Tweet
I have reached my goal and now it is time to find a new challenge.
I am too old to set anymore 30 year goals ... will have to limit them to 15-20 years ... even that could be pushing it.
I have learnt a lot in the past 30 years ... so maybe take the experiences and a start a real bussiness.
A few things would change.
The first change would be the name of the bussiness ... using your name as part of the bussines name is great if you plan to leave it to a family member ... but pretty useless if you want to sell it ... and try keep the new name as short as possible.
Taking that percentage of every single payment made to the bussiness and investing it in yourself before you pay out a cent to anyone ... I should have started doing this the day I started the bussiness ... I would be a rich man to day ... even if it was just 2 % ... small investment over a long period creates huge wealth ... look at sanlam ... old mutual etc ... even better if you can do it with other peoples money ... you never loose ... just their return becomes a joke.
Buying expensive equipment for the bussines ... its nice to have good quality equipment ... but do you really need to spend R25 000.00 on a hilti mchine to drill a hole in the wall ... my equipment replacement value is higher than what I paid for my house ... yet if I tried to sell it ... I wouldnt even have enough to pay the deposit ... regarded as a bad investment.
Allowing customer to buy the material for projects ... stay away from these projects ... the material works as a damper for other flaws in your quote or at least to cover some of the daily overheads ... some thing you will learn over time ... the money is not in the service or labour cost ... "the bigger the material bill the better bigger the profit margin" ... even if you are charging a higher than normal larbour rate ...you still loose in the long run.
An example ... A quote I did for a company ... the profit on the material was enough to cover the total labour cost of the project ... I walked away from the project because the customer was whining about my labour fee and travelling etc ... beware of these cusotmers ... they will milk you for every cent ... then sweep you onto the street just as fast ... these customers drive R2M cars and live in R10M houses and have a warehouse full of toys because they got smart.
Rather be the part of the contract that suppliers the material than the sub contractor ( they come a dime a dozen and too stupid to realise it ... I know I have been one for most of my contracting life ... wonder why my mate is buying new cars and houses every year ... yet we working on the same projects ... he supplied the equipment and materials and I did the dirty work
)
Play nicely with the other kids ... take the time out to go to a place of workship ( people tend to trust you more) ... join the local running/cycling/soccer clubs ... neighbourhood watch groups ... dont just be a part of a colour zone group ... become a commitee member if you want to maximise your exposure ... play nicely on your facebook pages ... I have noticed a lot of cusotmers I have been dealing with lately are using people recommended on groups ... regardless of the crappy workmanship and in a few cases bad design ... they still keep getting recommended ... this is something I need to work on.
I am too old to set anymore 30 year goals ... will have to limit them to 15-20 years ... even that could be pushing it.
I have learnt a lot in the past 30 years ... so maybe take the experiences and a start a real bussiness.
A few things would change.
The first change would be the name of the bussiness ... using your name as part of the bussines name is great if you plan to leave it to a family member ... but pretty useless if you want to sell it ... and try keep the new name as short as possible.
Taking that percentage of every single payment made to the bussiness and investing it in yourself before you pay out a cent to anyone ... I should have started doing this the day I started the bussiness ... I would be a rich man to day ... even if it was just 2 % ... small investment over a long period creates huge wealth ... look at sanlam ... old mutual etc ... even better if you can do it with other peoples money ... you never loose ... just their return becomes a joke.
Buying expensive equipment for the bussines ... its nice to have good quality equipment ... but do you really need to spend R25 000.00 on a hilti mchine to drill a hole in the wall ... my equipment replacement value is higher than what I paid for my house ... yet if I tried to sell it ... I wouldnt even have enough to pay the deposit ... regarded as a bad investment.
Allowing customer to buy the material for projects ... stay away from these projects ... the material works as a damper for other flaws in your quote or at least to cover some of the daily overheads ... some thing you will learn over time ... the money is not in the service or labour cost ... "the bigger the material bill the better bigger the profit margin" ... even if you are charging a higher than normal larbour rate ...you still loose in the long run.
An example ... A quote I did for a company ... the profit on the material was enough to cover the total labour cost of the project ... I walked away from the project because the customer was whining about my labour fee and travelling etc ... beware of these cusotmers ... they will milk you for every cent ... then sweep you onto the street just as fast ... these customers drive R2M cars and live in R10M houses and have a warehouse full of toys because they got smart.
Rather be the part of the contract that suppliers the material than the sub contractor ( they come a dime a dozen and too stupid to realise it ... I know I have been one for most of my contracting life ... wonder why my mate is buying new cars and houses every year ... yet we working on the same projects ... he supplied the equipment and materials and I did the dirty work
) Play nicely with the other kids ... take the time out to go to a place of workship ( people tend to trust you more) ... join the local running/cycling/soccer clubs ... neighbourhood watch groups ... dont just be a part of a colour zone group ... become a commitee member if you want to maximise your exposure ... play nicely on your facebook pages ... I have noticed a lot of cusotmers I have been dealing with lately are using people recommended on groups ... regardless of the crappy workmanship and in a few cases bad design ... they still keep getting recommended ... this is something I need to work on.
Comment