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Up and running

3K views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  hatchet 
#1 ·
Well folks, I am all setup for business. INfact I quit the home depot thing today. What a mistake that was.

I've got leads already setup for my company this week, I sent a few out last week. I figure in about 2 more weeks money is going to start coming in.

Failure is not an option. Winter is coming and things are going to slow down. I have a wedding to pay for in spring and a winter's worth of expenses to put into savings. Time to kick it into OVERDRIVE!

I think I am going to get my brother to help me pass out flyers tomorrow.
 
#3 ·
Grumpy said:
Well folks, I am all setup for business. INfact I quit the home depot thing today. What a mistake that was.

I've got leads already setup for my company this week, I sent a few out last week. I figure in about 2 more weeks money is going to start coming in.

Failure is not an option. Winter is coming and things are going to slow down. I have a wedding to pay for in spring and a winter's worth of expenses to put into savings. Time to kick it into OVERDRIVE!

I think I am going to get my brother to help me pass out flyers tomorrow.
Good luck Grumpy. I know you can do it. And when you have a bit of time, do you think you can relate what happend in the HD training? I'm curious about what they teach that didn't work for you.
 
#6 ·
Hope this’ll help.

I was working on list for “Marketing that worked for us…” and it just came to me ;) . Don’t spend money on the ads, you can harvest fruits of somebody else’s customer base.
Meet with your local realtors and tell them that you prepare houses for the market. Projects are usually small (you never know) and you have to show the homeowners that you are doing bare minimum. Depending on the area you can even charge a nice hourly rate. In this case people do not shop around, so don’t be afraid to ask. It’s wise to charge for labor + actual cost of materials. On repair jobs materials cost can be deceiving.
If you have some marketing $$ then make a greeting card with handyman and you phone/website on the cover, list of pre-sale repair on top flap and slits for realtor’s business card on the bottom flap as well as some discount. Don’t forget to mention that it’s a “gift” from there thoughtful and caring realtor. This way realtor will be happy to pass it along.
Hope this’ll help. :)
 
#9 ·
Grumpy, Congratulations on making the big jump. I assume that you can winter over. I suggest that you sprinkle a few ads in different places just to keep the company name in front of folks and then start the big campaign about six weeks prior to your expected 'on' time.
Here's an idea that worked very well. My son made a finger puppet in kindergarden, very primitive but colorful and I decided to use it as a logo for the business that I was in at the time (since sold). I did a tradeout for a friend of a friend to tidy it up and burn screens. Another friend in the printed shirt business allowed me to buy shirts direct from his supplier and did the silkscreening. Total cost then was under $3.00 a shirt, everybody wanted them for the cool logo. Don't forget to get kids sizes. Within a month I had walking billboards all over town and the phones were ringing off of the walls.
The cool, centerpiece logo was what made everybody want to wear the shirt. I have 3 of the golf shirts left, personal use, but when I wear one others still ask where they can get one. I should probably start another business just selling those shirts!
 
#10 ·
LOl the ON time started today. I am using those online lead services to provide my leads.

I burnt through almost $10k in a few weeks getting setup. insurance, advertising, new truck, new phones, some shirts, etc... As soon as some jobs start coming in with down payments I shall place a few newspaper adds.

Your idea is brilliant. I was thinking of turning myself into a walking bill board with shirts that say on both sides: "Need a new roof? ASK ME!!!"

Same thing on the back of my van "Need a new roof? Call now! Don't delay!" Then again for how badly I drive that might be a bad idea :)
 
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