Three Tips for Starting Your Handyman SMB
Per BLS data, jobs in installation, maintenance, and repair are expected to grow in the next decade. (Think HVAC, plumbing, painting, etc).
Many handymen that have already done their years as an apprentice, learned skills on the job, and developed a specialty within the field, choose to open their own business. Not only does this allow you to become your own boss, but it also helps you to increase your earnings potential over time.
Take for example the average salary for a plumber, which is $56,000. The top 10% earn over $100,000 annually, with the majority of the top earners in being their own businesses. This further flexibility allowing them to increase their earnings and take home more money at the end of their jobs.
In this article, we’ll be covering four essential tips that you should follow when starting your handyman business.
Find a Specific Niche
No matter what industry a person is planning on developing within, finding a niche of work is an essential first step in the process. While it may seem like narrowing down your handyman services to one area would reduce the number of clients you get, the opposite is actually true.
When you try and target too much, your net is so wide that leads may simply never find you. Especially when it comes to trying to rank on Google for your business, those that have a narrower offering are much more likely to be found. Ranking for “Handyman in the USA” is obviously much harder than “Window Repairman in Houston, Texas.”
Finding your niche is a two-step process. The first step should be assessing what you’re good at. While you will have experience in a range of different areas, try and assess what you like to do, and what you find yourself coming back to.
Next, consider where you could offer these services. Do you want to do plumbing, painting, HVAC, or something different? Depending on what you want to do and the buildings you want to target, you’ll have effectively found your niche, which allows you to move on to the next steps.
Create Solid Branding
Companies, especially small businesses, need to make sure that every aspect of their branding is completed, active, and targeted when launching. As a small business, you can’t afford to only work through word-of-mouth referrals. Due to this, one of the first things you should turn toward is making sure that you have a website up and running.
To design a great website, you’re firing to have to work out what sort of branding you want. From company colors to the logo you use, this is something that you could do yourself. However, considering the vast freelance market that’s out there in our modern-day, with over 59 million freelancers in the USA, you could hire a graphic design professional.
From there, be sure to give them a clear vision, helping you guide them toward designing the branding that you’d love to see for your business. With this, you’ll then be able to launch your brand with the certainty that people will like what they see when they stumble across your pages.
It’s also important to brush up on the basics of search engine optimization, including elements of this within your website. Search engine optimization is the difference between ranking on the first page of Google or being lost in the search pages. If you’re looking to generate leads naturally, without running PPC campaigns, then you should make sure that your site’s SEO is up to scratch.
Another way you can increase your branding is by being a part of
Get Creative with Leads
At the end of the day, finding leads is the difference between a business that succeeds and one that can’t afford to keep up with the costs associated with running their business. Starting off your business, the main leads you have might be from projects that you worked on in the past, with previous clients either hiring you again or sending work your way through referrals.
While 64% of marketers agree that word-of-mouth marketing is effective, that doesn’t mean that this is going to be your only form of leads. By building up your website, you’ll be able to create a natural flow of customers, finding your page as you appear in the Google rankings. This is a wonderful way to gain new clients, but can be difficult to achieve if you don’t have a good foundation in digital marketing skills.
In the meantime, one surefire way to get new clients is to sign up for a handyman freelancer platform in your area. GC Plus, for example, is a platform that allows homeowners to easily find the right handyman for any job they need done. Their AI system sends requests to technicians who are qualified to do the job and able to do it at the customer’s desired time and location. Whichever handyman accepts the job first will go and perform it.
Image Source: GCPlus
By turning to solutions that instantly put you in contact with clients, you’ll be well on your way to rustling up more clients. What’s great about this is that those clients could then convert into word-of-mouth sharers, helping you to boost your scope of work overtime and ensure your future success.
Final Thoughts
Creating any type of handyman business is an incredibly valuable process, generating additional profit while allowing you to take active control of your schedule. As you continue to build up the number of leads you receive, and perhaps even the amount of employees you take on, you’ll be able to push your income higher than ever before.
If you construct a memorable brand, find your niche, and get creative with where you find your leads, you’re much more likely to launch a successful business. Best of luck on your journey to becoming a small business owner!
