Business ideas

[JohnDeere4300]

Like alot of other folks I became a statistic this week as entire B2B sales level was eliminated when my employer decided to "downsize/rightsize". Anyway I no longer have a job but I do have a Kubota BX24 with loader and backhoe. I'd rather sit in a tractor seat than behind a desk anyway so does anyone have any suggestions on how I might turn this little orange machine into a profit center. Have a little time to build up business due to severance and unemployment but I don't want to sit still, need to get something going as soon as possible. Any suggestions on what implements might be best investment to generate additional business? Trailer size and style? Your suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

What state do you live in ?

Do they sell "double-wide/mobile homes" in your area ?

If so, Go to all the places that sells "double-wides" and see if they will let you dig "pads" for them... Most places that sells them don't have tractors, and they make the employees dig them by hand.

Around here you can make $600 to $800 in a couple hours digging pads.

You can also ask the person buying the "double-wide" if they need a ditch dug for the water line.... Advertising is easy.... You can buy business cards and print off what you want to do.. You can also print off "flyers" and put them in hardware stores, grocery stores etc..etc.. You can also put an ad in you local newspaper.

Once you do work & do good work, then other people will spread your name around.

 

[Dallas_Lilly]

I run my little tractor during the summer months mowing, spring time doing driveways that got rutted during winter, and going to try to do snow clearing on sidewalks this winter.

Insurance can be expensive but it is necessary to protect yourself. You will be amazed at how fast you can put hours on a tractor once you start hiring it out and the maintenance costs can be high. And then you have to plan for the flat tire and misc small stuff, its small but it still costs money. Then you have to plan for the big costs like replacing the tractor eventually and in my case replacing my cutter or other implements.

Finding a niche is the key. Around my parts there are hundreds of 2.5 acre rural lots. Allot of people do themselves with riding mowers from depot but there are plenty of people that dont want the hassle. It is me and one other guy doing it and I dont know about him but I am doing well. If I keep going as well as I have the tractor will have paid for itself in another 3 to 4 years and still have quite a bit of life left in it. I think I might do good with the sidewalks this year. In the city people and buisnesess are required to have the snow cleared from their sidewalks, there are plenty of trucks with plows running around but they are too wide to do a sidewalk. There are a few bobcats around town but they are much more expensive per hour than me. Their machine costs two and three times as much as mine.

It is my second job that I do after work or during the weekends. I sit behind a desk all day. Not something I ever thought I would do but that is where the road took me to support my family. This is a great escape from the desk and makes me a little extra spending cash.

I have never run an ad in the paper, and craigslist turned up more junk than actual customers. I post buisness cards at local gas station boards. The rest is word of mouth. Doing a good job and not trying to get rich with the prices has worked really well for me.

I say go for it, do it right and have fun doing it.

 

[LoneCowboy]

My suggestion would be to stay in your field of expertise, get another job that is related to your field if you eventually are going back at some later date. If you're embarking on a new career, then good luck-it ain't as easy as buying a tractor and a bunch of business cards.

I do get somewhat annoyed that people lose their jobs and immediately want to take work away from me in construction, or from my full time excavator, landscaper, painter, whatever trade they decide to become an "expert" in.

There's very little work for us either, and it seems like everytime the banks, retail stores or other white collar occupations lay people off, they immediately want to get into the trades. Doubling the problem, of course, they will work for peanuts because they have no concept of what it costs to keep a business like that for the long run.

Then we all of us that do this for a career have to drop our prices to get down close to their prices they pull out of a hat somewhere so we can continue to work.

Finally, they get re-hired back into their computer, marketing or sales jobs, they leave us with the low hourly rates and we have to spend years picking up the pieces to get them built back up to prices where we can once again start making money.

Not picking on the OP, but I'm sick of white collar or non-tradesmen guys deciding to to take up my way of making a living until the boss calls them back to work.

Sorry for the rant, but that's my honest opinion. Not trying to hurt anyone's feelings, OP included.

this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Charlesaf3]

lots of good advice above.

I'd add - don't sell tractor service, that means nothing to most - didn't mean anything to me before I bought one, when I'd see the ads.

Sell trenches, mowing, landscaping etc. The client doesn't really care what you use to get the job done, only that you get the job done and well. Sell something your in-laws (or pick whoever) will understand and want done.

 

[taborekle]

You are going to want a good, easy to read and understand business contract that you want you're customers to sign before you get started. It should have in it a 'hold harmless' clause. There was a thread on this BB just a few weeks back about a new operator in the business that did some bushhogging and was sued by the home owner that had a septic problem and needed to set some sucker up to pay for it. Fortuneatly the operator had a plumber that could testify that the home owner had problems long before the mowing.

Just goes to show you that there are lots of un-scrupulous people out there.

Best of luck...

Larry

 

[Builder]

this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What does "this" mean?

 

[boxygen]

Builder has some very good points. I also am in the construction business and see this thing all the time. We live in a "DIY Channel" home depot "you can do it, we can help" type society now. Because they read how to install tile in a book while standing in line at Home Depot, they are now an expert, why not make it a career? They saw someone build a deck on TV last night, why not build a couple decks in my spare time.

The media and other marketing has empowered the general public into thinking they are something they are not. They make it seem so easy to do it yourself that there is nothing to it as long as I follow the cookie cutter steps. The problem arises when something happens thats not "shown in the pictures." This is one small area where a professional contractor or tradesmen earns his money and the new to the market "contractor" falls on his face. The problem is the general homeowner can't distinguish between the two except the professional contractor was more money on his quote. They will figure it out 2 years from now when the work they did fails and cheaper contractor is nowhere to be found or doesnt even know how to fix the problem he/she created. They have no assets, insurance or professional reputation that can be leveraged.

Now I'm not saying that everyone starting out new is a hack, and that you cant make a sucessful business from your idea. I dont know anything about you personally, professionally or your competancies. Also, you have to do what you gotta do to survive. What I'm saying is, its just not that easy. Whether you are in it for the short term or long term, there are many costs that you need to cover to limit your exposure. You can create a little cash flow for a short time, it will catch up with you eventually. Insurance is so important now a days. Maintenance and equipment is just as bad. At least taxes are cheap, though.
Some are giving the advice of finding a niche. A niche is nice in a thriving economy, not what we are living in. You need to be diverse to stay alive in todays trades. I really dont want to be negative toward you and your situation, thats not my point. You are in an uphill battle that takes a lot of time and money to do correctly with the potential for disaster if you work for the wrong client. Also to me it is a issue of professionalism. It used to be that you had to have X years experience and training under someone else to go into your own buisiness. Now, anyone has no problem doing anything at any time and call it a business. This ventures into what I would call unprofessional. How are you going to answer your first customer when he asks" how many jobs have you done like this?" Are you going to look him in they eye and say "none"? What are you going to do when you hit that burried gas line that the homeowner forgot to tell you about. Looks like you forgot to call DIGSAFE and you are on the hook for evacuating the entire neighborhood for a gas leak. And doesnt look like that insurance policy you thought you could get away without isnt going to help. Dont worry though, they will sell your house and your tractor to pay for it when the court takes them away. Looks like you wont make your 30 bucks an hour today because they arent going to pay. Thats ok, you can file a lien, if you knew how.
Just trying to provide some food for thought. If you are going to do this, structure your business correctly from the start or be prepared to accept lots of risk to you and your family. And remember it takes years and many hard lessons till you will be a "professional" at this. No offense taken to anyone on this site and goodluck.

 

[JayCat]

Builder has some very good points. I also am in the construction business and see this thing all the time. We live in a "DIY Channel" home depot "you can do it, we can help" type society now. Because they read how to install tile in a book while standing in line at Home Depot, they are now an expert, why not make it a career? They saw someone build a deck on TV last night, why not build a couple decks in my spare time.

The media and other marketing has empowered the general public into thinking they are something they are not. They make it seem so easy to do it yourself that there is nothing to it as long as I follow the cookie cutter steps. The problem arises when something happens thats not "shown in the pictures." This is one small area where a professional contractor or tradesmen earns his money and the new to the market "contractor" falls on his face. The problem is the general homeowner can't distinguish between the two except the professional contractor was more money on his quote. They will figure it out 2 years from now when the work they did fails and cheaper contractor is nowhere to be found or doesnt even know how to fix the problem he/she created. They have no assets, insurance or professional reputation that can be leveraged.

Now I'm not saying that everyone starting out new is a hack, and that you cant make a sucessful business from your idea. I dont know anything about you personally, professionally or your competancies. Also, you have to do what you gotta do to survive. What I'm saying is, its just not that easy. Whether you are in it for the short term or long term, there are many costs that you need to cover to limit your exposure. You can create a little cash flow for a short time, it will catch up with you eventually. Insurance is so important now a days. Maintenance and equipment is just as bad. At least taxes are cheap, though.
Some are giving the advice of finding a niche. A niche is nice in a thriving economy, not what we are living in. You need to be diverse to stay alive in todays trades. I really dont want to be negative toward you and your situation, thats not my point. You are in an uphill battle that takes a lot of time and money to do correctly with the potential for disaster if you work for the wrong client. Also to me it is a issue of professionalism. It used to be that you had to have X years experience and training under someone else to go into your own buisiness. Now, anyone has no problem doing anything at any time and call it a business. This ventures into what I would call unprofessional. How are you going to answer your first customer when he asks" how many jobs have you done like this?" Are you going to look him in they eye and say "none"? What are you going to do when you hit that burried gas line that the homeowner forgot to tell you about. Looks like you forgot to call DIGSAFE and you are on the hook for evacuating the entire neighborhood for a gas leak. And doesnt look like that insurance policy you thought you could get away without isnt going to help. Dont worry though, they will sell your house and your tractor to pay for it when the court takes them away. Looks like you wont make your 30 bucks an hour today because they arent going to pay. Thats ok, you can file a lien, if you knew how.
Just trying to provide some food for thought. If you are going to do this, structure your business correctly from the start or be prepared to accept lots of risk to you and your family. And remember it takes years and many hard lessons till you will be a "professional" at this. No offense taken to anyone on this site and goodluck.

Well said. The voice of experience is profound. We don't always hear or want to listen to the voice though.

 

[Builder]

It just seems like construction trades are the first to get a flood of unemployed white collar workers with their diesel pickups and Kubota CUTs when they lose their jobs.

One thing they might not realize is that the equipment they are going to throw into the game is going to get beat-up fast to get the job done.

This ain't like cutting your grass or doing some mulching at your own house where we can pamper our equipment. Once you sign up to do a job, it gets done or you don't get paid. Equipment gets scratched & dented and loses value with all the extra hours and wear & tear.

Just sayin it might not be the gravy train you think it is. In fact, you'll probably end up losing money versus just getting a temporary job or something related to your current field of expertise.

 

[MESSMAKER]

I just started my own business. I did quite well with a mowing business a few years ago but I found that everyone with a ZTR mower got into the act. I recently bought a cut with loader,box blade, forks and a Bush Hog. I suspected I would go deep in the hole the first year but I have done better than expected. The sweet spot I found was mowing overgrown building lots. 1/4 to 1 acre and can be done in less than an hour. Getting your name out there is the largest job. I can see work, but finding the guy who will pay you to to it can be difficult. If I can get a bit more connected, I could do very well. I realize I will give it some time. I have gotten work from flyers,Craigslist,word of mouth and just parking my rig. with the sign on it, in busy places. I am going to make money but probably not as much as if I worked for someone else. I get to set my hours, be with my kids when they need me and do something I enjoy.