Guy's, things have been moving on for me to the point where I had run out of space in my little shed.
What was I going to do?
Well, my mum stepped up and offered me space in her garage to keep all my tools and equipment, which was nice.
With business booming, I decided to invest back into the business because you just never know what is going to happen.
I have been using just one lawnmower and one strimmer, and they have done me proud up to now.
But what happens if something happens to one of those pieces of equipment? well, I would be stuck, so I decided to buy more to make sure that I have a spare.
I enquired about a strimmer that someone had placed an ad in the local paper, it read, large strimmer for sale, contact...... and then their phone number.
I gave the seller a ring and went to see them to see what this strimmer was like.
The beast of a strimmer hardly fit in my car and I was wonder what I was going to do, but taking the headrest of one of the seats it fit.
While I was with the seller he told me he had a lawnmower for sale, I had a look and knew that I had to have it.
The lawnmower that I bought had a roller on it so I could give customers that football stadium look.
So as more and more equipment was getting bought the more and more I was thinking where am I going to keep all this stuff.
My mum was the lifesaver, she offered me the space in her garage, and it is safe there too, as she has an alarm and very nosey neighbors.
So today, I took the time to start moving things into her garage, and now I have somewhere to keep everything that I have that I cant keep in my shed any more.
times are good.
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Until next time my friends, stay safe.
Back up equipment is essential I’m afraid. The problem is when you need a back up for the broken back up. As much as we try to maintain, and repair as soon as possible. We find ourselves in that position way to often.
My strimmer went down today, lucky for me there was a spare, but I have just found out that it is going to cost £70 to fix it, and the one I am using at the moment is not a good runner as it cuts out, (think its a carb problem) :S
A lot of people don’t appreciate the costs of running and maintaining equipment like that. We always found it cost effective to buy top end new 2 stroke tools, which went against my usual way of thinking to be honest. The majority of our 2 stroke equipment are Stihl, and we have 1 disc cutter and chain saw that are husqvarna. It was all a very big outlay, but compared to paying for repairs and hiring when they didn’t work like when we did when we first started trading, it was definitely worth it.
I got hit hard with COVID, no work and I had to get cheap to get started, first-year trading. but when I have a few pennies saved up then I am looking at going and getting Stihl. I hear good things about them, and the guy down at our local mower place raves about them, so come highly recommended by a lot of people.
I also found I was underquoting people, to try and get business, and this was costing me more money jus to find work. now I seem to have found that even mark, and a little bit of money is starting to flow in.
There is quite a bit of competition here as well but I think it is worth it :D
I had good advice many years ago, and it was “never undervalue yourself”. Of course the climate is a bit different lately. We suffered, but will get through it. Had a lot of unpaid time off in lockdown, along with jobs getting cancelled when we come out. But all will fall into place in the end.
I'm a big believer in that too.
At the begging of the year, I was so pumped and ready to make £££££, and after careful planning and marketing, I had some big jobs in place, somewhere over £7000 for the biggest one. and they got canceled. I had been out in February marketing and quoting and people showed love and support.
I was that hard up when lockdown easied I went to a job, and underquoted just to get money in. I took £70 for two days work and on that second day, I had to get help in otherwise I would have been there for 3 days.
I couldn't see that light at the end of the tunnel, until my mum said to me, "never underestimate your worth".
This then got me thinking about things in a different light.
I then decided that I needed to make £20 an hour, around £600 a week, I then decided that I wouldn't budge on this as everyone tries to make it cheaper than what it needs to be.
I have had people try their luck and I have stuck to my guns and weeded out the cheap jobs that no one wants to do.
I have been that busy over the past month I have also taken on 2 guys to help with the workload, and people now pay double for my services, which then makes it £50 an hour.
And I am still busy. which should mean that I am doing something right. :D
I had good advice many years ago, and it was “never undervalue yourself”. Of course the climate is a bit different lately. We suffered, but will get through it. Had a lot of unpaid time off in lockdown, along with jobs getting cancelled when we come out. But all will fall into place in the end.