New Electrical Business - advice welcomed

[GLAES LTD]

Hi there.

I have been working as an electrician for about 7 years. I have recently closed my self-employment and opened my own limited company. I am aware that the times are not so good for starting a business but I am hopping that my previous experience and with a lot of hard work will make it work. The areas covered are London and Surrey; very competitive areas but also places where works are still taking place.

Could you share from your experience how was it when you have started your business? Is it batter to focus on a particular type of work (minor works, domestic, commercial, etc)?

Any advice welcomed.

Thanks.

 

[accordfire]

Hi there.

I have been working as an electrician for about 7 years. I have recently closed my self-employment and opened my own limited company. I am aware that the times are not so good for starting a business but I am hopping that my previous experience and with a lot of hard work will make it work. The areas covered are London and Surrey; very competitive areas but also places where works are still taking place.

Could you share from your experience how was it when you have started your business? Is it batter to focus on a particular type of work (minor works, domestic, commercial, etc)?

Any advice welcomed.

Thanks.

I can tell you my experience of running a business from when I started until right now. Lol. I can't use the words I need in public forum though - so let's say it has very good days and very bad ones.

What I can say, about work however, is to concentrate on the types of work you're most comfortable doing - those you enjoy most. The reality is that you will take on whatever you can get, that said. And you'll come up against ALL the hurdles we all do.

As you say, London and Surrey are highly competitive - so good luck! Ask away if you need things answering.

 

[glasgospark]

best thing you can do m8 work for yourself
theres loads of work out there just find it go extra mile down different avenues to get that work

 

[GLAES LTD]

Hi again,

I am enjoying both domestic and commercial works. As suggested I will never refuse any decent work. I do prefer commercial as from my experience you can expect higher returns but the dust from a 3 bedroom house rewire won't do me any harm.
Actually the area where I am struggling is keeping good company records and promoting my business online. I need to find a good filing system. I will get around this with a good accountant but promoting the business to new customers is a real challenge.
No more the days when you turn up at work and leave at 4.00 and you've earned your money. I am trying to find some good threads on this forum reading this subject, but if you do have any ideas then please do not hesitate to share them with us.

Thanks

 

[Knobhead]

Starting a business and then asking advice? People usualy do it the other way around.

 

[accordfire]

Hi again,

I am enjoying both domestic and commercial works. As suggested I will never refuse any decent work. I do prefer commercial as from my experience you can expect higher returns but the dust from a 3 bedroom house rewire won't do me any harm.
Actually the area where I am struggling is keeping good company records and promoting my business online. I need to find a good filing system. I will get around this with a good accountant but promoting the business to new customers is a real challenge.
No more the days when you turn up at work and leave at 4.00 and you've earned your money. I am trying to find some good threads on this forum reading this subject, but if you do have any ideas then please do not hesitate to share them with us.

Thanks

Well, always aim at what you want most - that's key - but how you market varies between domestic and commercial.

With online stuff, it's important to be talking directly to each audience - so try not to have just one page saying "we do the lot".....separate domestic and commercial out, and have SEO done for each as distinct areas.

Good records.... invest in accounting software - personally I recommend Quickbooks which has an online version too - we use the desktop version though as I prefer knowing I have secure records!

As regards the rest - written quotes always (it seems like an effort at the time but can save your bacon), purchase orders in and out for the same reason, good notes always - for the same reason. Taking photos always helps too when quoting.

We (now) use Quickbooks for accounting, Office 365 E3 plan - that gives us full Exchange based email plus all the Office pro plus apps on the desktop for £15 a user a month, so we use Outlook for all "CRM" type functions like appointments, emails, tasks, and so on. We have that linked to "Remember the Milk" so tasks replicate across company tablets and phones. We use Easy Cert and Easy PAT for, obviously, job certs, and our technician sheets are all managed on an online paperless form system from Esay Consulting - which I like because it works on prepaid credits, and the output can be PDF'd direct to customers as if it were a scanned printed form Workmobile saves us over 90p a jobsheet on average. We also have Work Mobile's output fed into an Access databse here, so I can keep an eye on things, and eventually, upload records direct to our Extranet - so customers can log in and see their history.

For all my many other sins, I'm reasonably up on the business side of things (or should be since I have a BA in Business Studies)..... ask away.

As for the website - you can do SEO yourself if you understand it, or ask around to get someone who knows what they are doing with it - like most things, it's an area that you tend to get what you pay for....

 

[Silly Sausage]

One of THE key things to running a successful business, is... CASHFLOW!

You can be the best 'whatever' in the world, if you can't pay your bills, slippery downward slope.

 

[accordfire]

One of THE key things to running a successful business, is... CASHFLOW!

You can be the best 'whatever' in the world, if you can't pay your bills, slippery downward slope.

A - f*****g - men to that one.

That's another oft overlooked thing when choosing what kind of work to do. Very small commercials and domestics, generally, will pay on the spot. All the rest, commercials and so forth will want "30" days - that's a euphamism for ninety days give or take.

So, yes, very deep company pockets, trade accounts established and well managed, and a hefty overdraft all help

 

[amlu]

busy busy again, working quite a lot for some builders i know... yeah lots of stories around but once you find a good firm then they should pay no problem.
advise customer nicely how paperwork and certificates are important part of your job... and dont hand them out till you get paid.

sometimes small jobs calling, broken switch, moving lights... recent moving lights and consumer unit turned to be a partial rewire, etc,...
times sometimes hard but got couple of quid for boarding some guys loft for storage, combined with re-wiring the loft
wild wild east london

 

[Silly Sausage]

Another key thing in small business is, getting paid on time, and......
paying your own bills on time.
Keep the wheels of industry well oiled and turning smoothly!

 

[Knobhead]

That’s always been a pet hate of mine. Some people just seem to think they have no obligation to pay for services they’ve received. But a business can’t survive once word gets around.

 

[accordfire]

Very true. Getting paid on time is the goal for all of us.

I would say though, very important to communicate - difficulties are not always apparent - and it can be an issue when one person gets too closely identified with a business too - people can find it hard to separate business and person.

Of course - there is a world of difference between having difficulty and believing you have no obligation. In such cases always well to know the full story, and not to judge on an uninformed, or semi-informed basis - that's where a lot of needless damage can be done.

So yes, good credit control is essential.

 

[Octopus]

Yes but the reality is that people pay slowly so having a decent balance in your business account is the key.

But if you've been self employed and are now Limited you must know this surely

 

[MDJ]

One of THE key things to running a successful business, is... CASHFLOW!

You can be the best 'whatever' in the world, if you can't pay your bills, slippery downward slope.

Great post and right, I always say the same to anyone asking the question about running a business, cashflow is everything, some companies making millions have gone under due to cash flow, when the business has been wrapped up there has been millions left over and no-one can understand why they went down in the first place, the answer is the banks wouldn't lend any money and the business had no cash flow, cash flow is everything, without it you must stay very small and don't take jobs on you cannot fund until you have been paid from other works, a real PITA really, cash flow can hold you back but must be the first thought.

 

[accordfire]

Great post and right, I always say the same to anyone asking the question about running a business, cashflow is everything, some companies making millions have gone under due to cash flow, when the business has been wrapped up there has been millions left over and no-one can understand why they went down in the first place, the answer is the banks wouldn't lend any money and the business had no cash flow, cash flow is everything, without it you must stay very small and don't take jobs on you cannot fund until you have been paid from other works, a real PITA really, cash flow can hold you back but must be the first thought.

Agreed - a real hidden killer. It's too easy to over stretch on work too - because more work = more profits, right? Not if they mess you about, no. And that's usually amplified ten fold when all your work is commercial too.

Then everyone below you needs paying, everyone above you threatens you. Not a fun place to be.