Making Money In The Snow

Mark:

Not eveyone is suited to doing services for seniors, but it sounds from your post that you just might be one of those that is, and therefore your sig statement of "Beginning To Think I'm Unemployable" is totally wrong.

If you:

• are presentable and honest

• have some reasonable communication skills and can understand the mindset and capabilities of people over 60

• are willing to learn some skills you might not have

Then you can create an ongoing reapeat business and earn a very decent income.

I was once in your shoes and started a handyman business that grew through nothing more than word of mouth.....and it really took off when I implimented a twist that no one else provided.

Just to give you an idea of how it progresses....

It started out washing windows (almost everyone hates cleaning windows - this usually ends up a twice a year job for most of them).

By being up at windows this gives you the opportunity to see what might be required for maintenance that they don't see - such as caulking that needs redoing, loose cables that need re-anchoring, faulty eavestrough, flashings that require maintenance, mortar in the bricks that need repointing, loose aluminum/vinyl siding that needs attention, shrubs or trees that need grooming around the perimeter of the house, window screens needing repair, etc..

When the window cleaning is done you present a complimentary form that includes a list of things you noticed that they might want to attend to in the near future....as well as a list of your services with being sure to mention wall and ceiling washing.

Wall and ceiling washing gets you inside the house (and once again most people hate doing this chore)....and again when you are done you present a list of things you noticed such as : loose baseboards, loose wall paper, cracks in the walls or ceiling, dripping taps, etc. (note - you were already inside doing windows, but if you made the inside list from just that it would mean that you were nosing around where you shouldn't have been, but by doing the walls and ceilings it takes you into the other areas - you must maintain honesty and credibility or it will just be a one time window cleaning job)

Undoubtedly you will be asked if you can take care of some of these things on the lists both inside and out.

Outside work leads to landscaping care and maintenance (again you use the list).

Inside - crack repair leads to painting and almost all homes over 10 years old will have stress cracks somewhere in the walls and ceilings, painting leads to moving furniture and drop cloths which in turn allows you to look inside floor heating registers which undoubtedly will be dirty and leads into at least a cleaning out of those but also leads into furnace ductwork cleaning. Heating related leads you to the basement area and opens more areas that require attention.

(side note - I had one client who had me paint every 2 years - it didn't need painting, but when you paint you have to move furniture, and also pickup all the things that fell behind them or under them that the senior couldn't, or didn't want to try and pick up. Also the painting means the walls had to be cleaned thus not having to pay for wall washing as it was part of the painting. Also as a senior they didn't move the furniture and thus when the painting was done the 2 years of dust build up behind and under the furniture got cleaned...strange but I didn't complain as it was income)

If you do all this by using the lists you are not seeing as trying to force unnecessary jobs on them, are perceived as helpful, and psychologically swing them to you for everything they need doing around the house.

Now getting them to this point does take some nurturing and work...you won't get all this work immediately, but over the course of 2 or 3 years you will get it, and if you do the jobs correctly, guarantee your work, they will keep you doing all their work until they are no longer able to be on their own in in the house.

It all started with window cleaning and that will be the starting point of word of mouth...but as you do more for each client, they will tell other seniors and the extra work will come, but initially it takes getting at least a dozen or so window cleaning jobs.

Incidentally...if you decide you want to persue this I will give you my window cleaning solution recipe that will have them in awe, and have them telling their family and friends about it.

Now here is the cruncher ....if you don't have all the skills to do these jobs you either have to learn them, or sub contract them out. If you sub contract them, make darn sure that the person or company has the capability to do them correctly, backs there work, etc...as your future income from the home where they will be doing the work depends on it.

And you may just find the opportunity to build other businesses from the handyman service...perhaps lawn and garden maintenance division, roofing company division, etc., where you can go beyond just working for your handyman client business.

I found a need for duct cleaning and opened a duct cleaning business that tuned into a million dollar business all on its own.....and if I hadn't started with the lowly job of cleaning windows it probably never would have come about.

Now I mentioned earlier a twist I introduced...it had to do with when I got to the interior work of crack repair and painting for one of my senior clients.

This twist brought me in huge amounts of work doing interior crack repair and painting just through word of mouth (not to mention all the other general maintenance that came later).....and it started with one senior couple who wanted the work done but had a concern...they didn't want their night home life disturbed....as people get older they get set in their ways and don't want those ways disrupted.

They didn't mind the house being torn up during the day, but they wanted to be able to resume their evening sitting, reading, and watching TV....in other words they wanted the work done without the inconvenience in their lifestyle.

As a result I accomodated them....it meant extra work for me but the results were beyond my wildest expectations in referred work. In the morning I would move everything out of the rooms being worked on....do the work, create the mess....but approximately 45 minutes before the end of the work day, I would clean all the mess (dust, drop cloths, equipment put away, etc) restore their furniture to its proper location, rehang pictures, etc....and they were able to enjoy their evening lifestyle - they didn't mind looking at partially repaired and blotchy walls or a partialy painted room just as long as they could do what they were used to.

At the time I really didn't think much about the consequences of going this extra mile for them...BUT...they told their friends how great it was, and it didn't even seem like the work was being done - and the referrals started pouring in....but the real kicker was that they told their children.

I did two if the children's homes in the same manner....I was there before they went to work....did my work during the day while they were off to work, and then when they returned home after work, the house wasn't all torn up and dirty...but completely liveable and without disruption to their family life for the night.

The children told their friends about it, as well as people at their work place, referrals again poured in and suddenly I was outside the senior client list and doing work for people in all age brackets. One of the referrals was a property manager with contacts for the city, and after performing the work for him resulted in contracts for city rental units.

I know this was long winded, but if you really have the drive to get off the unemployed ranks....and as you mentioned you were willing to do odd jobs...I just wanted to show you that success can come from doing these little odd jobs.

Cornell