This month I moved back to the U.S. after being gone for three years and operating my first ever business, an online one. With this gained experience I want to implement the skills developed towards an in-person business and after some thinking I have decided to move forward with a home services business.
I have already started marketing by going door-to-door in a residential neighborhood near where I am currently living. The principal service I am offering is gutter cleaning but have also done a leaf raking job and can also provide window washing. Having years of d2d experience in addition to cold-calling phone experience help for outbound marketing as there aren't really any nerves for me to get over. It's a numbers game is all.
Skills I want to build through this venture include:
Inbound leads - I have never run an ad in my life. Never even built a website. I know it sounds ridiculous considering my first business was online but digital marketing is something I've yet to learn and this seems like the proper industry to experiment and see results with. I am thinking of Craigslist, Facebook, and Yelp to start out.
General home maintenance skills - I am not the most handy person out there, so being able to move and stabilize a ladder, climb on top of a roof, and operate hand tools and handle material will prove useful down the road once I become a homeowner. Most of the stuff I am pitching I have never actually done but I don't expect it to be an issue since my first business was similar in that I was selling products I had no familiarity with at the time.
Building and managing a system - A major problem I had with my last business was that I was all over the place. I am a scatterbrained individual who doesn't do well with schedules, organization, and planning. Instead I am very much a rapid-fire personality, particularly with marketing. With this home services business I want to learn how to manage things more efficiently, such as jobs, people to hire, and how to become more productive in general.
The overall goal here is to create a business which cashflows enough in order to fund my larger fastlane plan, one which has been somewhat layed out in this thread.
What I have done already:
Bought some basic cleaning supplies such as a rake, a squeegee, towels, etc.
Door knocked in a neighborhood promoting my services.
Got hired for a leaf raking job and been asked for my number for when it snows to pass by and shovel ( was an old lady).
What I plan to do next:
Find my first gutter cleaning job using only a ladder and a hose.
Prepare an ad on craigslist and create a facebook page.
As for today's events...
Knocked about 50 doors in the a.m. and about 1/3 answered with virtually all saying they don't need their gutters cleaned. But one guy spent a few minutes with me outside and told me he wants to replace his entire gutter system as they were damaged when roofers worked on his roof a few years back. I took the homeowners number down and will follow up with him. One woman also seemed interested but her husband wasn't in so I got her number and will also follow up with her. They both asked the typical questions like "are you with a big company?" or "do you have a business card?". It's been a while since I have faced those types of questions so it's good to keep knocking on doors and dealing with the public to build that response muscle. I am going to go back out this afternoon and knock some more then come back and fire up my first ever ad.
A few things to conclude this first post. My main concern at this time is that a lot of the houses in the neighborhood are two stories and I can't envision how I could go all the way to the top of these houses safely. If I am only cleaning the gutters on the first story then that will be fine using a standard ladder, but again I have never cleaned gutters so not entirely sure what to expect.
Ok. Time to get back out in the neighborhood.
I have already started marketing by going door-to-door in a residential neighborhood near where I am currently living. The principal service I am offering is gutter cleaning but have also done a leaf raking job and can also provide window washing. Having years of d2d experience in addition to cold-calling phone experience help for outbound marketing as there aren't really any nerves for me to get over. It's a numbers game is all.
Skills I want to build through this venture include:
Inbound leads - I have never run an ad in my life. Never even built a website. I know it sounds ridiculous considering my first business was online but digital marketing is something I've yet to learn and this seems like the proper industry to experiment and see results with. I am thinking of Craigslist, Facebook, and Yelp to start out.
General home maintenance skills - I am not the most handy person out there, so being able to move and stabilize a ladder, climb on top of a roof, and operate hand tools and handle material will prove useful down the road once I become a homeowner. Most of the stuff I am pitching I have never actually done but I don't expect it to be an issue since my first business was similar in that I was selling products I had no familiarity with at the time.
Building and managing a system - A major problem I had with my last business was that I was all over the place. I am a scatterbrained individual who doesn't do well with schedules, organization, and planning. Instead I am very much a rapid-fire personality, particularly with marketing. With this home services business I want to learn how to manage things more efficiently, such as jobs, people to hire, and how to become more productive in general.
The overall goal here is to create a business which cashflows enough in order to fund my larger fastlane plan, one which has been somewhat layed out in this thread.
What I have done already:
Bought some basic cleaning supplies such as a rake, a squeegee, towels, etc.
Door knocked in a neighborhood promoting my services.
Got hired for a leaf raking job and been asked for my number for when it snows to pass by and shovel ( was an old lady).
What I plan to do next:
Find my first gutter cleaning job using only a ladder and a hose.
Prepare an ad on craigslist and create a facebook page.
As for today's events...
Knocked about 50 doors in the a.m. and about 1/3 answered with virtually all saying they don't need their gutters cleaned. But one guy spent a few minutes with me outside and told me he wants to replace his entire gutter system as they were damaged when roofers worked on his roof a few years back. I took the homeowners number down and will follow up with him. One woman also seemed interested but her husband wasn't in so I got her number and will also follow up with her. They both asked the typical questions like "are you with a big company?" or "do you have a business card?". It's been a while since I have faced those types of questions so it's good to keep knocking on doors and dealing with the public to build that response muscle. I am going to go back out this afternoon and knock some more then come back and fire up my first ever ad.
A few things to conclude this first post. My main concern at this time is that a lot of the houses in the neighborhood are two stories and I can't envision how I could go all the way to the top of these houses safely. If I am only cleaning the gutters on the first story then that will be fine using a standard ladder, but again I have never cleaned gutters so not entirely sure what to expect.
Ok. Time to get back out in the neighborhood.
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