Has your business picked up this year?

[jonyyuma]

We are seing a lot of new construction equipment come thru the area...Finally, not just the military stuff? Looking for a retirement home, and some of the listings are already sold when we call them? So it is slow, my Employer said they expect a slow go until next year, but a paying the Brass BONUSES???

 

[Sutol]

We are in a realy bad depression over here, prices going up, taxes going up and no work.
Country full of foriegners on welfare, they are fighting to get in the country and once here they get paid and a place to live with their family and legal aid to fight against being deported from the country.
How mad is that.

Bad time but my son and my brother are starting up selling engine parts to the trade, if it takes off now then they will be ok when the economy picks up
Thats the plan anyways

 

[EddieWalker]

I remdodel houses and I'm having my best year ever. The worse the housing industry gets, the better the remodel industry gets. With tax returns coming back, clients are wanting to fix up their homes with the plans of staying there long term. I'm booked up to the end of summer, with a stack of bids on my desk to write up.

When I first started, I put an ad in the free classifieds paper that comes out once a week. That got me started and from there, I've been building up repeat clients and getting other jobs off of their recomendations. I tried the local newspapers, but never got a single job from there. I thought about the yellow pages, but couldn't find anybody who said it was worth the money. I created a website, but that just got some emails wanting quotes without any information.

Then I started posting pics on facebook and friending clients, and then clients friends. Now I accept friend requests from anybody who sends me one. I also friend every business in the area that's on facebook. Those business's are like adding a dozen to a hundred friends becasue of everyone who goes to their page and see's their comments to my pics, or my comments to theirs.

I also created another website, but I'm going to let it fade away. Nobody goes to it and it's too much of a pain to update it and go through the steps to try and get it how I want it to look. Once friends on facebook, they get to know me, which leads to wanting to hire me. All my jobs are now either repeat clients, or from facebook. I get a few calls from Angies List, but those are almost always a waste of time. Lots of talking, writing bids and rarely hearing back from them. When they do want to hire me, it seems they expect me to be available that day.

Posting pics on facebook reminds them that I'm out there, and it shows them what I can do. Everybody wants a nicer home, but most are afraid of all the bad apples out there. This seems to be working very well and if it's possible in your line of work, start posting pics of what you are doing and adding more friends.

Eddie

 

[jinman]

Posting pics on facebook reminds them that I'm out there, and it shows them what I can do. Everybody wants a nicer home, but most are afraid of all the bad apples out there. This seems to be working very well and if it's possible in your line of work, start posting pics of what you are doing and adding more friends.

Eddie

You forgot your #1 Facebook supporter, Oscar. He's your best salesman. If you want to stand out on FB, have a pig for a pet.:laughing:

 

[Bob Rooks]

You forgot your #1 Facebook supporter, Oscar. He's your best salesman. If you want to stand out on FB, have a pig for a pet.:laughing:

"LIKE!" :thumbsup::laughing:

 

[Bob Rooks]

You forgot your #1 Facebook supporter, Oscar. He's your best salesman. If you want to stand out on FB, have a pig for a pet.:laughing:

"LIKE!" :thumbsup::laughing:

Eddie has already liked me too.

 

[powerpace]

I remdodel houses and I'm having my best year ever. The worse the housing industry gets, the better the remodel industry gets. With tax returns coming back, clients are wanting to fix up their homes with the plans of staying there long term. I'm booked up to the end of summer, with a stack of bids on my desk to write up.

When I first started, I put an ad in the free classifieds paper that comes out once a week. That got me started and from there, I've been building up repeat clients and getting other jobs off of their recomendations. I tried the local newspapers, but never got a single job from there. I thought about the yellow pages, but couldn't find anybody who said it was worth the money. I created a website, but that just got some emails wanting quotes without any information.

Then I started posting pics on facebook and friending clients, and then clients friends. Now I accept friend requests from anybody who sends me one. I also friend every business in the area that's on facebook. Those business's are like adding a dozen to a hundred friends becasue of everyone who goes to their page and see's their comments to my pics, or my comments to theirs.

I also created another website, but I'm going to let it fade away. Nobody goes to it and it's too much of a pain to update it and go through the steps to try and get it how I want it to look. Once friends on facebook, they get to know me, which leads to wanting to hire me. All my jobs are now either repeat clients, or from facebook. I get a few calls from Angies List, but those are almost always a waste of time. Lots of talking, writing bids and rarely hearing back from them. When they do want to hire me, it seems they expect me to be available that day.

Posting pics on facebook reminds them that I'm out there, and it shows them what I can do. Everybody wants a nicer home, but most are afraid of all the bad apples out there. This seems to be working very well and if it's possible in your line of work, start posting pics of what you are doing and adding more friends.

Eddie

Glad your doing good!!

 

[Kenneth in Texas]

not in the construction business but self employed for 26 years in a business that other businesses need and other than a few spikes here and there its basically flat, most other type businesses we deal with seem to be generally flat also. Hope things change for the better and stay that way. The last 3 years have been sickening.

 

[brain55]

Business is up for me too. It started in November and has been getting increasingly better. I billed 100% more labor this first quarter than I did first quarter last year. I'm in what you could call a construction related business as an equipment mechanic with my own mobile repair business.

 

[300UGUY]

My wife's biz is doing better, we relocated her shop, buying a building. Buying is cheaper than renting a commercial building here. Most commercial properties are owned by big REITs or banks, and they want a triple net lease that leaves very little for the business to live on. She is getting some business from Facebook, I like Eddies idea of friending local businesses, that is something new to me. A neighbor of mine is in the remodeling biz, he is getting work, but not at the rates he used to get. He was at $45 to $50, now he is working at $20. Construction is still pretty slow here.

Another thing - my wife just got a Iphone. She has a Intuit CC processor, that plugs into the phone, and when she moved the biz, she converted her landline number into a wireless number. Her old customers are still coming in, and she is much more flexible in her time - se doesn't have to stay at the shop to answer the phone. She really loves her Iphone, and it has really improved her business. The cc processing is much cheaper than our old one.