What about you ! This week's Video, we're going to be asking business owners tips and advice that
give somebody starting up a business in 2023 and beyond. Let's go..............
I'm with Darren Waters here and he's going to give us some tips on starting your own business. Go ahead Darren.
I think one of the first tips I'd say, is to work hard do a good job and be reliable and that will get your name out and
get you recommendations. What is the best way to get your name out there if you're just starting
up a business? I think nowadays it's social media even for the older people they tend to find you
on Google or Yell or whatever so social media is the way to go I think. So a tip for starting your
business I would definitely say one of them has to be consistency so when you start in whatever plan
you decide to go down in whatever formation you make in your business I would say stay
consistent with it and just stay true with it at some point if it's all been worked out well it'll
work off in the long term. Good tip for starting your business is definitely consistency again
hourly rates are always good because you know you're getting obviously that amount of work in
it's good to stick to an hourly rate because you know you're going to get you know work coming all
the time don't try to outgrow yourself start small keep the customers that you've got happy
and grow from there and expand slowly to a scale that you can manage. Good to the high start of it's
be upfront and honest with the customer from the outset tell them what you want going forward and
getting that agreement if it means you're written down information just be honest and upfront to the
customer I think when starting up a business and you know getting your first customers yeah
when you make a arrangement to see them you know don't give excuses go and see them or you know
phone up and reschedule to see them. Starting up in business find out who your your local dealers are
what other businesses and contractors are doing just having a good network of people that can
supply you with the materials and the supplies that you need the machines that you need and
but also just to have a good rapport with other guys locally you know good Network's always a
good thing to have when you when you need to get work done. First of all be cost effective for the
area you're in be reliable trustworthy that's my main values be there when you say you're
going to be there be reliable and charge a fair price for what you think you're worth.
How do you set your price in the area that you work in ? Set prices?- There's a lot of
competition there's always somebody out there that's gone undercut you always will be but
I mean that's the game we're in you do a good job Word of Mouth always gets around. I would say the
most important thing is communicate with your customers from whether it's text email or phone
and take into account your costs your overheads don't sell yourself short pricing's right so
you don't go bust! There's hundreds thousands of us out there do you know what and there's a place for
everybody so have a bit of belief in yourself. Two spend wisely whatever your thoughts are you've got
to look at it and you've got to look at what money you've got look at what you want your equipment to
achieve and spend wisely and thirdly is equipment again but maintenance and maintenance is the key
to anything you've spent your money you want to look after that investment get it greased get it
oiled get it serviced new blades whenever you can keep it in tip-top condition and you won't go far
wrong. What tips would you give somebody starting up their own business ? I think if if you're going
to start a lawn care business the first thing to do is do your research I would even recommend
perhaps joining the UK Lawn Care Association because there's a large group of people that
you can network with and give you advice but definitely do your research do your preparation
put together a decent business proper business plan as well
because it's really important really important to do that a lot of people when overlook that yeah
to do to do that then you know have as you as you start off have some measurements in place to
to see how you're doing really. My last question for you Tom would be what do you think is the most
cost effective way to advertise if you're just starting a business ? Certainly digital Now using uh
SEO Google AdWords social media has become much more important and that's a growing area don't
underestimate you know the local contacts to you you already have where you live in the area area
that you're based. Tips I'll give someone starting a business would be probably start as many revenue
streams as you possibly can you never know which ones will take off and which ones don't and as the
business grows focus on those revenue streams that are really pushing and really earning you the money
I use Jobber it just makes my life a lot easier scheduling wise invoicing wise everything comes
in everything goes out I know we're not being paid if I haven't been paid it sends invoice reminders
automatically you can set up automatic payments so you know you're definitely going to get paid and
it just makes your life a lot easier if you've got a split team a small team and you can send
their rotas out to them on the mobile app and yeah Jobber is just a lifesaver in the business
Do you use the Autopay feature? Yeah I've got I've got a couple of customers on the Autopay, next year
I'll be transferring all of them to the Autopay. And the Autopay's like a big step up ?
It's like it's like a game changer massive stuff massive step off my my invoices are paid
when I want them to be paid if I if I'm invoicing monthly I paid on the first of the month without
a doubt receipts are sent to the customer straight away it's just so much easier yep.