Thread: New business - wish me luck

lol... good on ya !

The girls are to help with the digging in the offseason.... didnt want anyone to think I was sexist

The tractor treads a just cool. My next door neighbour paid a bloke with one of them to do some work at his place.

I have some work on the block to do. It's only a short drive down. Bring the girls too.

Hey, Daz, hope it goes well for you, goodonya for having a go


Cheers....................Sean

Good on you for having a go Dazzler, hope it works out well for you

(but leave the girls home, you won't get any work done)

Cool looking bobcat, do those threads cause less damage to the ground than the normal skid steer bobcats?

How are you going to get three diggers and all of those women into the back of such a small truck?

Good luck with the new venture.

Dazzler,
Have followed this through the forum. Best of luck to you. But you know dazzler, there is not a lot of luck in business, however I do know that the harder you work the luckier you get.

This may sound a bit trite, but there is a bloke I know up here who has done a b it of work for me over the last 20 years. He is a roofer. The first time I did business with him, he was here on time - odd I thought for a Tradesman. He did a good job. Subsequently every time I have dealt with him, he has been on time. If there is going to be a delay, he phones and lets me know.

One day, talking to Gilbert about business, I asked him if he ever figured out why he always had plenty of work. He thought it was because his prices were right and he did a good job. Partly right in my observation.

I asked him if he ever thought that his reliability, punctuality had anything to do with it. He had never thought of it, dismissing it as being common courtesy. I, personally think it has a lot to do with it.

You know Dazzler, after a lifetime of working [now 61] and having worked a number of businesses over the years, service is the most important thing you can have in your new business. It will stand by you more than the best price, for the people that look at the bottom line will throw you over as soon as the next bloke comes up with a better price. Build yourself a good customer base and work it to death.Use any excuse to talk to your customer.

I am just about on the cusp of selling the business so I can do more of the things I want - like woodwork - new Felder on the way. We have ahd this business 16 years adn we have driven everything we had into it. If I look at initial investment and what will will get for it, the whole lot has grown at about 28% p.a compound.

You can do it. Go for it. Oh..........by the way, ditch the rally car idea as a business expense

Regards
Colin Howkins
Graceville Qld

All the best Dazzler. Too bad you are a few KM's too far north to do my driveway job

Good luck with it dazzler. Will give a vote for the idea of being on time etc or letting people know if you will be late. What it does is say to your customers they are important and as far as they are concerned they are the most important one in the whole deal.

Reliability is something I would put high on the list too. Although that overlaps a bit with being on time. Doing a good job is part of this. People are paying you so that you will look after all the hassle for them and they don't have to worry about anything the job gets done and they don't get any nasty surprises.

There is a bit of luck that you need to make a go of business but you can make your own luck. Hope it goes well for you.

Studley

Actually, I think the key to success can be even further simplified. Communication.

Things happen. You might be late but people will understand provided you communicate. Your price may even change. People will understand provided you communicate.

So many good tradespeople let themselves down every day by failing to communicate. In our era this is even harder to understand than it was in the past.

Before the mobile telephone and modern communication technologies a certain amount of mis-communication was par for the course. These days you will be crucified.

I'm sure you will do just fine.

Yep - a good luck wish well deserved.
Hope you go well

something I wish I'd done years ago, instead of worrying about a "steady income" and the glow of superannuation at the end of the tunnel...
The tunnel is only 3 years long now - and what have I got to show for it?
I work for the health service which seems more concerned with complaints management, risk analysis, root cause analysis, risk assessment, quality improvement and more paper than Bowmakers... As well as a management system based on the Benny Hill show...
Yes - how nice it would be (have been) to actually provide a service to people that would be appreciated and that I would have been proud and happy to provide...
All the very best to you dazzler... You're doing the right thing in following your nose... Even if you don't end up a gazillionairre... at least you'll be happy...
(BTW - you might be able to get a quid from the guvment by registering those girls as apprentices... and I think you get an extra allowance to pay for their work togs...)
Aye - good luck...
Jedo

Onya' Dazzler! That looks quite a nice set up. I need some trenching done to run conduit from the house to the shed. Can you make it next Friday? Bring the girls.

Thanks everyone.

Its been a slow old process but finally just decided to go for it.

Doing a business plan was a really good experience and identified some areas that just wouldnt work...(rally car idea )

Had the final plan looked at by an accountant and he said it seemed sound enough.

Works out that I need to do 10 hours per week to break even and I hope to be around the 25 hour mark (actual working hours minus travel etc) by end of next year.

Service is disgraceful up here and the business is focused on prompt helpful and polite service 100%.

After I left the commonwealth I was stunned with the take it or leave it approach that tradespeople and most other business' have up here. Phone calls not returned, turning up hours late if at all without notice and rudeness. We had one bloke turn up an hour late for some termite protection and my wife said to him your late. He responded by saying he phoned me on my mobile and I said it was okay. Only problem was my wife had the mobile with her. Lying little ..... Then had the hide to say
"Look luv, you take your baby and leave this to me"

She told him to ..... offf!.

The RC30 tracked machines have a very light pressure on the ground. Just 2.5 psi and it can run over your foot and not hurt it. Only downside is the running costs are higher though they have been factored into the costs.

There are a lot of larger machines up here (>1500mm wide and >2.5T) and a couple of dingo operators doing very narrow access. We slot in between these with the added benefit of not damaging turf or paving and outperforming the dingos in material transfer.

We kick off on 2 November . Cant wait.