[ronnie paton]

how do you know what i earn

so the electric wheels how do they work??
might sound silly but i would be worried that the connectors would get damaged amongst other problems

[ronnie paton]

quality and volume are always different?

well what a load of tosh, we do a high volume of work to a quality standard and i think im value.

value isnt always cheaper its value ie a do a job £10 do a top job some good quality always on time amd some ome elses does it for £6 doesnt do has good a job and turns up when he wants..........to me and my customer IM VALUE BUT NOT CHEAP

[Clive McDonald]

The balance is between quality volume and value.Because i have a large customer base i can keep costs down and offer better value, and the quality has to do with extras such as cleaning gutters on cons as standard.Like i said you should pay me ewan

Good to see you agree ron, great minds and all that. Before the credit runch hit, but american subprime experts were talking about a financial sumnami hitting the rest of the world, ewan said it was all a media invention and we were gullible mugs for listening to such twaddle.I think he's prime minister material.

[bobplum]

i dont know if it going to work but ive did the culling of work and taking on better paid etc. then i approached my local council and interviewed a few young lads and got one good one. the council pay his wages while he works for me for 13 weeks then i get a grant for a further 8 weeks paying his wages in full then 1/2 his wages for another 4 weeks then 1/4 wages for a further 4 weeks and then and if i can afford it i will be responsible for his wages.
if it doesnt work out i will have to let him go but so far it going good
[/quote
is this a scheme being run nationally can you give us more info
bob]

[Londoner]

I've been following this thread with interest and it relates very personally to my situation because I am always bursting with work that I find hard to cover.

I have always said I would never take on a helper and I have been asked many times by lads looking for work. To me it would destroy the simple easy life associated with being a one man band.

You have to cull the bad jobs and the underpriced jobs but its really hard to do. Its easy to talk about but I keep putting it off. I must be the worlds worst.

My advice is make lists, List A = all the customers you want to put up prices and List B =all the customers to drop. Then work the lists into an order of priority. With the end of the year coming up you have a natural time to start telling your customers you will have to put their prices up on Jan 1st

[ftp]

Exactly the same for me. I have some nice customers but low priced and I have some crappy ones but well priced. It's going to be hard to get rid of a lot of them.

[ftp]

I have thought about employing but don't have the gumption to go for it. I could in theory have a mini empire. I have a brand name as such, plenty of work and have never really looked for work. I'm sure if I advertised properly I could expand easily especially if I really pushed the guttering/plastics cleaning side of the business. I like the simplicity of working for myself there is lots of potential out there, of that i'm sure.

[Totus]

Just bought some work today off a bloke new houses, new faces, new opportunities.....love it!

[Clive McDonald]

This is a very funny topic, he asks those that have done it, and of those that have replied only one ronnie really has, and his comments were pretty much ignored.

Those that have replied have said more about why they haven't done it.Oh, i could have an empire if i could be bothered, but i like to keep things simple. How many people have you met who say- window cleaning, i thought about doing that, i could have been made by now. The fact is they didn't, just as none of the posters who could expand have expanded.They talk a good fight or game, but that's it, they bottle it in the real world.

It is scary, the first steps especially, and the likelyhood is you would be worse off financally to begin with as well as having extra stress.Mostly those replying have a well paid job(but not necessarily a business), and want to keep it that way.This is okay, but i find the work too hard, and would prefer someone else did it while i still get most of the money.

[Dean Taberner]

This is a very funny topic, he asks those that have done it, and of those that have replied only one ronnie really has, and his comments were pretty much ignored.

Those that have replied have said more about why they haven't done it.Oh, i could have an empire if i could be bothered, but i like to keep things simple. How many people have you met who say- window cleaning, i thought about doing that, i could have been made by now. The fact is they didn't, just as none of the posters who could expand have expanded.They talk a good fight or game, but that's it, they bottle it in the real world.

It is scary, the first steps especially, and the likelyhood is you would be worse off financally to begin with as well as having extra stress.Mostly those replying have a well paid job(but not necessarily a business), and want to keep it that way.This is okay, but i find the work too hard, and would prefer someone else did it while i still get most of the money.

I have 2 employees

[dd]

Oh I forgot window cleaning is special, every other mass market product or service is also quality?

Value is cheaper – that’s why they call it value.

Cheaper & cheap are different; I never said anybody is cheap.

Hope this tosh helps clarifying my point.   

If you pay a cheap price for goods or service of sub-standard quality that is not value.

If you pay a say twice as much for goods or service of a good standard that is much better value.

Sorry Ewan but much of the time your posts make little sense IMO.

[Clive McDonald]

Point one is you don't have an opinion on the topic, and point two is that yours is a slightly different business model because you are prepared to travel (sleep out?) and do out of the ordinary  commercial jobs etc.

What i would say about you dean is that you are more of a natural, you go on instinct and have a pretty good aptitude. I am more of a theory person. Most of the replies show no grasp of either.

[Dean Taberner]

 

Thats fair enough slumpy

I do have one opinion though,

If you want your business to grow you really do need to employ.

Dean

[LSB]

if youre not sure , then start by employing on a part - time basis and also pay them by the hour !

on rainy days or quiet days you have the option of getting them to canvass / leaflet to help your business grow and to keep them earning something , or not use them to save on wages , and of course they can help you catch up when reqd .

you will of course initially have more time off yourself than before and earned less after what you paid in wages . you might prefer the extra time off ?

or more likely you round will grow as you will have more time to manage it , build it and look after what you already have , aswell as all the new customers that you will be getting from your new way of working .

the very best of luck to you !
lloyd.

[Dean Taberner]

"you" doesnt mean you personally slumpbuster

[geefree]

Theres cheaper than the most expensive cheap one.

and cheaper than the cheapest cheap one. 

[trevor perry]

employing has good and bad points, first it is very hard to get the right staff and almost impossible to get ones to do things the way you would there is also lots more paperwork involved ie training, health and safety employment law, wages, vat etc you will make more money than trying to do all work on your own but dont expect massive leaps in income because your costs escalate at a massive rate when you take into account the above costs and extra vehicles equipment and work premises, my conclusion is i can see why many choose not to employ as it isnt as easy as may first look but for others they see it as a challenge and like challenges for people like this i would say go for it.