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Little Buddy

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Posts posted by Little Buddy

  4. Posted · Report reply

    This is my advice, as a newbie as well. Take a year off before starting your business. RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH. You don't want to have that 10 grand go to waste in vain. The actual labor side of the industry is the easy part. What i found to be the hardest during my months of hard and thorough research is the business side. I know it sounds dumb, but you two need to sit down and sketch a rough business plan and agree upon a business model. Next, locate your distributors and start networking with them, they will know a lot about the industry and give create advice. Then comes the price matrix/list, this takes the longest to develop.

    Now for the fun part. The majority of your ten grand should go into a professionally designed website, and get your company branded, and advertising. Nothing screams credibility louder than a professionally designed company , no matter the size or experience.

    Just to give you an idea of what my budget looks like: 80% advertising, 10% legal documentation, 5% software and such, and 5% equipment. This is what a startup business's budget should look like.

    The bottom line...Look, Act, and strive to be a credible, reliable, and diligent company.

    Thanks, Joe

    P.S, Ask questions, but research thoroughly so they are thoughtful questions.

  10. Posted · Report reply

    I don't know about you, but i couldn't try to sell a service or product if i wasn't educated or confident in myself. I can't believe that people would start a company without doing at least 6 months of research before hand. In this industry, there is so much information to learn on the labor side as well as the business side. I want to start as efficiently as possible and try to carry as much credibility as possible.

    I would say the biggest investment you should make, besides equipment, is a PROFESSIONALLY DESIGNED website and a large advertising budget. The biggest thing that has helped me out so far is the site and the amount of knowledge and people willing to share it.

    If you read enough, you can see all the trial and error that others have experienced, and can use that to you advantage. My favorite is the products trial and error because it will save me sooooooo much money and time and maybe some customers too.

    Organization is the key to efficiency and productivity. If I'm not organized, I'm not happy.

  12. Posted · Report reply

    Thanks Mike,

    However, univar's distributer is closer so i will probably use them, beacause i am sure the pricing is similiar, and i dont feel like driving through st. paul and minneapolis. Just going to use regular clorox from wally world for now, until i get some jobs next summer. I mostly want to do deck restoration and house washing (75%-25%). I will have to wait to gains some funds to either build or buy a roof cleaning system to get into the roof cleaning market.

  16. Posted · Report reply

    I think for now I'm just going to use 4-5 gallons of clorox bleach with some simple cherry and downstream. I'm going to talk to a few of my professors for some local suppliers. I'm going to stay away from roofs and flat work because i don't have the equipment for those projects yet.

    Got another job from my free listing on yellowbook.com, not too shabby!

  25. Posted · Report reply

    I have enough in my budget for 2 1000 mailer campaigns with targeted demographics. Then i have the door hanger budget, magnet budget, supplies budget, misc budget, and i am trying to get some senior web design students to make me a website.

    The other website option is to have it professionally designed for $200 down and $100 a month with the option to buy if i want ($7000-$10,000). This includes free maintenance, changes, SOE, hosting, blah blah blah.

    here is a website that they created that i want to base mine off of if i go that route: Pavers, Retaining Walls, Stewart Land Designs, Tomball, Texas, TX I would get the music, slide show, portfolio, SOE for 10 search engines, the whole ball of wax with no contract. I could only pay for the months that I'm in season (basically 4-5 months when I'm not in school). Tell me what you think of the website deal.

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