bpzle 0 Posted March 2, 2009 Hello everyone! I'm new to this forum although I've been in the industry for about 4 years as a service technician for a large retailer. I want to keep my day job for benefits and dependable pay but am looking to start my own side business that I dream will one day take off. I estimate I'd have to pull in at least 100k in profit to even come close to my current job (to compensate for 401k, health & life, company vehicle I can use for personal use, and 60k+ pay). Thats a long way off! I'm looking for any advice you can give! I'm only 23. I have lots of common sense but NO business experience. I'm currently working on excel spread sheets and business cards to start bids at local businesses. My plan was to basically just charge cost and little to no labor for my first few jobs. I want to make a deal with the place that I could stock flyers and cards there and "show off" my install. For example, put in a showy 32" LCD in a waiting room or lobby showing all camera views around the building. I thought this to be a much better approach for promoting business than attacking random people with business cards door to door and in parking lots. The best part is, the only thing I have to invest is my time. I look at most junk mail and crap people leave hanging from my door as all static. That form of advertising I think is just mostly white noise and most ignore it. I'm getting started where I live in the Dallas- Fort Worth TX area. What type of permits or licenses do I need to get and how? With in the month I want to purchase like an old '95 4runner to start working out of and get it wrapped in graphics to promote my business. I'm getting name badges and a cheap polo embroidered with my logo. My goal is to appear much "bigger" and professional than I really am. One of my concerns was legal responsibility and paperwork. Do I need to come up with contracts and agreements that in case someone gets hurt or property is lost because one of my cameras I installed stopped working? Eventhough it may have not been my fault, I want to make sure my arse is covered! Am I just thinking too far ahead? I'm open to all feedback. What do you guys think of my plans so far? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VST_Man 1 Posted March 2, 2009 - get some really nice shoes..hit the streets, walk & talk CCTV. Hand out cards and express your desire to not only provide CCTV but also a long term commitment. - don't spend any money on flashy things until you have a solid base built - lease a new vehicle, it's 100% tax deductible put magnetic signs on it. I use a Yukon with a bolt in tool caddy in the back. this caddy holds all my tools and allows a platform ontop for boxes, ladders, ect. - provide estimates that day...follow up that day. wait 2 days, followup again. wait 2 weeks.follow up, then leave it alone. - do you have a "solid" equipment line up? pricing is low? - don't stock too much "stuff"....buy what you install, hold only enough stock to cover a warranted item....for now. as you grow you can build a stock based on equipment installed. - sell to small biz and large. talk to friends that work at both.get in to talk. - paperwork? yep, it sucks. sort & store as you get it by month. at tax time just create a spreadsheet with all and hand it off to your tax person. - plan for slow poor days....and you'll have lots of them. don't create any overhead unless you need it. - use subs and make sure you get thier tax info BEFORE you pay them....afterwards they won't call you back...... - it will take you 6 months to get your first client.if you good, sooner. be prepared to go 1 year without.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
C7 in CA 0 Posted March 3, 2009 Are you doing CCTV work now? Many states require a contractors license to do this work. You may have to prove past experience in the trade you are applying to be licensed for. For example in California it is 4 years of Journeyman level experience in the trade you wish to be licensed in to qualify for a contractors license. And do yourself a favor; Don't undercut your labor rates to get jobs. It's a slippery slope you won't want to be on. If clients see your labor rate is negotiable then you will spend all your time negotiating your labor rate. Have different equipment grade options to help keep projects within budget instead. Your labor rate has to be set based on your expenses; not what the other guys are charging. If your expenses are 10 grand a month and you have 1 billable hour a month you have to charge at least 10 grand an hour just to cover expenses. If you have 100 billable hours a month then you have to charge at least 100 bucks an hour to cover the same expenses. --That's simplified, but you get the picture... You are smart to keep your day job until you get some momentum going. Every market is different, but I think you will have a lot of work ahead of you to get to a point where you are bringing home 6 figures installing CCTV. The CCTV only jobs are generally smallish and competition is tough when you are going up against "trunk slammers" on your bids. You might want to broaden your scope of offerings to include alarms, access control, IT, Telecom, ect. More system integration stuff. That opens up the bigger jobs and hopefully weeds out the "fly by night" guys that tend to underbid the smaller jobs. That's not to say you can't make a living on CCTV only. I have guys in my area doing it. I'm just saying it takes a lot of "8 camera installs" to bring home that kinda dough! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scorpion 0 Posted March 3, 2009 Congradulations! You want to start your own business! http://www.cctvforum.com/cms_view_article.php?aid=31 Guerrila Marketing! http://www.cctvforum.com/cms_view_article.php?aid=45 Marketing 101 http://www.cctvforum.com/cms_view_article.php?aid=44 Press Releases, Home Builders Association, and Networking Groups http://www.cctvforum.com/cms_view_article.php?aid=46 What is Spaghetti Marketing? http://www.cctvforum.com/cms_view_article.php?aid=32 ____________________________________________________________ I'm getting name badges and a cheap polo embroidered with my logo. My goal is to appear much "bigger" and professional than I really am. The sharks will spot you in 5 seconds flat! Do not do it! If you appear much bigger, and more professional then you can handle, then you will paint yourself in to a corner. They will want to know why you came out on a big job with only one employee? If you are so professional then how come you did not come back the next day as you promised to finish the minor details to complete the install. If you are so big, and so professional, then why did you have to stop in mid stride, and have to take off for the hardware store to get the "opps, I did not anticipate that I needed that"! Act like yourself. If you tell people up front that you are new, and that you are getting started then they will appreciate that. You might lose a few jobs because of that, but then again that may be doing you a favor as those could have been the biggest pain in the butt! People love to be the one to brag "I was his first customer when he got started, and now look how big his business has gotten"! "Look at him now! I remember when he started he was in that tiny little building, and now look at him he is moving in to the glass, and brass building! He must be doing damn good nowadays"! If they know you are new then they will be more forgiving when those opps come around. There are sharks out there just waiting for you to fall in to their lair. They will get you started then roll you over for dead, as you do not know what you are doing, and they know every trick in the book. How do you think they got rich to begin with? Learn how credit cards work. Learn about how a customer can dispute the charge, and that the charge card, or merchant services can take that "job money" back from you! Yikes! Learn that you need to document everything! If the customer does not know what they want, then walk them through every decision until you both are on the same page. Take a TV set, and a camera out to the prospective customer. What they had in mind will not work. They will see this when they see the view on the TV monitor. Stand on a ladder, and simulate where the camera will be mounted. You will spend (or waste depending on how you feel about this) more time doing this, but you will save yourself so much money, or a loss of money, or burning time that you cannot charge the customer for correcting issues. Customers have hired you to provide what they needed. What will happen is that they will learn more about the system after you have installed it, and then the learning process will educate them to how they really should have had it installed. Now they will hold back payment because they did not get what they asked for! They may make crazy demands! I cannot read licensce plate in the complete dark as they drive by. I was attacked by my ex husband why do you think I called you in the first place? There is a restraining order, and I want to prove that he is violating the court order. Hmmm! I do not remember her ever saying anything about license plate recognition. Now I find out that she wants video from the street that is more then 60 feet away from her house! Ouch! I mounted 30 foot IR cameras which means that they will only be effective at 15 feet. I do not think that she is going to read a license plate with those. Oh yea! Those are wide angle lenses, and there is no way that she is going to read a plate at that distance! Do a site survey, and learn about your customers, and what do they know now, and what are they expecting? If you have those kind of problems at the end of an install then you did a bad site survey, and you are the only one to blame for your flesh wounds! Once they customer know what they want, (or they think they know what they want), then you get that on paper. Have them email this to you. The email will seem innocent enough, but in the long run you have something to show the judge! BAM! Take that moron in your own words! Now tell the customer what you are going to do for the installation, and what you are going to provide, and what you will not provide! Get signatures on everything thing. Make sure the "lawyer words" are real close to the area where they sign the document! Once your derrier is covered then the rest is easy! Now lets go out there, and have some fun! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
