hey it's Dan Perry and in this video I'm
going to talk about how to start a
profitable handyman business
so over the last seven years I've both
started my own handyman business and
I've helped thousands of people across
the world start profitable handyman
businesses as well and the handyman
business can be surprisingly profitable
if set up properly
in fact you can generate a six-figure
income offering basic handyman services
like fixing doors repairing fences
hanging pictures and other simple but
common services and that's without
hiring employees that's just a
one-person handyman business working out
of your garage for example but again the
business must be set up properly
otherwise you come nowhere near a
six-figure income you don't look like
most new handyman who make all kinds of
poor business decisions that kill their
profits okay so in this video I'm gonna
walk you through the first five steps of
starting a profitable handyman business
that brings you the freedom enjoyment
that you're looking for and by
completing these steps you'll create a
clear plan that will all but guarantee
your success alright step number one
choose your services so the first step
you must take is to evaluate your
current skills and decide on the
services you're actually going to be
providing okay now you're gonna do
kitchen remodels or gonna do bathroom
remodels are you're just gonna focus on
small repairs and to-do lists like
hanging pictures fixing doors fixing
fences replacing faucets changing
toilets what services do you want to
provide what services are you good at
and you might be thinking don't I need
to be able to do everything and the
short answer is no in fact you can
generate a very healthy income by
offering a limited range of services and
in many cases it's actually much more
profitable to just offer one or two
services just take a look at other
businesses that are similar to a
handyman business like garage door
repair companies lawn care companies
locksmiths home security installers
gutter cleaning companies there are even
businesses that just do window cleaning
ok these businesses all focus on niche
services that can be very lucrative but
as a handyman you're typically going to
have a much broader range of services
that will span several trades
but the thing is you can certainly get
started by offering what you know how to
do now and grow from there or you could
just focus on the services that you like
to do and that's it I mean I have
clients who who won't do drywall repair
at all they just don't like it so you
don't have to do every service you're
gonna want to spend some time kind of
figuring out what services do you
actually want to provide okay step
number two learn the local handyman laws
now I'd love to just tell you exactly
what the laws are right here in this
video but unfortunately they're
different in every state okay so before
you get too excited about the list of
services you just created it's time to
do some research on the contracting laws
in your specific state you must find out
what services you can and cannot offer
without a license or you need to figure
out what license you need in order to
provide the services you actually want
to provide in most states you won't need
any specialized to take at all to offer
small repairs however there are usually
limits on what you can and cannot do
without a license okay and usually there
are two types of limits number one is a
limit on the total cost of each project
in some states that limit is as low as
$500 and in others the limit is as high
as 3,000 that means the total cost of
the repair or service you offer must be
less than that limit okay you will
probably need a contractor's license if
you want to do bigger jobs like kitchen
remodels or bathroom remodels okay the
second type of limit is on the type of
services you can offer so for example in
the state of Nevada where I live I can't
do any services that involve electrical
plumbing or HVAC unless I carry a
license in those specific trades now
that might seem limiting and it kind of
is however I'm still able to run a
profitable business and so are many of
my clients okay so you'd be amazed at
how many people are actually looking to
have these small jobs done like hanging
pictures for example you'd be amazed at
how much money I make just hanging
pictures and these are also very
profitable services if again you set
your business up properly so the best
way to learn the laws in your specific
city or state is by doing a simple
google search just search for
contracting
or handyman laws or anything like that
and it might take some digging but
you'll eventually find something that'll
at least give you an idea of the
services that you can legally provide
without a license and if you all learn
more about handyman laws just visit
handyman start-up comm forward slash
laws for an in-depth article on the
subject alright moving on to step three
which is to define your ideal customers
and I know what you're thinking but Dan
anybody who needs my services is my
customer right
no and this is very very important okay
not everybody is your customer I'll say
it again not everybody is your customer
in fact this is so important that you
should consider getting that phrase
tattooed on the back of your hand so you
can be constantly reminded of it because
here's the deal if you want to generate
a solid profit you're going to need to
charge a decent rate usually at least
fifty dollars an hour
ideally more like a hundred dollars an
hour and not everybody is willing to pay
that much I'll bet you wouldn't even pay
that much you might even think those
rates are crazy and honestly you
probably are not within your ideal
customers okay your ideal customers are
gonna think totally different than you
they're gonna be willing to pay much
more for services than you otherwise
would and when I started my handyman
business I didn't really understand this
concept and I worked for anybody that I
could I'd lower my prices to get jobs I
take on jobs I wasn't good at and I
basically tried to serve everyone who
would hire me as a handyman and because
of this I ended up getting some bad
reviews online I wasted a lot of time
and effort and I made way less money
than I could have in my first year as a
handyman now eventually I learned my
lesson never lower your rates to get
customers design your business around
helping a specific type of customer and
making a profit and then focus on
helping those customers okay and if
you're targeting customers you actually
enjoy working for and who are willing to
pay decent rates for your services you
will be happier they'll be happier
you'll get more referrals and repeat
business and you'll make more money in
the process
if you try to work for everybody you're
gonna struggle financially or
emotionally and probably both honestly
alright step number four
set your pricing it's time to figure out
how much you're gonna charge and I'll be
honest here deciding how much to charge
is one of the more challenging parts of
starting a handyman business because of
the psychology and limiting beliefs
involved we all have this psychological
baggage that kind of holds us back now
this is where I see most mistakes with
new businesses not only do you need to
consider things like your experience
level efficiency of work ability to sell
reputation professionalism and a bunch
of other things but you also need to
understand your numbers you need to
understand your business from a
financial perspective okay
and then once you know how much you
should charge based on what you need to
make a profit you need to have the balls
to actually charge that much it's no
easy task especially when you probably
have some self doubts about your skills
and abilities to start with but don't
worry everybody has this okay everybody
struggles here however there's one thing
that I want you to remember and that is
this this problem has already been
solved many handyman have come before
you and learned pricing the hard way so
you can simply learn from our mistakes I
actually spent an entire year writing a
book about handyman pricing that has
been read by and used by over a thousand
other Pro handyman and I can't get into
the ins and outs of everything in this
video but for the sake of this video
let's talk about the first step to
setting your pricing just to get you
started first you'll need to estimate
your business expenses then you'll need
to figure out how much of a salary
you'll pay yourself and how many hours
you're gonna work and finally you're
gonna add all this information into a
simple equation and figure out how much
you must charge in order to generate a
profit now this might sound like a lot
to take in a lot to do but it's actually
pretty easy and I actually created a
really cool resource that you can find a
handyman startup comm forward slash
hourly rate that will walk you through
this process step by step and do all the
boring calculations for you and finally
step number five develop a marketing
strategy now at this point you should
have a good idea of the services you're
gonna provide who you're gonna provide
those services to and how much you're
going to
charge for your time now the next step
is to figure out how you're going to
reach your ideal clients and convince
them to actually hire you so it's time
to form a marketing plan and the good
news is that as a handyman you're gonna
be in high demand there's a lot of
people looking for your services
so finding customers isn't too
challenging the bad news is there are a
lot of other handy men out there with
the same thing in mind a lot of them
have very low prices okay which you're
gonna have to deal with that but don't
worry there's more good news and that's
that most handyman are terrible
marketers and just by putting a little
bit of extra effort in your marketing
you can make a killing
you can charge higher rates you'll make
more money you'll get better customers
you'll have your schedule be filled more
consistently and honestly the fact that
you're watching this video puts you away
the head of the pack so that's awesome
right there Congrats on that okay so
your goal in this step is to figure out
which marketing methods are going to be
the most effective and have the highest
return on investment so sit down and
study your ideal clients behaviors
desires and frustrations so you can come
up with the best methods for promoting
your handyman business and gaining those
specific customers so depending on what
services you're gonna offer and who what
customers you're gonna target your
marketing plan is actually gonna be a
little bit different right so if you're
targeting real estate agents then
networking is going to be a very
effective marketing strategy for you if
you're targeting homeowners then hands
down the best way to get them is with
online marketing
okay building a website doing some basic
SEO and things like that and you may be
totally brand new this whole marketing
thing and have no idea where to start
and if that's the case then I recommend
you head over to handyman start up calm
I have dozens of free articles on
marketing a handyman business that I
know you'll find helpful and that's it
once you complete these five steps
you'll have a solid plan for dominating
as a pro handyman you'll have a new
feeling of excitement a boost in
motivation and you'll be ready to claim
your freedom by finally starting a
business
now obviously you won't get all this
done in one sitting so take your time
and knock it out one step at a time and
don't forget to take advantage of the
free training products I've created for
you at handyman startup calm
you