Categories
Entrepreneurship

“Should I Start an Electrical Business with My Boyfriend?” Reddit Response [Video]

Should I start an electrical business? A question we ask ourselves probably more than once! In today’s episode of Electrician U, Dustin answers a question from a follower about starting an electrical business with her boyfriend and gives some pros and cons of owning a business.🤘⚡️MEMBERSHIP⚡️🤘JOIN ELECTRICIAN U – become a member and get:FREE Continuing Education every yearFREE Practice ExamsFREE Monthly Video CoursesFREE Weekly Live Instructor-Led ClassesFREE Monthly Educational NewsletterPremium Members-Only ContentPrivate Discord ChannelMonthly Members-Only Discord ChatsSign up here — https://www.electricianu.com/electrician-u-membership/🎧🎹MUSIC AND VIDEO:🎹🎧https://www.facebook.com/descantmv🎬✍️ART AND ILLUSTRATION:✍️🎬https://www.daverussoart.com Starting a business is a great opportunity but can be fraught with challenges and disappointments. In fact, most businesses fail due to either not having the strength to keep pushing, financial issues, or poor work practices and no one wanted to buy what you were offering. Another reason could be a falling out between people involved in the business. Make sure that the person(s) you are starting a business with have known or been around each other a good amount of time. After the initial good times tend to plateau, those involved in a business need to be able to withstand the bad times that will surely arise. Especially if it is someone you are romantically involved with as the BUSINESS will need to honestly come first and that MAY not bode well for a romantic relationship with a person. There are so many decisions to be made and much (ok, all) of the free time wrapped up in making the business successful, it MAY not leave time enough for a relationship. And what if it doesn’t work out between two people? Who gets what? It can muddy the waters quite a bit, which is not necessarily good for either the business OR the relationship. Relationships aside, there are other considerations to be made when it comes to starting a business. First, understand that your bank account will be on a roller coaster. Money coming in and going out, sometimes not in the best ways! When it comes to finances, you also need to figure out what to charge. You should poll other businesses in your region and find out the going rate at a starting point. You must factor in what your expenses are (trucks, phones, buildings, etc. aren’t free!!) as well as what you want to make. If you are winning all the work you are bidding, chances are, you are not charging enough. On the inverse, if you are winning NONE of the work, chances are you are too high in your pricing. But remember, you are in business to MAKE money, not just lose it! Another point to remember is business credit. Ask local (and national) vendors for lines of credit. This will allow you to build your businesses credit up over time and can eventually lead to cheaper pricing overall if you buy enough volume from a vendor. This is crucial in winning work as the cheaper your expenses are, the less you have to charge, which should result in you winning more work. Money management is very important. For the most part, resist spending money on anything unless it is job specific (and you can charge for it) or its something to benefit the company itself. And even then, scrutinize it carefully and spend only if necessary. Frugality is king! If you weren’t normally going to buy it, then don’t buy it when that large check DOES finally come in! Trust me, that money will have no problems leaving your bank account without you helping it any!! This is especially true in the first year or two when you are trying to grow and nurture your new company. Another good tip is to not hire employees too soon. Wait as long as possible to bring someone else in. Reason being is you are now responsible for their well being and pay. And that money must come from somewhere, that somewhere usually being what you pay yourself as the business owner! So starting a business is definitely challenging, but can also be very rewarding! You are now able to work for something YOU own as opposed to someone else. Just make sure you really know who you are going into business with and have a good plan that considers both good times and bad. Have back up plans in place and watch your spending! We hope this has been insightful into some of the issues regarding starting a business. Is there a topic you would like to see discussed? Leave a comment in the comment section below and let us know. Please continue to follow Dustin and Electrician U as we are constantly adding new content to assist our followers in being the best they can be.#electrician #electrical #electricity #electrical business #electrical business owner #skilled trades #reddit response

Categories
Entrepreneurship

Tips on Turning Side Work into a Business [Video]

00:00 Intro00:26 Advise on starting a business01:46 Having a shop on your property02:31 Work Truck04:00 Word of mouth05:02 Billing and Accounting05:17 Budgeting06:09 OutroAt what point do you stop working for someone else and take the leap and start your own business? At some point or another, every businessman and businesswoman asks themselves this question. As a successful business owner himself, Dustin with Electrician U provides some insight into this topic.WEBSITE: https://www.electricianu.com/COUPON CODES FOR DECEMBER 2021Use code MEMBER21 to get $1.99 off your 240v or 480v membership this December 2021 onlyUse code HOLIDAY21 to get 10% off anything in the store DECEMBER 2021 only, at https://www.electricianu.com🤘⚡️MEMBERSHIP⚡️🤘https://electricianu.com/electrician-u-membership/👾🤖PRACTICE EXAMS🤖👾https://electricianu.com/product-category/practice-exams/😎👕MERCH👕😎https://electricianu.com/eu-merch/https://www.legendaryworkwear.com📲👥SOCIALS👥📲Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/electrician_uDiscord – https://discord.gg/7ykYfbhFacebook Page – https://www.facebook.com/theelectricianuFacebook Group – https://bit.ly/2tz7eQhTikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@electricianuReddit- https://www.reddit.com/r/ElectricianU/Twitter – https://www.twitter.com/electrician_uLinkedIn – www.linkedin.com/in/dustinstelzer🎧🎹MUSIC AND VIDEO:🎹🎧https://www.facebook.com/descantmv🎬✍️ART AND ILLUSTRATION:✍️🎬https://www.daverussoart.comThe very first thing you will need is a license! If you are considering owning an electrical business, then a master electrician license is what you should have. Some areas may also require you to have a business license or something similar, but at a minimum a master electrician license is required. If you perform electrical contracting work without a license, you will get into a pretty good amount of trouble, and you DO NOT want to start your journey behind the 8 ball!! Next, you would have to either clear it with your current employer and make sure they are ok with you doing it as you usually would start off slow, on nights and weekends, and your employer may take offense to your being a competitor. Not to say that all employers are like that; some are quite ok with their employees rising through the ranks into entrepreneurship, but some are not. Approach them with the idea that you are not stealing their customers (or employees!) or undermine the company or anything sinister, you simply are looking to better yourself and step out on your own! Heck, they may even be willing to give you some tips and lessons that they learned along the way. You never know until you ask, but just make sure everything with your current boss is on the up and up. A place to work out of is also definitely important as you will have tools, materials, and all the items you will need to use to be a successful business owner. But, when starting out, this can be in your garage, shed in the backyard, sometimes even the pickup truck is what you have access to and will use. As you become more and more successful in business, you will eventually grow out of the garage, but initially save the money for something that needs a financial solution. Speaking of a place to work, you are going to need some type of vehicle to get from your shop to the jobsite to do the work, to the supply houses to get your materials, and even a way to get to the places to BID the work you are intent on doing! A pickup truck or van are usually the go to choices for contractors. However, you don’t want to run out and BUY a brand-new truck/van, but rather wait until you have enough revenue rolling in to justify the purchase. Use what you have when you are first starting out until you can prove that you can do the work, bid the work properly, go through both highs and lows (on the financial end), and that you have enough work on the horizon to be reasonably comfortable. When considering the type of debts that we all must face, try to stay away from the consumer type debt (buying things out of want as opposed to out of need) and think about purchases that will result in a debt you could leverage and make work for you. Dustin tells the example of a bucket truck for work. Yes, it is an expense, but making that purchase would open up a considerably larger quantity of additional work you could do. Makes sense, but do not make those purchases initially but rather after you are on your way to success. Billing and accounting when you are first starting out should be simple. Make yourself a budget and stick to it. There are tons of different software’s available, but something like Excel or a spreadsheet can work reasonably well at the beginning. You just must have a way to track your expenses, billings, etc. You will also need to know how much money you need to bring in to survive and pay your current bills as well as the additional ones you will incur going into business for yourself.