Thank you for all the advice. I will look at the social website and post on there also I will start a facebook page to start promoting myself. I've ordered some business cards which should be here soon and will start spreading the word.
So I am guessing you have already decided upon your business trading name?
Have you looked at purchasing an internet domain name?
I was going to say before committing to a company name have a look at what domain names are available to match your proposed company name...
(may be too late if you have already ordered business cards though?)
Even if you leave establishing a website at this early stage almost every half decent company nowadays has some sort of webpage....
and you also have the choice of setting up bespoke company name e-mail addresses...
e.g. You can look more professional as Lukey@"MyCompanyName" rather than Lukey@hotmail or gmail or virgin etc..
If you are looking at domestic, go and have a look at the competent persons website....
http://www.electricalcompetentperson.co.uk/
Do a search with your post-code....
get an idea of how many other electricians you will be competing against...
AND have a look at their company names / emails / Websites or not..
think which ones stand out to you...
If you were looking for a contractor to do some work for your mom & dad... who would you pick?
does you new company name/image/contact details match up with how you would choose a contractor??? :C
Exploit all of the free social media platforms that allow you to put a business listing onto them..
Try to give a physical land-line contact number as well as mobile & emails...
A lot of cowboys only give a mobile No...
If you are serious about being self employed let your target customers find out easily how they can contact you by more than one means..
A land-line and a physical snail-mail address boosts confidence that you are not going to evaporate like a fart in a colander once you've had the customers money!
Even if you have only started up yesterday, you need to cover all options that will not break the bank, to make you look more professional and established.
Notes re; paper-flyers through the letter box...
1/ I've been self employed since 1999..... never ever used paper letterbox flyers.
2/ Me and my better half have just celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary in August... during that time we must have had about a gazillion or more paper flyers come through our door or in the news papers, etc.. etc...
In all that time I could probably count on two fingers the number of flyers I have kept each year...
They are generally the ones telling us when the bin collection days are changing due to Christmas holidays!!!
or which days are green recycling -vs- cans & cardboard recycling...
everything else is binned.. probably never read!!!
(So think very hard about wasting time & money with A5 flyers or similar)
:shakehead
Self employment is bloody hard work....
and the first 5 years are really hard graft getting yourself established....
But statistics show that if you can get past the first five years when most small businesses fail...
then you are probably doing the majority of stuff right with good potential to succeed..
AND also remember....
Even with small businesses that do fail... Very few actually regret having a go!
Better to have a go and not succeed than to look back with regrets thinking.. "I wish I had tried setting up that business when I was thinking about it several years ago".
If you have a partner/wife who is earning a reasonable salary that can be a massive bonus while you are getting yourself setup..
If you do have any dependants needing time and attention, (e.g. children or elderly parents), Self employment, being your own boss, managing your own time can be an unquantifiable bonus!!
Guinness
