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How to Set Up Your Own Successful Handyman Business

July 20, 2022 by Paul Edwards Leave a Comment

Starting your own handyman business in the US could be a lucrative move – you could charge a respectable $50 to $80 per hour, according to HomeGuide. The work is challenging, interesting, only moderately physically demanding, and doesn’t need you to have an official education. Last, but not least, you could even get your own successful handyman business up and running and thereby be your own boss.

The Local Marketing Center explains everything you need to know about starting a successful handyman business below:

Pick a specialty

Handymen come in all shapes and sizes and do a lot more than general maintenance and repair. That’s why you must choose an area of specialization. It would help you to stand out, be pickier about clients, and thereby charge more for your services. Some services you could specialize in are drywall installation, smart home upgrades, painting, tile installation, and appliance repair. Ideally, this should be something you’re already good at.

Have a business plan

A business plan is like a blueprint for your business. It contains critical details about setting up shop, ranging from funding options and legalities to market research and business goals. With a good business plan, you can nail down exactly what you’ll be doing, who you’ll be doing it for, and how to be profitable.

Gather seed money

Seed money is startup capital. You can use your savings, borrow from family or friends, get a loan, or attempt to apply for a grant. Typically, it’s a good idea to have enough to set up and remain operational for the next 6 to 12 months, until you have a chance to stabilize. Depending on the nature and scope of your business, you can expect to spend $62 to $40,565, reports Starter Story.

Get insurance

You may or may not need insurance. Check your state or territory regulations to be sure. Getting insurance just to be safe isn’t always advisable because it’s not cheap and will significantly eat into your profit margin. You should opt-in if your customers need it or you do risky work.

Licenses, training, and other legalities

There are several legalities to adhere to. You will need an Employer Identification Number (EIN). You, typically, need to register in the local chamber of commerce. Depending on your region, you may need a contractor or handyman license. Finally, it’s a good idea to form an LLC or similar corporation to protect your personal assets from lawsuits. You don’t need formal training to be a handyman – people typically take up apprenticeships or teach themselves.

Consider special equipment

You will need special equipment, depending on the work you’re doing. At the very least, expect to need hand tools, a drilling machine, and a storage box. If you do specialized work, you may need ladders, safety tools, chainsaws, plumbing tools, and more. Free Business Ideas offers a reference list of handyman tools.

Make your life easier with software

Using apps will allow you to automate tasks and save time. For instance, map apps will help you find your clients’ locations quickly and note-taking apps will help you jot down pertinent details. You may need construction estimating software to run your business. This kind of software allows you to calculate material and labor costs, create a schedule for payments for customers, send estimates from job sites conveniently, and send automated reminders through email if a sent estimate hasn’t been approved.

Market for success

Marketing is critical. You need to make your handyman business discoverable through marketing-related efforts. Some ideas are having a business card, setting up a website, registering your business in relevant listings, joining the local chamber of commerce, printing flyers, advertising online, and advertising offline.

Marketing your handyman business on Instagram can be a great way to reach new customers and grow your business. To get started, you’ll need to create an account and start sharing photos and videos of your work. Be sure to use hashtags to reach a wider audience, and don’t forget to tag potential customers in your posts. You can also use this free Instagram story template to give your followers a behind-the-scenes look at your business. Build your story design by choosing a template and adding your own images, graphics, and icons.

Network for multiple reasons

Don’t forget to network. Networking raises your profile; helps you find useful connections like customers and mentors; works as free marketing; and allows you to build a safety net in your local community. Becoming a member of your chamber of commerce is a good way to get started.

Conclusion

While having a handyman business can be challenging and may come at the cost of job security, the advantages may balance it out. Some examples are setting your own schedule, earning a good income, and varied work. Remember to work hard, stay committed, develop your entrepreneurial brain, and market your business to be successful long-term!

This blog was contributed by Courtney Rosenfeld

Image via Unsplash

Fail Fast and Be Flexible

July 4, 2013 by Paul Edwards Leave a Comment

“Fail fast and be flexible” was the topic of a keynote address at a recent Association of Small Business Development Centers annual conference. Few messages are more pertinent to many companies in today’s business climate. We need to find out as quickly as possible what won’t work. Even in starting a business, leading experts, are encouraging entrepreneurs to develop low-cost versions of a product, show them to potential customers get their feedback, improve the product, test it again and then again, until determining a product that is ready to market. This is before developing a business plan. The key to this process is adaptability and flexibility.

So it is with an existing business when the owner finds it struggling after calamitous difficulties. The goal is to recognize problems quickly and no quality is more important than resilience. Resilience amounts to the flexibility to come up from the mat by adapting to changed business conditions despite enormous stress, pressures, threats, and the urge to feel despondent.

Duffy Electric Boat Company provides an example for changing one’s business model. After finding its sales of new boats plunged to almost half their pre-recession level, Duffy quickly turned instead to renting and refurbishing older boats for resale.

Reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code enables businesses to fail fast and repay creditors. Research shows that entrepreneurs who handle liabilities, whether Chapter 11 is used or not, have a better chance to successfully recover, whether they stay in the same business or start another. As we know, Chapter 11 is used by large corporations, such airlines like United, Dow Corning, US Steel, as well as smaller businesses. But Chapter 11 can also help smaller companies streamline their organization or gain time to sell their assets.

Turning to others outside a company for feedback at the first signs of trouble can also make a big difference. Many companies have had success interviewing customers to learn what they like and don’t like about their company and competitors and adjusting their business accordingly. Professionals, such as consultants and psychologists can also provide outside perspectives that enable us to recognize our mistakes early and suggest alternatives.

If you find your business under stress, remember thousands of others have bounced back. That’s the American experience. So face facts quickly and move on.

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Comments on the substance of the blogs are welcome. If you have other questions, please contact me directly for a consulting appointment.

mailto:paul@elmstreeteconomy.com

For an initial free consultation to explore this or another sustainable livelihood that bests suits your personality and your community, contact us.

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Adapted from our March 2012 Costco column.

Do You Need a Business Plan for a Sustainable Home Business?

June 1, 2012 by Paul Edwards Leave a Comment

How many times have you heard a lecturer say that the place to begin a business is with a business plan? What comes to our minds when we hear or read this is a picture of a think formal document. How necessary is this. Some recent research casts doubt.

Peter Economy, who co-authored Lessons From The Edge: Success Secrets for Starting and Growing a Business asked 75 successful entrepreneurs that started out with home based businesses about their business plans. Almost every one said that in hindsight they would not have created a business plan. They indicated that it’s better to dive right in than to plan out every little thing, and said that the only time they needed a formal business plan was when they needed to get outside financing.

David E. Gumpert, author of How to Really Create a Successful Business Plan, and Burn Your Business Plan! concluded from his survey of 42 private investors that half of them had invested in companies without seeing a business plan. Almost 2/3 of them said that an overall evaluation of the business was more critical than a business plan. It seems that business plans are a remnant of the pre-Internet era, ensconced in business school programs and countless textbooks.

Despite these findings business plans are valuable as a means for doing the work that needs to be done if you are a novice to business. Many free tools are available for creating business plans, such as are available on sites like Women’s Economic Ventures , http://www.bplans.com/, http://www.abcbizloans.com and Enloop.com. Learning all you can about a business and your market however, is always a critical exercise. You should be able to answer the following questions before you start any business:

What exactly is the nature of your business? For example, are you selling gourmet chocolates? Are you renting construction equipment? And so on.
Who is going to buy your product or service?
Why should people buy what you are selling?
How is your product or service different than what is already in the marketplace? How will you reach your target customer group?
What tasks do you need to do first to get started? Can you organize your tasks in order of priority, first, second, third, and so on. How will you set the price you will charge?
What will your costs revenue be?

Putting your answers to these questions in writing is helpful, but it doesn’t have to be a complicated 50-page business plan. As we say in our eBook Why Aren’t You Your Own Boss?, the key is to always move forward toward your goal, and to refuse to allow obstacles (like being paralyzed by a formal business plan) get in the way. Every day define at least one goal to accomplish tomorrow, write it in a notebook, and then when you get it done, cross it off your list.

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Comments and questions on the substance of this blogs are welcome. If you have other questions about this website, please contact me directly for a consulting appointment.