nail some faster than others, and you will always be trying to improve on other harder to grasp skills. Here are some of the main areas to focus:
- Compliance – Licensing & Insurance
Make sure to get or maintain relevant licensing and insurance in your trade. This will be super helpful as you grow your customer base and have opportunities to pursue larger projects, whether that be insurance restoration projects, high-end residential homes, commercial properties, or multi-family complexes. - Maintaining Books & Records
It can be tempting to request all of your payments in cash. However, when you get to the point of needing to expand your business, you will inevitably need to hire more people, lease equipment & vehicles, and/or perhaps lease new office space. It’s a good idea to accept checks and/or credit cards as well. This creates records (paper trail) of your profitability which is essential for creating financial records that can be verified when you are applying for new leases and loans. This will also help start building business credit which can be beneficial for leasing and loans as well. Remember to issue invoices and receipts for your work. Some digital services make this easier by using digital receipts and invoices (this is built into our system). - Branding & Website
Where possible, aim to have a consistent brand presentation across every opportunity a customer sees your company logo. In other words, aim to have your logo on your and your employees’ clothing. This logo should also be prominently displayed on your website. Speaking of websites, make sure to NOT use an @gmail.com, @yahoo.com, etc email address for your business communication. Aim to get your own domain address and have a matching email addresses, for example: jim@yourpaintingservice.com. - Marketing
This is probably the single biggest area you will spend much of your time, other than performing your actual service. There are many aspects of marketing to juggle, and this could be an article on its own. The main buckets to keep in mind are: direct (physical mail, cold email, etc.), web ads (Google, Bing Ads, etc.), web SEO (your website design and article creation), and social (facebook, Instagram, etc). Marketing takes time and consistent effort for your brand to catch on. - Lead Sourcing & Generation
While you’re doing the hard work on the branding and marketing sides, it’s important to also think about aligning with sources and networks that have homeowners actively looking for help. You are probably considering trying lead generation services. We would caution you there because they tend to be expensive, and in many cases are charging $50+ per lead no matter how many times they have sold the same lead. Consider giving trying HutSolver a shot. When you compare HutSolver to some of the largest Home Improvement lead generation services, the biggest differences are:
– HutSolver does not charge Home Improvement Contracting PROs for homeowner information (leads);
– PROs in HutSolver can see what the homeowner wants to achieve (including dimensions and pictures);
– Home Improvement Contracting PROs in HutSolver can communicate with a Homeowner before visiting their property to better understand the project and figure out if the project is interesting to them;
– PROs in HutSolver can pursue as many projects as they believe they can handle;
– Home Improvement Contracting PROs only pay a fee related to a project when they win a new project.
Sign up to HutSolver today! Our system is free to join and use! We believe you’ll solve many of our users’ home projects with creative ideas.
About HutSolver
HutSolver is a marketplace for home projects where homeowners share their projects (create project posts), receive creative feedback and build relationships with qualified home improvement professionals (PROs). Post, Hire, and Manage your project all on HutSolver.
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