Looking for advice, expecting a lecture or 17 :)

[Dolf112]

It's under served IF there are enough people who'd be willing to pay more for that extra level of service. But, not if people wouldn't pay more. For example, many people don't want to pay a penny more a month for cell phone service, but would willingly upgrade to the Concierge Luxury Floor for a hotel stay.

Extremely well pointed out!

 

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[Late Bloomer]

I am now in a business program where I have a mentor who likes to rip business plans up in front of you if it doesn't make sense

That may be a way to prevent a losing plan from going off the deep end. But, be wary... apparently the business plan for Federal Express, was a business class project that only got a mediocre, C-minus grade.

 

[Dolf112]

That may be a way to prevent a losing plan from going off the deep end. But, be wary... apparently the business plan for Federal Express, was a business class project that only got a mediocre, C-minus grade.

Thanks for the tip. I see it as a good thing because if for example the guy points out something that he thinks does not make sense, first he will explain it in an in-depth and logical way. "so I hear". Then allow me to debate with him about it.

I think the whole point of the process is so he can play devils advocate and press on the weak spots, but he is also a self-made guy who doesn't mess around trying to play mr nice guy.

 

[Roli]

The first one when I was 17 was a franchise of a property maintenance company. I got it at a discounted rate as I was an employee and I didn't know anything and it all went well at first until they started telling me to add extra services and I had no choice because it was in the contract etc.
It taught me how to manage teams and deal with difficult people.

The second one was a business where I sold dairy products and sundries to cafes and shops at wholesale prices. Within 6 months I had way surpassed what I expected to hit in the first year but the problem was I knew nothing of systems so it got to the point that if I slept 2 hours a night it would be heaven. I burned out and had to sell up. Learnt a lot about myself with this one.

The third was a cleaning services business where I had a partner. He also a sales guy but knowing nothing about systems was keen to just "Get the leads in". The mess would just be future his problem.
I set up systems, built a website, adwords campaign, social media marketing and we were generating leads at a steady rate and also were contacted by the local fire service to attend an event and asked to be in a sizable charity faire locally.
The issues came when he just couldn't see the process and wanted to just hammer every nail like a door to door salesman, we argued and I wasn't in the right mental space and I just resigned.

Apart from that I have spent a majority of my time as a sales person, self employed.

OK, that's some good experience there and perhaps some clues as to where you should cast your rod next.

I think the common theme I see there is that you were slave to a system that you didn't necessarily agree with, or understand. You also seem to have had enough experiences with these three businesses to get a good insight into how they work.

So that leaves you with two initial broad choices:

1. Use the experience you have to build a better service in one of the three business areas you mention above.

2. Use the experience you have in working with failing systems, to implement a better process in an entirely new industry.

As far as option 1 is concerned, I personally am a services guy, I tried my hand at products but just didn't have the enthusiasm (or knowledge) to see it through, so I would tend to lean towards either the property maintenance or cleaning services; or even mash them into one.

Option 2 is potentially the more lucrative, there are common problems in every industry, and sometimes the solution from one is transferable to another. You may find that in these three businesses you've been involved in, that there was a way to solve a problem that to you was obvious, but nobody else seemed to be doing it.

On top of that, you may realise that the solution you've thought of, can be transposed to other industries and nobody has thought about it.

The most important things to think about before your decision are scale, and enthusiasm.

Scale - Can whatever you chose be scaled up from a local one man business, to a national, through to multi-national and global?

What are the economies of scale? - Is it something that can grow using its own profits, or are you going to need investment at various stages?

Enthusiasm - Being passionate about something is not a prerequisite to having a successful business, but being enthusiastic is. Without enthusiasm you'll get out once the going is slightly hard, let alone tough. So most of all, take your time, because once you choose, you'd expect that that's you for the next few years at least, so don't rush into anything just because you're keen to get started at something.

So in summary, I would try and use the experience of the property maintenance and cleaning company, and try to use what I knew about the common problems in those businesses, to build a better one.

Remember, the owner of this forum didn't invent something new, he just took an existing service and improved the hell out of it.

 

[WJK]

Have you done this type of work before? How can you hire people if your aren't an expert at doing the job? How can you know how much time your workers should spend? How can you make a plan for handling problems? What about the days that your crew doesn't show up? Are you going to do the work?

I already have it in my head I won't be doing the work personally (not afraid to get my hands dirty if needs must) but I plan to use my contacts to fulfill the work. It's taken me a long time to realise I am much more effective at the sales side than actually doing the work.

Being the boss sounds very sexy. It's not. You work longer and harder than anyone else. They finish work and go home. You stay and make have make sure that everything is ready for your crew tomorrow.

What counts is how much $ you left on Friday night after all the bills are paid. The rewards can be great -- or you can be left holding the bag. I started out doing the work myself and added people when I had more work than I could do. I still do the selling, but I can still jump in a do anything that needs to be done. And, yes, I'm girl...

 

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[Dolf112]

Have you done this type of work before? How can you hire people if your aren't an expert at doing the job? How can you know how much time your workers should spend? How can you make a plan for handling problems? What about the days that your crew doesn't show up? Are you going to do the work?



Being the boss sounds very sexy. It's not. You work longer and harder than anyone else. They finish work and go home. You stay and make have make sure that everything is ready for your crew tomorrow.

What counts is how much $ you left on Friday night after all the bills are paid. The rewards can be great -- or you can be left holding the bag. I started out doing the work myself and added people when I had more work than I could do. I still do the selling, but I can still jump in a do anything that needs to be done. And, yes, I'm girl...

I don't know whether the way you wrote that was intended to touch a nerve, but it did haha!
At first it put me on the defensive.
It's more because you sound like a problem finder rather than a problem solver in your post, but I'm sure you meant well.

My initial thought was can Richard Branson fly an aeroplane if his pilot is sick, but I'll answer sensibly.

Yes I have done the work before myself.
Yes I ran jobs with teams of subcontractors and managed it all.
Yes I have multiple contacts.
Being the boss doesn't sound sexy at all, sounds like a lot of sacrifice for long term gain.
Thank you for your input but I think you missed the point of my original post and I'm also not sure what gender has to do with anything?

 

[Dolf112]

Sounds like there might be some scaling issues in what you are planning
But I'm sure that at your age, going out there and doing the work will lead way to some innovative idea, so you'd be stupid to not just pursue it with an open mind

The super basics of a one man biz or a self made job is that you set up a good schedule
Like have boundaries on how you spend your time, and put certain tasks down in stone regarding when they are to be done.
The more you are "juggling" tasks the more quickly you get tied down and overworked, so scheduling and being clear on what to do with your time is a good thing to get sorted out.
Like I don't allow infinite rescheduling, if I set a time to do a job, I don't expect people to back out without getting charged, this is cuz there is more to work than just the task itself, there is mental preparation and all that sort of thing and it is best to not get "stood up".
So once the date is made keep it, don't allow fiddling around and a million revisions, it saves time and energy you need for expanding your client base.

Other than that, sell people on your services, and don't wait to do so, just sit down and set up a contact list by investigating, then go through those people and ask how they can be benefited and set it up.

What scaling issues do you see?
I'm happy to be told I am wrong but I look at it as if you can establish measurable marketing that works and systems that are effective so it doesn't matter how quickly or slowly you grow. If everything is working in harmony and it is profitable, when you reach the ceiling for one area you can move onto another and use the same methods and same marketing(especially because not much changes from place to place in the UK).

I already have it in my head I won't be doing the work personally (not afraid to get my hands dirty if needs must) but I plan to use my contacts to fulfill the work. It's taken me a long time to realise I am much more effective at the sales side than actually doing the work.

Yes, I agree with the rescheduling part. I already know, depending on the type of work there will be a deposit for most things.

Could you expand on your last point a little please?
You mean literally just call everybody I know?

Thank you

 

[Dolf112]

The scaling issue I see is mostly that it is so labor intensive, and it is in a reasonably competitive space so you will have diminishing returns as you get larger and can't monopolise the available work, so you can only scale to a certain size before it will plateau.

Regarding getting customers I would not blindly call everyone you know.
I'd put out a kind of "awareness" campaign to people inside your network
"Did you know?" and "Here is what he does and why it is great"
So they can share it with people who have need of your services
You know, keep it classy within your network

Outside your network you have to be even more intelligent and look for a good target audience, and figure out which audiences are best, new home buyers perhaps? Or those looking to sell and rennovate before they do to get a higher price? And find a good way to hook that crowd.

You know just common sense rational approaches so people understand what you do, that you exist, and can be relied upon

So are you saying it is hard to make that sort of business a fastlane business unless you have some very unique offering and blaze your own trail in the market?
Again good tips and advice. I didn't think too much about the different types of niche inside the market.
Thank you