Starting a business

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Their is a slump in new homes. But service work will always be needed.
In my opinion it is a good time. However me not knowing your situation. If you are working now with benifits, family, etc... That should be taken in to consideration.
You might want to start off with week end or evening small jobs. If their is a property management company in your area. You could ask them to call on you if needed.
All this energy savings (Green) wind, solar, etc.... This is making more work for electricians.
You should time your start up when the yellow page book comes out. Have a nice ad. Not over budget. Make sure you are in the book that most people use in your area.
Start with low over head.
 
The first step is check to see if there is a need for additional contractors in your area, many guys just assume they can start a business without checking for the need, a common mistake, that usually leads to a pile of debt and little or no income, when the economy is up and everyone is fully employed, you can start just about any business and have some sucess, but in this enviroment we have now, you really have to plan, and check the area you plan to operate in, who is in the business now, and what is their business like?
 
Do you have contacts now, that would use you?
What type of work.
What will the wife do when you go six weeks without a check.
Healt insurance.
Vehicle
Good credit.
 
Looking at mostly residential rehab/ service work, and light commercial (strip centers and the like).
We are a single income family. I have thought about the health insurance, vehicle, cell phone cost, I have a reserve that I can survive for several months on. I am planning on starting with a large job to kick start the business, to keep me busy for a month or 2, I would just need to build some customers rather quickly to keep moving in the right direction. I have excellect credit. I have already set up a company, have liability and workers comp., and a little cash in the business bank account. I just have not got that big job yet. I had a couple that were very promising but they fell thru. I have one contractor in particular that I will be working with, he is a small guy but does large money making projects. I have several other contacts I do not want to steal from my current employer but had considered asking them for a "letter of referral" to provide to potential customers stating that they had worked with me and was happy etc...
 
What does your business plan tell you?

In other words, let's say you are George Bailey, from the movie It's a Wonderful Life. You want to start a business (call it Bailey Building and Loan), and you need operating capital. So you go down to the bank and talk to Henry F. Potter.

Now, Potter is a rich man, and he didn't get that way by being stupid. He's going to ask you all sorts of questions, and require certain things from you, such as your education, training, experience, credit history, and most importantly, he'll want to see a current balance sheet. In order for you to convince him your business plan is a profitable venture, you'll need to do your homework and have all this prepared in advance.

But before you go to the bank with all that information, what does it say to you?

If you don't know what balance sheets and business plans are, you'd better keep the horse in the barn until you learn how to saddle the horse first.
 
satcom said:
The first step is check to see if there is a need for additional contractors in your area, many guys just assume they can start a business without checking for the need, a common mistake, that usually leads to a pile of debt and little or no income, when the economy is up and everyone is fully employed, you can start just about any business and have some sucess, but in this enviroment we have now, you really have to plan, and check the area you plan to operate in, who is in the business now, and what is their business like?
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Satcom not to ask a dump question. How do you check to see if there is a need? What is the number where you say, " well there are to many EC's in this area".
 
you need money bradyman; lots of it too. I found also that most banks aren't too willing to loan money to a small upstart EC; and for good reason I guess. Would you loan the money to something like this? I really wish I'd educated myself more before starting a business; and I really wish I had found this website before starting a business. There's a lot of things I did early on that really hurt me and made it a struggle to stay afloat. Guys like satcom, emahler, brianjohn, (and others who's name escape me at the moment) have good business advice. search for anything they posted relating to business.
 
brantmacga said:
Guys like satcom, emahler, brianjohn, (and others who's name escape me at the moment) have good business advice. search for anything they posted relating to business.
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How could you forget me? :roll: :D
 
jmsbrush said:
Satcom not to ask a dump question. How do you check to see if there is a need? What is the number where you say, " well there are to many EC's in this area".
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Start with the county you are in, and search the filing records, of the type business you are looking into, also the labor department tracks every type of business by type and location, you can usually get a pretty good pic of the general health of that industry in your area, there are also firms for a fee, that can predict how a business may fair, your best fastest check is with local contractor assn, and business groups. Tax records are another good indicator.

Quote "If you don't know what balance sheets and business plans are, you'd better keep the horse in the barn until you learn how to saddle the horse first." Really good advice, every year we have over half of the new EC's go belly up, and they are usually above avarage electricans, but have not mastered the business side.
 
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jmsbrush said:
Satcom not to ask a dump question. How do you check to see if there is a need? What is the number where you say, " well there are to many EC's in this area".
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Check the local help wanted ads. If there are lots of ads for electricians then it's a good sign of strong demand (and weak supply)... a good time to get into business. If there are not very many ads then the opposite is true. This is a quick and easy way to check current supply and demand - but obviously limited information.

If you are a little more adventurous you could also investigate historical employee data (provided by local government website probably) to see the trend in electrician employment. If it is going up (more electricians employed than in past) then you are on the "good" side of the supply/demand curve.
 
Have your wife call several contractors (incogneto) ask about some 20hr job that she needs done. Find out how long until each contractor can get to it. That will tell you how much average backlog is out there.

Or if you have some contractor friends that you trust, just ask them. When I started a few months ago, most everyone in town was a month out, so I knew right away, I could get some of that work.

I know its sneaky, but its effective for your purpose
 
rlane00 said:
Check the local help wanted ads. If there are lots of ads for electricians then it's a good sign of strong demand (and weak supply)... a good time to get into business. If there are not very many ads then the opposite is true. This is a quick and easy way to check current supply and demand - but obviously limited information.
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You could also watch Drafting or CAD postions as well, in the same vain as the statement made above. 1st hired for the work, first fired cause no work ... LOL, I know ...

Since your in a larger metro area, I would have to believe your better off then being from out yonder!

You could easy make 20 hours a week and send the others pouring into your own aspects of Business 101, Networking, PR, advertising, workshops, speed reading, ETC. Etc, etc ... It will not be 2 hats, ball cap to hard hat, it will be many hats, and many sizes that you will come to learn.

Many great statements have been made, I just want to add to pay yourself and cover your taxes.

Good Luck !
 
Thanks for the advice. I have been contemplating this for some time. I have my masters license and have all the paperwork done for the business (tax ID and that stuff). What do you think about asking the customers of my current empoyer for the letter of referal? Would you consider that stepping on toes? Also what would you suggest for bringing in the phone calls? I have been researching this and have found the following idea's:
Property management companies, Real estate offices, call landloards of vacant strip centers and request to be put on the bidders list for future tenants, join my chamber of commerce, network with all who will listen, hand out business cards at every opportunity, church newsletters, local small news papers, etc. (THANK YOU to all who have posted the above idea's on this post and past post). I will probably call past customers from my current company and try to revitalize my relation ship with them (most of these customers were lost by inefficiencies by others in our company). Does anybody have any other idea's?

Thanks
Jason
 
bradyman1 said:
What do you think about asking the customers of my current empoyer for the letter of referal? Would you consider that stepping on toes?
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I did that w/ some of my previous employer's longtime customers, but cleared it with the boss before doing so.
 
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