The 21 Entrepreneurial Rules of Starting A Service Business

By J. H. Pestel

Twenty one tried and tested rules for any budding entrepreneur to follow when starting their own service business. Covering everything from something as simple as naming your business to as complex as keeping your customers happy. If you are thinking about starting your own service business, this is a must read.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J. H. Pestel
• Release date: Mar 7, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311458117

Book preview

Dedication I have to thank my wife Janine for her help with running our business and the patience she had with me every time I asked her for her help on this project. Without her help my laptop would most likely be looking like it was in a high speed crash test.

Foreword

Whom am I to set rules about starting a service business? I’ve been a full time electrician since I was 18 and here, 40 years later, still going at it. I started at the ground floor in the electrical field and then worked my way up to supervisor. I had my own business in New Jersey until 1999 which did well. I closed it to move to Arizona. I then worked for two successful companies here in Arizona. My current company has not been as successful as I was back in New Jersey and that is because I didn’t pay attention to my own rules which I first came up with years ago when I first went into business. The only good take I have on that is seeing how important those rules really are.

Today I’m taking a break from crawling in attics and hanging out of scissor lifts - not so much as needing a break - but a broken collarbone makes it just a little more difficult than a normal work day. So, I hope to put together an enjoying look at things on starting and running a service business - be it a pool service, hvac, plumbing, handyman, or electrical - many of the same principles apply. This will not be the only book I will be doing so if you have your own ideas please drop me an email at sparkeyjoe@ gmail.com Thank you and good fortune and health to you and your family.

Chapter One Reality

Well now at present you are working for your boss and he is driving a Lincoln pickup while you are driving a ten year old Toyota pickup. As you make your calls you add up yet another invoice for today and run it though square, $480 for a new electric dryer line or gas line or recharge an a/ c. Whatever it was, or trade you in, it seems your boss is bringing in a hell of a lot of money and not sending much your way. Hell, the cheap bastard won’t even fix the damned a/ c in the company service van you are driving and today you collected $1200 in credit cards, $250 in checks and even a couple hundred in cash with just one helper in your van. And your boss has two other vans on the road! He lives in a house twice the size of yours with the company shop in the back yard so he has a thirty second walk to work. So you feel it’s time to walk away from this job making peanuts, getting stuck putting in eight to twelve hours of work a day for a little pay and some overtime pay. Maybe so, but let us just do a real look.

Your beat up Toyota is worth $3500 and is paid off. Your little house is only worth $180,000 to your boss’ $500,000 house. Your tools are worth $2500 he has $45,000 worth of tools and you only have $100,000 in your 401. And your whole life insurance policy is half a million - plus from your company you got another $50,000. Oh yeah… from your cheap ass boss you also have a high deductible health insurance policy for you and your family and don’t forget matching 401, seven paid holidays - but double time if you have to do a emergency call - two weeks paid vacation, three paid sick days , a company van to commute and a weekly pay check. For Easter and Thanksgiving you get a lousy ham and turkey, and the clothes he gives you to wear, he makes you wash them and pay for repairs if you tear them - of all the gall, and last week you only got one week, s pay for Christmas bonus and at the Christmas party they only served chicken with only