The Handyman Startup Podcast

Dan Perry: Handyman | Small Business Owner
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Learn how to start or grow a handyman business

  1. 11/14/2024

    Interview with Will Lingard - Pro Handyman from the UK

    In this episode, I had the opportunity to interview a handyman from across the pond – Will Lingard. Will is a great guy who shares helpful tips and insights based on his nine years in business as a professional handyman. Here’s a sample of what we discuss in this interview: What’s important to affluent customers How focusing on sustainability helps his business What he enjoys about his business How he deals with customers who say he’s too expensive How he runs multiple businesses by subcontracting jobs How he hired his first helper Why business isn’t always a straight line Why being a good person is more important than your home repair skills And more. HS054 – Pro handyman from the UK shares his story – Interview with Will Lingard About Will Lingard Will lives in the United Kingdom and owns and operates Surrey Hills Handyman. Will used to work with a company that set up outdoor PA systems. Although he loved the work, it involved a lot of travel. He wanted to be closer to his family. When his father-in-law recommended becoming an electrician, it sparked the idea of starting a handyman business. He quickly jumped online, found Handyman Startup, devoured all the content, invested in my courses, and launched his business while providing services from a small sedan. That was over nine years ago. Today, he enjoys a profitable business that gives him freedom, flexibility, and a sense of agency. The post Interview with Will Lingard – Pro Handyman from the UK appeared first on Handyman Startup.

    1h 26m

  2. 10/15/2024

    The power of low expectations part 2 - Simple tips for less stress and more fun

    Owning a business has many benefits. It gives you more control over your time. It gives you certain freedoms that employees will never have. It gives you the potential to make a LOT more money. And you get to make all the decisions. The possibilities are limitless. However, those benefits have a cost, which is often higher than what you’re led to believe on social media. Am I saying it’s not worth it to grow a business? Hell no! It’s worth it. Even if you don’t achieve your ideal lifestyle, building a business challenges you, forces you to learn valuable skills, and builds character like nothing else. However, if your expectations are too high, you’ll either burn out or give up trying to reach them. As I’ve said many times before, business is a mental game. If you can win that game, you can win at business. If you lose that game, it doesn’t matter how much money you make; you will lose. In this episode, I discuss a critical part of winning that game—managing your expectations. In the last episode, I discussed why high expectations are a recipe for constant stress and dissatisfaction and why intentionally lowering your expectations will reduce stress and help you be more effective and joyful. In this episode, I talk about how. Listen right here or on your favorite podcast app! HS053 – The power of low expectations part 2 – Simple tips for less stress and more fun Podcast Transcript I’d hate to lower your expectations, but that is the episode’s goal. Welcome to another episode of the Handyman Startup podcast. My name is Dan Perry, and today, I’m going to talk about managing your expectations. In the last podcast, we talked about why and the power of low expectations. Today, I want to talk a little bit about how to do that. So back in 2010, way back in 2010, this is 14, almost 15 years ago, after another boring day at work, my friend recommended a book called The 4-Hour Work Week. At the time, I was living in a three-bedroom home that I had purchased a year or two earlier. I lived about two blocks from my office, and I hated my job. I was so disappointed with what a 9:00 to 5:00 turned out to be. I mostly sat at a desk all day in a big open room with five other desks and five other engineers working, and then my boss was right across the room from me. And there were some good things about my job. I mean, I got to do some cool stuff with engineering, and it leveraged my skills. I was pretty good at it, but I just felt stifled. So, I read that book my friend recommended to me, and I remember being unable to put it down. Right after that first chapter, it hit a nerve. I sat on the couch and read it until my eyes turned red. Once I couldn’t read anymore, I put it down, picked it up again the next day, and I think it took me about two days to read that entire book. And this was a pretty big turning point in my life. I didn’t know that at the time, but it was because ever since that moment, I couldn’t be satisfied living an ordinary, boring nine-to-five lifestyle. I knew something else was possible. I had a clear definition of success, and I wanted it now. I didn’t quit my job right away because I needed the money and didn’t know what to do, but that book amplified my distaste for my job. It was like sticking a salty knife into an already festering wound. It made the experience of working my job worse. And as a result, I eventually quit my job. After a while, I started getting worked up and depressed and had some health issues. I started a handyman business a few months after I quit my job. Since then, I’ve grown that handyman business and done well there. I created a YouTube channel, this podcast, my blog, online courses, and all these wonderful things that bring me income and give me more freedom than most people have. I’ve also helped many people in the process, which is awesome. I regularly get emails from people thanking me, which is awesome. And on the one hand, I’m thankful for that. On the other hand, I think that content, specifically the four-hour workweek and a lot of the content you find on YouTube or Facebook about growing a business, I think it can be toxic. The reason is that it anchors your expectations so high, as I discussed in the last episode. If you haven’t listened to that, I recommend listening to that first before listening to this episode. Now, for some people like me, I couldn’t sleep at night living a mediocre life after realizing what was possible because I fell for the arrival fallacy that once I got that, then I would be happy. The need it created to reach a certain level quickly caused me a lot of stress and disappointment. I beat myself up when I didn’t achieve amazing things. I lost sleep over silly things that don’t matter. I was imprisoned by the idea that it was impossible to be happy without passive income, and I sacrificed a lot of time to get there. I eventually succeeded. I’ve done some cool stuff, made great money, helped a lot of people, as I mentioned. If I had to do it all again, I might not change what I did, but I would definitely like to adjust my expectations in the process. And my perspective and my mindset. I could have enjoyed the journey much more, had less stress, and who knows, I maybe would have done even better. So with this episode, I want to share a few ways that you can manage your own expectations. So hopefully, you can enjoy the process of growing your business more and not get so caught up beating yourself up if you’re not making progress as fast as you’d like or if things aren’t happening as quickly as you’d like. Before we do that, let’s just briefly cover what I covered in the last episode. I talked about the power of low expectations. I talked about why high expectations are the perfect recipe for disappointment, stress, giving up, and really failing to enjoy the wins along the journey. I talked about two major factors that amplify this, which are social media plus human desire. We always want more, no matter how good we have it. And then social media anchors our expectations even higher than they would already at an unrealistic level. We see amazing results without the work. It creates unrealistic expectations. But low expectations are actually more effective in many ways in many areas of life. Because if you have low expectations and you exceed them, you get to delight in small wins. It makes it a little more fun. It makes it easier to accept failures and hard work. It makes setbacks not as devastating and less stressful because you’re expecting them. It makes you willing to put in effort for less, which usually leads to better outcomes. In some cases, I wouldn’t say always putting in more effort for less makes sense, especially when it comes to pricing. I want to be very clear about that. You guys know my mindset on pricing your services high enough to make a profit. Anyway, low expectations keep you in the game for long enough for small wins to compound. A good example of this is Warren Buffett. Interesting fact: he made 99% of his wealth after the age of 65. He’s like 92 now, I think. But that’s because of compounding. Small wins compounding year after year after year. He hasn’t outperformed everybody every single year. He’s just been playing so damn long that he has amassed so much wealth that he is the sixth wealthiest person in the world. So, ultimately, low expectations can be very helpful. And it’s all about being realistic in the short term and optimistic for the long term. Working hard consistently. It’s not about throwing your hands up and giving up. It’s about embracing that work as part of life, no matter how well-off you are. So do the work and don’t expect the world. Don’t expect it to be easy. Don’t expect to get to some point where you’ll be endlessly happy all the time. As much as it is hard to do that because it’s so ingrained in human nature, let’s talk about some tips to help with that a little bit. In this episode, I’m going to explore some ideas for managing your expectations. This is probably more of an art than a science. This probably isn’t going to apply to everybody. Some people probably need to increase their expectations. I think this podcast is more created for those who are wired similar to me, where you want it all now. You tend to be impatient. You tend to stress yourself out trying to strive for these unattainable ideal outcomes. So, hopefully, in this process, you can start appreciating more of what you have right now. You can embrace the struggle along the way. And maybe even go further than you would have otherwise. And the way that I see this, there are two parts to this equation. First is being optimistic about the long term and realistic about your short term results. So first, you have to have a tasty enough carrot to pursue to keep you motivated enough to continue to put in the work because it’s difficult to invest effort into something if you’re not optimistic about the outcome. Now, Warren Buffett, for example, again, I talked about him building 99 % of his wealth after the age of 65. He was still very wealthy even when he was 30. I believe that when adjusted for inflation, he had $10 million when he was 30. However, I want to bring up Warren Buffet again because he had a plan. He didn’t just take super high-risk bets consistently and keep winning. He took very low-risk bets. He practiced value investing, which he learned from Benjamin Graham. So he would find companies that were underpriced, buy them, and then hold them for a long period of time. And then, he leveraged the psychology of the market and how it acts irrationally, how people buy when they should be selling, and how people sell when they should buy. And he stuck to that process, mostly for the last 60 or, yeah, over 60 years now. And that’s how he amassed his wealth. But He had that vision. He had that car

    31 min

  3. 09/19/2024

    The power of low expectations

    In “Same as Ever,” Morgan Housel shares how, for the last 150 years, on any given day, the stock market went up only 50% of the time. Yet, over any given year, it rose 68% of the time. And even better, over any 20-year span, growth was seen 100% of the time. With this, he illustrates that you often experience failure or loss in the short term. But, if you stay in the game long enough, you’ll almost certainly see a gain. It’s like playing poker when you’ve stacked the deck in your favor. You’ll lose a few hands but eventually come out on top. The key is to stay in the game long enough. Which is also true for growing a business. As I’ve said before, growing a business is hard. And it’s not for the reasons many people think. It’s not so much about coming up with some brilliant revolutionary idea or having the IQ of Einstein. 99% of the tasks you perform when growing a business are easy – at least, no more difficult than a typical job. The real challenge is winning the mental game: Dealing with the pressure of making decisions amidst constant uncertainty, staying motivated without a boss breathing down your neck, maintaining focus, and pushing through when things get hard. If you can win that mental game, chances of success are high. So, let’s talk about one critical aspect of doing just that, which is managing your expectations. With this article (and podcast), I aim to convince you that keeping your expectations low is one secret to winning the mental game. I’m excited about this concept because I believe if you take it seriously, it can… Improve your chances of success Improve your experience of growing a business Improve your results Lower your stress levels and even make you happier. Listen to the podcast version of this article here, which includes extra content. Listen right here or on your favorite podcast app! HS052 – The power of low expectations First, let’s talk about… How to ruin your day even when you’re winning. Many of us start our businesses for more freedom and control so that we can enjoy our lives. However, entrepreneurs often end up with a business that consumes their minds, even in their free time. They want freedom, and what they end up with is constant stress. I don’t think that’s the case for everyone, but it’s more common than ever. Its cause is a combination of several factors. For the sake of this article, I’ll focus on two of them that I see as most relevant. #1 – Good old human desire We always want more. No matter how much we have, we want more. The funny thing is how we fool ourselves. We think that once we achieve our next goal or acquire a certain amount of money, we will finally be happy and content. Yet, most billionaires are still out hustling for more. That’s because of a well-known feature of our psychology, the arrival fallacy. No matter how much we have, the goalpost keeps moving further into the distance. You may think you’ll be content once your business generates consistent income. Then, when you get there, you realize you’d like to make a little more money and work fewer hours. Once you accomplish that, you realize you want to take it even further. If this goes on for long enough, and you work hard enough, you may eventually build a multi-million dollar business. And when you get there, you’ll probably want more. Is this bad? Not necessarily. It’s just human nature. The problem is when you try to do too much too fast and when you expect instant amazing results. That’s when you get hit with constant disappointment, even when you’re doing well. And that’s where the second factor comes into play… #2 Social media Social media is amazingly effective at stoking desire. We see all of these people doing amazing things, and it anchors the expectations for our own lives. Social Media distorts our perception of reality. Since everyone shares the best of their lives, we constantly see people doing better than us, and we rarely see the struggle that got them there. Everywhere you look, someone is better looking, making more money, and having more fun than you. This is especially true for entrepreneurs. Hundreds of successful entrepreneurs online make millions per year and live amazing lives (at least, that’s what they show). Then, they tell you that you can do the same. They stoke your desire and anchor your expectations at a super high level. For example, you may see someone running a multi-million dollar business offering to teach you how to do the same. They usually make it look easier than it is and imply that you can get results fast, essentially anchoring your expectations much higher than reality. Sure, with their help, you may get there faster and easier. However, getting there will still take years of struggle, hard work, and failure. In reality, following in their footsteps is ten times harder than it seems, and success is nowhere near guaranteed. Those super successful people have been at this for at least a decade and often started in a better situation than you. Yet, our minds don’t think through all of this. We see the big houses, fancy cars, nice tans, pretty women, and lots of fun, and we think, “I gotta get some of that.” Then, since we see so much of it, we feel that NOT having it means we are a failure or that getting it is much easier than it is. Again, this anchors our expectations higher than reality. It’s the ultimate first-world problem. Then, these high expectations lead us to think results should and will come faster than is possible for most people. So, we try to do too much too fast, fail to meet these expectations, and still feel terrible even when we are making progress. High expectations are a mental parasite. They slowly eat away at your confidence, joy, and willpower. Results usually take longer than you’d like, whether you are trying to lose weight, build muscle, or grow a business. Many days, weeks, and months will seem like failures, and you’ll have no perceptible progress. You’ll often feel like you’re going backward. The problem is that if your expectations are unrealistic, you’ll think you’re doing something wrong. You’ll be tempted to give up and try a faster and easier way. In your search for gold, you’ll dig 100 shallow holes with nothing to show. In your search for physical health, you’ll jump from one gimmick to the next as your confidence dwindles. And it gets worse. Even if you are killing it compared to most people, you won’t feel successful if you don’t meet those high expectations. You’ll burn yourself out striving for an unattainable ideal outcome. Often, this leads to people giving up before they break through. Why low expectations are better Charlie Munger (Warren Buffet’s right-hand man) once said the secret to happiness is lowering your expectations. After doing some deep thinking on the subject, I have to agree. If you have low expectations, you’ll be willing to work harder for less. As a result, you’ll experience more progress and the positive emotions it generates. You’ll be delighted with small wins instead of relieved you didn’t fail. Setbacks (which are inevitable) will be less devastating because you’re expecting them to happen. Meeting or exceeding your expectations consistently will boost your confidence, fill you with positive emotions, and keep you in the game long enough to win. The result will be less stress, higher satisfaction, and even more success as your hard work compounds over time. Be optimistic about the future and realistic about the present. Let me be clear: I’m not saying that you should be pessimistic. I’m hoping to convince you to be more realistic about your short-term results. I think it’s equally important to be optimistic about long-term results. For example, you can build a business that gives you a high income, purpose, and control over your schedule. You can build muscle, lose weight, and get closer to your ideal body. You can build stronger and more fulfilling relationships. Just not immediately (and nowhere fast as you’d hope for). If you can maintain a realistic perspective in the short term and keep expectations low, you will improve your chances of success. If anything, this is an argument for being more optimistic because low expectations can be a tool for increasing effectiveness. Will low expectations limit your success? One benefit of high expectations is they get you moving. The idea that you can have it all now with little effort is seductive. It can wrap you in its spell and have you do things you wouldn’t otherwise do. But that is only a short-term win. Getting started doesn’t matter if you don’t see it through long enough to see results. In fact, constantly trying new things and failing can be detrimental to confidence. So, will low expectations limit success? Maybe, but only if you are complacent. I’m not saying to be complacent. You can shoot for big goals and have low expectations for the short term. Work hard, consistently. Lowering expectations isn’t about throwing up your hands and saying, “screw it.” It’s about being realistic in the short term and understanding that there is no free lunch. There is no reliable, fast, and easy way to riches. If you want a better life, you have to work for it. Lowering expectations is about embracing that work is part of life, no matter how well-off you are. So you gotta work hard. Here’s how I define hard work. It’s not killing yourself with long hours or doing hard manual labor until your feet and hands ache. It’s doing the work that moves you toward your goals, even when you don’t want to. Hard work is doing difficult things. Difficult things include pushing through fear, learning new skills, taking calculated risks, and trying new things. Sometimes hard work is taking a much needed vacation. Sometimes hard work is ha

    17 min

  4. 08/13/2024

    My top 5 least profitable handyman jobs

    As a professional handyman, I’ve completed many jobs that paid well over $200 per hour and some that paid less than $20. In this podcast episode, I share five of my least profitable jobs. Why? Because those are the ones with some of the biggest lessons. Pricing mistakes are common for handymen. Too common. In fact, pricing mistakes cost me over $50,000 in my first year in business. That’s a lot of cheddar. By simply avoiding many pricing mistakes, you can make a LOT more money. This is especially true if you are within your first few years in this business. So sit back, grab a cup of joe, and enjoy a bunch of stories about my epic pricing failures. HS051 – My top 5 LEAST profitable handyman jobs (and the mistakes that cost me big) Resources Mentioned: Free Handyman Business Startup Kit Video course about pricing your handyman services – $100K Handyman Pricing Transcript: Welcome to another episode of the Handyman Startup Podcast. My name is Dan Perry, and today I’m going to share five of my least profitable jobs that I’ve done as a pro handyman. I’ll share what those jobs were, why they weren’t profitable, and the mistakes that I made that led to me losing time and money on those jobs. Now, pricing mistakes are very common during the first few years for most new service providers, and many of them can be avoided with the right insight and approach. Fixing or avoiding these mistakes is one of the easiest ways to boost your income as a pro handyman. I’ll say that again. Avoiding Simple pricing mistakes that almost everybody makes is one of the easiest ways to boost your income and make more money in less time as a pro handyman. If you’re just getting started, I think you’ll find this episode very helpful. And learning from my mistakes can easily save you thousands of dollars over the course of the next year, and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of your career. Now, before we jump into the content today, I’d like to mention that this is a monthly podcast. If you’d like to learn more about starting a handyman business that can replace your income, generate over $100,000 per year in profit, and give you more control over your schedule while allowing you to do services you enjoy without having to hire employees, without having to work more than 40 hours per week, then head over to handymanstartup.com/free. There, you can sign up for my free email newsletter where I share updates and exclusive content you can only access if you’re a subscriber. Plus, I put together a free startup kit that you’ll receive once you sign up. In that, you’ll learn 10 profitable handyman services you can start offering right now, common business mistakes that new handymen almost always make and how to avoid them, and my number one marketing strategy for filling your schedule with profitable jobs. So pause this right now, open up your web browser, visit handymanstartup.com/free, and sign up for my email newsletter. It’ll only take a minute, and you’ll be all set to receive that free startup kit, plus exclusive content and updates shared only with my subscribers. All right, let’s jump right into five of my least profitable jobs ever. Now, a quick caveat here. These jobs were mostly done in 2012 and 2013, when I was just starting my business. Since then, we’ve seen inflation total about 35% since then. So $100 back then had the same purchasing power as $135 now. Or to put that a different way, you’d have to have $135 now to buy the same stuff that you could buy for $100 back in 2012. So these prices might be even lower than what you’d expect for 2024. But just keep that perspective when I am sharing the numbers. All right, job number one. This was a painting job that I did for a friend of a friend, and this was the first job that I ever did as a handyman outside of jobs that I’d done for a couple of friends and on my own home. So this is like the first one. And this was for a young couple. They just had a new baby. They’re living in this two-story home, and they needed their upstairs master bedroom painted, the hallway painted, and the guest bathroom painted. They also wanted a baseboard and they had a drywall repair downstairs. They call me; they know I’m just starting my business, and I take all the measurements and exchange pleasantries. Then I go home, and I have no idea how much to charge for this. I called up somebody I knew who was a contractor, and I asked him, How would you quote this job? And he said, Well, painters usually charge by the square foot. So you just find out whatever the rate is in your area, multiply it by that, and you come up with a number for that. The same thing applies to the baseboards; you multiply whatever the rate is by the linear feet, and you charge by the linear foot. For the baseboards, you charge for painting by the square foot. So I’m like, Okay, great. So I sit down, I write it up. I come up with this quote, I think it’s like $900. I can’t remember the exact number. But I thought, Wow, that seems high. Okay, $900 just to paint a couple of bedrooms. It’s almost $1,000 just for some painting and on the baseboards. It seemed high to me. It’s not something I would personally invest in. But anyway, I submit this quote. I do the job, and the job ends up taking me way longer than I thought it would. It took me an entire week to do this project. I was there for eight hours minimum each day, running up and down the stairs, hustling as hard as I could, trying to do really good work, but it was a lot of work. And it took me a full week. If you run the numbers, you will see that there was about $200 or $300 in materials for that project. I think more like $300. So I made $600 for an entire week of work. And if you do the math, that’s only $15 per hour. Plus, I felt rushed and stressed pretty much the entire time I was doing the project. And then, to top it off, the customer didn’t even seem happy about it when I was done. They probably knew they got a serious discount, but they also probably thought it would take way less time, and then I would do it in a day or two like a professional painter probably would have. I didn’t get any referrals from this job. That customer never hired me again. I didn’t make very much money. I mean, it was a pretty bad situation. I didn’t enjoy that. It was my first job. It was early December when I was first starting my business. Now, looking back at that project, I would have charged probably more like $6,000 for a similar project. But realistically, I’d probably turn it down because I don’t like painting jobs. I don’t take on painting jobs anyway. I wouldn’t have even quoted the job. So, what mistakes led to this? What were my mistakes? Now, the number one mistake here was that I was too eager for the job. When I was quoting processing this job, I was thinking, I need to make absolute sure that they say yes to this so I get this job. This is my only job. This might be my only opportunity. And I was thinking irrationally at that moment, processing it as if it was my only opportunity. And if I didn’t get If I were to get that job, somehow my business was going to fail or something. I don’t know what was going on in there, but I was too eager. And whenever you’re too eager for a job, and you need that job, that’s almost always going to lead to bad pricing decisions. Another mistake I made was quoting based on a different business model. I operate a handyman business that provides a variety of small repairs. So I can’t necessarily compete with a painting company that has benefits different from those of working with me. I’m the guy that you call to do everything. I’ll do a wide variety of projects. You only have to call one person. There are other benefits behind that. So, my pricing model isn’t going to be the same. Whereas a painting company is going to hire cheap labor to do that job, so they’re going to be able to make it profitable despite charging a little bit less, maybe charging those rates. Plus, there was a bunch of stuff that I missed out. There were a whole bunch of additional factors that I should have factored into my pricing. For example, sanding the paint, a lot of the prep work that I needed to do, removing the old baseboards, painting the baseboards, the fact that it was upstairs and I had to go up and down the stairs, the fact that they had furniture in there that I had to move around while I was doing the project, which made it way more difficult to work. I think they still had their bed in the middle of the room, so I had to work around that while I was doing this project. So there are all these different factors that should have significantly increased the price, even if I was pricing it based on that different business model. The third mistake that I made was that my pricing was more based on fear versus the numbers that I needed to hit to make a profit. I was too worried about having a good price versus saying, Here’s what I need to charge to run a profitable business. And that’s a mistake that a lot of people make. So that’s job number one, one of my first jobs. Did I learn a lot? I’m not even sure I learned all that much from that job. I learned that I probably wouldn’t take on a painting job like that with their furniture in the house and that if I did, I would probably need to charge more. But I was still pretty new. I wasn’t even sure that that was a pricing mistake as much as I thought it might have been a lack of skill. But it wasn’t a lack of skill. It was definitely how I was looking at that job and the pricing mistakes. All right, second job. The next job I want to talk about was a deck repair that I did. Now, I don’t remember how I got this lead, but I go out there, visit the customer, and they need some deck repairs. Basically, their deck that’s on their second story, the j

    27 min

  5. 07/18/2024

    Growing your business the easy way

    How would you like to know an easy way to grow a business where… You don’t have to make sacrifices You don’t have to spend much time or make any big commitments. You don’t have to spend lots of money. You don’t have to make any tough decisions. You don’t have to do anything you don’t like, and you can have other people do it for you. You get to do the work you enjoy most daily, plus the freedom and fulfillment of a profitable business. Sound compelling? Of course, it does. But it’s ridiculous. If starting a profitable business was that easy, everyone would do it, competition would quickly outpace demand, and it would be hard again very quickly. Starting a business will always be challenging, as it should be. You want it to be challenging, so the rewards are worth it. But, there are easier ways to start a business than others, and that’s what I discuss in this episode. Listen to the podcast version of this article, which includes extra content. Listen right here or on your favorite podcast app! HS050 – Starting a business the easy way Don’t wait for things to be easy because they never will be I was talking to a handyman last week. He was in a tough situation. He had a full-time job. He was offering handyman services on the side. He was commuting to a different city for his jobs and wanted to build his handyman business full-time in the city where he lived. But he felt there was too much competition and wasn’t sure he could make it work. He also knew that if he were going to make it work, he would need to establish an online presence to generate enough customers to keep his schedule full. So, he started building his website. He got through the first couple of steps but quickly ran into a snag. It was more challenging than he expected, and he wasn’t sure how to proceed. Riddled in uncertainty and frustration, he gave up to find an easier way. As a result, he was no closer to escaping that situation and having that full-time business in the city where he lives. There’s no judgment here. I’ve done the same thing many times. I also admire him for continuing to seek a solution, which is why we were speaking in the first place. But here’s what often happens when trying to grow a business. A task you are doing is harder than you expected. Maybe that’s naming your business, filing for an LLC, building your website, or attracting your first customers. It takes longer than you expected. It’s more confusing. It costs more money than you thought it would. So you start to doubt yourself. You start to lose motivation. You wonder if it’s worth it. You wonder if you’re cut out for this. You wonder if there’s some easier way out there. And you want to give up. Then you start to think, maybe there’s some secret others know I don’t. And so, often, that leads you to give up. Over the years, I’ve consulted with many who run into this roadblock. They want a more profitable business. I tell them a solution, and immediately, I see it on their faces. Their reaction says, “Well, that sounds hard. I don’t want to do that. I don’t know how to do that. I can’t do that. Isn’t there an easier way?” Again, this often leads to giving up or waiting for things to be easy (which rarely happens). So, they consume more information, do more research, and try to gain certainty when the reality is that certainty does not exist. You will never be 100% certain. And yes, maybe there is an easier way to move forward, and you should look for it. But most of the time, there isn’t an easier way, and waiting for an easier way keeps you stuck. If you keep waiting for things to be easy, nothing will change. Business growth happens when you face challenges head-on Almost every time I’ve created significant growth within my business, it’s because I faced a challenging situation head-on. It’s not because I found an easy way or had some advantage. For example, when deciding which business to start, I read several books on career options and how to find my purpose. I desperately wanted somebody to tell me, “Here’s what you should do, man. This is what you’re good at. You should do that.” But nobody could. I had no other option than to stick with the problem until it was solved, which took me months. It was uncomfortable, but I had no choice but to push through until I felt good about a decision. Eventually, I decided to start a handyman business. When I started my business, nobody wanted to hire me because I looked like a teenager. People would disregard me because I looked so young. They assumed I didn’t have enough skills or experience. To be fair, they were probably right. But I still wanted to start my business, and I’d already quit my engineering job. So, instead of giving up, I dove into digital marketing. I studied it. It was hard. I was uncertain if it would work, but it was my best chance. So, I focused on it. I did things that other handymen wouldn’t do, and I thrived as a result. Another time, I didn’t know how to price my services, and I felt like I was wasting my time making way less money than I could be with my handyman services. At the time, I was podcasting, blogging, and running my handyman business. I didn’t have kids then, so I had more time to do these things. But while doing my handyman services, I knew I wasn’t making as much money as I could be. I knew I was underpricing jobs. I spent way too much time figuring out how to quote a job. I had too many gaps in my schedule between jobs. I was leaving a ton of money on the table, but I didn’t know the solution. I searched for advice and couldn’t find a good solution. Eventually, I got to the point where I was like, “Man, I’m not getting anywhere. I’m just spinning my wheels.” So, I had to do something challenging. I stopped podcasting. I cut back on my handyman services and made less money while focusing on figuring out how to price my services more profitably. It took me about nine months, but I ended up writing the first book on handyman pricing. That book sold well over a thousand copies, and I eventually learned even better pricing strategies, which I used to build my pricing course “$100K Handyman Pricing.” As a result of facing the challenge instead of waiting for an easy way, I started making more money as a handyman. I started scheduling my services more efficiently, making more money and less time. I was able to sell these programs to help other handymen make more money in less time. That was a huge breakthrough. But it wouldn’t have happened if I had just kept trying to do the same things I was doing (which was easier). Again, every time I’ve seen growth in my business, it’s because I went through one of those challenges, which was always difficult. Any time I’ve waited for something to be easy, I’ve made little or no progress. And trust me, there have been many of those times. You WANT it to be difficult to grow a business; you just may not realize it yet. Everyone is always looking for an easy way to grow a business. But here’s why you want it to be difficult to start a business… Easy leads to competition. The best example of this is crowded ski slopes. If you’ve been skiing over the last decade, I guarantee your favorite mountain is way busier than it was ten years ago. Many argue that convenience, low-priced season passes, and corporate greed have ruined skiing. Ease is what ruined skiing (at least on Friday-Sunday at major ski resorts). But, when skiing is not easy, it’s far less crowded and, in my opinion, more fun. Just going during bad weather will cut the crowds in half. Or, even better, if you’re willing to get a backcountry setup, you can access fresh powder more consistently. It’s just not nearly as easy. Any challenge weeds out a tremendous portion of the population. With business, you want challenges and obstacles to weed out competition. If starting a business was easy, everybody would do it, and supply would rapidly outpace demand. But that’s actually impossible because there’s a natural balance. As supply increases faster than demand, competition increases, making it more challenging for businesses to stay in business. The people who aren’t willing to make the sacrifices and do the hard things give up, which balances things out. And that’s why it continues to work; it’s not easy. Many businesses work hard to create artificial obstacles to keep people out of their market. They want it to be hard for you. One example of this is contractor licensing regulations. Who do you think is the biggest fan of contractor licensing regulations that limit you from being able to do plumbing, HVAC, or electrical without a specialty license? It’s the people who have a license! They want as few people to have those licenses as possible so they can charge higher rates and make more money. Challenges = Opportunities So, when you hit one of these challenges along your business journey, look at it as an opportunity. It means that a certain percentage of the people trying to start that business will automatically be weeded out, and all you have to do is keep going to gain an advantage. When trying to get customers, you have many options. Most people opt for the easy path and pay for leads. Welcome to the crowds! Enjoy paying too much for leads and fighting for scraps. But if you’re willing to do some things that other people aren’t willing to do, like the things that I teach in Handiman Marketing Machine, you’ll be cruising down a much less crowded and more profitable road. Don’t seek easy. Seek advantages. There’s a counterintuitive truth if you want to make growing a business easy. The easy way to grow a business is to stop looking for the easy way and start looking for advantages. If I were to change that slightly, I would say, “Stop looking for the easy way and start wor

    25 min

  6. 06/11/2024

    5 Indispensable Business Lessons From Mounting 100 TVs

    Mounting TVs can be a lucrative service for any handyman. It has a high perceived value relative to install time, so you can easily make $100-$200 per hour. It’s a great, low-risk way for a new customer to test your services, allowing you to quickly build your client base. And it’s just a low-stress, enjoyable job. That’s why I’ve invested time to promote and specialize in this service. And in this article and podcast episode, I’m going to share five business lessons I’ve learned after mounting well over 100 TVs. And by the way, these lessons apply to any home service. Listen to the podcast version of this article, which includes extra content. Listen right here or on your favorite podcast app! HS049 – 5 Indispensable Business Lessons From Mounting 100 TVs How I Started Mounting TVs I mounted my first TV in 2012 for a middle-aged woman who found me on Craigslist. I was surprised by the request when she called since I’d never mounted a TV before. So when she asked how much it would cost, I blurted out the first number that came to my head. “Seventy-five dollars,” I said with fake confidence. To my surprise, she agreed, and I scheduled the job for later that day. When I knocked at her door, I was anxious (and probably awkward) because I wasn’t sure what to expect. To make it even worse, she sat on the couch, watching my every move as I fumbled with the instructions. It took me well over an hour (about twice as long as it should have), but I completed the project, and she paid me with a smile. At first, I figured this was a fluke job because it was so easy, and I didn’t think many people would pay for this service. I was wrong. A couple of weeks later, I signed up for Service Magic (now called HomeAdvisor) and started paying for leads. I received my first lead to hang a TV shortly after signing up. I quickly jumped on the lead and told the customer it would cost $100 (again, just a number I pulled out of thin air on the spot). The customer said yes, and I put it on my schedule. Later that day (my schedule was wide open), I arrived at this wealthy attorney’s estate and immediately realized the job was over my head. The TV was a gigantic 80″ monster. I couldn’t put this thing on the wall by myself. But I was already there, so I went to work anyway. Once the bracket was attached to the wall, I asked the customer to help me lift the TV to place it on the wall. I felt very unprofessional, but she didn’t seem bothered. Again, she paid me with a smile and hired me for many more projects over the coming years. Again, I felt like this service wasn’t something I could consistently offer. First, I didn’t think many people would need it, and second, I figured that few customers would tolerate helping lift the TV they paid to have installed. Wrong again. Over the next decade, I’d mount over a hundred TVs for hundreds of customers. During that process, I learned several valuable business lessons that can be applied to any home service. Here are some of those lessons. Lesson #1 – Some things can only be learned by DOING. Despite doing thorough research before starting my handyman business, I’d never heard anyone discussing mounting TVs (again, this was back in 2011). This service wouldn’t have crossed my path if I didn’t start my business. Only by immersing myself in the handyman business did I make this discovery. This is true for countless insights I’ve gained by going deep with the handyman business. Another example is marketing. My #1 most effective marketing strategy, responsible for 90% of all leads I’ve received in the last decade, was something I discovered after testing a strategy I’d learned from an online marketing course I took a year earlier. But by immersing myself in marketing and doing it myself, I uncovered gold. That marketing strategy now keeps me as busy as I want to be for my most profitable jobs with virtually no time or money. I would never have discovered this strategy if I had just stayed at surface-level education, such as watching or listening to other people talk about marketing. I had to go deep, immerse myself in it, and do it myself. But many people don’t take action. Instead, they watch YouTube videos, estimate the results they might get, and decide the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. So they do nothing and, consequently, don’t learn anything. When you actually DO something yourself, that’s when you learn. That’s when your perception of the world shifts. That’s when new possibilities open up. When you engage in the world and try things (instead of living vicariously through others), you make discoveries that no one is talking about online, propelling your business and freedom forward. I’ve learned a lot from mentors, and I continue to read books, invest in my education, and learn from others. But, most of my most profitable decisions and discoveries resulted from taking action. So, lesson #1 – Do things. Stop thinking about starting a business and try it. And then stick with it long enough to go beyond having just a surface-level understanding. Stop thinking about raising your prices and try it. See what happens and what insights you gain. Stop thinking about building a website and get to work. Lesson #2 – View competition as a signal, not a stop sign. It’s easy to look at a business idea and get discouraged by all the competition, but when you do that, you’re already beaten. The truth is that there is always competition, but there is also always opportunity. The competition for mounting TVs seems pretty steep. First, Best Buy’s Geek Squad seems to have a monopoly on the service. Then you have Costco, HelloTech, Walmart, Home Depot, and other big players offering the service. It seems impossible for a one-person handyman with a small marketing budget to make any meaningful money from this service. Yet, I continue to generate new leads every month WITHOUT paying a dime to advertise. I could easily get more if I wanted to invest in some advertising. If I were an outsider, I’d assume trying to get customers for this service would be a waste of time. The only reason I know it’s not a waste of time is I’ve seen the reality myself by immersing myself in it (back to lesson #1). When you see competition, view it as a signal that a given service is in demand. Competition indicates that people actively pay for the thing you want to sell. That’s a good thing. Also, you don’t need a 100% market share to make money. You just need a small chunk of the pie. Lesson #3 – Execute the basics first As a new handyman, it’s easy to get caught worrying about small stuff like having the optimal tool bucket, driving the ideal vehicle, or looking stupid in front of a customer because the project takes longer than expected. And sure, those things probably do have an impact. But the majority of your time and effort should be on two things: Doing high-quality work. Offering great service. If you provide excellent customer service and do immaculate work, your customers won’t care if you drive a Honda Accord or if your cordless drill is eight years old. If you take longer to do something right, customers will quickly forget about that extra time and mainly remember your great work. If you mount a TV straight and securely to the wall in the exact spot the customer wants, they won’t care if you use a $30 mount from Amazon. Sure, you may be able to charge more if you can expertly explain the benefits of a full-motion mount, but that is secondary to the main thing, which is doing the job well and being a pleasure to work with. It doesn’t matter how many fancy features or extra benefits you add to the project if you don’t execute the basics. Take the example of having the customer help lift the TV. This is clearly not ideal. Ideally you’d have a helper so the customers wouldn’t have to be involved. But as it turns out, that’s OK. A helper is just an extra benefit that goes beyond the basics. This problem can be easily solved by asking the customer if someone will be available to help lift the TV before you schedule the job. Great communication is one of the easiest ways to improve service. While mounting TVs, I’ve learned that most customers just want me to show up on time, mount the TV so it’s perfectly level, and have the peace of mind that it won’t fall off the wall. Anything else is just a bonus. Lesson #4 – Strive to be the best It pays to be the best. Once you execute the basics, continually level up your game and strive to be the best. Never get complacent. Sometimes, being the best can be as simple as investing in the right tools. If there is a tool that will make me better at mounting TVs, I will buy it. One example is a borescope. This tool allows me to drill a small hole in the wall and then stick a camera in that hole to find studs or see what is behind the wall. Most TV mounting companies don’t have a borescope because it’s unnecessary for 95% of jobs. The magic of this little $200 tool is that it allows me to mount TVs to faux stone walls above a fireplace without drilling 20 holes to find a stud. This makes me look more professional, increases my capabilities and confidence, and allows me to charge a premium. One customer called me to mount TVs in a 100-year-old home with lathe and plaster walls. He tried to get other companies out there, but nobody would touch it. I knew it would be a challenge (I’d never done it before), but I was dedicated to being the best at this service, and I viewed the challenge as a way to differentiate myself. The project took a bit longer than expected (luckily, I charged a premium), but I learned a new skill in the process, and I’m now confident for the next century-old home I encounter. When you commit to a specialty, it is much easier to justify buying expensive tools or honing your

    28 min

  7. 05/13/2024

    Handyman Shares His Story After One Year In Business

    Here’s an inspiring interview with a handyman who started his business just over a year ago. After receiving an ultimatum from his boss, Evaristo Gomez left his secure job as a finish carpenter’s apprentice to grow his handyman business full-time – even though he had a wife and young child at home to support. That takes courage. And his bravery paid off. Today, Evaristo is the proud owner of a thriving business that not only surpasses his previous job in terms of income but also grants him the flexibility to be there for his family whenever they need him. And that’s just a little over a year in! HS048 – Evaristo Gomez Shares His Story After One Year In Business as a Pro Handyman Here’s what we discuss in this episode: Evaristo’s courageous journey – leaving his secure income for a better life. How Evaristo accidentally drilled into a pipe in the wall and caused a leak on one of his first jobs. The challenges of getting started – doubts, fears, and more. How Evaristo estimates jobs. The type of work Evaristo is doing. How Evaristo stands out from the competition. About Evaristo Gomez Evaristo is the proud owner of A Pleasant Handyman Service, which serves residents of Winlock, Washington, and surrounding areas. After buying a 1930s-built home, Evaristo was overwhelmed by his growing list of repairs and lack of skills. When a contractor came in and helped him address the issues, his peace of mind returned. From that moment, he was inspired to do the same for others. So, after working in several jobs in the construction industry, he eventually went out on his own and started his handyman business – where he focuses on bringing a pleasant experience and peace of mind to his clients. And since he’s experienced so much success with his business, he’s been inspired to help others at his church start home repair businesses as well. The post Pro Handyman Shares His Story After One Year In Business appeared first on Handyman Startup.

    47 min

  8. 04/16/2024

    How to Quickly Gain Credibility

    Credibility is essential to gaining new clients and growing a business. But, this topic is often misunderstood by people new to the home repair business. Pros tend to overvalue certain credibility boosters, like having a contractor’s license or having lots of experience, and undervalue other methods for boosting credibility. This often results in competent people being too scared to start their businesses because they don’t think they can make it work without the proper credentials. Additionally, people often make the mistake of assuming that credibility is some objective truth when, in reality, it is a subjective perception. And because it is just a perception, it can be easily manipulated. Manipulating credibility is one of the main purposes of marketing. This has many unfortunate implications, such as unqualified people successfully selling low-quality services and ripping people off. However, there is a positive side as well. For those who are more than competent to provide quality handyman services yet lack the typical experience or credentials, you can pull the right marketing levers to instantly boost credibility and fill your schedule with profitable jobs. That’s how I started my business. Despite looking like a teenager and having very little home repair experience, I established credibility and built a profitable handyman business relatively quickly. And in this podcast episode, I share how I did that and other powerful ways to build credibility. HS047 – How to quickly gain credibility Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode: How credibility makes everything about growing a business easier and more fun Why credibility allows you to charge more than your competition Four quick ways to boost your credibility – regardless of your experience level or credentials The most powerful methods for increasing your credibility   The post How To Quickly Gain Credibility appeared first on Handyman Startup.

    43 min
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About

Learn how to start or grow a handyman business

Information

  • Creator
    Dan Perry: Handyman | Small Business Owner
  • Years Active
    2013 - 2024
  • Episodes
    50
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    Copyright © Handyman Startup LLC
  • Show Website
    The Handyman Startup Podcast