Start-Up Help...

phil d · Feb 15, 2017

A good way to get work is to get in with "the right people", I got plenty of work after I happened to be talking to my GP and she mentioned she was having some work done at home, I offered my services and she rang me to do some wiring, I got lots of regular work over the next few years off her and several others as a result of one conversation.

One of the strangest sources of work came from a lady who worked with my wife, she was a bit snobby but not a bad sort when you got to know her, anyway one day she was asking about electricians and my wife offered my services, she said she wanted a "real" electrician, I.e one who advertised in the phone book etc. My wife told her I didn't advertise because I didn't need to, anyway I did one small job for her, then another, then another, eventually if anyone mentioned needing an electrician, she'd say "give me the details and I'll have my electrician call you". From being nobody I had become "her" electrician, sounds mad but sometimes women can be a great source of income, a lot of the time it was women who rang me, women who explained the job and women who picked the fittings, it was only when it came to getting paid that I met the husband.

Evans Electric · Feb 16, 2017

JohnnyThunders   don't let me put you off , I wish you the very best of luck and sincerley hope you are successful . I'm looking back over many years and can see the ones who made a go of it were headed by one person , often one who had that particular drive to push stuff on .   More people than you think just want to turn up , put a shift in & go home to watch telly .

One outfit I remember was what we'd call a "Three man Band " I suppose, it worked for a while but as enquiries increased , the guy who had the nous to do the quoting and whose wife was doing the typing , got fed up with quoting at night ,at home and working a six day week on site . So he opted to start doing in "normal" hours , leaving the others to do the onsite work.

After disagreement over this he passed the quoting & invoicing to one of the others who was shouting the loudest and returned to the tools .   It all then fell apart ,the shouter didn't know how to deal with clients , couldn't quote to save his life, messed the invoices up etc.

Another outfit I remember starting up lasted two years , were driving expensive cars within 3 months , all moved to posher properties after a year .

        After two years it transpired that they had not paid any NI , had nothing put aside to cover their first income tax bill , and had lost their credit at the wholesalers.

I agree that websites are what people look for these days , but as the others have said , the real secret is having contacts .... getting yourselves known in the right areas and with the right people .......... its all about who you know and who knows you .

In your opening post you intimated that English was not your best point ........I'd say from reading your posts that you are a lot more eloquent than you think .

Would you care to say what sort of work , contacts , which field you are looking to work in , industrial , commercial, domestic, new build . Do you have any offers in the pipeline ?

phil d · Feb 16, 2017

Evans Electric said:
JohnnyThunders   don't let me put you off , I wish you the very best of luck and sincerley hope you are successful . I'm looking back over many years and can see the ones who made a go of it were headed by one person , often one who had that particular drive to push stuff on .   More people than you think just want to turn up , put a shift in & go home to watch telly .

One outfit I remember was what we'd call a "Three man Band " I suppose, it worked for a while but as enquiries increased , the guy who had the nous to do the quoting and whose wife was doing the typing , got fed up with quoting at night ,at home and working a six day week on site . So he opted to start doing in "normal" hours , leaving the others to do the onsite work.

After disagreement over this he passed the quoting & invoicing to one of the others who was shouting the loudest and returned to the tools .   It all then fell apart ,the shouter didn't know how to deal with clients , couldn't quote to save his life, messed the invoices up etc.

Another outfit I remember starting up lasted two years , were driving expensive cars within 3 months , all moved to posher properties after a year .

        After two years it transpired that they had not paid any NI , had nothing put aside to cover their first income tax bill , and had lost their credit at the wholesalers.

I agree that websites are what people look for these days , but as the others have said , the real secret is having contacts .... getting yourselves known in the right areas and with the right people .......... its all about who you know and who knows you .

In your opening post you intimated that English was not your best point ........I'd say from reading your posts that you are a lot more eloquent than you think .

Would you care to say what sort of work , contacts , which field you are looking to work in , industrial , commercial, domestic, new build . Do you have any offers in the pipeline ?

Oh yes, a "normal" shift, I remember getting called out in the early hours one morning, luckily I had planned that day as a "paperwork" day. I had been called out to factory at around 2 am, and arrived home about 8 am, I was sat in the front garden having a drink and reading my paper when a neighbour came out to go to work, "all right for some" he called out as he passed my gate. I asked what he meant and he started going on about how some people had to go and do a days work while others sat around reading a paper enjoying the sunny weather. I informed him that I had actually just got back from a 2 am call, he asked why I hadn't told them to wait 'till morning, I told him it didn't work like that and I'd be happy to give him a knock the next time and he could see what it was all about, needless to say he declined my offer.

If you start building up a business you have to realise that work doesn't always start at 8 and finish at 5, Monday to Friday with weekends off, I worked all over Christmas, had Christmas and boxing day off then back to it, shutdown work is like that, same this week, not had a lot on, but like last weekend I'll be out Saturday and Sunday sorting a job that can't be done during business hours. It makes money fair enough, but you need an understanding partner, my wife never moans when I tell her we can't do such and such because I'm working.

Remember the line from Bryan Adam's Summer of 69 " ain't no use in complaining when you've got a job to do".

M107 · Feb 16, 2017

phil d said:
A good way to get work is to get in with "the right people", I got plenty of work after I happened to be talking to my GP and she mentioned she was having some work done at home, I offered my services and she rang me to do some wiring, I got lots of regular work over the next few years off her and several others as a result of one conversation.

One of the strangest sources of work came from a lady who worked with my wife, she was a bit snobby but not a bad sort when you got to know her, anyway one day she was asking about electricians and my wife offered my services, she said she wanted a "real" electrician, I.e one who advertised in the phone book etc. My wife told her I didn't advertise because I didn't need to, anyway I did one small job for her, then another, then another, eventually if anyone mentioned needing an electrician, she'd say "give me the details and I'll have my electrician call you". From being nobody I had become "her" electrician, sounds mad but sometimes women can be a great source of income, a lot of the time it was women who rang me, women who explained the job and women who picked the fittings, it was only when it came to getting paid that I met the husband.

Agree with that, it's amazing how quickly as a sparks we become referred to as "my electrician" by customes

phil d · Feb 17, 2017

M107 said:
Agree with that, it's amazing how quickly as a sparks we become referred to as "my electrician" by customes

I think it's nice too in a way, you've sort of become like a member of the extended family, like they trust you. I remember being on one job out in the sticks and they'd had trouble with this "builder" anyway he was ripping them off and finally after a bit of advice from me they decided to get rid of him. He was told he wasn't getting any more money and to come and collect his tools, Well these people are professionals, she's a doctor and he's a vet, they're lovely people and treat me like family, I jokingly refer to them as uncle John and auntie Julie. I was at their house doing some work, they were both out and there was only me and their daughter at home, she's in her early 20's, anyway this builder rings up and starts making all sorts of threats, he's coming down and there's going to be aggro. The young lady was quite upset by his threats and rang her mum, her mums response left me howling with laughter, "is Phil with you?" she asked, the daughter confirmed that I was, she then replied, "well if he turns up, tell him to get his stuff and leave, if he starts threatening, walk away and let Phil deal with him. He'll not let anything happen to you, plus he eats people like that for breakfast" .

I have to laugh, they're all college educated people, Oxbridge, and get invited to all kinds of posh functions, they're not like us "normal" people, but they trust me implicitly and I'm their go to guy for anything where they feel uncertain. it's great knowing that considering we're worlds apart socially they value my friendship so highly.