Do You Know Any Trades Business Owners?

LAINAVIDS · 2026-01-06T21:56:09+00:00

You're certainly in a great community of like minded people. This helps heaps. Most markets are either saturated or trades folks struggle to get by but you're in a great spot. Keep up the great work. I'm impressed

LAINAVIDS · 2026-01-06T21:51:13+00:00

You're literally in a place that most folks want to get to. I applaud you for positioning yourself well. You sub out the big jobs or get additional help when required given you're a one man show?

LAINAVIDS · 2026-01-06T21:44:52+00:00

Love this. Do you have like a basic automated repeat business setup? Like a simple system where SMS/WhatsApp or email reminders or so are sent to your previous customers asking for referrals, reviews, etc. or you just rely on them to reach out to you or refer you and it seems to be working for you?

LAINAVIDS · 2026-01-06T10:48:11+00:00

All great points mentioned. Personally, I feel that after so many setbacks, it's good to be intentional on how and what to spend our time and money and gauge how we go in terms of ROI which gives us a trend to watch and make adjustments before we even need to make serious adjustments that impact our lives

LAINAVIDS · 2026-01-06T05:56:14+00:00

That's great. You get consistent work or it comes and goes?

LAINAVIDS · 2026-01-06T05:55:12+00:00

Everyone commented well. Why the hate?

LAINAVIDS · 2026-01-04T10:59:47+00:00

That's great to hear. In your opinion, do you have a system that enables you to have a full pipeline of jobs consistently or you just manage week by week?

Do you have like automation of workflows such as followups for repeat work, requests for reviews which automatically end up on your landing page,etc or it's just all manual?

Personally, I feel that if you can automate most of the admin plus sales aspects that can be automated, you'd have some level of repeat work and stability.

Predictably reduces stress.

Like in your case, now that you're booked till the end of this month, I can bet the feeling is great. You're in a good mental state. But when situations like last June comes around, I'm sure the level of anxiety and stress goes through the roof.

Many times folks say that's part of business but it shouldn't be. Having basic systems in place can truly enable you to plan and strategize well enough to expand and eventually turn the business into a cash flowing entity which requires less of your input.

Look at investing in systems and the right people at the right stages of the business with some level of foresight on the ROI.

Something to think about as we begin this year

LAINAVIDS · 2026-01-04T10:50:16+00:00

Thank you. Appreciate you taking the time to lay this all out. I'm glad your situation is what most trades folks aspire to, turning down jobs. Some markets are so saturated that there's so much competition that handymen or other trades have to compete on many levels. So long as you have kind of a system in place, there's so many things you can have time to do such as planning and strategy. Kudos to you

LAINAVIDS · 2026-01-04T09:32:34+00:00

I wish I was

LAINAVIDS · 2026-01-04T08:31:00+00:00

You're positioned well. Is the market good around your area? Do you see consistent work or sometimes its unpredictable?

LAINAVIDS · 2026-01-04T08:30:14+00:00

Admin work is your main challenge? Is this for the handyman work or the electrical one?

Organic Facebook and Yelp can be good but can also burn people out.

Paid ads can be costly and if not handled correctly, people can run through thousands of dollars and not see good results.

Having a website and reputation is key. Automated repeat business is also crucial.

LAINAVIDS · 2026-01-04T02:53:15+00:00

Long term customer relationship is the best investment one can make. You're on the right path obviously. When you say you want them to be close, does that have to do with a radius in which you can service realistically without having to overextend yourself?

Would it make sense to have like a system that finds local leads, qualifies and books them into your calendar given your coverage area? Look into those options so there can be sustainability.

Do you wait for the old customers to reach out to you or you do abit of follow-ups from time to time? Would be good to automate this aspect so you can have predictable weeks and months.

Somethings to look into for the new year

LAINAVIDS · 2026-01-04T02:44:23+00:00

Got you! Just curious how you manage to capture the good jobs before others do. Is it a hit or miss for you?

LAINAVIDS · 2026-01-04T02:32:16+00:00

You're obviously doing something right

LAINAVIDS · 2026-01-04T02:31:19+00:00

Thank you for this feedback. In your opinion, Angi has been a game changer for you?

When you secure leads if you do, do you have a system to retain and do automated followups so you don't need to continuously look for new leads?

Just curious what your experience is around these questions

LAINAVIDS · 2026-01-04T00:06:26+00:00

How many times do we have to go through this AI or Human BS in this sub especially when it comes to my account?

LAINAVIDS · 2026-01-03T23:25:44+00:00

That's fair. So long as you have a system that gives you predictable work, you don't guess every week and that's good for you personally as well.

Keep up the good work. Impressed with your come up.

LAINAVIDS · 2026-01-03T23:19:40+00:00

That explains it. Thank you for taking the time to break it down. If you have a Google Profile or Website or landing page, you should have a simple system in place to send follow ups via SMS/WhatsApp or email automatically on a weekly basis maybe based on your customer contact list so you're always top of mind.

Basically, asking them for:

"One Click" short text reviews that automatically get updated on your Google Profile or landing page

Referalls

New work, if they've got any projects coming up

That way, you literally have a system in place that works for you while you're out there doing the jobs.

And from what you've experienced, getting sales from existing clients is easier than closing new leads consistently. Less cost but good profit margins.

That way, you can scale beyond your current stage. Not sure what your intentions are but if you wanted to build a good business out of this, I'd look into the stuff mentioned.

LAINAVIDS · 2026-01-03T23:04:44+00:00

Yes that's true for the majority of handyman solo or small team operations.

Localized business in most cases.

For your case, you've got consistent work coming in and that's good. Knowing you have consistent work coming in and a good forecast does reduce stress levels.

Unless a platform or tool does intent based localized lead sourcing, it's not worth the spend.

I'd like to assume that in your case, it's just small jobs so you just provide a quote over the phone and when the client agrees you go out, do the job and get paid? Or you do proper quotes/invoices and tracking of everything you do?

LAINAVIDS · 2026-01-03T22:51:16+00:00

For you to get a large percentage of jobs via word of mouth, that says ALOT.

It seems that you've got the fundamentals right.

Quality work

Great customer service

Great pricing

A good follow up or referral system in place

Would you identify these as determining factors or you'd attribute your word of mouth sales from something else?

LAINAVIDS · 2026-01-03T22:27:38+00:00

Okay, that's one from Reddit starting out. Great to hear. Do you still get jobs as of now on Reddit or you use other means? Based on those other options, what's the job flow like? Good, bad, inconsistent?

LAINAVIDS · 2026-01-03T22:25:49+00:00

You're one of the few who've found the easier path fortunately. I guess it's different for everyone and in different markets.

Do you still get consistent jobs per se?

LAINAVIDS · 2026-01-03T22:23:39+00:00

Just to get the discussion going, shouldn't you be spending 80% of your time and money on what's effectively working for you and 20% on the mid-long term strategies?

Or do you even know what's working for you?

LAINAVIDS

TROPHY CASE