Starting my own Buisness

[DirrtySouth78]

Started talking with my friend a cpl months ago about starting up our own buisness. Started with the usual B.S. of wouldn't it be nice if we could do this. We realized we had knowledge to open our own contractors buisness. well a cpl months go by and we are just now getting everything together. Trying to get advertising and word of mouth is the hardest part. We are in process of getting a website together and getting online for more people to see that were out there. We have before/after pics to show our work off and right now I am getting excited that everything is working out the way we had hoped it would.

Our prices are much lower than our competition for the fact that 1. we are just starting out and 2. we don't feel like ripping people off and overcharging like most contractors do.

We had our first cpl jobs last/this week and man does it feel good to not only take pride in the fact that you do a good job, but also that it is my own buisness and all the money is ours.

I'm in the Pittsburgh,PA area and I am hopeful that after a lil while we can have a good list of customers that like our work and would prefer our service and also recommend it.

[sportsdude]

Re: Starting my own Buisness

Started talking with my friend a cpl months ago about starting up our own buisness. Started with the usual B.S. of wouldn't it be nice if we could do this. We realized we had knowledge to open our own contractors buisness. well a cpl months go by and we are just now getting everything together. Trying to get advertising and word of mouth is the hardest part. We are in process of getting a website together and getting online for more people to see that were out there. We have before/after pics to show our work off and right now I am getting excited that everything is working out the way we had hoped it would.

Our prices are much lower than our competition for the fact that 1. we are just starting out and 2. we don't feel like ripping people off and overcharging like most contractors do.

We had our first cpl jobs last/this week and man does it feel good to not only take pride in the fact that you do a good job, but also that it is my own buisness and all the money is ours.

I'm in the Pittsburgh,PA area and I am hopeful that after a lil while we can have a good list of customers that like our work and would prefer our service and also recommend it.

two things:

1. good luck, but there's a reason why it's suggested that you never start or go into business with a friend. I tried to launch a business with two friends and while it was on its way to being very successful and profitable, it crashed and burned because of differences between us. The way everything happened almost cost us our friendships and left me almost five figures short of what I was supposed to receive.

2. please oh please just spell out the word "couple". I have a headache from trying to read that shortened version in your post.

[agte]

Re: Starting my own Buisness

I agree with the friends bit. Also, how much lower are your prices? Maybe you should reconsider being too cheap, I'm afraid you'll make it harder to raise prices as demand for your work (hopefully) increases. Are you in business to make friends or to make money? Most people I've dealt with, if you charge/quote them a price now, they expect that same price (or close to) in the future.

I guess I'm just saying, it's possible to be cheaper but also be comparable/competitive....if you're doing just as good of a job or better, compensate yourself accordingly.

but innywho, best wishes & good luck!

[The Chef]

Re: Starting my own Buisness

Best of luck to you, I dont have much advice to give as Ive been involved in numerous things with family members that have crashed and burned over the years so I wouldnt be a good example of what to do, maybe what not to do though. Either way, best of luck to you and I hope it works out in the end.

[youvalss]

Re: Starting my own Buisness

Good luck man!

[Chaos81]

Re: Starting my own Buisness

Count me in as one that's been screwed by a friend. $75,000 worth and still paying for it today.


Sad stories and all, don't let any of us stop you. Good luck, and let us know how things go.

[Herky]

Re: Starting my own Buisness

I agree with the friends bit. Also, how much lower are your prices? Maybe you should reconsider being too cheap, I'm afraid you'll make it harder to raise prices as demand for your work (hopefully) increases. Are you in business to make friends or to make money? Most people I've dealt with, if you charge/quote them a price now, they expect that same price (or close to) in the future.

I guess I'm just saying, it's possible to be cheaper but also be comparable/competitive....if you're doing just as good of a job or better, compensate yourself accordingly.

but innywho, best wishes & good luck!

Go Hawks! That's all I have to say other than best of luck. Business and friendship are sort of like oil and water, but sometimes they don't mix.

[DirrtySouth78]

Re: Starting my own Buisness

Thank you for the good wishes. I do know that sometimes, well most times buisness and friendship don't work but I'm hoping to be on the other side of that. We have been friends for a while now. but since we started this and are making some money we actually get along better and talk more. I know what pitfalls to avoid with the friend/buisness partner arangement.

We do go lower in prices, but nothing too extreme for that exact reason. Don't wanna go too low and risk not being able to raise prices later. At the same time we are afordable and cheaper than almost everyone since we are trying to build up a name.

One thing that does bother me is I have already seen a few instances where there was sub par work done. Thats how contractors get a bad name. Someone does bad work at an expensive price so you have to call them back again. Half the time its something inexpensive and not time consuming, just people taking the short and easy way out instead of doing it right the first time


Even though we are just starting out we seem to be making contacts with the right people. Have a few different multiple property owners who seem interested after sitting down and just talking for a few minutes. It seems like most others must always about buisness. I've realizes when we sit down and talk pricing with people if we are friendly and just talk to them about anything they seem to get more interested and almost always call us back. SOmetimes its as simple as saying "Hey is that a picture of your dog?" and just going from there. Don't always gotta be about just the job and money. Now of course we are in it to get money, but not at the expense of others and no need to charge extreme amounts of cash either.


Thanks again for the good luck wishes. Here's to me becoming a successful Buisness owner

[mgoblue]

Re: Starting my own Buisness

I'm not a grammar nazi, but glaring spelling issues kill me sometimes. It's "business" not "buisness"...just a FYI, no malice intended.

That being said, congrats! Down the line I'd look towards forming a LLC (Limited Liability Company) so if someone sues you they can't take your personal home, car, other assets. I don't know that much on the process, but I do know that at some point it really makes sense to start looking at this route.

[superjames1992]

Re: Starting my own Buisness

Good luck.

A partnership is generally not a good idea though. It's best to create separate businesses and combine them into a single company. I partnership creates all kinds of headaches.

My parents used to own an LLC (Limited Liability Corporation) in South Charleston, WV. It was a franchise of Aamco Transmissions, but they sold it a little over two years ago. Making money in a business is tough, so don't expect to be rich or anything, at least at first. It takes time.

Do you have any employees or rent to pay? If you have no labor or rent to pay, that is an advantage because those were the two most expensive things at the Aamco. The rent was the worst because it would often keep us from turning a profit.

Don't go too low in prices because you still need to make money. People don't care how nice you are to them, they're still going to try to screw you. I remember at the Aamco like five years ago some guy was floored at the price of the transmission (which was high because he had a foreign car whose transmissions are higher). Transmissions are not cheap obviously. Anyways, he threatened to fight my dad in the alley and cussed him out before storming out the door. You will get cussed out and screwed at some point.

Also, if you have employees, beware of being stolen from. Our CSM (Customer Service Manager) got caught stealing from us once and we suspected other workers of doing so. A bunch of aluminum was stolen once and we know it had to be an employee because they were the only ones who had access to the room.

Anyways, just be careful because starting and maintaining a small business is a very risky endeavor and you probably will struggle at first. Just be careful and hopefully you can suceed. There is this false opinion of people who do not own businesses that business owners are all rich, but this is not always the case.

Anyways, good luck!

[KG]

Re: Starting my own Buisness

I agree with the friends bit. Also, how much lower are your prices? Maybe you should reconsider being too cheap, I'm afraid you'll make it harder to raise prices as demand for your work (hopefully) increases. Are you in business to make friends or to make money? Most people I've dealt with, if you charge/quote them a price now, they expect that same price (or close to) in the future.

I guess I'm just saying, it's possible to be cheaper but also be comparable/competitive....if you're doing just as good of a job or better, compensate yourself accordingly.

but innywho, best wishes & good luck!

Don't worry about raising prices at all. Prices almost always go up as the cost of materials/supplies rise. Starting off low is the way to go because it helps get you clients first which will help lead to the best advertising (word of mouth) if you do a good job (word of mouth).

I started up a small business last summer. Nothing too fancy or big but it generates some decent side cash and the work is not too intense. One of the best ways I got clients was actually craigslist. Come up with an advertisement on there (including pics is a must) and link your website. You can check your site to see where the most of your hits were generated and there's a good chance it will be from there.