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Specializing is one of the best strategic moves you can make as a pro handyman if your goal is to make more money in less time. In this episode, I dive into how to choose the right services to specialize in. There are three criteria you want your specialty service to meet to eliminate unnecessary headwinds. This is especially important if you want to scale your business, but it's also valuable even if you never plan to hire a single employee.

One of the biggest time wasters for handymen is giving free estimates. The only problem is that free estimates have some pretty awesome benefits. In this article, I discuss how to give free estimates without wasting your time.

In this episode, I sit down with Will Lingard of Surry Hills Handyman, a pro handyman with over nine years of handyman business experience. We discuss how he runs multiple businesses by subcontracting work, how he hired his first help, what's important to affluent customers, why being a good person is more important than your skills, and more. Will is a great guy with loads of wisdom to share to help you run a more profitable and enjoyable business.

Stress is a silent killer. It kills joy and is unhealthy. The more I dive into this topic, the more I realize that high expectations are at the core of dissatisfaction in the modern world. It's the ultimate first-world problem. In this episode, I share several practical tips you can apply today to re-align your expectations with reality and, in doing so, reduce unnecessary pressure and stress while growing your business

Most people underestimate what they can accomplish in a few years, and drastically overestimate what they can accomplish in a day, a week, or a month. In this episode, I discuss how keeping your expectations LOW, at least in the short-term, will improve your odds of success and make the process of building a business more enjoyable. Winning in business is about winning the mental battle. Here's one way to do that.

I've made a lot of pricing mistakes as a pro handyman. In this epsiode, I tell the story of five jobs that I did that barely made any money. I also share why these jobs weren't profitable and the mistakes that I made that led to me losing time and money. Avoiding pricing mistakes is one of the easiest ways to boost your income as a pro, so this episode should be especially helpful for someone just starting their handyman business.

I spoke with a handyman recently who was in a tough situation. He had a full-time job. He was offering handyman services on the side. He was commuting to a different city for his job and wanted to build his handyman business full-time in the city where he lived. But he felt there was too much competition and wasn’t sure he could make it work. He also knew that to make it work, he needed an online presence to generate enough customers to keep his schedule full. So, he started building his website. He got through the first couple of steps but quickly ran into a snag. It was harder than he expected, and he wasn’t sure how to move forward. Riddled with uncertainty and frustration, he gave up and looked for an easier way. As a result, he was no closer to escaping that situation and having that full-time business in the city where he lives. There’s no judgment here. I’ve done the same thing many times. I also admire him for continuing to seek a solution, which is why we were speaking in the first place. Here’s what happens when you try to grow ANY business. A task you face is harder than you expected. Maybe that’s naming your business, filing for an LLC, building your website, or attracting your first customers. It takes longer than you expected. It’s more confusing. It costs more money than you thought it would. So you start to doubt yourself. You start to lose motivation. You wonder if it’s worth it. You wonder if you’re cut out for this. You wonder if there’s some easier way out there. And you want to give up. Then you start to think, “maybe there’s some secret others know I don’t.” And so, often, that leads you to give up. Over the years, I’ve consulted with many who run into this roadblock. They want a more profitable business. I tell them a solution, and immediately, I see it on their faces. Their reaction says, “Well, that sounds hard. I don’t want to do that. I don’t know how to do that. I can’t do that. Isn’t there an easier way?” Again, this often leads to giving up or waiting for things to be easy (which rarely happens). So they consume more information, do more research, and try to gain certainty, even though certainty doesn’t exist. You will never be 100% certain. And yes, there may be an easier way to move forward, and you should look for it. But most of the time, there isn’t an easier way, and waiting for one keeps you stuck. If you keep waiting for things to be easy, nothing will change (other than your age). Business growth happens when you face challenges head-on Almost every time I’ve created significant growth within my business, it’s because I faced a challenging situation head-on. It’s not because I found an easy way or had some advantage. For example, when deciding which business to start, I read several books on career options and how to find my purpose. I desperately wanted somebody to tell me, “Here’s what you should do, man. This is what you’re good at. You should do that.” But nobody could. I had no choice but to stick with the problem until it was solved, which took months. It was uncomfortable, but I had no choice but to push through until I felt good about a decision. Eventually, I decided to start a handyman business. When I started my business, nobody wanted to hire me because I looked like a teenager. People would disregard me because I looked so young. They assumed I didn’t have enough skills or experience. To be fair, they were probably right. But I still wanted to start my business, and I’d already quit my engineering job. So, instead of giving up, I dove into digital marketing. I studied it. It was hard. I wasn’t sure it would work, but it was my best chance. So, I focused on it. I did things that other handymen wouldn’t do, and I thrived as a result. Another time, I didn’t know how to price my services, and I felt like I was wasting my time making way less money than I could be with my handyman services. At the time, I was podcasting, blogging, and running my handyman business. I didn’t have kids then, so I had more time to do these things. But while doing my handyman services, I knew I wasn’t making as much money as I could be. I knew I was underpricing jobs. I spent way too much time figuring out how to quote a job. I had too many gaps in my schedule between jobs. I was leaving a ton of money on the table, but I didn’t know how to fix it. I searched for advice and couldn’t find a good solution. Eventually, I got to the point where I was like, “Man, I’m not getting anywhere. I’m just spinning my wheels.” So, I had to do something challenging. I stopped podcasting. I cut back on my handyman services and made less money while focusing on figuring out how to price my services more profitably. It took me about nine months, but I ended up writing the first book on handyman pricing. That book sold well over a thousand copies, and I eventually learned even better pricing strategies, which I used to build my pricing course “$100K Handyman Pricing.” As a result of facing the challenge instead of waiting for an easy way, I started making more money as a handyman. I started scheduling my services more efficiently, making more money in less time. I was able to sell these programs to help other handymen make more money in less time. That was a huge breakthrough. But it wouldn’t have happened if I’d kept doing the same things I was doing (which was easier). Again, every time I’ve seen growth in my business, it’s because I went through one of those challenges, which was always difficult. Any time I’ve waited for something to be easy, I’ve made little or no progress. And trust me, there have been many of those times. You WANT it to be difficult to grow a business; you just may not realize it yet. Everyone is always looking for an easy way to grow a business. But here’s why you want it to be difficult to start a business… Easy leads to competition. The best example of this is crowded ski slopes. If you’ve been skiing over the last decade, I guarantee your favorite mountain is way busier than it was ten years ago. Many argue that convenience, low-priced season passes, and corporate greed have ruined skiing. Ease is what ruined skiing (at least Friday through Sunday at major ski resorts). But when skiing is not easy, it’s far less crowded and, in my opinion, more fun. Just going during bad weather will cut the crowds in half. Or, even better, if you’re willing to get a backcountry setup, you can access fresh powder more consistently. It’s just not nearly as easy. Any challenge weeds out a tremendous portion of the population. With business, you want challenges and obstacles to weed out competition. If starting a business was easy, everybody would do it, and supply would rapidly outpace demand. But that’s actually impossible because there’s a natural balance. As supply increases faster than demand, competition increases, making it more challenging for businesses to stay in business. The people who aren’t willing to make the sacrifices and do the hard things give up, which balances things out. And that’s why it continues to work; it’s not easy. Many businesses work hard to create artificial obstacles to keep people out of their market. They want it to be hard for you. One example of this is contractor licensing regulations. Who do you think is the biggest fan of contractor licensing regulations that keep you from doing plumbing, HVAC, or electrical work without a specialty license? It’s the people who have a license! They want as few people to have those licenses as possible so they can charge higher rates and make more money. Challenges = Opportunities So, when you hit one of these challenges along your business journey, look at it as an opportunity. It means that a certain percentage of the people trying to start that business will automatically be weeded out, and all you have to do is keep going to gain an advantage. When trying to get customers, you have many options. Most people opt for the easy path and pay for leads. Welcome to the crowds! Enjoy paying too much for leads and fighting for scraps. But if you’re willing to do some things that other people aren’t willing to do, like the things that I teach in Handiman Marketing Machine, you’ll be cruising down a much less crowded and more profitable road. Don’t seek easy. Seek advantages. There’s a counterintuitive truth if you want to make growing a business easy. The easy way to grow a business is to stop looking for the easy way and start looking for advantages. If I were to change that slightly, I would say, “Stop looking for the easy way and start working for advantages.” Looking for advantages is important. You need to find those advantages. But ultimately, you’ll spend more of your time working to obtain those advantages because they won’t be something you stumble into. They’ll require time, effort, and sacrifice. Conclusion Starting a handyman or home service business is far easier than most businesses. But starting or growing a business will never be easy, and you don’t want it to be. You want it to be challenging to weed out competition. And next time you run into an obstacle and think, “This is too hard. There must be an easier way.” Go ahead and look for an easier way because there’s no reason to make it harder than it needs to be. But if you don’t find one, lean into the challenge. It’s your ticket to gaining an advantage. If you’re ready to start your handyman business or take your business to the next level, grab your unfair advantage right here. Listen to the podcast version of this article, which includes extra content. Listen right here or on your favorite podcast app! HS050 – Starting a business the easy way The post Growing a business the easy way appeared first on Handyman Startup.

Mounting TVs has been a lucrative service for my handyman business. It has a high perceived value relative to install time, so I can easily make $100-$200 per hour. It's a great, low-risk way for a new customer to test my services, allowing me to quickly build my client base. And it's a low-stress, enjoyable job. Since I've mounted over 100 TVs, I've learned some valuable business lessons that can help you make more money with any service you offer. These are essential lessons and can dramatically accelerate your success if you put them to work.

Evaristo Gomez officially started his handyman business in early 2023. Now, just a little over a year in, he shares his journey. In this interview, we talk about how he left his secure job to start his business and gain more control over his schedule, even though he had a three-month-old child. We also share the challenges he had to overcome, his mistakes, and how he estimates jobs. If you are thinking of starting a handyman business, this interview will be both motivating and inspiring.

Credibility is everything when it comes to growing a handyman business. Without it, you will have no customers. Luckily, there are relatively fast and easy methods for gaining credibility quickly. In this episode, I shatter misconceptions about credibility and provide clear proven steps to establish credibility so you can start or grow your business easier.

The busy season for home services peaks between May and September, but it starts to ramp up during springtime. This is your best opportunity of the year to build momentum for your business. In this episode, I share four simple actions you can take this week to set yourself up for a profitable and enjoyable busy season while building momentum into the slow season. This is low-hanging fruit that can make a meaningful difference to your success.

Tommy Mello is the CEO of A1 Garage Doors, which he founded and grew to over $200 Million in annual revenue. In this episode, he generously shares his sales processes, how to train employees, how to book more jobs, and many other tips he's learned on his business growth journey. This episode is packed practical tips and motivating insights that will give you an advantage over your competition when building a garage door company or any home service business.

In this episode, I discuss one of the most important business topics. Starting a business isn't just a matter of skill, expertise, or abilities. And it's definitely not a matter of luck. You don't have to be the smartest, hardest working person in the room, but you do need to do two things. Put in consistent effort over the long term and work on the right things. However, doing that is much harder than it would seem. In this episode, I share four common reasons people fail to grow a business and how you can easily overcome these pitfalls. This episode will help you grow your business and make you a more effective person in general.

Here's an example of a service that is both profitable and in demand: Aging-In-Place services. In this episode, I interview Pat Lund, creator and executive director of Age Well At Home - a non-profit business focused on helping aging adults live in their homes safer and for longer. We dive into why these services are in high demand and how to take advantage of the opportunity while helping your community. We cover getting customers, the most common services, pricing, and more.

Hiring employees to scale your business has many benefits. You can make more money, have more leisure time, and delegate things you don't enjoy. But is the sacrifice worth the reward? That's what I dive into in this episode. I talk about the advantages of staying solo and hiring employees. Then, I share some additional considerations that most people don't think about when making tough decisions like this.