The Business of Being a Self-employed Handyman pt. 1

 There are aspects of being a professional handyman that often go unseen by the public.  The public "sees" us fixing thing, making things, even building things.  To be a professional requires much more "behind the scenes".

There is training and education.   We must continue learning, practicing,  and having access to information.  That is never-ending. 

There are certain requirements that have to be kept up with.  Some of them are government things like licensing, meeting building code requirements,  registrations,  and more.  Then there are operational requirements such as carrying insurance,  obtaining certifications, and maintaining certain professional and trade organization associations. 

Operationally, there are things that have to be be documented.   Work orders, invoicing, scheduling, and tax information daily.  Mileage, tracking expenses,  tracking revenues.  If you emoy others,  there's even more.

Communication is important.   How do we communicate with customers, with vendors, or with others?  It's not just the things we say, or tone of voice, attitude or demeanor I'm referring to.  The methods we use to communicate.  Email, texting, phone calls, mail, online tools and websites.  These are all also important things we need to stay on top of.

Then we have to keep up with buying and maintaining our tools, hardware, and the materials we have on hand to be prepared and able to do our work on a daily basis.  The storage and upkeep we have to do.

Lastly, we have to manage our marketing.   Marketing isn't just slick ads or mailings.  It's who we decide our target market is.  The kind of customers we are trying to work with.  What we do to get them.  How we go about achieving those targets and goals.  

We do, even as a single, self-employed individual,  have to deal with all of these things, if we are making the effort to be a professional in our work.

These are all the things that don't get talked about but on some level, customers are expecting are being done without actively thinking about it unless something specific brings it up.

My customers may only ever see me mount a TV, assemble furniture,  or fix a light switch.  They still expect me to have all the other things taken care of even if it never comes up.  Because if it does come up and I don't have those professional b-t-s things handled, there's going to a big problem,  really fast.

Being prepared to meet those moments and expectations is what makes us a professional.