Garry, Have looked at that magic 100 an hour wondering how many get that. At some point I will need a vehicle. Am looking at 25K with 40,000 miles. Insurance for vehicle not included. Have batted various overhead scenarios around, business phone, laptop or tablet, website, advertising etc…At one scenario with a shop I was looking at 165 an hour on a 200 day season. Warming up to, Hey Mr. Garry, are you now charging 100 an hour and getting work at that rate day in and day out? Like this school we’re all batting around right now, OP is looking at about 35 an hour for himself if he hires a helper. And that’s still before taxes. So…OP makes 10 an hour net, net, net, on a 5K job. Whaa a deal. Taxes? Right now I’m netting about 30% of what I gross. I love American Free Enterprise. One scenario I have looked at is if I was a corporation, the corporation would buy me a truck. I like that. Anywho, maybe I’ll screw up my courage some more and quote someone a hundred an hour, and see what happens. One thing I do know, at a buck a pane for storefront, a hundred an hour seems hard to reach. You big money guys could chime in on this and let us know if you command a hundred and hour as a solo OP. Thanks, I’m typing and I can’t shut up. 
Ok. So it would be great if people knew I was a fireman. But I am not allowed to associate with the fire department. So that’s out of the question. Just hoping to get these 1000 door hangers out in the next couple weeks.
Pay for what you can afford, and what you can afford is you first.
- A website doesn’t bring any more money into your pocket than pounding the streets does. It actually costs money to build, start, and keep going.
- A small station wagon or truck off of Craigslist will get you started. Just have a garage do a pre purchase check up on it. Most will do it for $50-$100. If the seller won’t agree - walk away. If the seller wants to see the pre inspection report, sell it to them. After all you would have had to pay for it. You can earn your way to a better vehicle, but transportation is the basic need for you.
- Your cellphone is your business phone. You only need one until you earn your way from need to want.
- Advertising is as expensive or as cheap as you decide upon. Do what you can until you can do what you want.
- Some days are 8 hours, some days are 4 or 6 hours of billable time. Some jobs pay well, some jobs wish they paid more, but it is what it is. Self employed billable hours should come close to $100 hr. If you add all of the billable hours and all of the non billable hours for the week your figures will not show $100 per hour. If you look at the end of the month or quarter you should be billing to be profitable. It ain’t easy, or everyone would be doing it.
- The corporation buying you a truck would only do so if you were making money for the corporation. If you can do that then you can buy yourself a truck.
- Starting out only store front you will have to earn a lot of store front jobs to build what you need/want. $1 or $2 per pane is a slow hill to climb, unless you land hundreds of jobs in a short time.
I just recently purchased anew family truck. Now I have my old truck as my business vehicle. It isn’t that nice slightly rusty but it runs great. I got my website up and running. No work from that yet but did cost me 100 for the year. Didn’t think it was to bad of a deal. At least gets people to see I’m legit once I pass out the door hangers. Except I bought the door hangers prior to my website so it’s not even on the door hangers. But a google search brings me up. The Corp buying me a truck? How does that work? As in my earnings paying for it? Lol I only am making 50-60$ month off two store fronts now.
Long term route is wise, but so much time to build.
Most jump to resi and don’t look back.
You got this, if you are willing to sacrifice for it.
Good luck man
Not even while you are doing a lady’s house, in the course of the conversation just mentioning it if you get the opportunity?
For the corp to buy a truck all it takes is money or good credit. The corp could also buy your personally owned vehicle and let you drive it as a perk for being such a top notch employee. Being incorporated has many advantages. If you need guidance on the benefits of being incorporated I recommend you get counseling from your local SBA, which your local Chamber of Commerce can surely provide.
If you aren’t a member of theChamber you should research the benefits of joining. I have done work for the local Chamber and got some excellent referrals.
nope. Aint that some crap. Pretty bull crap if you ask me. I was told to not affiliate with the FD at all when running my business. Now. If they recognize me and flat out say hey are you a fireman then yes. I was told I do not have to lie but I can not use my city position to help me land any job or get any sort of upper hand. Bummer cause I was excited to throw that around.
I have no clue what you mean lol. Such a newb. What is a SBA. I dont do credit in our lives. We save and pay cash. But would be nice if the company could buy the truck from me for me lol
SBA = Small Business Administration, a nationwide nonprofit organization that can provide valuable guidance and servic s to startups such as yours.
Chamber of Commerce networking can be much more productive and pleasant than storefront canvassing. You can bypass the front counter naysaying “gatekeepers” and get on a first name basis with the decision making owners and managers.
For example, at a recent monthly meeting while I was hanging up my jacket I was approached by a member “I need you to do a cleaning for my house.” “Great! I will be there tomorrow.”
Dang. That would have been pretty cool otherwise.
What you really have to understand and accept is that the $8.00/hour employee working at Verizon (or wherever) doesn’t care about your business or personal success. If you’re not there to purchase a phone, you’re just bothering them. You win some, you lose some. Some employees will be warmer and more helpful than others. The General Manager, District Manager, Owner, etc is who you really want to talk to. Sometimes you’re just in the right place at the right time and the person you need to speak with (the decision maker) just so happens to be there that day. Stick with it. Leave them with a written estimate whether they want one or not. We do door to door sales all the time and sometimes walk out thinking, “that was a big waste of time”. Months later, sometimes years later they call up and say, “Hey you gave us a window cleaning estimate 12 months ago. Our old window cleaner went missing in action and we need a reliable service. Is the offer still good”?
For every 10 estimates we write, 1 converts into a sale. Sometimes right then and there on the spot, sometimes weeks/months later after an exhausting game of cat and mouse, and sometimes they just call back out of nowhere when we least expect it. Force yourself to go write 50+ estimates per week and you will do just fine.
You can also put an introduction quote in an envelope to the manager and mail it to them. Bypassing the minimum wager earner altogether. 
I.M.O. maybe look into changing the script. I have gotten more work from people whom didn’t like the last guys approach. You might be coming off to strong or not strong enough its a game of gauging the customer not everyone will be the same.
Now on to Corp that is a game in itself but once you get the understanding it will be like any other pitch. District is the ones you need to get in touch with and that is a guarded secret many workers feel. But its not the best way is to build some sort of relationship with the store manager. Ive done this in one visit and some took multiple visits. Once you have some sort of rapport with them then its a simple “Hey (JOE) when is the District Boss cruising by this month” works most of the time. Other times leave with them knowing you are available for store visits ( A KEY TO GETTING FOOT IN THE DOOR)
Banks are great to get cause they pay fast. Open a Business bank account in the one whom has the most buildings and deal with the Manager ( the Lead manager not just the under manager lol They always have one person in charge) while talking talk to them about the windows and if they have a person. Even if they do ask if you can send a bid ( Try and get a yes ) and let them know you can bulk (* Don’t price each the same do a little leg works and visit them cause each one is different* ) all the banks into one account one payment once a month. If they are using a bunch of different washers they will see the value in using one for all of them. And if you do other things let them know (powerwasher office cleaning etc) Everyone loves when they have one company with one invoice.
Also Remember just cause you didn’t get the job today don’t mean the job wont be yours soon enough.
