One Year!

Well, one full year is out of the way, and it looks like my business is going to survive. It's amazing to think that a year ago at this time I was wondering if I would make it long term or not. Today the only thing I wonder is whether or not I can keep up with everything. While the winter was a little slow, since the middle of February until now, I have been pretty much busy nonstop. At first it was exciting to be booked for a full week at a time, but now I am starting to find it overwhelming. As I sit here tonight, I have a good two weeks of work lined with out any sign of things slowing down.

Currently, most of my work is outdoor work. This would not be bad except that it has been at least 105 degrees (107 has been the norm) for the past 3 weeks (I think we may have had one day that it failed to reach 100.). And quite frankly, it's not much fun. I used to think that my $35 was high, but when I am out working in this weather, I am convinced that my customers are getting a bargain.

It's really funny how this business runs in cycles. I can go for weeks with out doing a certain kind of job, and the next thing you know, I will find myself doing that same kind of job over and over. Right now, major property cleanups (not junk, but rather weeds, vines and other natural growth that has gone out of control) and fence installs are keeping me busy. In the past two weeks I have had two large scale cleanup jobs and two fence installs. And next week I start another major job that involves both cleaning natural debris and installing a fence in the newly cleared area.

To show another example of business running in cycles: a few weeks ago, I did five or six junk hauls in one week. This would not be interesting except for the fact that I had gone several weeks without a single request for junk hauling. This is only a couple of examples, if I were to go back through all my records, I could share several instances in which this happens.

Before starting this business, I had a strong belief that if a man would be dependable, honest, friendly and do good work, then that man would be in high demand. This belief is finally starting to show itself correct. While I surprisingly don't get a lot of word of mouth business, I do have a very strong repeat customer base. I believe it is safe to say that currently, over half of my business comes from repeat customers. The remaining business come from advertising of some sort.

I very thankful that I chose to advertise in the local paper. With out that advertisement, it would have been a very slow road. The adverting price has recently increased to $95 a month (it used to be $80); however, it is still money well spent. My business currently generates about $5500 to $6500 in labor charges per month. The newspaper ad is really the source of this income. Even though I have a great base of repeat business, it was through the newspaper ad that my steady customers originally found me. For this reason, I have no real need to spend any additional money on advertising. I do plan to eventually invest in some nice polo style shirts with my business named embroidered in front as well as some magnetic signage for my truck; however, this is more for the purpose of presenting a professional appearance rather than the purpose of attracting new business.

If I were willing to take on the responsibility of having an employee, I could advertise more and take on more business; but at the moment, I really don't want that headache. The greatest benefit of being in business for myself is the freedom and flexibility it offers. I am afraid that having an employee would cause me to loose some of that flexibility. Not only would I have the responsibility of staying in contact with my customers, but I would also have the responsibility of staying in contact with the employee and keeping him informed to everything that was scheduled. In addition to loosing flexibility, there would also be the additional burden of paperwork. Anyway, by time you pay the employee, pay his employment taxes, and pay for workers compensation, I really can't see an employee adding much to profits. Now if I could hire a guy for $8.50 per hour and bill him out at $35 per hour, it might be profitable; however, I could not in good conscience pay a guy so little for the work I do. I bust my hump everyday, and I would expect my employee to do the same. Anyone who is willing to give that amount of effort is worth being paid a decent, livable wage. Unfortunately, paying a liveable wage and all other employee expenses would likely cost more than it would add. So for now, it's just my poor wife who gets drafted when I need a second hand. She's a good worker and she's quite affordable. I can get a good days work out of her with the simple promise of taking her out for dinner (can't beat that!).