor...as a lone wolf, if you want to bill 8 hrs a day, you will spend minimum 10-12 working.

so, $800/day * 300 days/year (yes, you will work weekends, and every other day you possibly can) = $240,000 gross.

add on another $40,000 a year in markup on your material, and you will gross about $280,000 a year. take out all your expenses and you might take home $125,000 or so.

so, working 10 hr days, 300 days a year...or 3000 hrs, get's you $125,000.

yes, there are guys who generate in excess of $400,000/yr/truck...but that includes material and is usually a tech who doesn't have to worry about running a business, just doing the work.

Now, figure a net earning of $10/hr/man, and 10 men working...you now earn $100/hr personally. $800/day and you are probably only working 2000 hrs +/- and only 240 days+/-

so, your personal income is $800 * 240 = $192,000

now these are just made up numbers, but they are not unrealistic by any means.

but, you can only work so many hours in a year...we can't sell any particular hour to more than one person...not ethically anyway...

cb can probably spend 10 hrs on a project and sell that item to multiple people and be paid 3 or 4 times for the same work. we don't have that luxury.

Bsecdone

That make sense. Now I just need to find more work for more guys

mahlere

and then you will be in my position...i need to find more guys to do the work

firemike

Around here finding guys that want a job is easy, finding guys that can do the job right the first time and know when they are over their heads and ask for help is another.

I went to a one man show three years ago, I have less headaches, more time on my hands, and make just about the same amount of money. I only have two trucks now, I get to do the work I enjoy instead of chasing materials, hustling jobs to keep the guys busy, going back to redo something that should have been done right the first time, not having someone show up for work on a critical day, etc... I have a couple of college guys that I call when I need an extra person or two, but the rest I do by myself. Life is much more relaxed now.

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-Mike-

dirt diggler

i think it depends on what your goals are

me --- i tried (trying) to do it one more year and it's just not the way I want to run things.


to run a business (as an owner) AND be a project manager ... AND a salesman ...

all 3 full time jobs ...



throw "laborer" in there and i think it's a matter of time before things start slipping ...

so I am kinda steppin up a notch and getting an employee

and

one thing I'm finding out right now is that you get kind of the "too much cereal/not enough milk or too much milk/not enough cereal syndrome"

whew

tinner666

I went to the 'One Man Show' many years ago. I try to only do small jobs, but the bigs one keep coming in too. On occasion, I'll sub some work. On rarer occasions, I might hire somebody till I come to my senses. I'm happy where I'm at.

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Frank Slate Roof Repairs, Richmond, Va.

RobertCDF

I am a one man show.... Untill Monday. First employee starts Monday. I will hopefully have a laborer by the next Monday. Its a whole new kind of scary world to me. It's time to see if I can make a REAL business run. I am not trying to downplay one man shows as not a real business but they are a heck of a lot easier to run.

I came to the point that I should have at least 1 person working for me because I get lonely and am not motivated to work. I also would like to be able to run to the store or an estimate and come back and something got done! How amazing will that be. The the trip to HD is not quite as wasteful.

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Robert Shaw
Colorado Springs Custom Decks
Colorado Custom Decks
Custom Composite Decks

Tom R

Amen . . .

GregS

I do. And I don't mind it, but sometimes it would be nice to have someone help pull wire.

Maybe it depends on how busy you are. Right now I am not overly busy and if I had someone else that I had to pay for, it would eat into the mortgage payments.


When I get into bigger things and more consistent business, that will require me to hire some guys on a regular basis.

ron schenker

Rob, this makes great sense. When I grow up that's the way I want things to be in my business. Trouble is, finding someone good, reliable, motivated and not too expensive.

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Don't worry, the baseboard will hide it!

Glasshousebltr

I used to carry 11 employees and various subs, 4 trucks, about 50k in equipment. Now it's just me and 2 others. Been up .....been down ......been one man on the ground.

Out of all of it I've learned a few valuable lessons.
1.Everybody craps
2.Non smell as good as your own
3.Don't get caught being the last man slinging it.

I'm sorry CB, but 1.2 seems a bit unreal for a one man show.

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Bob

POOLMANinCT

depends on your work.

a service minded guy can make a mint solo...
construction guy needs hands and feet to keep the pile moving....

if your a one man show, don't balk at service, build a clientele... when construction slows, those guys will be wondering what they missed & why that "little guy" is busy.....

ray

btw a need 5 guys, 4 bodies & 1 brain

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......Less with the jaw & More with the paw.....

Mike Finley

That's cool Robert. You're in for some fun. That initial wow! of like you said something can get done without you actually having to make it happen... then later that *****! Something got done wrong without you standing over somebodies shoulder which is almost the same as having to just do it yourself... then that damn! That's all you got done while I was gone.... then finally after a while if you hang in there and he hangs in there... the Wow! again. When you see something getting done without you having to do it, seeing it get done just as you would have done it, and seeing it get done almost as quickly as you could do it. That's when the magic starts! and that's when you can start to really see a whole different future for what you have been doing!

cbtexas

I have an industrial supply business that this income was produced from. We are in the center of Texas oil country and business has been brisk. We are building a house and I found these forums by doing research. I think the Contractor business forums are the best I have ever found dealing with running a business and dealing with customers. Even you full time contractors have the same issues I have in a totally unrelated proffession. I am only a one man show but truly did gross that amount in sales. I could have done better by hiring some employees and all but I like being in control and not having to worry about someone else. My website is www.swspecialty.com. You can see a little about my business there.

CB

mahlere

cb...nice...is Permian football really as big as they made it out to be in "Friday Night Lights"?

how do you handle shipping? have products drop shipped for you? warehouse and package yourself?

selling a product, it is very possible to gross that money. because you are not selling time. it doesn't really take you any more time to pack and ship a $2000 order than it does a $200 order.

good luck and continued success.

cbtexas

Yes high school football is as big as it was in the movie. Some of the story was ebellished for the movie but football is top dog here.

As for my business, I make the local sales calls, local delivery, and I do stock a warehouse. I do ship items across the country and some is even drop shipped from my manufacuters. The customer pays the freight for the most part unless he orders enough that the manufacturer prepays the freight.

Thanks for your kind words.

CB

plazaman

Any which way I look at it, You need employees to grow. How much work can you really get done by yourself? I must say though, every trade is different, but could only see a trained helper beneficial. Of courses their will be times he will screw up, but we must expect that.

mahlere made a great a point with his numbers.

One man shows work if you are comfortable with your current life style with no desire to change.

For me, i always try to assume to position of management. I want to be that guy who over looks a manager that manages a crew of 5 (just proving an example) Why do i need to get involved in the actually process of hanging drywall or remodeling a kitchen? I want to keep myself occupied with bringing in more leads, looking for ways for expansion, employee Policies, hiring more qualified helpers/foremans, advanced equipment, better quality control... etc...

When more business comes in, then i'll need to hire sales people & estimators.

To my knowledge, this is the only way how I see a company can see growth. Its only so much a single individual can accomplish.

Then again, what the heck do i know, im only 22 with a college degree.

Rich

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Westchester Remodeling Contractor
Hartsdale Remodeling Contractor
Ardsley Remodeling Contractor

ruskent

My first two years in business i was solo. I have no desire to ever work solo again!!!! Honestly, i do not even know if i could go do a job solo by myself again if i had too.

I hired an incrediable guy. He makes more money than he has ever made since he came to the US. He hired another guy this week so guy 1 has someone to talk to. Now i finally have some what of a decent crew.

I work ALOT less harder than i did my first two years in business. And i make alot more money. Overall i am alot happier. I like having someone to talk to. I can leave the job site and stuff is still getting done.

Honestly, i know i have good guys and i am going to take care of them so they stay with me.

I think we all know that to make money you need to be big. You can't get big without hiring guys.