letting agencies (commercial/residential/holiday properties) would be a good one for this category too, i used to run a cleaning company and we did really well on that kind of repeat business
business set up advice.
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letting agencies (commercial/residential/holiday properties) would be a good one for this category too, i used to run a cleaning company and we did really well on that kind of repeat business
Good point that stu.
Probably also worth eplaining what happens with each job. E.g. with mowing are the clippings removed? Do you need access to power or are all your tools petrol - able to carry out all work in owners absence is helpful. If you are insured, I would say so "all work carried out by qualified, insured professional" carries weight with me as a homeowner.
Can you get some testimonials from existing clients? If you do a "makeover" some before and after shots and "this makeover cost £x would be brilliant
Just thoughts as they occur
Red
Probably also worth eplaining what happens with each job. E.g. with mowing are the clippings removed? Do you need access to power or are all your tools petrol - able to carry out all work in owners absence is helpful. If you are insured, I would say so "all work carried out by qualified, insured professional" carries weight with me as a homeowner.
Can you get some testimonials from existing clients? If you do a "makeover" some before and after shots and "this makeover cost £x would be brilliant
Just thoughts as they occur
Red
Just a quick one about the website side of things. Microsoft have a site called office365 (used to be office live). They have a full website building programme embedded in it. All online. No programming knowledge required, I used it several years ago and its great. You'll have to pay for a domain name .com or co.uk which is £12 for 2 years. You'll have access to all sorts of advertising bumf, tons of emails like sales@ contact@ if you need it. Just remember your keywords. After 2 months with google web master tools I was top of first page in google.
Definitely need web presence for testimonials and work undertaken photos.
Best of look.
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Definitely need web presence for testimonials and work undertaken photos.
Best of look.
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similar train of thought to red's, do you have "trusted trader" scheme in your area, we've got one around here that's run by the local council. it's a good one for putting older people at ease
I do like the extension into assisting the home food producer, chicken keeping is booming apparently. Do you have links with suppliers of garden buildings? Of course it might be better in the long run to be neutral in advising what chicken run, for example, is best rather than to take a small profit from selling one but that is your business decision.
Just one other consideration to factor in! Your waste - once you start doing this as a business you will be charged to dispose of your green waste. You may get away with a couple of free trips but once your local tip operators get to see you more often they will "assume" that you are "commercial" and require payment!
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I don't have any advice to offer with regards to the business itself. But with regards to your website, it's worth registering your own domain like www.greenbeltgardens.co.uk. Looks far more professional and it will be helpful for Search engine optimisation (making your site appear higher in the search engine listings). Once you have a domain registered, you should also be able to create an email address using that domain like 'something@greenbeltgardens.co.uk'. Again, it just looks a lot more professional than a hotmail address.
This isn't something essential, but something worth considering if you have the time to sort it out.
Also, you should know that your website is entirely designed using javascript. This isn't ideal as it means that if anyone has it disabled (people using incredibly old web browsers for example) then your website is totally inaccessible. It will most likely violate web accessibility laws also.
Again, you might not consider this a problem right away as you're only operating a small business, but something worth considering for the future.
This isn't something essential, but something worth considering if you have the time to sort it out.
Also, you should know that your website is entirely designed using javascript. This isn't ideal as it means that if anyone has it disabled (people using incredibly old web browsers for example) then your website is totally inaccessible. It will most likely violate web accessibility laws also.
Again, you might not consider this a problem right away as you're only operating a small business, but something worth considering for the future.
Where I live we have business start up centre's they offer free advice and help an of the other things they did was give you an account free for your first year, it may have changed since i was last there, but it will be worth looking into.
Cheers folks - keep it coming. Thanks especially for the advice about the website, another page with details about what I can and can't do would be a good idea, I'll add a phone number straight away (doh).
i've tried the Local enterprise centre and to be honest the advice is better here.
I've got a couple of ideas for certification too.
i've tried the Local enterprise centre and to be honest the advice is better here.
I've got a couple of ideas for certification too.
Hi all.
I thought I'd give you all an update. I've taken the plunge and gone full time. Which is the most exciting and liberating thing I've done since my ealry twenties. The tools are bought, customers are coming in quicker than I can cope with them and I'm really enjoying it (even in this rain).
I'd say to anyone else who has a skill set which is worth more per hour than you are currently getting paid..... GO SELF EMPLOYED, once you've started it can take you to all sorts of places.
Fotr updates, check my facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/122616297859427/
Regards
Rob
I thought I'd give you all an update. I've taken the plunge and gone full time. Which is the most exciting and liberating thing I've done since my ealry twenties. The tools are bought, customers are coming in quicker than I can cope with them and I'm really enjoying it (even in this rain).
I'd say to anyone else who has a skill set which is worth more per hour than you are currently getting paid..... GO SELF EMPLOYED, once you've started it can take you to all sorts of places.
Fotr updates, check my facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/122616297859427/
Regards
Rob
Suppose I'd better give a plug for my profession! The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) are apparently giving free advice to businesses and startups ( a bit like a free first consultation) http://www.icaewfirms.co.uk/members/bas.php Dunno if this is going to be of any help, but might be worth a try anyway. After all, the price is right!
Good luck with it! Sounds like the business is growing at a good rate (terrible pun intentional)!
This is something I love the idea of but haven't taken the plunge. Doesn't help that I've never worked in the trade before; only done my own work (mainly veg and small garden maintenance too, so landscaping etc would be a learning curve). I'm tempted to do a spot of part-time gardening at weekends locally, to get to grips with it and get "known" locally.
Best of luck, anyway.
I'm not diong landscaping yet either, I'm not sure I even want to (apart from a bit of dyking). there's a growing market for Garden Maintenance along with our ageing population. I've got experience but I started by doing part time gardening work over the past few months, enough to pay for the tools so that all the income is mine now. It's a canny way to start.
Great to hear things are going so well for you! :
:I've been self employed since 1982.
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