ACE
Member
Chris Adkins' Post got me thinking. What is the most a guy working totally solo could hope to make? Answering the phone himself, doing the books and doing all the work.
Owner Op Income
- Thread starter ACE
- Start date
What is the biggest challenge to most one man operations? Is it getting enough work done or is it getting enough work?
My bet is getting enough work.
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Logan Carpet Cleaning Columbia, MO Carpet Cleaning
Bellingham Carpet Cleaning
My bet is getting enough work.
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Logan Carpet Cleaning Columbia, MO Carpet Cleaning
Bellingham Carpet Cleaning
Brian R
Member
rick imby said:
It's both
If You're not working, you are getting the work...once you start working the work that you got the getting of the work stops....then once you're done with the work you suddenly don't have any work because you were too busy working on the work you had and now you have to start getting more work.
Repeat.
There is a limit...but you choose the limit by your prices on each job. Area matters as well.
You can do $220.00 without killing yourself in my area. But what is your house payment?
If you want more and more...YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE HELP OF OTHERS...You can't argue this.
Not one person in this world has become what I consider to be successful or has become successful completely on his/her own.
Kathy my tech works cleaning three days a week, she works for CCS the other two days, she cleans between 700-1100 dollars for a full day i.e. 7 hours or so.
She works alone, is LOVED by the customers, and does incredible cleaning.
Most important thing, TRAIN them first to be exceptional cleaners, then train them to do it efficiently.
She works alone, is LOVED by the customers, and does incredible cleaning.
Most important thing, TRAIN them first to be exceptional cleaners, then train them to do it efficiently.
The biggest problem is failing to keep the pipeline full.
Drive through neighborhoods late at night or very early in the morning with a member of the family to throw your fliers. Do cleaning during day, call your answering machine or voice mail every hour. Return calls immediately.
Personal management, not personnel management when you are a one man team.
Works for me.
Drive through neighborhoods late at night or very early in the morning with a member of the family to throw your fliers. Do cleaning during day, call your answering machine or voice mail every hour. Return calls immediately.
Personal management, not personnel management when you are a one man team.
Works for me.
daniel@procarpet
Member
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2008
- Messages
- 3,797
Mike I am in a similar situation as you. I would say you can average 3 grand a week but you will be working you arse off. Get a part time helper and you can gross 4 grand a week and have two days a week off. Have your helper do the driving while you do papper work between jobs. If your helper is decent then they can do jobs on your days off. To me this is the fastest path to creating real financial wealth. Once you stack a good sum of money (million dollars) up in 5-7 years by living meager then you can expand. If anything else you will need someone to answer your phone. Talking with customers all day just kills your productivity. Not having to worry about answering your phone will allow you to focus on working. Having a helper will allow you get jobs done in half the time while at the same time do a more thorough job. Everybody has their own formula. This may help. Try making yourself spend 10 percent of your total gross each month on advertising. The more you gross the more you will spend. That is what I am going to start doing. The key is getting the most for your money or the highest roi.
Brian R
Member
Forward your phone to your cell phone...or just make your cell phone the main phone.
ACE
Member
My first employee starts Monday. A salesperson. I outlined this idea in an earlier post judging from the replies no one really read the post in detail. It will end up costing me about 4K for marketing materials and base salary for the first few months. After the first three months it’s straight commission. This will be a huge jump for me but you have to take chances. I could easily piss way the same amount of money on a couple of non productive YP AD. Wish me luck, I need it!
Sounds great. You might want to establish some progress markers in the form of weekly and monthly goals with some bonus for hitting the mark and this way he/she is expected to gradually get closer to the goal at 90 days. If he/she is not on track, you have a good reason for ending the temporary job as a floating worker sees it. I would not take excuses, just measurements against a progress chart of goals.
Here in Oregon we have some real lazy people who think you are being harsh expecting them to show up for their pay and would prefer you just send them the money at double the rate you want to pay. They are more like welfare freeloaders. So we get synical about their unbelievably bad luck. Here, the only reason for termination that will not result in unemployment checks is Gross Misconduct. Not making sales is not gross misconduct. In fact walking into the office and shooting all of your office workers dead is not gross misconduct and you could get you checks while in jail.
Here, if you fire someone for doing drugs or alcohol on the job they can sue you, be reinstated and you have to pay for their drug rehab as well. I sure miss California's labor laws. At least there the state doesn't act like it feels guilty for the addiction. Here, addicts are coddled like poor little children who have been traumatized by a tragic event.
Here in Oregon we have some real lazy people who think you are being harsh expecting them to show up for their pay and would prefer you just send them the money at double the rate you want to pay. They are more like welfare freeloaders. So we get synical about their unbelievably bad luck. Here, the only reason for termination that will not result in unemployment checks is Gross Misconduct. Not making sales is not gross misconduct. In fact walking into the office and shooting all of your office workers dead is not gross misconduct and you could get you checks while in jail.
Here, if you fire someone for doing drugs or alcohol on the job they can sue you, be reinstated and you have to pay for their drug rehab as well. I sure miss California's labor laws. At least there the state doesn't act like it feels guilty for the addiction. Here, addicts are coddled like poor little children who have been traumatized by a tragic event.
If I were still taking care of the office work myself, I would be tapped out at a little over 100k, without a helper. With Steph in the office and me pretty much only working on big picture stuff, that numbers closer to 150k. I'm shooting for 200k with a helper, and I think we can do that without me killing myself. Now these numbers are for podunk NE Ohio, not sure how your area compares economically...
ACE
Member
duckster said:
Wow, I have never heard an employer say they miss California’s labor laws. She will be working as an independent contractor so, no worries about labor laws. Having no sales program currently in place, I find setting sales goals slightly unrealistic. Instead, I want to set dollar goals for estimates submitted tell the end of the year say at least 30-35K. Then I will have some data to set sales goals with and be able to break that down into daily tasks.
GeneMiller
Member
Mike I did eveything for the last 16 years. I have only had a helper for the last 2 years. I forward my business line to my cell. I use a work belt and I carry my computer and calculator in it along with pads and 2 spotters. The great thing about the helper is that when I am on the phone the machine is still moving. I still use the daytimer program to schedule my appointments from back when I used the sharp wizard scheduler. The only time that I don't answer the phone is when I am talking to the homeowner, other then that I answer. People hate answering machines. I return calls the second I'm free.
Gene
Wayne Miller
Member
Yep, what Mike said about keeping the pipeline full. It's hard to work on your business when you're always working in it. There's only so many hours in the day.
Brian R
Member
I've gotten to the point now that if I miss a call....I will use the caller ID and call them right back. I used to think that was rude but I think different now.
If they say "no" I would have lost that customer anyway. I have scheduled a few from doing this.
I would recommend it to anyone.
If they say "no" I would have lost that customer anyway. I have scheduled a few from doing this.
I would recommend it to anyone.
Ron Werner
Member
call display is a great tool.
Besides calling back missed calls, I capture a number so when I answer, if I'm in the middle of work, I can say I'll call them back and I don't have to write down the number.
The challenge is answering tooo many calls when working really slows production. Voice mail works well to esp if you say that you're probably working or out of cell zone, most will leave a message.
As for how much $/yr, once I start getting so busy as to hit double digits in a month, it gets wearisome. A comfortable income is ave about $600/day.
Besides calling back missed calls, I capture a number so when I answer, if I'm in the middle of work, I can say I'll call them back and I don't have to write down the number.
The challenge is answering tooo many calls when working really slows production. Voice mail works well to esp if you say that you're probably working or out of cell zone, most will leave a message.
As for how much $/yr, once I start getting so busy as to hit double digits in a month, it gets wearisome. A comfortable income is ave about $600/day.
ACE
Member
Ron Werner said:
$600 average for how many working days in a month? $600 x 20 days =$12K (Double Digits)
When do you not ansewr the phone or turn down a job becuse it's your day off? My other dilemma is when to clock out.
I agree a one truck operation needs to be run very efficiently and the phone is your lifeline. I take advantage of all that technology has to offer ( Call forwarding, Caller ID and GPS). The key is to really know where you want to go with your business. If you want to be a one man band have a pan to make the most of your time. If you want to grow, set some attainable goals that put you on track.
