Posted on 07/13/2002 2:31:15 PM PDT by PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain
I started mine about 6 months ago, and I consult and contract in the IT field, e.g. networking, software development, system(s) auditing. It's slow, but it's picking up steam. I'm my only employee! ;-)
If your limited resources (capital) limits expansion in the revenue department then it is time to reveiw the pricing structure. Either your too low, or too good, or etc.
I can add a new crew and equipement for about $15,000 in my line of work, its low entry start up and gravy profit.
Now is the time to revisit the pricing structure and increase the revenue rate until the work load is balanced.
You may have something there, I've always went the Wal-Mart way low prices and lots of customers, and I still make a very good profit, its hard to go broke making money, I'll give you idea some serious thought, thanx.
BigMack
Snow removal is always a $ maker,extends the season to year round.
Problem is the slow season is bad weather, our season runs from late march to about middle of november, after that its dead because we can't do the work, we do seal coating, line striping, crack filling, asphalt repairs, asphalt overlays ( we don't do the overlays we sub them out)
BigMack
Great, jump in with any ideas you have on setting this thing up, its just a baby ya know and needs all the help it can get, I'll put you on the ping list. :)
BigMack
Thanx bud, I'll check it out.
BigMack
Snow removal is always a $ maker,extends the season to year round.
Not much, about a week or so, we do some with our bob cat for our customers, we just bought a infrared asphalt repair system last year that heats the old asphalt so it can be broken up and new asphalt added to the low areas and compacted to repair bad places in the lots, we can use it in bad weather, and plan to use it this bad weather season.
BigMack
Well its time to start. Thanx for your post.
BigMack
I've read through the thread and realize that you are talking weather seasonal and not other types of seasonal, but I've dealt with both.
When my husband and I started our home improvement - primarily exterior work - it always depended on the weather.
When we would bid a job, we would sit down with the potential client and our calendar and explain this is when we will be available. If that was unacceptable we would offer to suggest someone else to do the work. We lost some jobs, but we made friends with the competition and got repeat requests from the potential client.
For a variety of reasons, including a physical problem of my husband's we gave that up 5 years ago, but to this day still get calls for some work and/or referrals. I guess we were doing something right!!!
Please add me to your ping list. I'm trying to get back into the business world after having been semi out of it following the birth of my daughter. what I've been doing is also pretty seasonal - research and writing and contacting of people while the legislature is in session!!!
Been doing pretty close to this, my problem is sticking to it, I guess there is no easy answers, you give good advise, thanx.
BigMack
Increase prices until your backlog is manageable.
Option 2: Do a clientectomy on 20% of your clients. Remember old Pareto. I would bet that 80% of your profits come from 20% of your clients. And furthermore, 80% of your headaches come from 20% of your clients. During the busy season it is time to keep your most profitable clients happy and delete the least profitable.
I would love to do just that, but its weather seasonal, and we are hard pressed to get done all that we do, thats why I'm adding the new crew. Thanx for your post.
BigMack
We do parking lot maintence, clean the lot, fill the cracks, repair any asphalt problems, apply 2 coats of seal coat, restripe the lot, and it has to be done all in one day in any area we block off because we can't close the business down for more than one day at a time.
BigMack
Nothing wrong with a dedicated crew with no more than a one-week commitment, for which response time you charge 150% of normal.
Watch out, though - If you do any work for the FED, you are required to put them on the fast schedule at your lowest rate.
Can't everbody is behind like we are, they have the same problems.
BigMack
May be bidding to low, but heck, even at that we make a killing.
If you are doing quality work and winning more bids than you can handle, raise your bids. Figure out what is a comfortable percentage of bids for you to win, which you can successfully accomplish.
Our quality is our problem, its great, out old customer base is overflowing, thats why we are adding a new crew, to keep the quality up and them happy.
Or alternatively, grow and manage your company to handle the business you win. Growing too fast is always a major problem with small, growing companies, and can lead to total business failure.
We have been in buss for 15 years and growing steadly, but it seems not fast enough for the work load, I agree you can grow too fast, seen it happen a number of times here, I'll take your advise and look at biding higher, good advise, thanx. Oh the problems of having too much buss. :)
BigMack
Good idea, lets let the thread run next week during the business day and see who responds, been pretty good today for a Sat late in the day, and just one problem addressed, mine. :) Then we can put a ping list together and ping everbody and plan a meeting and develop this thing, will you help? Thanx
BigMack
;0)
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