[ftp]

What cleaning windows? That is sad.

[mci services]

dean it differs from area to area but i went to the business gateway/link in england and asked some advice on expanding and they pointed me to the council who run a employment and training unit where they have shacks loads of cash to get youngsters into work. there is other schemes and grants as well for the older lads looking for work.

it really depends on the area you are in though and whats available money wise. but they agreeded to put my lad through cscs, and ladder asssociation training and any other course i can think of at no cost to me. and they supplied him with my company uniform, and safety boots etc even managed to get a decent supply of micro fibres from them

and when we have did the weeks work me and the lad are out canvassing and leafletting

[matt]

I wouldnt fancy being a one man band in my 60s matt especially trad,

Fair enough wfp has helped but the way this government is going we'll be working till we are 80.

nothing worse that sitting at home waiting to die

Totally agree there,

Off subject patrick swayze is doing just that so ive just read on aol, very sad.

Dean

it is very sad, he has put up a battle though

[geefree]

You do where i come from 

[ftp]

50 jobs?
That would have to be some major contracts a month. 

[ftp]

So you've got fifty ten pound jobs a week and it's time to employ - hardly going to pay two wages on that?

[ftp]

Or £500 of work surely?

[ftp]

I don't understand what you are saying Ewan.
£500 of work a week can't be split between an employer and an employee - it's not enough money to run a proper buisiness. How can anyone survive on part time money?

[Clive McDonald]

A lot wont post on this that could gazza but i see it as finding out what you suspected is probably true.

By that i mean, when you first come on this forum you think most of the posts are rubbish. People who claim 200 a day etc are fantasists. Then you start to think if you had enough work and you arranged the best paying into one best ever twelve hour stint then possibly...

From there to achieving it is a journey, and to having a day when you view dipping under it on any one day as failure is another.But by now you have seen posts where people run two or three vans and expect each van with a two man team to hit above four. What? i thought i'd got this sorted and i was the man. Turns out i'm a nobody.

So it goes on. You either believe and follow, or decide it's a load of rubbish and stay as you are. It irritates me that some who claim a lifestyle choice are only too quick to ridicule the life style of others.(ie those that choose  five a day as a healthy lifesyle).

If you do decide to expand you need lots of ideas and you need to think about everything.The way i do things is to have the best kit and systems and use anything to add value to my business.This nearly always turns out to be my mind, either nicking ideas off here, from a business book or just doing things better. There aren't enought hours in the day or years in your life to do it all yourself.

[ftp]

So slumpy, do you feel you've done the right thing? Are your earnings improving?
Have you fallen out with your employee yet?

[Mike #1]

i know 1 guy been in the business 24 yrs and would not employ anybody now after 20yrs of let downs his brother has just given up after 10 yrs or so he has gone form trad to wfp as he knows when nhe has perfected wfp he will manage his round on his own , i have never employed anybody and have a sucessful business all on my own

[Clive McDonald]

Well to start with i'm not one of the guys who have done it, in the post title, and am not trying to big myself up.Like you- and ewan for that matter- i'm just kicking the topic about.

I've been very lucky with my helper, reading posts on here it seems it is hard to find someone good. My best ever day solo, is below the base for current earnings.I spend a lot on kit and advertsing.

In the early weeks we ran out of work.When it rains my wife is forever ringing up for me to take him home.All she can see is that we are paying him to do nothing.

If there are opps in the credit crunch, one is that you can get good people that in better times would be doing something more lucrative. I came back from hols a week ago and have twelve pages of george.We are hitting the list very hard but not gaining partly because the housing market has restarted and partly because some of my ideas are working.

[peter holley]

ok.this is how im building and it works for me. I have a part time employee. hes an ex doorman an still does security work mostly on weekends, He does two days with me..on those days  I make 33%  more than I could on my own..my round is building, and so some weeks I give him 3 or 4 days. building a quality round takes time.

I go door knocking once a week.i dont get rid of underpriced work  ... I do it on a friday, if iv run out of work 

[ftp]

Big myself up?

Hardly, you are ahead of me - you employ. I'm still very much a newbie really. I'm not taking the pee, I'm interested to know how you've got on. People are telling me to take someone on but I'm not ready for that and don't think I ever will. I couldn't work day in day out with anyone I'm too picky for that.
I'll probably stay the way i am and maybe try to weed out the worst.

[Dave Turley]

hiya, it is possible to increase your earnings substantially over time without the hassle of employing.

I advertise a lot, quote expensive for new work, then when i've got too much to cope with get rid of the cheapest/most awkward work.

in the past i've just given work away to my stepdad and brother. a few weeks ago I sold a lump of work as it was too well priced to give away and my stepdad and brother have plenty of work now.

moving forward on my own with a lump sum every 6 months (at a guess). that'll do for me!   

sickness/accident insurance is useful for a bit of peace of mind as well

[geefree]

Thanks for all the interesting replies.

It certainly is food for thought, the more i think about it the less i want to employ,

But sometimes i get that busy with facia cleaning and conservatory roofs, that i think it would be great to have a little help,

Then it passes, i catch up ... then i carry on and forget about help,

Then it comes around again,

so maybe you are right Ewan....

These are the wrong reasons to employ..

So what are the right reasons?

[Clive McDonald]

Quote
The ones whose heads have gotten a little large, have gone and started employing far too soon, when they haven’t even achieved a level of success being a sole trader.

Thanks for that ewan. My heads gotten a little large i'll have to remember that .

Gazza there is a physical limit to how much you can earn.To break it you need top end kit and systems.But this still puts you at a limit.To break this limit you either have to have some kind of gamma ray experience or be bitten by a radioactive spider to become a kind of superhero window cleaner, or else you can get help (I mean employ not the phyciatric sort that ewan has).

[ronnie paton]

not kept up with all the thread but my opinion for what its worth is that you need to be at the point were your struggling maybe working late and weekends(helps if this happens in the summer months)
 then when the dark nights come take some one on, dont expect to earn much more but be patient and in your spare time you should have get more work.

You may not reap the rewards at first but once you get a couple of staff it frees up your time to have more of a relaxing work schedule while your employees earn you money!!

Employees and stree can come hand in hand but i feel if i way the pros and cons i wouldnt look back.

For the record i have two vans two employees and i work about one day a week earning a little more than working my balls off all week on my own.

[Clive McDonald]

At the risk of ahem appearing big headed..
As for top end kit, i do have two state of the art red ash reels that wind in electicaly and couple of slx's with specialy modified supalites on the end. Everything is designed for speed, from pulling up two brush's need to be on the glass in under twenty seconds, and upon finishing the hose needs to fly into the van.

Keep your promise to the customer and you will make money.Rememer three things, quality, volume, and value. You should pay me for these lessons ewan

[Clive McDonald]

and for the record i earn same as ron but still have to work hard every day.