Overdue Introduction
Good morning everyone.
After joining this group over a year ago, I’ve finally decided to introduce myself. I am the Owner/Operator of my plumbing business. I’ve had the business for 10 years now, but have been in the plumbing service/repair industry since 1994. I had no plumbing experience in the beginning and everything I learned was OTJ. I worked for 3 companies before finally going out on my own. I had a little bit of a falling out with my last employer which resulted in me being let go. At that point, I had 14 years in the industry and my wife and I decided that starting off as the “low man” at a new place was not an option. We agreed that doing our own thing was what we needed to do.
So, that’s what we did. After passing the contractor’s exam and getting registered with the local ROC, we got started. We bought a new van, got the professional lettering on the sides, loaded it out with new equipment and enough inventory to rival a mini-warehouse.
In the beginning, it was slow and scary! With all this money invested, the phone was not ringing nearly often enough. Did we make the right decision? However, slowly but surely, we started getting jobs. A lot of the work was a result of home warranty companies that put us on their vendor lists. I worked. I got busier. I worked and worked. I got busier and busier. I worked some more and got busier still. Finally, I realized I couldn’t do this by myself. You mean, “I might have to hire somebody?” I asked myself. This was a foreign concept to me. Starting my own business was never part of my life plan let alone hiring people to work for me.
We bit the bullet and bought another moderately used van and loaded it out like my first. We hired a guy who didn’t have the experience I really needed to grow the business, but he was a good person. I figured I would “pay it forward” by giving someone the chance that I had been given when I started. He turned out to be an awesome employee and a great person. I then hired an office person to work out of our home office. She too was a stellar employee.
Now, at this point I did just the OPPOSITE of what I should have done. Instead of “throwing some gas on that fire” doing the things I had done to get to this point, I got lazy. I figured, “I’ve got my GUY, I’ve got my OFFICE PERSON, I’m all set!”.
WRONG!!! I started taking days off, going on mini vacations, and pretty much just coasted. As a result, the business began to plateau, then started to shrink. My tech had to find another job because now he wasn’t making enough money to support his family. Not long after, we had to let go of our office person because we couldn’t afford to keep her. Then, it was just me again.
Part of me was relieved because with employees come more problems. I was happy to no longer have that burden weighing on me. But six years later, it’s still just me and now I want to grow the business again so that I can focus strictly on the management side.
So, ladies and gentlemen, that’s my story. For those of you that stuck with me till the end of this, thank you.
Since I joined this group, I haven’t really visited it much to look for information. I’m ready now to participate, learn, and hopefully be able to contribute things to help others.
I’m looking forward to getting to know you.
Peace Brothers and Sisters.
:vs_peace:
Via RSSMix.com Mix ID 8247361 http://www.rssmix.com/
After joining this group over a year ago, I’ve finally decided to introduce myself. I am the Owner/Operator of my plumbing business. I’ve had the business for 10 years now, but have been in the plumbing service/repair industry since 1994. I had no plumbing experience in the beginning and everything I learned was OTJ. I worked for 3 companies before finally going out on my own. I had a little bit of a falling out with my last employer which resulted in me being let go. At that point, I had 14 years in the industry and my wife and I decided that starting off as the “low man” at a new place was not an option. We agreed that doing our own thing was what we needed to do.
So, that’s what we did. After passing the contractor’s exam and getting registered with the local ROC, we got started. We bought a new van, got the professional lettering on the sides, loaded it out with new equipment and enough inventory to rival a mini-warehouse.
In the beginning, it was slow and scary! With all this money invested, the phone was not ringing nearly often enough. Did we make the right decision? However, slowly but surely, we started getting jobs. A lot of the work was a result of home warranty companies that put us on their vendor lists. I worked. I got busier. I worked and worked. I got busier and busier. I worked some more and got busier still. Finally, I realized I couldn’t do this by myself. You mean, “I might have to hire somebody?” I asked myself. This was a foreign concept to me. Starting my own business was never part of my life plan let alone hiring people to work for me.
We bit the bullet and bought another moderately used van and loaded it out like my first. We hired a guy who didn’t have the experience I really needed to grow the business, but he was a good person. I figured I would “pay it forward” by giving someone the chance that I had been given when I started. He turned out to be an awesome employee and a great person. I then hired an office person to work out of our home office. She too was a stellar employee.
Now, at this point I did just the OPPOSITE of what I should have done. Instead of “throwing some gas on that fire” doing the things I had done to get to this point, I got lazy. I figured, “I’ve got my GUY, I’ve got my OFFICE PERSON, I’m all set!”.
WRONG!!! I started taking days off, going on mini vacations, and pretty much just coasted. As a result, the business began to plateau, then started to shrink. My tech had to find another job because now he wasn’t making enough money to support his family. Not long after, we had to let go of our office person because we couldn’t afford to keep her. Then, it was just me again.
Part of me was relieved because with employees come more problems. I was happy to no longer have that burden weighing on me. But six years later, it’s still just me and now I want to grow the business again so that I can focus strictly on the management side.
So, ladies and gentlemen, that’s my story. For those of you that stuck with me till the end of this, thank you.
Since I joined this group, I haven’t really visited it much to look for information. I’m ready now to participate, learn, and hopefully be able to contribute things to help others.
I’m looking forward to getting to know you.
Peace Brothers and Sisters.
:vs_peace:
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