HI. I will like to get an advice due to a career change. I have my electrical company and my full time job as a calibration/instrumentation technician in FL. Unfortunately the company that I work will be moving out of state and will be closing in 6 moth or so. I work on my electrical business like a part time job on my days off. My dream is be working full time on my company and i am thinking to try a few month after i leave the company to go full time on my business. I will like to get some advice of any one of you guys that work full time in your business to see how is your experience as the person who have all the weight on your shoulder to keep up providing for your family and be able to make a profit in this field. I think all entrepreneurs had at some point in their life had this concern and will like to get a feed back on this. This will help me along with any other person looking to go full time on their companies. Thank you for your input!
Need advice on a full time work transition.
- Thread starter velezl
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hbiss
EC, Westchester, New York NEC: 2014
- Location
- Hawthorne, New York NEC: 2014
- Occupation
- EC
You have the advantage of already having a business which I assume is legal and you have a license to perform the work. So I would ask you, based on what you are able to do part time and your customers do you think you can parlay that into a full time job that will pay the bills within a short time?
If not I suggest looking for a job working for another EC.
-Hal
If not I suggest looking for a job working for another EC.
-Hal
just the cowboy
Inactive, Email Never Verified
- Location
- newburgh,ny
Working alone
Working alone
Having your own business is not always good for your health both mentally and physically.
You WILL put in allot of hours to keep up with paperwork, and after a 10 - 16 hour day that is not fun, but if you don't no one will.
Sometimes having that extra set of hands helps and when you are alone that is not going to happen. (I learned a lot of tricks for working alone).
Take a Small Business Course even if you think you know allot about it.
Working alone every day gets old; this field is built on comradery.
When I started my business I had an old biddy as a small business class teacher that I did not get along with because I was so far ahead of the class. One day in a discussion with her she said " You have been in maintenance for over 20 years think you can work alone all day" I answered "sure no problem'. Those words haunt me to this day that is why I shut my business down, because I couldn’t take working all day alone there was no motivation.
Working alone
Having your own business is not always good for your health both mentally and physically.
You WILL put in allot of hours to keep up with paperwork, and after a 10 - 16 hour day that is not fun, but if you don't no one will.
Sometimes having that extra set of hands helps and when you are alone that is not going to happen. (I learned a lot of tricks for working alone).
Take a Small Business Course even if you think you know allot about it.
Working alone every day gets old; this field is built on comradery.
When I started my business I had an old biddy as a small business class teacher that I did not get along with because I was so far ahead of the class. One day in a discussion with her she said " You have been in maintenance for over 20 years think you can work alone all day" I answered "sure no problem'. Those words haunt me to this day that is why I shut my business down, because I couldn’t take working all day alone there was no motivation.
Fulthrotl
~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
- Occupation
- E
that is the hardest part.
Learn how to price a job properly, how to price a service calls and repairs properly. The correct way.
If you are making $35 now then going to $65 for your own is not going to cut it. Yes it is $30 per more hour but it is not enough. Figure out what your hourly charge is exactly. (hourly rate, ALL of your expenses, your retirement, your car expense........... then your profit)
If you are making $35 now then going to $65 for your own is not going to cut it. Yes it is $30 per more hour but it is not enough. Figure out what your hourly charge is exactly. (hourly rate, ALL of your expenses, your retirement, your car expense........... then your profit)
electrofelon
Senior Member
- Location
- Cherry Valley NY, Seattle, WA
Well at least there is no job radio blaring the same 34 classic rock songs or that "kill your mother" anger rock stuff
personally i prefer to work alone.
- Occupation
- Licensed Electrician
It was an i pod plugged into a blaring radio that inspired my tag line.Well at least there is no job radio blaring the same 34 classic rock songs or that "kill your mother" anger rock stuff
- Location
- Massachusetts
- Occupation
- Licensed Electrician
Let it go Dave.
I know. I'm gonna have to change it anyway since nobody carries i pods anymore.
petersonra
Senior Member
- Location
- Northern illinois
- Occupation
- engineer
What kind of work does your "electrical company" do?
If most of your experience is as an instrument tech, it seems foolish to become an electrical contractor and try and compete with guys who have been doing it for a long time if that is not your strength.
In any case, what I have observed with guys who have side businesses is that they rarely scale up into full time businesses very well, or very quickly. I am not saying you cannot do it, but I think you will find it to be an enormous amount of effort as some other posters have also suggested.
One of the problems with side businesses is that they are side businesses. If you have a slow couple of months or years it is not that big of a deal. If you are relying on a business to feed your family, it is a different story, and you may be forced to take on jobs that are a higher risk than you might like to take on just to survive.
Another thing I have noticed with side businesses is that very little effort is typically spent on acquiring business. It just seems to fall in the lap of side businesses. It is one of the reasons side businesses can often do work for much less than a guy doing it full time. The side business does not typically have to spend a lot of time or money on sales while acquiring new business is the life blood of new companies, and that is not cheap.
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