Has this been your most profitable year yet??

Clean County PW

Clean County PW

Active member
I thought this was going to be my break out year as far as profits go but Unfortunetly it hasn't. The reason for this is largely due to a terrible job in advertising in my part.

I paid $2400 for the year to advertise in the Yellow pages in 6 different sections. Each section was about 1-2 lines long. I was told by my sales rep from the Yellow pages that this would be the best way to go.

SO once the Yellow pages came out in July/August I cut down in the traditional way that I advertise to see what happens with the Yellow pages. This was a mistake because My phone hardley ever rings from someone that has got me thru the Yellow pages.

Needless to say the way I was talked into to advertise for the Yellow pages has been a total bust.

The end result is that I will make about as much as I have made the past couple of years with not much growth.

The lesson to be learned here is not to put all your eggs in one basket as I did. Stick with what has been working for you and add to it if you wish to be more profitable!!!

A valuable lesson I learned from a pretty famous Individual in my area that owns numerous stores is this: "To be really successful the TRICK is in the advertising"

In my case "Live and Learn" applies here.

So how about the rest of you. Has this been your best year to date?? If Yes or No, either way explain why you had the year you did.
 
John, Good post.... Gosh I hope not, being basicly throwen into full time by a job closing, I had to listen and move carefully and try to learn as much as possiable so next year I can grow to be a successful p.w. contractor... I await eagerly for successful contractor learning from their own mistakes and sharing them with us...

If I had to guess my biggest mistake I have made, It would of been not learning how to sell and close...


Matt
 
John,

3rd qt has been kick butt, 1st and 2nd were slow, I'am hopeful that the 4th qt will be as good as the 3rd, and if so , great!

;)


Mel
 
For the short season here, end of March to mid/end of November(depending on how nice Mother Nature is) I must say it was better than last year. I was really and truely skeptical about this year. Let's face it, the economy sucks. I have doubled what I did last year, both in number of jobs and receipts. Also, I did more "complex" jobs this year. Noone here in the ST Peters area has a "small" deck anymore. I think when all is totalled at the end of season this year will be good to me.


Reed
 
I should be up about 20% this year. The only reason that it is not more is that I go after more accounts at the start of the year. I have gone out and added enough to raise next year about 50%. I just hate to train people.

Scott
 
I tried the yellow pages in 3 areas and in a year got ONE call for a driveway and he wanted a price over the phone yet!

Not doing yellow pages again since the accounts I go after I have to go to them and do a song and dance, ok a sales talk, pitch or whatever you desire to call it.

As far as business growth I would say I am up 25% to 35% over last year.
 
2001 was my best year. We are down this year, because of the drought and also because of a period of time in the beginning of the season where I worked alone. I did not make enough money doing that, compared to previous years.

I think this fall (my gutter cleaning time) is going to be very strong. Maybe even to the point that it makes up for the shortcomings of the previous ten months.
 
Up about 25% over last year. Limited by ability to hire and retain good people to do really tough work.
 
This was my first year full time, so results are not exactly comparable to previous years. However I did expand my yellow page presence, and it paid for itself many times over.

There are many marketing angles I would like to pursue, but the fact is I'm at the point where I can't yet afford a full time employee, but I can't do anymore work myself. I do have five guys that I rotate work among, with some getting 20+ hours a week, and some only getting 5-6 hours a week.

Going into this full time, I thought I could kick ass and work as many hours a day as needed, but the reality is that I cannot.

There is no way I can handle 60-70 hours per week in this business. In fact, on some of the mega hot days we had, 5-6 hours in the direct sunlight was all I could muster. I would bring a cooler full of water, gatorade, ice tea, etc.... and pound down a gallon or more within a few hours, and never even have to take a 10-100 break.

So in conclusion, it's been a fabulous season, and I only wish I had gone full time doing this sooner. Despite the week economy, the type of work I do has to be done, and certain people are going to do what ever it takes to pay for it.
 
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