My First Job Self Employed - What A Mess!

Starting up on your own can be scary - as well as exciting.

You got all the paperwork to say you can do it.

You even may have done the same job 100 times, but have someone with you directing what to do.

This time it's all on you!

You design the install - YOU figure out the cable sizes with right size fuses.

In theory you shouldnt be sweating it, you got this.

There is still that little voice in the back of your head, saying “Am I going to mess this up?”

Then am I going to get paid?

This happened to me. I wasn't always confident in what I was doing, although I should have been. I had been getting paid to do it for years.

Tool Box Talk For Electricians Helping electricians reduce stress, gain back time and earn more money.

Hello once again and welcome to tool box talk for electricians, Im Ben Poulter your host.

There is always new people taking the leap to starting their own business to become their own boss and being able to live their life on their own terms.

Instead of getting told where to go and what to do!

I used to hate it on a friday getting told, right next week Ben you're in bude giving the electrician a hand pulling in cables.

Cornwall in the summer is beautiful, but winter time is freezing cold and wet - like the rest of the UK.

There is a lot of respect for anyone starting up on their own.

It's not as easy as everyone says and it can be challenging at times .

All of a sudden you are responsible for everything.:

Quotes

Materials

Transport

Equipment

Then making sure you have quoted the job right to be able to complete the job properly and make a profit - Can be a worry when first starting out.

This is something I didn't do myself, but wish I did, and if I was to go back and do it all again, it would be something I started with straight away.

MAKE A PLAN!

Getting all my ducks in order would have made things a lot easier.

List of outgoings so I could figure out what I needed to earn to make it work.

Wholesalers account, at least 2 - with the way things are lately

Customers won't wait for materials to come in, so if you can pop to another wholesalers to get materials it makes things easier.

Also having an account makes things cheaper, account holders at wholesalers get a much better deal.

I tested this out on another podcast - you should check that out.

Another thing! I cannot stress this enough!

DO NOT give someone a price when you turn up to quote. The customer will hold you to that price and after you total up all the materials and labour you may be out of pocket.

Just say I need to take a look at the materials cost to give you the best quote possible.

Then on that quote put everything down in writing!

Ie - You don't fill in the chases - to this day customers expect the wall to look perfect after you have just chased out 6 double sockets.

When starting out for yourself, you will get small jobs to begin with.

Change 1 light fitting

Replace an outside light

Change a socket

With these jobs there is always recommendations you notice.

Like an RCD protected board.

Split the circuits on their own RCBO then if there a fault on one circuit, its not going to take out half the house and the customer will have to pay for a call out or replace all the food in the freezer.

The amount of fuse boards I have changed just saying that.

Customers don't only want things to be safe, but they want minimal disruption if there is a fault.

You also get to meet customers and introduce yourself as starting up, then politely mention they are welcome to pass your number on.

This is how I started out, there are a few other things like news letters I did later on too, I didn't start out making better money then subbing - but the day was a lot better.

One job I remember, it was through my builder - this was when it first started out years ago.

A fireman had bought a run down house and it needed a rewire for him to flip it.

I think I went in at around £3500.

Cheap as chips for a qualified electrician, but the house was empty and I knew I could get stuck in.

I had my own key and was able to work there 24 hours if I wanted.

Which I needed at that time.

I wouldn't say I'm a slow electrician, but when £3500 was at stake I wanted to make sure everything was perfect so double checked the reg heights of the sockets and switches, Tested the cables before I 2nd fixed.

Basically did everything I was taught at college like a right geek!

The time I spent on that job I think I make around £100 a day.

There were extras of course that I didn't mention when quoting.

TV Points! These days people want network points but I didn't ask the customer at first and it had to be an extra.

I didn't get it agreed on paper either.

The extra outside light

Another socket under the stairs

The shed supply - There was no shed to start with

I just said yeah I can do that and did it.

Then when it came to the invoice, we had to come to an arrangement where he paid for material and I lost out!

Its seems great when you get paid, 4k goes into your account and you rich.

Then the wholesalers bill comes in, oh and you did get a few other bits from another wholesaler - that come in at the end of the month too.

I was professional and signed off the job with the testcert, But that was a rubbish job to make a profit.

I could have been a dustbin man and earnt more.

I put it down to a lesson learnt and make sure it didn't happen again!

Of course the little mistake didn't put me off from carrying.

You're going to make mistakes, it's human.

Just make sure you learn from them, doing the same mistake twice just makes you feel really dumb.

Over time, the more work you do for yourself the more confident you become with what you recommend to customers and how to price jobs.

I may happen where you get such a good reputation that your asked to quote bigger jobs.

This happened to me with a new warehouse.

They wanted all LED lighting, the lights alone cost £15k.

My wholesaler limit was only 5.

I was also concerned that would I get paid!

This is where I came an agreement with the company to do a proforma invoice.

I never even know what one of them was!

They pay you a percentage before you have even started. I made it enough to cover the lights and it all went smoothly.

I will always do a proforma invoice for jobs over 10k - especially with the current climate and business going under all over.

I don't want to be out of pocket and left with a load of 2nd hand materials.

Always keep on top of your paperwork, I have walked into th wholesalers before and been told im on stop, I just forgot to pay the invoice - when you're busy paying bills is conveniently the first thing that slips your mind.

Don't be afraid to lose a job too. If your quote doesn't get accepted by a customer, don't lower your price to try and win it back.

If a customer doesn't want to pay for the work by you, there will be 10 more that do and you don't want to be stuck on a job earning pennies when you could be earning pounds.

Above all remember why you started up on your own. To be your own boss and have a better life and more money.

Check out the podcast -

Electricians Earning £156,000 A Year In The UK?

This will make you want to stick around.

Until next time