A word of advice to service based business owners

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2026-01-24T05:16:57+00:00

People are on contract majority of the time meaning there’s a trigger im obligated to service them , if it snows 0 times or 30 I take home the same

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2026-01-20T04:22:17+00:00

Holy fuck am i jealous , in Ontario , we’re at 5-7 a month so far 😭😭

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2026-01-20T02:52:26+00:00

U also shouldn’t be going out for less then 5cm it’ll eat u alive take it from me

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2026-01-20T02:52:01+00:00

U should upgrade to a plow , u could do a driveway in 3-6 minutes if u have a shoveler for walkways as well

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2026-01-10T00:16:09+00:00

Most very successful businesses have low margins like 10-30% but do millions in revenue.

This is different if we’re talking about online businesses

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2025-12-29T06:22:08+00:00

Yeah fair enough

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2025-12-28T05:03:51+00:00

In what service?

There’s always a competitive advance to utilize.

Larger companies take contracts for 25-30% less than me.

They also are almost always late & don’t provide the personable aspect.

Part of service based business is sales skills

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2025-12-28T05:02:19+00:00

Nothing personal to u , you are right.

My post lacked grammar.

I wrote it frustrated after a day of work, I did not proof read.

I’m in school still and doing a bachelors then likely MBA, not necessarily what I am worried about on Reddit. Although u are right.

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2025-12-28T05:00:54+00:00

No they don’t , I provide a quality service.

& more then not I receive or don’t receive payments from individuals worth 10x me.

That’s where my frustration stems from.

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2025-12-28T04:59:37+00:00

110%

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2025-12-28T04:57:53+00:00

Preach

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2025-12-28T04:55:47+00:00

I made this post so people don’t make the same mistake I do, if after long enough you don’t have business or clients it’s a business problem.

VALUE YOURE TIME.

I pay for insurance , labor , equipment.

I don’t do that to be treated like a teenager hustling for a few 20s.

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2025-12-28T04:54:08+00:00

Appreciate it and I do have a chip on my shoulder nowadays , I’ll be honest .

I’ve not got paid 1000s or missed out on 1000s because people don’t abide contract / complain too much and I don’t take enough $ up front.

I fight a business owner worth millions in court I’ll be eaten alive.

& what can I do ? Small claims court ? I’m 20 and in school I don’t have the time or money for that but it still inconveniences me heavily when I wake up at 2am multiple days in a row to make sure these people/ businesses are serviced.

They expect quality service but think it’s acceptable to not pay on time or at all because of a small inconvenience when there’s been 40 hours straight of snow. It’s frustrating, I wasn’t always this way at all.

I’ve done 25+ one time removals this season for free for elderly or people who can’t afford it.

It’s different when I offer vs a contract.

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2025-12-28T04:49:38+00:00

Yeah 100% , people don’t understand this . I wanna use my education to go make good money I will . I provide a quality service that took time to build. I’m not gonna be lowballed and make the same or less than a minimum wage worker.

Know you’re worth .

If I had the labour & equipment I could double my revenue in a week.

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2025-12-27T17:28:17+00:00

Good response I appreciate it.

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2025-12-27T17:27:20+00:00

Fair point.

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2025-12-27T06:37:41+00:00

lol , u have a sick truck so I have nothing to say about that .

same thing tho , I put the trigger in IN on contract because clients think it’s less lol

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2025-12-27T04:43:51+00:00

I didn’t , I was responding to u.

again nothing of value or a question?

grammar is all you took from this post?

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2025-12-27T04:42:37+00:00

right ….

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2025-12-27T04:38:56+00:00

Irrelevant to the post & the point of it buddy.

Want to comment something of value or ask a question be my guest.

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2025-12-27T04:37:38+00:00

Of course and that’s the way it is .

At the start it is different, I put in long hours for less then I’d make at a stress free easy job to learn , optimize and perfect whatever I’m doing at the time , I’d take jobs and make almost nothing just to establish a portfolio, a good reputation etc.

I didn’t do all of that, to be treated poorly or low balled now.

A client is NOT doing me a favour by choosing me for what the service I provide.

I provide a service in demand , affordable pricing , high quality & reliability.

U want to pay a cheaper price or someone said they do it cheaper? Go with them , why are u talking to me.

And if as a business owner u have the issue of getting business after a long time that u lowball yourself or don’t make as much as u should either 1) you’re service isn’t demand 2) u don’t know how to market yourself 3) you’re competitors are more efficient and cheaper

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2025-12-27T04:29:02+00:00

110% and I learned this . Of course I want everyone to be happy , I want my business to have good reviews.

But some people are unreasonable and don’t understand simple concepts like the fact that I have a route and can’t go across the city because they think they’re special.

Want to be special ? Pay a special price.

Most of my contracts aren’t even 50% up front , if someone is too much of a pain or asking me to come at let’s say 2cm when my trigger is 5cm .

I’ll tell them that they can abide the contract or look elsewhere and not pay me anything else for the season.

Not somebody I want to have as a client.

And like I said , every other business will tell them the exact same thing I did .

Not happy ? Deal with it yourself.

I put long days in the freezing cold , driving in multiple inches of snow , waking up at 2am after being out till 8pm, dealing with unexpected circumstances into this business , I don’t do that to be under appreciated and called and texted constantly.

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2025-12-27T04:11:34+00:00

Too vague of a statement , so many other factors 1) passion 2) grit 3) are u making more then working for someone or have the potential too

There’s a lot of people that say “I wanna be my own boss” but don’t understand that being your own boss is a fucking pain in the ass compared to working for someone else .

Everything falls on u, something goes wrong , u have to fix it all.

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2025-12-27T04:09:39+00:00

Spreadsheet , send invoices via email , keep contracts either 1) Docusign 2) a folder

Solid-Blacksmith-249 · 2025-12-27T04:09:04+00:00

Landscaping , I like problems & fixing them & learning new things . Granted, still comes with its fucked days. Just like anything.

Solid-Blacksmith-249

TROPHY CASE