How To Start a Profitable Handyman Business

hey it's Dan Perry and in this video I'm going to talk about how to start a profitable handyman business so over the last seven years I've both started my own handyman business and I've helped thousands of people across the world start profitable handyman businesses as well and the handyman business can be surprisingly profitable if set up properly in fact you can generate a six-figure income offering basic handyman services like fixing doors repairing fences hanging pictures and other simple but common services and that's without hiring employees that's just a one-person handyman business working out of your garage for example but again the business must be set up properly otherwise you come nowhere near a six-figure income you don't look like most new handyman who make all kinds of poor business decisions that kill their profits okay so in this video I'm gonna walk you through the first five steps of starting a profitable handyman business that brings you the freedom enjoyment that you're looking for and by completing these steps you'll create a clear plan that will all but guarantee your success alright step number one choose your services so the first step you must take is to evaluate your current skills and decide on the services you're actually going to be providing okay now you're gonna do kitchen remodels or gonna do bathroom remodels are you're just gonna focus on small repairs and to-do lists like hanging pictures fixing doors fixing fences replacing faucets changing toilets what services do you want to provide what services are you good at and you might be thinking don't I need to be able to do everything and the short answer is no in fact you can generate a very healthy income by offering a limited range of services and in many cases it's actually much more profitable to just offer one or two services just take a look at other businesses that are similar to a handyman business like garage door repair companies lawn care companies locksmiths home security installers gutter cleaning companies there are even businesses that just do window cleaning ok these businesses all focus on niche services that can be very lucrative but as a handyman you're typically going to have a much broader range of services that will span several trades but the thing is you can certainly get started by offering what you know how to do now and grow from there or you could just focus on the services that you like to do and that's it I mean I have clients who who won't do drywall repair at all they just don't like it so you don't have to do every service you're gonna want to spend some time kind of figuring out what services do you actually want to provide okay step number two learn the local handyman laws now I'd love to just tell you exactly what the laws are right here in this video but unfortunately they're different in every state okay so before you get too excited about the list of services you just created it's time to do some research on the contracting laws in your specific state you must find out what services you can and cannot offer without a license or you need to figure out what license you need in order to provide the services you actually want to provide in most states you won't need any specialized to take at all to offer small repairs however there are usually limits on what you can and cannot do without a license okay and usually there are two types of limits number one is a limit on the total cost of each project in some states that limit is as low as $500 and in others the limit is as high as 3,000 that means the total cost of the repair or service you offer must be less than that limit okay you will probably need a contractor's license if you want to do bigger jobs like kitchen remodels or bathroom remodels okay the second type of limit is on the type of services you can offer so for example in the state of Nevada where I live I can't do any services that involve electrical plumbing or HVAC unless I carry a license in those specific trades now that might seem limiting and it kind of is however I'm still able to run a profitable business and so are many of my clients okay so you'd be amazed at how many people are actually looking to have these small jobs done like hanging pictures for example you'd be amazed at how much money I make just hanging pictures and these are also very profitable services if again you set your business up properly so the best way to learn the laws in your specific city or state is by doing a simple google search just search for contracting or handyman laws or anything like that and it might take some digging but you'll eventually find something that'll at least give you an idea of the services that you can legally provide without a license and if you all learn more about handyman laws just visit handyman start-up comm forward slash laws for an in-depth article on the subject alright moving on to step three which is to define your ideal customers and I know what you're thinking but Dan anybody who needs my services is my customer right no and this is very very important okay not everybody is your customer I'll say it again not everybody is your customer in fact this is so important that you should consider getting that phrase tattooed on the back of your hand so you can be constantly reminded of it because here's the deal if you want to generate a solid profit you're going to need to charge a decent rate usually at least fifty dollars an hour ideally more like a hundred dollars an hour and not everybody is willing to pay that much I'll bet you wouldn't even pay that much you might even think those rates are crazy and honestly you probably are not within your ideal customers okay your ideal customers are gonna think totally different than you they're gonna be willing to pay much more for services than you otherwise would and when I started my handyman business I didn't really understand this concept and I worked for anybody that I could I'd lower my prices to get jobs I take on jobs I wasn't good at and I basically tried to serve everyone who would hire me as a handyman and because of this I ended up getting some bad reviews online I wasted a lot of time and effort and I made way less money than I could have in my first year as a handyman now eventually I learned my lesson never lower your rates to get customers design your business around helping a specific type of customer and making a profit and then focus on helping those customers okay and if you're targeting customers you actually enjoy working for and who are willing to pay decent rates for your services you will be happier they'll be happier you'll get more referrals and repeat business and you'll make more money in the process if you try to work for everybody you're gonna struggle financially or emotionally and probably both honestly alright step number four set your pricing it's time to figure out how much you're gonna charge and I'll be honest here deciding how much to charge is one of the more challenging parts of starting a handyman business because of the psychology and limiting beliefs involved we all have this psychological baggage that kind of holds us back now this is where I see most mistakes with new businesses not only do you need to consider things like your experience level efficiency of work ability to sell reputation professionalism and a bunch of other things but you also need to understand your numbers you need to understand your business from a financial perspective okay and then once you know how much you should charge based on what you need to make a profit you need to have the balls to actually charge that much it's no easy task especially when you probably have some self doubts about your skills and abilities to start with but don't worry everybody has this okay everybody struggles here however there's one thing that I want you to remember and that is this this problem has already been solved many handyman have come before you and learned pricing the hard way so you can simply learn from our mistakes I actually spent an entire year writing a book about handyman pricing that has been read by and used by over a thousand other Pro handyman and I can't get into the ins and outs of everything in this video but for the sake of this video let's talk about the first step to setting your pricing just to get you started first you'll need to estimate your business expenses then you'll need to figure out how much of a salary you'll pay yourself and how many hours you're gonna work and finally you're gonna add all this information into a simple equation and figure out how much you must charge in order to generate a profit now this might sound like a lot to take in a lot to do but it's actually pretty easy and I actually created a really cool resource that you can find a handyman startup comm forward slash hourly rate that will walk you through this process step by step and do all the boring calculations for you and finally step number five develop a marketing strategy now at this point you should have a good idea of the services you're gonna provide who you're gonna provide those services to and how much you're going to charge for your time now the next step is to figure out how you're going to reach your ideal clients and convince them to actually hire you so it's time to form a marketing plan and the good news is that as a handyman you're gonna be in high demand there's a lot of people looking for your services so finding customers isn't too challenging the bad news is there are a lot of other handy men out there with the same thing in mind a lot of them have very low prices okay which you're gonna have to deal with that but don't worry there's more good news and that's that most handyman are terrible marketers and just by putting a little bit of extra effort in your marketing you can make a killing you can charge higher rates you'll make more money you'll get better customers you'll have your schedule be filled more consistently and honestly the fact that you're watching this video puts you away the head of the pack so that's awesome right there Congrats on that okay so your goal in this step is to figure out which marketing methods are going to be the most effective and have the highest return on investment so sit down and study your ideal clients behaviors desires and frustrations so you can come up with the best methods for promoting your handyman business and gaining those specific customers so depending on what services you're gonna offer and who what customers you're gonna target your marketing plan is actually gonna be a little bit different right so if you're targeting real estate agents then networking is going to be a very effective marketing strategy for you if you're targeting homeowners then hands down the best way to get them is with online marketing okay building a website doing some basic SEO and things like that and you may be totally brand new this whole marketing thing and have no idea where to start and if that's the case then I recommend you head over to handyman start up calm I have dozens of free articles on marketing a handyman business that I know you'll find helpful and that's it once you complete these five steps you'll have a solid plan for dominating as a pro handyman you'll have a new feeling of excitement a boost in motivation and you'll be ready to claim your freedom by finally starting a business now obviously you won't get all this done in one sitting so take your time and knock it out one step at a time and don't forget to take advantage of the free training products I've created for you at handyman startup calm you

Channel: Handyman Startup

Views: 324,051

Keywords: start a handyman business, handyman business plan, handyman pricing, handyman marketing, best customers for handyman business, handyman services, local handyman laws, what you need to start a handyman business, network with real estate agents, best advertising method for handyman, handyman startup

Id: t5oEB0vDPqM

Length: 11min 22sec (682 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 31 2018